Legacy: Families That Have Shaped Our City

Editor's note: This story first appeared in December's issue of Fort Worth Magazine.

First names tell people who we are. Last names tell people where we come from. They’re the titles that, for better or worse, could elicit praise, prejudice, or curiosity. We do not choose them at birth, and yet they hold such weight. For this article, we set out to discern the families whose names, thanks to a long and lasting presence in Fort Worth, carry distinction, power, and influence — the legacy families.

Legacy, which here we define as impact and consequence, is a subjective term. Because everyone’s experience in this city — the things we cherish and the people we admire — is different from Fort Worthian to Fort Worthian, the task of determining the local families with the greatest legacies was a daunting one.

First, we determined a family must meet specific criteria, which includes significant contributions that positively impacted the city, at least three generations of notability, and a continued and influential presence within the community. While there is little doubt many more families exist that meet the above criteria, after much debate, research, and consideration, we landed on the following 17 families.

From oil tycoons and sultans of salsa to builders of schools and namesakes of stadiums, these are the families that have defined and continue to shape our city. And while each bloodline has power and influence in common, they also have one other shared trait: humble beginnings.

(Editor’s note: as legacy families have wed into other legacy families, some names have become inextricably tied, thus you will see hyphenations where we deemed appropriate.)

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Baker

​From generation to generation, the Baker family has clearly handed down an ethos of giving. James Baker, who founded Baker Bros. Nursery in 1887, helped build the First United Methodist Church of Fort Worth’s original one-story chapel at the corner of Fourth and Jones streets in downtown Fort Worth. He would later serve as the building committee chairman for the present church, which has stood magnificently looking over West Fifth since 1930. And his wife, Louella, used to deliver food and share the Word of God to those in need in Fort Worth by horse and buggy. 

Though James’ son, Edward L. Baker Sr., would take over his father’s nursery (the same nursery that furnished the elm tree that President Theodore Roosevelt planted in front of the Fort Worth Public Library in 1904), Edward’s real El Dorado came in the form of real estate. The graduate of Central High School (that’s Paschal today) had a big hand in developing Wedgwood, Richland Hills, the Richland Industrial Park, and the Baker Building in downtown Fort Worth. The latter, at 110 West Seventh St., is an 11-story edifice that once belonged to the XTO portfolio of properties in downtown. 

Edward, who died in 1969, and his wife, Maxine, were leaders in the capital campaign that raised $1 million for the construction of Methodist Hospital — what is today Texas Health Harris Methodist Fort Worth — tower in 1930 just as the Great Depression formed its hardened grip on society. 

The Bakers’ daughter, Louella — named for her grandmother — and her husband, Nick Martin, would continue the family’s philanthropic principles. The couple have been generous benefactors to the hospital, First United Methodist Church of Fort Worth, and Texas Wesleyan University, where she has served on the board of trustees. The Nick and Lou Martin University Center, opened in 2019. 

Nick Martin, who died in 2021, was joined by Brad Corbett, among others, in founding Robintech, a Fort Worth-based manufacturer of plastic pipe used in the oil industry and elsewhere. He was successful in other ventures, including real estate development, and was, at one time, part-owner of the now-World-Series-Champion Texas Rangers. 

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Bass-Richardson 

The first Bass to leave his mark on North Texas was outlaw Sam Bass, no relation to the distinguished Fort Worth family so far as is known. The Bass-Richardsons are an extended family of powerbrokers and philanthropists that began with Sid W. Richardson (1891-1959). 

The family has recycled the same names over and over ever since, making it hard to keep them all straight. Sid made and lost several fortunes in the oil industry before branching out into ranching and collecting Western art. His sister married Edward Perry Bass, and their son, Perry Richardson Bass went to work for Uncle Sid and became heir to a large part of the Richardson fortune when Sid died in 1959. He left large bequests to Perry Bass and to each of his four great-nephews, Sid, Lee, Edward, and Robert. 

This quintet of men parlayed their millions into billions with shrewd investments in the decades following. The “boys” created Sundance Square and related developments to revive downtown Fort Worth after years of urban decline. In the meantime, Sid Richardson had joined with another powerful Fort Worth name, Amon Carter, in 1947 to create the Sid W. Richardson Foundation, which still supports various organizations and cultural institutions in Fort Worth and Dallas. 

Sid’s legacy lives on in downtown Fort Worth in the form of the Sid Richardson Museum, which holds his Western art collection. Perry Bass and wife Nancy Lee Bass used their fortune to fund the Bass Performance Hall, named for them, and other good causes. 

