A need, a means, a concept, and someone to bring these factors together must be present for places to develop. One of these individuals who made development possible was Wyatt C. Hedrick, an architect-builder who transformed the skyline in Texas communities, especially Fort Worth, during the early twentieth century.
Born in Virginia, he moved to Texas in 1913 and established Wyatt C. Hedrick Construction Company the following year. By 1919 he had offices in Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, and El Paso. During the seven years of successful operation, Hedrick’s company constructed private and industrial structures, including refineries, food and dairy businesses, manufacturing and retail outlets, schools and colleges, hotels and hospitals. Additionally, the company worked on federal government projects, including Love Field in Dallas.
In 1921, Hedrick went to work for Sanguinet & Staats (S & S), one of the most prestigious architectural firms in the Southwest, and became a partner in 1922. When Carl Staats, the main designing partner, was severely injured, Hedrick took charge of design work and contracting. Staats retired in 1924 and Sanguinett followed in 1925. Hedrick bought the company and changed the name to Wyatt C. Hedrick – Architect and Engineer. With no formal training in architecture or engineering, he now owned the most successful architectural company in Fort Worth.
Hedrick’s timing taking over S & S could not have been better. The 1920s brought prosperity to many areas of Texas due, in no small part, to post-war growth, new industries, and discovery and processing of oil. Fort Worth became a major hub of activity due to its tarantula style network of railroads that traversed the town. People of influence and ambition moved to town to build their empires, initiating new construction everywhere.
Hedrick bought into the architectural business at quite possibly the best time for many reasons, but especially for establishing a distinct style that established him as a leader. Architecture in the 1920s evolved as Moderne, more commonly referred to as Art Deco, replaced many of the older classical architecture and stayed in fashion until the early 1940s. Hedrick used what was quite possibly one of his finest strengths, hiring people more talented than himself, to hire Herman Koeppe as his chief architect. Koeppe helped solidify Hedrick’s reputation as a leader in the newest style, as his phenomenal Art Deco designs won the approval and support of client after client. With Koeppe and the rest of his formidable team, Hedrick soon owned and operated the third-largest architectural business in the country.
One of the first defining projects the Hedrick Architectural firm created was the core of Texas Technical University. Hedrick’s company designed and built the first twelve buildings from 1924 through 1934; then returned over the years for sixteen additional projects. By 1939 his firm designed and constructed buildings for fourteen other educational institutions throughout Texas.
In 1925 the City of Fort Worth made changes that demanded Hedrick’s services for nearly a decade. The “Five-Year Work Program,” was created to develop the small outpost of the past into a city of the future. The plan offered a ten-point program to guide the spending of $100 million for construction and improvements. There was no way anyone could have known the benefits this program would provide to Fort Worth when the stock market crashed on October 29, 1929.
Hedrick’s share of the plan was enormous, more than any other architectural firm. Aside from the multiple smaller buildings, fourteen of twenty-one major structures erected within and around Fort Worth’s Central Business District were Hedrick projects. Prominently demonstrating Koeppe’s Art Deco brilliance, these included the Texas and Pacific Passenger (T&P) Terminal; Texas Christian University Stadium; and the Central Post Office.
One of Hedrick’s biggest private clients was Jesse Holman Jones whose ventures in Houston and Fort Worth made him one of the largest single investors in both cities. As the most active investor in the Five-Year program, Jones commissioned three of the fourteen Hedrick projects for a total of $3.2 million: the Electric, the adjoining Hollywood Theatre, and the Fair Building.
Another Hedrick customer was T. M. Baker, an Iowa-born and Missouri-raised son of a hotelier. Sanguinet, Staats and Hedrick built the Stephen F. Austin Hotel in Austin in 1923 for $755,000 and Hedrick built the Baker Hotel in Mineral Wells for $1,500,000 in 1929. The Baker opened on November 22, 1929, three weeks after the stock market crashed, but that did not slow the parade of celebrities who came to stay. Currently under extensive renovation, the Baker promises to shine once more.
As cities expanded, they added municipal projects. Hedrick’s share of the improved facilities included city halls in Lubbock and Childress and the new court house and jail in Harris County. His company also designed and constructed thirteen railroad jobs for the Fort Worth & Denver Railway Company, seven which were passenger stations in Abilene, Childress, Clarendon, Lockney, Lubbock (now the Buddy Holly Center), Plainview, and Fort Worth.
The stock market crash cancelled an untold number of future projects, but Fort Worth’s Five-Years plan staved back the effects of the Depression for a few more years. One of Hedrick’s most magnificent complexes of the era were the Texas and Pacific (T&P) Terminal, Warehouse, and Baggage Express Building. Replacing the former station, they were to be used by four of the nine train lines that went through Fort Worth.
By 1931 most of the construction was over and would not resume until almost 1940. There were a few exceptions to the rule, but the easy money was over. Hedrick faired better than most and survived the decade by constructing the Will Rogers Coliseum and the Narcotics Farm in Fort Worth, and the Southern Pacific Passenger Station in Houston.
An auditorium had been called for in the Five-Year plan, but not one that materialized in the form of the Will Rogers Coliseum. To prepare for 100 years of independence from Mexico, the State of Texas started planning a celebration in 1922. The main event of this celebration would be held in Dallas at Fair Park, however, not to be outdone, Fort Worth planned its own event, the Frontier Centennial. Its main venue would be the Will Rogers Coliseum, which Hedrick’s company and another architect, Elmer G. Withers, worked together to create.
Will Rogers Coliseum benefitted from funds from the Public Works Administration (PWA), which the federal government created to bring relief and recovery during the Depression. To capitalize on the availability of these funds, voters in Fort Worth passed a bond to pay their portion of project costs for six municipal projects.
The architectural elements of the Coliseum visually record the progression to what became known as PWA Moderne. Architects produced a stripped-down Depression style version to save money. Still in use today for over one-hundred annual events, Will Rogers graces the skyline of Fort Worth as one of Hedrick’s pinnacle achievements during the Depression era.
Hedrick’s role in constructing modern Texas and other states remain today. Over time, Hedrick and his efforts have been forgotten; new firms and new styles have captured the public imagination. But take a friend for a ride through downtown Fort Worth, to the Central Business District, and ask them to point out ten of the older buildings that catch their eye. Odds are most will be the work of Wyatt C. Hedrick, Architect/Engineer.