Fort Worth Stockyards Historic District

The Fort Worth Stockyards is one of the most significant sites in Texas representing the importance of the cattle and livestock industry to the state. The establishment of the Fort Worth Stockyard coincides with the beginnings of the cattle and livestock industries in the southwest. After the founding of the Armour and Swift packing plants at this location in 1902, the new activity assured Fort Worth's ascendancy as the major live stock market of the southwest. The Stockyards also provided the major impetus for the growth and early development of Fort Worth. As the city's first industry, the stockyards and later packing plants transformed Fort Worth from a small frontier community into a major Texas metropolis. Fort Worth began as a tiny army outpost, Camp Worth, established by Major Ripley A. Arnold in 1849 and named for General William Jenkins Worth, a soldier in the Mexican War. Officially designated as Fort Worth on November 14, 1849, the post served to guard East Texas settlements from the Indians. No permanent fort was erected and after the army evacuated the post in 1853, the abandoned barracks were used as early stores and residences by the remaining settlers. A small ambitious Fort Worth population made a bid to change the county seat from Birdville to Fort Worth in 1856 and, after a bitterly contested election, finally won the county seat in 1860. Fort Worth citizens began looking for new ways to attract people and money to their small city. The emergence of the cattle industry in Texas in the late 1860's offered the small farming village a chance to capitalize on the cattle trade. After the Civil War there was a scarcity of beef in the north. Descendants of the Spanish cattle, the Texas Longhorns, roamed wild in the region between the Rio Grande and Nueces River. With such a large supply of beef, Texas established its domain as the great cattle state and northern companies began to buy in large quantities. Cattlemen drove cattle as far as 111inois and lowa to markets, until the railroad shortened the drives by establishing terminals in Dodge City and Abilene, Kansas. Fort Worth was a natural stopping place for cattle-drivers moving up the Chisolm Trail toward Abilene. While the cattle rested and watered at the Trinity River ford, the city offered drovers a rest and night on the town before pushing northward. Fort Worth was the last town of any size in the vicinity of the cattle trail and the opportunity to cater to the cowboys gave Fort Worth a new life. With its new prosperity based on the cattle industry, the discovery of tick-infested Texas cattle in 1872 dealt a severe blow to the Fort Worth economy. Kansas residents were refusing to allow cattle to cross their land and some buyers refused to buy Texas cattle. Seeing rail shipment as a possible solution to this problem, Fort Worth citizens began to push for a railroad. The Fort Worth and Denver Railroad and the Texas and Pacific Railroad both received charters from the state legislature to build into Fort Worth. By 1873, the Texas and Pacific had built tracks within 24 miles of Fort Worth and the population of the city grew from 500 in 1872 to 3 or 4000 in 1873 in anticipation of the approaching railroad. But when the "Panic of 1873" hit, Texas and Pacific lost its financial backing and suspended construction. Realizing the importance of the railroad, the city raised funds and hired the local Tarrant County Construction Company to prepare the roadbed. Finally the Texas and Pacific rolled into Fort Worth in July, 1876. With the arrival of the first train in Fort Worth, rail transportation replaced the cattle trail in importance in the development of the cattle market. During the 1880's Fort Worth became an important railroad center and by the end of the decade six major railroads served the growing cattle market. However, with the increase in the cattle business, Fort Worth citizens realized there was an immediate need for a permanent stockyards and in 1888 several local businessmen decided to finance the construction of facilities for the boarding and trading of livestock. In 1890 work began on the Fort Worth Union Stockyards, located north of the city at the crossroads city of North Fort Worth. With the extensive yards, Fort Worth business leaders hoped to attract all the business from the west. The major drawback of the Fort Worth stockyards, however, was the lack of a packing house. The railroad had not solved the tick problem and the shipping of live cattle proved to be very costly. The first packing plant was established in Fort Worth as early as 1881 by a man named Richardson. Designed only for the slaughter and refrigeration of hogs, Richardson's plant failed because Texas did not produce enough hogs to return a profit. A second plant, the Continental Meat Packing Plant, was built in 1883 in southeast Fort Worth by A. F. Higgs. The depression in the cattle market at this time created such a slow market that the plant closed in shortly over a year. Isaac Dahlman of Fort Worth bought the plant and attempted to refrigerate carcasses, but his venture also ended in failure. Finally, after the establishment of the Fort Worth Union Stockyards in North Fort Worth, thirty Fort Worth businessmen agreed to contribute $10,000 each to purchase the Old Continental Meat Packing Company and move the location to the Union Stockyards. Under the management of H. C. Holloway, they purchased land adjacent to the stockyards and named the industry, Fort Worth Dressed Meat and Packing Company. Due to a severe financial depression in Fort Worth beginning in 1892, the businessmen of the community found it impossible to continue local operation of the stockyards and packing plant. In 1893 the Fort Worth Stockyards Company was formed and G. M. Simpson, a Boston capitalist, became President of the Board. This new corporation assumed operation and control of the old Union Stockyards. The Fort Worth Stockyards Company removed the stockyards operation out of the hands of local citizens for the first time. Other problems affected the packing plant in the 1890's. By 1895 the directors of the Stockyards Company leased the packing house to the Chicago and Fort Worth Packing Company: This company suspended operation in 1898, but packing activities resumed again in mid-1899 when L. V. Niles, a businessman from Boston, organized the Fort Worth Packing and Provision Company. In 1898 this industrial area composed of packing houses and stockyards was laid out as a separate community and named Niles City, in honor of L. V. Niles. By 1900 the Fort Worth Board of Trade began trying to encourage one of the major U.S. packing companies to locate in the city. As a bonus Fort Worth offered to subscribe $100,000 to the firm that