while the city of Chicago has been called many things one of the more unexpected nicknames
might be the hog Butcher of the world you see in the latter half of the 19th century
Chicago became the biggest railway center in the world and as a part of that the largest
livestock Center in the world too dubbed by an 1889 Chicago Tribune article as quote the
eighth wonder of the world the Chicago Union Stockyards were originally just meant to bring
all the city's Stockyards together they instead became a sprawling industrial Behemoth covering
50 miles of land and polluting the Chicago River so severely that the flow had to be permanently
reversed these yards operated when the entire country was pushing towards industrialization
hence shaping the national meat and meat packing Industries and the whole city of Chicago before
eventually falling behind the times and being left in the past today we discover the rise and fall
of the Chicago Stockyards I'm your host Ryan so cash and you're watching it's history
cargo Illinois has a long history as a large Meat Market slaughterhouses started becoming popular
in Chicago in the early 19th century with Lumber slaughterhouses recorded as early as 1829 when
Tavern owners used to hold and maintain cattle herds to be sold for butchering because all
slaughterhouses needed to get their meat locally so it could be butchered and sold without spoiling
things started to change as railroads began spreading across the country and running through
Chicago bringing us to the first privately owned Stockyard the Bull's Head Market open for business
in 1848 between the years of 1852 and 1865 five different railroads arrived in Chicago and each
opened up a Stockyard of its own as traffic in the city increased more livestock started getting
brought in more livestock meant more people needed to work at the Stockyards Chicago's population in
1850 ended up tripling by 1860. of course more people meant more demand for meat due to the
Civil War closing down river-based trade routes the Stockyards and railway-based meat sources
became the only option for meat for many Americans giving the industry a significant economic boom
as well Chicago had become a Central Railway terminal in the United States connecting the
East to the West however the city's Stockyards for many different railroads were all small
scattered and as a result inefficient in 1864 the Chicago pork Packers Association passed
a resolution to consolidate the yards into one joint stock company nine railroads were combined
to create the union Stockyard and Transit company the company's main Stockyards the Chicago Union
Stockyards began Construction in 1865 and opened for business on Christmas Day when first opened
the Chicago Union Stockyards and Associated slaughtering facilities took up approximately
one square mile of land they were directly connected to Chicago's main railroad lines for
Easy Transport the Stockyards started big and just got bigger they were processing 2 million animals
yearly by 1870 by 1890 that number had jumped to 9 million then by the turn of the century
the Chicago Union Stockyards and its nearby slaughterhouses took up 50 square miles of land
the Stockyards had 25 000 employees clocking in and were producing 82 percent of the domestic meat
being consumed nationally as a consequence of this growth the Stockyards were pumping 500 000 gallons
of water from the Chicago River daily and with this the southern Fork of the river earned the
nickname bubbly Creek because of the sheer number of runoff from the Stockyards polluting the water
after getting pumped in hence in 1900 the city of Chicago chose to permanently reverse the flow
of the Chicago River to prevent that runoff from reaching Lake Michigan and contaminating
the city's drinking water one way or another it was clear that the Chicago Union Stockyards were
here to stay and making a splash now we don't have time to cover that story in detail but if
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premium by using my promo Link in the description and now back to the Stockyards of Chicago the
Stockyards and their effects on the meat packing industry in Chicago ended up redefining the
national meat market in 1878 chicago-based meat packing entrepreneur Gustavo Swift commissioned
a design for a refrigerated rail car and this would be a game changer you see previously the
scope of the market for meat produced at the Chicago Stockyards was limited because
shipping the beef too far meant risking that the product could spoil and Route due to travel time
the introduction of refrigerated Transportation meant that a slaughterhouse in Chicago that could
only sell locally before could now sell pork chops in Seattle without any worries as the Stockyards
continued to grow around the railroad industry in Chicago meet companies such as Swifts moved to be
around the union stockyards in an area known as packing town a name which soon became known
as the leading Center for slaughterhouses and packing in the nation the industry continued to
grow further as production became more and more focused on centralization and keeping costs low
to stay competitive with local offers in the market before too long a single Meat Company
