Artist: Robert Wadsworth Grafton (1876–1936)
Thomas Benton Hord
HORD, THOMAS BENTON (1850–1910), inducted by 1920
Born in Marion, Ohio, Thomas Hord settled further west, acquiring land and establishing major beef and lamb feeder operations, first in Wyoming, and then in Nebraska. Hord had his own method of outdoor feeding, handling mature cattle only, and he marketed more than 10,000 each of cattle, sheep, and hogs annually—sometimes much more. He had eleven separate feeding stations around Central City, Nebraska, and the Union Pacific Railroad was kept busy at his switches, sending full trainloads of livestock to Chicago. Hord’s operations created the single largest market for grain and hay in the Midwest at the time, and the T. B. Hord Grain Company, with multiple elevators, was formed to address the need.
Source: Saddle & Sirloin Guidebook 2026, p. 114