When I moved to Fort Worth from Plattsburgh NY in 1967 I was in third grade. The kids in Fort Worth had started writing in cursive in second grade so I was already way behind. Lucky for me I had a great teacher named Mrs. Wallace who helped me get caught up. She had just come back from Hawaii, which was a bigger deal in 1967 than it is today, and we spent the better part of the year studying about Hawaii. We had Luau's, ate a roasted pig, built a hut with a grass roof and ate lots of pineapple and coconuts that year. We also memorized poems by Robert Frost and Carl Sanburg which I still remember today.
If you ever want to hack into any of my internet accounts you should know that the answer to my password recovery question "Who was your favorite teacher?" was Mrs. Frantz, my 4th grade teacher. We studied Edgar Alan Poe and tested our own skills at writing a macabre tale. She was an awesome teacher and whenever I run into friends from elementary school we always have the same idea that Mrs. Frantz was a really special teacher. It was in Fourth grade that they passed out a thin hardbound green book that I remember holding, just like it was yesterday. It was called "The Fort Worth Story" and it had printed on the cover "Fort Worth Public Schools". I don't know what's going on in the public schools today, but that simple initiative, to teach kids in Fort Worth about their city was genius as far as I'm concerned.
There was a picture in that book that just blew me away. I just couldn't conceive that a building as ornate and beautiful as the Texas Spring Palace had been erected in Fort Worth back in 1890 and had burned to the ground one year and one day later.
British National Al Hayne lost his life saving women and children from the fire whic quickly destroyed the building. Hayne became a local hero and his downtown office was turned into a shrine which remained for many months. Later a monument was erected near the site of the Spring Palace. The monument was later moved when the new T&P Terminal opened in 1930, and the site of the Spring Palace is now beneath interstate 30 just south of the T&P Lofts. If you glance to the right as you pass Houston Street on W. Lancaster you will see the Al Hayne Monument in a little grassy park.
The plaque reads:
Following a suggestion by General R.A. Cameron, an officer of the Fort Worth & Denver Railway, city promoters developed the idea of an annual exhibition for the display of Texas agricultural products. In 1889 they constructed the Texas Spring Palace near this site to house the exhibits.Designed by the Fort Worth firm of Armstrong and Messer, it was a two-story wooden structure featuring influences of Oriental and Moorish styles. Women's groups added ornamentation using flowers, seeds, and grasses.
On the evening of May 30, 1890, during the second season of the exhibition, a fire swept through the Spring Palace, completely destroying the structure. A number of people who crowded the building at the time had to leap from the second floor to escape the flames. Alfred S. Hayne (b. 1849), a native of England, returned to the burning Palace to help others who were still trapped inside. The only fatality of the fire, he died the next day of burns suffered in the rescue effort. In 1893 the Women's Humane Association dedicated a monument near this site in memory of his heroism and courage.
Efforts to rebuild the Texas Spring Palace failed because of economic problems in the Panic of 1893. (1980)
There's a good video on the subject produced by UTA here
Today I'm A Keller Williams Realtor in Fort Worth, TX. I know a lot about the city, it's history and it's amazing neighborhoods. Contact me if you ever want to talk about Fort Worth!
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