Stockyards Museum

The Historic and Cultural Landmarks Commission voted Monday to approve an expanded version of the Stockyards historic district and reject the smaller district that the Fort Worth City Council favors.

With the vote, the Landmarks Commission is recommending that the council approve the larger district when it votes on the issue April 5. Regardless of the Landmarks Commission’s recommendation, however, the final decision will be up to the council.

The Zoning Commission will also vote March 9 on the recommendations it will send to city council regarding the historic district. The council will consider the Landmarks Commission’s recommendations and the Zoning Commission’s recommendations before taking final action.

Rows of dutifully preserved photographs in the Stockyards Museum are all that remain from much of Fort Worth’s early days. Several images capture the enormity of the meatpacking industry at the turn of the last century. Spread over 100 acres, 2,600 pins once held cattle, hogs, and sheep in what are now large parking lots flanking both sides of East Exchange Avenue.

The livestock was headed to either of two sprawling meatpacking plants: Swift and Company or Armour and Company. Throughout the early part of the 1900s, the Stockyards ranked among the top five meatpacking markets in the country.

Little of that era remains today. Both plants were largely destroyed by fires in the early 1970s. The wood that constitutes large chunks of the structures has been damaged by the elements, and few traces of the beams that once guided animals to slaughter lie intact today. The barns for …