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North Texas Educator Becomes TIAA Leader

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1963-64 TIAA Executive Committee: Frank Miller, M. D. Williamson, F. L. Bay, Benton Broschette, and John Ballard

1963-64 TIAA Executive Committee: Frank Miller, M. D. Williamson, F. L. Bay, Benton Broschette, and John Ballard

In 1964, the Texas Industrial Arts Association appointed a new executive secretary to its ranks: Dr. M. D. Williamson, Associate Professor of Industrial Arts at North Texas State University. He was chosen at the annual TIAA conference at Texas A & M University in College Station. Williamson is pictured above, alongside the rest of the 1963-64 TIAA Executive Committee.

Williamson made many contributions to Texas Industrial Arts, including several TIAA Bulletin articles, leading educational workshops, and serving as secretary-treasurer of the West Central Texas Regional Industrial Arts Association. He chaired the 1962 state convention, and was also chairman of the 1962 TIAA Drafting Committee, which wrote the drafting curriculum study for Texas schools. In addition, he served as Vice-President of TIAA in the 1962-63 year, followed by a term as President.

[Industrial Arts Club], Photograph, 1942; (http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc233013/ : accessed August 13, 2015), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections, Denton, Texas.

[Industrial Arts Club], Photograph, 1942; (http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc233013/ : accessed August 13, 2015), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections, Denton, Texas.

At the time, TIAA was comprised of 800 teachers and supervisors from public schools and colleges across the state. The North Texas chapter was the largest of the fifteen regional associations. Williamson wasn’t the only North Texan making a big impact on industrial arts education. Dr. Jerry McCain founded the Industrial Arts Club at North Texas State University, and he also served as secretary-treasurer of the North Texas Industrial Arts Association.

Thanks in part to hardworking faculty like these, North Texas became a trusted name in Industrial Arts education. A look at this commencement program from 1950 lists the names of several students who completed a Bachelor of Science program in Industrial Arts. When IA was just beginning to take off, Texas Woman’s College in Denton was known as the College of Industrial Arts for a few years (1905-1934).

The Texas Industrial Arts Association Publications and Records Collection at UNT’s Special Collections offers photographs, publications, and correspondence from 1946 to 2004. Items in this collection illustrate the importance of industrial arts to students, teachers, and their impact on Texas and the Southwest Metroplex.

 

-by Alexandra Traxinger Schütz

Texas Women for Equal Rights

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In 1978, proponents of equal rights for women were beginning to feel a little trapped. When the 27th amendment passed the Senate and House of Representatives in 1972, Congress placed a seven-year deadline on the ratification process–1979. In the first year, 22 of the required 38 states (including Texas) ratified the amendment. Hope dwindled, however, as opponents organized and ratification slowed.

Extension of the time limit for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment

Jordan, Barbara, 1936-1996. Extension of the time limit for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment, Text, May 18, 1978; (http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth595266/ : accessed August 11, 2015), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Southern University, Houston, Texas.

Even though Texas was one of the first states to support women’s rights by ratifying the 27th amendment, Texas women still had their futures to worry about. If the amendment didn’t pass, it meant that a good part of the country was against them and their desires for equality. This news segment from UNT’s KXAS-NBC 5 collection shows women advocating for Congress to push back the ratification deadline. They hoped this would give them a bigger chance of winning the required 38 states. Barbara Jordan, an African-American Texas woman serving in the U.S. House of Representatives, gave a testimony on the matter of extending the ratification deadline. The first page of that testimony is pictured. To view the entire document on The Portal to Texas History, click here.

Following testimonies and after careful consideration, Congress agreed to push the ratification deadline back until June 30, 1982. Despite this extension, the country was three states short of ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment.

While Texas women struggled at the national level for equal rights, they made great strides at home in the Lone Star State. In 1972, the Texas Equal Rights Amendment and the Equal Employment Opportunity Act were enacted. Laws banning discrimination against women were introduced and passed in quick succession, including a law that forbid men from deserting and selling homesteads without their wife’s consent.

The KXAS/NBC-5 collection is perhaps the largest collection of local news in the country. With scripts, video footage, and log books from 1951 onward, the collection showcases the evolution of the southwest metroplex. Currently, a selection of news scripts and video footage from the 1950’s, 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s is available for viewing on The Portal to Texas History.

