(The father of Ft. Worth)
John Peter Smith
(The father of Ft. Worth)
Webmasters comment: Due to the importance of John
Peter Smith in our history and location and since he served with the 7th Texas
Cavalry, I have include John Peter Smith's overall biography and not just his
WBTS activities.
John Peter Smith (1831-1901), known as "the father
of Fort Worth," was born on September 16, 1831, in Owen County, Kentucky,
to Samuel and Polly (Bond) Smith. When he was seven years old, Smith and his
family moved to Ohio County, Kentucky; however, both of his parents died near
Hartford in 1844, leaving him and his five brothers as orphans. Smith chose to
live under the guardianship of W. H. Garnett, a cousin. As a teen Smith received
an excellent education in the public school system. During the late 1840s he
entered Franklin College in Indiana, and in 1850 he began a program at Bethany
College in Virginia, graduating in July 1853 with first honors in mathematics
and ancient languages. After graduation Smith returned home only to leave four
months later to move to Texas. By December he arrived in Fort Worth and decided
to make it his home. In January 1854 Smith obtained possession of an old army
hospital left abandoned by the Second United States Dragoons. In this building
he began the first school in the city. Although because of ill health he
maintained classes for only three months, the school house was eventually
transformed into the Male and Female Academy, reportedly the first permanent
educational facility in Fort Worth. The schoolmaster quit his job in 1855 to
begin employment as a surveyor and land locator. For the next five years Smith
worked at this job, while he simultaneously studied law with A. Y. Fowler.
District Judge Nathaniel M. Burford admitted Smith to the bar in 1860. When the
Civil War broke out in 1861, Smith voted against secession; however, when Texas
joined the fight, he promptly began to show his support for the Confederacy.
After mustering up 120 Tarrant County men, Smith helped form Company K under the
command of Col. William Steele. Joining the Seventh Regiment of the Texas
Cavalry in Sibley's brigade, Smith fought with the Army of Western Louisiana in
campaigns throughout New Mexico, Arizona, and Western Louisiana. He was severely
wounded at Donaldsonville, Louisiana, in 1863 and slightly wounded at the battle
of Mansfield, Louisiana, in 1864. In that same year Smith was promoted to
colonel of his regiment, and he commanded 600 soldiers until the group disbanded
in Navarro County on May 18, 1865.
Following the war he returned home to begin his career as a lawyer and to
deal in real estate. Smith owned 1,000 acres of land in Tarrant County in 1865
and quickly rose to prominence in Fort Worth society. Within five years he had
doubled his holdings, and by the early 1880s he had amassed city lots valued at
more than $50,000 and thousands of acres of land. He was reported to be the
largest landowner in Fort Worth. Smith donated much of his time and land to the
development and expansion of Fort Worth. He successfully battled to have the
county seat moved to his city from Birdville. As a private citizen he was
instrumental in many new business ventures. He was a partner in the Fort Worth
Street Railway Company, thus establishing the first public inner city
transportation system. Additionally, he helped promote the first railroad into
Fort Worth-the Texas and Pacific-and donated thousands of dollars to railroad
expansion. In 1891 Smith was a key figure in the building of the first stockyard
in Fort Worth. Nearly all of the larger cattle companies of northwest Texas were
obliged to Smith for their organization, and many young cattlemen were
personally indebted to him for his assistance.
Smith was elected mayor of Fort Worth in 1882 and served the first of six
terms. Under his guidance, several public services were initiated, including the
city's first water department. As a public official he helped establish an
independent school system and also served as a trustee on the first school
board. In addition to his other accomplishments, Smith was the president of the
Fort Worth Gas Light and Coal Company. Several times he was urged to accept a
nomination for governor of the state of Texas, but he continually refused,
saying that he preferred to pursue his personal interests. Smith donated many
acres to the city for improvements, including the land for the Oakwood, Calvary,
and Trinity cemeteries and several parks, churches, and hospitals, one of which
still carries his name-John Peter Smith Hospital. Smith was a charter member of
the Fort Worth Masonic Lodge and a member of the Christian Church. He married
Mary E. Fox, the widow of a Fort Worth pioneer physician, on October 16, 1867.
They had five children. Smith died on April 11, 1901, in St. Louis, Missouri,
while on a promotional trip for Fort Worth. Reportedly, the cause of death was
blood poisoning, which he contracted following a robbery and assault outside his
hotel. He was buried at Oakwood Cemetery on Fort Worth's north side. The
citizens of the city honored him by erecting the John Peter Smith Monument, a
marble bust, near St. Patrick's Cathedral in the heart of the city on land
donated by Smith.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: James Cox, Historical and Biographical Record of the Cattle
Industry (2 vols., St. Louis: Woodward and Tiernan Printing, 1894, 1895;
rpt., with an introduction by J. Frank Dobie, New York: Antiquarian, 1959). History
of Texas, Together with a Biographical History of Tarrant and Parker Counties
(Chicago: Lewis, 1895). Ruby Schmidt, ed., Fort Worth and Tarrant County
(Fort Worth: Texas Christian University Press, 1984). Mack H. Williams, In
Old Fort Worth: The Story of a City and Its People as Published in the
News-Tribune in 1976 and 1977 (1977).
Kristi Strickland
"SMITH, JOHN PETER." The Handbook of Texas Online. <http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/SS/fsm29.html>