{"id":360431,"date":"2025-11-06T19:16:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T19:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/360431\/"},"modified":"2025-11-06T19:16:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T19:16:11","slug":"new-west-exchange-sign-highlights-fort-worth-stockyards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/360431\/","title":{"rendered":"New West Exchange Sign Highlights Fort Worth Stockyards"},"content":{"rendered":"

Move over, East Exchange Avenue \u2014 West Exchange Avenue is about to have its moment in the spotlight, and it only took\u00a0nearly a\u00a0decade, some city wrangling, and a whole lot of push from West Exchange business owner Ruth Hooker<\/a>.\u00a0That\u2019s\u00a0right, the Historic Fort Worth Stockyards is welcoming a brand-new ranch-style sign to the western end, right near Hooker\u2019s Grill at\u00a0213 W Exchange Ave, with a ribbon-cutting set for 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 12.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis sign has been\u00a0nearly six\u00a0years in the making,\u201d Ruth says, recalling her long campaign to shine a light on the overlooked west end. \u201cPeople always go to East Exchange, like\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0the only spot of the Stockyards,\u00a0and\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0like, \u2018There\u2019s a lot more to this street.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ruth says she\u00a0began pushing for a sign a couple of years after opening her burger joint\u00a0nearly nine\u00a0years ago. \u201cEvery week that\u00a0we\u2019ve\u00a0been open, I hear people say, \u2018We just left the\u00a0Stockyards,\u00a0and we were looking for something to eat,\u2019 or leave reviews saying, \u2018We found a great little burger joint just on the outside of the Stockyards.\u2019 You would be surprised how many local Fort Worth people did not realize that there was more up the hill.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The sign\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0just decorative \u2014\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0about making West Exchange feel like part of the Stockyards community. \u201cEven though\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0there, you still\u00a0kind of feel\u00a0like an outsider a little bit,\u201d\u00a0Ruth\u00a0says. \u201cWe opened our businesses there because we love the Stockyards, and we wanted to be a part of the Stockyards, and instead we\u2019ve been feeling like we were apart from the Stockyards and not a part of it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Design was led by Fort Worth architect Arthur Weinman, a local legend whose work includes projects such as the Tarrant County Courthouse and the Isis Theatre. Construction was handled by Michael Smith Marathon Commercial Construction LLC, with project management by Paul Paine of Fort Worth Stockyards Inc.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ruth\u00a0praises Weinman for his generosity and\u00a0expertise: \u201cI asked Arthur if he could design the sign and also do it for free until I could get the funding\u2026 and he agreed.\u201d\u00a0Acme Brick Co., another Fort Worth company, donated the bricks for the columns once they knew Weinman was involved.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

City approvals and funding were part of the process. Hooker appeared before the City\u00a0Council\u00a0and the\u00a0TIF15 board\u00a0multiple times. \u201cEven if we had a private donor\u2026 once the sign\u2019s complete because of where it sits on the sidewalk, it\u2019s city property,\u201d she explains. Mayor Pro\u202fTem\u00a0Carlos E. Flores, who\u00a0represents\u00a0District\u202f2, highlighted the sign\u2019s impact: \u201cThis new West Exchange Avenue sign will provide wayfinding for visitors to help businesses get more visibility and define a sense of place in our Fort Worth Stockyards\u2026 I very much appreciate everyone who took part in making this sign possible.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Placement was carefully considered. Hooker originally wanted the sign on Houston Street, but \u201cbecause of the Rodeo Exchange building and the Alps building, it wouldn\u2019t\u00a0fit\u00a0there,\u201d she says. The city picked a location that\u00a0wouldn\u2019t\u00a0interfere with historic buildings \u2014 conveniently landing right outside\u00a0Ruth\u2019s restaurant,\u00a0Hooker\u2019s Grill. \u201cIt just happened to work out that way,\u201d she laughs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With Stockyards visitors increasing from 1.2 million to over 10 million annually, West Exchange has long flown under the radar, according to Ruth.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope that the sign spurs people to want to do business and have a business on West Exchange,\u201d Ruth adds. \u201cBut if people\u00a0don’t\u00a0know, then the people are missing out. Not just the businesses, but the visitors are\u00a0missing out on\u00a0a neat experience as well.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

November 6, 2025<\/p>\n

11:57 AM<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Move over, East Exchange Avenue \u2014 West Exchange Avenue is about to have its moment in the spotlight,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":360432,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5138],"tags":[5229,7371,7372,94813,36461,358,7453,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-360431","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fort-worth","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-fort-worth","10":"tag-fortworth","11":"tag-hooker","12":"tag-stockyards","13":"tag-texas","14":"tag-top-story","15":"tag-tx","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-united-states-of-america","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","20":"tag-us","21":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115504361394474060","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=360431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360431\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/360432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}