 

 

-by Alexandra Traxinger Schütz

 

“White Collar Danger” and The Texas Industrial Arts Association

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Curriculumperson

Curriculumperson, Texas Industrial Arts Association.

Industrial arts education–woodshop, metalworking, plastics, upholstery . . . the list of classes goes on for quite a while. Whatever it may be, industrial arts, or IA, helps students learn a skilled trade. IA played an important role in America’s public education system during the 20th century, especially during and after the second World War. Though it is perhaps less common today, students often learn a craft like carpentry or welding (commonly known as “shop”) while taking traditionally academic courses, like literature and science.

TIAA Bulletin, October 1957

TIAA Bulletin, October 1957

IA slowly started building momentum in the late nineteenth century when John T. Allen of Austin left much of his fortune to the city, so that it could build a manual training program. Programs to train industrial arts teachers were hammered out at several Texas colleges during the ‘20s and ‘30s, including Sam Houston, Sul Ross, East Texas, Southwest Texas, and North Texas State. Students in these programs participate through the Texas Industrial Arts Association. W. A. Mayfield of Snyder, B. W. Mayes of Crane, and T. L. Bay of Brazosport helped found TIAA around 1954.

In this 1957 bulletin, C. A. Wiken of the Rockwell Manufacturing Co. writes of “‘White Collar’ Danger.” In his words, “a new breed of white collar engineers may arise who have no conception of basic machine operations – who are lost when faced with the task of translating scratch-pad sketches into three-dimensional reality.” The importance of industrial education is a topic often explored in these bulletins, which also serve to inform members of news and events happening in the world of TIAA.

In 1995, Texas public schools employed 2,370 IA teachers, who taught a cumulative 74,000 students. A great many of those students went to school in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area. The region was also home to some of the best IA educators, including James Snyder of Fort Worth, who was recognized by TIAA as an outstanding teacher in 1964.

The Texas Industrial Arts Association Publications and Records Collection at UNT’s Special Collections offers photographs, publications, and correspondence from 1946 to 2004. Items in this collection illustrate the importance of industrial arts to students, teachers, and the communities in which they lived.

 

-by Alexandra Traxinger Schütz

Golden Triangle Communications and CATV

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Golden Triangle Communications, Inc. Logo. Taken from Cable Television Proposal Prepared for Denton, Texas. Tom Harpool Collection, University of North Texas Special Collections.

Golden Triangle Communications, Inc. Logo. Taken from “Cable Television Proposal Prepared for Denton, Texas.” Tom Harpool Collection, University of North Texas Special Collections.

 

In 2015, there aren’t many people who pay a cable bill anymore. Instead, they opt for streaming services that offer more flexibility with a much lower cost. However, it wasn’t long ago when people were so excited to get a clear picture on their TV’s, they’d eagerly pay the $8.50 a month for 30 channels. Cable television was an exciting new opportunity that promised great innovation in all areas of life–education, entertainment, news, shopping, and more.

$8.50–that was the estimated monthly fee established by the fledgling Golden Triangle Communications company in a proposal for CATV (Community Antenna Television) in Denton. The proposal promised stations that would entertain and educate Denton citizens, as well as inform them about community and government events. Two stations would even be given to the two universities in Denton-NTSU and TWU–to use for educational purposes. A total of 30 channels were planned, including a premium channel such as HBO and six stations held in reserve for future use. Golden Triangle Communications, Inc. also promised to pay the city of Denton 3% of the income made through monthly subscriptions.

Page one of City of Denton Memorandum, January 24, 1977. Tom Harpool Collection, University of North Texas Special Collections.

Page one of City of Denton Memorandum, January 24, 1977. Tom Harpool Collection, University of North Texas Special Collections.

Community Antenna Television was first established in the 1940’s in areas where residents couldn’t receive television signals, usually due to topographical barriers like hills, mountains, or, in the case of New York City, skyscrapers. Neighbors would pitch in for an antenna that everyone could share to get a better picture into their homes. It became evident that people were willing to pay handsomely for cable, and CATV emerged as a commercial venture. The FCC stepped in to regulate CATV in 1966, claiming cable television to be under federal jurisdiction. In 1972, the FCC deregulated the industry, but left CATV with a set of rules to follow. The impact of these rules on Denton’s broadcast opportunities is detailed in the cable proposal.

memo_page2

Page two of City of Denton Memorandum, January 24, 1977. Tom Harpool Collection, University of North Texas Special Collections.

