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Union Stock Yards

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	Topics Union Stock Yards Topic Home History Before construction, tavernTavern A tavern is, loosely, a place of business where people gather to drink alcoholic beverages and, more than likely, also be se... owners provided pastures and care for cattle herds waiting to be sold. With the spreading service of railroadsRail transport in the United States and the [[Southeastern Pennsyl... , stock yards were created in and around the city. In 1848, small stockyards were scattered throughout the city along various rail lines. There was a confluence of reasons necessitating consolidation of the stockyards: westward expansion of railroads, causing great commercial growth in a Chicago that evolved into a major railroad center; the Mississippi RiverMississippi River The Mississippi River, derived from the old Ojibwe word misi-ziibi meaning 'great river' , is the longest river in the U... blockade during the Civil War that closed the north-south river trade route; the influx of meat packers and livestock to Chicago. To consolidate operations, the Union Stock Yards were built on swampland south of the city. A of 9 railroad companies (hence the "UnionUnion station A union station or union terminal is a train station where tracks and facilities are shared by two or more railway com... " name) acquired a 320-acreAcre An acre is the name of a unit of area in a number of different systems, including Imperial units, and United States customar... swampland area in southwest Chicago for $United States dollar For details of current paper money and coins, see Federal Reserve Note and United States coinage.... 100,000 in 1864. The stockyards were connected to the city's main rail lines by 15 miles of track. Eventually, the 375-acre site had 2300 separate livestockLivestock Livestock is the term used to refer to a domesticated animal intentionally reared in an agricultural setting to make produce suc... pens in addition to hotels, saloons, restaurants, and offices for merchants and brokers. Led by Timothy BlackstoneTimothy Blackstone Timothy Beach Blackstone served as president of the Chicago and Alton Railroad from 1864 through 1899.... , a founder and the first president of the Union Stock Yards and Transit Company, "The Yards" experienced tremendous growth. Processing two million animals yearly by 1870, the number had risen to nine million by 1890. Between 1865 and 1900, approximately 400 million livestock were butchered within the confines of the Yards. By the turn of the century the stock yards employed 25,000 people and produced 82 percent of the domestic meat consumption. In 1921, the stock yards employed 40,000 people. Two thousand of these worked directly for the Union Stock Yard & Transit Co. and the rest worked for companies such as meatpackers who had plants in the stockyards. By 1900, the 475-acre stock yard contained 50 miles of road, and had 130 miles of track along its perimeter. At its largest size, The Yards covered nearly a square mile of land, from Halsted Street to Ashland Avenue and from 39th (now Pershing Rd.) to 47th Streets. At one time, 500,000 gallons a day of Chicago RiverChicago River The Chicago River is 156 miles long, and flows through downtown Chicago.... water was pumped into the stock yards. So much stock yard waste drained into the South Fork of the river that it came to bear the name Bubbly CreekBubbly Creek Bubbly Creek is the nickname given to the South Fork of the Chicago River's South Branch, which is noted for its pollu... due to the gaseous products of decomposition. The creek bubbles to this day. When the City reversed the flow of the Chicago River in 1900, the intent was to prevent the Stock Yards' waste products along with other sewage from flowing into Lake MichiganFacts About Lake Michigan Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America, and the only one in the group located entirely within the Uni... and contaminating the City's drinking water. The meatpacking district was served between 1908 and 1957 by a short "L" line with several stops, devoted primarily to the daily transport of thousands of workers and even tourists to the site. The line was constructed when the City of Chicago forced the removal of surface trackage on 40th Street. Effect on industry The size and scale of the stockyards, along with technological advancements in rail transportRail transport Summary Rail transport is the transport of passengers and goods along railways or railroads.... and refrigerationRefrigeration Refrigeration is defined as the process of removing heat from an enclosed space or from a substance and rejecting it elsewhe... , allowed for the creation of some of America's first truly global companies led by entrepreneurs such as Gustavus Franklin SwiftGustavus Franklin Swift Summary Gustavus Franklin Swift founded a meat-packing empire in the Midwest during the late 19th century, over which he presided un... and Philip Danforth ArmourPhilip Danforth Armour Summary Philip Danforth Armour was an American businessman. ... . The mechanized process with its killing wheel and conveyors helped inspire the automobile assembly lineAssembly line An assembly line is a manufacturing process in which parts are added to a product in a sequential manner using optimally pl... . In addition, hedging transactions by the stockyard companies played a key role in the establishment and growth of the Chicago-based commodity exchangeCommodity exchange Commodity exchange may refer to* Commodities exchange, an exchange where various commodities and derivatives products are t... s and futures markets. Numerous meatpacking companies were concentrated near the yards, including ArmourArmour and Company Armour and Company was an American slaughterhouse and meatpacking company founded in Chicago, Illinois in 1867 by the Armour... , SwiftSwift & Company Swift & Company, the wholly-owned operating subsidiary of privately-held Fortune 500 listed S&C Holdco 3, Inc. is the ... , MorrisMorris & Company Morris and Company, whose president was Edward Morris, was one of the three main meat-packing companies in Chicago.... , and Hammond. Eventually, meatpacking byproduct manufacturing of leather, soap, fertilizer, glue, imitation ivory, gelatin, shoe polish, buttons, perfume, and violin strings prospered in the neighborhood. Fire The Chicago Union Stock Yards FireChicago Union Stock Yards Fire The Chicago Union Stock Yards Fire occurred from December 22 to December 23, 1910 and resulted in the deaths of twenty-one f... started on December 22 1910, destroying $400,000 of property and killing twenty-one firemen, including the Fire Marshal James J. Horan. Fifty engine companies and seven hook and ladder companies fought the fire until it was declared extinguished by Chief Seyferlich on December 23. In 2004, a memorial to all Chicago firefighters who have died in the line of duty was erected at the location of the 1910 Stock Yards fire. Decline and current use The prosperity of the stockyards was due to both the concentration of railroads and the evolution of refrigerated railroad carRefrigerator car A refrigerator car is a refrigerated boxcar, a piece of railroad rolling stock designed to carry perishable freight at speci... s. Its decline was due to further advances in post-World War IIWorld War II World War II, or the Second World War, was a worldwide conflict fought between the Allied Powers and the Axis Powers ,... 