The City of Dalworthington Gardens will be celebrating it's 75th Anniversay in 2011. In honor of this great moment, the DWG Historical Committee has been hard at work to make this celebration truly special, including the submission of an application to the state for a Historical Marker which will create a monument worthy of the unique history of Dalworthington Gardens. Below is a copy of the application and history submitted the by DWG Historical Committee.
Historical Marker for City of Dalworthington Gardens, Texas
I. CONTENT
- The history of the City of Dalworthington Gardens began with the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt and depression era U.S. government policies, but the actual site was suggested by his wife, Eleanor Roosevelt.
Roosevelt believed in the “back to the land” movement. The president’s Homestead Division Director and Public Works Administrator, Milburn L. Wilson “envisioned the program as a means of freeing the industrial workers from the dreaded city.” However, Secretary of the Interior, Harold L. Ickes, was “disappointed in certain aspects of the program” and called it the “biggest headache of his career.” Also, Resettlement Administration Director, Rexford Tugwell “had reservations about the entire homestead idea.” Hence the history begins amid controversy (Antley, iv).
President Roosevelt signed the National Industrial Recovery Act into law on June 16, 1933. Part II, section 208 included a section that authorized the establishment of a subsistence homestead program under the Department of the Interior (Ibid, viii)
II. OVERVIEW
The Roosevelts’ son Elliot became engaged to a woman from the local area in July of 1933. Elliot and his mother were invited to visit in the home of Elliot’s friend, Carl Guido Mosig, Ft. Worth Bureau chief of the Dallas Morning News, who lived near Arlington, Texas. During this visit, Eleanor saw the possibilities for a homestead on the land across the street and passed her idea on to those who were investigating sites for the projects across the country (Proclamation).
On November 23, 1933, Carl C. Taylor, Assistant Subsistence Division Director, and Francis J. Clair, a federal engineer from Washington, and a committee of representatives from both Dallas and Ft. Worth inspected the land south of “dusty unpaved Arkansas Lane (Stevenson, Antley 1).” Originally this site was farmland under cultivation interspersed with cane stubble and bounded on the south by a wooded area originally owned by Leonard Randal in 1857(Archives 1). Clair commented after the inspection, “Carl, this project is a dream I should like to see come true (Ft.Worth Star Telegram, Antley 3).”
On December 12, 1933 a corporation was formed for a state charter that included nine members. It was titled by T.C. Richardson as Dalworthington Gardens, Incorporated and listed under the State of Delaware (Lord, Antley 71).
In early 1934, the federal government allotted $250,000 to buy 593.3 acres of land south of Arkansas Lane near Arlington, Texas. It would contain 80 sites for development (U.S. Plat and Dedication). In June of that year, Civil Works Administration workers arrived to remove all fences and clear out the woods except in the extreme south end of the project. On July 13, a local contractor, F.A. Mote was awarded the contract to build the houses with John T. Orr as project manager. Mote had to promise he would complete the project in 120 days at a cost of no more than $140,000. The smallest lot was 3.749 acres while the largest was 24.436 acres. In the center of the project, forty-three acres were reserved for a park and community house. Six unpaved gravel roads provided access through the project; three ran north and south, and three ran east and west (Groves “History,’ Antley 78). On August 5th construction began (Antley 78).
On October 18, 1934, Mrs. Florence Mosby, the Tarrant County Division Director for the project, announced that thirty-six Tarrant County homestead applications had been approved in the Dallas office and sixty-two were forwarded to Washington for division approval (Arlington Journal, Antley 80). Applicants were issued a temporary contract agreement good for one year. If the homesteader passed this test, he was issued a permanent agreement allowing him to purchase his homestead outright. On November 24, 1934, the Department of the Interior determined that “only those homesteaders may be selected…who either presently reside in industrial areas or who may have recently moved from industrial areas.” Therefore, only people from the Dallas or Ft. Worth areas would qualify for the Dalworthington Gardens site, and this made the selection process easier (Lord 51, Antley 81).
Meanwhile, construction continued in “the colony.” A mill was located near the present city hall. Lumber was delivered and dumped near the mill, and boards were cut according to the size for four room or five room houses. These were then delivered to each site for the next crew to begin building the walls. The houses were erected in phases with a different crew for each phase. By May of 1935 about 85 percent of the construction work was completed (Stevenson, Antley 83).