Golden Triangle Communications was established with strong ties with the Denton Publishing Company, the corporation that owned and operated the Denton Record-Chronicle. Riley Cross bought the Chronicle in 1945, and Mrs. Vivian Cross took the reigns after his passing in 1970. She also headed the new Golden Triangle Communications.

The Tom Harpool Collection in UNT’s Special Collections department offers literature written by both Golden Triangle Communications, Inc. and the Denton City Utility Board on this proposed cable ordinance. Tom Harpool was a graduate from North Texas State Teachers’ College in 1939, and he had great influence on Denton’s growth through involvement in civic organizations, including the School Board, Utilities Board, and Upper Trinity Regional Water District. Tom Harpool Middle School is named in his honor.

 
-by Alexandra Traxinger Schütz

The North Central Texas Council of Governments

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North Central Texas Council of Government Planning Group Records, University of North Texas Special Collections.

North Central Texas Council of Government Planning Group Records, University of North Texas Special Collections.

After the second World War, people across the nation were staking claims in North Texas. In Fort Worth, the population jumped 57% between 1940 and 1950 (177,662 to 278,778), and the population mushroomed another 28% by 1960 (up to 356,268). And in Dallas, the population rose 47% between 1940 and 1950 (294,734 to 434,462), and another 56% by 1960 (up to 679,684).

Needless to say, land was developed, and it was developed fast. These new Texans needed schools to attend, offices to work in, roads to drive on, hospitals to heal in, places to shop, and homes to live in. They needed gas, water, electricity, and plumbing. And they needed police officers, teachers, firemen, construction workers, and doctors, as well–ensuring that the population in the region continued to grow. So the open land in North Texas began to recede.

Often, cities needed help to complete projects that made their communities better places to live. Section 8 homes may need construction; a police department may need additional resources to fight crime; more neighborhoods and parks may need development to attract new residents. Because it was difficult, and sometimes near impossible, for cities to navigate these projects on their own, the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) was formed.

http://www.nctcog.org/regional_map.aspNCTCOG began serving our region in 1966, and today represents sixteen counties: Wise, Denton, Collin, Hunt, Palo Pinto, Parker, Tarrant, Dallas, Rockwall, Kaufman, Erath, Hood, Johnson, Ellis, Somervell, and Navarro. NCTCOG is a voluntary association of, by, and for local governments, and was established to assist cities in their planning for common needs. The organization emphasizes cooperating for mutual benefit and working together for sound regional development. Their purpose is to strengthen both the individual and collective power of local governments and to help them recognize regional opportunities, eliminate unnecessary duplication, and make joint decisions. To help local governments with their endeavors, NCTCOG served as a liaison between the cities and the other state and federal organizations that were helping pay for the project. Federal organizations NCTCOG worked with include: Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA), Department of Transportation (DOT), Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW), and the Department of Labor (DOL).

Grey literature from the organization, including planning documents, handwritten notes, city-submitted project proposals, cassette recordings of several meetings, and more can be found in the North Central Texas Council of Governments Planning Group Records collection, which spans 1967 through 1980. To learn more details about the collection’s offerings, view the finding aid here.

 

-by Alexandra Traxinger Schütz

How 911 Addressing Changed Rural North Texas

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Remember when your grandmother’s farm was “the brick house with a basset hound out front, about three miles south of the old cemetery?” Now, that farm probably has a real address, something more like 123 Country Road. Beginning in the late 1960’s and throughout the 1970’s, communities began implementing 911 Addressing standards, which meant that buildings needed to have an address with a number and street name. The new guidelines came along with the new emergency phone number, which was quickly adopted by cities across the nation. While most U.S. cities were already following guidelines similar to the 911 standard, more rural areas experienced a larger impact. These postal changes were in addition to the invention of the zip code, which was implemented nationwide in July 1963.

Letter written to Norma Teague, a resident on the Dennis Star Route in Brock, Parker County, Texas. 1968.

Letter written to Norma Teague, a resident on the Dennis Star Route in Brock, Parker County, Texas. 1968.

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, residents of rural North Texas either had to make a special trek to a far-away post office or pay for a private courier to deliver their mail. To remedy this problem, the U. S. Post Office established a service called Rural Free Delivery (RFD). This system used just the names of recipients, the name of their delivery route, and a box number. For example, my mother lived in the small community of Brock in Parker County as a child, and her letters from the late 1950’s and 1960’s use the address Dennis Star Route, which was sometimes abbreviated to simply DSR.