Meanwhile, the four brothers’ vision brought nightlife and residential living back to downtown Fort Worth — heck, there are even a couple of glass-clad skyscrapers known colloquially as the “Bass Towers.” They have slowed down since launching the Sundance development in the 1980s, but they can still look down on their creation from either one of these 500-foot edifices. 

Ed Bass, whose previous eclectic ventures include Biosphere 2 and Caravan of Dreams, spearheaded the development of Dickies Arena, which opened for concerts, rodeos, and professional lacrosse games in 2019. And Lee and wife Ramona became the driving forces behind the Fort Worth Zoo’s resurrection and current national prominence. 

When Texas Monthly compiled a list of “The 100 Richest People in Texas” in 1989, the Basses occupied six places on the list. Theirs is a mighty legacy. 

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Cantey-Hogsett-Harrison

Samuel B. Cantey came to Texas from Alabama in 1880 and a year later settled in Fort Worth. He entered the legal profession, which was a sure path to success for men on the make in the 19th century. He proved to be a brilliant lawyer and a stem-winding speaker and joined William Capps to start the firm Cantey Capps in 1882. The duo established a reputation as the go-to law firm in Fort Worth for those in serious legal trouble. And with a succession of estimable partners, the firm is still in business today. 

Cantey parlayed his fees into a large ranch and was a powerbroker in the city when he died in 1924. Son Samuel B. Cantey Jr. joined the firm in 1922 and made his own mark as counsel to the First National Bank and a Grand Master of the Masonic order. Sam B. Cantey III followed his father into the banking business while making his own mark as an art collector and arts promoter. It was said of him when he died in 1973 that he had done more than any other “to develop taste in the arts in Fort Worth.” 

In 1888, the family’s patriarch, Samuel Cantey with wife, Marguerite, had a daughter whom they named after her mother. Their daughter would go on to marry Joseph B. “Joe” Hogsett, a man who served 41 years on the board of the Tarrant County Water Control and Improvement District One — the first official name of the Tarrant Regional Water District. And Joe’s father, Jonathan Young “J.Y.” Hogsett, was a prominent attorney and judge who drew up the first city charter — a plaque on the east side of the horse fountain on courthouse square is dedicated in his honor. 

Joe and Marguerite would have two daughters, Anna “Chiss” Gordon (born 1918), who was a founder of the Jewel Charity Ball and major Tarleton State University benefactor — having gifted Tarleton in 2011 with its single largest donation in school history — and Marguerite Harrison (born 1926), who married James Martin Harrison. This name is important because James Martin Harrison is the man who invented the polystyrene cup (AKA, Styrofoam), and his father, William Marshall Harrison, opened the city’s first filling station near what is today Montgomery Plaza.

The Cantey, Hogsett, and Harrison names live on through James and Marguerite’s four children, including daughters Marsha Kleinheinz, who’s married to John Kleinheinz, a local businessman who famously struck gold with treacherous Russian investments; Anna Melissa Philpott; and Tina Gorski, all of whom sit on the board of directors for the Cliburn.

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Carter 

No family has left a bigger imprint on Fort Worth than the Amon Carters. Arguably the city’s biggest booster and responsible for putting Fort Worth on the national map, Amon G. Carter Sr., the only Fort Worthian with two biographies of his life, was behind the Frontier Centennial celebration in 1936, the Will Rogers Complex, a national airport, the bomber plant, the newspaper with the biggest circulation in Texas, a radio and a television station, a museum that became the genesis of the Cultural District, and with making Fort Worth the gateway to West Texas. He did all that with only an eighth-grade education before breaking into the newspaper business in 1906 as a 26-year-old advertising manager. That led to creating the Star-Telegram three years later and becoming owner of his creation in 1923. California had William Randolph Hearst; Fort Worth had Amon Carter. He took on the Hearst syndicate, Dallas, and anyone else who challenged his hometown. 

His son, Amon Carter Jr., fought in World War II, receiving a bronze star for his heroic acts as a German POW. Upon Amon Carter Sr.’s death in 1955, his son succeeded him as publisher of the Star-Telegram, which he continued to run until his death in 1982. 

Meanwhile, Ruth Carter, the daughter and sister respectively of Amon Carter Sr. and Jr., carved out her own niche, creating the Amon Carter Museum of Western Art (now American Art) and becoming a respected figure in the art world. On Nov. 21, 1963, she rounded up original art from her society friends to decorate the Hotel Texas suite of the President and Mrs. John F. Kennedy. 

