Wiley G. Clarkson, Architect

Corsicana:  June 1908 to Dec. 1911

Fort Worth: Jan. 1912 to May 5, 1952

Fort Worth Organizations

Service organizations, private clubs, etc that had a role

in the history of Fort Worth

Fort Worth Baseball Club Grandstand

(Fort Worth Cats)

Drawer 2 Job 392

This particular job was difficult to trace down until a Wiki write up on the Fort Worth Cats baseball team turned up.  In the story on Wiki, a baseball stadium had been built in the early 1900's that was called Panther Park.  However, it went on to say that in 1926, the organization opened a new ballpark that replaced the old Panther Park.  The new Panther Park was a few blocks from the original Panther Park on the other side of North Main Street.  Paul LaGrave was the team manager, a man who had worked his way up in the front office.  After he passed away in 1929, W. K. Stripling, the owner of the Cats, renamed Panther Park in honor of LaGrave. W. K. Stripling was a friend and a client of Clarkson, who had designed Stripling's house at 1315 Hillcrest in 1915 and also designed the downtown Striplings building.  After reading the article on Wiki, dates and records were matched in Clarkson's files.  The stadium burned one time and was rebuilt using work Clarkson did.

The Woman's Club of Fort Worth

Waples Hall, The Kitchen, and The Playhouse

Playhouse:  Box 1 Job 192.

No job numbers on Waples Hall and The Kitchen

     

The search for the Woman's Club of Fort Worth project actually started with a job storage location described as the "Woman's Club Playhouse."  For a father of three daughter's, one can imagine what comes to mind when the word "playhouse" is used to describe a project.  To make it more difficult, the project was very early in the Club's history.  A reference to a project Clarkson had done that had the address 1316 Pennsylvania finally was found.  A trip to Fort Worth produced the correct location but it was called Waples Hall. 

Waples Hall - March 25, 1947

Tea Room - March 25, 1947

Kitchen - July 3, 1948

Tea Room - August 18, 1948

The "Playhouse"  in Clarkson's records was actually called The Music Box. It was located across from the current art studio & was built for the music clubs, although it did not work very well for that purpose. It had various uses & was leased out to private entities. The property was sold in 1940. When the club realized it needed more parking, it began acquiring properties across Tucker St. This particular property was reacquired in 1960 & the building was torn down. That whole block became the club parking lot. 

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The Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA)

in Downtown Fort Worth on West 5th  

512 Lamar    (Shelf 3 #317)      

The "Downtown" YMCA, where I spent time as a boy on Saturdays after going to the movies at either The Worth, The Hollywood, or The Palace theaters on 7th Street.  The building was expanded in the mid eighties and became co-ed when the YWCA moved in with the YMCA.