From trails to tomorrow: the legacy and evolution of the Fort Worth Stockyards

The history of the cattle drive that shaped Cowtown and the new developments steering this iconic landmark into the future

By Kataeya Sharp

Stockyards visitors watch the cattle drive on East Exchange Avenue, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (Credit: Kataeya Sharp)

It’s nearly 11:30 a.m. and a gentle wind carries the smells of hay from the horse stalls and rich leather from the boot stores.

The crowd moves in waves as some people scurry from one side of the street to the other, while others jockey for position on the sidewalk. A thick wall of humanity stretches on both sides of the street.

They wait as Fort Worth prepares to take them back in time.

Once a decrepit area of North Fort Worth, the Stockyards has emerged as one of the city’s top tourist destinations. Every day, excluding Easter Sunday, Thanksgiving and Christmas and weather permitting, drovers drive a herd of cattle down the cobblestones of East Exchange Avenue, home to the century old White Elephant Saloon, Stockyards Hotel and Cowtown Coliseum.

Fort Worth native Maria Guerrero effortlessly weaves through the crowd that now covers the entire sidewalk in front of the Lucchese Bootmaker storefront.

Her two cousins, visiting from Illinois, are trailing behind her, linked at their hands as they snake through gaps of people until they manage to wedge to front row spots.

The three women are adorned with black, tan and white suede boots that poke out from under their flowy mid-length skirts.

Guerrero taps the toe of her boot in anticipation, her eyes constantly surveying the entire length of East Exchange Avenue, waiting. She smiles at her cousins with excitement for what is to come.

“I’ll never get sick of the cattle drive,” Guerrero said. “I take everyone who visits Fort Worth to see it.”

Across the road, dozens of people glide around the seasonal ice-skating rink outside the Livestock Exchange Building – another century old building.

A mother and father shuffle along the edges of the rink with their young son. They laugh as the boy vigorously pumps his arms, but his skates remain in one place.

On the other side of the wooden fence that separates the ice-skating rink and the sidewalk, a drover removes his cream-colored Stetson and kneels at the eye level of a small child who’s in awe of the longhorn steer standing at attention.

He assures her of the steer’s friendliness. As he sweeps her up and onto the saddle for a photo, a voice booms over the chittering crowd:

“Welcome to the Stockyards! Y’all are in for a real treat today!"

The man behind the voice paces steadily up and down the center of the street as the crowd’s chatter becomes little more than scattered whispers.

Deep strums of a guitar announce the arrival of the drovers and their two lines of stocky longhorn cattle.

Visitors watch the cattle drive through East Exchange Avenue in the Stockyards, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (Credit: Kataeya Sharp)

A man records the cattle drive down East Exchange Avenue in the Stockyards, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (Credit: Kataeya Sharp)

The emcee explains the history of the cattle drive as a crowd gathers on East Exchange Avenue in the Stockyards, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (Credit: Kataeya Sharp)

The birth of Cowtown

Stockyards visitors watch as cattle walk down East Exchange Avenue in the Stockyards, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (Credit: Kataeya Sharp)

The scene is an homage to Fort Worth’s history. In the late 19^th century, the city earned the nickname “Cowtown” as the last major rest stop for drovers and their herds of longhorn cattle as they headed to Kansas along the Chisolm Trail.

At the time, the post-Civil War South had no money, but cattle were plentiful. Inversely, the North had money, but no beef. If the drovers in the South could get their cattle to the nearest train station to be sent to the North, they could get $40 per head as opposed to $1 to $4 locally.

A cowboy tends a herd of Longhorns on a spur of the Chisholm Trail near Deanville. (Photo courtesy of the Texas State Historical Association.)

Hell's Half Acre

In Cowtown’s heyday, the rowdy Fort Worth district dubbed “Hell’s Half Acre” was filled with saloons, dance halls and gambling parlors for passing drovers.

The district sprawled over two and a half acres of what was then southern Fort Worth, according to the Texas State Historical Association.

