It’s time for a second round (first round here) of articles and ads from the Daily Fort Worth Standard showing what life was like in Cowtown in 1876.
This bird’s-eye-view map of Fort Worth is from 1876. The view is looking south toward the Texas & Pacific passenger depot, one mile of the courthouse.
In the Standard Drs. Bohannan, Olin, and Butts offered competing marriage guides by mail order. Dr. Bohannan boasted that his illustrated guide “features all the inquisitive should know on Courtship, Marriage, the Physiological Mysteries and Revelations of the Sexual system.” Dr. Olin swore that his guide will “give to faded cheeks the freshness of youth.” Dr. Butts warned that his illustrated guide should be kept under lock and key.
The Standard took exception to attempts by people in Dallas to “villify Fort Worth in a most scandalous manner.”
This article details the ammunition of buffalo hunters. Buffalo hides were a common commodity in Fort Worth at the time.
City Marshal Jim Courtright had to arrest a not-so-straight shooter.
Cowtown may have been a wild West town, but its residents yearned for cultural enrichment. On the courthouse square, during a one-week engagement, you could see dwarfs, snakes, and a talking pig.
Each day the Standard compiled a list of local prices of goods ranging from groceries to lumber to liquor. Take this list to your Kroger and Home Depot and Majestic and ask if they will match these prices.
