Fort Worth, Texas, known to most as "Cowtown" and "where the West begins," is a city of contrasts between its Old West, cowpunching history and its new persona, a sophisticated headquarters for world-class corporations, a transportation hub, an education center and home to premier fine arts museums. Unlike Dallas, its sister city to the east, Fort Worth reveres its colorful Western and Southern heritage, ready to stage a Longhorn cattle drive or a rodeo at the drop of a Stetson. Huge Fortune 500 companies call Fort Worth home--American Airlines, Bell Helicopter, RadioShack and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad--and the city wears the mantle of corporate development as easily as it wears boots and spurs.

Originally founded in 1849 as a military camp on the bluffs of the Trinity River, the city was named for Major General William Jenkins Worth, a distinguished Mexican War hero and second-in-command to General, later President, Zachary Taylor. Worth died of cholera in Texas that same year. One of a string of U.S. military encampments across Texas, Fort Worth grew quickly when it became a stop along the Chisholm Trail, the path along which millions of cattle were driven north to railheads in Kansas and Missouri in the 1850s. During its days as a rowdy cattle town, Fort Worth's "Hell's Half Acre," a section of the city, was given over to saloons, gambling halls and houses of ill repute. Following the Civil War, Fort Worth declined until 1876 when the Texas & Pacific Railway arrived and the city became a railhead. The Fort Worth Stockyards, of which a remnant remains, became the shipping point for Texas cattle and one of the nation's largest centers for meatpacking and processing.

In the early 1900s, Fort Worth got its second wind as oil and natural gas began to flow in the Permian Basin of West Texas. Wildcatters, speculators and roustabouts flocked to Cowtown seeking a shot at the petroleum riches. Today, Fort Worth remains home to many large and small energy companies and attendant services suppliers. In 1974, the city's entry onto the world's stage came about with the opening of the massive Dallas-Fort Worth Regional Airport, a facility larger than the island of Manhattan, located on the Dallas and Tarrant County boundary lines. DFW Airport, the second busiest airport in the U.S., behind Chicago's O'Hare, is the third busiest in the world. Its seven runways and three control towers make it the world's best on-time arrivals/departures airport, and recently DFW was voted the world's best cargo airport.

Amon G. Carter, a media mogul and oilman, had much to do with Fort Worth's growth. Carter, originally an advertising executive, began pushing the city in the early 1900s to develop and expand. Eventually Carter's influence permeated Fort Worth's infrastructure, and although he died in 1955, he is considered by most to be the father of modern-day Fort Worth. He is credited with describing Fort Worth as the place "where the West begins," and with leaving a monetary legacy that enabled the city to develop museums and huge public facilities. The Amon Carter Museum focuses on 19th and 20th century American artists and has in its collection the works of Western artists Frederic Remington and Charles Russell, and such American artists as Alexander Calder, Georgia O'Keeffe, John Singer Sargent and Winslow Homer.

Every year the city is the venue for the Southwestern Exposition & Livestock Show that draws more than 800,000 attendees over three weeks. In the Fort Worth suburb of Arlington, MLB's Texas Rangers play at the Ballpark in Arlington, and by 2009, the venerable Dallas Cowboys will be playing a few blocks away in a new $650 million stadium. The city also offers golf, a world-class zoo, gardens, theater and a downtown entertainment district known as Sundance Square, named, naturally, after the Old West outlaw Harry A. Longabaugh, alias The Sundance Kid.

Anchoring the west end of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, the city's economy is driven by aviation, banking, energy, retailing and manufacturing.

The median household income is approximately $37,000, and the cost of an average house in the Fort Worth area is $189,900. While less brassy than its neighbor Dallas, Fort Worth lives in the same climate as its big sister with mostly mild winters and very hot summers. Fall is a quiet, beautiful season in Fort Worth, but watch out for Spring when Texas tornadoes roar across the praire. One smacked Fort Worth's central business district in 2000, shredding a downtown high rise office building and leaving several fatalities. Most Texans, however, know what to watch for in the skies, and while tornadoes dance across the countryside, very few hit major population centers in the region.

So, if the "cowboy" spirit and a love for fine art, Tex-Mex and barbecue, competitive sports and a laid-back business environment are atttractive to you, the livability of Fort Worth, Texas will place this city at the top of your list for working, playing and raising a family.