When applicants moved into the homes, there were no garages, no fences, no driveways, no paved roads. Butane gas was furnished later, but initially only wood or coal could be used to heat the homes and cook the meals. Family and neighbors had to help rescue automobiles from the mud during heavy rains (Ibid 97). Because the building of fences in the project was delayed until 1937, it was rather difficult to raise livestock on the premises. Many homesteaders already owned cows, chickens, and pigs, and they brought them along to their new homes. The roaming around of these animals and subsequent herding back to their owners was a common sight in the gardens before the fences were built (Groves “History,” Antley 97). Other typical problems with the houses such as electrical and carpentry malfunctions occurred which made the living conditions challenging. All homes were required to have indoor plumbing, but a faulty sewerage system caused many embarrassing situations for homeowners until additional lines and septic tanks were installed. Also, corruption occurred with the contractor and some local residents hired to construct the pipeline from the water well near the project. The 4” pipe supplied to bring water from a spring had previously been used in an oil field resulting in more oil than water flowing into the homes. Homesteaders were forced to carry water from the spring in 5 gallon cans until new pipe arrived (Research, Antley 83). Another problem was the lack of fertility of the land. One resident complained, “I’ll have to pasture most of it two or three years before I can raise a crop (Ft Worth Press, Antley 100).”
Elliot Roosevelt and his wife lived southwest of Ft. Worth, and his parents visited him often. On one of her visits in 1935, the First Lady decided to visit the Dalworthington “colony” and had her chauffeur drive her to the project. Although the Gardens committee planned a tour that would show her the best aspects of the site, she went to a home not on the tour. Legend has it that the homesteader met her in his stocking feet and asked who she was (Groves “History,” Antley 98).
On May 15, 1936, the subsistence homestead program ceased to exist and was replaced by the Resettlement Administration in Washington, so the “colony” was incorporated into its management division. The screening process for prospective homesteaders became more complicated. “From the simple one-page application formerly, the applicant had to submit a nine page form detailing his personal background including family income for the past twelve months, employment record, health and education status and a complete financial statement of assets and liabilities (Dalworthington, Antley 94). The management division also sent a confidential questionnaire to the applicant’s former and present employer and to his landlord. Most difficult to judge was the answer to the question of why the applicant wanted to be a resident of the homestead colony. In addition the applicant had to include five personal references to be contacted by the local committee. Only after verification of an applicant’s background through investigation could it all be sent to the office in Dallas on Commerce Street (Ibid 95).
On June 1, 1936 the Dalworthington Homestead Association signed a management contract with the Resettlement Administration. They agreed to pay $143,000 over a forty-year period together with an annual 3% interest rate. The total would be paid out in monthly installments of $534.29 beginning on July 1, 1937 for the next 40 years. Each homestead sent one voting member to the association, and all were encouraged to get involved in community affairs. A local board of six members now reviewed all applications for homesteads and only one was from the government office in Dallas. Each homeowner had the opportunity to enter a forty-year purchase contract for his homestead called a “tenure A” contract (Conkin 216, Antley 108). If he chose to move away, he must offer his homestead to the association that would pay him the equivalent of the accumulated equity. A “tenure B” contract was available for those who wanted to rent or lease their homesteads. There was still a one year probation period before being offered a purchase contract. An austere family paid less than $25 per month for their home and utilities except during extremely cold weather (Ft. Worth Press, Antley 110).
By late spring of 1936, many of the houses in the “colony” had deteriorated through neglect or the transience of the owners. Fortunately, in August of 1936 Guy Estill was appointed as project manager by the homestead association. Although previously Guy was only a farmer, he now had project duties, and he began to keep homestead houses in good repair and still maintained his own on Sunset Drive. He was also known to be a good friend and a worthy liaison between neighbors and the Resettlement Administration authorities. Estill and four others purchased a motorized garden tractor in late fall of 1936 which they shared with the others to plow their gardens. Homesteaders who made it through the first year received a form letter saying they could become permanent residents of Dalworthington Gardens (Ibid 112).
Plans for the community house solidified the residents in a new way. It was built where the new City hall stands today. “It was a large one room building with a big fireplace on one end and a kitchen on the other (Stevenson, Antley 119-120).” It soon became the center of activity for the entire colony. Along with organizational meetings, classes in canning and farming hints there were bingo parties, carnivals and Saturday night dances called ”Jitney Dances (Advertisement, Antley 120).” Screens on the windows, a library, and donated books and money helped to expand the facility with shelves and partitions as well. All male citizens over the age of sixteen performed one hour per week of required community service. Different blocks in the colony competed for “work points” collected over a seven-week period, and the high point block won a picnic (Dalworthington News, Antley 122).
