About Fort Worth Stockyards National Historic District
The Fort Worth Stockyards National Historic District preserves the commercial center that helped transform Fort Worth into 'Cowtown.' Millions of cattle passed through the city during the great trail-driving years after the Civil War, and the later stockyards, livestock exchange, rail connections, and meatpacking operations made this area one of the nation's important livestock centers.
Visitors can walk along Exchange Avenue and see landmarks such as the Livestock Exchange Building, Cowtown Coliseum, Stockyards Station, and the historic barns and commercial buildings that have been adapted for museums, shops, restaurants, entertainment, and Western businesses. The signature public experience is the Fort Worth Herd, a longhorn cattle drive presented at 11:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. daily when weather and operating conditions allow.
The Stockyards are worth visiting because the district combines a genuine historic industrial landscape with active rodeo, ranching, music, and cattle-drive traditions. Entry to the district and viewing the cattle drive are free, while its museums, tours, rodeos, parking areas, and other attractions set their own schedules and prices.
