Jangoloos and Bug-a-Boos (Part 1)

Cowtowners of yore didn’t build parks to indulge just their love of hooves and wheels.
This two-part post features four multipurpose parks that are no more:

 Como Park

No, not that Como Park, not Lake Como Park. Just to confound future historians, both Como Park and Lake Como Park were created about the same time—1890. Both were connected to downtown by streetcar lines. Both were “trolley parks” located at the terminus of their respective street car lines. But whereas Lake Como Park was west of town, Como Park was east of town—across the Trinity River  in the Riverside addition.

The Como Social Club was a Germanic club organized in 1889. On May 1, 1890 the club held its first Maifest at Rosedale Pavilion, another trolley park just off Samuels Avenue.

By 1891, these Gazette clips show, the Como Social Club had its own park at the terminus of the Riverside streetcar line, organized in 1890 by, among others, E. E. Chase. Note that among the principal beverages at the 1891 Maifest was the “ever famous” beer from Fort Worth’s own Texas Brewing Company (fifty-six kegs consumed) and that among the attractions and activities were a “jangoloo” (jangaloo is a Hindi word meaning “savage”), a sack race, an egg race, the champion pedestrian of the world, and a pantaletted donkey.

But for Como Park there was life beyond Maifest. It was a popular venue for dances, picnics, and other entertainments.

Hermann Park

Hermann Park (and beer garden) was located between the West Fork of the Trinity River and North Main Street at Northwest 2nd Street. Sons of Hermann had begun as a mutual protection society for German immigrants in 1840 in New York. The Fort Worth lodge, like the Como Social Club, hosted a Maifest. The Sons of Hermann hosted their Maifest well into the twentieth century.

By 1897, as this Register clip shows, the Sons of Hermann lodge was hosting its Maifest at its park: fireworks, a hot-air balloon ascension, assorted races. The Fencibles and Loyd’s Rifles were local militia units.

But by the turn of the century, as this 1901 Register clip shows, the Fort Worth branch of the Railroad Boys’ Social Club got in on the Maifestivities, hosting its own Maifest at Hermann Park. Prizes to race winners included a marriage license. The club had branches in other large cities such as San Francisco, San Antonio, and Atlanta.
But Hermann Park, like Como Park, didn’t exist only during Maifest.

Hermann Park was used to deliver the blow-by-blow of the Corbett-Fitzsimmons prize fight. In 1897 a telegraph wire was installed at the park to allow patrons—men only—to follow the fight.
(This fight was moved from Dallas to Carson City, Nevada after Texas Governor Culberson, who is buried in Oakwood Cemetery, called a special session of the legislature to outlaw prize fighting in the state.)

Hermann Park was used to celebrate anniversaries. In 1920 Hermann Park hosted two thousand members of Fort Worth’s “Mexican colony” as they celebrated the 110th anniversary of Mexican independence. Some members of the colony lived nearby in La Corte barrio and Battercake Flats.

And Hermann Park was used to celebrate birthdays. According to the UTA Library, the ubiquitous chronicler C. L. Swartz (brother of David) took this photograph of Carl Schilder’s fortieth birthday celebration at Hermann Park in 1905. I think Schilder is the man in the center of the second row, wearing a light hat, dark bow tie, vest, watch chain, and mustache. He probably is flanked by his wife Dora and daughters. Some of the women are holding hand fans. The small wagon bears an ad for Schilder’s Brewery Exchange saloon. (Photo from University of Texas at Arlington Library.)

(Some parks, such as Hyde, Harmon, and Greenway, still exist but have been reduced in form and/or function. Parks that were or began as African-American parks—Douglas, McGar, Dixie, Harmon, Greenway—are treated in separate posts.)

Jangoloos and Bug-a-Boos (Part 2)
Cowtown at Play

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