Ruth’s marriage to J. Lee Johnson III ended in divorce in 1980 but produced five children, including Sheila Johnson, a civic leader and philanthropist who received the 2016 VolunteerNow Lifetime Achievement Award; and Mark Johnson, who is the previous president of the TCU Board of Trustees and is currently serving on the board of the Amon Carter Museum of American Art. 

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Cheney-Sanders

In 1887, only two decades removed from the ratification of the 13th Amendment, Major and Malinda Cheney helped settle Fort Worth’s first Freedman Colony — The Garden of Eden. Freedmen Colonies were Black communities established during the Jim Crow-era, when laws were enacted to restrict former slaves and their progeny from fully integrating into society.

Major and Malinda were among the earliest inhabitants of what was colloquially referred to as the Garden, acquiring 200 acres — thanks largely to Major being the son of a White slaveowner and a Black slave (most opportunities for land ownership were otherwise scarce to nonexistent among former slaves) — along the Trinity River and creating a farm community rife with crops, livestock, homes for their children and fellow freedmen, and a place for worship. In 1891, Major donated an acre of the Garden to open the Birdville Colored School, a one-room schoolhouse that became Birdville ISD’s first school for Black children during segregation.

Because of his contributions to education, Cheney Hills Elementary, which opened in 2020, is named in honor of Major Cheney. The school is a result of the consolidation of Major Cheney Elementary in Haltom City and Richland Hills Elementary.

Major and Malinda would have seven children, and the family largely remained part of the Garden’s community in the decades that followed, enduring the worst of the era of Jim Crow, including false accusations of rape, attempted lynchings, and the murder of their eldest son.

In 2005, the Fort Worth City Council voted to designate the area along Carson Street near Haltom City, where a handful of homes remain and where the school once stood, the Garden of Eden Historic District.

The Cheney name lives on largely via Sanders, another family of freed slaves who had settled in the Garden. Among the descendants of Major and Malinda whose paths to success were opened, thanks to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, is prominent local journalist and civil rights activist Bob Ray Sanders. One of 10 children, Bob Ray is a great-grandson to Major and Malinda and graduated from I.M. Terrell High School in 1965. He would go on to have a 45-year career at his hometown newspaper, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, where he received a Pulitzer Prize nomination in 2011 and would serve as president of the press club of Fort Worth. In 2018, the National Association of Black Journalists inducted him into their hall of fame.

Bob Ray’s nephew and niece — brother and sister Andrew Sanders and Brenda Sanders-Wise — have also become prominent and active members within the community.

Following 30 years of research, Andrew compiled a history of the Cheney-Sanders clan, The Garden of Eden: The Story of a Freedmen’s Community in Texas, which was released via TCU Press in 2015. The book has become quintessential reading for those interested in Tarrant County Black history.

His sister, Sanders-Wise, became the first Black school board trustee of Birdville ISD in 2021 and serves as the head of the Tarrant County Black Historical Genealogical Society, which runs the Lenora Butler Rolla Museum.

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Dalton 

In Fort Worth, the face of a black-haired, cross-eyed toddler with a red bow and tongue sticking upward easily beats out Vlasic’s stork as the mascot for pickles. This face, which graces every bottle of Best Maid Pickles, is the face of Margie Dalton, daughter of Mildred and Jesse Otis Dalton, the company’s founders. 

The Best Maid brand, whose beginnings as Mrs. Dalton’s Salad Dressing kicked off in Mansfield in 1924, is today helmed by fourth generation Daltons, including Brian Dalton, who serves as the company’s CFO and president, and Chris Dalton, Brian’s brother who manages the tankyard where the pickling process occurs. Brian and Chris’ father, Gary Dalton, continues to serve as the chairman and oversaw massive growth in the 1980s and ’90s, when the company went from being a regional player to national prominence.

In 1926, the company expanded from exclusively producing mayonnaise to making condiments that included pickles and selling them door to door. The company was then passed on to Garland Son Dalton, whose first job with the company was making deliveries for pickles and condiments after school.

The company remained a big regional player in the pickle industry throughout the ’70s and ’80s and expanded in 1988 beyond its then five-state territory to include much of the Southern U.S. — stretching from Florida to Arizona.

With the advent of e-commerce, Best Maid continued to diversify its offerings, which today includes Bloody Mary mix, barbecue sauce, and a pickle beer in partnership with local brewery, Martin House, which hit shelves in 2017. The Pickle Emporium, Best Maid’s brick-and-mortar retail shop, opened its doors in 2020.

