Dallas - Fort Worth Area Activities in Cowboys, History, and Science

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Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza - Dallas, TX

The Sixth Floor Museum Logo

In true American spirit, the Texas School Book Depository has evolved from its dark past to become the site of the Sixth Floor Museum.

Rich history, cowboy excitement and scientific discoveries await you in Dallas/Fort Worth. While Fort Worth is as "Western" as a city can get, Dallas is just as much a cosmopolitan center of culture and art. A visit to Dallas and Fort Worth gives you the chance to be a cowboy, a historian and a scientist, all in one place!

Dallas' Cowboy History

Grab your Stetson and your spurs, because your first job in Dallas/Fort Worth is to get down and dirty at the Stockyards.

Walk along the wooden sidewalks and poke in the Exchange Avenue storefronts — but watch out at 11:30, because that's when the cattle drive goes by!
Stop in the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame to pay tribute to 48 of the Lone Star State's greatest rodeo champions. Don a gunfighter's holster or the frills and lace of a saloon girl at Jersey Lilly Photo Parlor, where you'll pose for an antique sepia-tone photo.
As the sun sets in the West, it's time to head 'em up and move 'em out — to the Stockyards Championship Rodeo at Cowtown Coliseum, also in the Stockyards. Cheer on the brave bull riders and the fast-as-lightning barrel racers. Children will love the opportunity to try their mutton-busting skills in the calf & mutton scramble.

Now the sun has set, the moon is shining, and it's time for some cowboy rest, because tomorrow is another busy day!

The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza

Now it's time to try on your historian's hat and head for The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza in Dallas. This is the site where John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, and is a true piece of American history.

You'll marvel as you ponder the view from the actual window where the assassinator's bullet supposedly ripped toward the President.
Examine for yourself the displays of photographs, ballistic tests and acoustical evidence used in 25-years' worth of investigations.
Finally, you'll have a chance to see the corner staircase where the assassinator is believed to have fled the sixth floor, as police have re-created the scene as it was found.
The last thing you'll do as you leave the Museum is to leave your own thoughts and memories of JFK and his legacy in the memory books the museum keeps as a part of its chronicles.

Science and Discovery in Dallas

Once you've had a chance to play historian, it's time to shift gears and try another profession: that of a scientist, as you visit the Dallas Aquarium at Fair Park, the Dallas Zoo and the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History.

At the Dallas Aquarium, you'll see all types of fish, reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates with one thing in common: they are all water-dwellers. Learn about the Aquarium's special advances in research, breeding and conservation, and then pay a visit to the 5-foot electric eel and the 135-pound snapping turtle.
At the Dallas Zoo, you'll see even more animals, at habitats like the Chimpanzee Forest, Endangered Tiger Habitat, the Wilds of Africa and the Lacerte Family Children's Zoo.
The last portion of your scientific journey is in Fort Worth, at the Museum of Science and History. Here you'll get to practice uncovering dinosaur bones at the outdoor DinoDig, and tackle science and math topics at the ExploraZone.
After a long day of exploration and discovery, relax in the comfort of a planetarium or IMAX Theater show.

Have you always wondered if you have found your true calling in life? Maybe you were born to be a cowboy herding the cattle, or a historian solving history's mysteries. In Dallas/Fort Worth, you can try your hand at so many activities that you just might discover a talent or a passion that you never knew you had!

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this was a nice start but it only touches the Tip of the iceberg. There is more History of the melting pot of where more Cowboys-over 1 Million came to the BIG TRUTH that driving cattle up the Chisholm Trail was as dangerous ,in the late winter and spring, as driving a 3 wheel car is today. The celebrating in Fort Worth as herds of 1,000 to 4,000 head of cattle because the old timers, those who had been before, knew their chances were 5 out ot 10 they would be on the side of the herd where the Stampede was headed in case of a Thunder storm. Most people do not understand the condition of many cattle arriving in Fort Worth going up the Chisholm. All the grass around the water holes where they stopped at night was too short after the 2 other herds had stopped there not more than 3 days ago and cleaned every blade for a mile and half radius. These every hungry cows were as you and I would be with only a hand full of grass or anything else within the last week, very edgy and nervous as a cat on a spiked fence. The other critical factor was even if they had the fastest horse alive, how could he miss every one of the 5 million prairie dog holes across the plains? If the horse even put a hoof in only 12 inches before recovering, the drop of a shoulder at a dead run was not easy for even seasoned cowhands and chances were better than 3 out of 5 that a rider would be thrown where if the herd ws headed that direction, he would be dog meat in about 5-7 sections with over 300-500 cows minium coming over his body. Due to the tail drives and the valuable lessons learned even after the drives to Kansas ended when the Texas and Pacific railroad arrived to Cowtown, several million cowboys drove cattle up to the Stockyards built 100 yrs ago to be shipped off, the impact of seeing the magnitude of cattle and livestock in the now Historic Stockyards made a big impression on their cowboys and cowgirls to give them a better understanding of the livestock and cattle industry. The Fort Worth Stockyards was kick named the Wallstreet of the West due to it s ability to daily generate more cash flow than any where else West of the Mississippi. The account Wallstreet of the West shows on PBS, channel 13 about twice a year and is a amazing story but CDs and VHS cassetts are available at the Stockyards Museum in the Exchange Bldg, 131 E. Exchange Ave,, Ft Worth, Tex. 76106. If a person is interested in the history of the Cattle Industry and/or the development of the West and Cattle-Go to the Historic Stockyards on July 26 and 27TH, 2008 FOR THE MOST GAUL DERN BEST DAY OF THE COWBOY CELEBRATION YOU WILL FIND ANY WHERE TO GIVE TRIBUTE TO THE 5 MILLION COWBOYS WHO HELPED TO MAKE TEXAS WHAT IT IS TODAY. Look up DAY OF THE COWBOY-IN GOOGLE- CLICK ON FORT WORTH STOCKYARDS ENTRY-THIS WILL BE THE BIGGEST AND BEST CELEBRATION OF ITS KIND ANYWHERE-COWTOWN IS WHERE THE CHISHOLM TRAIL COWHANDS MADE THEIR MARK.

-Richard Linnartz, Fort Worth, Tx

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