Cowboy hats paired with a tailored suit, live country music and two-step dancing — it’s not Yellowstone, it’s Fort Worth, Texas.
America’s fastest-growing city is embracing western madness in hopes the culture will attract more residents.
With Mayor Mattie Parker targeting reliable infrastructure, crime, homelessness and creating more public parks, she is focused on expansion without losing Fort Worth’s character.
“Fort Worth continues to be an incredibly unique city that takes great pride in our western heritage,” said the Republican.
“And the timing couldn’t be better because of all the fanfare and excitement surrounding Yellowstone and 1923.”
Mayor Mattie Parker is focused on expansion without compromising Fort Worth’s culture
The western character of the city attracts people from all over America
The mania sparked by shows like Yellowstone and 1923 is driving the population skyrocketing
The shows, created by Fort Worth-raised author Taylor Sheridan, have reinvigorated the area.
“Welcome to the West,” is the city’s slogan — a welcoming sentiment for Americans looking to settle outside of the mainstream.
As larger metropolitan areas struggle to bounce back from the pandemic, Parker is not missing an opportunity to take responsibility.
“How you respond to a mental health crisis looks and needs to be different today in 2023 than it was in 1985, and we have a department that focuses on that,” she said.
“If you’re not a safe city, no one wants to live there.” I mean, now look at San Francisco.’
Your work is recognized: Last year, 50,000 people flocked to Fort Worth, making it the 13th largest city in the country.
Fort Worth has a reputation for being a hub for the oil and gas, aerospace and defense industries, while Dallas is a business hub for professionals specializing in financial services and real estate.
In June 2022, Caterpillar announced it would be relocating its headquarters from Illinois to Irving — the fifth-largest city in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area and near Dallas-Fort Worth Airport.
A Fort Worth Police Department officer patrols the Fort Worth Stockyards on horseback
Fort Worth has a reputation for being a destination for the oil and gas, aerospace and defense industries.
The enthusiasm for Western culture coincided with the popularity of the television show Yellowstone
Showrunner Sheridan (pictured) filmed much of the 1883 spin-off series at his Four Sixes ranch
According to Todd Burnette, chief executive of real estate firm JLL, there are $2.3 billion worth of construction projects under development or in the early pre-planning stages.
Real estate agents, who have been trading old ranches for decades, say unprecedented demand and increasingly limited supply are driving property costs to new highs.
These huge ranches are not only a safe investment, but also offer their modern owners private playgrounds.
“The ranch market has just gone crazy over the past few years,” said Hunter Harrigan, whose father, Dave Harrigan, founded the Harrigan Land Company some 30 years ago.
“People are no longer buying these ranches necessarily for the income they can generate, but for the long-term value they will add,” he told .
The ranch craze also coincided with the explosion in popularity of Yellowstone, which became the number one show on cable television last year.
Showrunner Sheridan filmed much of his spin-off series 1883 at the Four Sixes Ranch, which he and a group of other investors bought in January 2022 for around $350 million.
The historic ranch has served as the backdrop for a number of his shows, but is also one of the largest and most prestigious ranches in the country.
The Four Sixes Ranch in Texas is one of the largest and most prestigious ranches in the country
Four Sixes measures approximately 20 miles north to south and 12 miles east to west
Around 20 full-time cowboys work at Four Sixes, which traditionally deals in cattle and now also in horses
Located in the Rolling Plains of western Texas, Four Sixes is almost the size of Los Angeles at around 270,000 acres. It contains several kilometers of rivers and its own water filter system.
“These are three different ranches that were all sold to the same buyer — Taylor Sheridan and his group,” said Sam Middleton, third-generation owner of Chas. S. Middleton and Son, a broker for the seller of the ranches.
“It’s hard to tell what a ranch was sold for as all three ranches were for a cash lump sum,” he told .
“Four Sixes was about 143,000 acres, then there was Dixon Creek at 116,000 acres, and then Frisco Creek Ranch was a little under 10,000 acres, so it was 267,000 acres total,” he said.
According to Harrigan, water and mineral rights are critical to someone looking to buy a ranch and can add tremendous value to a ranch.
“In most western states, minerals and water are separate domains,” he said. “When you find a ranch with the mineral rights intact, you have more control over your land and the more valuable it is.”