Preserving culture for the future in Northside Fort Worth

Surrounding the Fort Worth Stockyards is the Historic Northside district, a community committed to remembering its roots amidst the booming growth and development nearby.

"Change is not a bad thing," Northside resident and community leader Anita Ramos said. "Just as long as we're not being forgotten and we're not being pushed out. The Historic Northside District is preserving culture and recognizing how change can benefit the community."

The Historic Northside District was established in 2022. The organization is guided by the Historic Northside District Advisory Board and led in partnership with the Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the City of Fort Worth to focus on revitalization efforts and strengthening the neighborhood from within.

Its mission is to support local businesses and invite more people to experience the heart of Northside through community-driven projects and business partnerships while honoring its past.

"The vaquero statue that we have right as soon as you pull into this area, it's iconic. It represents something," said Historic Northside District Chair Nestor Martinez. "It represents who we are as a working culture. And it was put there with people a while back ago."

"You know, several generations back that had the same vision, the same mindset and the same pride, and it's still there. And so we need to continue to kind of cherish it and make sure that it's highlighted and make sure that people identify with our culture and our Northside here."  

A change in crime rates

There has been a shift in this neighborhood in Fort Worth over the past couple of decades.

"It was known as 'Murder Worth' back when we were growing up," said Ramos.

Martinez and Ramos remember gang violence being prevalent when growing up and through their high school years.

"I feel now that the community has taken back our neighborhood," Martinez. "There's not a lot of gang violence. There's not a lot of crime. I feel very safe in my neighborhood. I feel very safe to walk around the recreation center. I feel very safe to walk around my park. It's a different time."

"We're not this gang-infested neighborhood that people still want to describe this neighborhood as," said Ramos. "I still have people who I know that live outside the neighborhood. They're like, oh, you want to go to Northside at night? And I'm like, we're like, it's perfectly safe. I get offended when they say that, I feel safer in my neighborhood than I do in some other parts of the city."

Conserving a culture

Part of the Historic Northside District's mission is to honor the community's past.

"People have been here for a very long time and continue to kind of keep going as generations continue," said Martinez. "And they keep coming back. They keep coming back to where the North Side is and what it's all about in business. Philanthropy and even just spending time over here, too, for entertainment, that's what I think the Northside is all about."

"It's home," said Ramos. "It's a brown neighborhood, and there's a lot of pride in this neighborhood. I want [people] to experience the home that I experience. I used to say, the minute I cross Meachum off of 35, I feel like someone just wrapped a warm blanket around me because I'm home, you know, like I'm about to come into the Northside, so. Yeah, that's what I want.

"As a Hispanic culture means putting back into your community," said Martinez. "Putting it back into your restaurants, putting it back into your local stores. Creating that economy. That's important for the long run for us here in the Northside."

Educating the community

"I can only imagine our older population feels when they see all these changes happen and, you know, and, and that's, that's where my heart goes to the older population because like, that's my mom and dad who live down the street from me," said Ramos. "And I don't want them to ever feel uncomfortable in a place that has been their home for over 50 years, you know? So, that's really important to me that they know what's coming and that I prepare them as best as I can to be ready for those changes."

As members of the Historical Northside District committee, both Martinez and Ramos say they've learned a lot about the behind-the-scenes work required to preserve history.

"I think education and giving people a voice," said Martinez. "Educating them as far as what they can do to hold on to their homes, to create that generational wealth going in the long run, and to be that voice for the residents, the people that live here, to make sure that everything that comes, whether it's corporations, whether it's development, is in tune with what they need and how it can benefit both parties."

Balancing preservation with growth

The Historic Northside District is surrounded by multiple development hotspots.

"The only thing that I don't want to happen is to where it pushes out our community members that have been here for decades, to where the businesses that have been on Main Street, they're getting pushed out for the new houses that are coming in, for which people are buying now," said Ramos.

The Stockyards and the Panther Island Project in Fort Worth are two developments in the area.

"They [The Stockyards] do a lot of stuff with Northside High School, so we're trying to team up with them and partnership to where it's like, hey, y'all can be here too, but just know that we were here. Also, you know, don't forget about the people that have been here for a long time," said Ramos. 

As the Northside High School Legacy Foundation President, Ramos spends a lot of time with students at Northside High School. 

"Just pouring into them, mentoring them as much as we can," said Ramos. "Just having that pride of knowing where you come from."

A mission for future generations

"Giving them ownership of their own neighborhood and giving them the opportunity to be something. Be proud of something that has been worked through for years," said Martinez.

"We did a mural across the street [from Marine Park] with My Brother's Keeper and My Sister's Keeper, and it's of the first two Latino astronauts," said Ramos. "And for us, we wanted our children to see someone who's made it to outer space. You know, that they have gone above and beyond that look like us and that come from similar backgrounds as us."

The mural also includes monarch butterflies to symbolize immigration from Mexico and their northward migration.

"Our generations of immigrants came here. They work to make a better life, and they're still doing it," said Martinez. "But I think getting hold of that and taking accountability for it and creating it as their own legacy, to move forward and to create something better for even the next generation after that, this is our home, and they should be proud of it, and they should be responsible for it. And to make it better, make them better, in the long term."