Anticipating transportation needs to the new meatpacking plants, in January 1902, the Northern Texas Traction Co. extended and widened the streetcar tracks from downtown Fort Worth to the intersection of E. Exchange Avenue and Packers Avenue. The Exchange Avenue Stairs, rising up from the trolley tracks to the level of the Swift and Armour packing concerns, were no doubt constructed at the same time by the Fort Worth Stock Yards Co. or by the Swift and Armour companies. The stairs flare outwards in a graceful curve as they descend the embankment; most likely constructed of the same buff-colored concrete seen throughout the packing district, they are now painted white. The Swift and Armour company names are implanted on the grass embankment on either side of the stairway, “Armour” on the north side and “Swift” with its “S” medallion, on the south. Early photographs of the area do not show these signs, but they were probably installed about 1912 when the streets were bricked. Photographs from c.1936 show the letters set flush into the grass; at some later date the letters were framed with a colored concrete surround. The stairs provide a focus point visible from W Exchange Avenue, spanning the rise from the street of livestock operations to the slaughterhouses above. The stairway is part of the Fort Worth Stockyards National Register Historic District and was designated a State Archeological Landmark in 1987.
