Page 322 - Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council

BENBROOK HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The ability of the City of Benbrook to shape its future is intimately tied to its past. Prior transportation and land
subdivision actions profoundly affect the ability to make future land use decisions by establishing the framework within
which future development can take place. Prior economic activity tends to direct future economic activity along
associated lines. Prior planning activities, whether implemented or not, also continue to influence land use decisions
directly or indirectly.

Benbrook celebrated the City's fiftieth anniversary of incorporation in November 1997. As an incorporated City,
Benbrook is one of the youngest in Tarrant County, but as a community, Benbrook is one of the oldest.

NATIVE AMERICAN LIFE

Prior to the arrival of Anglo settlers, members of the Wichita, Caddo, Comanche, and Lipan Apache Native American
tribes roamed the Benbrook area. Archaeologists estimate that the area has been inhabited for some 11,000 years.
Indian communities looked for the same environmental factors as present communities, with the availability of an
adequate water supply being a primary consideration. The confluence of the Clear Fork of the Trinity River and Mary's
Creek provided such a watering place to tribes as they passed through the country-side hunting the large herds of
buffalo that grazed within the area.

EARLY ANGLO SETTLEMENT

Anglos originally settled the Benbrook area, part of the Peters' Colony established by the Republic of Texas, in the
1840s and 1850s. W. S. Peters of Kentucky was granted a contract to attract 250 families per year by offering 320 acres
free to family men and 160 acres to single immigrants, plus a free cabin, seed, and musket balls. S. Edward and Nancy
Wilburn of Missouri reportedly came to the area in 1843 as Family 107 of the Peters' Colony; they settled along Mary's
Creek near Benbrook in 1854. A "Mary's Creek Post Office" was established sometime during the 1850s or 1860s, with
Benjamin Richerson serving as Postmaster. Lemuel Edwards settled along the Clear Fork of the Trinity River near
present day Hulen Street in 1848, with land holdings that eventually covered 4,020 acres.

A twenty foot by twenty foot single room school building and Methodist church was built in 1857 near the Clear Fork
of the Trinity River by Edward Wilburn. The structure was constructed on concrete and had a dirt floor; the structure
collapsed in 1865 as a result of poor construction materials. Classes at the school had ceased during the Civil War. A
new school and church known as "Old Rawhide" was built of lumber in 1872 by the Chapman, Edwards, Ward, Majors,
CITY OF BENBROOK 2018-19 ANNUAL BUDGET
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