A health plan was offered in the form of a Health Cooperative costing one dollar per month paid into a group plan (Ibid). In May of that year the fence posts arrived and residents were elated, especially one who had built a chicken pen but neglected to include a gate (Ft. Worth Press, Antley 123). The WPA labor force arrived to build the fences but didn’t have any experience doing it, so the residents who knew how helped build all but seven of them. It was 1938 before any more fence posts arrived (Groves “History,” Antley 123).
Summer of 1937 brought the first harvest of crops to the homesteaders. Production improved markedly after a new water pipe system and sewerage systems were installed, but only about 50 per cent of the residents participated in the gardening. The colonists knew they had the best water supply in Texas. Again problems arose such as water drainage and then many unions nationwide chose to strike. Some residents were unable to make their mortgage payments, and the committee worked with residents to help them meet their financial obligations (Stevenson, Antley 124).
In August, Texas Industries, a cooperative, met at the community house where they began to build furniture, stepladders and butter churns. In September of 1937 a school bus service began to transport children from the “Gardens” to various nearby schools. By the “ end of the year, the homestead association voted to have a gas system installed (Groves “History,” Antley 133-134).”
The Farm Security Administration held authority over the homesteads from 1937 to 1942 with Dalworthington Gardens functioning well locally (Congressional 19 May 1942, Antley 134). On June 29, 1949, a majority of the residents of the colony voted to submit a petition to have the “Gardens” incorporated into a town. H.L. Rhodes served as the first mayor of Dalworthington Gardens from 1949-1951 and again from 1953-1957. Mortgages were assumed by local savings and loan corporations and were then paid directly by the homeowners (Ft. Worth Tarrant, Antley 137).
On August 5, 1968, the town council of Dalworthington Gardens voted to change the name from “Town” to “City” during the administration of R.W. Grimes (Certificate).
III. SIGNIFICANCE
Today, DWG is the only subsistence homestead project existing as an autonomous community in the state of Texas. Dalworthington Gardens still maintains a rural atmosphere with many residents gardening, raising livestock especially horses, stables for local FFA students’ animals and only single family lots of no less than ½ acre. It is now surrounded by Arlington and Pantego but is an oasis of small town living in the middle of a thriving metroplex.
IV. DOCUMENTATION
Works Cited
Advertisement Circular. Dalworthington Gardens City Records. Dalworthington Gardens City
Hall. Dalworthington Gardens, Texas.
Antley, Herbert N. A New Deal Experiment in Planned Utopia: A Study of Dalworthington
Gardens and the Subsistence Homestead Program, 1933-1937. Arlington, Texas:
The University of Texas at Arlington, 1980.
Archives and Records. Jerry Patterson, Commissioner. Texas General Land Office.
31 October 2009. GLO/Archives and Records
Arlington Journal. 19 October 1934.
Certificate for Ordinance Changing Name from “Town” to “City”.
Dalworthington Gardens City Records. 5 August 1968.
Congressional Records, U.S. Senate. 77th Congress. 2nd session. 18 May 1942.
--------- 19 May 1942.
Conkin, Paul K. Tomorrow a New World: The New Deal Community Program.
Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1959.
Dalworthington Gardens City Records, Dalworthington Gardens City Hall, Dalworthington
Gardens, Texas.
Dalworthington News . 28 May 1937. Quoted in Antley…
Ellis, Edward R. A Nation in Torment: The Great Depression 1929-1939 .
New York: Coward-McCann, 1970.
Fort Worth Press . 26 May 1937. Quoted in Antley…
--------10 September 1961.
Fort Worth Star Telegram. 24 November 1933. Quoted in Herbert Antley…
Fort Worth, Tarrant County Commissioners Court. Minutes of Court Proceedings
July 1949, vol. 43, document number 21592.
Groves, C.H. “History of Dalworthington Gardens.” The Arlington Journal.
25 September 1953. 3:1; Interview with F.M. Stevenson, Dalworthington Gardens,
Texas 30 July 1979.
----------., Resident. Dalworthington Gardens, Texas.
Telephone Interview. 15 August 1979.
Lord, Russell and Paul H. Johnstone, eds. A Place On Earth: A Critical Appraisal
of Subsistence Homesteads. Washington: Agricultural Economics Bureau,1942.
Proclamation by the Mayor of the City of Dalworthington Gardens. Albert A. Taub.
18 September 1989.
Research Data, Fort Worth and Tarrant County, Texas. Works Projects Administration.
Texas Writer’s Project, 1941. 25:9673
Stevenson, F. M. Original Homestead Resident. Dalworthington Gardens, Texas.
