The Livestock Exchange Building
The Livestock Exchange Building is one of the remaining historic structures on the future National Western Center campus, and an icon of local agricultural heritage.
An Icon
The Livestock Exchange Building at 4701 Marion St. stands in what was the epicenter of the region’s livestock industry for most of the 20th century. Purpose-built beside the railroad, stockyards and nearby meatpacking plants, it represented the administrative, financial, regulatory and social hub of the livestock trade.
The Building
Three connected wings comprise the Livestock Exchange Building – built in 1898 (center), 1916 (east) and 1919 (west). The 1916 structure is the most visible and recognizable to Stock-Show-goers, and retains much of its original features and charm, inside and out. Floors, ceilings, staircases and wood trim are largely untouched. Wood, marble, granite and terrazzo finishes still grace the interior, and a second-story hall still features the chalkboard where livestock prices were listed. The center building was damaged in a fire in 2003 and has not been occupied since. Photo: The building is at the far end of the stockyards, just right of the rail line.
Uses through the Years
The Denver Livestock Exchange was a nonprofit that from 1906 to 1962 oversaw livestock sales at the yards from its offices in this building. Large safes can still be found on the first floor from the Stock Yards National Bank, which had a presence from the time the building opened. The longest tenant in the building was the Colorado Brand Inspection Board (1906 to 2015). Over time, agribusiness tenants left the building. In recent years the Livestock Exchange Building has housed a variety of private businesses. Today, the Denver Stockyard Saloon — located in the west wing — is the current iteration of the structures’ string of restaurants, inns and watering holes that first served stockmen in 1898.
A Rebirth
Just two miles north of downtown Denver, today the building is an unparalleled opportunity to link ag heritage and ag innovation for the next 100 years, and bring the building back to its rightful place at the forefront of the region’s food industry. For information on leasing office suites, contact s.nalley@nationalwesterncenter.com.
