History’s Latest Rhyme: Advancing East Lancaster is a Plan 120 Years in The Making

By Jay Firsching
Senior Associate and Historic Preservation Specialist, Architexas

Later this month, the City of Fort Worth and Trinity Metro will host public meetings about the Advancing East Lancaster transit-oriented development plan. The proposal is to establish high-capacity transit along the system’s most-used corridor. If things go according to plan, this will boost economic activity in Sycamore Heights, Meadowbrook, and Handley.

Many people don’t know that the plan for the Lancaster corridor is a reboot of a plan devised by a syndicate of Ohio investors 120 years ago. Without them, the corridor and its surrounding neighborhoods might never have existed.

Closing The Distance

In 1901, Fort Worth and Dallas were separated by miles of open prairie. The Texas and Pacific Railroad offered freight and passenger service between the two, with the only alternative being a network of rough, unimproved roads. Seeing an opportunity, those Ohio investors announced a plan to connect the cities with a new electric interurban trolley line with stops in Handley, Arlington, and Grand Prairie. With that announcement, the Northern Texas Traction Company was born.

With the approval of the Texas Legislature, they drew out a route beginning at Fort Worth’s Texas and Pacific Depot on the west side of town and connecting with the Oak Cliff Street Railway on the east before ultimately terminating at the Dallas post office. The total distance of the route was 33 miles.

Work began immediately at Sycamore Creek at the eastern edge of Fort Worth, and soon 200 work crews were busy constructing the line.

A Creation For Recreation

Systems of this type required an electrical power plant and shops for maintaining equipment. The traction company determined the small town of Handley, east of Fort Worth, was the best location, but not for the reasons you might imagine. Private transit companies relied heavily on fares from recreational travel and often promoted ridership by building their own parks.

Handley provided the ideal location because it offered one of the few stands of trees between Dallas and Fort Worth and a reliable source of water for creating a lake. Upon completion, their new resort at Lake Erie was 700 acres that included a dancing pavilion, restaurant, sports facilities, boating, fishing, and hunting areas. Use of the property was provided free to the public but was accessible only by the interurban line.

The Northern Texas Traction Company line between Fort Worth and Dallas officially opened on June 12, 1902. The company celebrated the event with a barbecue held at Handley. The company ran eight luxury passenger cars, three open trolleys, a baggage car, and one freight express car. A one-way trip took 90 minutes on average, with cars leaving every hour.

It is hard to overstate just how remarkable an improvement that was for the average traveler. To put it into perspective, the first trip by automobile from Terrell to Dallas took five hours, including a stop at the blacksmith’s shop for repairs!

A Creation For Commerce

The presence of the Interurban Line created new economic opportunities. By early 1904 Tarrant County and the property owners along the tracks shared the cost to construct a new sixty-foot-wide boulevard between Fort Worth and Handley. Neighborhoods like Sycamore Heights and Meadowbrook sprang up to take advantage of these new conveniences. Eventually, what is now Lancaster Boulevard, extended the entire length of the line through Arlington, Grand Prairie, and along Jefferson Boulevard through Oak Cliff.

An Idea Reborn

The last run of the Interurban between Dallas and Fort Worth occurred on December 24, 1934. The boulevard that owed its existence to the Interurban brought about its demise.

Automobiles and buses offered more freedom and flexibility to travelers. The boulevard became Highway 80. Lake Arlington now covers Lake Erie and the resort. The TXU power station has replaced the old power plant and shops. An iron and concrete overpass at Handley is all that remains of the original interurban construction, but this, too, will soon be gone due to its deteriorated condition.

Architexas recently documented the structure with drawings, photographs, and a written history. This documentation will provide a permanent record for future researchers.

As you can see, Advancing East Lancaster is a plan 120 years in the making. If successful, the neighborhoods made possible by constructing the Interurban in 1902 will be revitalized using the power of transit.

As Mark Twain is famously quoted as saying, “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.”

Information about Advancing East Lancaster and the upcoming public meetings is available at advancingeastlancaster.com.

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Jay Firsching is the Senior Historic Preservation Specialist at Architexas — a planning, architecture, and historic preservation firm. Jay is a member of Preservation Dallas and served as Vice Chair of Dallas Central Business District, West End, and Individual Sites Task Force, for eighteen years. In his spare time Jay enjoys his own DIY conservation projects and can be found camping in his vintage VW Westfalia with his wife, Amelia, and daughters, Sydney and Isabella.