DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm just the one passin' it along. Way back in 1887, the Fort Worth Union Stock Yards Corporation set up shop with big dreams of convincing Texas ranchers to raise more hogs. Now, early attempts to persuade those Texans?
Proved unsuccessful. That's the marker's polite way of saying nobody was real interested. But Fort Worth wasn't finished.
In 1903, they constructed new hog and sheep pens — brand new facilities — and launched a full promotional campaign. We're talking cash prizes, livestock prizes, and a youth Pig Club program. A Pig Club.
For young folks. Fort Worth wanted hogs so badly they were recruiting the next generation. And here's where the numbers start doing the talking, because numbers in a stockyards story have a way of getting very large, very fast.
In 1903, the stockyards processed 150,527 hogs. By 1917, that figure had climbed to 1,062,021. Over a million hogs in a single year.
Whatever they were putting in that promotional campaign, it worked. Sheep were flowing through too — anywhere from about 100,000 to 400,000 per year from 1903 right through the 1920s. Then came 1936, and Texas had grown into the largest producing state for both cattle and sheep.
And if you needed one more headline to make the point, consider this: for one week in the spring of 1937, Fort Worth received more sheep than any other principal market in the United States. Any. Other.
Market. Then World War II arrived, and the numbers climbed again — dramatically, the marker says, and it means it. Hog totals topped one million in both 1943 and 1944.
And from 1943 through 1946, more than two million sheep were processed annually right there in Fort Worth. Annually. The Sheep and Hog Markets became a significant factor in Fort Worth's rise into one of the nation's largest livestock centers during the 1940s and 1950s.
All of it traceable back to a promotional campaign, some cash prizes, and a bunch of kids in a Pig Club who apparently took their assignment seriously.
What the marker says
Early attempts by the Fort Worth Union Stock Yards Corporation, established in 1887, to persuade Texans to produce more hogs proved unsuccessful. In 1903 the Fort Worth Stockyards constructed new hog and sheep pens and launched a promotional campaign, which included cash and livestock prizes and a youth Pig Club program, to persuade ranchers to raise more hogs. The number of hogs processed at the stockyards increased from 150,527 in 1903 to 1,062,021 in 1917. The number of sheep processed at the stockyards ranged from about 100,000 to 400,00 per year from 1903 through the 1920s . By 1936 Texas had become the largest producing state for both cattle and sheep. For one week in the spring of 1937 Fort Worth received more sheep than any other principal U.S. market. During World War II cattle, sheep, and hog numbers at the Fort Worth Stockyards increased dramatically. Hog totals topped 1 million in both 1943 and 1944 and from 1943 through 1946 more than 2 million sheep were processed annually at Fort Worth's Stockyards. The Sheep and Hog Markets were a significant factor in Fort Worth's development into one of the nation's largest livestock centers during the 1940s and 1950s. Sesquicentennial of Texas Statehood 1845-1995.