Cowboys

 Fort Worth celebrates our unique place in history and we have been known as both the city

"Where the West Begins" and "Cowtown."

Originally settled in 1849 as an army outpost on the banks of the Trinity River, Fort Worth was assigned to protect settlers from Indian attacks on the advancing frontier. Progress helped the growing settlement survive long after other towns blew away with the dust of departing pioneers.

The cattle industry was king for a generation of people working the historic Chisholm Trail, in play from the 1860s to the 1870s. The Stockyards National Historic District looks much the same today as it did 100 years ago. We are the only city that has real cowboys on the payroll and buys hay for the Fort Worth Herd, the world's only daily cattle drive, on its twice-daily trip down Exchange Avenue. Don't miss the world's only year-round rodeo at Cowtown Coliseum and Billy Bob's Texas, the world's largest honky-tonk, with indoor live bull riding and Texas-style music.

Since the 1860's, cowboys worked and played in Hell's Half Acre, located where downtown's Sundance Square stands today. Today, glittering skyscrapers mix with immaculately restored historic buildings that once housed gambling parlors, saloons and outlaws like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Historical markers play tribute to sites like these throughout the city.

The reality of our cowboy past is as alive as the cowboys that work and own ranches today in Fort Worth. On any given day, you'll see cowboy hats and boots at a gallery opening or symphony performance as well as sky-high heels maneuvering the original cobblestones of our Stockyards.