Fort Worth resident David Willis, 55, shows his products to customers during the Front Street Festival on Sept. 26 at Knapp Heritage Park. Willis said he hand-blends and creates his own seasonings to make unique flavors.
If people stroll through Arlington, they’ll see a city that has evolved and grown over the last 150 years. Downtown Arlington and its various shops and events add community and connection.
However, if people head over to Knapp Heritage Park on West Front Street, the modern advancements that make the city what it is today are stripped away.
As visitors enter the park, the surrounding area transitions from the modern designs to pioneer structures. It’s within the gates of the park that three wooden cabins, which are some of the oldest preserved buildings in Arlington, sit.
The Jopling-Melear Cabin, the P.A. Watson Log House and the North Side School, are preserved and managed by the Arlington Historical Society.
The society hosted the Front Street Festival on Saturday at the park as a way for residents to connect with the city’s roots in an engaging way.
The society was created in 1887 to preserve local and historical cemeteries. Today, it works to preserve and teach Arlington’s history.
One of Arlington’s oldest existing schoolhouses sits during the Front Street Festival on Sept. 26 at Knapp Heritage Park. North Side School was built by contractor Joseph Crawley.
In alignment with its mission, the society gave tours of the cabins, educating curious attendees on the significance of the structures.
Geraldine Mills, the society’s executive director, said the cabins are a reminder of the work the pioneers of Arlington put in to get the city to where it is now.
“There’s no air conditioning in those cabins, there’s no air conditioning in the school, there’s no computers,” Mills said. “It just shows the tenacity of the people that continued to stay here and build this town.”
The North Side School was rebuilt in 1909 after the original structure at 433 N. Center St. burned down. The resulting cabin is recognized as Arlington’s oldest surviving schoolhouse.
The P.A. Watson Log House was built in 1855 near present-day Arlington. Watson family descendants lived in the house until 1961, and it was moved to Knapp Heritage Park in 1976, according to the society’s website. The double log cabin build was common for a Texas house in the 1800s.
Sherman, Texas, resident Jon Renfro, 42, displays a sign with item prices during the Front Street Festival on Sept. 26 at Knapp Heritage Park. Renfro said he runs his own business and makes jewelry out of silverware.
Building the Jopling-Melear Cabin would have been a strenuous task, especially because the North Texas prairies don’t offer an abundance of oak logs, which are often used in the construction of cabins, according to the website. It was built in 1863 but moved to the park in 1970, about six miles from its original location.
Each cabin is decorated the way it looked when people first built them. As preservation efforts continue, Mills said the society is fundraising to replace the chinking, or the outer sealing of cabins, to further preserve them for another 100 years.
Cheryl Mitchell, who is an associate professor of practice in the Art and Art History Department at UTA and a member of the Arlington Historical Society, was helping give tours of each cabin.
Jewelry by business, Renferno, is displayed during the Front Street Festival on Sept. 26 at Knapp Heritage Park. The jewelry is handmade by Jon Renfro.
The P.A. Watson Log House has a bed supported with ropes instead of box springs. When the house was built, there would have been no running water or indoor plumbing, Mitchell said.
Learning the history grounds people and connects them to the generations that came before them, she said.
“All of Arlington is a community,” she said. “When you disconnect yourself from your history, you lose those life lessons and you start to forget how hard it was before we gained all these wonderful luxuries.”
As hard as preservation is, Mills said it’s a challenge worth doing nonetheless.