Horse statue advertising sign in the Stockyards, a historic livestock-market district in Fort Worth, Texas.

The arrivial of railroads in 1876 made Fort Worth an important livestock center. Fort Worth Union Stockyards opened for business on January 19, 1890, covering 206 acres.

By 1886 four stockyards had been built near the railroads. Boston capitalist Greenleif W. Simpson, with a half dozen Boston and Chicago associates, incorporated the Fort Worth Stock Yards Company on March 23, 1893, and purchased the Union Stock Yards and the Fort Worth Packing Company. By 1907, the Stockyards sold a million cattle per year.

Fort Worth remained an important part of the cattle industry until the 1950s. Business suffered once livestock auctions were held closer to the where the livestock were raised.

To the Stockyards consist of mainly entertainment and shopping venues that capitalize on the "Cowtown" image of Fort Worth. Photo by Carol Highsmith.