Parks

Tinsley Ranch Metropolitan Park (Reserve status)

Dedication

2025

Size

298.18 acres

Additional amenities

This park is in reserve status awaiting park amenities development.

Fun facts

Located in northwest Fort Worth, Tinsley Ranch Park

Recreation

The park is not currently open to the public. Future bond elections and grants will determine amenities.

History

Rollie Tinsley and Mary Emma King were married at home on November 8, 1922. In 1929, they purchased this ranch, raised cattle, built a home, and started a family. Their daughter Ruby Lea married Wiley Alliston, a Marine major in 1945 and later moved to the ranch in 1974 to raise Brangus cattle until their death. Upon their passing, the family sold the ranch to the City of Fort Worth to become a public park (12/3/24 M&C 24-1154) .

Geology

The park is comprised of Early Cretaceous Fort Worth Limestone and Duck Creek Formations, which includes burrows and marine megafossils such as pecten, oysters, echinoids, and ammonites.

Soils

The park has an interesting mix of soils from the Slidell, Sanger, Purves, and Aledo soil series. The Slidell Series consists of a calcareous clay soil. The Sanger series is ancient remnants of clayey marine sediments. Purves soils consist of shallow, well drained, slowly permeable soils formed in ancient interbedded limestone and marl. The Aledo-Bolar Complex soil series consists of shallow, well drained, moderately permeable soils on gently sloping to steep uplands; that formed in interbedded limestones and marls of the Cretaceous Period.

Ecology

The park is comprised of gently rolling topography typical of the Fort Worth Prairie ecosystem. There are 4 stock ponds within the 298 acres. The site has various soils, all of which are prairie soils. This area was once a rolling grassland where early inhabitants could look upon a 'sea' of grass to the horizon. The Fort Worth Prairie ecosystem is a narrow strip of prairie running about 100 miles north to south along I-35 from the Red River to the Brazos River; and a width of about 15 - 30 miles east to west between the Eastern and Western Cross Timbers. The spring through fall wildflower displays excited the most weary travelers in the 1800s.

You can find more at the iNaturalist link under the "Related information" section.

Reserve this park on ActiveNet