There’s a story that Amon Carter, the father of modern Fort Worth, disliked Dallas so much that he would bring a sack lunch any time he had to take a meeting in the larger city. That way, he said, he wouldn’t have to spend a penny in Dallas.

That rivalry goes back more than a century, and helps explain one North Texas nickname.

Ann from Dallas recently asked Curious Texas: Why is Fort Worth called Panther City? Her mother was raised in Fort Worth and they were both curious why the panther mascot is so popular in Tarrant County.

Her question is part of Curious Texas, an ongoing project from The Dallas Morning News that invites you to join in our reporting process. The idea is simple: You have questions, and our journalists are trained to track down answers.

The big cat makes appearances on the Fort Worth Police badge, in downtown Fort Worth sculptures, in breweries, record stores, sports teams and more.

“If you look in the right place, there’s panthers sprinkled throughout the city,” said Carol Roark, a Fort Worth architectural historian.

1 / 4Tarrant County historian Carol Roark poses for a photograph with Larry Schuessler's Panther City memorabilia collection at Larry's home in Fort Worth.(Jae S. Lee / Staff Photographer) 2 / 4Panther City Fountain in Fort Worth.(Jae S. Lee / Staff Photographer) 3 / 4The Flatiron Building features carved panther heads on its facade in Fort Worth.(Jae S. Lee / Staff Photographer) 4 / 4A statue of Sleeping Panther upholds tradition on the lawn of the Tarrant County Administration building, at the corner of Weatherford and Main streets in downtown Fort Worth.(Jae S. Lee / Staff Photographer)

Roark is Fort Worth through-and-through, but said she worked for many years at the Dallas Public Library’s Texas archives and research department.

Roark said the rivalry — and the nickname — goes back to the early decades of the two cities. Competition for rail lines and business made for intense civic boosterism and with it, insults hurled across the county line.

A column in the Dallas Daily Herald started a story in 1875 that a "panter" had fallen asleep in the middle of downtown Fort Worth. That grew into the nickname of Panther City. (Texas Digital Newspaper Program at UNT)

In 1875, the Dallas Daily Herald published a column about an alleged scandal in "our suburban village of Fort Worth," written by a lawyer named Robert Cowart, who had recently moved from Fort Worth to Dallas.

Cowart’s claim: Fort Worth was so sleepy that nobody noticed a huge, dangerous predator napping in the middle of downtown. The next morning, according to the satirical column, people took turns pointing out “whar the panter had laid down.”

Rather than take the insult from the Dallas paper, Fort Worth’s citizens adopted the panther as a new icon. The city named its first fire engine “panther” and new saloons, meat markets and dry goods stores opened with the panther name.

Fort Worth newspaper publisher B. B. Paddock even bought two panther cubs, placed them in a circus wagon and paraded them through downtown Dallas to show off the mighty mascots. In 1912, the Fort Worth Police Department added a panther to its badge.

Fort Worth High School — later renamed Paschal High School — adopted the Panthers as a mascot. When minor league baseball came to town, the team was dubbed the Cats.

Panther City, or Pantherville, quickly spread as a proud nickname for Fort Worth.

1 / 4Tarrant County historian Carol Roark shows a Lumbermen's Association badge from 1912 at collector Larry Schuessler's home in Fort Worth.(Jae S. Lee / Staff Photographer) 2 / 4A copy of "Panther City March," a piano piece written in 1914 that Tarrant County historian Larry Schuessler owns at his home in Fort Worth.(Jae S. Lee / Staff Photographer) 3 / 4The Fort Worth Panthers baseball team, from 1923. The photo is owned by Tarrant County historian Larry Schuessler.(Jae S. Lee / Staff Photographer) 4 / 4Panther Island Brewing opened in 2014 in Fort Worth. Its name comes from the nickname of "Panther City" that's been part of Fort Worth lore since 1875.(Alexandra Olivia / Special Contributor)

Although the competition has cooled slightly, barbs are still occasionally tossed from city to city.

Just last December, a report presented to Fort Worth leaders called the city "a suburb of Dallas County." Dallas Morning News columnist Michael Lindenberger called Fort Worth our "little sibling." The Fort Worth Star-Telegram responded in kind: "Don't Dallas my Fort Worth."

“Whenever Fort Worth feels snubbed, there’s a tendency for the panther to work its way back into conversation,” Roark said. “It’s definitely a badge of honor worn by Fort Worth citizens.”

For more Curious Texas stories, visit dallasnews.com/curious-texas.

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