Page 325 - Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council

BENBROOK HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

in the hip in 1862. Following the Civil War, Benbrook and his family traveled south for his health; they settled in
Miranda in November 1876. James and Martha had six children; three died in infancy. Of the other three children -
Albert L. became a teacher, Monroe went into the furniture business in Dallas, and Ida married Dr. E. W. Snyder and
moved to Brownwood. Martha died in July 1884 and was buried by the Baptist Church.

The families that lived north of the railroad station along Mary's Creek also built a school and church known as Chapin
School after early settler I. H. Chapin. The Wallaces settled along Mary's Creek near the intersection of Chapin Road
and Chapin School Road.

DEVELOPMENT OF HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS

By the turn of the century, some of the initial transportation routes were established; many of these routes are still in
use today. The Texas and Pacific Railroad line is now operated by Union Pacific and travels along Mary's and Walnut
Creeks. A rail accident at the Mary's Creek trestle sent eighteen cattle cars into the creek in 1902 or 1903. The main
settlement of Benbrook, located within a four-block area around the railroad station, was located near the present
junction of Interstate Highway 20 and U. S. Highway 377 along Aledo Road. The settlement was reached from the east
along the present Old Benbrook Road and Stove Foundry Road (now known as Vickery Boulevard). Winscott-Plover
Road extended south along its present route to Dutch Branch, now submerged by Benbrook Lake. A road extended
east from Winscott-Plover Road near the present Mercedes Street to cross the Clear Fork of the Trinity. Remnants of
this county road are still evident on undeveloped land north of Timbercreek.

Winscott Road is named for early Fort Worth rancher, developer, and hotel owner Winfield Scott (no relation to the
famous general of the same name). Scott was born in Kentucky in 1848 and moved to Tarrant County in 1868. The
Winfield Scott Ranch covered over 12,000 acres in Tarrant, Johnson, and Parker Counties. Scott built and/or owned
several hotels and businesses in Fort Worth and constructed Thistle Hill in Fort Worth as his private residence.

A new two-room brick school building was constructed in 1912 to replace the previous building located at Old
Benbrook Road and Winscott Road. The $3,000 construction cost was financed by bonds. In 1918, a second teacher
was added to the school. The school building was severely damaged by wind storms in 1913 and again in 1923. In
1936, the building was replaced again, this time by a larger, flagstone-constructed, four room structure with a stage
and gymnasium. The $15,000 building was also financed by bonds and was built by V. A. Davis, who resigned from
the school board to bid on the project; the landscaping was performed by the Works Progress Administration. Even
CITY OF BENBROOK 2018-19 ANNUAL BUDGET
324