Why is it called ‘Panther Island?’ You can thank Fort Worth’s old rivalry with Dallas.

Matt Leclercq
·2 min read
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In the Spotlight: Panther Island. Star-Telegram journalists answer your questions about the future Fort Worth development. Read more. Got a question? Use the form at the bottom of this story.

What we now call “Panther Island” — Fort Worth’s future entertainment, residential and commercial district near downtown — started out with a very different name.

We can thank Fort Worth’s age-old rivalry with Dallas as one of the reasons for why it changed.

How the area of the future Panther Island has changed since 2001.
How the area of the future Panther Island has changed since 2001.

The idea of revitalizing the city’s neglected riverfront emerged in spring 2001 with something called “Trinity River Vision.” In a nutshell, it was a study into why Fort Worth didn’t have an active “destination” riverfront like Austin’s Lady Byrd Lake.

“Some people come and go from Fort Worth without knowing the river was here in the first place,” one official lamented to a Star-Telegram reporter in 2001.

Fast forward a couple of years, and the revitalization project became known as “Trinity Uptown” — a whole new 800-acre district on the riverbank north of downtown.

A branding logo for “Trinity Uptown” in 2004.
A branding logo for “Trinity Uptown” in 2004.

After a while, though, “uptown” didn’t sit right with some folks. For one thing, a lot of cities have “uptowns” — not the least of which is Dallas.

And who wants to be like Dallas?

So by 2013, someone with Trinity River Vision Authority came up with idea of rebranding it “Panther Island.” It seemed to make sense — Fort Worth is known as Panther City, dating back to an 1870s legend, and the project would indeed be on an island once a new river channel is dug.

Plus, no other cities had a “Panther Island.”

The Star-Telegram even took a poll of readers about the name. Some 63% said they liked it, we reported in 2014.

“I think Panther Island is a unique destination,” said a Trinity River Vision Authority board member, when the final decision. “And ‘uptown’ is more of a generic term.”

No offense, Dallas.

Read more:

→ What is Panther Island? Facts to know.

→ A new vision for Panther Island as of 2024

→ Will anyone be able to afford to live on Panther Island?

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