Historic Fort Worth Stockyards hotel, once a Bonnie and Clyde hideout, gets $20M redo
The 120-year-old Stockyards Hotel, a National Register historic site and a former hideout for outlaws Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker, will get a $20 million remodeling in 2025-26, according to a state filing.
The hotel, now owned by California-based Majestic Realty Co. along with the upscale Drover Hotel, will be extensively updated along with a new patio and front canopy, according to the filing Sept. 15 with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.
A spokeswoman for the Drover said operators are not ready to discuss the project.
The hotel and H3 Hunter Brothers Ranch steakhouse were sold to the Drover in May 2022. It currently rents for $179-$229 per night.
The hotel is adjacent to Cattlemen’s Steak House, which remains open while it undergoes a $3 million remodeling by business partners of “Yellowstone” producer Taylor Sheridan.
The hotel began in 1904 as the Stock Yards Club in a wood frame building on the corner of Main and Exchange streets.
That was a year after the opening of Swift & Co. and Armour & Co. meat packinghouses and the nearby Live Stock Exchange Building.
The hotel was expanded in 1907 into a new three-story brick building at 109 E. Exchange Avenue, with a 1913 addition completing the building to the corner of North Main Street.
Later that decade, what is now Cowtown Coliseum opened and eventually hosted the first indoor rodeo.
The hotel later operated as the Club Hotel, Chandler Hotel, Planter’s Hotel and Right Hotel until it was bought and restored in 1984, according to architect and historian John Roberts’ fortwortharchitecture.com.
On the run during their 1930s crime spree, the Barrow gang kept watch from the top-floor corner room with a view of Main Street, then the primary north-south international highway across the U.S.
According to lore, Barrow rented the room while Parker stayed separately for safety at the Oasis Hotel, 2407½ N. Main St.
This story was originally published September 27, 2024 at 5:30 AM.
