DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it — Chase Court, Tarrant County. Now, Fort Worth has a way of growing toward things, and the story of Chase Court is really the story of a city catching up to one man's head start. E.E.
Chase — businessman, investor, a fellow who apparently liked a little elbow room — went and purchased a piece of property that sat, at the time, some comfortable distance from the City of Fort Worth. That's worth sitting with for a second. He didn't build on the edge of town.
He built out beyond it. Right in the center of that property, Chase put up a house. And on the surrounding land, he raised horses.
Whatever else you want to say about the man, he had a sense of scale. Then the city kept coming. It always does.
By 1900, Chase's house had been moved — and not by accident, mind you, but deliberately relocated — to what would eventually be designated lot Number Four. That number wouldn't even exist yet for another six years. It wasn't until 1906 that the Consolidated Improvement and Construction Company of Fort Worth bought the property and subdivided it, turning a horseman's spread into a proper neighborhood with proper lots and proper addresses.
And the neighborhood that grew up on Chase's old ground? It became home to many of Fort Worth's distinguished businessmen and professionals across the years — which means, in a way, E.E. Chase picked the right spot before the right spot knew what it was going to be.
What the marker says
When E.E. Chase purchased the property that is now known as Chase Court, the area was some distance from the City of Fort Worth. Chase, a business man and investor, built a house in the center of the court and raised horses on his land. In 1900 his home was moved to what became lot No. 4 in 1906, when the property was bought and subdivided by the Consolidated Improvement and Construction Company of Fort Worth. Throughout its history, the neighborhood has been the home of many distinguished Fort Worth businessmen and professionals. (1984)