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Jenkins Garrett Texas Postcard Collection, University of Texas at Arlington Libraries. A Glimpse of Fort Worth. (1916). Retrieved from https://library.uta.edu/digitalgallery/img/10011999
Downtown Fort Worth circa 1918
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Amon Carter Photograph Collection, University of Texas at Arlington Libraries. Skyline Fort Worth, Texas, 1918 . (1918). Retrieved from https://library.uta.edu/digitalgallery/img/10006489
2000-22 Amon Carter Photo Collection
Fort Worth skyline, 1918
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Fort Worth Historical
Company Street, Camp Bowie
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Fort Worth Historical
U.S. Army nurses, Camp Bowie, 1918
Fort Worth was in its next great impetus. The population had just crossed the 100,000 mark, streetcars scooted around the now bumpy brick roads, the Stockyards was the largest horse and mule market in the world, and crime was at an all-time low thanks to the dismantling of Hell’s Half Acre.
In 1918, a deadly virus made its way to Fort Worth and forced its citizens to adapt to a new way of life, with the closures of schools, theaters, and various businesses. Lasting from 1918 to 1920, the Spanish flu became the worst pandemic in recorded history. The airborne virus ravaged the globe and left no continent unaffected, resulting in 50 million deaths worldwide and 500,000 deaths in the U.S. To put this in perspective, today, the U.S. reports over 300,000 COVID-19 deaths as of mid-December.
Twenty-twenty has a precedent.
Temporary medical facilities were set up for the growing number of sick individuals. The pandemic coincided with World War I, and it was believed that the virus first emerged from Spain, but it is actually unclear where the deadly influenza strain originated. Spain was not involved in the war, but during the pandemic’s peak, the Spanish king, Alfonso XIII, contracted the virus. Those involved in the war began freely reporting about the flu and perpetuated the misnomer “Spanish influenza” or the “Spanish grippe.” So, the name stuck.
Recent epidemiologists traced the outbreak of the flu in the U.S. to a physician’s office in Kansas. They pinpointed the initial progression of the virus between civilian and military populations. Per the first reports of the Spanish flu in the U.S., a U.S. Army soldier visited his family in Kansas during the holidays of 1917-1918 when he contracted the virus. The soldier went on to carry the flu to Camp Funston, now known as Fort Riley, Kansas, and infected his fellow troops.
As the war intensified, infected troops were sent overseas and spread the virus among military bases and to the front lines in Europe. By March, soldiers started arriving at infirmaries in large numbers. The virus quickly made its way to soldiers in close-knit camps and eventually to their home countries as they returned from service.
This severity of the outbreak faded over the warm spring and summer months, but when the second wave of the Spanish flu emerged in August 1918, all hell broke loose.
That September, the Spanish flu arrived in Texas at the U.S. Army base of Camp Logan outside of Houston. Within a few weeks, the virus reached Fort Worth at its own army training base — Camp Bowie.
Camp Bowie was established by the U.S. War Department to train the 36th Infantry in 1917. For reference, the camp was about three miles west of downtown, now known as the Arlington Heights neighborhood. Think Camp Bowie Boulevard, but with open artillery fields, army tents, a base hospital — no Kincaid’s or Showdown Saloon.
The virus proliferated in the camp, and 81 cases were reported by late September. Due to the lackadaisical attention noted by other cities and military camps, Fort Worth implemented preventative tactics in an attempt to slow the spread of the virus.
One 1918 Fort Worth Record headline read, “Fort Worth Dates for Grand Opera Have Been Canceled.” Another headline from the Star-Telegram read, “Quarantine Is Placed on T.C.U. By Influenza.”
By October, the city and army officials were working closely together to quarantine the troops at Camp Bowie.
Soldiers were ordered to sleep 5 feet apart to prevent infection and were barred from going to “picture shows,” dance halls, and pool rooms. The City of Fort Worth closed nearly all gathering places, including churches, schools, and theaters. The virus became too difficult to contain, and Camp Bowie was among the hardest hit with more than 1,900 soldiers infected — with some treated in makeshift tents.
The Spanish flu advanced throughout Fort Worth, and hospitalizations surged. One Fort Worth Star-Telegram headline read, “Hospital Toll Reaches 1,908.” That October, 1,200 had died.
El Paso reported 131 deaths in one week. Camp MacArthur, near Waco, had more than 900 cases. Nearly 500 civilians and over 200 soldiers died there. San Antonio reported more than 12,300 cases with nearly 900 deaths. Estimates put the death toll at more than 20,000 in Texas, including 1,800 troops (although it is likely that tens of thousands of cases went unreported).
By late October, the virus seemed to have retreated quickly. The daily death toll went back to zero, and schools reopened. The Star-Telegram reported: “It is agreed that the influenza has about run its course.”
It was not until 1945 that the first flu vaccine was approved for use in the U.S.
Fort Worth Historical was created by Michael Govea as tribute to the city and with a mission to preserve the history of Fort Worth, Texas. Follow Fort Worth Historical on Instagram at @fortworthhistorical.
