Texas Christian University started out as AddRan College, founded by the Clark brothers in Thorp Spring in 1873. It later spent years in Waco, where it took the Horned Frog as its mascot. After a 1910 fire wrecked its Waco main building, Fort Worth business leaders offered land and money, and TCU opened its campus here in 1911. This walk starts at the oldest buildings and passes the chapel, the library and the fountain where graduates take photos, then ends at the stadium.
TCU's story starts far from Fort Worth. Brothers Addison and Randolph Clark started a school in 1869, moved it to Thorp Spring, where AddRan Male and Female College opened in 1873, and later took it to Waco, where it adopted the Horned Frog. After a 1910 fire wrecked the Waco main building, Fort Worth business leaders offered land and money, and TCU has been on this campus since 1911.
This walk pairs that history with traditions students still keep. Reed Hall, whose cornerstone was laid in 1911, is the oldest building on campus and has at various times housed everything from the president's office to the post office and dining hall. The Mary Couts Burnett Library carries one of Texas's most dramatic philanthropy stories: a cattle-and-oil widow with no ties to TCU who gave the school more than $3 million in 1923, and income from her trust helped carry it through the Great Depression.
Robert Carr Chapel's 137-foot steeple is the tallest point on campus, and its carillon plays the alma mater every hour. Froghenge, a ring of 21 stones modeled on ancient stone circles in northeastern Scotland, doubles as an outdoor classroom, while Frog Fountain, with lotus-petal flutes that rise from first-year to senior height, is where graduates pose in cap and gown.
It's a natural fit for alumni, visiting families and anyone who wants the stories behind TCU's purple-and-white landmarks.
The tour begins in Fort Worth. Open Texas Roam to follow the full route stop by stop, with directions and audio narration as you go.
It is a self-guided walking tour: 9 stops, about 1.5 miles, ~1 hour. Go at your own pace; the app keeps your place.
In Fort Worth, Texas. The exact starting point, the full stop list and turn-by-turn directions are in the TexasRoam app.
Download TexasRoam for iPhone or iPad from the App Store. The tour is included with TexasRoam+. It is not available on the web map.
Go in daylight; the chapel carillon plays the alma mater on the hour, and home football Saturdays make the stadium end of campus very crowded.
Texas Roam guides you turn by turn through Fort Worth with maps, audio narration and check-ins as you go — plus all 9 stops on this tour and every guided tour, hiking trail and historical marker across Texas. Get it on the App Store.
