In 1873, economic overexpansion sparked a nationwide depression lasting more than five years. The young city scaled down its operations. Many believed Fort Worth to be doomed. Robert E. Cowart, a former resident of Fort Worth who practiced law in Dallas, wrote the Dallas Herald that he “had been to a meeting in Fort Worth the other day and things were so quiet he had seen a panther asleep on Main Street, undisturbed by the rush of men or the hum of trade.” B.B. Paddock, editor of the Fort Worth Democrat, took these comments as a challenge and had a new masthead engraved with a panther lying in front of the bluff and the motto: “Where the panther laid down.” The nickname “Panther City” stuck.

MADE POSSIBLE THROUGH THE GENEROUS SUPPOR OF THE DOROTHEA LEONHARDT FUND, COMMUNITIES FOUNDATION OF TEXAS, PASCHAL HIGH SCHOOL CLASS OF 1955, SUNDANCE SQUARE, DERAN WRIGHT, SCULPTOR, HOKA HEY FOUNDRY AND THE FORT WORTH CHAMBER FOUNDATION.