Breeds of Fort Worth Stockyards
Cowtown's old stockyards district, where a herd of Texas Longhorns is driven down Exchange Avenue twice a day.
Breeds of this place
Best time: January to February for the stock show; spring and autumn for walking.
Fort Worth grew as a stop on the cattle trails north from Texas, and after the railways arrived in the 1870s it became a great livestock market. The stockyards, opened in the late 1880s, and the meat-packing plants built in the early twentieth century made it one of the biggest livestock centres in the United States. The district is now a National Historic District, and Fort Worth is still called Cowtown.
The stockyards
At their height, the yards handled millions of cattle, hogs, sheep and horses a year. The Livestock Exchange Building, completed in 1902, held the offices of traders and commission firms. As trucking and auctions moved trade to the country, the packing plants closed. The pens, brick streets and buildings remain, with a museum, a rodeo arena and western stores.
The cattle drive and the show
Twice a day, a herd of Texas Longhorns, owned by the city, is driven down Exchange Avenue by drovers on horseback, a reminder of the trail days. Each winter, the city holds a large stock show and rodeo, begun in 1896, with livestock shows, sales and competitions.
A trail idea for Fort Worth Stockyards
- Exchange Avenue Watch the twice-daily Longhorn drive.
- Livestock Exchange Building The 1902 building that held the market's traders.
- Cowtown Coliseum The rodeo arena, opened in 1908.
- Stockyards pens The old wooden pens and walkways.
Written by the EveryCow desk with AI assistance. Background: "Fort Worth Stockyards" on Wikipedia. Fair dates, markets and visiting rules change; check locally before travelling, and keep a respectful distance from working animals. If something is wrong, tell us.
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