{"id":5936,"date":"2019-10-15T15:47:36","date_gmt":"2019-10-15T20:47:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.timdyoung.com\/?p=5936"},"modified":"2024-01-13T10:25:57","modified_gmt":"2024-01-13T16:25:57","slug":"taking-the-walk-fort-worth-tour-provides-history-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.timdyoung.com\/staging\/taking-the-walk-fort-worth-tour-provides-history-and-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Taking the walk: Fort Worth tour provides history and more"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/span><\/span>by Kit Snyder<\/span><\/span> & Linda Kessler | <\/span>Fort Worth Business Press<\/a><\/p>\n

When you embark on a Fort Worth Walking Tour, every time is something new.<\/p>\n

On June 9, two reporters for the Fort Worth Business Press went on the Fine Arts and Culture tour, which featured a behind-the-scenes look at Bass Performance Hall.<\/p>\n

On the warm morning at 9 a.m., we met Donna and Tim Young, the group’s founders, in the historic Texas and Pacific Railway building, now known as the T&P Lofts building.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got interested in Fort Worth architecture and history because we live here in this historic 1930 \u2026 the amazing building called the Texas and Pacific,\u201d Tim Young said.<\/p>\n

Donna Young explained<\/span><\/div>\n
Donna Young explained<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/span>Donna Young explained<\/span><\/span> she and her husband had been up since 4 a.m. that morning, preparing the tours and making trays of breakfast burritos for the day\u2019s walkers. Tim makes the burritos in homage to his past as a restaurant owner.<\/p>\n

While everyone ate their burritos and drank orange juice, Tim explained that this time, the group was trying something new. Rather than have all five tour guides give variations on the same tour, today each guide had picked his or her own tour to offer.<\/p>\n

The tours of the day were:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Nefarious murders in Fort Worth, led by Richard Selcer, a \u201cpreeminent historian for Fort Worth,\u201d according to Donna;<\/li>\n
  • Downtown murder tour led by middle school history and theater teacher Brian Ketchum;<\/li>\n
  • Architecture tour led by John Roberts, the outgoing president of Historic Fort Worth Inc. and a \u201cpreeminent expert in Fort Worth architecture;\u201d<\/li>\n
  • Fine Arts and Culture tour led by Donna;<\/li>\n
  • Pioneer Fathers of Fort Worth led by Tim.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>After introductions and<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span> explanations, everyone dispersed to the tour of their choice.<\/p>\n

    Because of our interest in Fort Worth Fine Arts and Culture, we followed Donna as she made her way to the first stop: the Fort Worth Water Gardens.<\/p>\n

    <\/span><\/span>The space, now<\/span><\/span> occupied by the Water Gardens, was part of what was known as Hell\u2019s Half-Acre, a generally neglected, low-income, crime-ridden area of old Fort Worth. The space was eventually cleaned out and renovated into today\u2019s Water Gardens.<\/p>\n

    Next to the Water Gardens is the Fort Worth Convention Center, where we learned that the domed arena, the site of many concerts from the Rolling Stones to U2, might be torn down.<\/p>\n

    \u201cThere is a plan for the dome to be demolished, and all of that need for space will be picked up at the new [Dickies Arena] over by Will Rogers,\u201d Donna said.<\/p>\n

    <\/span><\/span>The convention center<\/span><\/span> housed the JFK Memorial Theater, the first namesake of President John F. Kennedy in Fort Worth after his death. The theater hosted the Fort Worth Opera, the Fort Worth Ballet, the Fort Worth Symphony and more.<\/p>\n

    As we strolled along the brick streets of downtown, we saw another reminder of Kennedy, the JFK Tribute memorializing the rain-drenched impromptu speech Kennedy gave to thousands on the morning of Nov. 22, 1963, in Fort Worth hours before he was killed in Dallas.<\/p>\n

    The tribute includes a bronze statue of Kennedy with selected quotes from some of his speeches.<\/p>\n

    In November, Walk Fort Worth also offers a special JFK tour featuring the monument, a recording of Kennedy\u2019s speech and more.<\/p>\n

    <\/span><\/span>On our way<\/span><\/span> to the final stop of the tour, we walked past the Ashton Hotel, which according to our tour guide has hosted billionaires, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates.<\/p>\n

