What happened to the Chicago Stock Yards?
The Yards closed at midnight on Friday, July 30, 1971, after several decades of decline during the decentralization of the meatpacking industry. The Union Stock Yard Gate was designated a Chicago Landmark on February 24, 1972, and a National Historic Landmark on May 29, 1981.
When were the stockyards built in Chicago?
History of the Yards, 1865–1953. Chicago, 1953. Pate, J'Nell L., Livestock Hotels: America's Historic Stockyards (Texas Christian University Press: Fort Worth, Texas, 2005). Rice, William. "City creates nation's livestock center."
Where is the Union Stock Yards gate in Chicago?
Image of an unidentified group of men walking away from the Union Stock Yards Gate at 850 West Exchange Avenue in the New City community area of Chicago, Illinois. The gate was built in 1879. Source: DN-0050344, Chicago Daily News negatives collection, Chicago History Museum.
How many miles of roads are in the Chicago Stock Yards?
By 1900 this vast enterprise at Exchange and Halsted streets encompassed 475 acres, with 50 miles of roads and 130 miles of track. 3 The Union Stock Yards collected a staggering volume of cattle.
Why did the stockyards in Chicago close?
Its decline was due to further advances in post–World War II transportation and distribution. Direct sales of livestock from breeders to packers, facilitated by advancement in interstate trucking, made it cheaper to slaughter animals where they were raised and excluded the intermediary stockyards.
What is the Chicago stockyards now?
The entire complex (livestock pens, packing plants, railroad shipping facilities) has been bulldozed — replaced by a massive development called “Stockyards Industrial Park,” an assortment of warehouses and manufacturing plants that are engaged in virtually every type of business other than meat packing.
Are there still slaughterhouses in Chicago?
There's still a smallish meatpacking district near Fulton Street. The city also hosts 11 official slaughterhouses. These are mostly neighborhood spots that focus on poultry, but three process mainly sheep, goats and pigs.
How many people worked in Chicago stockyards?
40,000 peopleEstablished in 1865, "The Yards" processed two million animals yearly by 1870. By 1890 the number had risen to nine million. In 1921, the Stockyards employed 40,000 people, and occupied more than a square mile of Chicago's South Side from 39th to 47th and from Halsted to Ashland.
Do the Chicago stockyards still exist?
One hundred years ago, more meat was processed in Chicago than anywhere on the planet. The slaughterhouses got their livestock from Chicago's Union Stockyards: 475 acres of cattle, hogs and other animals shipped here from all over the country. The stockyards closed 40 years ago, in 1971.
Why is Chicago called the slaughterhouse of the world?
The Union Stockyards operated in the New City community area for 106 years, helping Chicago become known as the "hog butcher for the world" and the center of the American meatpacking industry for decades. The stockyards became the focal point of the rise of some of the earliest international companies.
How many slaughterhouses are in Chicago?
Aden Poultry is one of 16 slaughterhouses in Chicago. It's the first slaughterhouse the city reviewed, at the same time Slaughter Free Chicago brought up it concerns.
What is one structure that remains of the Stockyards?
The Stock Yards Bank building has towered over the corner of Halsted Street and Exchange Avenue since 1925, withstanding a fire that wiped out much of the surrounding yards in 1934 and a drastically shifting workforce since the stockyards closed in 1971.
How long is the slaughterhouse haunted house?
More videos on YouTube You and up to 7 of your closest allies have 60 minutes to find and save victim 1 in the first ever live game of its kind.
Which stockyard was the largest in the world?
Located within historic Stockyards City, the Oklahoma National Stockyards is the largest stocker/feeder cattle market in the world.
When did Omaha Stockyards close?
1999Omaha overtook Chicago as the nation's largest livestock market and meat packing industry center in 1955, a title which it held onto until 1971. The 116-year-old institution closed in 1999.
Why was Chicago the center of the meat packing industry?
Chicago won that title during the Civil War. It was able to do so because most Midwestern farmers also raised livestock, and railroads tied Chicago to its Midwestern hinterland and to the large urban markets on the East Coast.
Did you know?
Mayor Richard J. Daley worked a few shifts in the stockyards as a youth.
Did you know?
The limestone gate that once marked the entrance to the yards remains on the site as a monument to the all the sweat and blood of Chicago’s past.
Did you know?
In addition to processing meat, the Stockyards made creative use of by-products. They manufactured items like soap, glue, gelatin, shoe polish, buttons, perfume, and violin strings.
When did the Union Stock Yards close?
The Yards closed at midnight on Friday, July 30, 1971, after several decades of decline during the decentralization of the meatpacking industry. The Union Stock Yard Gate was designated a Chicago Landmark on February 24, 1972, and a National Historic Landmark on May 29, 1981.
Where were the stockyards in Chicago?
In 1864, the Union Stock Yards were located just outside the southern boundary of the city of Chicago. Within five years, the area was incorporated into the city. Birdseye view, 1890. The yards in 1897.
What was the capital of the Union Stockyards?
By the 1890s, the railroad capital behind the Union Stockyards was Vanderbilt money. The Union Stockyards operated in the New City community area for 106 years, helping Chicago become known as the " hog butcher for the world " and the center of the American meatpacking industry for decades.
How much water was pumped into the Union stockyards in 1901?
General view of the Union Stock Yards, 1901. At one time, 500,000 US gallons (2,000 m 3) a day of Chicago River water were pumped into the stockyards. So much stockyard waste drained into the South Fork of the river that it was called Bubbly Creek due to the gaseous products of decomposition.
Why did the Union Stock Yards Livestock Pens decline?
Its decline was due to further advances in post–World War II transportation and distribution.
What is the back of the yard in Chicago?