Interview. 30 July 1979. Quoted in Herbert Antley, A New Deal Experiment in Planned
Utopia: A Study of Dalworthington Gardens and the Subsistence Homestead Program.
United States of America Plat and Dedication to the Public. City of Dalworthington Gardens
Records. Dalworthington Gardens, Texas. 17 February 1937.
History of Dalworthington Gardens
as written by Pam Bagby
In the spring of 1933, Carl G. Mosig bought his I5-acre homestead on Arkansas Lane. His wife, Lelia, explains, 'There was no Dalworthington Gardens. Arkansas Lane was, as the name implies, a simple country lane'.
While working in Fort Worth, Carl met Elliott Roosevelt, who married a local girl. Elliott, son of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, brought his mother, Eleanor, to visit Mosig one day. Active in the subsistence homestead program initiated by her husband, she expressed interest in the vacant land south of Mosig's place. "Soon I learned that Elliott's mother had established one of her idealistic colonies next to my home: Dalworthington Gardens;' ninety-one year old Mosig proudly recalls.
The unique history of the Gardens has been the subject of several scholarly papers. Herbert Antley's masters’ thesis at the University of Texas at Arlington, "A New Deal Experiment in Planned Utopia", probably best traces the community's early development.
The National Industrial Recovery Act was enacted by Congress on June 16, 1933, to resolve aspects of the worst depression ever experienced by the United States. Title II, which initiated a Public Works Administration, included funding for the purchase of subsistence homesteads in rural areas, the purpose of which was "to provide for aiding the redistribution of the overbalance of population in industrial centers:'
On November 23,1933, the state's advisory committee met with Carl C. Taylor, Assistant Subsistence Division Director, and federal engineer Francis J. Clair to discuss a proposed homestead location between Fort Worth and Dallas. A 21-member committee was selected to represent local interests.
The group inspected several tracts of land that day while bumping along the unpaved roads outside Arlington. Four miles southwest of the city, committee members and government officials Taylor and Clair selected the land just south of dusty Arkansas Lane offered by the Rose-Yates Realty Company of Arlington for the project.
"What they saw was farmland under cultivation interspersed with cane stubble and bounded on the south by a wooded area;' described resident F. M. Stevenson. They were impressed by the size of the tract nearly 600 acres, the largest of the five Texas projects - and with its accessibility to the old Dallas-Fort Worth pike from Bowen Stop road.
Project Approved
On December 2, Secretary of the Interior and Public Works Administrator Harold L. Ickes organized the Federal Subsistence Homestead Corporation and approved several projects, including the one near Arlington, Texas.
Taylor and Clair met with the committee again on December 12 to announce official approval of the project and to form Dalworthington Gardens, Incorporated. Taylor was designated the government representative, and committee members appointed were Colonel William Easterwood and Hiram Williamson of Dallas, Fort Worth attorney Walter B. Scott and E. E. Davis of Arlington, dean of North Texas Agricultural College. Other members of the corporation included Farm and Ranch editor Frank Briggs.
Antley adds, "It was one of Briggs' associates, T. C. Richardson, who suggested that the name of the project be an admixture of the three interested cities: Dallas, Fort Worth, and Arlington.
The Dalworthington Gardens charter was approved, and in early 1934, the federal government allotted $250,000 for the land purchase. By summer, government workers removed existing buildings and cleared the land. F. A. Mote, a Dallas contractor was awarded the construction contract and by October, 24 homes were under construction.
Prospective buyers in Fort Worth and Dallas were carefully screened. Applicants could not earn monthly salaries over $200, though a prime consideration was that ten percent of their income should cover the monthly mortgage payments. Credit rating and backgrounds were investigated. A letter from Dalworthington Gardens Project Manager 1. T. Orr offered applicants "four- and five-room houses costing the homesteader approximately $3,000. They must be paid for over a period of twenty years, ranging from $18 to $25 per month:' And he adds, "This being a model colony, none but earnest people of good reputation will be accepted. Only families with a real desire to better their condition by making a part of their living during unemployed hours will be considered."
The houses were erected in phases as in manufactured housing. "One crew laid the foundation, one
built the sidings and walls, one laid the pine floors, one installed the plumbing, and another put on the roof. By May, 1935, only five months behind schedule, about 85 percent of the construction work on Dalworthington Gardens was completed:' reports Antley.
During this period the subsistence homestead program - plagued by bureaucratic problems at the national level -was transferred by Executive Order to the Resettlement Administration. This saved the program when the Supreme Court struck down the National Industrial Recovery Act on "Black
Monday," May 27, 1935.