Despite the district’s alarming levels of crime and violence in the late 1870s, legitimate businesses in the area were thriving from the constant foot traffic, bringing in good money for the city. The White Elephant Saloon was one of the Acre’s most famous establishments.

In 1911, Rev. J. Frank Norris launched an attack against the vices plaguing the area. By 1917, the fines and jail time brought against prostitutes and barkeepers of the Acre swiftly decreased their activity and left the district in Fort Worth’s rearview.

A map of Fort Worth, Texas highlights Hell's Half Acre inside the red box. (Photo courtesy of the Texas State Historical Association.)

Rev. J. Frank Norris. (Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress.)

When the Acre’s activity dropped off, the Armour & Company and Swift & Company meat packing plants, built on the north and south sides of East Exchange Avenue in 1902, kept the area’s economy alive.

The influx of beef led to five rail lines being extended to the plants and a streetcar to attract workers, according to Fort Worth Architecture.

The Armour plant closed in 1962, and its office was demolished in the 1970s. The Swift plant closed in 1971, but its westernmost office building remains on the east end of East Exchange Avenue.

The cattle drive

A drover herds steer during the cattle drive on East Exchange Avenue in the Stockyards, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (Credit: Kataeya Sharp)

A drover rides his horse down East Exchange Avenue in the Stockyards, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (Credit: Kataeya Sharp)
A drover rides his horse down East Exchange Avenue in the Stockyards, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (Credit: Kataeya Sharp)

A drover on his horse during the cattle drive in the Stockyards, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (Credit: Kataeya Sharp)
A drover on his horse during the cattle drive in the Stockyards, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (Credit: Kataeya Sharp)

The Fort Worth Herd, established as part of Fort Worth’s sesquicentennial celebration, introduced their twice-daily cattle drive to the Stockyards on June 12, 1999, in front of 15,000 spectators, according to the Visit Fort Worth website.

Over 25 years later, the tradition aimed at preserving Western history continues.

“Texans are proud of their roots,” the Herd’s trail boss Kristin Jaworski said. “Making sure we’re accurate when it comes to horses, cattle and clothing is important to the historical representation of a large part of Texas history.”

The drovers arrive at 6:45 a.m. every day to work with their horses and cattle. They assess each steer’s temperament before every cattle drive to ensure the safety of everyone involved and watching.

“No cattle drive is the same,” Jaworski said, as the makeup of which steer are in the cattle drive and their order is always changing.

A drover herds steer during the cattle drive on East Exchange Avenue in the Stockyards, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (Credit: Kataeya Sharp)
A drover herds steer during the cattle drive on East Exchange Avenue in the Stockyards, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (Credit: Kataeya Sharp)

Looking ahead

The Drover Hotel is decorated for the holiday season, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (Credit: Kataeya Sharp)

Over the past decade, tourism in the Stockyards has tripled from 3 million to 9 million visitors annually. These numbers are expected to continue growing as the area undergoes further development, according to the City of Fort Worth’s Economic Development Department (EDD).

The Fort Worth City Council approved a $145,669,450 second-phase development of the Stockyards in June 2024.

The first phase included the building of Hotel Drover at the end of Mule Alley Drive, successfully “increasing the area’s property value to $225 million,” according to the EDD.

Phase II includes the development of 300,000 square feet of commercial space, new hotels and a 295-unit multifamily property.

With the promise of such major changes to the area, developers are working closely with the Herd to maintain the integrity of the cattle drive and its historic importance to the Stockyards, said Jaworski.

“The Stockyards has been such a huge economic driver for the city as a whole, especially with the efforts they’re putting in to activate the space,” said Alex Catterton, the director of content and public relations for Visit Fort Worth. “There’s even more on the horizon.”

As the Historic Stockyards District evolves with modern flares, Cowtown’s legacy will continue to be brought back to life for each visitor walking along East Exchange Avenue.