Mayor Betsy Price presided at a groundbreaking ceremony on Friday morning to mark the beginning of the restoration of the historic Rock Springs Woods at the south end of the Fort Worth Botanic Garden.
On the National Register of Historic Places, this part of the garden was first developed in the early 1930s and is now being restored to its original splendor thanks to a private donation.
In 1912 the City of Fort Worth acquired a small park named Rock Springs Park. The decision was made to locate the Fort Worth arboretum in the newly acquired park. The park was named for a series of small springs that flowed through the area surrounded by a vast amount of native vegetation. The tract of parkland was located west of the Clear Fork of the Trinity River and measured about 37.5 acres. The first work in Rock Spring Park began in 1929 and was completed in 1931.
In 1930, a comprehensive plan for the development of Rock Springs Park was created, which included a formal rose garden and a long vista through a natural grove of trees, connecting it with Trinity Park to the east. The final design of the Rose Garden was completed by June of 1933. Other work included cutting a mile of nature trails through the trees on either side of the vista. The name of the park was later changed to Fort Worth Botanic Garden Â