The Plight of Fort Worth’s Modern Treasure

Even before September 2007, when access to Heritage Plaza was suddenly closed off with cyclone fencing by the City of Fort Worth, the public was calling Historic Fort Worth, Inc. (HFW) about the Plaza’s neglected state.

To attempt to understand the issues surrounding Heritage Plaza, HFW and others requested information from City staff. When no information was forthcoming and no public process was scheduled, on February 22, 2008, HFW’s board chairman filed a request for public information under the Freedom of Information Act.

In response to its request, HFW received a copy of a letter by a City attorney to the attorney general of the State of Texas stating that the City could not give HFW a copy of a recent 66 page study of Heritage Plaza by a national engineering and architectural firm because it had been privately funded. Furthermore, the City said it did not have a copy.

The letter disclosed, however, that the City had a PowerPoint summary of the study and requested that the attorney general rule it to be exempt from open records regulations. When the attorney general ruled that the PowerPoint was part of the open records request, a date to view it was set. With permission from the City attorney in charge of the meeting, three HFW representatives and a landscape consultant for the National Trust for Historic Preservation photographed each frame of the PowerPoint. In their opinion, the PowerPoint drew illogical and damaging conclusions regarding the future of Heritage Plaza.  

Based on these experiences, it was clear that education about the significance of Heritage Plaza and Lawrence Halprin was needed. The following unfolded: 

• On September 1, 2008, experts hired by HFW and the National Trust for Historic Preservation completed a document for submission to the Texas Historical Commission to determine if Heritage Plaza was eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.

• On November 14, 2008, the Cultural Landscape Foundation included Heritage Plaza on its 2008 Landslide list: Marvels of Modernism.

• On December 8, 2008, the Texas Historical Commission determined that even though Heritage Plaza is not yet 50 years old, it is eligible for individual listing in the National Register of Historic Places as an outstanding example of a modernist urban water garden designed by the internationally-acclaimed architect, Lawrence Halprin.

• On February 10, 2009, Preservation Texas, the non-profit statewide advocate for preserving the historic resources of Texas, included Heritage Plaza on its Eleven Most Endangered List. (On May 8, 2008, Heritage Plaza had been placed on HFW’s Most Endangered List.)

• In early 2009, HFW developed several items for purchase that would both inform and the public as well as provide fundraising support for efforts to address Heritage Plaza.

• On March 27 and April 10, 2009, the City of Fort Worth and/or a downtown organization respond by scheduling two private, closed Heritage Park workshops, one by Project for Public Spaces (New York) and the other by The Olin Studio (Philadelphia).

It was largely due to the sophisticated understanding of good design and the philanthropic soul of Ruth Carter Johnson Stevenson that Lawrence Halprin left his indelible influence on Fort Worth in the form of Heritage Park Plaza. Her commitment to the city was an inheritance from her father, Amon G. Carter, Sr. (1879-1955) oilman, philanthropist, publisher/president of the city’s newspaper, and one of Fort Worth’s most outspoken supporters. 

Commissioned in 1976 as a bicentennial gift to the country at the site of the original fort, Heritage Plaza opened on April 19, 1980. According to a Star-Telegram article of the Plaza’s dedication, Ruth Carter Johnson (Stevenson) referenced the confluence of the West and Clear forks of the Trinity River one sees from the Plaza as Fort Worth’s “ancient Mesopotamia site where the Tigress and Euphrates met.” Joining her were Governor Bill Clements, Lady Bird Johnson, County Judge Mike Moncrief (now mayor of Fort Worth), Mrs. Perry Bass, and other dignitaries.

How fortunate it has been for Heritage Plaza that support from local, state and national organizations, as well as many individuals and grassroots groups, continues to grow. The selfless actions of those who care about Fort Worth’s bicentennial gift to the country, Heritage Plaza, exemplify the meaning of the inscription on the Plaza’s gateway wall.   

           

Embrace the spirit and preserve the freedom which inspired those of vision and courage to shape our heritage.