Fort Worth Stock Yards Company

The Fort Worth Stock Yards Company was created in 1893, when Boston capitalist Greenlief W. Simpson led a group of investors in purchasing the Fort Worth Union Stock Yards. Under Simpson's leadership, the Company earned the support of the Texas Cattle Raisers Association and lured the prominent meatpacking companies of Armour and Swift to open plants here. Publicity through the Company's market newspaper and annual Fat Stock Show, both begun in 1896, resulted in a significant increase in the number of animals brought to market. The Stock Yards Co. built the area's livestock-related facilities and had controlling interest in many North Fort Worth businesses and properties. The first five decades of the 20th Century were the most successful for the Fort Worth Stock Yards Co. During World War I, foreign governments purchased draft animals, making Fort Worth the largest horse and mule market in the world. In 1917, overall livestock market receipts reached 3,500,000 and in 1944, sales exceeded 5,000,000 head of livestock. However, by the 1950s, local auctions were drawing sellers away from this central market. Today the Fort Worth Stock Yards Co. continues as a significant part of the city's unique heritage. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986.

Fort Worth Stock Yards Company is a historical marker in Fort Worth, Tarrant County, dedicated in 1986. It is one of 358 historical markers documented in Tarrant County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 501 historic sites cataloged across the county.

The site sits at 32.7906, -97.3465 near Fort Worth. The nearest cataloged historic site is Fort Worth Stockyards Museum (museum), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include Fort Worth Livestock Exchange, Fort Worth Stockyards Hog and Sheep Markets, and John Wayne: An American Experience.

This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #5439002032. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.