Page 328 - Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council

BENBROOK HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

By 1935 the population had increased to one hundred sixty-one. Many imposing homes were built in the area in the
1930s by such people as Elliot Roosevelt (son of President F. D. Roosevelt). Mr. Roosevelt's home was in the area of
what is now the east side of Benbrook Lake. Roosevelt's Dutch Branch Ranch covered approximately 1,300 acres in
the Benbrook area. The ranch was purchased in 1935 by Elliot's wife, Ruth Goggins Roosevelt, and served as their
home while Elliot was president of the Texas State Network. President Roosevelt visited his son at his ranch on four
occasions from 1936 to 1944. The Roosevelts sold the ranch in 1944; Fort Worth oilman, Sid W. Richardson, purchased
the ranch in 1946. Much of the ranch was condemned by the U. S. Government for construction of Benbrook Lake in
1947.

1940s

Ed Sproles, head of the Texas Motor Truck Transport Company, constructed the Sproles House to serve as the center
of his large cattle ranch. Most of the house and outbuildings remain; most of the land was submerged by Benbrook
Lake in 1947. In contrast to the opulent homes built during the 1930s, a "Hooverville" shanty town was located in
Benbrook in 1933 during the Great Depression.

By 1940, the Benbrook community had grown to approximately one hundred people and three stores. The Benbrook
Railroad Station was closed and torn down during this decade. Benbrook gained a temporary resident in the 1940s;
Lee Harvey Oswald began his schooling here but moved shortly thereafter in 1946. In April 1941, construction began
on a bomber plant operated by Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Company (Convair, later named General Dynamics, and
then Lockheed Martin); the first B-24 "Liberator" bomber rolled off the assembly line in April 1942. The Tarrant Air
Drome (later named Carswell Air Force Base) was established at the same time. In May 1947, the U. S. Corps of
Engineers began construction of Benbrook Dam on the Clear Fork of the Trinity River. Authorized by the Rivers and
Hazards Act of 1945, the dam was designed to prevent flooding; major floods occurred in the area in 1922, 1947, and
1949. The May 1949 flood killed ten people and left over 13,000 people homeless in Fort Worth following ten inches
of rain in twelve hours. Benbrook Dam was completed in December 1950 and began impounding water in 1952.

Benbrook's first housing development, the Benbrook Estates subdivision, was platted in 1946; lots were typically 70
feet by 170 feet. On November 17, 1947 the residents voted 25 to 0 to incorporate as a village. The total area included
in the new municipality was 13.3 square miles. The first mayor was Ed Sproles and the first aldermen included Mrs.
Grace Cozby, J. A. Childers, W. J. Nolte, M. N. Wallace, and D. I. Sessums. Earl Cleveland was elected city marshal-
tax collector. One of the first actions (Ordinance Number 2 adopted in August 1948)) was to create a Planning and
CITY OF BENBROOK 2018-19 ANNUAL BUDGET
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