Twenty-five years ago, local radio personality Mark “Hawkeye” Louis planted a seed, or more accurately, a tree in Fort Worth.
Louis, a KSCS radio personality, recently received an honor for that tree planting – and many more along the Camp Bowie Boulevard.
A quarter century ago, Louis had moved from San Antonio and lived in the Camp Bowie area. At that time, the storied, brick-lined street had a median. But there were no trees.
Louis said he loved the street, but felt the median needed trees. In San Antonio he said there was a street much like Camp Bowie with trees in the median. Louis began to build support in the community for the effort.
“The city councilman at the time, he mapped it out for me and he said, ‘The first thing we needed to do was put in an irrigation system,’” Louis said.
In the often harsh Texas summers, many of the trees likely would die, but they stood a better chance with an irrigation system, he said.
The councilman at the time, Bill Meadows, now a civic leader in Fort Worth, said there was opposition to the plan.
“Most people supported the idea, but believe it or not, there were some people who said that’s just the way Texas is, to leave it alone,” he said.
Louis began a fundraising effort with Beautify Fort Worth and an adopt-a-tree program.
“Six months later, in 1998, we were able to pay for it and the city started the system and planted the trees,” he said.
The trees were planted from Montgomery Street to Hulen Street. That first year several trees died, Louis said. Five months – April, June, July, August and September – saw 100-degree temperatures in 1998, according to the National Weather Service in Fort Worth.
“It was a tough summer,” he said.
But the trees were replanted and eventually survived.
Because his wife’s work and his radio station moved to Dallas, Louis moved east, but said he still loves Fort Worth and Camp Bowie.
“When I moved here from San Antonio, a friend told me I should live in Fort Worth and he was right. I love it here,” he said.
Louis has hosted KSCS’ Hawkeye in the Morning show since 1988. He was inducted into the Country Radio Hall of Fame in 2020.
Louis received his nickname when a literature teacher in school game class members nicknames from books, he said. His came from James Fenimore Cooper’s classic “Last of the Mohicans” and it stuck.
Now, 25 years later, Louis said, people don’t remember that the median in Camp Bowie Boulevard used to be without trees.
“I guess it’s a testament to how successful it’s been because people don’t remember it as a street that was pretty bare,” he said. “Now, they remember it as a tree-lined street. It’s fantastic.”
Meadows agreed.
“It’s gratifying,” he said. “It enhanced the aesthetic of Camp Bowie and of Fort Worth.”
Bob Francis is business editor for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at bob.francis@fortworthreport.org.
Disclosure: Bill Meadows is president of the Board of Directors at the Fort Worth Report. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
Editor’s note: This story was updated April 26 to clarify Lewis’ move to Fort Worth and to correct a date on the photo caption.
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