DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm just along for the ride. Now, Fort Worth has had its share of big personalities and bigger ambitions, and few things put both on display quite like the Blackstone Hotel. This was the city's first Art Deco skyscraper, and it went up in 1929 — erected for a wealthy cattleman by the name of C.
A. 'Gus' O'Keefe. And how did it get that name? Well, the marker tells us O'Keefe paid a visit to the Blackstone Hotel in Chicago, liked what he saw, and brought the name home to Fort Worth.
That's the kind of move a man makes when he's got cattle money and a taste for the finer things. The design work fell to a St. Louis architectural firm — Mauran, Russell, and Crowell — and what they delivered was something Fort Worth hadn't seen before.
Original sash windows, irregular setbacks climbing up into the Texas sky, and ornamental terra cotta detailing that still catches the eye today. Now here's a detail worth pausin' on: somewhere up on the 22nd floor, Fort Worth's very first radio station, WBAP, once made its home. Think about that — voices going out over the airwaves from near the top of the tallest building in the city.
Then came the 1950s, and the Hilton Hotel chain moved in, occupying the building from 1952 to 1962. During that run they tacked on a five-story annex, growing the place out even as the original tower kept reaching up. The Hilton eventually moved on, but the building remained.
And here's where the story lands: of every structure that rose in Fort Worth before World War II, the Blackstone Hotel still stands tallest. That's not a legend — that's just the record.
What the marker says
The first Art Deco skyscraper in Fort Worth, the Blackstone Hotel was erected in 1929 for wealthy cattleman C. A. "Gus" O'Keefe, who named it after a visit to the Blackstone Hotel in Chicago. The St. Louis architectural firm of Mauran, Russell, and Crowell designed the structure. The city's first radio station, WBAP, once occupied the 22nd floor. A five-story annex was added in the 1950s by the Hilton Hotel chain, which occupied the building from 1952 to 1962. Featuring original sash windows, irregular setbacks, and ornamental terra cotta detailing, the Blackstone Hotel remains the city's tallest pre-World War II structure. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1998