The Union Stockyards of

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest cit ...

, were founded in 1883 in

South Omaha South Omaha is a former city and current district of Omaha, Nebraska, United States. During its initial development phase the town's nickname was "The Magic City" because of the seemingly overnight growth, due to the rapid development of the Union S ...

by the

Union Stock Yards Company of Omaha The Union Stock Yards Company of Omaha was a 90-year-old company first founded in South Omaha, Nebraska in 1878 by John A. Smiley. After being moved to Council Bluffs, Iowa and dissolved within a year, the company was reorganized and moved to So ...

. A fierce rival of Chicago's

Union Stock Yards 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 central ...

, the Omaha Union Stockyards were third in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

for production by 1890. In 1947 they were second to Chicago in the world. Omaha overtook Chicago as the nation's largest

livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animals ...

market and

meat packing industry The meat-packing industry (also spelled meatpacking industry or meat packing industry) handles the slaughtering, processing, packaging, and distribution of meat from animals such as cattle, pigs, sheep and other livestock. Poultry is generally no ...

center in 1955, a title which it held onto until 1971. The 116-year-old institution closed in 1999.Nolte, B.T. (1999
"Stockyards to leave South Omaha after 115 Years."
''Nebraska Farmer''. 1/15/99. The Livestock Exchange Building was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1999.

History

The first meat packer in Omaha preceded the founding of the Stockyards. James E. Boyd, an Irish-born politician important to early Omaha and Nebraska, got his start in the state after opening Boyd's Packing House in the downtown area. A

cattle baron Cattle baron is a historic term for a local businessman and landowner who possessed great power or influence through the operation of a large ranch with many beef cattle. Cattle barons in the late 19th century United States were also sometimes ref ...

named Alexander Swan called for the founder of Omaha's first stockyards, William A. Paxton, to start a new facility in the early 1880s. Working along with

Herman Kountze Herman Kountze (August 21, 1833 – November 20, 1906) was a powerful and influential pioneer banker in Omaha, Nebraska, during the late 19th century. After organizing the Kountze Brothers Bank in 1857 as the second bank in Omaha, Herman and ...

, John A. Creighton and others, the new stockyards received the first shipment of 531 longhorn cattle from

Medicine Bow, Wyoming Medicine Bow is a town in Carbon County, Wyoming, United States. Its population was 284 at the 2010 census. History The community largely owes its existence to the first transcontinental railroad, built through the area in 1868. A post office ...

in 1884. Initially, the Union Stockyards operated as a feeding station for stock on their way to eastern markets like the

in Chicago. The first livestock exchange was located in a farmhouse on the site. The Union Stock Yards originally covered over of land, with pens covering nearly . They were located between South 36th Street on the west to South 27th Street on the east; L Street on the north to Q Street on the south. Livestock Exchange Building Omaha, NE

The second exchange building was constructed in 1885 by J. E. Riley and designed by

Mendelssohn and Fisher Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include sym ...

. It was a substantial structure, complete with amenities and apartments for traders, as well as elaborate convention rooms, in recognition both of the growing importance and Omaha's ambitions for the industry. Sullivan, L. (2003
Union Stockyards
. Omaha Public Library. Retrieved 6/22/07. The "Big Four" meat packers established during this period were

Armour Armour (British English) or armor (American English; see spelling differences) is a covering used to protect an object, individual, or vehicle from physical injury or damage, especially direct contact weapons or projectiles during combat, or fr ...

Wilson Wilson may refer to: People * Wilson (name) ** List of people with given name Wilson ** List of people with surname Wilson * Wilson (footballer, 1927–1998), Brazilian manager and defender * Wilson (footballer, born 1984), full name Wilson Ro ...

, Cudahy, and

Swift Swift or SWIFT most commonly refers to: * SWIFT, an international organization facilitating transactions between banks ** SWIFT code * Swift (programming language) * Swift (bird), a family of birds It may also refer to: Organizations * SWIFT, ...

1900 to 1940s

Around 1900, the Stockyards added new pens with brick floors and concrete watering troughs, along with new scales. The sheep barn was rebuilt to hold 100,000 animals, and the new two-block horse and mule barn was hailed as "the largest and best single barn in the world." It housed the largest ranch horse market in the world. In 1910, 20,000 animals arrived at the Stockyards each day from farms and ranches in 20 states, including

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

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Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

and

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota people, Lakota and Dakota peo ...

