The memories that shaped our lives in Fort Worth: What made WFAA’s list and what didn’t | Opinion
The modern history of Fort Worth is all about an assassination, a tornado and two mansion murders, plus the arrival of America’s biggest airline at an airport the size of a cattle ranch.
Those were some of the Fort Worth highlights of Dallas-Fort Worth history since 1949, as chosen by WFAA/Channel 8 for its 75th anniversary special.
There is no doubt that the most memorable day is Nov. 22, 1963. It began in Fort Worth with a happy welcome breakfast for President John F. Kennedy, and the trail of assassin Lee Harvey Oswald led back here.
But the history of the last 75 years also includes stories of American wars fought and battles won, thanks to national defense workers at Bell Helicopter and what is now Lockheed Martin Aeronautics.
And it also includes stories of courtroom battles for justice fought for nearly 70 years, from the day white residents in Mansfield rioted to keep Black students out of school, to the day Opal Lee of Fort Worth saw Juneteenth signed into law as a national holiday.
Lee, now nearly 98, made WFAA’s list. Her success and a nation’s jubilation were the No. 12 “moment that most shaped Dallas-Fort Worth,” up there with Jerry Jones buying the Dallas Cowboys and how the kidnapping and killing of 9-year-old Amber Hagerman in Arlington sparked Fort Worth massage therapist Diana Simone to suggest the Amber Alert.
The Star-Telegram is a content partner with WFAA.
Here are more Fort Worth stories from WFAA’s list, and a few that might have been considered:
An obvious No. 1: the assassination
WFAA’s Dallas studio is very much part of the assassination story, from the moment a program director broke into a cooking show to deliver the news. Later, witness Abraham Zapruder would walk in with what became the world’s most famous home movie.
But the story also began in Fort Worth, at a breakfast and rally covered mostly by NBC5 and KTVT/Channel 11 while the Dallas stations prepared for that city’s events.
Within moments, reporters were tracing suspect Lee Harvey Oswald’s path back to his nine-year home in Fort Worth.
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Five DFW Airport or airline stories
Fittingly, Fort Worth and Dallas’ shared city airport takes up the most space on WFAA’s history list.
But two of the “moments” were tragedies: the 1985 crash of Delta 191 and the 1988 crash of Delta 1141.
Forgive me if I don’t dwell on those.
In 1985, I was in the Star-Telegram newsroom. I kept the list of fatalities and answered phone calls all night from crying family members.
In 1988, I was on the scene. I interviewed survivors walking away as the plane burned directly behind them.
The airport made good news for its grand opening, for Fort Worth landing American Airlines and for the legal tangles — finally resolved — with Southwest Airlines over Love Field.
Fort Worth moments that “most shaped Dallas-Fort Worth”
WFAA also chose:
▪ The 1957 opening of the Dallas-Fort Worth Turnpike, now Interstate 30, that cut driving time between the cities from 55 minutes to 30.
▪ The horrendous 2019 killing of Fort Worth resident Atatiana Jefferson by police officer Aaron Dean, who had gone into her backyard unannounced.
▪ The 1981 opening of Billy Bob’s Texas, the “World’s Biggest Honky Tonk,” that drew worldwide attention to Fort Worth and the revitalization of the Stockyards.
▪ The yet-unpunished 1976 killings of 12-year-old Andrea Wilborn and mansion visitor Stan Farr at the former home of oil millionaire Cullen Davis in Fort Worth. Davis was acquitted in connection with Wilborn’s death.
▪ The 1995 Mayfest hailstorm that injured more than 400 people, 60 seriously, when it struck the Friday night festival crowd unexpectedly with softball-sized hailstones.
▪ The 1996 opening of Texas Motor Speedway, a booming success until stock car racing peaked in 2005.
▪ The 2000 downtown Fort Worth tornado that killed 2 people, injured 80 and damaged buildings across 4 miles near West Seventh Street and downtown.
▪ The 2013 drunken driving conviction of then-teenager Ethan Couch in the deaths of four people, followed by nationwide outrage when a psychologist said Couch had “affluenza.”
More moments that shaped our memories
Because the list started with WFAA’s debut Sept. 17, 1949, it didn’t include Amon Carter’s launch a year earlier of what is now KXAS/Channel 5, the first TV station between St. Louis and Los Angeles.
It also didn’t include the “Big Flood” that inundated the near west side in May 1949, killing 10.
But starting in fall 1949, I also would have considered:
▪ The 1951 debut of the helicopter division of what is now Bell Textron Inc.
▪ The 1956 riot in Mansfield when more than 300 white people gathered, hanged three Black effigies and fought officers to stop three Black students from attending Mansfield High School. The students were sent to Fort Worth, and Mansfield did not desegregate until 1965.
▪ The 1962 removal of “White” and “Colored” signs from restrooms and water fountains in Leonards Department Store in downtown Fort Worth, months before worldwide attention for the opening of a mile-long light-rail subway line to the parking lot. Other stores would take the signs down before Kennedy’s 1963 visit.
▪ The 1974 debut of the F-16 fighter plane, built for 40 years at what is now Lockheed Martin Aeronautics.
▪ The 1979 groundbreaking that began the Sundance Square development in downtown Fort Worth.
▪ The 1999 mass shooting that killed seven at Wedgwood Baptist Church.
I’m sure you remember more.
This story was originally published September 19, 2024 at 10:53 AM.
