Page 324 - Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council

BENBROOK HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

In 1876, local resident James M. Benbrook petitioned the Texas and Pacific Railroad to place a station along Mary's
Creek near Miranda where the railroad ran west out of Fort Worth. The line was completed to Benbrook in May 1880
and the railroad named the stop Benbrook Station after James M. Benbrook. In May 1893, James M. Benbrook sold
the Texas and Pacific Railroad a half-acre of land for use as a depot for $25.00. During the 1890s, two trains stopped
each day in Benbrook. Just like the stage line, the railroad was an easy target for robbers; the line was particularly
vulnerable at the wooden trestle bridge over Mary's Creek. In 1886, Congressman S. W. T. Lanham (who was later
elected as governor) was a victim of a robbery near Benbrook while traveling from Weatherford to Fort Worth to give
a speech on prohibition. The train was robbed by five men in June 1887 and again in September 1887; both robberies
were attributed to the Rueben and James Burrows gang who later bragged about the train robberies they pulled in
"Bend Brooke (sic)." A robbery in 1896 in broad daylight, allegedly by Eugene "Captain Dick" Bunch, was one of the
last such robberies in Texas.

FIRST FAMILIES

The Peter Boaz family arrived in Birdville from Kentucky in 1873 and the family subsequently moved to Benbrook in
1878. Peter and Martha had nine children including: Will N., Hiram Abiff, Ex, and Z. Hiram Boaz, converted at one of
the Old Rawhide Camp meetings, became one of the early leaders of the Methodist church in Benbrook. Hiram Boaz
became a Methodist Bishop in 1922 and president of both Polytechnic College in Fort Worth (later known as Texas
Wesleyan University) and Southern Methodist University in Dallas. After Peter Boaz's death, Martha Boaz married
James M. Benbrook. J. A. Childers, ranch foreman for W. J. Boaz's 3,000 acre ranch, and later constable and county
commissioner, built his home on Old Benbrook Road during the 1870s. Z. Boaz donated 136 acres of land to the City
of Fort Worth as a public park in 1928; the land was donated to Fort Worth only because Benbrook did not have a
municipal government or park department at that time. Z. Boaz died in 1935 and is buried along with his wife, Teck,
who died in 1970 and an infant son, Thank, who died in 1898.

The Benbrook family had arrived in the Miranda area in 1874 from Illinois. The family built a large Victorian house on
Walnut Creek east of the community in 1891. James Benbrook, known as "Squire" because of his English heritage,
served as Justice of the Peace for many years. James M. Benbrook was born in Posey County, Indiana on June 20,
1831. He was the grandson of Ezekial G. Benbrook, born in North Carolina in 1748 and served as a Colonel with George
Washington at Valley Forge. Ezekial's son James and his wife, Sarah Shadowen, were the parents of James. M.
Benbrook. The family moved to Hamilton County, Illinois in 1845; James Benbrook married Martha Metcalf in 1852.
James Benbrook served as a sergeant with the 40th Illinois Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War and was wounded
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