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We Got The Funk Podcast – Episode 11

Thousands of people drive down Hulen Street every day. It’s one of the busiest roads on the west side of Fort Worth. But very few people know the story behind the name.

In Episode 11 of We Got The Funk Podcast, we explore the remarkable life of John Augustus Hulen, a man who helped shape both Texas military history and the railroad industry that powered the state’s growth.

Hulen grew up in Gainesville, where he developed a strong interest in military service. He began his career with the Gainesville Rifles and quickly rose through the ranks. During the Spanish–American War, he served as a Major in the U.S. Volunteers. Soon after, he was deployed overseas during the Philippine–American War, where his leadership in combat earned national recognition and the Silver Star.

But Hulen’s story doesn’t end with the military.

When he wasn’t in uniform, he built a powerful career in railroads. He worked with major rail systems including the Trinity and Brazos Valley Railway, the Burlington–Rock Island Railroad, and the Fort Worth and Denver City Railway. At a time when railroads drove the American economy, Hulen helped guide struggling rail companies back to profitability and became one of the most influential railroad executives in Texas.

When World War I began, Hulen returned to military service. He played a key role in organizing the 36th Infantry Division, whose soldiers trained at Camp Bowie before heading to Europe.

The division later fought in major battles including the Meuse–Argonne Offensive, one of the largest and deadliest operations of the war. For his leadership, Hulen received multiple honors including the Distinguished Service Medal and two Croix de Guerre medals.

In the early 1920s, Fort Worth honored his service by naming a street near Camp Bowie after him. What began as a short road eventually expanded into the eleven-mile corridor known today as Hulen Street.

In this episode, we uncover the powerful story behind a name that thousands of Fort Worth residents see every day—but rarely stop to think about.

The next time you drive down Hulen Street, you’ll know the history behind it.

⏱ Episode Timeline

0:00 – Introduction

Why Hulen Street is one of Fort Worth’s most overlooked historical names.

1:30 – Early Life in Gainesville

How Hulen’s upbringing shaped his military ambitions.

4:00 – Military Service Begins

From Texas volunteers to overseas combat.

8:30 – Railroad Executive Career

Building and rebuilding major Texas railroads.

12:00 – World War I and Camp Bowie

Training the 36th Infantry Division for battle.

16:30 – The Naming of Hulen Street

How Fort Worth honored his legacy.

18:30 – Final Years and Legacy

If you enjoy discovering the hidden history of Fort Worth, follow We Got The Funk Podcast for more stories about the people, places, and moments that shaped the city. 🎙️

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We Got The Funk with Don the Barber
 Preserving Fort Worth’s history. Honoring its people. Inspiring the next generation.

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On December 23, 1974, three girls left Seminary South Shopping Center in Fort Worth and were never seen again.

Rachel Trlica (17), Renee Wilson (14), and Julie Moseley (9) disappeared just two days before Christmas while shopping for holiday gifts. Their car was later found abandoned in the mall parking lot, but the girls were gone.

What happened next would become one of the most haunting unsolved cases in Texas history.

In this episode of the We Got The Funk Podcast, we examine the timeline, the strange evidence, the mysterious letter mailed after the disappearance, and the theories that have kept investigators and families searching for answers for nearly 50 years.

This case—often called The Fort Worth Missing Trio—remains unsolved to this day.

If you have information, authorities encourage tips to be reported to the Fort Worth Police Department.

🎙 Subscribe to the We Got The Funk Podcast wherever you get your podcasts for more stories about Fort Worth history, culture, and unsolved mysteries.

Topics Covered in This Episode:

• The events of December 23, 1974

• Who were Rachel Trlica, Renee Wilson, and Julie Moseley

• The Seminary South Shopping Center timeline

• The mysterious letter sent after the disappearance

• The investigation and theories

• Why the case still matters today

Keywords:

Fort Worth Missing Trio, Rachel Trlica, Renee Wilson, Julie Moseley, Fort Worth unsolved mystery, Texas cold cases, Seminary South Shopping Center, true crime Texas, missing persons Fort Worth

Support the show

We Got The Funk with Don the Barber
 Preserving Fort Worth’s history. Honoring its people. Inspiring the next generation.

Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts, and share this episode with someone from Stop Six.

“Keep your mind sharp, keep that spirit grounded, and by all means keep honoring the shoulders you stand on.”

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Most history is remembered by big dates.

But sometimes history changes in a single minute.

For Fort Worth, that moment happened at 11:23 a.m. on July 19, 1876.

In this episode of the We Got The Funk Podcast, we tell the incredible story of how a struggling frontier town—once mocked as a sleepy village where a panther could roam the streets—was transformed forever when the first railroad locomotive finally rolled into town.

After years of delays, economic crashes, political drama, and a desperate race against time, Fort Worth’s future arrived on the rails.

And the moment the locomotive’s whistle screamed into Cowtown…

Everything changed.

In This Episode You’ll Learn

• Why Fort Worth desperately needed a railroad to survive

• How the Panic of 1873 nearly killed the city’s growth

• The rivalry between Fort Worth and Dallas

• The incredible story of a state representative carried into the legislature on a cot to delay adjournment

• How a frantic race to lay railroad track saved Fort Worth’s future

• Why 11:23 a.m. on July 19, 1876 became one of the most important moments in the city’s history

Why This Moment Matters

Before the railroad arrived, Fort Worth’s population had dropped to just a few hundred people.

But once the railroad connected the city to the rest of the country, everything changed:

• Population growth exploded

• Cattle shipments increased

• Businesses expanded

• Fort Worth became a major economic hub of North Texas

That single minute helped turn a struggling frontier town into the Fort Worth we know today.

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⭐ If you enjoyed this episode, share it with someone who loves Fort Worth history and leave a review to help more people discover the show.

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We Got The Funk with Don the Barber
 Preserving Fort Worth’s history. Honoring its people. Inspiring the next generation.

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“Keep your mind sharp, keep that spirit grounded, and by all means keep honoring the shoulders you stand on.”

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🎙 Episode 1

Fort Worth Before the Myth: Slavery, Power, and the City We Inherited

Podcast: We Got The Funk

Episode Length: ~30 minutes

Format: Audio-only

📄 Episode Description

Before Fort Worth became “where the West begins,” it was a slaveholding frontier town built on forced labor, silence, and selective memory.

In this opening episode, we strip away the mythology and examine slavery in Fort Worth as it actually existed — not as a footnote, but as a foundation.

Using court records, census data, and firsthand accounts, this episode names names, tells real stories, and confronts slavery’s most uncomfortable truths — including sexual violence, mixed-race children, and the ways power protected itself long after emancipation.

This is not a general history of slavery.

This is Fort Worth’s story.

🎧 What This Episode Covers

      •The largest slaveholders in early Fort Worth,           including E.M. Daggett, Middleton Tate Johnson, Nathaniel Terry, and Charles Turner

• Where their names still appear today — in streets, buildings, and city memory
• The lynching of white minister Anthony Bewley, and how his wife later identified local elites as ringleaders
• “Slavery’s dirty secret”: sexual violence, coercion, and the creation of mixed-race children
• The life of Jeff Daggett — from birth into slavery, through violence, law enforcement, and public scandal, to his death
• How slavery didn’t end cleanly in Fort Worth — it evolved

🧠 Why This Episode Matters

Fort Worth did not accidentally forget its past.

It curated it.

Understanding who held power, how they used it, and who paid the price helps explain:

• Why inequality persisted after emancipation
• Why certain families retained influence
• Why some stories were preserved — and others erased

This episode sets the foundation for everything that follows in this series.

📚 Sources & Research

This episode draws heavily from:

• A History of Fort Worth in Black & White
• Census records and slave schedules
• Court transcripts and newspaper accounts
• Reconstruction-era documentation

Additional sources and visuals will be shared on social media.

🔔 Subscribe, Support, Share

If this episode gave you language, clarity, or discomfort — that’s the point.

