Before and after: West 7th

Nestled between Downtown and Fort Worth's Cultural District, the West 7th area has seen tremendous growth, and even a tornado, in the past two decades.

Use the arrow keys on the images or on your keyboard to see before and after of each area.

15 years ago, much of what has become known as the "West 7th Core District" was just warehouse and light industrial uses. The master-planned West 7th development, now known as Crockett Row, was a major catalyst in the development of the entire neighborhood. Today the area has become a popular nightlife destination thanks to a conglomeration of bars and restaurants.

Parkside was completely vacant in 2001, with only the Olympus Station apartments having been built. A number of townhomes, the Stayton senior living tower, a hotel and the So7 apartments and retail now occupy the land fronting Trinity Park.

Montgomery Plaza was another early development in the area. By 2005 work had begun on the suburban-style retail behind the plaza, while the historic Montgomery Ward warehouse itself was converted into condos with ground-level retail. Today, barely a decade after the shopping center's completion, there is a proposal to demolish some of the strip-style retail to make room for more residences.

The area around Fort Worth's art museums and the UNTHSC campus is bustling with construction in both the before and after examples. In 2001, the Tadao Ando-designed Modern Art Museum was well under construction and would open the next year. Construction can also be seen on the UNTHSC garage and the Amon Carter Museum's property. Notable additions to the 2022 image include the UNTHSC's Interdisciplinary Research & Education Building (IREB) and the Piano Pavilion expansion of the Kimbell Art Museum, as well as construction on the Museum Place development.

The Linwood neighborhood, located two blocks north of West 7th Street, has seen a radical transformation in the last decade. The neighborhood was formerly occupied almost entirely by post-war duplexes, most of which have been torn down for new development. The gentrified housing stock of modern Linwood is very diverse, with rowhomes, townhomes, duplexes and apartment blocks all being found in the neighborhood.

What is now the site of Left Bank was mostly vacant as recently as 2013, being used as a site-prep location for the precast arches for the West 7th bridge. Fast forward a few years and the site is mostly developed with hundreds of residential units, a grocery store, and retail buildings along 7th Street.

Two decades before Dickies Arena the area South of the Will Rogers Memorial Center was mostly parking and light industrial uses.

In 2001, Gendy Street was more of an alley, the Cowgirl Hall of Fame had just broken ground, and the FWMSH building was completely different. The Alice Walton Cowgirl Park, Western Heritage Garage and the Legorreta + Legorreta-designed Fort Worth Museum of Science and History are among the additions through the years. The Omni Theater and Fort Worth Community Arts Center remain unchanged.

All images via Google Earth.