Officially designated the "Town of Lake" until its incorporation into the City of Chicago in about 1870, the neighborhood was known locally as "Packingtown.". However, much later in the 1930s, the community would become known as the "Back of the Yards.".
How big was the marshland area in Chicago?
Louis Railroad and the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway, a consortium of nine railroad companies (hence the " Union " name) acquired the 320-acre (1.3 km 2) marshland area in southwest Chicago for US$100,000 in 1864.
When did Chicago stockyards open?
Construction began in June 1865 with an opening on Christmas Day in 1865.
What was the Union Stock Yard?
THE UNION STOCKYARDS SUMMARY. The Union Stock Yard & Transit Co., or "The Yards," was the meatpacking district in Chicago for more than a century , starting in 1865. The district was operated by a group of railroad companies that acquired swampland and turned it into a centralized processing area. By the 1890s, the railroad money behind ...
How many hogs were in Chicago in 1860?
As a consequence, hog receipts at the Chicago stockyards rose from 392,000 hogs in 1860 to 1,410,000 hogs over the winter butchering season of 1864-1865; over the same time period, beef receipts in Chicago rose from 117,000 head to 339,000 head.
Why did the stockyards become so important?
The stockyards became the focal point of the rise of some of the earli est international companies. These companies refined novel industrial innovations and influenced financial markets. Both the rise and fall of the district owe their fortunes to the evolution of transportation services and technology in America.
How many sheep were in the Union Stock Yards?
The Union Stock Yards in Chicago, 1878. Eventually, the 375-acre site had 2300 separate livestock pens, room to accommodate 75,000 hogs, 21,000 cattle, and 22,000 sheep at any one time.
When was the Bulls Head Market opened?
With the spreading service of railroads, several small stockyards were created in and around the City of Chicago. In 1848, a stockyard called the Bulls Head Market was opened to the public. The Bulls Head Stock Yards were located at Madison Street and Ogden Avenue and opened in 1848 .
What is the name of the bull in the Union Stock Yard?
The steer-head over the central arch is thought to represent "Sherman," a prize-winning bull named after John B. Sherman, a founder of the Union Stock Yard and Transit Company. The Union Stock Yard Gate was designated a Chicago Landmark on February 24, 1972, and a National Historic Landmark on May 29, 1981.
When was the Stockyards Strike?
Date: 1905. Crowd, including women and children, gathered along a road with police and horse-drawn carriages during the 1904 Stockyards Strike. Image of a crowd, including women and children, gathered along a road with police and horse-drawn carriages during the 1904 Stockyards Strike in the New City community area of Chicago, Illinois. ...
When was the Union Stock Yards gate built?
The gate was built in 1879.
What was the selling point of Joliet and the other stockyards?
For years, the selling point of Joliet and the other stockyards was their joining of farmer and meatpacker under one roof. Linking them was the livestock broker, who herded the farmers` animals off semitrailers and fed and watered them for a fee. He then sold them to the packers and collected another fee.
Where are the Peoria stockyards?
If Joliet goes, Illinois will be left with only the Peoria Union Stockyards, as well as a stockyard near East St. Louis that serves the St. Louis area. Another stockyard is in Indianapolis. Like Joliet, all have seen less business recently, said Foster Embry, chairman of the board of the Peoria stockyards company.
Overview
The Union Stock Yard & Transit Co., or The Yards, was the meatpacking district in Chicago for more than a century, starting in 1865. The district was operated by a group of railroad companies that acquired marshland and turned it into a centralized processing area. By the 1890s, the railroad capital behind the Union Stockyards was Vanderbilt money. The Union Stockyards operated in the New C…
History
Before construction of the various private stockyards, tavern owners provided pastures and care for cattle herds waiting to be sold. With the spreading service of railroads, several small stockyards were created in and around the city of Chicago. In 1848, a stockyard called the Bulls Head Market was opened to the public. The Bulls Head Stock Yards were located at Madison Street and Ogde…
Decline and current use
The prosperity of the stockyards was due to both the concentration of railroads and the evolution of refrigerated railroad cars. Its decline was due to further advances in post–World War II transportation and distribution. Direct sales of livestock from breeders to packers, facilitated by advancement in interstate trucking, made it cheaper to slaughter animals where they were raised and exc…
Impact
The stockyards are considered one of the chief forces that molded the animal–industrial complex into its present form under contemporary capitalism. According to Kim Stallwood, Chicago and its stockyards from 1865 are one of the two milestones that mark the shift in human attitudes toward animals that empowered the animal–industrial complex, the other being the post–World War II developments such as intensive factory farms, industrial fishing, and xenotransplantation. …
In popular culture
• In 1906 Upton Sinclair published The Jungle, uncovering the horrid conditions in the stockyards around the start of the 20th century.
• The stockyards are referred to in Carl Sandburg's poem Chicago: "proud to be Hog Butcher, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with Railroads and Freight Handler to the Nation."
See also
• Chicago Board of Trade
• Chicago Mercantile Exchange
Notes
1. ^ J'Nell L. Pate, Livestock Hotels: America's Historic Stockyards (Texas Christian University Press: Fort Worth, Texas, 2005) p. 79.
2. ^ Pacyga, Dominic (2005). "Union Stock Yard". Chicago Historical Society. Archived from the original on February 19, 2007. Retrieved March 7, 2007.
3. ^ Sandburg, Carl (1916). "1. Chicago". Bartleby.com. Archived from the original on March 27, 2009. Retrieved June 15, 2009.
Bibliography
• Anderson, John. "'Hog butcher for the world' opens shop." Chicago Tribune, January 30, 1997, Chicago ed.: sec. 2, p. 2.
• Barrett, James R. Work and Community in the Jungle: Chicago's Packinghouse Workers, 1894–1922 (U of Illinois Press, 1990).
• Cronon, William. Nature's Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West (2009).