Benbrook, Texas, Tarrant County. (original) (raw)

32� 41' 5" N, 97� 27' 24" W (32.684722, -97.456667)

Interstate 20 and State Hwy 377
About 10 Miles SW of Fort Worth the county seat
ZIP codes 76109, 76116, 76126, 76132
Area code 817
Population: 24,520 (2020)
21,234 (2010) 20, 208 (2000) 19,564 (1990)

History in a Pecan Shell

Originally named Miranda, the community came into being in the late 1850s. The fledgling town was renamed Benbrook for the efforts of James M. Benbrook, an Indianan who arrived here in 1874. Benbrook convinced the Texas and Pacific Railroad to lay tracks through Miranda, which was accomplished in 1876.

In 1880, Benbrook was granted a post office and the town sat content for many years watching the trains come and go. Around the turn of the 20th Century, someone asked the question "Shouldn't these kids be in school?" and by 1905 Benbrook had a single teacher teaching (or trying to teach) 64 students.

Despite the overcrowded school, Benbrook remained tiny. How tiny? As late as the mid-1920s, the population was still only 20 people. Benbrook's business growth was affected by the town's proximity to Fort Worth and it wasn't until after WWII when real growth picked up.

From a population of 100 in the late 1940s, Benbrook was boasting over 600 citizens ten years later.

A reservoir was constructed in the early 1950s and also named after the man who had transformed the village that had once been called Miranda. By the mid-1960s, the whole region was booming and Benbrook's share of the population was recorded as 3,300. Twenty years later it was up to nearly 10,000 and the 1990 census was around 19,500. The 2000 census put the count at 20,208.

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