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Edwards 

Fort Worth, cattle, and money seem to go hand in hand. The Edwards family’s connection to the city dates back to 1848, when Lemuel Edwards founded a ranch on this land even before there was a Fort Worth. The ranch passed on to his son, Caswell Overton Edwards, in 1869 who grew it to 7,000 acres of rolling prairie and meandering creek and was still in the saddle in 1932 when the Star-Telegram named him at 81 the “oldest working cowboy in Texas.” 

Cass Edwards and son Crawford O. Edwards ran the ranch until Edwards Sr. died in 1941. Crawford died a year later, leaving it in the hands of Cass Edwards II who added the role of president of Cassco Land Company and bank director to his resume. 

Cassco Land Company whittled the property down by selling off sections to developers that created Tanglewood and Overton Park subdivisions starting in 1956, Hulen Mall in the late 1970s, and Cityview in 1984, and Trinity Commons, Clearfork, and Overton Woods in the preceding years. Over the decades, the family’s vision transformed rural pasture and woodlands into prime suburban development.

South Hulen might be called the Edwards Monument, stretching from Tanglewood Elementary and Edwards Ranch Pump Station, going under I-20 to Hulen Mall and beyond. The original homestead of Cass Edwards Sr. still stands on S. Hulen, sitting at the end of a gated driveway. People of a certain age can remember when South Hulen was a dirt track that ended at Loop 820 South. The Edwards’ name is synonymous with the development of southwest Fort Worth, which became some of the city’s most sought-after real estate. And some 850 acres of the original property are still undeveloped.  

The fifth generation of the Edwards family is still active in running Cassco Land Co. Crawford H. Edwards currently serves as the company’s president and, in May of this year, received the city council’s approval for a $22 million tax incentive plan to begin a $400 million, 25-acre expansion of Clearfork. 

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Garcia-Lancarte family

Historically, due to restrictive laws, segregation, and racism, members of minority communities had a plethora of obstacles when it came to making a mark on Fort Worth. In the early 20th century, Mexican immigrants and people of Hispanic heritage were confined to barrios in the city’s North Side and near Hemphill Street in its southern quarter, where property ownership for Mexican Americans was less restrictive. 

However, one of the few businesses where they could thrive was food. According to census data from the late 19th century, some of the oldest Fort Worth residents of Mexican decent were tamale and chili peddlers. Joe T. Garcia, who had been a Fort Worth resident since 1914, and wife Jessie (known by family members as “Mamasuez”) opened a little barbecue restaurant in a small frame house on the city’s North Side in 1935. 

Joe started out working at his uncle’s grocery store, where Jessie prepared lunches. The lunches proved so popular that Joe branched out on his own to open Joe’s Place in the middle of the Great Depression. Their drive coupled with his bigger-than-life personality and her cooking skills turned the eatery into an institution. Eventually, they gave up the barbecue for Tex-Mex dishes made from scratch and served family style. 

The restaurant’s popularity grew and with it so did Joe T.’s political influence, as the restaurateur became a political powerbroker who could deliver the North Side to the party/candidate he favored. 

Following the unexpected passing of Joe in 1953, Joe and Jessie’s daughter, Hope, together with her husband, Paul Lancarte, would help manage the restaurant and rebranded it Joe T Garcia’s.

Lanny Lancarte, the eldest of Paul and Hope’s seven children, would take over management in 1982. And he, along with brothers David (who passed in 2005), Joe, Jesse, and Philip, and sisters Zurella and Elizabeth, ushered in an era of growth. The business now includes Esperanza’s Bakery and Café and an expansion of the original restaurant that takes up an entire city block. The large patio regularly receives national media attention and has a seating capacity of over 1,000.

Today, many of Paul and Hope’s grandchildren remain active in the family business, including Joe Lancarte Jr., who became the restaurant’s general manager in 2002, and Kelly Lancarte, who serves as the company’s director of marketing and public relations. Lanny Lancarte Jr., son of Lanny Lancarte, also remains active and influential in the local culinary scene, having opened Righteous Foods, a health food restaurant in the city’s Cultural District, in 2014.

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Hickman

The Hickmans kickstarted their family fortune, ironically enough, with a bit of misfortune. When a runaway train struck Austin Hickman, he’d survive and receive a small settlement. With that money, he opened a battery repair business with his brother, Cecil, in Oklahoma. After the battery station closed, Cecil uprooted his family — wife, Eurith, and two children, Holt and Brenda — and moved to Fort Worth, where he opened Fort Worth Battery and Automotive.

