Fort Worth, Texas

Known by locals as Cowtown, Fort Worth, situated on the Clear Fork of the Trinity River in northeastern Texas, is a city closely attached to both the history and urban development of the American West. Originally settled as an Army outpost in 1849, Fort Worth has successively been a national center for the cattle industry, meatpacking, oil extraction, and the airline industry. Today it is a vibrant and cosmopolitan city of more than 500,000 no longer overshadowed by its larger neighbor to the east, Dallas.

In January 1849, United States Army General William Jenkins Worth, a Mexican War hero, proposed a line of 10 forts to mark the western Texas frontier from Eagle Pass to the confluence of the West Fork and Clear Fork of the Trinity River. Following the death of General Worth, General William S. Harney took command and ordered Major Ripley S. Arnold to find a fort site near the West Fork and Clear Fork. On June 6, 1849, Arnold established a camp on the bank of the Trinity River, which he named Camp Worth in honor of General Worth. The United States War Department officially named the post Fort Worth on November 14, 1849. Although Indians were still a threat in the area, pioneers were already settling near the fort. In September 1853, when a new line of forts was built further west, the army evacuated Fort Worth, but a community had already grown up around the Fort forming a permanent settlement.

Fort Worth soon grew and prospered, in part because of its location. As the last major, southern-most stop on the Chisholm cattle trail, it attracted soldiers, settlers, and cattle drivers alike. Butterfield Overland Mail and the Southern Pacific Stage Line used the town as a western terminus on the way to California, and while Fort Worth suffered some adverse economic effects from the Civil War and Reconstruction, the city continued to grow, with barrooms such as Tom Prindle's Saloon and Steele's Tavern welcoming travelers from across the country. Weekly newspapers such as the Fort Worth Chief and the Democrat became prominent, and in 1884, the Fort Worth National Bank was established. The post-1865 demand for cattle resulted in much of this boom, as Fort Worth offered the cowboy respite from the cattle drives to Oklahoma and Kansas to the north. Northern cattle buyers even established headquarters in the town. The Texas and Pacific Railway designated Fort Worth as its eastern terminus for the route to San Diego, completing construction in 1876, and by 1900 railroads connected Fort Worth and cattle to cities as diverse as New Orleans, Denver, and St. Louis.

Fort Worth's residents and city government believed strongly in boosterism and in 1889 constructed the Texas Spring Palace as an agricultural exhibition hall. The palace was both a form of entertainment and an important part of the town's strategy for boosting commercial expansion. It was advertised throughout the nation, and special trains brought visitors from as far away as Boston and Chicago. By the 1890s, Fort Worth, the Queen City of the Prairie, as it was known, had become a meatpacking center. With the incentive of $100,000, combined with impressive [Page 280]railroad links, the national meatpacking firms Swift & Co. and Armour & Co. established branch plants in Fort Worth, joining local companies in utilizing the local stockyards to make Fort Worth the nation's second largest livestock market and packing house center. The rise of the stockyards and packing plants stimulated livestock-related businesses devoted to the care of the cattle and the people working in the plants.

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