Thursday, October 18, 2001

Camp Bowie’s brick street considered landmark in Fort Worth
By Laura McFarland
Staff Reporter

Shops and homes on either side of the boulevard bustle with activity. The old-fashioned streetlights give off a warm glow, and the bump, bump, bump of cars driving on the vintage bricks of Camp Bowie Boulevard fills the air.

The stretch of Camp Bowie Boulevard that runs from Arch Adam Street to Merrick Street is one of the few streets in Fort Worth that is still paved with the bricks that were so popular in the 1920s and 1930s.

The traditional elements that Camp Bowie Boulevard brings together help make it a Fort Worth landmark, said Marty Craddock, Historic Camp Bowie, Inc. board member.
“Even though it’s bumpy at times, it’s a wonderful asset,” Craddock said. “It’s genuine, has character and is not found in any other place in the city.”

Laura McFarland/Skiff Staff

Quentin McGown, general council at Texas Wesleyan University, said the bricks that have lasted almost 80 years on Camp Bowie Boulevard were manufactured in Thurber, Texas in the 1920s.

“While they were doing the coal mining and excavating for oil, they found this incredible red clay,” McGown said. “They began manufacturing millions and millions of bricks.”

Most of the bricks survived until the 1960s, when Fort Worth began moving toward more modernization.

“The city was trying to move away from the Cowtown image,” McGown said. “Brick was a wonderful solid surface. As the technology was changing, the city found it easier to just pour on a new street than to keep on repairing the brick.”

In many instances, concrete was simply poured over the existing brick road rather than pulling it up.

Those few streets that did survive are so unique and full of personality that they must be preserved, McGown said.

The property owners on Camp Bowie Boulevard are so dedicated to safeguarding the area they started Historic Camp Bowie, Inc. in 2000. The non-profit organization was established to help beautify and revitalize the historic street.

“I’m tickled to death we have the organization because they’re working hard to increase the vibrancy of the street,” Craddock said.

Brandy O’Quinn, president of Historic Camp Bowie, Inc., said the organization plans to eventually restore the brick along the entire length of Camp Bowie Boulevard.

Even the parts of the boulevard that are concrete have the original brick underneath.

“What we want to do is strip the asphalt off the brick. It’s a very difficult, labor-intensive process,” O’Quinn said.

In October 2000, 58 percent of the property owners also created a “Public Improvement District.” This allows property owners to assess an extra tax to use for specific improvements in their area, O’Quinn said.

“We feel it’s very necessary to not just maintain the boulevard, but to create an experience for people who come down to Camp Bowie,” O’Quinn said.

Debe Williams, a bartender at Rick’s on the Bricks, a restaurant and bar on Camp Bowie Boulevard, has always considered the bricks an integral part of the community.
“Everybody knows about the bricks on Camp Bowie,” Williams said. “It’s an area that’s rich in history.”

In the 13 years that she has worked there, she said she has never heard anybody who really complained about the bricks.

“Every now and then, you hear something about a few missing bricks, but it always seems to get fixed pretty quick,” Williams said.

In addition to repairing bricks, the organization is also developing a landscaping plan to have a boulevard lined with greenery, period lighting, benches and public art.

Laura McFarland
l.d.mcfarland@student.tcu.edu