The Tandy Center Subway operated in

Fort Worth Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, from February 15, 1963 to August 30, 2002. It ran a distance of and was, during the period of its operation, the only privately owned subway in the United States.

History

The subway was originally built by Leonard's Department Store in 1963, connecting the store to its large parking lots on the edge of downtown. Originally known as the Leonard's M&O Subway, it consisted of one underground station beneath the store and four stations in the parking lots. Between 1962 and 1966, Leonard's acquired a total of 15

PCC streetcar The PCC (Presidents' Conference Committee) is a streetcar (tram) design that was first built in the United States in the 1930s. The design proved successful in its native country, and after World War II it was licensed for use elsewhere in the ...

s from

DC Transit Streetcars in Washington, D.C. transported people across the city and region from 1862 until 1962. The first streetcars in Washington, D.C., were drawn by horses and carried people short distances on flat terrain; but the introduction of clean ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

These had been manufactured by the

St. Louis Car Company The St. Louis Car Company was a major United States manufacturer of railroad passenger cars, streetcars, interurbans, trolleybuses and locomotives that existed from 1887 to 1974, based in St. Louis, Missouri. History The St. Louis Car Company ...

in the 1930s and 1940s. The

Tandy Corporation Tandy Corporation was an American family-owned leather goods company based in Fort Worth, Texas, United States. Tandy Leather was founded in 1919 as a leather supply store. By the end of the 1950s, under the tutelage of then-CEO Charles Tandy, ...

purchased the department store, its parking lots, and the subway in 1967. The corporation built its headquarters, the

Tandy Center City Place is a mixed-use facility featuring two 20-story buildings in central Fort Worth, Texas. The complex was formerly known as Tandy Center and served as the corporate headquarters for RadioShack (formerly Tandy Corporation) for many year ...

, on the site in 1974. Although it demolished the original store, Tandy retained the subway.

The small subway primarily served patrons visiting the mall at the base of the Tandy Center, which also linked to the downtown location of Fort Worth Public Library. However, the anchor tenant moved out in 1995 and the mall declined. The Tandy Center Subway ceased operation on August 30, 2002. After the closure, one of the streetcars used on the subway was acquired by Dallas's

McKinney Avenue Transit Authority The McKinney Avenue Transit Authority (MATA), a non-profit organization, operates the M-line Trolley in Dallas, Texas (USA). The offices and car barn are located at 3153 Oak Grove, Dallas, TX 75204. In operation since 1989, it is an example of ...

, which modified it to again make it suitable for in-street use, and it operated in service on the McKinney Avenue

heritage streetcar Conservation and restoration of rail vehicles aims to preserve historic rail vehicles. Trains It may concern trains that have been removed from service and later restored to their past condition, or have never been removed from service, like UP ...

line in Dallas until the mid-to late 2000s. As of 2012, it remained in storage in Dallas, out of use. "Leonard's number one" was the first

to run the line in 1963, the subway car was originally manufactured by the St. Louis Car Co. between 1937 and 1944 in Washington, D.C. with custom made air conditioning and heating. The number one car is the only one of five original subway cars to survive. In April 1982 the car was saved from the cutting torch by a Tandy computer programmer and stored on a farm south of Fort Worth, where it remained for over 25 years. On February 2, 2008, it was moved to a restoration location near

Benbrook, Texas Benbrook is a town located in the southwestern corner of Tarrant County, Texas, and a suburb of Fort Worth. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 21,234, reflecting an increase of 1,026 from the 20,208 counted in the 2000 Cen ...

. As of late 2013, Leonard's number one is now on public display in the lobby of Texas Capital Bank, Fort Worth (One City Place). Parts of the tunnels that ran the cars still exist but currently closed off to the public. In 2015, Gordon Dickson with Lauren Leonard, the great-granddaughter of Obie Leonard and cousin Marty Leonard, daughter of founder Marvin Leonard, visited the tunnel with asset manager for Spire Realty Group Ryan Johnson. During that visit, the Marty Leonard signed “Remember the M&O,” with date and name on the wall closing off the tunnel.

References

External links

Tandy Subway HistoryPictures of Tandy Subway Cars in Fort WorthParts of Subway preserved by North Texas Historic Transportation, Inc.Pictures of Tandy Center Subway cars and facilities during the final days of operationVideo clip of Tandy Center Subway cars during the final week of operation
{{coord missing, Texas Rapid transit in Texas Transportation in Fort Worth, Texas RadioShack Electric railways in Texas Underground railways Railway lines opened in 1963 1963 establishments in Texas Railway lines closed in 2002 2002 disestablishments in Texas

History

See also

References

External links