Niles City, Texas

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History

Niles City. Contrary to the common belief the packing houses and stock yards are not in Fort Worth, they are of but not in Fort Worth. [sic] When this city inaugurated the commission form of government the committee on city boundaries, consisting of B. B. Paddock, Clarence Owsley and F. M. Rogers, conceived the idea of leaving, as far as practicable, a large area of trackage property outside of the city. Their idea was that it would be an inducement to factories to locate near the city, where they could be exempt from city taxes. The Chamber of Commerce inserted advertisements in many of the trade journals of the country offering factory sites, free of city taxes, to manufacturing concerns to locate here. Their expectations were not realized. Too few factories were secured to compensate for the loss of city taxes by reason of leaving this large area outside of the city. The stock yards and packing houses and the other industries connected therewith were embraced in the territory not incorporated.

When the new charter was passed by the Legislature the stock yard and packing house people incorporated Niles City, naming it for one of the minority stockholders of the Stock Yards' Company, Mr. L. V. Niles of Boston.

The area of Niles City comprises one square mile, and it has a resident population of 650. Probably between 8,000 and 10,000 people who work and do business there live in Fort Worth. The city has a city hall ; police force, consisting of chief and eight policemen ; a cotton mill, two grain elevators, pottery works, roundhouse of the Belt Railway, three groceries, and one drug store. The actual value of property in the city will aggregate from $20,000,000 to $25,000,000.

Considering the area and population it is probably the wealthiest city in the country. It has an aldermanic form of government and the mayor is Mrs. E. P. Croarkin. At the last general election Mr. Croarkin was elected mayor of the city, but died shortly after the election and his widow was elected to fill his unexpired term. - History of Texas, 1922, by W. Barrett Travis.