• Follow or subscribe wherever you’re listening
• Rate & review the show to help others find it
• Share this episode with someone who loves Fort Worth — or needs to understand it better

To support the research and production of this podcast, check the links below.

Support the show

We Got The Funk with Don the Barber
 Preserving Fort Worth’s history. Honoring its people. Inspiring the next generation.

Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts, and share this episode with someone from Stop Six.

“Keep your mind sharp, keep that spirit grounded, and by all means keep honoring the shoulders you stand on.”

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In 1849, the U.S. Army left Fort Worth.

Most frontier settlements didn’t survive moments like that.  
No soldiers meant no safety. No safety meant no future.

Fort Worth was supposed to become a ghost town.

Instead, a small group of people made a quiet, dangerous decision — they stayed.

In Episode 6 of We Got The Funk, we uncover the real beginning of Fort Worth, long before cattle drives, railroads, or legends. This episode tells the story of the merchants, doctors, teachers, builders, and families who refused to abandon an empty military post and turned it into a living community.

You’ll meet:
- Press “Pressley” Farmer, the first civilian settler whose family proved Fort Worth could exist without soldiers  
- Henry Clay Daggett and Archibald Leonard, the businessmen who organized trade before government arrived  
- Ephraim Merrell Daggett, the strategist who fought — and won — power for Fort Worth  
- Dr. Carroll Marion Peak, the frontier doctor who kept people alive long enough for the city to grow  
- John Peter Smith, the educator and mayor who planned for generations  
- Julian Feild, the industrial builder whose mill helped create Mansfield and expand North Texas

This episode breaks down a truth most history books skip:

Fort Worth wasn’t saved by generals or politicians.  
It was saved by ordinary people who believed in a future before there was proof.

If you’ve ever wondered how a city survives after power leaves — this is that story.

Welcome back to We Got The Funk.  
This is Fort Worth’s foundation.

Support the show

We Got The Funk with Don the Barber
 Preserving Fort Worth’s history. Honoring its people. Inspiring the next generation.

Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts, and share this episode with someone from Stop Six.

“Keep your mind sharp, keep that spirit grounded, and by all means keep honoring the shoulders you stand on.”

Send us Fan Mail

Before Fort Worth was a city, and before settlers moved in, there was violence, displacement, and an attempt to clean it all up with paperwork.

In Episode 5 of We Got The Funk, DonTheBarber breaks down the Treaty at Bird’s Fort—the who, the what, the when, the where, and most importantly, the why behind one of the most overlooked moments in North Texas history.

After the Battle of Village Creek in 1841, the Republic of Texas sought “peace” with Native nations through a treaty signed in the woods along the Trinity River. On paper, it promised peace and friendship forever. In reality, the frontier kept moving, the violence didn’t stop, and the treaty revealed more about power, fear, and expansion than reconciliation.

This episode explores:

• Why the treaty happened after violence, not before
• How slow communication shaped frontier decision-making
• The role of Edward H. Tarrant and other Republic officials
• Why Bird’s Fort mattered as a meeting place
• How treaties often managed consequences instead of preventing them
• Why Fort Worth could only be built after Village Creek and Bird’s Fort

This is not the textbook version.

This is the barbershop version—context, consequences, and honesty.

Episode 5 also sets up what comes next:

When the Army abandoned Fort Worth in 1853, civilians stepped into the space left behind—and that’s where the real city begins.

🎧 Subscribe to We Got The Funk on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Amazon, or wherever you listen, and don’t miss Episode 6 as we dive into the settlers who built Fort Worth after the soldiers left.

Support the show

We Got The Funk with Don the Barber
 Preserving Fort Worth’s history. Honoring its people. Inspiring the next generation.

Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts, and share this episode with someone from Stop Six.

“Keep your mind sharp, keep that spirit grounded, and by all means keep honoring the shoulders you stand on.”

Send us Fan Mail

In this episode of We Got The Funk, DonTheBarber takes listeners to the moment peace collapsed in North Texas.

