"Panther City"

In 1875, the Dallas Herald published an article by a former Fort Worth lawyer, Robert E. Cowart. Mr. Cowart wrote that the decimation of Fort Worth's population, caused by the economic disaster and hard winter of 1873, had dealt a severe blow to the cattle industry. He further stated that the impact on the cattle industry, combined with the railroad stopping the laying of track 30 miles outside of Fort Worth, had caused Fort Worth to become such a drowsy place that he saw a panther asleep in the street by the courthouse. Although an intended insult, the name Panther City was enthusiastically embraced when in 1876 Fort Worth recovered economically.

Many businesses and organizations continue to use Panther in their name or as their mascot. The Fort Worth Police have a panther prominently set at the top of their badges.
source: sleepingpanther.com

FWAS' Logo

In 2003, the Fort Worth Astronomical Society held a contest among its members to update it's older "arch" logo (upper left) to something newer and dynamic which represented the long-time association with the city of Fort Worth, and better represented our hobby with a more prominant telescope, and the single star in the base representing the Lone Star State of Texas. The evolution of the logo is shown to the right. The "diamond" style (upper right) was the winning design. This was subsequently modified to a round shield style with slight modifications to the panther over the next few years. FWAS adopted the current logo depicting the sleeping panther atop its shield in reference to its historical association with the city of Fort Worth (i.e. "Panther City"). Over the last few years the logo has been changed to have a round shield, and the panther itself has been modified a couple of times, but the basic design has remained unchanged.

click to see larger image