Stockyards National Historic District - Fort Worth, Texas
Posted by: 
txoilgas
N 32° 47.330 W 097° 20.914
14S E 654645 N 3629084
Quick Description: Located just north of downtown Fort Worth is an area that is steeped in history.
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 11/10/2009 12:00:12 PM
Waymark Code: WM7MT7
Views: 4
Long Description:From the website. ("http://www.fortworthstockyards.org/index.aspx"
target="_blank">visit link)
"For the drovers heading longhorn cattle up the Chisholm Trail
to the railheads, Fort Worth was the last major stop for rest and
supplies. Beyond Fort Worth they would have to deal with crossing
the Red River into Indian Territory. Between 1866 and 1890 more
than four million head of cattle were trailed through Fort Worth
which was soon known as “Cowtown” and had its own disreputable
entertainment district several blocks south of the Courthouse area
that was known all over the West as“Hell’s Half Acre”.
When the railroad finally arrived in 1876, Fort Worth became a
major shipping point for livestock. This prompted plans in 1887 for
the construction of the Union Stockyards about two and one half
miles north of the Tarrant County Courthouse. It went into full
operation about 1889.
Because the Union Stockyards Company lacked the funds to buy
enough cattle to attract local ranchers, President Mike C. Hurley
invited a wealthy Boston capitalist Greenleif Simpson to Fort Worth
in hopes that he would invest in the Union Stock Yards. When
Simpson arrived on the heels of heavy rains and a railroad strike,
more cattle than usual had accumulated in the pens. Seeing this, he
decided that Fort Worth represented a good market and made plans to
invest. Simpson invited other investors to join him, one of whom
was a Boston neighbor, Louville V. Niles whose primary business was
meatpacking. On April 27, 1893, Simpson bought the Union Stockyards
for $133,333.33 and changed the name to the Fort Worth Stockyards
Company.
It soon became apparent that instead of shipping to other
markets to process the cattle, it would be much more desirable to
keep more of the business in Fort Worth by having local packing
plants. A search began to lure major packers to the City. By about
1900, after much work by local businessmen, both Armour & Co.
and Swift & Co. were persuaded to build plants adjacent to the
Stockyards."