Page 326 - Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council

BENBROOK HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

with the larger building, some students had to be taught in the basement of the church next door.

EARLY BUILDINGS AND CHURCHES IN BENBROOK

One of the earliest buildings remaining in Benbrook is the Eddie Brustrum House at 8204 Old Benbrook Road, which
was originally constructed about 1895 as the Methodist parsonage. The Corn House in far southwest Benbrook (11555
Highway 377 South) was built about 1919 by James Corn, a rancher who owned more than 55,000 acres. John Stevens,
for whom Stevens Road is named, was foreman on the Corn Ranch. M. N. Wallace purchased the "old Benbrook
Home" property along Old Benbrook Road in 1921 and built two rock houses. The M. N. Wallace house at 8216 Old
Benbrook Road was built in 1921. The Frank E. Wallace house is located at 8812 Old Benbrook Road and constructed
in 1923. Frank E. Wallace was co-owner with M.N. Wallace of Benbrook's general store from 1936 until it was sold in
1941. F. E. Wallace also ran the post office with M. N. Wallace serving as mail carrier. The N. E. Wallace house at 8216
Old Benbrook Road was torn down in 1986.

The American Legion Paul Mansir Post 297 nearby at 8201 Old Benbrook Road originally was constructed in 1933 as
the Benbrook Church of Christ. The Methodist Church built a new building from 1929 to 1931, in Greek Revival style,
with funding from members and from rancher Cass Edwards.

Mr. Edwards believed that the Building Committee's original plans were too small. The building had a sanctuary
upstairs, classrooms in the basement, and its own electric light plant. Bishop H. A. Boaz officiated at the opening with
the Reverend Floyd Thrash serving as pastor. The building was later used by the Benbrook Pentecostal Baptist Church
when the Methodists moved to a new location on Bryant Street in 1957. The Baptists and two other congregations
met in a building erected on a one-acre plot donated by Z Boaz.

WORLD WAR I

Early during the first world war, General John J. "Blackjack" Pershing invited the Royal Canadian Flying Corps to
establish training fields in Texas because of the mild weather. After looking at sites in Dallas, Fort Worth, Waco, Austin,
Wichita Falls, and Midland, three sites were established in the Fort Worth vicinity - these sites in North Fort Worth,
Everman, and Benbrook became known as the "Flying Triangle." The Royal Flying Corps used the fields from October
1917 to April 1918; the fields were then turned over to the U. S. Army. Taliafero Field Number 3 (later renamed
Carruthers Field after Cadet W. K. Carruthers who was killed on June 18, 1917) was located south of Mercedes Street
CITY OF BENBROOK 2018-19 ANNUAL BUDGET
325