Arlington America's Town?

By Charles Lohrmann

I’m standing on the highest point in Tarrant County—a hill overlooking the western sweep of Arlington—noting that overgrown trees hide the suburban development that fills the land below, just north of Texas 180. I’m happy to miss the recent construction, because I’m imagining the perspective this same view offered 75 years ago.

This site is the tea garden of Top O’ Hill Terrace. Even though the buildings and grounds now define the campus of Arlington Baptist College, Top O’ Hill lives in local history as a glamorous, yet notorious, casino and nightclub that raised eyebrows during the 1930s and ’40s: Renowned boxers rubbed shoulders with local big shots and all joined shady characters on the sly to play cards, roll the dice, and live the high life.

Arlington is now the seventh-largest city in the state with a population of nearly 400,000, but the city still works hard at redefining itself and knows how to draw a crowd.  As I learn more about Top O’ Hill Terrace, as part of Vickie Bryant’s 90-minute private tour, I’m realizing that drawing a crowd is not a newly discovered skill in this pocket of the Metroplex.

Just five miles away from the modest Arlington Baptist College, we’re gazing in amazement at one of the most over-the-top building projects in the state, if not the world: the new stadium home for the Dallas Cowboys (officially named Cowboys Stadium). And this stadium represents another coup for Arlington, which now might be called America’s Town, to accommodate America’s Team. Arlingtonians already host America’s Pastime right across the street at the Rangers Ballpark.

See the full article in the July 2009 issue.

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