The next stop across the street is the former site of the First National Bank of the Stockyards at 115 East Exchange Avenue. In 1932, a man entered the bank with a vial of nitroglycerin and handed the teller a note that read, “Give me all your money.” The teller told the bank manager, who sent his assistant to supervise and count the money while he called the marshals. However, he told them not to enter because the robber had nitroglycerin and they did not want to startle him. A marshal stood on either side of the door. The robber heard something, turned around, looked, saw the marshals, and became startled. He dropped the nitroglycerin, blowing up himself and the manager’s assistant. Newspaper clippings from the time are said to be very graphic because nothing was censored back then. Because of these deaths, some believe that the spirits of the two men may still linger here.
Another bank purchased the bank in 1937 and moved it downtown, after which a local family opened the White Front Western Store in its place. Mr. Fincher, the owner, ran the store until he was around eighty years old. When he finally retired (the family still owns it), he kept returning to the store because he had nothing to do. He was getting in the way, so they gave him a rocking chair, seated him by the front door, and told him he was the security guard and had to make sure no one stole anything. It gave him a sense of purpose, and that was exactly what he did. After his death, they left the rocking chair in place in his honor, and some people noticed that since his death—even after the store closed at night—the chair would rock by itself, even on windless nights. Eventually, the owners put it away. Our guide, Schermerhorn, said that the family who owns the property has no interest in ghost stories and insists that there are no spirits there; she says, however, that she can definitely feel the energy and knows that something is happening there.
Cowtown Coliseum at 121 East Exchange Avenue has witnessed many strange events since it opened in the early 20th century. As we walked down the street during the ghost-story tour, a cowboy approached us and spontaneously began telling us how the hand dryers in the restrooms there keep turning on by themselves. In 1907, the people who organized the Feeder and Breeder Show in Fort Worth, which had always been held on the banks of Marshall Creek, decided they had had enough of the February weather and wanted a venue with a more controlled environment. They also needed an indoor space for the rodeo and exhibition. They constructed this building, Cowtown Coliseum, in eighty-eight days beginning in October 1907 and opened it on February 1, 1908, for the Feeder and Breeder Show. Although it is essentially the same as it was in 1908, some features, such as the plumbing and electrical systems, have been modernized. It was the site of the first indoor rodeo and the first radio broadcast from North Texas, aired in 1908 on station WBAP. At the time, it was the largest facility in Fort Worth until Will Rogers Coliseum was built. When needed, a wooden floor was laid over the arena. Major events were regularly held here, as were a number of steeplechase races. Teddy Roosevelt spoke here in 1913, and Elvis Presley performed here in 1960 because when he was booked, he was not yet very popular, so they chose a smaller venue in Fort Worth rather than Dallas. Then Elvis became immensely popular, and they wanted to cancel the contract, but they could not, so Elvis had no choice but to perform at the Coliseum.
Bob Hope performed here one year, and in the 1960s it was home to roller derby and Saturday wrestling matches—truly a wide variety of events and a rich history. Today, a rodeo is held here every Friday and Saturday evening. One particularly interesting thing about this place is that people, including those from North Fort Worth, report various paranormal phenomena.
Another spirit said to haunt the building is that of a woman who was reportedly murdered in the building and found in the vault. Of course, because this is the Stockyards, some people also report hearing the sounds of spurs, as well as unusual creaking and moaning.
Take your own little walk up and down Exchange Avenue, especially in the evening when it is quiet and few people are around. Add a full moon and a breeze, and who knows what you might see.
