Today, over at West and Clear sister site Fort Worthology, I showed the in-depth walkthrough of two historic building restorations I was able to tour. One was the restoration of the Sawyer Grocery buildings from 1909 and 1910 on South Main, being converted to apartments over ground-floor retail by local developer Eddie Vanston, while the other is Eddie’s next project, the Miller Manufacturing Company building of 1911. | Map of the Building’s Location

As it turns out, the Miller Manufacturing building has one heck of a wild event in its past, and it would make a grand Pantherphile post here on West and Clear as well. So, let’s dive right into the story of the Miller Manufacturing Company Labor Strike of 1922.

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Will the real “Father of Fort Worth” please stand up?

Early Fort Worth resident and promoter John Peter Smith is often referred to as the “Father of Fort Worth” by history writers. I’ve seen it so many times, including on Mr. Smith’s own miraculous posthumous blog, that I never really felt the need to question the accuracy of the title.

However, the other day I was walking past the convention center and stopped to read the Texas Historic Marker at the northwest corner of the block. The marker is dedicated to early Fort Worth settler Ephraim M. Daggett, and to my surprise the marker claimed that Mr. Daggett was indeed known as the “Father of Fort Worth.”

A message that I left at Mr. Smith’s blog was met with assurances that he was Fort Worth’s true dad, but I still had some unanswered questions.

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Welcome to the first installment of Pantherphile! Kevin here, West and Clear’s resident architectural geek and Fort Worth history aficionado. With Pantherphile, I intend to bring you glimpses into Fort Worth’s past, via old photos or looks at still-standing artifacts. There’s a ton of fascinating history in this little hamlet tucked between the West and Clear Forks, and it’s high time somebody told you about it. Hopefully, you’ll get a kick out of these little trips back in time, and maybe you’ll wind up learning something, too.

Enough of my prattle - on with the show!

First, a little backstory.

That’s the Electric Building, at 7th & Lamar across from Burnett Park. It started life as the home of the Texas Electric Service Company, and after decades of office use now finds itself being used as apartments. From 1930 to about 1976, it also housed the Hollywood Theater, one of the grand Art Deco movie houses on 7th Street’s “Show Row” in downtown Fort Worth.

As you may or may not know, Fort Worth lost her grand movie palaces downtown in the ’70s. The (original) Palace, the Worth, the Hollywood…all gone.

Right?

Well, it’s not that simple.

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