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HEART OF ARLINGTON Neighborhood Association Arlington, Texas
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For a number of years, the Arlington Historical Society has endeavored to recognize the history that Center Street represents to not just Arlington, but the entire Metroplex. Now, HANA has joined in that effort with Arlington’s Parks Department.
Several HANA board members recently met with the city to implement a soft refresh of property at Center Street and Pioneer Parkway and install two historical markers.
Historical markers, you may ask?
Turns out, many of us haven’t been aware of how today’s Center Street came to exist. It's not the ordinary suburban thoroughfare it appears to be.
Long before Dallas or Fort Worth ever existed, Native Americans charted a path along the route that became today’s Center Street. They traveled strategically along a ridge across higher ground parallel to what today we call Johnson Creek. Indeed, the next time you drive or walk along Center Street south of Park Row, you’ll see how the thoroughfare is literally just a little bit higher than most of the cross-streets.
The Native Americans’ path went through a wooded Cross Timbers area from roughly today’s Arkansas Lane up to the West Fork of the Trinity River (today’s River Legacy Park area). A particular feature of their trail was the naturally-occuring low-water crossing at what is now the pair of Center and Mesquite Street bridges.
As early as 1687, European explorers and traders are believed to have arrived. They soon relied on the same pathway that Native Americans had already charted. Rangers and soldiers would eventually come and trek what became Center Street to get between Bird’s Fort and Marrow Bone Spring.
Bird's Fort was an early military outpost located at the northeastern corner of what we know today as the Viridian mixed-use development. Marrow Bone Spring was at the corner of today's Matlock Road and Arkansas Lane.
Although it survives only as a small city park, Marrow Bone Spring is an important historical site. Extensive research by the Arlington Historical Society credits Marrow Bone Spring with hosting the 1843 “Treaty of Bird’s Fort” between the Republic of Texas and a confederacy of ten indigenous Native American tribes. That treaty guaranteed a relatively peaceful trading relationship that helped facilitate the growth of not just Arlington, but all of North Central Texas.
In 1852, Colonel Middle Tate Johnson founded Johnson Station south of Marrow Bone Spring, which flourished as a trading post until 1876, when Arlington was established as a stop on the Texas and Pacific Railroad. One of the railroad depot’s loading docks still exists at Center and Front streets.
In 1854, a settler named James Hyden obtained a land grant along the trail where today’s Elm Shadows and Mill Creek subdivisions exist, between Park Row and Pioneer Parkway. At one time, long before the land was ever developed, Col. Johnson is believed to have owned the property where Center Street’s beloved “Goat House” now sits.
Meanwhile, settlers had begun farming blackland prairie homesteads farther south from Marrow Bone Spring and Johnson Station, even down past where I-20 now runs. They used the ancient Native American pathway to bring their goods to market in town, first to Marrow Bone Spring and Johnson Station, and then to mills, cotton gins, and the railhead in Arlington.
Today, at Pioneer Parkway, a small, triangular-shaped parcel of empty land remains, passed by hundreds of motorists every day who have no idea it represents some of the last open space from Arlington’s earliest, pre-settlement generations. Before our popular Entertainment District, before General Motors, before the railroad, before Bird’s Fort, and before European explorers.
Indeed, the social, economic, historical, and cultural diversity represented by Center Street is surprisingly broad. Maybe it's never been glamorous - it's always been a working transit trail. But Center Street represents one of the most extensively-utilized human pathways in this part of Texas. And if you think about it, that’s pretty remarkable.
All this is why the Arlington Historical Society has been awarded two plaques to honor Center Street’s trail. And since this is in our neighborhood, HANA has joined with them to arrange for their public display, so more of us can learn about how unique our area is.
Not just to Arlington, but for the entire Metroplex. And here we’ve been, living next to such history all along! Our neighborhood really is the “heart” of Arlington.
Arlington's Parks Department will be adding historical markers for this remnant of empty space.
Our first general meeting of 2025 was on February 13. It featured James Orloski (pictured) with Arlington's parks department. He updated us on conditions in and plans for our neighborhood parks, including long-term development of the walkway linking UTA with the Entertainment District, and the upcoming dog park downtown along the Union Pacific tracks. Animal services director Ashley Woolnough also gave a presentation on the city's animal shelter and programs for feral cats and loose dogs, as well as some interesting insight into the exotic animals that have been surrendered to the shelter. While the bird flu is creating havoc with egg prices, she assured us no bird flu has been detected in Arlington.
We represent a collection of diverse neighborhoods located just south of Downtown Arlington, Texas.
From our quaint MidCentury neighborhoods to parts of Arlington's bustling Downtown and the University of Texas at Arlington, to our mom-and-pop businesses and chain stores, to our religious campuses and apartment complexes, we try to balance both the charm of our leafy community and the changes taking place in our strategic urban corner of the Dallas - Fort Worth Metroplex.
We are not a homeowners association. Instead, we have the pulse of major concerns and opportunities that affect not just us, but all of Arlington. For example, Johnson Creek runs through most of HANA, as does the city's busiest boulevard, Cooper Street, and HANA members have participated in various projects and studies related to each.
We boast one of the city's most robust neighborhood action plans and are consulted about proposed developments both inside and near our boundaries. We have high standards when it comes to new construction and work hard to balance the interests and expectations of all stakeholders.
Fortunately, we benefit from having a great community legacy, established by many Arlington business and civic leaders who were the original builders of our neighborhoods. These notables include the James Martin family, after whom AISD's Martin High School is named; the Farrar family, which still owns an office building on Park Row; plus the Caton, Chen, Hightower, Jordan, Joeckel, King, Landrum, Maner, Mathes, Moore, Terry, and Watson families - just to name a few. UTA professors have lived here, and some of our earliest subdivisions housed the first workers at Arlington's ever-expanding GM plant. Even Arlington's oldest existing house , built in 1893, is within HANA's boundaries.
Generally speaking, HANA's boundaries run from Border Street on the north to Collins Street on the east, Pioneer Parkway on the south, and Cooper Street on the west, with a recent inclusion of the Meadow Oaks and Cedar Springs Terrace neighborhoods around Mitchell Street.
If you live here or own a business here, we welcome you to participate with us!
HEART OF ARLINGTON NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION
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