Tarrant County Historic Preservation and Archives

08/24/2026

Belaire Shopping Center parking lot - high school "hang out"

Although according to the clippings, it looks like it may have been a little too popular.

Did you spend time there when you were in high school?

Page with color photograph from "Contemporary Scenes on Pipeline Road," photo essay project, by TCJC NE History student Tracy Wilborn, 1981, Duane Gage Collection

08/21/2026

Kip Wright, from the Wedgwood Historical Association, was kind enough to lend us his booklet "You'll Live Happier in Wedgwood: The Planned Community," for digitization.

The circa 1954 booklet, produced by the Wedgwood Land Company, includes information about the development of the neighborhood, floor plans, photographs, and special interior and exterior features.

We especially like the Street and Area Plan map (pages 8-9) with tentative names indicated with asterisks. Would our Wedgwood folks prefer to live on Westralia or Wi******er Roads?

Many thanks to the Wedgwood Historical Association for making the sharing of such materials possible! Learn more about their collection here - https://www.tarrantcountytx.gov/en/tarrant-county-archives/holdings/named-collections/w/wedgwood-historical-association-collection.html

08/19/2026

Happy National Aviation Day!

To celebrate, we’re sharing our model of the Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey, with tilt rotor action. The tilt rotor design allows planes to take off and land like a helicopter while being able to fly at high speed for long distances like a plane.

This model is part of our City of Fort Worth Aviation Department Collection. View more information about this collection on the collection webpage - https://www.tarrantcountytx.gov/en/tarrant-county-archives/holdings/named-collections/c/city-of-fort-worth-aviation-department.html

08/15/2026

Today is National Roller Coaster Day, so we thought we’d share these photos of two great roller coasters from Tarrant County!

One of our favorites, and still going strong, the Shockwave at Six Flags Over Texas!

The second photo is of a coaster which we assume is no longer standing, the Big Bend roller coaster at Six Flags Over Texas. Do you remember riding this sitting on someone’s lap?

Both photos were taken in 1971 and are from the Mary Crabb Collection.

Do you have a favorite local roller coaster?

Edit to add: Thanks to our commentors mentioning the Shockwave opened in 1978! The date on some of the slides was 1971. We will update our records to reflect the dates of the slides may be from 1971 to 1980. Thank you for helping us accurately preserve our local history!

08/11/2026

The White Settlement Public Library and White Settlement Historical Museum and The Portal to Texas History have been working to digitize the White Settlement Bomber News. We have these newspapers in our collections as well, so we thought we’d share this simple way to access this local resource.

There are over 2,200 issues available online dating from 1956 through 2002. And the most wonderful thing is, you can keyword search the full text of the newspapers! It’s convenient and easy to use.

The _White Settlement Bomber News_ offers unparalleled insights into a community that has shaped Texas’s cultural, civic, and industrial heritage. The newspaper...

08/06/2026

New materials have been added to the Dave Pearson Collection!

This collection contains a lot of history on Fort Worth schools, trains, and other odds and ends.

For more information on the collection, visit the Dave Pearson Collection page on our website - https://www.tarrantcountytx.gov/en/tarrant-county-archives/holdings/named-collections/p/pearson--dave.html

08/03/2026

Tarrant County had some pretty awesome big slides back in the day! Did you have a favorite?

We know the first image is the Big Slide from Six Flags, 1969. (Tarrant County Historical Commission Collection)

We're pretty sure the second and third images of the Aladdin Magic Carpet Slide are from the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo carnival midway, 1974 (Joseph Weisberg Collection)

The fourth image shows the slide from the Seminary South Shopping Center parking lot, taken in 1968, but we can't remember its name. (Jamie Powell Sheppard Collection)

However, we're not sure about the red and white slide in the fifth image, taken in 1968. (Joseph Weisberg Collection) Please let us know if you remember the location and name of this slide!

07/30/2026

"Riding the Range with a Silvaire"

Where can you find a cowboy mounted on his horse, cattle, a stock farm building, and an aircraft all in one image? In Arlington, Texas - of course!

This circa 1940 postcard, from the Dalton Hoffman Collection, shows just such a scene at the Three D Stock Farm. The aircraft is a 65HP Silvaire, manufactured by Luscombe Airplane Corporation.

07/27/2026

Today we're comparing two color slides taken during a classic car meet at Seminary South Shopping Center in 1967.

Both were taken on the same date around the same time, but why is the one on the left so different from the one on the right?

The slide on the left was taken with Kodachrome, which is extremely stable and resists color shifting and fading over time. This is because Kodachrome transparency film contains three very thin black and white layers in the emulsion that are sensitive to red, green, and blue light. However, the synthetic color dyes aren't added until the development process.

These factors also cause raised relief, or "etching," visible on the emulsion, which is a well-known characteristic of Kodachrome. (You can see an example of this in the second image.)

The slide on the right is not Kodachrome, and you can see how the color has shifted and faded over the last 59 years. Standard transparency film is manufactured with organic color dyes built into the layers. These dyes are subject to deterioration over time.

The process for developing Kodachrome, called K-14, was complex. It required specific, proprietary equipment and chemicals, and photo labs had to be authorized and licensed by Kodak.

Kodak officially retired Kodachrome in 2009, and the single remaining photo lab that could process it, Dwayne's Photo, developed the last roll on December 30, 2010.

07/23/2026

Did you ever visit the White Water on E Safari Pkwy in Grand Prairie, or the Wet n' Wild on E Lamar Blvd in Arlington before it became Hurricane Harbor? Which was your favorite?

"Vacation the Arlington Way"

mixed materials student project by Lori Archer, photographs by Marten Moody, Summer 1985

Images are from the Duane Gage Collection.