From the Fort Worth Stockyards website:
Between 1866 and 1890, drovers trailed more than four million head of cattle through Fort Worth. The city soon became known as “Cowtown.”
When the railroad arrived in 1876, Fort Worth became a major shipping point for livestock, so the city built the Union Stockyards, two and a half miles north of the Tarrant County Courthouse, in 1887.
. . .
[And with the construction of the] Livestock Exchange Building, which housed the many livestock commission companies, telegraph offices, railroad offices and other support businesses. It became known as “The Wall Street of the West.”
And in 1907, the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo began.
But today, a different kind of stock market is stampeding to Texas.
The Texas Stock Exchange (TXSE or “Y’all Street”) is officially registered and plans to begin trading in 2026. More than 50 years ago, the Texas Legislature commissioned a study into the feasibility of a Texas securities exchange. And, of course, in the intervening time, the Texas economy has diversified, and Texas has become a go-to destination for corporate relocations as well as new start-ups.
With more business-friendly regulations, a belief in both the freedom to succeed and the freedom to fail, and with one of the best airports in the world centrally located midcontinent, Texas is the place to be.
Not to be left behind, the New York Stock Exchange has moved quickly to have a presence in Texas as well. NYSE Texas obviously has a head start on the Texas Stock Exchange, so it will be interesting to see how that competition shakes out.
And just a few days ago, Nasdaq announced Nasdaq Texas at an event with several leaders in the oil and gas industry.
None of this is an accident. The Texas Constitution now bans taxes on securities, and other recent laws make it more difficult for political activists to harass corporations through ideological shareholder resolutions.
And the new specialized Texas Business Court system is designed to handle complex business disputes in an expedited manner separate from the overburdened district courts. Judges have commercial litigation experience, and this provides Texas businesses with streamlined processes and reliable outcomes.
Many companies, including Tesla but most recently Coinbase, have announced that they are abandoning Delaware and reincorporating in Texas because of lower costs and better legal protections.
As Democrat-led cities and states become increasingly inhospitable to wealth creation and business formation, and even unsafe and unpleasant for daily life, Texas is reaping the benefits. Of course, this will present challenges as well, but signs are good that Texas is up to the job.