Episode 4 explores the Village Creek Throwdown, a pivotal and often overlooked event that helped clear the land long before Fort Worth was ever built. After episodes focused on community, family life, and coexistence along the Trinity River and Village Creek, this chapter confronts the collision that changed everything.

This episode breaks down:

• What Village Creek was before violence arrived
• Why settlers viewed organized Native communities as an obstacle
• The role of Edward H. Tarrant and the Texas militia
• How families were displaced and villages erased
• Why this moment matters to the founding of Fort Worth

This is not simplified history or textbook storytelling. It is context, consequence, and truth told from the barbershop chair. Understanding Village Creek helps explain why the land was clear in 1849 and how Fort Worth became possible.

If you want to understand Fort Worth beyond the Stockyards and surface-level stories, this is an episode you need to hear.

🎙️ Subscribe to We Got The Funk and stay locked in as the series continues.

Support the show

We Got The Funk with Don the Barber
 Preserving Fort Worth’s history. Honoring its people. Inspiring the next generation.

Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts, and share this episode with someone from Stop Six.

“Keep your mind sharp, keep that spirit grounded, and by all means keep honoring the shoulders you stand on.”

Send us Fan Mail

🪒 Episode Overview

Before cowboys.

Before cattle drives.

Before the Stockyards.

Fort Worth had a heartbeat.

In the very first episode of We Got The Funk, DonTheBarber takes listeners back to a time long before Fort Worth had a name, when families lived, worked, raised children, and built community along the Trinity River.

This episode sets the foundation for the entire series—challenging the myths, correcting the record, and honoring the people whose stories are too often skipped.

Pulled straight from the barbershop chair, this is history told the way it was meant to be told: honest, grounded, and alive.

📍 What We Cover in Episode 1

🟫 The Trinity River Before Fort Worth

Why the Trinity River was prime real estate long before modern development

How water, soil, and wildlife supported permanent communities

What city and archaeological records reveal about thousands of years of habitation

🟫 The First People of the Region

The Caddo world and Wichita-related peoples

Organized villages, farming systems, and trade routes

A cultural crossroads where Native communities lived, traded, and raised families

🟫 Daily Life in Early Villages

Farming corn, beans, and squash

Hunting, fishing, family life, and spirituality

Why this wasn’t “survival”—it was intentional living

🟫 Why This History Still Matters Today

The danger of starting Fort Worth’s story in 1849

How erasing early peoples distorts the city’s identity

Why honoring the first residents is essential to loving the city today

🧠 Key Takeaways

Fort Worth did not begin with the Army or the Stockyards

Native communities were settled, organized, and thriving

The Trinity River was the original neighborhood

You can’t build a future without telling the whole truth about the past

📢 Call to Action

If this episode made you think differently about Fort Worth:

✅ Subscribe — Episodes 1, 2, and 3 drop together

✅ Share — Especially with someone who only knows Stockyards Fort Worth

✅ Review or Comment — Tell us what surprised you most

✅ Reflect — Take a walk along the Trinity River and imagine the families who lived there first

Support the show

We Got The Funk with Don the Barber
 Preserving Fort Worth’s history. Honoring its people. Inspiring the next generation.

Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts, and share this episode with someone from Stop Six.

“Keep your mind sharp, keep that spirit grounded, and by all means keep honoring the shoulders you stand on.”

Send us Fan Mail

Episodes one and two showed peace along the Trinity River and Village Creek — families thriving, land providing, life moving in rhythm.

But in Episode 3, the energy changes.

In “Rising Tension, Before the Smoke Hit the Air,” DonTheBarber breaks down how North Texas went from calm to conflict in the early 1800s. As settlers began moving into the region, misunderstandings grew, fear spread, rumors ran wild, and government power stepped in.

This episode isn’t about one moment — it’s about how pressure builds, how neighbors become suspects, and how a place called home slowly turns into a battlefield.

Before the smoke hit the air… the tension was already thick.

