Paved with purpose, brick by brick

Paved with purpose, brick by brick

Published on December 08, 2025

Oh, if these bricks could talk, the stories they'd tell. Perhaps a family rumbling in their shiny black Ford Model T on a brisk December day. It's the late 1920s and Dad's at the wheel while Mom tends to their toddler, who stares wide-eyed at the passing scenery. Every storefront is bedecked in holiday décor: garlands, wreaths, tinsel, twinkling lights. They bump past the neighborhood grocery store, where they shop for meat, eggs and other provisions. A drugstore and barbershop appear on the next block, flanked by a dry cleaner and a bakery. On the corner sits a service station, where the family pauses for a fill-up and a quick window shine. Afterward, they head to their Craftsman-style home, located on a tree-lined, asphalt-paved street just a couple turns away.

Scenes like this likely played out daily during the era, when Camp Bowie Boulevard was a young but already thriving thoroughfare for the growing community post-World War I.

"In the early 1900s, the whole area from Montgomery Street all the way to the interstate was called Chamberlain Arlington Heights and was a suburb of Fort Worth," said Lydia Guajardo Rickard, executive director of Camp Bowie District. The private, member-funded nonprofit has been dedicated to revitalizing Camp Bowie Boulevard and its surrounding side streets for the past 25 years. "Named after a nearby World War I military training camp, Camp Bowie was the original connector to downtown. It was also the original highway connecting the western part of the city to the Central Business District."

Known first as Arlington Heights Boulevard, Camp Bowie Boulevard gained its name in 1921 and later was paved with brick in 1928.

The area bustled with activity - so much so that between 1920 and 1926, Chamberlain Arlington Heights grew at a fast clip. The city annexed it in 1922.

History in motion

To this day, Camp Bowie is replete with historic buildings and other remnants of the past. Cruising down it can feel like a road trip back in time.

But for this edition of Fort Worth Files, we're zooming in on a particular portion.

"It's known as 'The Bricks,'" Rickard said of the 3-mile stretch of road that's still covered in, well, bricks. It spans from Montgomery to Hulen streets. Of that, 1.5 miles remain clad in the original red Thurber bricks from the early 1900s. Modern-day Acme bricks compose the other 1.5 miles.

To be sure, the idyllic roadway is not without its idiosyncrasies.

Full disclosure: Yes, the bricks are bumpy. Yes, driving over them can be noisy. Yes, maintenance is a challenge. (They're set in sandstone with no mortar or rebar. The Acme bricks, however, are set in concrete with mortar and rebar, so they don't have nearly the pop-up effect, Rickard said.)

"People either love or hate them," she said. "But the quaintness of the bricks is endearing and identifiable for the Camp Bowie District."

But their legions of enthusiasts and stewards say those quirks are part of the charm. The corridor offers a rare glimpse into a bygone era - a time capsule that hums with the rhythm of today.

"The brick speaks to the history of the area," Rickard said.

Weathering the storms

That history includes many encounters with Mother Nature's capricious moods: heavy rains, flash floods, heat waves, ice storms and even a tornado in March 2000. Even roots from the large trees along the boulevard have contributed to shifting of the bricks.

The fact that they've persevered so well speaks to the resiliency of the district.

"After over 100 years, they've weathered all of this turmoil and are still the foundation of the corridor," Rickard said.

That's not by chance. But the Thurber Brick Plant stopped producing bricks in 1931, and replacements are in short supply.

"There is intentionality in preserving the bricks," Rickard said, noting that the City of Fort Worth maintains a yard of them. "But once they're gone, they're gone."

Secrets under the surface

There's more to The Bricks than meets the eye.

Rails for the Camp Bowie Streetcar, the city's old trolley system, still exist under the boulevard's center medians. Riders used the streetcars to travel from Camp Bowie to downtown and vice versa. The streetcar was removed in the late 1930s, but the tracks remain … shrouded in plain sight.

"In the Ridglea area by Horne Street to Bryant Irvin Road, there's [Thurber] brick under the concrete," Rickard said, which has caused issues with the road's integrity. TxDOT, which has jurisdiction over that segment of the roadway, is projected to work on it sometime in the next few years.

"We're going to have a surprise when we get to the construction piece of the improvement [project] because we're not sure what all is under it brick-wise," she said.

Built with resilience, brick by brick

Since its humble beginnings as a local road serving surrounding neighbors for nearby shopping and trips downtown, Camp Bowie Boulevard has evolved into an iconic passageway that helps ferry people - in cars, by bus, by bikes, on foot - to countless destinations.

"Camp Bowie is a corridor where traffic is increasing as our population continues to grow," Rickard said. "It's also used as a pass-through when Interstate 30 is congested."

All this usage results in more wear and tear on the bricks.

As for maintaining the original bricks or replacing them with new ones, that question remains just that … a question. "We are in a constant state of asking what do we do?" Rickard said.

Losing them isn't an option, she notes.

"The bricks represent a sense of community and history of this area, as well as a sense of belonging and quality of life," she said. "We just have to figure out the maintenance [aspect] of it to preserve the historical character."

Finding that sweet spot isn't always easy, especially when honoring a roadway with such a long and storied past. But Camp Bowie Boulevard's preservation advocates are figuring out ways to make it work.

"It's a balance of preserving our past while planning for our future," Rickard said.

Get articles like this in your inbox. Subscribe to City News.

• Arts & Culture