Mosier Valley’s decade-long park project hits new snag. Here’s what to know
Fort Worth’s historic Mosier Valley, one of Texas’ oldest Black freedmen settlements, has spent more than a decade waiting for a promised neighborhood park. After years of delays, a groundbreaking ceremony and a land dispute, residents are now pushing the city to rethink the project entirely.
Here are key takeaways:
- Mosier Valley was founded in 1870 by Robert and Dilsie Johnson and 10 other emancipated slave families who received 40 acres as a wedding gift from plantation owner Lucy Lee, with residents now organizing through the Mosier Valley Property Owners Association to preserve the community’s history and shape its future.
- The city held a groundbreaking ceremony in February at Mosier Valley Park, 11220 Mosier Valley Road, with plans for a multi-sport court, trail, exercise stations, playground and expanded parking lot, and completion targeted for December. Construction was supposed to begin in January 2025 but was delayed after the city bundled projects to attract competitive bids, with one paired park hitting an unforeseen engineering issue that pushed the schedule back.
- Work stopped on April 3 after residents said the city encroached on land it did not own and cut down protected oak trees, prompting the Mosier Valley Property Owners Association to demand documentation of land ownership and spending.
- Residents are now asking the city to pivot from the park to building a community center, while association leaders Jeff Pointer and Tonya Jones used their own money to place a portable Mosier Valley Community Office on adjacent land on April 20.
- The association is also negotiating to buy back the original Mosier Valley schoolhouse, built in 1924 and now operating as a hair salon in Bedford, with plans to return it to the neighborhood for after-school programs, STEM activities and financial literacy classes.
The summary points above were compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists. The source reporting referenced above was written and edited entirely by journalists.
