When Major Ripley Arnold stood on the bluff with his dragoons gazing down at the confluence of two rivers on June 6, 1849, he must have exclaimed: “O what a beautiful sight! Picture perfect! Superb! This is where I will build Fort Worth.”
As I stood down by the river admiring Arnold’s statue dedicated on June 6, I thought of what Shakespeare had Cardinal Wolsey say when he fell from favor of King Henry VIII, whom he had served so long:
“Had I but served my God with half the zeal I served my King, he would not in mine age Have left me naked to mine enemies.”
It would be altogether fitting and appropriate for the founder’s statue to have an audio button with this recorded message:
Had I but served my God with half the zeal I served my General, he would not in mine age Have left me with my back turned to the beautiful Confluence that inspired me to build Fort Worth 165 years ago.
History lovers! Don’t let them cover up the confluence! Never! Never! Never!
Don Woodard Fort Worth