“The Biggest in the World—Naturally:” The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo (Pt III) (March 8, 2026)
by Scott Sosebee
This concludes the series on the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo
Houston and its civic leaders, for much of its history and certainly in the years since the end of World War II, had long desired to be considered one of the top municipalities in the nation, if not the world. In many ways such a “status” is arbitrary and capricious, and depends on who is doing the judging and what they are counting. Despite the randomness in determining such a degree of prestige, in the mid-to-late twentieth century there were markers that signaled that a city had “made it. One of those was the presence of a singular or prestigious industry within the metropolitan area. That was one reason why Houston, aided by the state of Texas and Texas politician Lyndon B. Johnson, first when he served as Majority Leader of the Senate and later as Vice-president, so doggedly pursued the city to be the location of the new National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), a campaign that began in 1958 and succeeded on September 19, 1961 when the site was chosen as the hub for Apollo moon missions and all human spaceflight operations undertaken by the United States. Another one of those signposts for a city was the presence of a professional sports franchise, and Houston pursued that with the same persistence.
The pro sports “bug” hit Houston in the 1950s, and in that era the crown jewel when it came to a professional sports franchise was Major League Baseball. Eventually, that would happen with the granting of an expansion franchise, the Houston Colt 45’s, a team that would eventually become known as the Houston Astros. That new name derived because of the stadium they would eventually call home, one that the Fat Stock Show would play a role in making happen. That stadium—officially known as the Harris County Domed Stadium, but would gain fame as the Astrodome—would change not only the fortunes of the city of Houston but also the city’s signature spring event.
An obstacle that Houston faced in attracting a professional baseball franchise was in having a place to play. The city had a AAA minor league team in the Houston Buffaloes that played in Buffalo Stadium, a venue that was notorious for not only its extreme heat and humidity—all of Houston suffers from that—but also for the extreme swarms of mosquitos that terrorized player and fans alike. To help overcome that shortcoming, the state of Texas, in 1957, granted Harris County the right to issue bonds to fund building such a structure. Fat Stock Show and Rodeo President Archer Romero saw an opportunity. He lobbied to be placed on the county-appointed commission to formulate a plan, and when he received the appointment he stepped down from his position with the Stock Show and Rodeo to devote full time to that body. Eventually, the Harris County Stadium Commission approved a plan to be sent to the county’s voters that called for both a stadium and a connected, fully air-conditioned coliseum. The commission listed three primary uses for the new edifices: Major League Baseball, a potential professional football franchise (which Bud Adams would keep out of the stadium until 1968), and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo (as it was renamed in 1961).
The issue was to go before the voters, but Romero had another plum to add to the plan. The Stock Show and Rodeo had acquired 230 acres of land near South Main, on the south edge of the city, and they announced that they would donate that parcel for the location of the new plan under one condition: they wanted input into the final design. It’s difficult to say if that was a final swaying gesture in the vote, but Harris County voters overwhelmingly approved the measure and the result, the Astrodome (which opened in 1965), would not only revolutionize professional sports, but it would send the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo into the stratosphere of popularity.
The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo had outgrown Sam Houston Coliseum by the middle of the 1950s. The grounds could not contain the demand for vendors, which actually caused many of them to stop coming, and the number of exhibitors became limited as well. The chicken, rabbit, and hog shows were cancelled in 1962 due to lack of space. Even the trail rides were hindered by the limited room; by the early 1960s the participants in the rides had grown to almost a thousand, and any more expansion was limited because the area of the coliseum could not accommodate any more. Even the midway and carnival rides had dwindled and had become less of a highlight due to the cramped conditions. The opening of the Astrodome was a welcome relief, for sure, and it set off a new round of expansion for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.
The first event held in the Astrodome and Astrohall complex came in 1966. The ultimate design for the complex was without a doubt done with the Livestock Show and Rodeo in mind. The entire complex spanned over 100 acres when all surrounding features and facilities were counted, enough to hold the Livestock Show, the Midway and Carnival, and any vendors that wanted to pay the fee and set up. Of course, the center of the complex was the Astrodome, which is where the rodeo would be held. After configuring for a rodeo arena, the Astrodome could seat 40,000—about the same as for a baseball game (football configuration allowed for 52,000 in its earliest days, but would grow to over 60,000 in its late uses)—and skeptics scoffed that there was no way the rodeo could fill that space for even one performance, much less multiple ones. Those cynics were wrong. The rodeo drew sellouts over its entire run.
The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo would grow to phenomenal heights with its move to the Astrodome and Astrohall complex. It would grow to run for three weeks, and the rodeo would have performances on 20 consecutive days, and conclude with a championship round that is rivaled only by the National Finals Rodeo in the sport. Concerts would grow and include not only country and pop music acts but also hip-hop and Tejano shows. Another chapter would turn when the Astrodome closed in 2002 and everything was moved to adjacent Reliant Stadium (now NRG Stadium). That set the stage for another first—the largest attendance for a single Rodeo event when a crowd of almost 76,000 spectators gathered on March 10, 2019 for a performance on “Go Tejano Day.” The biggest rodeo and stock show in the world will continue this year from March 2 to March 22. I am sure some of you will don your boots and grab your hat and make an appearance.
The East Texas Historical Association provides this column as a public service. Scott Sosebee the Executive Director of the Association and can be contacted at sosebeem@sfasu.edu or via www.easttexashistorical.org.