Dalworthington Gardens

Dalworthington Gardens, one of the most unusual communities in Texas, is located in east central Tarrant County between Interstate 30 to the north and Interstate 20 to the south, about twelve miles southeast of Fort Worth. The community was established as a subsistence homestead project during the Great Depression under the authority of the National Industrial Recovery Act. The homestead program was administered by the Department of the Interior. Its original purpose was to help families attain a better standard of living through a combination of part-time industrial employment and subsistence agriculture. The idea was to locate homestead projects near large industrial centers where city workers could live, grow gardens, and raise farm animals to supplement their regular food supplies. Dalworthington Gardens was one of five such projects located in Texas and the only one still in existence today.

In early 1934 the federal government approved the Dalworthington Gardens charter and allotted $250,000 to buy 593 acres of land. Earlier it had been suggested that the name of the community be an admixture of the names of the three interested cities, Dallas, Fort Worth, and Arlington. The land was divided into seventy-nine sites that varied in size from three to thirty-two acres. Forty-three acres was reserved for a community house and park. Three unpaved gravel roads ran north and south, and three ran east and west. The project was not a relief program; applicants for homesteads were required to pay 10 percent down on a homestead and show proof that they could repay their loans. A typical monthly payment was less than $25, including mortgage and management payments and all utilities.