would control every stage of meat production from the livestock to the customer's purchase in
the store the actual packing process became more efficient as well companies could now profit from
both the meat and the meat byproducts refining them into valuable goods for sale the packing
process became so heavily industrialized to the point that the systems for packing meat inspired
Henry Ford's famous automobile assembly line of course those operations needed many people to man
them an amount of Manpower provided by a large Workforce of cheap unregulated immigrant labor
many workers started Living in packing town to be near their workplace earning the area a reputation
as a notorious slum District that became known as The Back of the Yards the location was crowded
poorly maintained and known for having a horrible smell due to its proximity to many slaughterhouses
to offer a little emphasis here these slums and the Chicago Union Stockyards were the setting and
focus of Upton Sinclair's 1906 novel The Jungle meant to inspire outrage on behalf of the working
class and promote the Socialist Party the jungle details all the unsafe and unsanitary detail of
which the employees of the Meatpacking District were made to work and the devastating effects
it had on their lives despite the novel's focus on the workers conditions the part that outraged most
of the readers was the detail about the sort of things that might end up inside of one's food the
public outcry gave president Theodore Roosevelt the support he needed to enact the Pure Food and
Drug Act and ensure the quality of food sold to the American public on the other hand inspecting
the workers conditions led to very few changes the lousy environment fostered much tension
between the different groups of people working at these factories tensions between the Irish and
African-American workers specifically escalated into a full-blown race riot in 1919 ultimately
requiring the intervention of the National Guard on top of these issues with the workforce the
Chicago Stockyards also faced threats from fire the first Chicago Union Stockyards fire
started on December the 22nd 1910. the incidents caused 400 thousand dollars in property damage it
also caused the lives of 21 firemen who many decades later have been recognized as Heroes
as in 2004 a memorial was finally built on the Chicago Stockyard property to honor the life's
lost in putting out the blaze then a second fire devastated the Stockyards just 24 years later on
May the 19th 1934 this fire burned nearly nine tenths of the Chicago Stockyards total land it
could also be seen from as far away as Indiana it was much more financially devastating with
the total damages estimated at around 6 million dollars and although there was less of a loss
of human life with only one employee perishing in the blaze it should be noted that roughly 8
000 livestock animals were also killed by fire with fires raging and horrific pollution in the
local Waters it slowly became clear to everyone that the local industry would soon see its decline
the Chicago Stockyards and the stockyards in general had begun falling off by the mid-1900s
after World War II even further Innovation and transport and distribution made the Stockyards
obsolete then advancements in Refrigerated trucking meant that breeders began to sell their
livestock directly to Packers since it was now cheaper to have the animals slaughtered on site
instead of shipping them to a Stockyard to do it there as buying locally and dealing with smaller
sources became more cost effective Packers began closing down their now outdated plants by 1959
Gustavo Swift and Philip armor two of the biggest packing Moguls out there closed down the Chicago
packing plants as well sending a clear signal that this was the end of an era eventually in
1971 the area that had been the original Chicago Union Stockyards was rebranded as the Stockyards
Industrial Park the Chicago Union Stockyard gate were the entrance to the Stockyards had one spin
still stands over exchange Avenue and you might be surprised to hear that this area has officially
been designated a U.S National Historic Landmark and perhaps with good reason you see the Chicago
Union Stockyards truly defined an industry with many of the strongest characteristics
of the modern meat industry first established in these plants and slaughterhouses along the
old forgotten Railways the packing houses were a point of Pride for Chicagoans for good century
and are still a large part of the city's history today with the way the Chicago Stockyards shaped
the town's development it wouldn't be a stretch to call them an essential part of Chicago History
and although the Chicago Stockyards are no longer fulfilling their original purpose the site is far
from abandoned you see the stockyard industrial park is still one of the city's busiest and most
successful industrial sites so rest assured they won't be closing down anytime soon and
we'll leave it there for today please consider subscribing and don't miss our video about the
fate of Chicago's lost Rock and Roll McDonald's until next time this is Ryan silkash signing off