In the Historic Handley District, there’s a small town charm you feel when you walk into the local businesses. However, as traffic rushes through the area, there aren’t a lot of people who stop to shop. “We’ve been here forever, and these are just buildings that you’ve just driven b y multiple times, and you’ve never just actually paid attention to it because there’s been nothing to market its space,” Frank Moss Jr., owner of Franklin Anthony Suit Company said. Now, with new attention from the state, business owners are hopeful it could lead to more customers. “What I need is probably a little bit more foot traffic,” Charlet Berryman, owner of the custom t-shirt store, UltimateYou said with a laugh. “I would like to see some more businesses on the other side of the street, possibly, where this can be like a corridor of businesses so that when people are driving by, they can notice that there is action on both sides of the streets.” The City of Fort Worth’s Handley District was selected by the Texas Historical Commission (THC) for its “First Street Initiative” program that launched in 2024. It’s a year-long revitalization program led by community leaders, with some extra support and state resources. 2026 is only the second year the program has worked with historical commercial districts. “The program is broken down into four educational components, and they are designed to essentially walk you through a downtown preservation planning process,” Meredith Johnson, with THC’s community heritage development division said. THC’s website lists what its first street initiative program intends for its selected communities to accomplish: Connect to Texas Historical Commission programs and services Develop a network of support with peer communities   Identify downtown opportunities and challenges Learn best practices related to downtown revitalization and management The Handley Historical District is one of 23 communities statewide selected in 2026. “At the very end, we use all of the data that we’ve collected in the previous three quarters to essentially create a three to five year plan for their downtown,” Johnson said. “It gets difficult to do kind of basic work when we’re kind of doing advanced work…this is great because communities can figure out where they’re at.” The City of Fort Worth said it hopes working with THC, it can figure out how to make better use of public spaces and underutilized properties. “While no definitive plans exist yet, thoughtful redevelopment is always complementary to what surrounds it – allowing for growth while also preserving those aspects of the community that make it unique, and that residents value,” Phillip Michael Smart, revitalization manager at the City of Fort Worth, said. Smart noted it’s too early to determine what final plan will be determined throughout the course of this program, he said the city is committed to building a strong foundation to ensure improvements are thoughtful, sustainable and lasting. “The Texas Historical Commission – who oversees First Street – does offer funding for projects that involve heritage planning, restoration, and preservation through the Texas Preservation Trust Fund, including architectural work and educational initiatives,” Smart said. “Those matching grants could potentially help underwrite early planning, documentation or preservation-oriented elements of Handley’s redevelopment.”  The program requires the City of Fort Worth to be engaged in quarterly educational sessions that, “explore topics related to historic preservation, revitalization best practices, and sustainable programming for commercial historic cores.” ...read more read less