His son, Holt Hickman, at the age of 25, would join the business. And six years later, he would buy it. The following year, Hickman founded Lone Star Manufacturing Co., a venture that would become the world’s largest automotive HVAC system company. From this initial enterprise, Hickman would go on to found more than 70 corporations in a variety of businesses that include automotive HVAC, cruise controls and security systems, hospitality, retail and commercial real estate, oil and gas, farming, ranching, and entertainment.

With the money he earned from these ventures, Hickman would turn around and invest in Fort Worth real estate, becoming one of the city’s most prominent developers.

Hickman would die in 2014, but, despite his extensive business forays and successes, his biggest legacy will little doubt be the development and preservation of the Fort Worth Stockyards. Hickman owned or co-owned 100 of 125 acres in the historic Stockyards, spearheaded the arrival of a tourist train into the Stockyards, and was the driving force behind the twice-daily cattle drives — one of the city’s biggest attractions.

Today, Hickman’s son and grandson, Brad and Bradley, continue his legacy to preserve, restore, and promote the Stockyards. The biggest feather in Brad’s cap, who currently serves as president of Hickman Companies, is the 2020 opening of Mule Alley, a $200 redevelopment of the area’s old horse and mule barns, and the subsequent opening of Hotel Drover. Since its opening, the area has seen a marked increase in visitation and, according to Fort Worth Stockyards Heritage Development, no vacant business spaces currently exist.

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Kimbell-Fortson 

The Kimbell and Fortson families represent a merger of both genes and business interests. Like his father, B.B. Kimbell, who first brought the family to Texas from Florida — though to East Texas’ Oakwood, not Fort Worth — Kay Kimbell (1886-1964) made money in flour milling then grew that business into more than 70 diverse corporations. Like others on this list, he was an art collector. Kimbell died childless, and with wife Velma’s blessing, he left the bulk of his fortune to the Kimbell Art Foundation with instructions to use it to build an art museum “of the first rate” in his adopted hometown of Fort Worth.

Proving that all does not go smoothly even among the high and the mighty, two Kimbell cousins hired Melvin Belli to sue for a share of the estate. They lost. Kimbell’s business partner, Coleman Carter, had one daughter who was also a niece to Kay and Velma, and whose name she shared with her uncle: Kay. She married Benjamin Fortson, founder of Fortson Oil, a man who knew his way around an oil field or boardroom but followed his wife’s lead in art, which followed her uncle’s lead. Ben and Kay Fortson directed the early years of the Kimbell Art Foundation which laid the groundwork for construction of the Kimbell Art Museum, admired by critics as “one of the finest small art museums in the world.” In 2009, the museum made international headlines as it became the first museum east of the Prime Meridian to acquire an original Michelangelo painting, “The Torment of Saint Anthony.”

Keeping it in the family, the Kimbell Art Museum elected Kimbell Fortson Wynne, daughter of Ben and Kay, as president in 2017 — though Kay remains the museum’s chairman. Kay was also one of the inheritors of her grandfather’s KB Carter Ranch — the KB standing for Kimbell’s Best — located in the aforementioned Oakwood. According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram the 15,000-acre ranch went on the market in 2018 with a $51 million price tag and sold in 2020 to an arm of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

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Leonard  

Before there was a Walmart, Fort Worth had Leonard’s Department Store, the creation of brothers Marvin, Thomas, and Obie Leonard. They opened their store in 1918 and over the next four decades built it into the Southwest’s retail giant, selling everything from groceries to home furnishings and auto supplies. They opened a second store, Everybody’s (the Dollar General of its day) and eventually took up six downtown blocks. Obie Jr. joined the business after World War II. 

The Leonards were retail pioneers with their Toyland department, privately owned subway to a remote parking lot, air conditioning, Christmas decorations, and Fort Worth’s first escalator. Pushing for progress in every way, they were also the first downtown store to desegregate in 1960. The brand was so popular that it’s even referenced in Willie Nelson’s Christmas tune, “Pretty Paper.” Marvin Leonard also found time to build Colonial Country Club (1936), which in 1946 became home to what is now the longest running non-major tour event on the PGA Tour, the Colonial National Invitation. 

The family finally sold the business to Tandy Corporation in 1967 and seven years later, Tandy would sell the company to Dillard’s, and the “Leonard’s” name came down for good. They had been pioneers in the Great Age of Department Stores, showing the Monnigs and Striplings a thing or two.  

