A Fort Worth mansion built for cattle barons is now under the care of Cook Children’s
Cook Children’s has a new patient.
The hospital system has taken over the stewardship of the 118-year-old Thistle Hill mansion after receiving it as a gift from historic preservation non-profit Historic Fort Worth.
The 12,000-square-foot mansion at 1509 Pennsylvania Ave. has been used as a wedding venue. A Cook Children’s press release says the hospital system is committed to maintaining the mansion’s beauty and plans use it as a “meeting space for the health care system and the community.”
Thistle Hill was built in 1904 for the newlywed heiress to the Waggoner Ranching family. It was sold to another cattle baron family in 1910 before becoming a boarding house in 1940 for the Girls Service League of Fort Worth, a nonprofit focused on higher education for women.
The league abandoned the house in 1968, and it fell into disrepair before it was acquired by the historical preservation nonprofit Save-the-Scott in 1976.
Historic Fort Worth took over stewardship in 2006 and invested $3 million to restore the mansion’s interior, pergola and 1,500-square foot terrace.
The gift made perfect sense given Cook’s expansion, and how much parents, children and staff have made use of the mansion’s grounds, said Historic Fort Worth executive director Jerre Tracy.
She noted the mansion’s pergola garden offers a place of relaxation for patients and their families, while staff at the hospital were the main customers for Historic Fort Worth’s food truck park.
“It was a nice stress break for the staff and the families, so we saw that benefit for the community and the community at Cooks,” Tracy said.
She also said the mansion’s carriage house is the perfect discovery zone for kids.
The carriage house was built as a cross between a horse stable and a modern garage in order to house the three main forms of turn-of-the-century transportation: horses, cars and carriages.
This multi-modal building is unique, and has been recognized as one of the finest in Texas, Tracy said.
Cook Children’s truned down an offer to take over Thistle Hill in 2005, but conversations between Cook CEO Rick Merrill and Historic Fort Worth board member Gail Landreth led the hospital to see the potential in taking over the property, Tracy said.
Merrill noted the symbolic parallels between the mansion’s history and Cook Children’s founding, noting both are rooted in Fort Worth’s history of ranching and oil barons.
“We are grateful to be entrusted by Historic Fort Worth, Inc. to continue the stewardship of this exceptional touchstone of Texas history,” Merrill said in a press release.
