East Lancaster Avenue’s history goes back more than 120 years.  It has served as an important transportation link for the region since its beginning, when horse and buggy was the mode of transportation.

 In the early days when cars were still a novelty, a streetcar system known as the Interurban served Fort Worth, Dallas, Denton, Sherman, Dennison, Cleburne, Corsicana, and Waco.  It operated from 1902 to 1934.  The tracks ran down what are today the eastbound lanes of East Lancaster, with many local stops along the way.  The Handley power plant was specifically built to supply power for the Interurban.  At Handley, a passenger could disembark from the Interurban and catch a Texas and Pacific train to anywhere in the country.  Ultimately, it was the wide popularity of the car that caused the demise of this early mass transit system.

Over the years, East Lancaster Avenue has had a number of names, often several at one time.  In the 1880s, it was known as Front Street.  By 1916, the street was lengthened and became part of the Bankhead Highway, the first coast-to-coast highway in the United States.  Other maps of the time referred to it as the Dixie Overland Highway.  In Texas, it was officially State Highway 1.  In 1926, the road was designated as US Highway 80.  Locally, it was known as the Dallas Pike, since it was the way most travelers got to Dallas.  Some maps called it Fort Worth-Dallas Boulevard.  Today it is known as State Highway 180. 

In 1931, Lancaster Avenue was named for John Lynch Lancaster, who was the president of the Texas and Pacific Railroad.  Just a couple of years before the Great Depression, Mr. Lancaster announced a massive rail system expansion in Fort Worth, which included the construction of the Texas & Pacific passenger terminal, Texas & Pacific warehouse, three underpasses on the south end of downtown, and the rail yard near West Vickery Boulevard and Hulen Street.  When the Great Depression hit, the New Deal’s WPA program authorized the construction of the main downtown post office. 

All these projects totaled about $100 million in today’s dollars and kept many people in Fort Worth employed during a critical time in the twentieth century.  It seemed only fitting to name the street the buildings were situated on (which continues east and west from downtown) after him.

East Lancaster was part of the primary automobile route to Dallas until the late 1950s.   By that point, a trip to Dallas meant passing through about sixty intersections with traffic lights, so a new route was sought.  The Dallas-Fort Worth Turnpike (now Interstate 30) opened in 1957, siphoning about 17,000 cars a day off East Lancaster Avenue.  That change in function for the street began a slow decline, as many restaurants, motor hotels, and other businesses dependent on the motoring public began to struggle. 

Today, the street is stable and no longer in decline, but still in need of a brighter future.  The East Lancaster Public Improvement District is envisioned as a foundation on which to build that brighter future. 

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