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. At first, the major meatpacking companies resisted change, but Swift and Armour both surrendered and vacated their plants in the Yards in the 1950s. In 1971, the area bounded by Pershing Road, Ashland, Halsted, and 47th Street became The Stockyards Industrial Park. The neighborhood to the west and south of the industrial park is still known as Back of the Yards, and is still home to a thriving immigrant population. Gate A remnant of the Union Stock Yard GateUnion Stock Yard Gate Located on Exchange Avenue at Peoria Street, this entrance to the famous Union Stock Yards was originally designed by John Wellboo... still arches over Exchange Avenue, next to the firefighters' memorial, and can be seen by those driving along Halsted Street. This limestoneLimestone Overview Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the mineral calcite .... gate, marking the entrance to the stockyards, survives as one of the few relics of Chicago's heritageCultural heritage Cultural heritage is the legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes of a group or society that are inherited fro... of livestock and meatpacking. The steerSteer Steer has multiple meanings:As a noun in American English it refers to castrated bulls* which will be used for beef.... 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. In popular culture The Yards were a major tourist stop, with visitors such as Rudyard KiplingRudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling was a British author and poet best known today for his children's books: The Jungle Book , The... , Paul BourgetPaul Bourget Paul Charles Joseph Bourget, was a French novelist and critic.... and Sarah BernhardtSarah Bernhardt Sarah Bernhardt was a French stage actress.... . In 1906 Upton SinclairUpton Sinclair Upton Beall Sinclair Jr. was a prolific American author who wrote over 90 books in many genres, often advocating socialist v... published The JungleThe Jungle *The Jungle* is the magnum opus written by the American author Upton Sinclair.... , uncovering the horrid conditions in the stock yards at the turn of the 20th century. The stockyards are referred to in Carl SandburgCarl Sandburg Carl August Sandburg was an American poet, historian, novelist, balladeer and folklorist.... 's poem ChicagoChicago (poem) "Chicago" is a poem by Carl Sandburg, about the U.S.... : "proud to be Hog Butcher, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with Railroads and Freight Handler to the Nation." Frank SinatraFrank Sinatra Frank Sinatra was an American singer and actor.... mentioned the yards in his 1964 song "My Kind of Town." The stockyards receive a mention in the opening chapter of Thomas PynchonThomas Pynchon Thomas Ruggles Pynchon, Jr. is an American writer based in New York City.... 's novel Against the DayAgainst the Day *Against the Day* is a novel by Thomas Pynchon to be published on November 21 2006.... . On January 9 2007, a 3-alarm fire destroyed a large warehouse owned by the Rosebud Display and Packaging Company, on the north side of the Stockyards less than a mile from the memorial. The Skip JamesSkip James Nehemiah Curtis "Skip" James was an American blues singer, guitarist, pianist and songwriter.... song "Hard Times Killing floor blues" refers to the nickname of the slaughter part of the stockyards during the great depression in the 1930's. Bibliography Anderson, John. "'Hog butcher for the world' opens shop." Chicago Tribune, 30 January 1997, Chicago ed.: sec. 2, p. 2. Barrett, James R. Work and. 3rd ed. Dubuque: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, 1982. Grant, W. Jos. Illustrated History of the Union Stockyards. Chicago, 1901. Halpern, Rick. Down on the Killing Floor: Black and White Workers in Chicago's Packinghouses, 1904-54. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1997. Hirsch, Susan, and Robert I. Goler. A City Comes of Age: Chicago in the 1890s. Chicago: Chicago Historical Society, 1990. Holt, Glen E., and Dominic A. Pacyga. Chicago: A Historical Guide to the Neighborhoods: the Loop and South Side. Chicago: Chicago Historical Society, 1979. Jablonsky, Thomas J. Pride in the Jungle: Community and Everyday Life in Back of the Yards Chicago. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993. Liste, J. G., and George Schoettle. Union Stockyards Fire Photo Album. CHS: 1934. Mahoney, Olivia. Go West! Chicago and American Expansion. Chicago: Chicago Historical Society, 1999. Pacyga, Dominic. Polish Immigrants and Industrial Chicago: Workers on the South Side, 1880-1922. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1991. Pacyga, Dominic, and Ellen Skerrett. Chicago: City of Neighborhoods. Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1986. Parkhurst, William. History of the Yards, 1865-1953. Chicago, 1953. Rice, William. "City creates nation's livestock center." Chicago Tribune, 16 July 1997, Chicago ed.: sec. 7, p. 7b. Skaggs, Jimmy. Prime Cut: Livestock Raising and Meatpacking in the U.S. College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press, 1986. Slayton, Robert A. Back of the Yards: The Making of a Local Democracy. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1986. Street, Paul. "Packinghouse Blues." Chicago History 18, no. 3 (1989): 68-85. Chicago (Ill.). Fire Dept. Report of the Fire Marshal. 1910. pp.23-24. See also Chicago Board of TradeChicago Board of Trade The Chicago Board of Trade , established in 1848, is the world's oldest futures and options exchange.... Chicago Mercantile ExchangeChicago Mercantile Exchange Summary The Chicago Mercantile Exchange is the largest futures exchange in the United States.... External links "History Files" in A Biography of America <