Most of Dalworthington Gardens was built recently: 1% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1986. Below: 10 old photos and papers, maps from 1959 on, and the census since 1950.
Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Dalworthington Gardens’ History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Dalworthington Gardens is more historic than 8% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Dalworthington Gardens’ overall grade.
Few Texas towns list much on the Register (a typical Texas town has 0.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Dalworthington Gardens’ 0.0 sits below most of its state (34% of Texas towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would still be D. The pre-1940 share (±1.3 points) is firm at this size. Two sources give 1934.
Founding year: Wikidata (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
The story
How Dalworthington Gardens came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Dalworthington Gardens.
The community was established in 1934 as a subsistence homestead project during the Great Depression under the authority of the National Industrial Recovery Act as part of the Subsistence Homesteads Division. The purpose of the homestead program was to help families attain a better standard of living through a combination of part-time industrial employment and subsistence agriculture. Dalworthington Gardens was one of five such projects located in Texas. Its inclusion in the group was at the suggestion of Eleanor Roosevelt, who happened upon the area while visiting the Fort Worth family of the woman to whom the son of her and President Roosevelt, Elliot, had become engaged. Of the five sites selected for this program, Dalworthington "colony" as it was originally called, is the only one still in existence today. Since it has been in constant operation from its inception, it maintains its…
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Dalworthington Gardens. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1959Kennedale sheet · 1:24,000
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Dalworthington Gardens.
Then & now
Stand where they stood
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Retake this viewMen working at Dalworthington Gardens, Texas, 1935
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Dalworthington Gardens’ page.
In 1934, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. the census of 1950 counted 267 people here.
How does Dalworthington Gardens rank for history?
Dalworthington Gardens is more historic than 8% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
How old are the homes in Dalworthington Gardens?
1% of Dalworthington Gardens’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.3 points), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 1986.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From the Library of Congress (10), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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