The family name was carried on by Marvin’s daughter, Martha Vaughan “Marty” Leonard, who started her own business and devoted her life to community service. She raised the money to build the Marty Leonard Community Chapel — a marvel of beautiful architecture located on the old Lena Pope Home property — and served on the Tarrant County Regional District Water Board; is an active board member of Baylor, Scott & White’s All Saints Foundation; and was a 2011 inductee into the Texas Golf Hall of Fame. In 2003 she received the Golden Deeds Award for her service. 

The Leonard name has also become prominent in law and local politics. Bob Leonard, grandson of Obie and Marty’s first cousin twice removed, served as the District 97 state representative for five terms between 1979 and 1987 and currently has a law office in Benbrook.

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Lupton

At the time of Charles A. Lupton’s death in 1948, Texas Gov. Buford Jester expressed sympathy for the family of his friend.

“He was a man who, through his generosity of time and means, was a builder of his community and the highest type of citizen.”

Lupton moved to Fort Worth in 1911 when he and Tom Brown acquired the local Coca-Cola bottling plant. Brown had had a theatrical association in Dallas. Taking note of lagging sales at the cold drink stand, Brown found, in his opinion, the soda water was of poor quality. 

He made the executive decision to go with Coca-Cola. When he called to inquire with Coke, the salesman was Lupton. 

That phone call began a lifelong friendship and business association that expanded to other interests, including ranching and oil.

With a fortune secure, Lupton gave his time to civic endeavors. Among those was the Lena Pope Home, which he gave freely of his time and treasure. Lupton was, Lena Pope said upon his death in 1948, the nonprofit’s largest contributor and “most faithful consultant.”

In fact, during its first year of operation, Lupton told the women operating the home for 14 children to not even worry about a grocery bill. 

He was director of the Fort Worth Stock Show and for the three years prior to his death had paid the premium price for the grand champion steer. 

An ardent baseball fan, Lupton probably saved the game in Fort Worth. A frequent visitor to LaGrave Field, Lupton became a stockholder and director of the club from 1936 until it was purchased by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1945. He contributed heavily to keeping the Fort Worth team in the Texas League when poor seasons and scant attendance put the organization in poor financial conditions. 

The Brown-Lupton Foundation made the signature gift to the construction of TCU’s baseball stadium. 

Lupton, who died relatively young at age 63, and his wife, Marie, had two daughters, Shirley and Gloria. 

Shirley is the mother of Charlie Geren, today one of the most powerful members of the Texas House of Representatives, as well as the owner of the venerable Railhead Smokehouse on Montgomery Street. Gloria Lupton Tennison is the mother of Kit Tennison Moncrief, currently the chair of the TCU Board of Trustees. Moncrief’s daughter, Gloria, today heads Moncrief Oil, which serves as a great segue into our next family.

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Moncrief 

Wildcatters, elected officials, philanthropists, and authors. The Moncrief family has done it all. The namesake son of the founder was so much bigger than life he got the nickname “Tex.” That tends to get your attention. 

The family patriarch, William A. “Monty” Moncrief Sr., founded the dynasty when he struck it rich in the East Texas oilfields. His son, William A. Jr., would then turn their small successes into a bona fide fortune when he partnered with his father in Moncrief Oil, called Montex, based in Fort Worth. They brought in oil wells and natural gas fields all over the country. Tex Moncrief ran the family business from 1948. Through the decades, Moncrief would make significant discoveries of natural gas in Wyoming, as well as discoveries along the Gulf Coast in both his home state and Louisiana.

In 1989, Texas Monthly named Tex one of the “100 Richest People in Texas.” The business model was always to keep it in the family and never go public. The company fended off an IRS investigation in the 1990s, the same decade Forbes Magazine estimated the family wealth at $500 million and rising.

And the family would put their wealth to good use, endowing buildings and programs at several Texas colleges and universities, including TCU. Perhaps their biggest contribution is to medicine, including gifts of $25 million to open the UT Southwestern Monty and Tex Moncrief Medical Center at Fort Worth and $75 million for the Moncrief Cancer Institute. The family’s unrestrained philanthropy and numerous foundations will no doubt be their lasting legacy.

The Moncrief name also extends beyond oil and philanthropy, with Tex’s nephew, Mike Moncrief, making a name for himself in local politics. Mike would serve as a judge of the Tarrant County Commissioners Court from 1974 to 1986, as a state senator from 1991 to 2003, and then as mayor of Fort Worth from 2003 to 2011. Under Mike’s mayorship, he shaped the city’s gas drilling regulations that are considered a standard bearer across other cities, brought the Omni Hotel to downtown, and promoted new development in decaying parts of the city. In addition, his wife, Rosie, was instrumental in bringing Super Bowl XLV to Tarrant County.

