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HISTORY
The secluded Ridglea Country
Club Estates neighborhood lies seven to eight miles west of the
Fort Worth Central Business District. The area is included in
the 1855 J. Rogers Survey and the 1858 James Rogers Survey. It
is bordered by the Clear Fork of the Trinity River, Highway 183
and railroad tracks, but is surrounded by a golf course and trees
giving it the ambiance of country living. Part of the neighborhood
is in the Benbrook city limits, but most is in Fort Worth.
Early owners of the land on which
Ridglea Country Club Estates now stands included H.B. Herd, who
purchased the land in 1918; Earnest Allen, who owned Allen Farms
and was instrumental in developing the area; Mary Armstrong,
Jack Danciger and Mrs. M. Annie Ritz.
The area's oldest landmark is
a cemetery which was constructed in the 1850's and lies near
present day Streamwood Road. The cemetery contains the gravesites
of several Civil War veterans and members of the Willburn Family,
including Rachel Willburn Snyder, who donated land for churches
and schools in Benbrook. The last person buried in the cemetery
was a member of the Snyder family in 1924. The neighborhood association
helped clean up the area before it was fenced, then the Tarrant
County Historical Society cemetery division took over using Boy
Scouts to help maintain it.
In 1966, J.T. Luther and Fritz
Barton bought and began to develop the area. Land was first selected
for an 18-hole men's championship golf course and clubhouse,
which was to be owned by Ridglea Country Club. The remainder
of the land was divided into residential lots that were sold
by the Earnest Allen Development Company, which formed in 1970
to facilitate this process.
Allen Place was constructed as
an addition to Ridglea Country Club Estates and is located on
the site of an old farmhouse that belonged to the Allen Family.
Earnest Allen, Jr. remembers when Allen Farms had horses and
cattle and was considered way out in the country. He says it
took six miles of poles to hook up their phone and electricity.
Today Ridglea Country Club Estates features more than 600 homes, some condominiums
and the golf course.
The Stoney Creek Addition is
a separate addition from Ridglea Country Club Estates, developed
by Guy Burke. Stoney Creek Court is a private street.
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