Cowtown through the Years

Fort Worth Texas is nicknamed "Cowtown."  Through the years it has undergone some changes to its buildings and structures. Two architects from Jacobs took us through the history of Fort Worth and how the city was/ not truly sustainable in its building choices.  We started off our tour in downtown Fort Worth in the rain.  Fire-station Number One has been preserved and turned into a museum to show the history of Fort Worth. This exhibit shows 150 years of Fort Worth's history.  Our tours focused on three  main time frames.

Fort Worth One is what you think of as the wild west. Structures were built sharing walls and were typically single story with windows facing certain directions. These windows were used to an air flow circulating in the building.  These buildings were made of wood, which came from trees nearby.  When trees were cut down, new trees were not planted to replace the lost trees and the people did not think about the future of those trees during that time period.

After the railroad was built, new types of building made up the city of the Fort Worth. Bricks and other materials were brought in on the railroad.  Fort Worth's new building were typically a couple of stories and made from brick. These building had glass windows. Since the materials were imported, the architects pointed out the lack of sustainability with these buildings as well.

The final era of Fort Worth has created the most diversity in the building structure. International structures like those pictured below went up next store to the classic brick structures in period 2.  However, the materials used to build these buildings were imported and unsustainable.

I spent two years living in downtown Fort Worth. I never noticed the different materials used to build downtown in the way the architects described it.  I have a deeper respect for the older buildings in the city and a sense of disgrace for the glass sky-scrapers that make up parts of the city. When I build my house someday I want to use local materials that add to the environment instead of something that takes away. I love the idea of using limestone from Austin or reclaimed wood from East Texas.  This tour showed a new perspective on downtown Fort Worth.


REFERENCES

http://www.fwmuseum.org/150-fort-worth-history