Tex would have seven children from three marriages, with two dying young. Shortly after Tex’s death in 2021 at the age of 101, infighting over the family’s fortune, including accusations between family members of fraud and signature forgery, made local headlines. ​Regardless, many family members are still actively involved in Moncrief Oil and Montex Drilling, with the Gloria Moncrief Holmsten, daughter of Charles and Kit Moncrief, at the helm. The name remains one of Fort Worth’s most imposing.

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Murrin

Few people have left their thumbprint on the development of Fort Worth as noticeably as Steve Murrin, the ordained “Mayor of the Stockyards.” Murrin led the charge in the 1970s to preserve and ultimately restore the Fort Worth Stockyards, as the now-bustling area of town had been relegated to crumbling historic buildings, transients, and high crime rates. What is today Fort Worth’s leading driver of tourism can largely be attributed to Murrin’s blood, sweat, and tears over the course of several decades.

Murrin is a third-generation Fort Worthian, his grandfather having immigrated to Fort Worth from Ireland in 1885, opening a saloon on the city’s south side. His son, Stephen Murrin Sr., worked in the Stockyards for Edward Kerr, the largest cattle trader in Fort Worth at the time. After returning from World War I, Murrin Sr. would open a chili parlor and would later open a restaurant on Camp Bowie called Steve’s Place, which was one of the city’s first carhop restaurants. The restaurant sat where Lucile’s currently resides, and, if you know where to look, Stephen Murrin’s name is on the sidewalk.

Despite the hardships of the Great Depression, Murrin Sr. would purchase a ranch in the rolling hills of west Fort Worth after saving money from peddling ham sandwiches in the Stockyards. This is the ranch where, in 1938, Murrin was born and, to this day, still resides.

 Murrin’s efforts to halt wrecking crews and purchase and flip Stockyards real estate would ultimately prove successful. He would save Cowtown Coliseum and return rodeos to the Stockyards, much of the district would earn a listing on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976, and Billy Bob’s Texas would open its doors as the world’s largest honky-tonk in 1981 — of which he became part of a new ownership group in 1988. 

 Murrin would also serve as a councilman for District 7 from 1986 to 1990.

Today, Murrin’s children, Phillip and Steve, run most of Murrin’s Stockyard holdings, which includes River Ranch and numerous other properties whose tenants are some of the area’s staples. The family is also going full steam ahead with the redevelopment of Westland, which they hope to make a dining destination for Fort Worthians. JD’s Hamburgers and Dayne’s Craft Barbecue are some of the most recent businesses to call the area home.

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Renfro 

Some Fort Worth families made their name in bread (Mrs. Baird); others made their name in fish (Bill Martin). The Renfros made theirs in condiments Theirs was a well-known family name long before George and Arthurine Renfro started their business in 1940. Earlier, the name was associated with law enforcement, thanks to John W. Renfro (1866-1965), a pioneering police chief who ended the reign of “blue laws” in Fort Worth, and with drugstores, thanks to Elza Tillman Renfro who created a chain of 43 drugstores stretching across the city. 

George and Arthurine started by selling spices and vinegar out of their home on Gould Avenue. They would continue to diversify their products based on the demands of their clientele — so long as it was something one could put in a jar — selling everything under the label Renfro Foods. In 1963, the Mrs. Renfro brand was born and the pair’s sons, Bill and Jack, would become actively involved in the business — taking over the reins in 1970.

By the time a third generation of George and Arthurine Renfro’s family took over the business, they had sales topping $15 million a year. Today, the company is headed by Jack’s son, Doug Renfro, who serves as president; Becky Renfro Borbolla, Bill’s daughter, who serves as senior vice president; and James Renfro, Bill’s son, who also serves as a senior vice president. The company has also diversified its offerings, which now counts 28 unique salsas, dips, relishes, and sauces in its product lineup — all made right here in Fort Worth and in all 50 states and over 30 foreign countries. The company also puts its Fort Worth factory to good use, producing products far beyond those labeled Mrs. Renfro’s and taking on other companies’ outsourced manufacturing. 

In 2011 Renfro Foods was awarded the Small Business of the Year award from the Chamber of Commerce. More than just a business, Renfro Foods is also a longtime supporter of the Women’s Shelter, Cook Children’s Medical Center, the Fort Worth Opera, and other community-centric organizations.

