10 reasons Fort Worth is the No. 11 largest city: It took cowboys, music and money | Opinion
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Fort Worth hits 1 million
Fort Worth is now home to 1 million people, just one of 13 U.S. cities to ever cross the threshold, according to census figures released Thursday. Here’s everything you need to know about Cowtown’s new spot as the 11th largest city in the U.S.
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Hey, Austin — you’re history.
And Dallas — you’re next.
With 1,008,106 people as of last July 1, Fort Worth is now the No. 4 largest city in Texas and No. 11 in the nation. We’re growing faster than Jacksonville, Florida, so by now, we’re probably No. 10 behind Dallas.
Maybe you’re thrilled about this, or maybe you’re cursing it.
If you’re shaking your fist at all the dually pickups on the freeway, here’s a few people to blame:
1. Taylor Sheridan
Ever since Taylor Sheridan started making TV shows here, people started moving to Fort Worth to meet rugged cowboys or Beth Duttons.
2. Leon Bridges
Leon Bridges tours the world singing about the Trinity River in front of a giant “Fort Worth” backdrop that shows the city’s Sleeping Panther mascot.
Bridges single-handly made Cowtown a Cool Town.
3. Opal Lee
Opal Lee, the city’s 98-year-old civil-rights hero has made Fort Worth a world headquarters of Juneteenth celebrations of liberty and freedom.
She showed the world there’s room for everyone under our Shady Oak hat.
4. Ross Perot Jr.
The whole north half of Tarrant County was nice, quiet farmland until Ross Perot Jr. built a freight airport to go along with DFW.
That is also why a bunch of people moved to cities like Keller, where they quickly forget they wouldn’t even be here without Fort Worth.
5. Gary Patterson
Why not? Fort Worth wasn’t much of a college town when Gary Patterson took over as football coach of the TCU Horned Frogs in 2000.
His teams’ success helped the school double in size and nurtured the civic spirit that eventually also attracted Texas A&M to expand downtown.
6. Annie Richardson Bass and Sid W. Richardson
The way late son Perry Bass always told the story, Annie loaned her younger brother Sid $40 for train fare in April 1933 to go to West Texas and drill for oil.
The result was a fortune that grandsons Sid, Robert, Ed and Lee Bass have spent building hospitals, museums, arenas, a performance hall, a world-renowned zoo and a retail-office development that redefined downtown.
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7. Sam Woody
Sam Woody lived in southern Wise County. But in November 1856, he brought 14 friends from across the county line to vote illegally.
That swung the election by seven votes. It moved the county seat from Broadway Avenue in Birdville, today’s Haltom City, to Fort Worth.
Otherwise, today’s headline would say, “Birdville’s population tops 1 million.”
8. Willis Carrier
Sure, Willis Carrier lived in Syracuse.
But Fort Worth and Texas wouldn’t be fit places to live if he hadn’t invented air conditioning.
9. Willie
Willie Nelson of Hill County discovered marijuana in Fort Worth in 1954, smoked and sang his way to Nashville fame and eventually helped Fort Worth hit the bigtime.
When he sang at the opening of DFW Airport in 1974, Nelson had fired up a fusion of country and rock music that brought leading stars and songwriters to Texas.
The fading Stockyards boomed with the White Elephant Saloon and music clubs. On March 31, 1981, with the movie “Urban Cowboy” a national craze, Nelson played to open the giant Billy Bob’s Texas, and drew tourists who came and stayed.
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10. Amon
Amon Carter Sr., a TV and print media magnate known to presidents and kings, brought American Airlines and the defense industry to Fort Worth and spurred the regional power struggle that led to a shared and hugely successful Dallas-Fort Worth Airport.
He taught us not only to love Fort Worth as “Where the West Begins,” but also to brag about this very special city.
This story was originally published May 15, 2025 at 10:09 AM.
