A Fort Worth family has requested construction at Mosier Valley Park be temporarily haulted while a land ownership issue is resolved.
Jeffrey Pointer’s family has lived on the land near Mosier Valley Park for generations. His great-grandmother, Beatrice Parker Green, was the first to set down roots there, and Pointer wants to make sure those roots remain intact — literally. When construction on the park recently led to several of Pointer’s historic family trees being cut down, he called the contractor responsible for the job and asked them to temporarily halt their work while land boundary issues were addressed. “We got natural fruit, berries, blackberries, raspberries and plums. They’re still growing,” Pointed told WFAA.
He didn’t want to lose even more of them, and told the contractor, ‘just stop, don’t do anything else, because you’re on the wrong property’ — and they stopped.” The problem seems to be identifying where the Mosier Valley Park boundaries lie in the space it occupies between Fort Worth and Euless. Pointer’s family property is technically located on two lots that have been annexed from both cities, making it harder to determine who is responsible for imposing landownership rights.
An attorney for the city of Fort Worth released a statement about the matter saying, “The work has paused at the request of some of the Mosier Valley stakeholders to ensure the boundaries of the park are accurate. No interviews or further statements are available at this time.” It remains unclear as to how long it will take to adress the issue or when construction may restart in the area.
Pointer has been supportive of the park’s creation from the beginning
From Mosier Valley Park’s inception, Jeffrey Pointer has been a supportive participant in creating a development that preserves the history of Texas’s first community established by formerly enslaved individuals, commonly known as a freedmen’s town. He knows that Fort Worth is as committed to this cause as he is, but he also assumed the city would be equally respectful of his family’s historical land as it was to the construction of the park itself. Especially considering that his family previously built a schoolhouse on the property in question during segregation.
Speaking about his great-grandmother, Beatrix Parker Green, Pointer said, “She couldn’t go to school in Euless. They wouldn’t let us. So, they did our own school.” Prior to the issue with the trees, the Pointers received assistance with moving a building back onto their land. “When I sat down, it was like my ancestors said we can rest — That’s why they left it here to know it is ours and protect it,” he said. All he’s asking for now is to receive further help and protection before another aspect of his family’s history is accidentally erased.
Mosier Valley Park is historically significant for several reasons
Construction of Mosier Valley Park kicked off in February 2026. Once completed, it will encompass roughly six acres of land and include event spaces, a trail system, fitness stations, basketball courts, parking, and increased accessibility features. It’s significant to Fort Worth because it’s located in a predominantly Black community, and because the space previously acted as a safe gathering place for people in the neighborhood during segregation.
The city, much like Jeffrey Pointer, wants to preserve and maintain this history for generations to come. Dave Lewis, who serves as the parks and recreation department’s director, said, “This is where everybody came, and we want to bring it back to that.” In a press release marking the original announcement of the state park’s expansion, Gyna Bivens, a City Council member, further explained the neighborhood’s significance. “This location is where the first freed slaves settled in Texas” during the 1870s, she said. Around 10 formerly enslaved families built homes for themselves in Mosier Valley once word of the Emancipation Proclamation finally reached Texas on June 19, 1865.
