FORT WORTH -- A dilapidated former economic cornerstone of Cowtown's steak-and-potatoes past has a date with demolition.
The sprawling Armour meatpacking plant at 400 E. Exchange Ave, which opened in 1903 alongside the Swift and Co. plant on the east side of the Fort Worth Stockyards, will be razed by Chesapeake Energy, which bought the property in 2007 as a possible drilling site.The 18-acre property, which includes a 119,550-square-foot brick structure, will be sold for redevelopment, Kimberly Britton, the company's director of community relations, said Monday."We bought the property originally planning to develop minerals, but over time we realized we can reach the Stockyards from two other sites nearby," Britton said.Chesapeake also considered the location for its regional corporate headquarters but determined that renovation would be cost prohibitive."We looked at the buildings to see if they might be salvaged, but they were in such horrible condition that we realized that we wouldn't be able to restore them," Britton said.Chesapeake is hosting a luncheon Thursday dubbed "Honoring the Past and Envisioning the Future" to introduce the site to potential developers."We wanted to celebrate what the meatpacking industry meant to Fort Worth in its development. We wanted to be able to say goodbye, but more importantly focus on what's the vision for the future, what should be here?" Britton said.Stockyard advocates are happy there will be no drilling for gas in the entertainment district but called the demolition a "sad reality.""When you get past the emotion, demolition appears to be the best thing. We understand the economics of it," said Gary Brinkley, the manager of Stockyards Station.Brinkley, whose grandparents worked in meatpacking plants for 35 years, said the buildings were designed for the gory work of processing animals, making "adaptive reuse" a difficult proposition.Teresa Burleson, director of the Fort Worth Stockyards Museum, said the old slaughterhouse is literally falling down."I don't like change. I want everything to stay the same. But I understand the need to tear it down," Burleson said. "I feel like it's a historic landmark. I understand, but I wish the money was there to preserve it. The packing plants are a monument to the history of Fort Worth and the Stockyards."Tom Wiederhold, president of the North Fort Worth Historical Society, is also nostalgic, and pragmatic, about the demolition."Unfortunately, despite my preservation beliefs, I don't think the buildings are usable. It breaks my heart, but in all fairness to Chesapeake, the buildings have been neglected for a long time," he said."Ideally, in a perfect world we could clean it up and salvage it and then build around it. But Mother Nature and the facts of life have made that very difficult."It was major news in 1901 when Armour and Swift, America's two largest meatpacking companies, agreed to build regional plants in the Stockyards.Construction began in 1902, and by 1909, the plants were processing 1.2 million cattle and 870,000 hogs per year as well as sheep, horses and mules. By 1910, the Stockyards was the nation's third-largest livestock market, behind Chicago and Kansas City, Mo."They employed most of what was then north Fort Worth. People came from all over the world to work there," Burleson said. "They would go down to the port in Galveston and bring immigrants to Fort Worth. It's why there is so much diversity here. They were all ethnicities, and they all seemed to have their own neighborhoods."It was hard and filthy work, but the plants provided free medical services, a good pension and free English lessons.The Stockyards hit its heyday during World War II, when it processed 5,277,496 head of livestock in 1944, according to the Stockyards Museum website.But the rise of the trucking industry after the war spelled the demise of railroad-centered packing plants.Armour closed its plant in 1962; Swift lasted until 1971.The Armour facility was bought by Bunge Edible Oil Co., which refined soybean and corn oil there for more than 30 years, Wiederhold said.Since it purchased the site, Chesapeake has spent more than $700,000 on asbestos removal and $20,000 a month on security for the site, company officials said.More than 90 percent of the buildings, including bricks, cypress timber, steel and concrete, is expected to be recycled, Britton said.Three metal buildings, a brick building, storage tanks and other small structures have already been removed from the site. The remaining structures will take about four months to demolish."There are some wood beams in there that will blow you away. Some of that wood will be worth a bucketful of money," Brinkley said.Wiederhold and Brinkley hope that redevelopment will include a mix of retail and entertainment venues and stay true to the district's longhorn ambiance."It's sad, but it is life. Hopefully the reuse of that property will be in harmony with the flavor of the Stockyards. Historical tourism is very popular. We're not Disney World -- we actually have horses defecating on the street," Wiederhold said.This report includes material from Star-Telegram archives.Steve Campbell, 817-390-7981Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
