A Town by Any Other Name
Cowboys and Girls Still ‘Rein’ Supreme in Cowtown
Throughout the greater part of the late 19th century, the frontier lifestyle dominated countless communities and towns along the cattle trails of Texas, fueling western fascination and inspiring the cowboy mystique. Drawn west by opportunity and wide-open ranges, sheep herders and ranchers moved in and began fencing off their land, making cattle driving more challenging. Trains that provided faster, less expensive means to transport cattle to markets threatened to erase much of the cowboy culture.
Fort Worth, however, has kept the cowboy spirit alive, paying homage to its roots, and embracing the nickname Cowtown. And there is no better place in Texas to witness that cowboy spirit than the Fort Worth Stockyards National Historic District. The centerpiece of the district, the Cowtown Coliseum, hosts indoor rodeo events every Friday and Saturday night, the world’s only year-round rodeo, and a herd of longhorn cattle parade past the coliseum on Exchange Avenue twice daily, except holidays or during inclement weather.
The 98-acre district is home to western-themed restaurants, shops, music, museums, lodging, and entertainment venues boasting five Texas Historic and State Antiquities Landmarks. The world’s largest honky-tonk, Billy Bob’s Texas, has a star-studded schedule of country music performers throughout the year. The Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame, also in the Stockyards, honors men and women throughout Texas who have excelled in the sport of rodeo and cutting, performing, ranching, and rodeo sports medicine. The museum is temporarily closed for expansion and renovation but will reopen later this year.
A short drive south down Main Street is the National Multicultural Western Heritage Museum whose exhibits chronicle the cultural relationships and contributions of Hispanic, Native, European, Asian, and African American individuals that settled the Western American Frontier. The museum’s Hall of Fame and permanent exhibits highlight Buffalo Soldiers, Tuskegee Airmen, Black Cowboys, Native American Chiefs and Heritage, and the Vaquero and Hispanic heritage.
On the city’s west side, among world-renown art, photography, natural science museums, and galleries with names like Kimbell and Heard, is Fort Worth’s Cultural District. The legendary Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo made its home in the Will Rogers Coliseum 76 years before moving to the Dickies Arena in 2020. The complex includes the Will Rogers Auditorium and Equestrian Center, Amon G. Carter, Jr. Exhibit Hall, and three other equestrian and livestock show arenas.
Within the historic Will Rogers campus, the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame is dedicated to the women of the American West and serves as a tribute to their courage and pioneering spirit.
The gallery spaces are bright and decidedly modern, but the stories they tell are profoundly rich in heritage and tradition. All manners of women’s boots, saddles, tack, hats, and western attire are on display in the museum along with a custom pink Gibson Hummingbird Guitar inscribed to the museum by award-winning country vocalist, Miranda Lambert, who was born in Longview. The second-floor gallery walls surround visitors with moving images of sweeping landscapes and stunning scenes of the western plains.
Left The “Soldaderas to Amazonas: Escaramuzas Charras” exhibit at the Cowgirl Hall of Fame Right the Longhorn cattle drive in the Fort Worth Stockyards | Courtesy Adobe Stock – Kit Leong
Among the distinguished honorees in the Hall of Fame are the Queen of King Ranch, Henrietta Chamberlain King; Cynthia Ann Parker, mother of Quanah Parker, the last free Comanche chief; and El Paso native Sandra Day O’Connor, who resided between Texas and Arizona growing up, becoming the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States.
The museum’s latest exhibition, “Soldaderas to Amazonas: Escaramuzas Charras,” opened to the public in March of 2024, the passion project of Associate Executive Director, Diana Vela, Ph.D. Raised in the McAllen area, her family had the largest (in 1993) Hispanic family reunion in the United States. While they were proud of their Hispanic lineage, her father was born at a time when to succeed in the U.S., one had to distance themselves from the culture. However, he became more engaged with the Hispanic community where he lived in his later years.
Vela’s father passed in 2022. About six months later she attended an Escaramuza competition at the Fort Worth Stock Show Rodeo and thought it would be a great topic for an exhibition. It was not until researching the Escaramuza Charra that she came across an email from her father, 15 years prior, where he suggested an exhibition of the ladies, and that sparked the ember that became a flame. “I took that as my sign from the universe that I needed to do this,” said Vela, “and it has been very well received.”
“Soldaderas to Amazonas” was set to close at the end of 2024, but thanks to the popularity of the exhibition and the personal effort of Vela, the display has been extended through May 11, 2025.
Cowboys, outlaws, lawmen, villains, and thrilling tales of the Old West have captivated generations of audiences since the first series of single-reel silents were produced in 1894 at Edison Studios in, of all places, West Orange, New Jersey. Many actors have tried their hand in frontier roles, but one individual stands out as one of Hollywood’s most iconic cowboys, starring in over 80 Westerns in a career that spanned forty decades.
The “John Wayne – An American Experience” exhibit is showing on Rodeo Plaza in the heart of the Stockyards. A special exhibition: “The John Wayne Gun Collection, the Guns that Won the West,” featuring a unique collection of firearms from John Wayne’s films, will be on display through December 31st, 2025.
