Fort Worth's Endangered Marvel of Modernism

At the north end of Fort Worth's downtown there is something known as Heritage Park. When I moved to Fort Worth, Heritage Park was the first thing I saw in the town that impressed me as a good thing.

Heritage Park was supposed to be a sort of memorial to the founding of Fort Worth. It was a complex set of stairs, catwalks, overlooks and water features.

You may have noticed I used the past tense "was." Because for well over a year the city of Fort Worth has had Heritage Park surrounded by ugly cyclone fencing. And "Closed Signs."

Go here to see the current sad state of Fort Worth's Heritage Park.

The excuse given for this civic neglect is that people were scared to go in the park due to homeless people hanging out there. And its water features were expensive to maintain. There has been no attempt, as far as I know, to fix this park that has become an eyesore, yet one more blight on Fort Worth's self image as a town that is the envy of other towns, far and wide.

Heritage Park is adjacent to a police building. It would seem that regular patrols could have easily been made of the park. Better lighting could have been installed. Along with surveillance cameras.

Seattle has a similar park, called Freeway Park, considered a precedent setting park of the same nature as Heritage Park. Freeway Park had some crime problems. Seattle fixed the problem. Freeway Park did not close. Go here to read the Wikipedia article about Seattle's Freeway Park and how Seattle modified the park to make it more secure.

The Cultural Landscape Foundation has released their annual list of Endangered Marvels of Modernism. Heritage Park, in Fort Worth, is on the list.

" Boston City Hall Plaza, Boston, MA
" Estates Drive Reservoir, Oakland, CA
" Heritage Plaza, Heritage Park, Fort Worth, TX
" Kaiser Roof Garden, Kaiser Center, Oakland, CA
" Lake Elizabeth, Allegheny Commons, Pittsburgh, PA
" Manhattan Square Park, Rochester, NY
" Mill Creek Canyon Earthworks, Kent, WA
" Miller Garden, Columbus, IN
" El Monte, Hato Rey, Puerto Rico
" Pacific Science Center Courtyard, Seattle, WA
" Parkmerced, San Francisco, CA
" Peavey Plaza, Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis, MN