On ‘Hell's Half Acre' Fort Worth Leaders Ignored Illegal Booze, Gambling As Money Ended Up In City Coffers

CBS Dallas/Fort Worth

October 28, 2021

Aside from prostitution, heavy boozing and gambling rounded out the trio of vices that helped define the wild west behavior within Fort Worth’s long gone, but infamous “Hells Half Acre.”

Richard Selcer is a TCU historian and author of the book “Hells Half Acre.”

“Nobody took baths,” explained Selcer. “There was no air conditioning. Nobody used deodorant. Very few people brushed their teeth and those where the kind of people who were there.”

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