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Walsh

William Fleming, born in Whitewright, made his fortune in the classic Texas tradition — oil. His first oil investments were made in Wichita County, and he soon became a millionaire. 

He contributed millions of dollars a year both locally and worldwide to advance the work of Baptist missions, including to Baylor University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth. For his stewardship of treasure, he was selected a trustee of the Baptist theological university. Baylor gave him an honorary degree of laws in 1952.

“Christianity is my business,” he once said, according to the New York Times. “All other business is incidental.” He was also friendly with President Dwight Eisenhower, who came to Fort Worth at Fleming’s invitation to speak to the Texas Baptist General Convention in 1950.

Flaming named his first successful well for his daughter, “Mary D1,” (Mary Walsh was known to friends as “Mary D”), who would go on to wed F. Howard Walsh in 1937. Walsh, a Waco-born TCU grad would go on to follow his father-in-law into the oil business, where, also like his father-in-law, he would make a fortune as one of the largest independent oil producers and ranchers.

And he shared it.

Perhaps the most favorite beneficiary of Walsh and his wife Mary was TCU, including a $3.5 million gift for the TCU performing arts center that, at the time, was one of the largest gifts in university history. However, their philanthropy knew few bounds. Hospitals, churches, and the arts community were other favored institutions. Walsh was even known to buy mink coats for his domestic help. 

The couple had five children, including F. Howard Walsh Jr., who also followed in the family oil and ranching business. He died in 2016. 

Today, F. Howard Walsh III, grandson to F. Howard Walsh Sr. and Mary D. Walsh, leads the Walsh Companies, a collection of privately-owned companies based in Fort Worth, including Walsh Ranches and Walsh & Watts. The companies are involved in ranching, real estate development, oil and gas, renewables, mining, and investments. Walsh joined his family’s office in 1999 and has served as president of the Walsh Companies since 2018. 

Walsh is guiding the development vision at the 7,200-acre property in West Fort Worth known as WALSH. The property, which straddles Interstates 20 and 30 just west of Fort Worth, was for decades the headquarters of the family ranching operations and one of the premier Charolais breeding operations in the country. 

Opened in 2017, WALSH is the connectivity point for economic development, corporate activity, and lifestyle in west Fort Worth and is home to nearly 4,000 residents. 

Elsewhere on the family tree is local restaurateur Jon Bonnell, who is one of 15 first cousins to count F. Howard Walsh as their grandfather. Bonnell owns and operates five restaurants in Fort Worth, including Bonnell’s Fine Texas Cuisine, Waters Restaurant, Buffalo Bros. (two locations), and Jon’s Grille.

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Williamson 

In the clothing business “dickie” was once associated with a neckwear fashion popular in the 1960s. Ironically, Emmett Eugene Dickie and his cousin Charles Nathan Williamson weren’t interested in fashion when they created their line of work clothes in 1922 based in Fort Worth. Called Williamson-Dickie, the company produced bib coveralls and khaki work pants beloved by factory and oil-field workers. Charles Nathan would die in 1937 after striking his head on an iron box, and his son, Charles Donovan “Don” Williamson, who was already acting as the company’s general manager and chief operating officer, would then take over the company. 

During his tenure, Williamson-Dickie would produce millions of military uniforms on the home front during World War II, an aiding hand that earned praise from servicemembers who applauded the quality and durability of the uniforms. In the 1950s, the company would expand internationally, becoming sought-after wardrobe for oil workers in the Middle East.

In 1961, Don Williamson died, leaving the company to his son, Charles Dickie Williamson. Thanks to their branding, the company would be known colloquially as Dickies. In 1989, Texas Monthly ranked Charles Dickie Williamson as one of the “100 Richest People in Texas.” The article poses the question, “Isn’t [Dickies] just about the silliest name for a line of work clothes.” Dickie responded, “It’s a silly name for a person, too?”

While the brand would remain popular among workers, it was eventually adopted as leisure wear by Baby Boomers and, later, as stylish duds by Millennials. As one Forbes article put it in 1998, “The fashionable stumbled onto Dickies.” ​The company would trade hands from one Williamson to another for a fourth time, when Philip C. Williamson took the reins in 1997. The brand has grown into a $200-plus million a year business and, in 2017, the family sold the company to global apparel and footwear company VF Corporation. Philip still serves in an advisory role.

The family has also left their mark by restoring the hundred-year-old Stephen F. Austin School on the Near Southside. Putting their name on the beautiful Dickies Arena.