When the Resettlement Administration assumed responsibility, the screening process grew from a one-page application to a nine-page form, questionnaires to applicants' employers and landlords, and
five personal references. Antley explains that the purpose was "to obtain information concerning the homesteader's work habits, his attitude toward his work obligations, his honesty, his sobriety, and his willingness to meet his financial obligations on time:' It often took months to process the applications, while prospective residents anxiously awaited the official form letter of approval or disapproval.
Hardships Faced
The first settlers in the Gardens were faced with several hardships - no fences, no garages or driveways, no paved roads. Fuel for heating and cooking was wood or coal until butane gas was furnished later. Water was tainted by pipe formerly used in an oil field; forcing residents to tote water from t a nearby spring until the problem was corrected. (A local contractor was indicted in 1936 for conspiring to defraud the government through the sale of $4,442 worth of useless oil field pipe.)
Among the first settlers was Hubert A. Tull, who moved into his home in June of 1935. Baylor student Marcie Koch reports that he had a cow, a calf, 25 to 30 chickens and "scuffled" along to success. Tull recalls others not so lucky, 'About 52 families moved into the community the same month. By October of that year, only 26 were left.
Many city folks did not know about country life, Koch's report continues. Claims Tull, 'They thought that all they would need to do was throw a few seeds out and they would have a garden, a few chickens and they'd have eggs the next week:'
Raising livestock was especially hampered by the delay in fence construction. Antley states, "It was not unusual for the animals to roam about the project ruining other people's gardens arid disrupting their normal activities. A common sight around the colony was a group of disgruntled residents herding the animals back to their apologetic owners'.
Some residents on Eleanor Drive became so disenchanted with government delays that they had the name of their street changed to Park Drive.
Pressures from Congress regarding ballooning costs of the subsistence communities and management
concerns of the Resettlement Administration led Roosevelt to approve a restructuring plan in 1936 which turned homestead projects over to local homestead associations. Remaining under federal
supervision, the associations would hold title to the land, select settlers, issue contracts to homesteaders, collect payments, maintain the property and pay tax and insurance expenses.
Management Transferred
On June I, 1936, the Dalworthington Homestead Association signed a management contract and deed of trust note -promising to pay the Resettlement Administration $143,000 over a 40-year period, plus three percent annual interest (about 44 percent of the actual cost of the project).
Each homestead was represented in the Association by one voting member, and a local six-member board was selected to examine applications and address project concerns. Homesteaders were offered 40-year purchase contracts called 'Tenure A' agreements; 'Tenure B" agreements were issued to new settlers for a one-year probationary period. Monthly payments were recorded in a Memorandum Homestead Ledger from June I, 1936, until 1949 when the federal loans were transferred to local savings and loan institutions by individual owners. (The ledger remains among records at city hail today.)
Antley outlines typical monthly mortgage payments of $1 5 to $18 including principal, interest, insurance and taxes, plus a $2.50 management fee paid to the project manager. Water bills were about $2 for a maximum of 10,000 gallons.
In August of 1936, Guy Estill, who resided on Sunset Lane, was appointed project manager by the association. Besides collecting payments and water billings, he supervised repair of houses and acted as liaison between residents and the Resettlement Administration. He was credited with marked improvement in management of the community.
In early 1937, only nine of the original 79 homesteads were vacant, those awaiting repair or contract approvals. The community house -located where the present city hall stands - was the hub of activity.
"By mid-193 7, it appeared that everything in Dalworthington Gardens was operating smoothly and that most residents were satisfied;' explains Antley. Nationally, however, the Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act was passed which ended further homestead projects. Dalworthington Gardens was one of fifty projects placed under the authority of the newly established Farm Security Administration, though little change was felt at the local level.
That same year, Texas Industries, a local cooperative was formed. Members met at the community house to make furniture, ladders and butter churns. A school bus service was organized to transport children to area schools. A gas system was approved by the association toward the end of the year.
On February 24, 1942, Roosevelt transferred all New Deal housing agencies to the Federal Public Housing Authority in the National Housing Agency. Dalworthington Gardens continued as a homestead project under this authority until 1949 when a majority of its residents voted to petition for incorporation as a town.
As Antley summarizes the dream come true for Dalworthington Gardens, he comments that many of the original homes still stand - though most have structural modifications. 'The community house is gone, a victim of age and progress." while a new city hall stands in its place. "New, modem and expensive homes are interspersed with neat, well kept little homesteads:'
'There is an immediate realization that this is some place special, a mixture of the past and the present."
Written by Pam Bagby
