Skip to Main Content

Famous Outlaw Laps.

Sit on Famous Outlaw Laps

Field review by the editors.

Fort Worth, Texas

Butch Cassidy, The Sundance Kid, and three of their "Wild Bunch" gang members posed for one of the Old West's most famous photos on November 21, 1900. Wearing stylish new suits and bowler hats, the gang was flush with cash from several successful bank and train robberies, and had traveled to Fort Worth to unwind in its "Hell's Half Acre" district of saloons and brothels.

Fort Worth Five Photograph
Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid did not look like Paul Newman and Robert Redford.

Photographer John Swartz snapped the five outlaws in a studio portrait, and liked it so much that he displayed a copy in his lobby -- where it was seen by Fort Worth's chief detective. The detective copied the photo onto Wanted posters, and the Wild Bunch gang was forced to split up, never to rob together again. All five men eventually died violently.

A life-size bronze replica of the "Fort Worth Five Photograph" was commissioned by Fort Worth neurosurgeon George Cravens, who owns the building where the sculpture has been nestled into an outdoor niche. He originally wanted to display it in a nearby park, but he liked the finished piece by Franco Alessandrini so much that he decided to shelter it from the weather.

The artwork, completed in December 2017, stands only four blocks from where the photo had been snapped 117 years before. Cravens told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, "I know I'll catch hell over it," although the people we spoke with in the local tourism office seemed perfectly happy with Cravens' acknowledgment of the city's Wild West past.

The sculpture is designed so that visitors can pose in the outlaws' laps. Butch Cassidy sits far right, The Sundance Kid far left.

Sit on Famous Outlaw Laps

Address:
1006 Houston St., Fort Worth, TX
Directions:
Downtown, opposite the Convention Center. On the west side of Houston St. just south of its intersection with W. 9th St.
RA Rates:
Worth a Detour
Save to My Sights

Nearby Offbeat Places

Bronze JFK Gave Last Speech HereBronze JFK Gave Last Speech Here, Fort Worth, TX - < 1 mi.
Where JFK Spent His Last NightWhere JFK Spent His Last Night, Fort Worth, TX - < 1 mi.
Skyscraper with Lots of FossilsSkyscraper with Lots of Fossils, Fort Worth, TX - < 1 mi.
In the region:
B-29 Bomber Collision Site, Weatherford, TX - 28 mi.

More Quirky Attractions in Texas

Stories, reports and tips on tourist attractions and odd sights in Texas.

Explore Thousands of Unique Roadside Landmarks!

Strange and amusing destinations in the US and Canada are our specialty. Start here.
Use RoadsideAmerica.com's Attraction Maps to plan your next road trip.

My Sights

My Sights on Roadside America

Save Cool Vacation Destinations! ...Try My Sights

Mobile Apps

Roadside America app: iPhone, iPad Roadside America app for iPhone, iPad. On-route maps, 1,000s of photos, special research targets! ...More

Roadside Presidents app: iPhone, iPad Roadside Presidents app for iPhone, iPad. POTUS landmarks, oddities. ...More

Texas Latest Tips and Stories

Latest Visitor Tips

Sight of the Week

Sight of the Week

Easter Island Moai in America (Mar 25-31, 2024)

SotW Archive

USA and Canada Tips and Stories

More Sightings