One: Heritage Park, Fort Worth, Texas

Abstract

Situated on the bluffs overlooking the confluence of the Clear and West forks of the Trinity River, Upper Heritage Park is a space to reflect on the history of Fort Worth from its founding in 1849 to current history-in-the-making. The site is at the location of the original fort for which the city is named. 1 The fort was situated there to command the sweeping views of the converging river and the land to the east, west and north (figures 5 and 6). Upper Heritage Park, also occasionally called ‘Heritage Plaza’, and Lower Heritage Park are quite distinct. Upper Heritage refers to Lawrence Halprin & Associates' plaza on top of the bluff, only a couple hundred yards from the nineteenth-century courthouse building, and Lower Heritage consists of trails that extend down to the water's edge and along the river's banks. A cluster of stone and brick ruins exist along the lower trail just west of the plaza (figure 7). Their anonymity allows the visitor to imagine their history and simply enjoy their aesthetic delight.2