    Walking into the air-conditioned Bass Hall was a respite that we desperately needed 30 minutes into the walking tour. Once inside we met our volunteer docent, Sue Drautz, who would take us through the building, into the audience chamber and down to the tunnel that connects the hall to Maddox-Muse Center across the street. The tunnel from Maddox-Muse is how the hall gets its electricity as there is no electrical or mechanical equipment in the audience chamber.<\/p>\n

    Perusing the halls toward the audience chamber, Drautz called our attention to the plane wire used in railings throughout the building, which references American Airlines, one of the major donors for Bass Hall\u2019s construction.<\/p>\n

    <\/span><\/span>Going into the<\/span><\/span> audience chamber, our eyes were immediately drawn to the blue midday sky lit up in purple LED lights on the ceiling.<\/p>\n

    Drautz told us that Bass Hall art such as the ceilings of the audience chamber and the corridors were painted by twin brothers Stuart and Scott Gentling.<\/p>\n

    \u201cIn that sky, you might see two golden eagles the Gentlings painted to represent themselves,\u201d Drautz said. \u201cThree sections to the right of the birds is a crescent moon in honor of their late mother, who encouraged them to do their artwork.\u201d<\/p>\n

    She noted that the west corridor dome was painted to depict the western afternoon sky in Fort Worth, with the east depicting the eastern morning sky.<\/p>\n

    While we stared at the ceiling, Drautz mentioned that math enthusiasts would know that the circle in the center of the dome was designed using the Fibonacci sequence.<\/p>\n

    \u201cIt\u2019s like a flower that blooms and each petal comes out from the center and is graduated larger as it comes out, and that\u2019s how the marble in the floor is also,\u201d Drautz said.<\/p>\n

    She then called our attention to the three smaller replica domes in the upper gallery, one of six sections in the chamber.<\/p>\n

    Sitting in the cavernous hall, we learned the tale of Bass Hall\u2019s ghost light.<\/p>\n

    The ghost light, Drautz said, is from the Elizabethan era when all theaters were rumored to be haunted, so they made sure to always leave a light on the stage so the theater would never be completely dark.<\/p>\n

    \u201cOurs is on a pedestal and rolls and it\u2019s always in the center of the stage if nothing else is going on,\u201d Drautz said.<\/p>\n

    When the Bass Hall tour was over, Donna explained why she and her husband take time out of their weekends to embark on these journeys.<\/p>\n

    \u201cTim and I give the tours because we love Fort Worth,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re really proud of what Bass facilities has done and also what groups like Downtown Fort Worth Inc. have done for the downtown area to promote culture and residential properties and restaurants and tourism to this area.\u201d<\/p>\n

    The group has been giving tours for about four years, offering about 14 different experiences throughout the year. One of their coming tours follows the announcement of XTO Energy\u2019s exit from Fort Worth and looks at the six historic buildings the company currently owns.<\/p>\n

    The \u201cXT-Uh-oh\u201d tour on Aug. 12 will look at the past, present and future of these buildings. Tour guides will meet participants in the meeting room of the T&P building, 221 W. Lancaster Ave.<\/p>\n

    <\/span><\/span>\u201cWe believe it\u2019s<\/span><\/span> important to connect people not only with what\u2019s here right now, like Bass Hall, but with the history, how things like this got here,\u201d Donna said. \u201cAll this connects to where we are today and how we got to this point. We love the people and we love the city and that\u2019s why we do it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    by Kit Snyder & Linda Kessler | Fort Worth Business Press When you embark on a Fort Worth Walking Tour, every time is something new. On June 9, two reporters for the Fort Worth Business Press went on the Fine Arts and Culture tour, which featured a behind-the-scenes look at Bass Performance Hall. On the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2084,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[72],"class_list":["post-5936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-walking-tours","tag-historic-fort-worth"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.timdyoung.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.timdyoung.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.timdyoung.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.timdyoung.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.timdyoung.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5936"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.timdyoung.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5936\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8281,"href":"https:\/\/www.timdyoung.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5936\/revisions\/8281"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.timdyoung.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.timdyoung.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.timdyoung.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.timdyoung.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}