STOCKYARD ARTICLE
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Back in the late 19th century the railroad tracks arriving to Fort Worth, also known as “Cowtown”, made this city an strategic point for commerce in the South of the United States of America due to the more than 4 million head of cattle and their easy transport with the railroad tracks.
This 98 acre piece of land opened its business in 1890, but the Fort Worth Union Stockyards Company lacked of funds so their president Mike C. Hurley searched North for potential investors and that is why he invited Greenleif Simpson a wealthy man from Boston. Simpson saw potential in the industry due to constant demand from this product and by the fact that in the southern states the livestock was the main source of economy.
In 1893, Simpson bought the Fort Worth Union Stockyards b to the price of $133,333.33 smartly one of the first things he did was to invite one of his neighbors back in Boston, Mr. Louville V. Niles. Niles who had success in the meatpacking business quickly accepted and immediately suggested to build meat packing plants close to the stockyards. Therefore they tried to go after two of the biggest meat packer companies in the US which were Swift & Co, founded in 1855 in Colorado, and Armour & Co, founded in 1867 in Chicago.
Both companies agreed to go on to the Texas heat and divided the territory by a coin toss that made Armour & Co own the north of the stockyards and Swift & Co the south and they both started building their plants in the beginning of the 20th century. In 1902 was the year that boosted this stockyard with the live stockyard event which grew every year and in 1907 this event was made indoors and that became known as the “The Wall Street of the West”.
The stockyards in 1917 were the largest horse and mule markets all around the globe but until 1944 the Fort Worth stockyards reached their peak by processing more than 5 million live stock, unfortunately everything that rises must fall that is why by the end of WWII the railroads declined due to the rise of paved roads that were cheaper and more flexible. It was until 1962 when Amour & Co decided to close their plant and 9 years later Swift & Co close theirs as well. Finally in 1986 the stockyards reached their lowest production in all their history. Nowadays the Fort Worth Stockyards remain as a museum and is the main tourist point in this city.