Page 300 - Benbrook FY20 Approved Budget

CITY OF BENBROOK 2019-20 ANNUAL BUDGET

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

Zoning Commission with the duty to recommend a master plan and zoning ordinance. The first zoning ordinance created a single zoning district
"A" One Family; lots were required to be a minimum of 20,000 square feet and dwellings were required to be a minimum of 1,000 square
feet in size. In 1949 the Benbrook Volunteer Fire Department was organized; Jim Childers served as the first Fire Chief.

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