Responding in 1901 to an offer of $100,000 from the citizens of Fort Worth, Swift & Co. of Chicago sent its legal representatives, J.B. Googins and Alexander Cobden, into the Fort Worth area to arrange for the purchase of land and building materials. Merging with its competitors, Armour & Co., for the purpose of organization, the two firms purchased property at the east end of E. Exchange Avenue. Swift & Co. occupied the area south of E. Exchange Avenue and Armour’s plant was to the north. W.B. King was appointed general manager of transportation setup; five railroad lines were brought to the industrial sites and a streetcar line was extended from Fort Worth to bring employees in. Auxilliary rail lines were constructed into each plant. Similar to the Armour & Co. structure, the Swift buildings were almost certainly designed by company architects. A temporary office was built on the site before construction began. Among those who worked here were C.L. Walters, superintendent of the building; Jack Heath, general foreman of masonry; and John Newsom, contractor. Ground broke in February, 1902, the cornerstone of the office building was laid in March, and at least some of the structures were completed in the time for business opening on November 1, 1902. As a boost to the local economy, local firms supplied the building materials and construction crews. Acme Brick Co. of Milsap, Texas, provided 8,000,000 bricks to both firms’ construction sites; William Barr Stone Quarries of Dublin, Texas, was awarded the stone and limestone contract; Stories, Bavousett and Co. won the grading contract for both plants.
Facilities to produce dressed meat and meat by-products at the Swift site included a slaughterhouse, smokehouse, power plant, cooling rooms, sweet and salt pickling equipment, a lard and oleo refinery, fertilizer plant, and a cooperage and box factory, as well as an office building for which Swift executives directed the operations. Fifty cottages were erected on the east side of the property to provide temporary workers’ housing. Underground tunnels and ramps were constructed leading from the yard pens to the slaughterhouse.
A 1908-09 enlargement of the Swift operations almost doubled the plant’s capacity; in 1909 it was capable of processing 5,000 hogs daily, in addition to cattle, sheep, and poultry. Early photographs of the site indicated the vast scale of the complex: the two-story office building at the northwest corner of the property is nearly dwarfed by the five-, six-, seven-, and eight-story structures behind it. As at the Armour plant, the sides of a few of these large buildings were painted as signage advertising the firm. The sight and smell of the packinghouse district must have dominated the North Side.
The few remaining structures from the 1902 phase of construction are united by their relatively plain industrial facades; details of the brick structures include brick buttressing and corbeled brick cornices on some structures, and doors and windows capped with segmental arches. A brick and concrete wall on the south and east boundaries still exists, although in poor condition. Brick paving within the Swift compound was probably laid in the early phases of plant construction; its vibrant red color still resonates with the red brick industrial structures. Additions are known to have been made to the complex in 1908-09. Many buildings from the 1940s and 1950s still stand; constant rebuilding seems to have been a feature of the Swift operation. The great mass of the Swift plant is no longer extant; certainly some structures were demolished as the plant was continually upgraded. Other structures were demolished as late as 1975. Much of the Swift property was sold during the early 1950s, when centralized meatpacking operations became obsolete. Now largely abandoned on its overgrown site, the few remaining structures provide only a hint of the huge scale of this important chapter in Fort Worth’s history. The Swift & Co. grounds are part of the Fort Worth Stockyards National Register Historic District.
General Offices. This two and a half story brick building was the Swift & Co. office building; its cornerstone was laid in March, 1902. Located on a hill at the east end of E. Exchange Avenue opposite the Armour & Co. office building, it presented an ordered image to workers and visitors, although once dwarfed by the massive industrial complex of Swift buildings behind it. It was certainly the design of Swift company engineers. A deep, wood-framed gallery supported by simple Tuscan columns wraps around the south, north and west sides of the first and second stories. Regularly spaced segmentally-arched windows on each floor provide light and ventilation to the offices within. Large tripartite dormer windows surmount the hip roof. Despite later additions to the rear, and signage and windows added by a restaurant which has leased the property since 1976, the structure remains the most complete and important Swift building extant.
BL-SM. This two-story brick industrial structure appears to 90 have been built in several phases. The earliest portion very likely dates from the initial construction of the Swift plant. A 1950s structure has been added to the rear. A 1927 Sanborn’s Fire Insurance map cryptically identifies this building as “BL-SM, perhaps for blood serum, one of the many by-products of the meatpacking plants. Situated next to the railroad tracks, the abandoned structure is in fair condition.
Auto Garage. This automobile garage was constructed just south of the Swift & Co. office building to house cars belonging to Swift executives. Containing twenty narrow car stalls 90 which step down the sloping site, the structure has brick end walls and infill. The parapeted facade is constructed of paneled concrete supported by fluted columns.
Fertilizer House. This windowless three-story structure is located at the southern edge of the Swift Industrial plant. Its style and construction appear to date it to the initial phase of construction; a Sanborn’s Fire Insurance map indicates that it was used for the manufacture of fertilizer. Regularly spaced buttresses support the parapeted brick walls. A later one- story concrete and brick loading dock was added about 1925 on the southern edge, fronting NW 23rd Street.
Killing Tank/Beef Cooler. One of the many industrial structures built after 1902 in the continual process of rebuilding and improving the Swift & Co plant, this partially demolished structure reveals mushroom columns, dating it to c. 1930. Double-thickness brick exterior walls and reinforced concrete slab floors indicate that the structure may have been used for cooling of meat carcasses. The building is identified ambiguously on a 1927 Sanborn’s Fire Insurance map as either the Killing Tank or Beef Cooler.
Lard Making/Warehouse. One of the many Swift & Co. structures added to the meatpacking complex over the years, this five-story building, with a penthouse or elevator shaft above, appears to date from c. 1940. Of reinforced concrete with brick infill, it has rectangular, steel-framed windows on the second floor and penthouse section. A Sanborn Fire Insurance map updated through 1966, seems to indicate that the structure was used for the manufacture of lard and as a warehouse.
Wall and Stairway Entrance. Extensive portions remain of the Swift & Co. wall, which once encircled the west, south and east sides of the property. The fifteen-foot high wall was probably built during the initial phase of construction of the Swift plant, in 1902. Cast concrete piers and lintels make a frame for paneled polychrome brick inflll. The entrance to the industrial complex is made by way of a curved double stairway on the NE. 23rd Street side. Like the wall, the stairway exhibits a mixture of textures and colors: roughcast, buff-colored concrete is framed by smooth concrete members, and a red, white and blue “S” medallion is set in the wall of the landing. The condition of this striking southern boundary of the meatpacking district is very poor.