The beginnings of the National Western Stock Show
Longhorn cattle in the Stock Show Kick-Off Parade, which also includes horses and western wagons. The parade starts outside Union Station and marches twelve blocks down 17th Street to Glenarm Place.
Colorado living:
With 119 years of history and tradition, the National Western Stock Show (NWSS) is a Colorado icon. A nationally recognized western heritage and entertainment event, the show runs for 16 days every January.
Prior to the first NWSS in 1906, there were several small stock shows in Denver. The Denver Blood Stock Association held its Blood Stock Fair in 1874, with horse racing and showing thoroughbred cattle. In 1899, the National Livestock Association held its second annual session in Denver, with the National Exhibition of Range Cattle held at the same time under its auspices. The Denver Fat Stock and Feeder Show met in Denver sporadically between 1899 and 1906 and included livestock exhibits. The Festival of Mountain and Plain included cattle exhibits between 1895 and 1903.
For January 1906, six associations scheduled nearly simultaneous meetings in Denver: the National Livestock Association, the American Stock Growers Association, the National Wool Growers Association, the Colorado Cattle and Horse Growers Association, the Colorado Horticultural Society, and the Colorado State Forestry Association. To take advantage of this, Elias M. Ammons, president of the Colorado Cattle and Horse Growers Association, George W. Ballantine, president of The Denver Union Stock Yard Company, and Fred P. Johnson, publisher of the Denver Record-Stockman newspaper, organized the first Denver stock show in 1906, known then as the Western Live Stock Show.
That first year, much of the show took place next to the stockyards in a big top tent borrowed from the Sells-Floto Circus. Four breeds of cattle were shown—Angus, Galloway, Hereford and Shorthorn—with 351 cattle, sheep and hogs shown in total. With the success of the show, the Western Stock Show Association was formed and to this day, is the legal entity behind the NWSS.
In 1907, the show was renamed the Western National Live Stock Show. That year, the carload class was established, which was the exhibition, judging, and sale of 20-animal lots. The class has continued as Carload shows, Truckload shows, and Pen shows of three and five head, and is a major difference between the NWSS and other major national stock shows. The 1907 event also saw the first draft horses shown, the location moved to the “Hill” immediately east-southeast of the stock yards, a two-story brick horse barn built, and a new canvas big top acquired.
In 1931, the 25th anniversary year, the stock show introduced rodeo to visitors. Since then, the National Western Rodeo has included most of the great contestants of rodeo, both human and animal, including Midnight and Five Minutes to Midnight, two of the greatest horses to appear at the show in the 1930s.
From these modest beginnings, the NWSS has grown into the premier livestock, rodeo and horse show in the nation, celebrating western lifestyles and welcoming around 700,000 visitors each year. This year, the National Western runs Saturday, January 11 through Sunday, January 26, with the kickoff parade starting at noon outside Union Station Thursday, January 9. For more information, visit nationalwestern.com.
In the 1920s, people asked, “Is that Midnight?” The answer was, “Darn close to it!” So often confused with the famous bronc, Midnight, Tumbling Mustard got a new name: Five Minutes To Midnight. Both horses were inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in 1979.
By Susan Helton; photos courtesy of National Western Stock Show Volunteer Photographers and ProRodeo Hall of Fame website
