The Fort Worth Poetry Society is one of the oldest continuous literary organizations in Texas and helped transform the city to what it is today. Fort Worth was an important transit point for the cattle drives throughout Texas and had a rough reputation. Wanting to present a different picture, community members came together on May 10, 1910 at the parish house of the St. Andrews Episcopal Church and established the “Rhymers and Composers Club.” Meetings were held at the church, in members’ homes, the Fort Worth Library and the Tarrant County Courthouse. Original organizers of the club included Dr. Edward Henry Eckel, the rector of St. Andrews, and published poetry “chapbooks.” D.S. Landis was a teacher and later a meteorologist for the National Weather Service. Maude Chandler Modlin was a poet with two published “poetry brochures.” Jeannie Pendleton Hall was also a well published poet. Samuel Losh was a musician and composer and taught at Texas Christian University. Gatha Wood Taylor, the first president of the club, published several poems and even a chapbook of children’s poetry in Japan while on a world tour. In 1922, the name of the organization was changed to the Fort Worth Poetry Society. Members met once a month from October to May and were required to bring two poems to share. The purpose, according to the constitution and by-laws, was “to serve as a medium of association for poets and as a clearing house through which poetry members may pass before being offered to a larger audience.” For over a hundred years, the Fort Worth Poetry Society has produced many poets from all walks of life and continues to transform the cultural nature of the city. (2022)