Gamblers & Gangsters: Fort Worth's Jacksboro Highway in the 1940s & 1950s [Paperback]

Ann Arnold (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 223 pages
• Publisher: Eakin Pr; 1st edition (December 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1571682503
• ISBN-13: 978-1571682505
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #193,777 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Adventures in Fort Worth history, January 18, 2001

By 

Greg Hall MSSW (Woodville, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gamblers & Gangsters: Fort Worth's Jacksboro Highway in the 1940s & 1950s (Paperback)

Dr Arnold does an excellent job of taking hold of a sizable hunk of Fort Worth history and recording it in a very readable fashion. A number of pictures are also included to help visualize the antics of early Fort Worth residents (and visitors).

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars gangsters and gamblers of 1940 & 1950 jacksboro hwy fort wor, March 27, 2002

By 

mary mcnett (fort worth texas usa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gamblers & Gangsters: Fort Worth's Jacksboro Highway in the 1940s & 1950s (Paperback)

this is a very interesting book especially for those of us who live in fort worth texas. all kinds of neat facts about one of our most popular highways. all about the gangsters and gamblers. ann arnold did a fantastic job on writing it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Some things I knew, some I didn't., June 10, 2011

By 

ROBERT BAUCOM "Triumph Nut" (ARLINGTON, TEXAS) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gamblers & Gangsters: Fort Worth's Jacksboro Highway in the 1940s & 1950s (Paperback)

Hard to put down. I knew most of the streets and address mentioned. Born in '37, a lot of this took place during my formative years. There were big headlines when ever they found a gangster's body in an old water well. Front page when the gambler and his pregnant wife were blown up in their car early one morn.
Jacksboro Highway was rather notorious in my youth. My uncle had an auto repair shop on it. It got so bad, he sold out in the '40's and moved to Lubbock Texas. The west side of Fort Worth had numerous houses and buildings that were or had been gambling places.
In 1957, I rented a home on Washburn St. a few blocks from Will Roger's Colosseum. I asked the landlord why there were so many glass paned doors down both sides of the middle of the house. He said, during the 30's it had been used for gambling. The doors were to let many of them get away during a raid.
My late father had always suspected that the police and especially the sheriff were paid off in those days. He would have relished seeing it in print.
Mentioned the book to a friend that had once managed a private club on Jacksburo highway. He got so interested, he got out his old copy of the book and reread it :-)
BTW, A lot of the beer joints and vending companies in Fort Worth are still owned (under the table) by organized crime.