Lightning on the Draw and History on the Hoof

longhorns two enginesRecently I noticed two diesel locomotives coupled in the 8th Avenue railyard of the Fort Worth & Western railroad.

longhorns fwwTogether again: Closer examination showed the names of the two locomotives: Luke Short and Timothy Courtright.

longhorns two gravesAt Oakwood Cemetery the two gunfighters are probably chewing barbed wire and spitting bullets because the last time those two hombres were as close as their eponymous locomotives were, they were pulling pistols, not freight cars.

FW&W engines also display a longhorn logo. The longhorn and the panther are at the top of the totem pole in Fort Worth iconography. Millions of longhorns were herded through Fort Worth on the Chisholm Trail in the nineteenth century.

Below are some longhorns seen around town.

First, three video clips of longhorns I shot in Fort Worth:

1. The cast members of the stockyards daily cattle drive relaxing between shows in their green room (call it the “Longhorn Lounge”):

2. It’s show time:

3. Here’s a herd (in Benbrook) of which you may not have heard:

Think this post needs more cowbell? You got it:

car cadillac longhornHonk if you love longhorns: the stockyards Cattleac.

At the stockyards.

longhorn westcreek muralOn the wall of a storm drain channel near Westcreek Drive.

longhorns one city placeIn the lobby of One City Place.

longhorn swap meet 2At a swap meet.

longhorn swap meetLater that same swap meet.

longhorn-angleOn Angle Avenue on the North Side.

longhorn-benchBench at the stockyards.

longhorn-sidewalkStamped on a sidewalk at the stockyards and filled with dirt.

longhorn mushroomOn Bluebonnet Circle.

longhorn lancaster bridge 1938West Lancaster Street Bridge.

fountain longhorn sundanceFountain on Sundance Square Plaza behind the former headquarters of Northern Texas Traction Company. The fountain is a valentine to this column capital . . .

look up main post office cow capitalat the old main post office.

longhorn mccaffertys oakOakwood Cemetery tombstone of Charles and Sue McCafferty, who founded the North Fort Worth Historical Society in 1976.

longhorn county 2Frieze of the Tarrant County Corrections Center downtown.

longhorn del friscoDel Frisco restaurant.

longhorn-cotton-beltAlong the Cotton Belt Trail in North Richland Hills.

longhorn brand inspectorThe Brand Inspector by Jim Reno, 1983, at the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Foundation on West 7th Street.

longhorn on meterA cast-iron water meter cover.

longhorn manhole coverManhole cover.

longhorn saunders oakwoodMedallion on the monument of the Saunders family of cattle raisers at Oakwood Cemetery.

longhorn fwpd logoThe long arm horn of the law: Cowtown squad car.

longhorn pickett1Statue of Bill Pickett at the stockyards.

longhorn stockyards 2Livestock Commission Building at the stockyards.

longhorn county croppedLon Evans Corrections Center, 600 West Weatherford Street.

longhorn stockyardsStockyards.

longhorn violaIf you know where this maverick grazes, go to the head of the herd. I spotted it from the air. Well, from the cyberair: I was peering down at the Trinity River on Google Earth. This longhorn is on the lawn of a fenced residential compound tucked between the levee and White Settlement Road.

And this one is in a backyard a mile up the West Fork.

On the nameplate of the Star-Telegram this longhorn is more read than herd.

longhorn corral 3longhorn corral 1

The real (Joseph) McCoy: Lounging in the “green room” between shows behind the Livestock Commission Building.

spring longhornsLonghorns in love: In a pasture near the Clear Fork of the Trinity River in Benbrook.

This entry was posted in Architecture, Art Decow, Cities of the Dead, Downtown, Downtown, All Around, Horns A'Plenty, North Side, Public Art. Bookmark the permalink.

6 Responses to Lightning on the Draw and History on the Hoof

  1. hometown says:

    Jimmy, I was concentrating on longhorns in this post. “The Vaquero” appears in a post on horses and in a post on North Main Street.

  2. Jimmy Ray Pitts says:

    Did I miss the Mexican cowboy on North Main mounted on a horse with his pistol in a holster–which our politically correct City Council rejected because of the pistol before relenting to the reality of history? Or maybe it’s not part of this story. Just curious.

  3. Wes Thompson says:

    Where is the one near Westcreek? I grew up in South Hills and my close friends Bob and Kitty Brandt still live there. I count Marsha (may she rest in peace) and Charles as friends also.

    • hometown says:

      Wes, I almost stumped myself there. I live one block off Westcreek in a house that Marcia found for me and could not at first recall where a longhorn is near Westcreek. But I had forgotten that this one is on the storm drain channel wall in Westcreek Park hidden behind South Hills High School east of Westcreek Drive.

  4. Bill says:

    Great production preserving old west heritage.

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