FORT WORTH - One night after News 8 reported on a treasure trove of photos found dumped under a Fort Worth bridge, more information has arisen about just where and when some of the photographs were taken.
One photograph of the Dealey Plaza was taken just one day after President John F. Kennedy's assassination, according to the curator at the Sixth Floor Museum. The curator said that is evident by the closed windows at the School Book Depository.
The photograph was among a large stack tossed out in a secluded area in the 1300 block of Milmo under an I-20 bridge in South Fort Worth. They were found among old clothing and furniture by Fort Worth's illegal dumping team. "There were documents such as personal mail," said Gary Tennison, a Fort Worth code compliance officer. "There were bills, mail pertaining to persons that have been incarcerated."
Most of the pictures were taken by a number of different professional photography studios dating at the very least back to the 1930s.
One current Tarrant County leader said he knows a lot about some of the photos from the past. Browsing through the cache of historic photographs of notable African Americans in Fort Worth brought mixed emotions for Tarrant County Commissioner Roy C. Brooks.
"The ones of my family were never in my family's possession, so I've never seen those specific pictures," he said.
Pictures of Brooks' sister's debutante presentation and his father and mother were found in a file folder of photographs. In fact, one folder was specifically labeled in his parents' names, "Marie and Dr. Marion Brooks," who were civic leaders.
"It's exciting," he said. "It's nostalgic. It's a little bit upsetting. To discover pictures of one's family under a bridge is a bit upsetting." The trove is believed to be the collection of a black historian. However, exactly who that owner is has not yet been discovered. They were filed by category, like Como and Dunbar Elementary, or Debutantes. One of Bishop College Choir was shot at WFAA-TV studios in 1962. Another shows Sen. Lyndon B. Johnson getting off a Delta DC-8. There is a signed picture of Vice President Hubert Humphrey and others of former Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby, former Dallas Cowboys Pettis Norman and Lonnel Cooper, the first black Fort Worth Police officer Investigators traced other evidence found with the photographs under the bridge back to a nearby home that investigators say has been known for criminal activity. Those at the home said no one there knew anything about them. There is speculation the photographs may have been stolen from the Tarrant County Historical and Genealogical Society about five years ago. E-mail dmiles@wfaa.com
