The History of Haltom City, Texas

The area began as a farming community along the Cotton Belt Railroad line, known as Birdville Junction, on rolling grassland that belonged largely to G.W. Haltom — a rancher and jeweler. It was quiet farm-and-rail country on the edge of Fort Worth, not much more than a name on the line, until the roads changed everything in the early 1930s.

When a new highway — today's East Belknap — was built through the area in the early 1930s, businesses from nearby Birdville moved over to take advantage of the traffic, and the community around the junction grew fast. The place organized around Haltom's land and, spurred by postwar suburban growth, incorporated in 1949 as Haltom City, honoring the landowner and businessman whose grassland it had risen on. A farming junction had become a city in a couple of decades.

Haltom City grew into a solidly blue-collar inner suburb of Fort Worth, packed with small businesses, manufacturers, and modest neighborhoods along the Belknap corridor. It never chased the upscale reputation of the northeast Tarrant suburbs; it stayed a practical, affordable working city. Its most famous export is the musician Delbert McClinton — the Grammy-winning singer, songwriter, and blues harmonica player came out of Haltom City and carried its unpretentious, roadhouse spirit into a long career.