This rare map provides a view of dynamic downtown Fort Worth in 1890. Numerous competing railroad lines are noted converging on the Union Depot. On the detailed street grid, the Union Depot, Court House, M.K.T. Hospital, the Board of Trade and the Spring Palace are marked.
The Texas Spring Palace, a regional agricultural fair in Fort Worth, opened in 1889 and was one of the most popular gathering places in the city. The palace was not only a form of entertainment but also an important part of the town's strategy for boosting commercial expansion. It was advertised throughout the nation, and special trains brought visitors from as far away as Boston and Chicago. The fair was inspired by Robert A. Cameron, immigration agent for the Fort Worth and Denver Railway, and designed to attract settlers and investors to Texas. Cameron devised a plan to advertise Texas by displaying all the natural products of the state under one roof in a building intended to rival the Sioux City Corn Palace and Toronto Ice Palace in novelty and style. The second season of the fair in 1890 ended in tragedy, as the building was destroyed by fire despite efforts to make the palace fireproof. The various "additions" to downtown – such as the Jennings, Daggett’s, Tucker, Fields, the Fort Worth Land Company, and "Railroad Company’s" are recorded, as well as the Clear and West Forks of the Trinity River, and the river itself as it flowed to the east.
