Fort Worth schools get special billing on 2025 most ‘endangered places’ list

Historic Fort Worth, a nonprofit dedicated to celebrating and preserving the city’s architectural heritage, released its 2025 most endangered places list on Tuesday.

The annual event shines a light on some of Fort Worth’s most at risk gems in a bid to spur action toward their preservation.

Fort Worth has the second largest number of historic places in Texas, but before the 2022 list the city struggled to adequately staff the department in charge of preserving them.

The city responded in a year later by hiring five full-time staffers to help the city stay compatible with grant requirements that can net property owners a 25% rebate on work to preserve historic properties.

Previous iterations of the list also helped with preserving the Stockyards, the Ridglea Theater and the Fort Worth Public Market.

This year’s list singled out five Fort Worth schools at risk for closure. The school district put out a list of potential school closures in February, but so far only S.S. Dillow Elementary will definitively close, because of issues with a suspected water leak.

Several of the schools on the closure list are architecturally significant, and the district should have them designated as historic buildings before selling them off, Historic Fort Worth board member Alyssa Banta said at Tuesday’s presentation.

The district has no plans at this time to sell any buildings that are closed for instruction, said district spokesperson Jessica Becerra in an email to the Star-Telegram.

McLean and J.P. Elder Middle Schools, which made it onto the 2025 list, will continue to operate now and into the future, and the district’s 2021 bond supports improving instruction at those facilities, Becerra said, adding that Wilson elementary — another listed school — will also continue to operate.

The architects of these schools really did the community a favor, said Historic Fort Worth’s executive director Jerre Tracy.

The city’s collection of historic schools is extraordinary, and it would be a real loss to both the community and the city’s identity if these buildings weren’t preserved, she said.

Historic Fort Worth’s 2025 list of endangered places

• Mount Gilead Baptist Church, 600 Grove St.

• Primera Baptist Church, 1519 Circle Park Boulevard.

• Farrington Field, 1501 University Dr.

• Oakwood Cemetery Chapel, 701 Grand Ave.

• S.S. Dillow Elementary School, 400 Avenue N.

• McLean Middle School, 3816 Stadium Dr.

• J.P. Elder Middle School, 709 NW 21st St.

• Hubbard Heights Elementary School, 1333 Spurgeon St.

• Richard J. Wilson Elementary School, 907 W. Fogg St.

This story was originally published May 6, 2025 at 1:00 PM.

Harrison Mantas

Fort Worth Star-Telegram

817-390-7040

Harrison Mantas has covered Fort Worth city government, agencies and people since September 2021. He likes to live tweet city hall meetings, and help his fellow Fort Worthians figure out what’s going on.