City Of Fort Worth: Fort Worth Completes Historic Context And Resource Survey Plan

Press release from City of Fort Worth:

November 17, 2021

The City of Fort Worth’s Historic Preservation Program recently passed a significant milestone when it completed its first Citywide Historic Context Statement, a Survey Plan and an ArcGIS mapping system as part of the program’s ongoing update of its Historic Resources Survey.

From 2019-2021, the city worked with HHM & Associates Inc. to complete phases of the update, using matching Certified Local Government grant funds from the Texas Historical Commission.

The completed Citywide Historic Context establishes a framework that knits together the significance of previously designated landmarks and historic districts, while providing helpful background for potential future designations, districts and preservation planning in general. The geographic and historic contexts show how existing historic-age resources relate to significant historical themes, events and individuals in Fort Worth’s past. The contexts can be used as a framework for evaluating properties for local historic designation and National Register eligibility during future surveys. These types of designations make historic properties eligible for local, state and federal preservation tax incentives when rehabilitation projects are undertaken.

For the first time in the history of the city’s Historic Preservation Program, the city will be able to make historic resource survey data available online through a new ArcGIS Mapping tool. Previous survey data was limited to physical copies that could only be viewed at City Hall, and required a significant amount of staff time and resources to make publicly available.

The ArcGIS Mapping Tool will allow residents to quickly and freely research identified cultural resources throughout Fort Worth. The map will be constantly updated as new areas are surveyed throughout the city.

A component of the online mapping tool includes an ArcGIS Collector app, which will allow residents and property owners to easily survey historic resources using a smartphone or tablet device. City staff intend to collaborate with the community on future survey efforts, using the app as an educational tool that will help residents engage with the historic fabric around them. Fort Worth is one of only a handful of cities nationwide that have an ArcGIS Mapping and Survey tool, placing Fort Worth at the forefront of innovative preservation technology.

The completed Survey Plan establishes a solid foundation for future resource survey and conservation efforts by the City of Fort Worth, local residents and property owners. HHM & Associates worked closely with the city’s Historic Preservation Program to understand its preservation needs and identify areas where the evaluation of historic resources proves the most urgent and critical.

The city’s first resource survey took place in the 1980s, and resulted in the publication of the Tarrant County Historic Resources Survey in 1989. Best preservation practices recommend updating a resource survey for a district or area every five years to document change. While the city has updated some of its local historic district surveys in the past, it is in critical need of a comprehensive update to keep pace with the significant growth of Fort Worth over the last 30 years, which has placed tremendous pressure on historic resources throughout the city.

To learn more about the Historic Resources Survey Update of the city’s Historic Preservation Program, email Justin Newhart, historic preservation officer in the Development Services Department, at 817-392-8037.

Photo: Fort Worth’s Historic Context and Survey Plan

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This press release was produced by City of Fort Worth. The views expressed here are the author’s own.