Now known as highway-contract routes, star routes have been a part of mail delivery in the United States since the 18th century. Rather than having mail delivered by postmen, contractors are hired to deliver the mail on these routes. While there was some decline in their usage in the 1950’s, star route miles more than doubled in the 1960’s, thanks in large part to the Highway Act of 1958.

It wasn’t until after my mother’s family left Brock in the 1970’s that homes and buildings in the area received what we consider now to be a “proper” address. The establishment of 911 addressing had many benefits aside from making mail delivery more efficient. The most obvious one is that emergency responders could get to you quickly and efficiently during a crisis. They don’t have to know where the old cemetery is to find your grandmother anymore! It also made navigating rural areas easier for non-residents.

Throughout the 1970’s, rural North Texas was installing and renewing street signs, updating maps, and affixing numbers to buildings. These developments, along with new highways traversing the region, brought rural areas a little closer (in travel time and design) to urban centers like Dallas and Fort Worth. Of course, trying to find grandmother’s farm on an old country road, even if it is marked, can still be a difficult task to accomplish! But the standardization of addresses certainly has made things easier.

For more insight on how the Southwest Metroplex and surrounding areas, like Parker County, were changing in the 1970’s, take a look at our North Central Texas Council of Governments Planning Group Records collection. Details about special city projects, such as Section 8 housing and community beautification, are detailed within the collection. Gray literature included are handwritten notes, grant applications, maps, and more.

 

-by Alexandra Traxinger Schütz

Death and Rebirth of the Dallas Streetcar

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1919 Map and Guide of Dallas and Suburbs2

C. Weichsel Co. 1919 Map and guide of Dallas & suburbs., University of North Texas, The Portal to Texas History; crediting University of Texas at Arlington Library.

This spring, DART (Dallas Area Rapid Transportation) started service on its new streetcar route, a 1.6 mile stretch connecting Oak Cliff commuters with Union Station in Dallas. The city’s new streetcar is the latest in a trend sweeping urban centers across the country. (Tucson, Arizona launched a successful streetcar project in 2014, and Kansas City has high hopes for its new transit system, which should open next year.) Of course, the streetcars cropping up today are nothing but modern versions of those our cities so often utilized in the first half of the twentieth century.

As this news script from the KXAS/NBC-5 collection shows, streetcars ran through Dallas from 1872 until 1956, when the streetcars performed their last run. At its peak, Dallas had over three-hundred streetcars crisscrossing the city, carrying residents from place to place. The map shown features interurban streetcar lines as they existed in 1919. The Western History Department at the Denver Public Library also has a great photograph in its digital collections of a group of men and women waiting for a Dallas streetcar, taken by Robert W. Richardson in February 1946.

From the start of public transportation in Dallas, private corporations were in charge of services, the last of which was the Dallas Transit Company. The city purchased DTC in 1964, and it continued to run under the same name until 1984, when DART assumed control of operations.

In 1954, The city council ordered the transit company to dispose of all the streetcars within two years. Thus, transportation in Dallas changed in ways that happened in other American cities: buses emerged, along with a much heavier reliance on individual transportation via automobile. A large part of this new aversion to public transportation resulted from suburbanization. People simply didn’t want to live in the hustle and bustle of the city anymore.

Today, more and more people are moving back into the cities, resulting in the need for more (and different) modes of public transportation. Two future phases of the new Dallas streetcar are currently underway. The first is a connection to the Bishops Arts Center, and the second will connect the Civic Center and Reunion Districts.

The KXAS/NBC-5 collection is perhaps the largest collection of local news in the country. With scripts, video footage, and log books from 1951 onward, the collection showcases the evolution of the southwest metroplex. Currently, a selection of news scripts and video footage from the year 1956 is available for viewing on The Portal to Texas History.
-by Alexandra Traxinger Schütz

Navigating the Trinity Waterway

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trinity

This spring, most North Texas lakes and rivers saw a sudden, sharp surplus in their water levels, and the Trinity River was certainly among them. Areas of Dallas were flooded by the river at the end of May, causing many businesses to close. It also gave several citizens cause for concern over the proposed Trinity Parkway (a toll road which was detailed in an earlier post), and whether or not that road would be flooded by the river. If the toll road is built, it would fulfill the dreams many Dallasites have had for the last fifty years. However, more and more citizens are leaning away from the idea. Perhaps opponents of the new road would be more interested in reviving another transportation dream from the twentieth century: the Trinity Waterway, a proposed canal between Dallas-Fort Worth and the Gulf Coast. The river certainly appears navigable when it is overflowing with water, but it has certainly seen its share of dry spells! The illustration above shows the original plan for the Trinity Parkway. The Trinity River, which once had hopes of becoming navigable, can be seen cutting horizontally through the image.

