Pioneer Plaza in Dallas, Texas, commemorates Dallas’ beginnings by celebrating the trails that brought settlers to Dallas. It is the largest public open space in the Dallas central business district and features a re-creation of a cattle drive with bronze longhorn steers being driven by three cowboys on horses. This sculpture series has come to represent a “symbol of Westernness” that has enabled it to become a new top attraction for Dallas.
An Iconic “Western” Sculpture in the City of Dallas
In 1995, the Texas Trees Foundation dedicated Pioneer Plaza to the City of Dallas and in doing so solidified what was and is a place of historical significance for downtown Dallas. The plaza and its accompanying sculpture were the idea of real estate developer Trammell Crow, who wanted an iconic “Western” sculpture in the city of Dallas.
Each piece of bronze art was created by artist Robert Summers of Glen Rose, Texas. It commemorates nineteenth-century cattle drives that took place along the Shawnee Trail, the earliest and easternmost route by which Texas longhorn cattle were taken to northern railheads. The trail passed through Austin, Waco, and Dallas until the Chisolm Trail siphoned off most of the traffic in 1867.
While the Dallas Cattle Drive sculptures are tied to the history of the city, everyone in the area didn’t embrace them. Local artists sued to stop the project and claimed that it was historically inaccurate for the city. The clash was a personification of the identity crisis that pits the mercantile past of the city with far more romanticized notions of a cowboy life and mentality. Nonetheless, the project opened on time in 1994.
Today, the park is maintained by the adjacent Dallas Convention Center and is the second most visited tourist attraction in downtown Dallas. An additional steer is occasionally added to the herd, although pieces are also removed and stored so they can be repaired as necessary. These continued improvements and revitalizations are just part of how the piece is defining and representing the culture of Dallas itself.
A Symbol of Westernness
As one of the largest arrangement of bronze statues in North America, the Dallas Cattle Drive statues are notable for the experience they enable for visitors. Similar to other sculpture series that allow visitors to walk amongst the various pieces, it’s easy to feel as if you’re part of a cattle drive while walking alongside and amidst the bronze sculptures. Pieces that represent the “trail boss”, the “black cutter” and “vaquero” further enable a sense of what these cattle drives were like to be on.
That experience is undoubtedly part of what one city official mentioned when he talked about the sculptures being a “symbol of Westernness”, and something that Trammell Crow was very much trying to capture when he commissioned the piece. Crow was quoted as saying that the Dallas Cattle Drive would one day be one of the greatest monuments in the entire world. It’s not a prediction that has come true in the strictest sense, but the impact the sculpture series has had on the city and culture is significant.
The piece directly and indirectly embraces the history of the area as well, since it is located adjacent to Pioneer Park Cemetery, which contains the city’s earliest founders. Additionally, the Dallas Cattle Drive monument itself has numerous plaques and commemorations that honor the donors that made the sculpture possible. It’s an illustration of what it can mean to honor the people and institutions that make monuments possible.
Residents use the location for wedding and quinceañera photos, but there’s always a bus full of people posing for photos amid the stampede. Just like the Pegasus, the site has become an attraction that encourages visitors to see what the city has to offer beyond Dealey Plaza. Allowing residents and visitors to embrace an attraction that is directly tied to the culture of the city has proven to be an important development in especially profound ways.
Moving Beyond Dealey Plaza
While the history and memorials associated with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy will always be significant to Dallas, the presence of what could still become the city’s signature tourist attraction is important for several reasons. Not only does the Dallas Cattle Drive highlight a different kind of history, but it allows tourists and residents to associate Dallas with an identity that is completely separate and authentic.
Whether or not the Dallas Cattle Drive ever becomes the most popular attraction in the city is a secondary consideration when compared to the importance of creating a monument that represents something that helped make Dallas great.
