It would be a harrowing tale to relate all the efforts made to provide a
packing plant for this city. The Fort Worth Democrat, which had earned a
reputation for "seeing things," first made the prediction on April 25th,
1875, that some day Fort Worth would be a large producer of refrigerated
meats for export. It harped on this in season and out of season and
watched for every opportunity to advance the project. The editor,
learning that a man was in Dallas negotiating to establish a plant
there, went to that city and formed his acquaintance. It was learned
that the Dallas people did not regard the project with much favor. The
man, whose name was Richardson only asked that the city make a donation
of six acres of ground for the plant. He was told that if he would come
to Fort Worth that he could select the ground and that a deed would be
delivered to him in an hour. He came and looked over the situation and
selected the lands where the Medlin Mill now stands. Fortunately the
land belonged to John Peter Smith and it was only necessary to tell
Smith what was in the wind and the deed was forthcoming. He erected a
small packing plant on the land now occupied by the Medlin Flouring
Mills. As he only essayed to kill and refrigerate hogs, and as there
were very few hogs in Texas, the plant was shortlived. He soon sold it
and went out about Cisco and put in a plant to make plaster from gypsum.
Shortly after this a man by the name of Higgs came to the city and in a
few days secured capital to erect a refrigerating plant in the southeast
part of the city. He killed a cargo of cattle and sent them to Saint
Louis, but that proved like sending coals to Newcastle and his venture
was doomed to failure. He sold his plant to Mr. Isaac Dahlman of the
firm of Dahlman Bros., the first clothing merchants in the city. He
killed cattle and sent them to Liverpool by way of Galveston, but they
were so long on the way that they did not arrive in good condition. This
ended the third attempt but did not dismay the people of Fort Worth.
They believed that this was to become a packing house center and in 1890
thirty men got together and each agreed to put in one thousand dollars
and purchase some lands and put up more money, share and share alike, as
it was needed. Mr. H. C. Holloway was selected to manage the affairs of
the company and he bought lands where the present plants are situated
and proceeded to build fences and lots and later on a small packing
house. It had a capacity of 250 cattle and 1000 hogs per day. About this
time John R. Hoxie came to Fort Worth from Chicago and as it was thought
he knew all about the industry, he was induced to put in more money, buy
more land and increase the capacity of the yards.
He too made a failure and the plant after a precarious existence was
sold to Messrs. Simpson and Niles of Boston, neither of whom were
practical packers. Mr. Niles was a business man and under his management
with the assistance of Mr. H. A. Judd, still a citizen of Fort Worth,
the plant earned money. The owners recognized the fact that the plant
did not meet the requirements of the times and with the assistance of
some of the public spirited people of the city they enlisted the
interest of Armour and Swift and secured the present establishments.
Most of the thirty men who put the first money into the plant
surrendered their holdings as gifts to make the deal go through.
The corner stone of the new buildings was laid on the 13th day of March,
1902, in the presence of a large concourse of the citizens of the city.
Just a year thereafter the first cattle were killed in the new houses.
At that time Mr. Armour made the prediction that in ten years Fort Worth
would be the second market for cattle in the United States. His
prediction was verified.