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CITY OF FOREST HILL

History

Forest Hill began as a community around 1860. It was called Brambleton Station and
Forest Hill Village before being named Forest Hill. By 1896 the community had its first
schools and was established as a suburb of Fort Worth. In 1905 Old Mansfield Road
and Forest Hill Drive were the city's two main roads. In 1912 citizens drilled a "crooked
hole well," the first private water system in the community. By 1925 the community had
25 residents and two businesses. Forest Hill gained a new source of water in the early
1940’s. By 1944 Trentman Company and the Johnson Campbell Company began
building homes. The owners of the private water system sold it to Texas Water
Company. The community incorporated as a village on March 16, 1946. In the late
1940’s the city population was approximately 90 people. In 1949 the city petitioned to
be relabeled as a city after reaching 500 citizens; on April 8 of that year the village was
relabeled as a city. By 1954 the volunteer fire department, the police department, and
the Corporation Court opened. The city had 1,519 people in the mid-1950s and by
1967, the city had 3,800 people. The city grew due to its proximity to Fort Worth. By
the early 1970’s the city adopted the Forest Hill Home Rule Charter in order to more
easily annex territory and to allow for better governance. The city’s population was
10,250 in 1976 and 11,482 in 1990. In the 1970s, it elected its first female mayor, Jackie
Larson.

Transportation

Forest Hill is located along one of the busiest freeways in North Texas. Approximately
180,000 vehicles per day travel along IH-20. Four eastbound and westbound off ramps
provide direct access to the City’s arterial roadway network. Interstate 20 runs through
the heart of Forest Hill and provides access to Highway 287, Southeast Loop Interstate
820 and Interstate 35 West. These major thoroughfares intersect to form one of the
highest traffic count areas in southern Tarrant County.

Forest Hill has a bus transportation service, which is used by residents to gain access to
local businesses.

Residents enjoy easy access to the five area airports –

Dallas Love Field 37 miles
D/FW International 23 miles
Alliance Airport 26 miles
Meacham International 15 miles
Fort Worth Spinks Airport 11 miles

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