Although the city worked to get the project underway as far back as the late 1850’s, there was never enough money to get much done. In 1856, the state of Texas supplied $315,000 for improving the river and the land around it, but most of the funds were scooped up by more southern regions, leaving very little for what is now the DFW metroplex. With the outbreak of the Civil War, work on the waterway halted.

While many insisted that it was impossible to get to Dallas from Galveston via river, others were determined to make the journey. In 1893, the H. A. Harvey river boat arrived in Dallas from Galveston after a journey that lasted 2 months and 10 days, reviving interest in building the canal. However, the great flood of 1908, which left over 4,000 people in Dallas homeless, stopped all work on the project again as the city began constructing new levees and aligning the river to protect itself from future floods.

After World War II, federal politicians like Sam Rayburn and Lyndon Johnson backed the idea of the Trinity Waterway, but it remained a proposal until 1965, when a canal between Fort Worth, Dallas, and several new North Texas reservoirs was approved with federal funding. New bridges over the Trinity now required a higher clearance than their predecessors (52 feet) and a span of 300 feet. Because of this, IH 20 in southeast Dallas, IH 45 south of downtown, and Loop 12 in west Dallas have humps in their bridges to accommodate water traffic.

To complete such a grand canal, 15 older bridges in Dallas County, and another 45 on the way to the Gulf, would need to be raised. Rising costs on the project led to a critical vote in 1973 on whether to raise property taxes to help fund the endeavor. The bond proposition was rejected by 56% in Dallas County and 53% in Tarrant County, effectively bringing the Trinity Waterway to its end.

While we have accepted the fact that our transportation in the metroplex is limited by land and air, it’s fun to look at the Trinity and imagine 19th century settlers attempting to navigate the waters. While the river can’t be made as economically useful as we had hoped in the past, we can always enjoy it as an integral aspect of our beautiful North Texas landscape. When we drive over those humped bridges, we can laugh at the idea of barges passing beneath us on their way to Galveston.

More information on changes in DFW’s transportation infrastructure, including the Trinity Turnpike and the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, can be found in the Lester Strother and Texas Metro Magazine Collection, as well as the North Central Texas Council of Governments Planning Group Records.
-by Alexandra Traxinger Schütz

“With All Deliberate Speed” (Or Not): The Brenda Fields Dallas Schools Desegregation Collection

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Dallas Independent School District, February 15 1994. Report to the Court of the Dallas Independent School District. Brenda Fields Dallas Schools Desegregation Collection, University of North Texas Special Collections.

Dallas Independent School District, February 15 1994. Report to the Court of the Dallas Independent School District. Brenda Fields Dallas Schools Desegregation Collection (AR0833), University of North Texas Special Collections.

School hasn’t been out for long, but many North Texas parents already can’t wait for summer vacation to be over. While the youth of today may be more likely to play video games than engage in outdoor shenanigans, they are also more likely to take part in interracial friendships than the Dallas children of prior generations. Segregation was a part of the Dallas Independent School District (DISD) for decades after such practices were banned nationwide, ensuring that neighborhoods and relationships were predominantly single-race. Our educational system may not be perfect, but at least all of our students can be educated together.

In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that segregated schools were “inherently unequal.” Oliver Brown, the plaintiff, claimed that segregation brought about lower academic achievement, as well as the self-esteem of black students. This was deemed especially harmful in a society where education is such an essential aspect of a citizen’s life. Headed by Chief Justice Earl Warren, the Court ordered the states to integrate their schools “with all deliberate speed.”

But Dallas, like many other cities across the nation, decided to take its time. During the 1956-57 school year, DISD was still segregated. In this news clip from the KXAS-NBC 5 News Collection, President of the Board of Education, Dr. Edwin L. Rippy, cites an insufficient amount of planning time for not integrating. The accompanying script states that the NAACP called for a hearing about the integration issue before the start of the school year, September 5th, but Judge Atwell would not set a hearing date until after calling his docket on September 10th, making the hearing almost pointless.

