Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas and the seventeenth-largest city in the United States. Situated in North Texas, Fort Worth covers nearly in Tarrant and Denton counties, serving as the county seat for Tarrant County. As of the 2007 U.S. Census estimate, Fort Worth had a population of 681,818. Fort Worth's population has now reached 702,850, according to new estimates released by the North Central Texas Council of Governments. The city is the second-largest cultural and economic center of the Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan area (commonly called the Metroplex). Fort Worth and the surrounding Metroplex area offer numerous business opportunities and a wide array of attractions.

Established originally in 1849 as a protective Army outpost situated on a bluff overlooking the Trinity River, the city of Fort Worth today still embraces its western heritage and traditional architecture and design more than its more contemporary neighbor, Dallas.Fact: date=February 2008

History

main: History of Fort Worth, Texas

In 1843, the Republic of Texas commissioners signed a treaty with the Native American tribes dividing the new frontier. Native Americans were given the land to the West of an imaginary line, while the settlers were given the land to the East. This imaginary line became known as the place 'where the West begins'.

By the 1840s scores of Americans from the East coast were moving westward. As Ranchers and Settlers from the Eastern states made their way into the area, Native Americans retreated from the North Texas frontier. Meanwhile, tensions mounted between the Republic of Texas and its southern neighbor, Mexico, since Texas' victory over Mexico at San Jacinto in 1836.

The Mexican War

Texas remained an independent Republic for nine years prior to being annexed as the 28th state on December 29, 1845. Less than three months later on March 24, 1846, an American Army commanded by General Zachary Taylor was encamped along the northern banks of the Rio Grande, directly across the river from Mexican soldiers. Within a month, hostilities commenced and a large body of Mexican cavalrymen attacked a patrol of dragoons (soldiers trained to fight on foot, but who transport themselves on horseback) on April 23, 1846. Declaring, "American blood had been shed on American soil", President Polk addressed Congress, who declared war on Mexico.

Major General William Jenkins Worth (1794-1849) was second in command to General Zachary Taylor at the opening of the Mexican-American War in 1846. Born in Hudson, NY, Worth was a tall and commanding figure said to be the best horseman and handsomest man in the Army. He was of a manly, generous nature, and possessed talents that would have won him distinction on any field of action. While leading his troops, Worth himself personally planted the first American flag on the Rio Grande.