As the memorial to Fort Worth’s only recorded lynching victim nears the finish line, organizers have begun one last fundraising push.
Fred Rouse III told the Fort Worth Report that at least $700,000 more is needed to finish construction of the Mr. Fred Rouse Memorial at 1000 NE 12th St. The total needed to complete the project, which will see a small park with walking paths and seated areas, is now estimated at $2.1 million.
The Tarrant County Coalition for Peace and Justice, the nonprofit leading the project, started the campaign this summer and began hosting community events in August to push for investments from residents and businesses.
The goal is to raise the remaining funds by the end of September, Rouse said, so that the memorial can open later this year. Dec. 11 will be the 105th anniversary of his grandfather’s lynching.
“I’m so happy that after six years, we will finally be able to make the memorial site come to fruition,” Rouse said. “It’s just a really beautiful thing.”
Rouse, who serves as the president for Tarrant County Coalition for Peace and Justice, said additional funds were needed because of delays in construction and inflating costs. He also said a major donor pulled out of the project, which he said put the project over budget.
The current estimated cost for the memorial is now almost double the original $1.16 million price tag reported by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in December 2023.
Major parts of the memorial have been completed, Rouse said, including much of the walking path built with pavers, and large metal steel panels built in the shape of the “death tree” from which Fred Rouse was hanged. Much of the irrigation and vegetation work, as well as the fence and a mural, remain unfinished, Rouse said.
“It’s still quite a bit of work that needs to be done,” he added.
Fred Rouse was lynched on Dec. 11, 1921, on the corner of NE 12th Street and Samuels Avenue. He was initially attacked by a white mob of striking meatpacking workers from the Stockyards. Fred Rouse had been hired as a nonunion worker during the strike, in a period when Black people were not allowed to join trade unions in Texas during the Jim Crow era.
After surviving the initial attack, Fred Rouse was abducted from the hospital and hanged.
The historic marker at 1000 NE 12th St. details the 1921 murder of Fred Rouse, the only officially recorded lynching victim in Fort Worth. (David Moreno | Fort Worth Report)
In December 2021, a marker honoring him was placed at the Maddox-Muse Center, 330 E. 4th St. The center was once the Metropolis and County Hospital from which Rouse was abducted.
After the marker was placed at the Maddox-Muse Center, the Rainwater Charitable Foundation gave a grant to the coalition to help the organization buy the land where Rouse was killed. Specific plans for the memorial were made public in December 2023.
Additional information for donating can be found here.
Ismael M. Belkoura is the nonprofit editor for the Fort Worth Report. His position is supported by a grant from North Texas Community Foundation. Contact him at ismael.belkoura@fortworthreport.org.
At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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