Guide to the

Fort Worth Driving Club Records
1905-1915

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.17 linear ft.

Accession Number:
Collection Number: GA 47

Prepared by Cheryl A. Morrison
April 27, 1998, revised February 28, 2001

CITATION: Fort Worth Driving Club Records, GA 47, Box number, Folder number, Special Collections Division, The University of Texas at Arlington Libraries.

Historical Sketch
Sources
Series Description
Scope and Content Note
Provenance
Literary Rights
Container List
Series I. Club Records and Documents
Series II. Financial Records

Historical Sketch

The Fort Worth Driving Club was chartered October 6, 1905, with capital stock of $10,000. It was established for harness racing, considered one of the most popular forms of racing in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. It had 101 members in 1905 and was up to a membership of 200 in 1914. The first officers were George H. Colvin, president; John C. Harrison, vice president; H. A. Lawlor, secretary; and James Harrison, treasurer. They had thirty acres of land with a one-mile long, oval track and barns with horse stalls near City Park (Trinity Park) between 7^th Street and White Settlement (west of Trinity River and the railroad tracks). They held harness races for trotters and pacers, charged annual dues and membership dues, rented stalls, and had some auto races.

H. A. Lawlor, secretary of the Fort Worth Driving Club, was a driver and conditioner who moved to Texas with a string of blooded horses in October 1905 for the Driving Club. He was also director and vice president of the Harness Horse Breeder’s Association of Texas, established in 1906. George H. Colvin was a cashier at American National Bank. John C. Harrison was a cashier at State National Bank. And James Harrison was an assistant cashier at a Fort Worth bank. All were family men and well established, long-time residents of Fort Worth in the area of Ballinger and Presidio Streets.

Sources

• Ainslie, Tom, Ainslie’s Complete Guide to Harness Racing, New York: Trident Press, 1970.
• "Breeders Organize Texas Association," The Fort Worth Record, March 4, 1906.
• Department of Interior, Office of the Census, Soundex of Twelfth and Thirteenth Census of the United States: 1900 and 1910 Population (Washington), L-460, H-625,
• Texas. Department of Interior, Office of the Census, Twelfth and Thirteenth Census of the United States: 1900 and 1910 Population (Washington), County of Tarrant, Texas.
• Fort Worth City Directory, 1905-1906, Microfilm, Sheet 1, 40.
• Fort Worth City Directory, 1914, Microfilm, Sheet 1, 35.
• Hawley, John B.,"Map of the City of Fort Worth, Texas, Fort Worth: J. E. Head & Co., 1907.
• House, Boyce, 100 Year History of Fort Worth, Fort Worth: Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, 1949, 12.
• Knight, Oliver, Fort Worth, Outpost on the Trinity, Fort Worth: Texas Christian University Press, 1990, 177.
• "National Trotting Association for Harness Racing," The Fort Worth Record, February 18, 1906.
• "New Race Track Nears Completion," Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas, October 15, 1905.
• "No Racing at Show," The Fort Worth Record, April 3, 1906.
• Rogers, C. H., "Greater Fort Worth City Map," 1919.
• Sanders, Leonard, How Fort Worth Became the Texasmost City, 1849-1920, Fort Worth: Texas Christian University Press, 1986, 150-152.
• Welsh, Peter C., Track and Road, Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1967.
• Wrensch, Frank A., Harness Horse Racing, In the United States and Canada, New York: D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc. 1948.

Series Description

The Fort Worth Driving Club Records are arranged in two series:

Series I. Club Records and Documents, 1905-1915. .09 linear ft. (.18 document box, 4 folders).

Club records and document folders are arranged in chronological order. Items within the folders are arranged chronologically. Included are a membership list, minute book and journal, letters, and documents concerning the Fort Worth Driving Club.

Series II. Financial Records, 1905-1915. .08 linear ft. (.16 document box, 3 folders).

Financial record folders are arranged in chronological order. Items within the folders are arranged chronologically. Included are franchise tax receipts, stock certificates, receipts and bank records for the Fort Worth Driving Club.

Scope and Content Note

The records are contained in one-third of one legal size document box. They are arranged in two series consisting of seven folders. The seventy-three original items include: membership list, minute book and journals, letters, documents, receipts, stock, and bank records. The membership list has the names and addresses of the first 213 members of the Club. Items are by or about the Fort Worth Driving Club.

Series I. Consists of club records and documents. The series includes the membership list and minute book/journal for the Forth Worth Driving Club, and letters and documents by or about the Club.

Series II. Consists of financial records for the club. There are franchise tax receipts, stock certificates, receipts and bank records for the Fort Worth Driving Club.

The series and series order were decided by the processing archivist. Materials in each series and the order in each folder were decided by the processing archivist. Folders containing club records and documents are arranged chronologically. Contents of folders are arranged chronologically. Folders containing financial records are arranged chronologically. Contents of folders are arranged chronologically. No items were discarded.

This collection will be of particular interest to those studying or researching the history of the city of Fort Worth, the history of harness racing in Texas, and the history of harness racing in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. There is also some information concerning the Harness Horse Breeders’ Association of Texas and Standardbred trotters and pacers.

Provenance Statement

All of the materials included in the Fort Worth Driving Club were a gift to The University of Texas at Arlington, Special Collections Division, in 1974 by Jenkins Garrett.

Literary Rights Statement

Permission to publish, copy, reprint, digitize, orally record for transmission over public or private airways, or use in any and all other current or future developed methods or procedures, must be obtained in writing from the Special Collections Division of The University of Texas at Arlington Libraries. All rights are reserved and retained regardless of current or future development or laws that may apply to fair use standards.

Container List

Series I. Club Records and Documents, 1905-1915

GA 47
Folder, Title, Dates, and Description

1. Membership List, 1905-1915. Contains 1 item. A record book containing the names, addresses, and dues for the first 213 members of the Club.
2. Minute Book and Journal, 1905-1915. Contains 1 item. A journal with the minutes of the meetings from August 1905 to January 1915. There are additional loose notes concerning races at pages 24 and 157.
3. Letters and Documents, 1905-1915. Contains 12 items. Letters, notes and documents about minutes of meetings, franchise taxes, stock transfers, proxies, and barn and stall rentals.
4. Envelopes and Fragments, 1909-1913; n.d. Contains 8 items. Four envelopes, one newspaper clipping, one fragment of a directory, and fragments of two listings of horse transfer listing.

Series II. Financial Records, 1905-1915

5. Franchise Tax and Stock Certificates, 1905-1913. Contains 6 items. Excise tax laws and regulations, franchise tax receipts and one stock certificate.
6. Financial Receipts, 1908-1915. Contains 15 items. Receipts from companies in Fort Worth for building materials, supplies, and services.
7. Bank Records, 1909-1915. Contains 30 items. Bank book of transactions, twenty-eight cancelled checks and one book of blank checks.

Top of Page Table of Contents Container List Series I Series II Finding Aids List Special Collections Home Page

Special Collections
The University of Texas at Arlington Libraries
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This page last updated December 8, 2004