In October of 1970, the court case Tasby v. Estes was initiated. Judge William Taylor declared the district to be operating under dual school systems.He ordered the district to integrate through busing, which shook up neighborhoods by pulling students from one part of town to another. Though it was a step forward, busing upset whites and blacks alike. Throughout the next several years, the district worked to establish better methods of integration. Magnet schools were created, where students of all races could complete rigorous college preparatory work, as well as learn real world skills through a Career Center. The district also implemented its Majority-to-Minority Transfer program, in which students had the option of transferring to a different school to diversify the population. In 1994, Judge Barefoot Sanders declared Dallas desegregated. The Tasby case was finally dismissed in 2003.

Dallas Independent School District, February 15 1994. Report to the Court of the Dallas Independent School District. Brenda Fields Dallas Schools Desegregation Collection, University of North Texas Special Collections.

Dallas Independent School District, February 15 1994. Report to the Court of the Dallas Independent School District. Brenda Fields Dallas Schools Desegregation Collection (AR0833) University of North Texas Special Collections.

Brenda Fields is an activist for educational equality in the Dallas area. For 15 years, she served as the Chairwoman of the NAACP’s Educational Committee, and she also became president of the organization. Fields became involved with DISD in 1975 when she tutored children through the district’s Adopt-A-School program. During this time, she was appointed to the African American Advisory Committee to the Superintendent. Fields served as a co-plaintiff in the Tasby v. Estes case.

The materials in the  Brenda Fields Dallas Schools Desegregation Collection offer a view of the changing educational landscape in North Texas following the Tasby v. Estes case, but desegregation also had lasting effects on the makeup of Dallas neighborhoods, in terms of race, culture, and industry. Information about the city’s changing borders and community needs can be gleaned from this collection’s court reports. Six VHS recordings of NAACP public meetings concerning parental involvement in schools are another exciting inclusion of this collection.

 

-by Alexandra Traxinger Schütz

The Texas Triangle

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dfwstats

Economic Development and Research Department, Dallas Chamber of Commerce, June 6 1970. Dallas Chamber of Commerce Facts Series. Lester Strother Collection (AR0327), University of North Texas Special Collections.

The collections being exposed within the Southwest Metroplex blog all share the chaos and excitement that overcame the Dallas-Fort Worth area in the decades following World War II. UNT’s Special Collections department houses items documenting the enormous population boom in North Texas, tremendous strides made in transportation and urban planning, political environments, and a booming economy. We use the items in these collections in an attempt to understand the past, but also to understand the future. According to some, our future may be as the northern tip of a “Texas Triangle,” a plan that foresees the four largest areas in the state (DFW, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio) growing closer together.

Although the idea of a Texas Triangle sounds like a nauseating string of suburbs connecting the state’s urban areas, goals for the Triangle revolve around long-term sustainability in all senses of the word–cultural, economical, and environmental. Farmland would not be put to waste by constructing acres and acres of subdivisions; instead, it would be used to raise food that would only be distributed locally. Historic buildings would not be demolished; they would be preserved or re-envisioned to play a useful role in society. Businesses in North Texas would work with those in the rest of the state, which may result in even more economic prosperity.

Proponents of the megaregion idea point to growing population and economic success in recent years, as well as predictions for future growth. 70% of Texans currently live in one of these four areas, and population in the Triangle region is expected to increase by 65% in the next forty years–an additional 10 million people. If these cities were to work together with a megaregional scale in mind, many believe the effects of economic and natural disasters would be lessened. Room could also be made for experiments in areas like transportation, education, sustainable agriculture, and urban redevelopment.

High-speed rails like these may be the first step in the development of the Texas Triangle, but other plans will likely be slow to come, if they ever arrive at all. However Texas changes in the next fifty or one-hundred years, future scholars will surely be intrigued by this idea for a Texas megaregion. For more information on the Texas Triangle, visit texastriangle.org and America2050.org. Materials found in the Texas Metro Magazine collection, Model Cities Program collection, and North Central Texas Council of Governments collection contain valuable information about how the Dallas-Fort Worth area became prosperous enough to anchor such a megaregion.

-by Alexandra Traxinger Schütz

 

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