In recent years, Denver’s cow town heritage has been overshadowed by her aspirations to become a “world class city,” culminating in the 2008 Democratic National Convention. Still, natives and newcomers relish a taste of the Old West for two weeks in January when the National Western Stock Show, Rodeo and Horse Show comes to town. In Denver, it’s just part of who we are.
The National Western became the city’s favorite winter festival in the early 1900s, but the cow has always been an important Denverite. Many early pioneers disenchanted with mining turned to agriculture and ranching, sometimes financed by British and Scottish capitalists. Ranchers joined together as early as 1867 to form one of Colorado’s first professional groups, the Colorado Stock Growers Association. Taking advantage of the great open range, generally mild winters and the availability of Texas longhorns, cattlemen like John Wesley Iliff made their fortunes John Wayne-style.
With the arrival of the railroads in 1870, Denver became the end of the trail for cattlemen driving their herds up from Texas along the Goodnight Loving Trail. The city’s first stockyards, known as the Elephant Corral, were located on Blake Street between 14th and 15th streets. Although cattle were originally shipped to Kansas City and Chicago, the creation of the Denver Union Stockyards on June 1, 1881, made Denver a livestock hub, where Swift, Armour and Cudahy once operated major plants. In 1886, the company moved to its present location, between the South Platte River and Franklin Street to the east and west and West 46th and West 52nd Avenue on the north and south, with the railroad tracks in the middle. Stockyards included feedlots, slaughterhouses, rendering plants and meat processing plants.
In 1898, the Denver Chamber of Commerce, the Cattleman’s Association and other livestock growers held the city’s first stock show. At the time, Denver was barely recovering from the Depression of 1893, which shattered the economy of the entire state and left many homeless. With misguided public spirit, stock show organizers planned a giant public barbecue, which turned into a free-for all.
By 1905, the stockmen and Denver were ready to try again. Led by Fred P. Johnson, who ran the Denver Daily-Record Stockman and Elias M. Ammons, Douglas county cattleman, state senator, and later Colorado governor, the newly united American National Live Stock Association held their first show on Jan. 29, 1906. Streetcars, carriages and special trains delivered the public to a free show that did not include a barbecue, with exhibitions that included 50 loads of feeder cattle, seven loads of breeding heifers, 11 loads of lambs and five loads of hogs. The Sells-Floto Circus, owned by Harry Tammen of the Denver Post, loaned the cattlemen a circus tent, which was replaced the following year by a 140 x 275 foot monstrosity manufactured by a local canvas company. (Challenged by January winds, the tent fell down once, but fortunately no one was injured.) Stock Show enthusiasts made do with the super tent until the 6,000-seat National Amphitheater opened in 1909, the same year livestock growers settled on the name, the National Western Stock Show.
Although the show often suffered the effects of bad weather (the blizzards of 1910, 1913 and 1915 were particularly devastating), it was only cancelled once, in 1915, due to an epidemic of hoof and mouth disease. By 1920, ticket prices had been raised to 75-cents and the show was finally in the red. Seven years later, the National Western Stock Show had become the third largest in the world, bringing some 50,000 visitors to the city. That same year, Denverites began keeping their Christmas lights up through January, a tradition that some still continue.
When the National Western Rodeo became part of the stock show in 1931, rodeo riders had an opportunity to win major prizes and large sums along with the accolades. Interestingly, the biggest star that year was not a cowboy but a horse named Midnight, who bucked off every rider who had ever attempted to mount the cantankerous creature. Starring in various rodeos beginning in the 1920s, Midnight eventually retired to a ranch in Platteville. His remains lie in the Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City.
In 1940, the National Western initiated a separate junior livestock show that allowed youngsters, many from 4-H groups, to compete for cash and ribbons. The show had become such a popular local tradition that, in 1947, taxpayers passed a $1.5 million bond for construction of the Denver Coliseum, dedicated Jan. 10, 1952, on the 46th anniversary of the National Western. That same year, the Westernaires, a Jefferson county organization of young riders, made their first appearance. The first show at the Coliseum, the largest in history up to that point, brought in $323,500. Two years later, Channel 9 covered the closing night rodeo, televised for the first time.
During the 1960s and 70s, stock shows in general lost popularity. Even the granddaddy of them all, the Chicago International Livestock Exhibition, was cancelled in 1975. By purchasing additional land and expanding the site and its attractions, the National Western survived with the addition of a new Expo Hall and Stadium Hall in 1991 and a $13 million Events Center in 1995.
The show has steadily added events and attractions over the decades, including the National Sheep Shearing Contest in 1975. During the 1980s, the show expanded to ten days, and attendance topped the half million mark for the first time. This year the show opened on Jan. 8 and continues through Jan. 23.
One important stock show tradition has continued through the decades. On Jan. 21, the National Western’s 2011 Grand Champion Steer will walk down a red carpet to be put on display during Afternoon Tea in The Brown Palace Hotel and Spa’s lobby. From 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. the public can have complimentary photos taken with the steer, and rodeo royalty will also be on site for photos and autographs.
The steer’s visit to The Brown is one of many appearances made by livestock in the hotel. In 1945, Dan Thornton, who later became governor of Colorado, arranged to have two Hereford bulls shown and sold here for $50,000. In 1958, Monte Montana clattered into the lobby on his horse, Rex, and continued up the grand staircase to drop in on a meeting of the Rodeo Cowboys Association.
