The American Hereford Association is an organization in the USA that promotes
Hereford cattle
The Hereford is a British breed of beef cattle originally from Herefordshire in the West Midlands of England. It has spread to many countries – there are more than five million purebred Hereford cattle in over fifty nations worldwide. The bre ...
.
It was founded in 1883 and operated out of the home of Charles Gudgel in
Independence, Missouri
Independence is the fifth-largest city in Missouri and the county seat of Jackson County. Independence is a satellite city of Kansas City, Missouri, and is the largest suburb on the Missouri side of the Kansas City metropolitan area. In 2020, ...
.
In 1899, it hosted the Hereford Association Cattle Show in a tent in the
Kansas City stockyards The Kansas City Stockyards in the West Bottoms west of downtown Kansas City, Missouri flourished from 1871 until closing in 1991.
Jay B. Dillingham was the President of the stockyards from 1948 to its closing in 1991.
History
The stockyards ...
. The show evolved into the
American Royal
The American Royal is a livestock show, horse show, rodeo, and barbecue competition held each year in September – November at various sites in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. The Future Farmers of America (now the National FFA Organiza ...
, a livestock show, horse show, rodeo, and barbecue competition.
From 1919 to 1953, its headquarters was at 300 W. 11th Street in Kansas City across the street from the Lyric Theatre. On October 16, 1953,
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...
presided over the opening of a new headquarters on Quality Hill in Kansas City overlooking the stockyards and the
West Bottoms
The West Bottoms is an industrial area immediately to the west of downtown Kansas City, Missouri. Located in Kansas City, Missouri and Kansas City, Kansas it sits at the confluence of the Missouri River and the Kansas River. The area is one ...
. The headquarters at 715 Kirk Drive included a famous restaurant but its most distinctive feature was fiberglass statue of a Hereford bull on a 90-foot pylon which became a landmark.
The bull was nicknamed "Bob" by locals ("Bull on Building") and was either loved as an icon or reviled as kitsch that detracted from the city's beauty. The statue's sculptor was Paul Decker with the firm Rochetti and Parzini of New York, New York, and it was fabricated at Colonial Plastic Corporation of
Newark, New Jersey
Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.HNTB architecture firm which took down the bull. In 2002, the bull was restored to a 60-foot pylon across I-35 in Mulkey Square.