Articles - Page 4 of 7 - Fort Worth Stockyards

Fort Worth, Texas is named for U.S. Army Gen. William Jenkins Worth

Fort Worth, Texas, is named for U.S. Army Gen. William Jenkins Worth. He came from humble beginnings in Hudson, New York, where he was born in 1794. After rudimentary schooling he worked as a merchant until he was 18, when he applied for a commission in the Army so he could fight in the War of 1812.

He distinguished himself during the war and went onto an illustrious career in the Army. He fought against the Seminole Indians in Florida and was second in command to General Zachary Taylor during the Mexican War. After the Mexican War, in January of 1849, he was placed in command of the Department of Texas. In that post, he proposed building 10 forts to mark where the west Texas frontier began from Eagle Pass to the confluence of the West Fork and Clear Fork of the Trinity River.

He never lived to see the forts completed, dieing of cholera in May of 1849. His remains were rei…

M.L. Leddy A Stockyards Institution Since 1941

In 1918, M.L. Leddy left his family's cotton farm to go to work in a saddle and boot shop in the West Texas town of Brady. Four years later, he purchased that saddle and boot shop. In 1936, he and his brothers moved their growing business to San Angelo. In response to the demand for their boots, saddles and other products they opened a second location in the historic Forth Worth Stockyards in 1941.

The business remains in the Leddy family. It is men and women, like M.L. Leddy and his family, who do the hard work to build and sustain a business. A business does not exist for more than 90 years by accident. This happens when they produce a good product and provide exceptional customer service.

Fort Worth Home to the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame

Fort Worth is home to the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame. This outstanding museum celebrates many strong and courageous women who epitomized what is great about America. While the cowboy is an American icon, the many women who settled the American West are often overlooked.

The 220 inductees include everyone from the painter Georgia O’Keeffe to the sharpshooter Annie Oakley to U. S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. The museum got its start in 1975 in the basement of the Deaf Smith County Library in Hereford, Texas, and moved to Fort Worth, Texas, in 1994. It moved into its current home in the Fort Worth Cultural District in 2002.

Longhorn and the Chisholm Trail

Much of Fort Worth, Texas', early development and its nickname "Cowtown" can be attributed to its location on the Chisholm Trail. The post-Civil War trail was used to move cattle from southern Texas up to railheads in Kansas.

During the war, Texas ranchers had not been able to get their cattle to market. Because of the over supply, after the war, Texas ranchers were only receiving $4 per head for their cattle, while ranchers in the East were receiving $40 per head. In 1867, a fellow named Joseph McCoy built a stockyard in Abilene, Kansas, and urged the Texas ranchers to drive their Longhorn cattle to his yards. Once he purchased them, he would ship them East. In 1867 alone, he shipped 35,000 cattle East. Most of those ranchers driving their Longhorns to Kansas, stopped in Fort Worth.

As important as it was for Fort Worth's development, the Chisholm Trail's legend grew even…

Billy Bob’s Texas – The World’s Largest Honky Tonk

Fort Worth, Texas, is the proud home of Billy Bob's Texas, which is the The World's Largest Honky Tonk. Billy Bob's has more than 127,000 square feet of dance floors, musical stages and a rodeo arena. Although Billy Bob's Texas opened in 1981, the building dates back to 1910.

It was originally an open-air barn used to house prize cattle for the Fort Worth Stock Show. In 1936, the City of Fort Worth spent $183,500 to enclose the building and raise a tower over the main entrance. The enclosed building had 1,257 animal stalls, and a 1,200 seat auction ring that is now the rodeo arena. Livestock events were held there until the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo moved to the Will Rogers Memorial Complex, in 1943.

During World War II, the building was used as an airplane factory for the Globe Aircraft Corporation. In the 1950′s, the building…