Neil P. Anderson Building
Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Neil P. Anderson (1847-1912) lived in Fort Worth by 1882. A talented broker, he helped this city set the pace for cotton trading in the inland markets of the Southwest. His firm had Sanguinet & Staats design this "Cotton Exchange" with seven skylights over top floor showrooms. Completed in 1921, it housed some of the city's leading businesses. The Exchange closed in 1939, but the Anderson interests owned the building until 1963. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark- 1978.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Cotton was king in the early-20th-century Southwest, and broker Neil P. Anderson helped make Fort Worth a hub of the inland cotton trade. His firm commissioned the prominent architects Sanguinet & Staats to design this "Cotton Exchange," completed in 1921 with skylit top-floor showrooms where buyers could inspect samples in natural light. Home to leading local businesses, the Exchange closed in 1939, though the Anderson family held the building until 1963.
Why it matters
The building is a monument to the cotton economy that powered Texas cities in the early 1900s, when raw agriculture and urban commerce grew up side by side.
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Related people
- Β· Neil P. Anderson
Themes & tags
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