DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. The name on this marker is Khleber Miller Van Zandt, and friend, that is a name that carried some weight in Fort Worth, Texas — and well beyond it. Born in 1836, a native of Tennessee, Van Zandt came to east Texas as a child.
So you could say Texas got hold of him early, and Texas does not let go. He served as a major in the 7th Texas Infantry Regiment, C.S.A., and when that war was done, he pointed himself toward a small, rough-edged place called Fort Worth and arrived there in 1865. Now Fort Worth in 1865 was not the Fort Worth you might know today.
But Khleber Miller Van Zandt apparently looked at it and saw something worth building. He became a merchant. A banker.
A rancher. And then he got to work. He was instrumental — that's the marker's word, instrumental — in making Fort Worth a major rail center.
Rails meant commerce, commerce meant growth, and growth meant a city was becoming real. But Van Zandt wasn't finished. He helped establish an early newspaper.
He helped build the public schools. He had a hand in public transportation. And he helped found the First Christian Church.
The man was not one for sitting still. He served in the 13th Texas Legislature, and then in the Constitutional Convention of 1875. Now here's where the story takes one more turn.
Van Zandt lived a long life — a remarkably long life — all the way to 1930. That's ninety-four years on this earth. And near the end of that span, as a member of the United Confederate Veterans, he held the office of national commander-in-chief, from 1918 to 1921.
Think about that. A man who had come to Fort Worth in 1865 with the dust of war still on his boots was, half a century later, leading a national organization of veterans. Khleber Miller Van Zandt didn't just pass through Texas history.
He shaped it, brick by brick and rail by rail, for nearly a century.
What the marker says
(1836-1930) Tennessee native Khleber Miller Van Zandt moved to east Texas as a child. After serving as a major in the 7th Texas Infantry Regiment, C.S.A., he came to Fort Worth in 1865. A merchant, banker, and rancher, he was instrumental in making the city a major rail center and helped establish an early newspaper, the public schools, public transportation, and the First Christian Church. He served in the 13th Texas Legislature and the Constitutional Convention of 1875. A member of the United Confederate Veterans, he held the office of national commander-in-chief (1918-1921). Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986