established at the stockyards. After Niles had assumed management of the stockyards company. J. Ogden Armour, son of the founder of Armour Packing Company in Chicago, visited the yards several times and began to negotiate with the Fort Worth Stockyards Company. But a second firm, Swift and Company soon learned of the agreement and requested to participate in the venture. When Armour vetoed the plan, Swift threatened to build a competing stockyards in Dallas. Finally Armour agreed to admit Swift into the project. Niles then negotiated a contract between the Stockyards Company and the Armour and Swift firms. As the city promised, each company received a bonus of $100,000, and the companies began building their packing plants in 1902. Railroad tracks were built to the packing house site and the plants finally opened for business in 1903. The volume of trade increased so much in the first month that the yards and pens had to be immediately enlarged. A new exchange building was built in 1902-03 and in 1907-08 a Coliseum was built to house livestock shows and indoor rodeos. The small industrial community of Niles City, a one mile square area containing the stockyards and packing activity, quickly became a financial giant and was known at one time as the richest per capita city in the nation. Surrounding the industrial activity, a commercial community developed which provided businesses, entertainment and lodging for those trading and working in the area. The heyday of cattle barons swelled the local economy with millions of dollars and neighboring Fort Worth benefited from the increased commercial activity. To escape Fort Worth jurisdiction, Niles City incorporated in 1911, but by 1922 Fort Worth was finally able to annex the community. The establishment of Armour and Swift in the city began a new era in the livestock industry and the growth of Forth Worth. From the turn of the century until the late 1950' the Fort Worth Stockyards was the major livestock market of the southwest. It operated at a multi-state scale and provided a major stimulus to the economy of Fort Worth and Texas. Over 10,000 persons were employed at the Stockyards and adjacent packing houses and related livestock industries. The continued success of Fort Worth's first industry, made Fort Worth a business success. Between 1900 and 1920 the population of the city rose from 26.688 to 106,482. During the 19th century cattle was the only source of livestock for the Fort Worth Stockyards. However, after the establishment of the Armour and Swift plants in 1902, horses, mules, hogs, and sheep added to the total financial success of the Stockyards. The cattle trading and packing increased after the turn of the century and by 1916 Fort Worth ranked 5th among cattle markets, after Chicago, Kansas City, and almost equal to St. Louis and Omaha. The biggest runs in the cattle business occurred right after World War I and in the 1930's. During these periods of financial problems and low prices, more cattle came to the Fort Worth Stockyards than at anytime in its history. The horse and mule department, which started in 1902 as an added form of livestock, soon experienced a phenomenal growth and established the Fort Worth stockyards as the nation's leading market for this species. During World War I Europe became an important customer at the horse and mule market. From 1916-1925 Fort Worth was the largest horse and mule market in the world. Business was good from 1900-1935, but a crash came after the depression when farmers were able to replace work-stock with tractors. The last contracts were awarded during World War II, and late in the 1940's, Fort Worth stopped the horse and mule auction. The hog and sheep business were markets that received prominence for short periods. The Fort Worth Stockyards increased the hog business prior to and during World War I. Between 1925-1930 Fort Worth became one of the best hog markets in the United States. But hog prices declined in the 1930's and were never important to the total livestock market at Fort Worth after this period. The best years for the sheep market was between 1937-47. In 1943-45 lamb sales peaked and during this period the Fort Worth Stockyards became the largest sheep market. The Packers and Stockyards Act of 1921 caused a mandatory divorce of packing companies from all financial interest in and/or control of operations of stockyards and retail outlets. Thus, Swift and Armour sold their interest in the Fort Worth stockyards and a corporation formed in Chicago initiated public ownership of the yards, removing ownership from Fort Worth. Later more stock was accumulated by Union Stockyards Company and the Fort Worth Stockyards became in 1944 a division of United Stockyards, now owned by Canal-Randolph Corp., with headquarters in New York. Changes in technology within the livestock and transportation industries began to change and diminish the role of the Stockyards in the mid-1950's. Decentralization of the sheep market and later in the cattle market contributed to the decline. Trucking began to replace rail shipment and regional feed lots further diminished the need for a centralized packing house. As the popularity of small local packing plants increased, centralized multi-story operations such as the Swift packing plant with over 4,000 employees and 1,000,000 sq. ft. of floor space became functionally obsolete. Armour and Co. closed their plant in August, 1962, and Swift and Co. closed down eight years later in July, 1970. While the Fort Worth Stockyards till operates a successful livestock market, it is regional rather than multi-state in scale. Economic activity has slowed considerably since the Armour and Swift plants closed. Much of the financial and commercial space that was used during the first half of the century, now sees little activity. However, there has been a renewed interest in restoration of the area's economy. In 1974 the City of Fort Worth was awarded an EDA Public Works Impact Program grant to restore the Northside Coliseum and to beautify Marine Creek from 28th Street through the Stockyards. In June, 1974, the city received another EDA grant to provide staff to coordinate the local restoration activities, to conduct additional studies and to develop a functional long term restoration and redevelopment program. In the past year private interest has stiumlated new activity in the area. A private developing firm, sensitive to historic preservation, has bought the Coliseum and several buildings within the Stockyards and hopes to revive commercial activity in the area. The firm has returned the indoor rodeo to the Coliseum and has reserved the facility, once notorious only for Friday night wrestling matches, for various concerts and Spring performances of the Fort Worth symphony.