The History of Casino Beach: A Recreational Gem in Fort Worth

Casino Beach was a recreational beach on Lake Worth in Tarrant County. The lake was formed by a dam, completed in 1914, on the West Fork of the Trinity River and soon became a recreation destination. Bathers were particularly attracted to a stretch of sandy, level beach on the lake’s western shore just north of Nine-Mile Bridge. In response, in 1917 the city of Fort Worth, which owned the land around the lake, created a municipal beach, which included a bathhouse, electric lighting, concession stands, and other amenities, at the site. The Fort Worth Auto Bus Company was founded to operate a bus line to the beach, near which hotels and restaurants soon opened. In 1919 the city began contracting with carnival companies for the installation of amusement rides during the roughly four-month summer season. During the 1920 season more than 150,000 bathing tickets were sold, and the beach received 6,000 daily visitors from across Texas and neighboring states. A casino and dance hall (“casino” being in the sense of a social club, rather than a gambling facility) was opened near the beach as well, but the structure burned down during summer 1921.

In December 1926 Ohio investors French L. Wilgus and E. R. Albaugh, incorporated as the Lake Worth Amusement Company, leased the beach and surrounding land from the city of Fort Worth to build a $1 million lake resort. Casino Park, advertised as the “Atlantic City of the West,” opened on May 28, 1927. The park included a boardwalk; a 2,400-person-capacity ballroom; and numerous rides, including the largest roller coaster in the Southwest, the nearly one-mile-long “Thriller,” which alone cost an estimated $100,000 to construct. The park was intended to attract wealthy patrons as well as the general public. E. C. Furnas served as the park’s first general manager.

In 1928 a parkgoer was injured after falling out of one of the Thriller cars, which had no safety restraints. The Lake Worth Amusement Company was found negligent in the subsequent lawsuit, which was not the only suit the company faced over injuries allegedly caused by the ride. The following summer six people were injured when a car on a miniature railway jumped the track. The next day, June 17, an early morning fire, fanned by high winds, burned much of the amusement park, including the bathhouse, the dance hall, and portions of the boardwalk and the Thriller. One of the attractions, a more-than-300-pound gorilla named Big Boy, died in the fire. The park was rebuilt at a cost of $250,000. Meanwhile, the narrow Nine-Mile Bridge was replaced with a new bridge, just to the north of the park, as part of the construction of the Jacksboro Highway (State Highway 199). The rebuilt park and the bridge both opened on May 7, 1930. Whereas the original park had been constructed mostly of wood, the buildings of the rebuilt park featured Spanish-style architecture with stucco exteriors.

Despite the onset of the Great Depression, Casino Park prospered in the 1930s. The Casino Ballroom became a popular, year-round music venue that hosted such performers as Tommy Dorsey, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Rudy Vallée, Guy Lombardo, Stan Kenton, Dorothy Lamour, Harry James, and Ray McKinley. In contrast to the disreputable nightclubs that proliferated along the Jacksboro Highway, the ballroom had a dress code and retained a more dignified reputation. Casino Park also hosted such events as an annual Fourth of July beauty pageant and boxing matches.

Despite the park’s popularity, in 1936 the Lake Worth Amusement Company faced foreclosure due to unpaid debts and was restructured as Casino Park, Inc. On July 4, 1940, a portion of the wooden boardwalk collapsed under the weight of spectators who had gathered to watch the park’s annual fireworks display. Fifty-six people were injured in the process. The boardwalk was demolished shortly thereafter. In August 1940 the new company was adjudicated bankrupt. By year’s end George T. Smith, manager of the park since 1929, reached a new five-year lease agreement with the city of Fort Worth to allow the park to continue operating. The park’s financial problems and legal battles with the city continued as the decade wore on. In 1943 the city-owned bathhouse was destroyed by fire, and the city chose not to rebuild it. In 1946, following the expiration of the most recent lease agreement, the operators of the park, New Casino, Inc., were sued by the city of Fort Worth. The drawn-out legal case, which went to the Texas Supreme Court, lasted until the following year. The city was awarded more than $15,000 in back rentals and possession of the property. The buildings, owned by Smith, were purchased by the city, then leased back to him. In 1948 Smith sold his stock holdings in New Casino, Inc., to Joe E. Landwehr and his associates.

Alpine-based auto dealer Jerry Starnes visited the beach after his plane was unexpectedly grounded at Meacham Field during a business trip. Impressed by the Casino Ballroom and seeing potential in revitalizing the beach, Starnes formed Lake Worth Beach, Inc., and leased the grounds. Casino Beach reopened for the 1951 summer season with new rides, a new bathhouse, and an additional 2,000 yards of sand. A paved (therefore fire-resistant), quarter-mile “boardwalk,” with rides, attractions, and concession stands was completed in time for the opening of the 1952 season. The park soon fell into arrears with the city of Fort Worth. By 1958 the Lake Worth Beach Company owed nearly $11,000 in back rent and concessions percentages. The company attributed its financial straits to the loss of a large damage suit brought by a swimmer who had been paralyzed at Casino Beach in 1956 and to a recent drought that lowered the water level to an extent that the beach was largely unusable. By the 1960s Casino Beach faced competition from a nearby public beach, as well as from Eagle Mountain and Benbrook lakes, and the park faded in popularity. The Casino Ballroom lacked the capacity to host in-demand rock-and-roll groups of the period and lost its prominence as a music venue. In 1972 the city condemned the ballroom due to fire safety concerns. The following year, despite Starnes’s efforts to save it, the ballroom was demolished, as was what was left of the old roller coaster.

Casino Beach endured as a summertime, family recreational facility. Starnes, who at times operated without a formal lease and without a profit, continued to serve as manager. The adjoining stretch of municipally-owned, beach-front, public park was distinguished from Casino Beach as Casino Park. Having managed the property for forty years, Starnes was forced to retire in 1989 due to rising rents. In 1990, as part of redevelopment of the area, the remaining facilities at the beach were torn down. Starnes died later that year. Casino Beach remains a municipal park owned by the city of Fort Worth.