Niles City

Niles City lost its independence to a change in state law. The Handbook of Texas says that in January 1921 the legislature let any city over 50,000 take in neighboring territory that held no town larger than 2,000. Niles stretched its limits to gain the population to block that, but a second law in July 1921 raised the threshold to 5,000. Fort Worth began meeting with the suburbs in 1922, voters approved annexation among charter changes that July, and Niles City joined Fort Worth on August 1, 1923, despite litigation. Enrico Caruso sang at its Coliseum in 1920.

What the plaque says

Niles City Incorporated in 1911, the City of Niles was called the "Richest Little Town in the World" because of its size and the number of large businesses located here. Included in the townsite, which eventually covered 1.5 square miles, were major meat packing firms, the Fort Worth Stockyards, two grain elevators, a cotton seed oil company, and a petroleum refinery and pipeline plant. By the early 1920s the town's taxable property was valued at $30,000,000. Niles was named for Louville Veranus Niles (1839-1928), a successful Boston businessman who first visited Fort Worth in 1893. His reorganization of the Fort Worth Packing Company in 1899 led the firms of Swift and Armour to locate their plants in this area in 1902, rapidly increasing nearby business development. Substantial muncipal tax revenues helped make the city of Niles a progressive community. Under the supervision of a Mayor and five Aldermen, funds were used for improvements in roads, utilities,and city services. The two school districts which served the town also benefited from the large tax base. Despite legal efforts beginning in 1921 to remain incorporated and avoid annexation, the City of Niles became part of Fort Worth in 1923. (1981)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fort Worth Stockyards — steps away
  The brick-street cattle market where Armour and Swift built packing plants in 1902, now a National Register district with a Coliseum, a museum and a longhorn drive twice a day.
• Tarrant County Courthouse — 2.2 mi
  A pink-granite courthouse of 1895 on the bluff where the Army set up Fort Worth in 1849, in a county named for the man who led the 1841 attack on the Native villages of Village Creek.
• Kimbell Art Museum — 3.0 mi
  Louis Kahn's cycloid-vaulted museum of 1972, built from Kay Kimbell's bequest and joined in 2013 by Renzo Piano's pavilion for the exhibitions the Kahn galleries could not hold.
• National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame — 3.5 mi
  A hall of fame begun in Hereford in 1975 to honor rodeo women, widened in 1977 to Western heritage, and housed in Fort Worth's Cultural District since 2002.

More markers nearby

• Armour and Company — steps away
• Fort Worth Stockyards Hog and Sheep Markets — steps away
• Fort Worth Stockyards Horse and Mule Barns — steps away
• Fort Worth Stock Yards Company — steps away