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Fort Worth Stockyards National Historic District
The stockyards of Fort Worth has
become the history book of the incredible livestock business that
thrived for many decades in Texas, and each chapter is shown by the
bricks and mortar buildings that still stand along with the people,
corrals and music that is still alive and well in the Stockyards of
today. These yards have held all kinds of people, like cattlemen,
bankers, bartenders and cowboys, butchers, skinners, bookkeepers,
horse traders, harlots, harness makers, mule dealers and hog
dealers, all striving to make a living that would leave them time to
enjoy their particular type of lifestyle. Starting just after the
end of the Civil War, and continuing until the years after the
second World War, this livestock business was an enormous part of
the city and state's economy; affecting just about everyone's lives.
The testimonials of those living and working there now is just the
faintest reflection of the hardy spirit of these folks, that came
here for whatever reasons and stayed to help the business grow,
evolve and finally thrive, in a world that has embraced technology
with both arms and all their minds, becoming almost oblivious to
anything that resembles good honest hard work. It is something that
God has asked us all to do, use our hands for constructive purposes,
for His work and for the building up of each other. It is sad and
unfortunate that the leaders of tomorrow are buried in computers,
cell phones, wiis, game boxes and all the rest of the techno gadgets
that have taken over their minds. Perhaps, that is their destiny,
but it certainly isn't ours, or those of us that love the open
ranges, the wide open skies, rivers, valleys, mountains and streams
that criss cross our beautiful country. The history of the
stockyards is long and hard, just as all the endeavors that helped
to build this area and our entire country. Those driving cattle up
the Chisholm Trail to the railheads, where they would be loaded on
cars to travel to other parts of the country for use in homes,
restaurants, hotels and the like, Fort Worth would be the final
stopover for supplies and rest before heading into the Indian
territory just above the Red River. Between 1866 and 1890, over 4
million cows were driven through the Fort Worth area, eventually
becoming called "Cowtown" and the disreputable entertainment
district that was some blocks from the courthouse and soon to become
known as "hell's half acre". The railroad came here in 1876 and the
city soon became the principal shipping station for the cattle.
Soon, plans for the Union Stockyards construction appeared in 1887,
and these were two and a half miles from the courthouse going into
full operation in 1889. Since the company didn't have the money to
purchase enough cattle to bring in local ranchers, their president
Mike Hurley asked a rich Boston capitalist, Greenlief Simpson to
come to the city, hoping that he would invest enough in the
stockyards to make this possible. He came just after a big rain, a
railroad strike and the pens full, which was quite unusual, but it
all came together to help him decide that he should invest in this
exciting new venture. Simpson contacted other wealthy men like
himself, one, a Boston neighbor, was Louisville V. Niles, whose main
business was meatpacking; and in 1893, he bought the stockyards for
just over $133,000 and changed the name to the Fort Worth Stockyards
Company. It wasn't too long before they realized that it would be
better to keep the beef here and raise local packing plants that
could process the meat here and then ship it by rail to other parts
of the country. Soon, Armour & Co. and Swift & Co. had plants built
near the stockyards. As the years passed and the businesses grew,
the area became known as the Wall Street of the West.
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