DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker tells it this way, and I'm just the one passin' it along. Now if you've spent any time in Fort Worth, you've heard the name Van Zandt. But there's a cottage sitting out where the old stage road once rolled toward Weatherford that holds the full weight of that name — and the story starts back in the 1860s.
That's when this place was built. Right there on the stage road, out in the country, with the Trinity River not too far off doing what the Trinity River does — which is flood. And when the water rose and the road turned to trouble, this cottage was a haven.
For generations, travelers caught between here and Weatherford could find shelter there. That's not a small thing. Out on the frontier, a dry floor and a roof overhead was the difference between misery and making it.
The man who called this place home was Khleber Miller Van Zandt. Born in 1836, lived all the way to 1930. Ninety-four years on this earth, and Fort Worth knew him for most of them.
They called him — and I mean this was the actual name people used — "Mr. Fort Worth." Now that kind of title doesn't come easy. You've got to earn it across a life, not just a lucky afternoon.
Van Zandt was a Confederate veteran, came out of that war as a Major, and then set about building things. He was a merchant. A lawyer.
A banker. A railroad builder. A state legislator — he served in 1873.
He opened frontier lands to settlement. And somewhere in between all of that, he still found time for civic leadership that apparently had no end. The cottage itself kept standing through all of it.
And when Texas turned one hundred years old in 1936, the state stepped in and restored the structure as part of the Texas Centennial. Seemed like the right thing to do — give a little care back to a place that had given so much of it away. Mr.
Fort Worth lived from 1836 to 1930. The cottage he came home to was built in the 1860s and is still standing. Some legacies are written down.
Some of them are built out of timber on a stage road to Weatherford — and they just refuse to fall.
What the marker says
Built in 1860s on stage road to Weatherford, and for generations a haven to travelers during Trinity River floods, this was the country home of Khleber Miller Van Zandt (1836-1930), who was known as "Mr. Fort Worth." A Confederate veteran, Major Van Zandt was a merchant, lawyer, banker, railroad builder, state legislator (1873), opener of frontier lands to settlement, and leader in many civic activities. Structure was restored by the state during Texas Centennial, 1936. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1962