Often described as the “Father of Fort Worth,” John Peter Smith was born in Kentucky in 1831. He was only 13-years-old when both his parents died, leaving him and his five brothers as orphans. Smith was reared by a cousin, who provided for him quite well. He studied at Franklin College in Indiana before graduating from Bethany College in Virginia in 1853, earning honors in both mathematics and classical languages.
Following graduation, Smith came to Texas, settling in the newly developing community of Fort Worth. He took possession of an army hospital abandoned by the Second United States Dragoon and converted the facility into the town’s first school. Eventually the facility was transformed into the Male and Female Academy, Fort Worth’s first permanent educational institution.
Smith gave up his leadership role of the academy in 1855 to work as a surveyor and land developer, while at the same time studying law. He passed the bar in 1860. When the Civil War broke out the following year, Smith opposed secession, but he ultimately supported the Confederacy by helping to raise a company of 120 men for the Rebel Army. He saw action in New Mexico, Arizona, and Louisiana, and he was wounded on two separate occasions. When the War ended, he held the rank of colonel.
Following the War, Smith returned to Fort Worth to resume both his law practice and his real estate business. By the end of the 1860s, he owned more than 1,000 acres of land and within five years had doubled his holdings. By the early 1880s he owned city lots in Fort Worth valued at more than $50,000. He was reported to have been the largest land owner in the city at that time.
Devoted to his adopted hometown, Smith gave much of his time, energy, and resources to the expansion and development of Fort Worth. He was a partner in the Fort Worth Street Car Company, and he was instrumental in bringing the Texas and Pacific Railroad to the city by donating thousands of dollars to railroad expansion. He was a key figure in the development of the Stockyards in 1891.
First elected mayor of Fort Worth in 1882, Smith served six terms in that office and brought numerous civic improvements, including the city’s first water department. He served on the school board and was president of the Fort Worth Gas, Light, and Coal Company. Although he was frequently urged to run for governor of Texas, Smith refused commenting he had rather devote his efforts to Fort Worth
In 1877 Smith donated 5 acres of land for a hospital to provide the citizens of Fort Worth could have the best medical care. It was not until 1906 that a hospital affiliated with Fort Worth Medical College opened providing the first public hospital in the city and laying the foundation for the John Peter Smith Health Network. The operation today includes a 459 bed hospital and outpatient care center.
Smith met an untimely death when he died from injuries he received when he was robbed and assaulted while on a trip to St Louis. He is buried in Fort Worth’s Oakwood Cemetery.
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Dr. Tommy Stringer is executive director of the Navarro College Foundation. His radio program, “Texas Legends,” airs at 6:55 a.m. weekdays on KAND Radio.
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