Already The 2nd Tuesday Of November With The Fort Worth Stockyard Ruins Ruined By Chesapeake Energy

The view from my primary viewing portal on the world on this 8th day of the next to last month of 2011 seems to have an odd golden glow going on, even though the sky is totally overcast with the sun's light filtered through a thick layer of vaporized H2O.

After the sun finished its daily lighting duties on Day 7 of the next to last month of 2011 rain fell in copious amounts for a short duration, accompanied by a little thunder and lightning.

Watching Dancing with the Stars Pete Delkus did not directly interrupt with any dire weather warnings, except during commercial breaks, when he did inform us that there was some potential tornado action possible somewhere within his viewing range.

All appears wet this morning in the outer world. Currently heated to a balmy 70 at my location. I see no hill hiking in my future today.

Changing the subject from the weather to the destruction of one of my favorite Fort Worth locations.

The Fort Worth Stockyards Ruins.

I did not know, until this morning, that Chesapeake Energy had purchased the 18 acre site of the former Swift Armor meat packing plant at the east end of the Fort Worth Stockyards, way back in 2007, hoping to develop the property as yet one more drilling site.

Chesapeake supposedly spent around $700,000 removing asbestos from the site, along with $30,000 a month on security. Security which I've only noticed way back when the FOX TV show, Prison Break, used the Stockyard Ruins as a set, turning the Stockyards into a Panama prison.

Chesapeake gave up on the idea of drilling on the Stockyard Ruins land, then looked into turning it into some sort of headquarters. That was deemed too expensive. And so now the Fort Worth Stockyard Ruins are going to be demolished so the land can be redeveloped.

The Fort Worth Stockyards will never be the same. But, they may be better with the Stockyard Ruins gone.

I'm going swimming now.

Prison Break, Sona Prison & Fort Worth's Stockyard Ruins

You're looking at Panama's Sona Prison in the pictures. Sona Prison is located in the ruins at the east side of the Fort Worth Stockyards.

The Stockyard Ruins were used as a set for the defunct FOX TV show called Prison Break.

A long time ago I'd made a webpage about the Stockyard Ruins. I'd never seen such a thing as the Stockyard Ruins in a city. Visually the ruins are very interesting, as if you're looking at a WWII bombed out city.

Recently there has been talk of fixing up the Stockyard Ruins and turning them into some sort of mixed used development, making the ruins stable and safe. I really can't see that happening.

So, this morning I got an email from a Fort Worth native named Hailey. Hailey, bless her heart, had seen my webpage about the Stockyard Ruins and she earnestly wanted to let me know that the Stockyards Ruins weren't really the site of a Panamanian Prison.

Below is Hailey's email....

Hello,
My Name is Hailey and I am a local resident of Fort Worth [born and raised]. I came across your webpage about the ruins of the stock yards, particularly the ruins of the swift and armor meat packing plant. "And now rumor has it that the Stockyards Ruins are being used as a prison, housing mostly Panamanian prisoners and a few Americans. The prison is called Sona. We discovered the prison on Thursday, November 1, 2007....."

I just thought that you would like to know that this rumored information is completely false. In 2007 The hit TV show Prison Break used the ruins as a set for several episodes, in fact the guard towers that line the edge of the property were erected by the set crew of the TV show and are not actually an original part of the property. The Prison Break producers also used locations in Decatur, Texas, mainly in the old town square. I just though you would like to know that what you saw was the filming of a TV show, not an actual secret prison. =)

-Sincerely
Hailey

Thank you very much for being sincere, Hailey. I appreciate it.

Fort Worth's Stockyard Ruins Went Up In Animal Fat Flames

Adjacent to Fort Worth's #1 tourist attraction, that being the Fort Worth Stockyards, there is an area of sprawling ruins, the site of the former Swift-Armor meat packing plant, where cattle driven to the Stockyards met their final fate.

The Stockyard's Ruins is such an aesthetically interesting looking thing that one would think that something would be done with them. I don't know, maybe preserve the ruins, but build touristy things among them, like restaurants. Maybe they are just too unsafe and it's best to let them continue their gradual decay.

The only creative use I know of, regarding the Stockyard Ruins, is the Fox TV show Prison Break used it as the set of Sona Prison in Panama during that show's second and third season. Prison Break has now abandoned the Stockyards Ruins.

The reason I've mentioned the Ruins today is yesterday I got Feedback regarding them from someone calling himself CM Waring and claiming to have an answer as to what happened that made the ruins.

Here is what CM had to tell me....

"The Stockyards ruins were victims of arson fires, 2, in 1971 and 1973. The amount of animal fat in the buildings left the fires unable to be extinguished. They just let it burn out. I was long interested in how the ruins got in the state it's been for decades. I had to do plenty of digging to get that info, and I couldn't tell you where I finally found it. It was not easy."

I don't know. You don't really see signs of what looks like a big fire at the Stockyard Ruins. It more looks like a massive earthquake shook it all. But they don't get earthquakes here. Maybe a tornado struck it. Or maybe it was a huge animal fat fire. The mystery continues...