Cooper Family

Details

  • Marker: Cooper Family
  • Location: Marker is located at Founders Plaza – 102 W. Abram Street – in Arlington.
  • Date Visited: 04-18-21
  • Notes: Founders Plaza pays tribute to Andrew Hayter (the Father of Arlington) and six of Arlington’s founding families.

Cooper Family

Marker text:

James Daniel Cooper (1841-1913) moved to Arlington in 1875 and settled on a several hundred-acre farm. In 1878, he built a home for his family about four miles outside the western city limit. Five sons, James Newton, William, John, Oscar, and Horace were raised on the home place.

Mr. Cooper was one of the thirteen men who met at Schultz Lumber Company in 1878 to form the Centenary Methodist Episcopal Church, South (First United Methodist Church.) His name is on the cornerstone. He was also an early contributor of land and money to build Arlington College, forerunner of the University of Texas at Arlington.

In the early 1920s, Cooper Street, once a pasture shortcut through the Cooper property, was named in his honor. By this time, the property was within the city limits of Arlington.

His son, James Newton Cooper, built the Cooper Hotel in 1928. This historic building still stands on the northwest corner of Division and Center Streets. Two of James Newton’s children, Mary and Howard, were lifelong residents of Arlington. Son Horace retained ownership of the original family home until 1953 when the property was sold to UTA. The home was given to the City and was relocated to a site near Meadowbrook Park on Willis Street for use as a library. When a larger library was needed by the City, the home was rented to the Arlington Woman’s Club for use as a meeting place. The women cared for it until it was destroyed by a vandal-set fire on Halloween 1998.

The house was designated a Texas Historical Landmark in 1965.

Inscription by Cooper Neil Tucker, great-grandson of James Daniel Cooper. 2008.