🧠 What This Episode Covers

Why early Native communities at Village Creek were already rooted and organized

How increased settler migration in the 1830s–1840s changed everything

The role fear, rumors, and exaggerated reports played on the frontier

How Native families were blamed for violence they didn’t commit

The Republic of Texas government’s response to settler anxiety

Who Edward H. Tarrant was — and why his name still matters today

How tension shifted from social pressure to planned military action

Why violence didn’t come out of nowhere — it was built step by step

📍 Why This Story Matters

Fort Worth history doesn’t start with cowboys or forts.

This episode shows how real families, real homes, and real communities were pushed into danger long before a single fort was built. Understanding how tension formed helps explain why the violence that followed was so devastating — and why the land still carries that history today.

You can’t understand the explosion without studying the pressure.

⸻

▶️ What’s Coming Next

Episode 4: The Village Creek Throwdown

Dropping January 9, 2026

This is the moment it all erupts.

Militia rides in.

Families run.

And the land is changed forever.

You don’t want to miss it.

⸻

📢 Call to Action

•Subscribe so you don’t miss Episode 4

•Share this episode with someone who thinks Fort Worth started with cowboys

•Leave a review or comment and tell us what moment made you think, “Yeah… trouble was coming”

•If you’re near Village Creek, take a drive and look at that land with new eyes

⸻

Hosted by: DonTheBarber

Be smooth. Be safe. And by all means — keep it Funky.

Support the show

We Got The Funk with Don the Barber
 Preserving Fort Worth’s history. Honoring its people. Inspiring the next generation.

Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts, and share this episode with someone from Stop Six.

“Keep your mind sharp, keep that spirit grounded, and by all means keep honoring the shoulders you stand on.”

Send us Fan Mail

🪒 Episode Overview

Before Texas had a name…

Before Fort Worth…

Before 1849…

There was Village Creek.

In Episode 2 of We Got The Funk, DonTheBarber takes listeners inside one of the most important—yet overlooked—places in North Texas history. If the Trinity River was the main highway, Village Creek was the neighborhood where people stopped, stayed, and built real lives.

This episode pulls you out of the textbook and drops you right inside the village, showing what daily life actually looked like for the Native communities who lived, farmed, fished, raised families, and called this land home long before settlers arrived.

This isn’t theory.

This isn’t myth.

This is lived history.

📍 What We Cover in Episode 2

🟫 Why Village Creek Was Prime Real Estate

Fresh running water, fertile soil, timber, and protection

Why Native communities chose this land intentionally

Archaeological evidence of long-term settlement

🟫 Who Lived Along Village Creek

Caddo-related peoples, Wichita, Tonkawa, and other bands

How multi-tribal communities shared space, traded, and intermarried

Why simplifying Native history erases real complexity

🟫 A Day in the Life of the Village

Morning routines along the creek

Farming corn, beans, and squash

Hunting, fishing, tool-making, family life, and community rhythm

Why these villages were organized—not temporary camps

🟫 Why This Story Still Matters

The danger of starting Fort Worth’s story in 1849

How erasing Village Creek erases real families and real homes

Why later conflict hit so hard—because this land was already loved

🧠 Key Takeaways

Village Creek was not empty land—it was home

Native communities were skilled, knowledgeable, and rooted

Fort Worth’s history didn’t begin with the Army

Understanding Village Creek changes how we understand conflict, loss, and legacy

📢 Call to Action

If this episode opened your eyes:

✅ Subscribe — Episode 3 is ready and the story only gets deeper

✅ Share — Especially with someone from North Texas who never heard this history

✅ Review or Comment — Tell us what you pictured during those Village Creek mornings

✅ Reflect — Visit the Village Creek area and look at the land differently

Support the show

We Got The Funk with Don the Barber
 Preserving Fort Worth’s history. Honoring its people. Inspiring the next generation.

Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts, and share this episode with someone from Stop Six.

“Keep your mind sharp, keep that spirit grounded, and by all means keep honoring the shoulders you stand on.”