Handley was a town in

Tarrant County, Texas Tarrant County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas with a 2020 U.S. census population of 2,110,640, making it the third-most populous county in Texas and the 15th-most populous in the United States. Its county seat is Fort Worth. ...

, United States. It is located between

downtown Fort Worth Downtown Fort Worth is the central business district of Fort Worth, Texas, United States. Most of Fort Worth's tallest buildings and skyscrapers are located downtown. Attractions Sundance Square Sundance Square began as an effort by Sid Bass ...

and

Arlington Arlington most often refers to: *Arlington, Virginia **Arlington National Cemetery, a United States military cemetery *Arlington, Texas Arlington may also refer to: Places Australia *Arlington light rail station, on the Inner West Light Rail in S ...

along State Highway 180, and includes the Central Handley Historic District. It is now a part of Fort Worth.

History

Handley was established in 1885 by the Texas & Pacific Railroad and named after retired

Confederate A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

Major James Madison Handley of

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. Handley created a

plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...

just seven miles from the center of

Fort Worth Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...

on land that was adjacent to the Sara Gray Jennings Survey of 1847,National Park Service research document for Historical Designation and a very small community began to grow around him to the west. According to the ''Fort Worth Gazette'' newspaper of 1888, the most that could be said for the area was that it was good for hunting foxes. By 1901, Handley had 12 houses and 80 residents.

Interurban

In 1902, the

Northern Texas Traction Company The Northern Texas Traction Company was a subsidiary of Stone & Webster that operated the streetcar system and interurban lines in Fort Worth, Texas. The Northern Texas Traction Company began with the purchase of the City Railway of Fort Worth ...

linked the city of

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

to the east and the city of Fort Worth to the west with its own electric

interurban streetcar The interurban (or radial railway in Canada) is a type of electric railway, with tram-like electric self-propelled railcars which run within and between cities or towns. The term "interurban" is usually used in North America, with other terms u ...

line.National Park Service research project for Historic Designation

Annexed by Fort Worth

In 1946, the city of Fort Worth annexed Handley as a community and its independence came to an end. In that year, it had 510 school students and a total population of around 2500. Fort Worth had a population of well over 100,000 residents.

References

External links

* {{coord, 32.74, -97.21, format=dms, type:landmark, display=title History of Fort Worth, Texas Neighborhoods in Fort Worth, Texas Former cities in Texas