Smith-Burnett Home

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. This stretch of Fort Worth, the part you're rolling through right now, didn't always look like it does today. Back in the early part of the twentieth century, this neighborhood was something.

A fashionable subdivision, the kind of place where Fort Worth's who's-who were putting down roots and putting up homes worth talking about. And two families in particular left their mark on this very site. First came Ben O.

Smith, Fort Worth banker, born in 1867. In 1906, Smith purchased land right here and built a home for his wife, Frances. Now Frances Smith apparently knew what to do with a fine house, because she turned it into a hub for Fort Worth social gatherings.

You get the feeling that if something important was being discussed in this city, there was a decent chance it was being discussed in that parlor. Then came 1916, and with it a change of hands that brought a name any Texas cattle country devotee would recognize. Tom Burnett, prominent cattleman, son of rancher S.

Burk Burnett, purchased the home. The Burnetts were not exactly newcomers to prominence in this part of Texas. Ben O.

Smith lived until 1932, long enough to see what the place had become. But the land, the house, the story; that belonged to two families now. And that's exactly what the marker wants you to remember: some sites earn their significance not from a single moment, but from the weight of the names that passed through them.

What the marker says

This area of Fort Worth became a fashionable subdivision during the early part of the twentieth century and attracted many prominent residents. In 1906 Fort Worth banker Ben O. Smith (1867-1932) purchased land at this site. He built a home here for his wife, Frances, who hosted many Fort Worth social gatherings. In 1916, the home was purchased by Tom Burnett, a prominent cattleman and the son of rancher S. Burk Burnett. The site retains historical significance for its association with these two prominent Fort Worth families.