HISTORY OF THE STOCKYARDS - A Time line
Time Line -
Horse & Mule Barns -
Longhorn Herds
1877: Daily mail starts: via stagecoach from Fort Worth to Yuma,
Arizona
1881: Santa Fe Railroad comes to Fort Worth
1887: Jim Courtwright killed by Luke Short in a gunfight outside the
original White Elephant
Saloon in downtown Fort Worth and now located in the Fort Worth
Stockyards. The two enemies are buried just a few feet from one
another in Fort Worth's Oakwood Cemetery. Probably less paces than
from where their historic gunfight began.
1887 Union Stockyards chartered in Fort
Worth.
1895: Current
Tarrant County Court House constructed
1896: First "Stock Show" held on the banks of Marine Creek at
Stockyards
1901: Fort Worth Livestock Exchange incorporated
1902: Cornerstone laid for new Armour and Swift packing plants.
North Fort Worth Town Site Company purchases 1,200 acres and builds
1,040 homes
near the Stockyards.
1903: The Livestock Exchange Building was erected. The Swift
and Armour meat packing plants held an open house and grand opening.
1907: Colonel Thannish, proprietor of the Stockyards Inn, built
a three story brick building on the corner of Main and Exchange Ave
whish housed a variety of businesses. It was known as the
Thannish Building.
1908: Cowtown Coliseum is completed in a record 88 working days
1910: The "Fort Worth Stockyards" sign erected across Exchange Avenue
1913: The Chandler Hotel was built. The hotel changed names
three times since its inception and in 1980 after extensive renovation
was re-named the Stockyards
Hotel
1913: The Isis Theater was built
1916: More than 3,000 Canadians and 5,000 American World War I pilots
train at flying
fields in the city
1918: First indoor rodeo staged at Cowtown Coliseum.
Enrico Caruso performs there in 1920.
1935: The Isis Theater burned
1936: The Isis Theater was rebuilt and named The New Isis.
1942: Marine Creek flood causes damage to the Stockyards
1943: Stock Show cancelled because WWII aircraft are being
assembled in the exhibit buildings
1944: The Stock Show and Rodeo moves to Will Rogers Coliseum
1957: Pioneer Days - an annual Western Heritage Event - began in
the Stockyards
1962: Armour & Co. plant closes
1971: Swift plant closes - Former corporate office building
still standing now houses the Spaghetti Warehouse Restaurant
1976: Fort Worth Stockyards National Historic site is designated
1977: 1st Annual Reenactment of the historic Courtwright/Short
gunfight began in front of the
White
Elephant Saloon. The tradition continues each year in February
1981: Billy Bob's Texas opens as the "World's
Largest Honky-Tonk"
1992: New Stockyards Visitor Center opens; The
Tarantula Steam Train
begins runs out of
Stockyards Station.
The area now known as Stockyards Station was once the hog and sheep
pens of the Swift and Armour meat packing plants.
1994: Local businessman Holt Hickman buys the Livestock Exchange Building
and the remaining
stock pens to keep them under local ownership.
1995: The Great American Cattle Drive leaves the Stockyards for its
six-month journey to
Miles City, Montana
1996: The
Southwestern Livestock Show and Rodeo, born in the Stockyards
in 1896
celebrates its 100th anniversary
1997: First honorees named to the Stockyards Trail of Fame
2001: Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame Museum, featuring the
Sterquell Wagon
Collection and the John
Justin Trail of Fame, and the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame
exhibits opened in the Stockyards
2002: In January the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame has its first
induction ceremony since its arrival in the Stockyards
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The Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame is located in the Horse and Mule
barns. The Horse and Mule barns were built on the site of the last
Indian skirmish in Tarrant County in the late 1860's. The stables were
large enough to house 3,000 horses and mules. They were rebuilt in
1912 after a fire destroyed the original wooden structures. The new
"fireproof" barns were declared the finest in the world.
Mule Alley separates the two strings of barns. This was the busiest
horse and mule trading center during WWI. The Texas Cowboy Hall of
Fame is located in Barn A on the eastern side of Mule Alley.
See a Map of Mule Alley
NOTE: See also the Texas State Historical marker on the sidewalk in
front of the western tower on Mule Alley. Thirteen other State markers
tell the history of the District.
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In the 1870s, a newspaper reported that things were so quiet in
Fort Worth that a panther was seen asleep in the streets. Whether or
not this story was true, the city's economy was in the doldrums.
The longhorn herds ended all that, bringing a spurt of prosperity as
cowboys on the cattle drives bought what entertainment and luxury they
could afford. By the end of the decade, there were 37 saloons, 17
blacksmith shops, 24 wagon yards, six hide dealers and seven barbers
in town.
In 1873, the newspaper reported that 56 droves of cattle had passed
through Fort Worth that spring. The largest drive numbered 6,000 head,
and the smallest herd was 550 head. The average drive numbered about
1100 head. The peak year for the drives was 1871, when more than
600,000 animals went up the trail from Texas.
Today, the cattle drives are recreated daily in the Fort Worth
Stockyards. At 11:30 am and 4:00 pm, 12-15 longhorns, driven by
drovers in period costume, come down East Exchange Avenue. Before and
after each drive, the drovers are available for photos and
conversation. They know the trail history well and are happy to share
with visitors.
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