Fort Worth Designates WWI Airstrip Remnant for Highest Historic Protection

Fort Worth City Council approved zoning on Oct. 13 that preserves a 0.39-acre remnant of Taliaferro Field No. 1, a World War I airstrip, on the western end of the 2700 block of Muscogee Drive in far north Fort Worth. The site sits roughly two miles from Hicks Field, in a fenced area within an emerging housing development southwest of Bonds Ranch Road and North Saginaw Boulevard.

Council added a highly significant endangered overlay to the existing one-family residential zoning, following a recommendation from the Historic and Cultural Landmark Commission. The site was first recorded in 2002 during a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project and was designated after a 2023 historical survey.

The Fort Worth Aviation Museum led years of preservation efforts. Its executive director said the developer plans to build a neighborhood park on the site to educate young people about aviation. Historic Fort Worth's executive director called the overlay the highest level of protection available for a historic site.

The airfield was built in 1917 to train pilots, and its aircraft-shaped bullet target, buried under concrete, remains visible in satellite imagery.

For developers working near this area, the overlay limits changes to the protected parcel, so site plans should account for the preserved feature and the planned park.