How Fort Worth got the Motto: “Where The West Begins”
Downtown Fort Worth, c. 1980s
Photo and illustration both from the Fort Worth Historical Collection
“Where the West Begins” has been Fort Worth’s tagline for 100 years now.
This June marks the 172nd year that a tiny fort was founded alongside the bluff of the Trinity
River. That same fort is now the 5th largest city in Texas and the 13th largest (and #1 greatest)
city in the United States.
On June 6th, 1849, Mexican American War hero General William Jenkins Worth set up camp
about 1,000 feet west of where the Tarrant County Courthouse now stands. The outpost would
become his namesake; first called “Camp Worth.” It wasn’t until that November when the U.S.
War Department officially named the camp “Fort Worth.”
The purpose of the Fort was to protect east Texas settlements from raids by Native Americans.
But despite myths to the contrary, 4 years went by with no major battles. So, the outpost was
abandoned and the citizens who grew up around the camp took over empty buildings, clinics,
schools, stores and hotels transforming the rough and tumble base into a slightly more
presentable one – these citizens unknowingly planted the seed to the great city of Fort Worth.
The start of Fort Worth’s booms happened in 1867 when millions of longhorns were driven
through town by way of the Chisolm Trail. The Pacific Railway railroad increased cattle traffic
and by 1900 Fort Worth was one of the largest cattle markets in the world, resulting in the
popular nickname “Cowtown.” Thanks to the multiple industries of meat packing, steel, flower
mills, aircraft plants and military bases, growth steadily continued and helped skyrocket Fort
Worth to Texas Top 10 status.
Yet during the peak of these booms, the people of Fort Worth preferred a calmer way of life.
After the infamous comment made by a Dallas attorney that Fort Worth was such a sleepy
town that he saw a panther asleep undisturbed by the rush of men or the hum of trade, in true
Fort Worth fashion, the panther was embraced as a symbol of hope and strength, proudly
claiming the soul-name “Panther City.”
Fort Worth developed many names over time; including the lesser-known monikers such as
“Queen City of the Prairies” and “Young Giant.” So where exactly does the east end and the
west begin? Well, that’s debatable.
Some feel that the “West” is merely geographical. While we know that General Worth founded
his fort on the frontlines to protect Texas settlements in the east, for other states the answer
was a bit more contentious.
Technically, Kansas City is on the dividing line between the east and the west, but the Salt Lake
Tribune felt that the west begins at the “Mississippi River, possibly the Missouri River.” In 1898,
The Boston Traveler said that the west started in the “Middle of Ohio.” In 1887, The Boston
Transcript wrote that the west begins at Batavia, New York. Nice try, Boston.
Back in Texas, some felt it was environmental. It was asserted that the West began somewhere
between the 100th and 98th meridian of the Great American Desert and the Great Plains, but
120 miles west of Fort Worth. This concluded for some that forestry is the dividing line between
east and west Texas marked by a decrease in precipitation where the oak trees stop growing,
which is synonymous to west Texas terrain.
And then there are some who contend that the West is neither a matter of geography nor
environment, but a state of consciousness. At the start of the 20th century, Samuel Crothers
wrote about the “psychological west.” “It is a feeling, an irresistible impulse. It is the sense of
undeveloped resources and limitless opportunities.” Cowboy poet Arthur Chapman imitated
that the West is “Out where the smile dwells a little longer, Out Where the friendships a little
truer, That’s where the west begins.” The poem was appropriately called, “Out Where the West
Begins.”
In Fort Worth, the famous poem would catch the attention of Star-Telegram Vice President,
Amon Carter. The poem described an openness, free spirit and friendliness that Carter instantly
recognized in the people that dwell here. Unlike that city to the east, Carter could not care less
about what a couple of trees and states thought about what defined the West. He became
smitten with the notion that the West was defined by a state of mind. To Carter, Fort Worth
defined the West.
Carter pitched the phrase “Where the West Begins” to serve as the city’s official slogan. The
Chamber of Commerce instantly approved the motto; in part because it was true, in part
because it was enticing, but mostly because Carter demanded it be done. Now that Fort
Worth’s biggest advocate had an alluring tagline, Carter was eager to promote the city.
For the next 30 years, he would play gatekeeper of West Texas by pronouncing his iconic
cowboy look of tailored western-cut suits, silk wildrag scarves topped with a 10-gallon cowboy
hat, hammering the motto into the nation’s mind everywhere he went.
“Where the West Begins” first appeared in none other than the Star-Telegram. The expression
caught on like wildfire when nearby businesses printed the phrase across advertisements from
hotels, to banks, down to selling cowboy hats. Fort Worth’s leaders would heavily campaign on
the slogan to pull in business across the country. During a 1921 conference of Texas mayors,
Joe Davis of Munday in Knox County said the people of his town considered Fort Worth to be
the point “Where the West Begins.” The motto proved to be a huge success and once the Star-
Telegram permanently placed the phrase on their nameplate, Fort Worth had officially
committed to West Texas.
But whether Fort Worth is literally a part of the west continues to be a debate. If not on maps,
one thing holds true – Fort Worth is a city that runs on its spirit of warmth and generosity.
United by poetry, Fort Worth will and forever will be “Where the West begins.”
Here’s to another 172 years of making Fort Worth boom.
Written by Michael Govea of Fort Worth Historical, June 2021