Concurrently with the planning and construction of the Fort Worth-Dallas Turnpike , highway officials were busy planning other roads to more efficiently move traffic through the city . As indicated above , Watson Road was designated State Highway 360 . It opened in 1959 and was built as a boulevard-type of a connector joining Arlington with Carter Field at Highway 183 north of the city and connecting with State Highway 303 to the south . Construction began on the latter in 1958 . It was commonly referred to as the Rosedale Extension as it connected with that road on the east side of Fort Worth . Highway 303 ( or Spur 303 ) was designed to relieve traffic on US Highway 80 , locally known as “ Death Trap 80 .” Because the west side of Arlington was not served by an interchange with the Turnpike , many motorists continued to use US Highway 80 between Arlington and Fort Worth and it remained a dangerous road . From its western terminus , Spur 303 paralleled Highway 80 to the south and then turned southeast and ran a few blocks north of Arkansas Lane . It opened in the fall of 1960 and later became known as Pioneer Parkway . During this era , the state highway officials also were planning a South Loop to connect the communities of Dallas , Arlington and Fort Worth as part of the federal interstate highway system which would become Interstate 20 . 13
In the post-war years , Arlington was in and out of the airport business . Prior to and during the war , several airfields were created in the vicinity of the city . A small airport , Pulley Field , was located in the northwest part of the city on the south side of Randol Mill Road . It would be redeveloped and the Town North Shopping Center built on the property . In 1942 , the federal government signed a contract with the City of Arlington transferring Midway Airport to the City . The airport was located six miles north of Arlington on Highway 183 and was about halfway between Fort Worth and Dallas . Arlington leaders came to the conclusion that they could never develop the field themselves and transferred the airport to Fort Worth in 1947 . It became known as the Fort Worth Transcontinental Passenger Airport Terminal and later as Amon Carter Field . Through the 1950s , Arlington supported improvements at Carter Field knowing that improved services there would be of benefit to the city . But the City of Arlington made an attempt to return to the airport business in 1953 when it acquired the former naval air station near Johnston Station south of Arlington . However , it was not until 1958 that the City began making improvements to the airfield after the Civil Aeronautics Authority reminded city leaders that they were obligated to do so as a part of the terms of the transfer agreement . But the improvements were not of a substantial nature and in 1959 the City announced that it would sell the former navy field and construct a new municipal airport one and one-half miles south of the city limits . Through the Federal Airport Act , the new airport received $ 70,600 in 1960 for construction of another runway and a stub taxiway with apron . According to the Arlington Journal , these improvements would make the Arlington Municipal Airport third in traffic in Tarrant County behind Fort Worth ’ s Carter Field and Meacham Airport . 14
HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
Throughout the early 1950s , Arlington ’ s housing market grew at an unprecedented rate . One development that received considerable attention was Arlington Terrace . A few months after the announcement of GM ’ s plans to build a plant in Arlington , Dallas developers S . R . Franck and Morris Silberman submitted the plat to the City Commission for approval . The 400-home development was located in southeast Arlington . The plans for the frame houses had received
13 Ibid ., August 25 , 1955 , March 21 , 1957 , April 4 , 1957 , March 27 , 1958 , January 15 , 1959 , April 2 , 1959 , August 13 , 1959 and September 29 , 1960 . 14 Tarrant County Citizen , October 30 , 1947 and November 6 , 1947 ; Arlington Journal , March 18 , 1956
and April 19 , 1956 ; March 20 , 1958 , March 27 , 1958 , June 18 , 1959 and March 10 , 1960 .
FINAL REPORT
ARLINGTON HISTORIC RESOURCES SURVEY UPDATE
SEPTEMBER 2007
11