Book Introduction

     You can never take the “Wild West” out of Fort Worth, even though it is one of the most cultured and cosmopolitan cities in America.

     Fort Worth was a new military post in 1849, one of ten along the Trinity River. By 1853, the military moved further west, and the first settlers took over Fort Worth. Soon after the Civil War, this Wild West town got an economic shot in the arm. Cattle drovers started moving their Texas longhorns through Fort Worth on their way to beef markets in Kansas. Fort Worth quickly became the last important stop on the famous Chisholm Trail, the frontier’s version of an interstate highway.

     When the railroad came to town years later, the city was on its way to becoming the second largest livestock market in the country. When oil was struck in nearby Spindletop in 1901, life got even better.

Cowboys and Culture

     Walk around this city of 600,000 residents today, and you’ll see its rich history everywhere, blending in effortlessly and making the city an exciting place to visit or call home. Downtown Fort Worth is re-charged and revitalized with Sundance Square, a world-class cultural and entertainment center, and the Historic Stockyards District, offering everything from boutiques and championship rodeos to cattle drives and Billy Bob’s, the largest honky-tonk in the world.

     In this extraordinary “Photographic Portrait,” photographer and Texas native Peter Calvin captures the many faces of Fort Worth at work and at play, admiring a Picasso at the Modern Art Museum, listening to Mozart at Bass Performance Hall, or cheering on a bull rider at the rodeo.  Page after page, you will experience the heart and soul of this great American city of cowboys and culture…a special place “where the West begins.”