. Ten

slaughterhouse A slaughterhouse, also called abattoir (), is a facility where animals are slaughtered to provide food. Slaughterhouses supply meat, which then becomes the responsibility of a packaging facility. Slaughterhouses that produce meat that is no ...

s and

meatpacking The meat-packing industry (also spelled meatpacking industry or meat packing industry) handles the slaughtering, processing, packaging, and distribution of meat from animals such as cattle, pigs, sheep and other livestock. Poultry is generally no ...

plants were in operation. Between 1907 and 1910, most of the original pens were rebuilt with walkways, allowing buyers to view stock without walking through the pens. In the early 20th century, Union Stockyards was the world's largest sheep market. The stock yards were dependent on Omaha's

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...

to bring livestock to market. On average, 20,000 animals per day arrived at the Union Stockyards for slaughter. Cattle, hogs, sheep, buffalo, deer, horses, mules and chickens were sold on the market in early years. By 1888, the "Big Four" packing companies, which included Hammond’s, Fowler Brothers,

Swift & Company JBS USA Holdings, Inc. is an American food processing company and a wholly owned subsidiary of the multinational company JBS S.A. The subsidiary was created when JBS entered the U.S. market in 2007 with its purchase of Swift & Company. JBS speci ...

, and Armour-Cudahy, were operating in Omaha. Among the four companies, South Omaha companies processed more than 1 million cattle, hogs and sheep each year. By 1892, the packing plants employed 5,000 people in "Packingtown." In 1897 Armour’s South Omaha plant was the nation’s largest. By 1934, the "Big Four" were Armour, Cudahy, Swift and Wilson. The

of South Omaha was closely related to the Stockyards. South Omaha relied solely on both of those industries for its growth for more than 100 years. During this period the Stockyards developed a reliance on several railroads to bring cattle to them, and to ship processed meat to the

East East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fa ...

. They included the

Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad was a railroad that operated in the Midwestern United States. Commonly referred to as the Burlington Route, the Burlington, or as the Q, it operated extensive trackage in the states of Colorado, Illin ...

, the

Missouri Pacific Railroad The Missouri Pacific Railroad , commonly abbreviated as MoPac, was one of the first railroads in the United States west of the Mississippi River. MoPac was a Class I railroad growing from dozens of predecessors and mergers. In 1967, the railroad ...

, the

Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad (CRI&P RW, sometimes called ''Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway'') was an American Class I railroad. It was also known as the Rock Island Line, or, in its final years, The Rock. At the end ...

, the

Chicago and North Western Transportation Company The Chicago and North Western was a Class I railroad in the Midwestern United States. It was also known as the "North Western". The railroad operated more than of track at the turn of the 20th century, and over of track in seven states befor ...

, and the

Wabash Railroad The Wabash Railroad was a Class I railroad that operated in the mid-central United States. It served a large area, including track in the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, and Missouri and the province of Ontario. Its primary con ...

. They also ran their own line through the

South Omaha Terminal Railway The South Omaha Terminal Railway in Omaha, Nebraska was a subsidiary of the Union Stock Yards Company of Omaha. Until the separate railroad company was created in July 1927, the trackage, about , was owned and operated directly by the Union Stock Ya ...

1950s to 1970s

In 1955, Omaha was the only city in the world where Armour, Swift, Cudahy and Wilson each slaughtered cattle, pigs and sheep. That year, Omaha overtook Chicago as the nation's largest livestock market and meatpacking center, a position it held until 1973. The meatpacking industry had been organized and workers could manage a blue-collar middle class life. The union was interracial and supported the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. In 1957, it was estimated that the industries related to the stockyards employed fully one-half of Omaha workers. That same year the

Omaha Chamber of Commerce The Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce is the chamber of commerce in Omaha, Nebraska. When United States Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke spoke to the chamber in 2007, his comments were noted for his continued endorsement of globalization. I ...

said that "Livestock is Omaha’s lifeblood," and by 1959 the ''

Omaha World-Herald The ''Omaha World-Herald'' is a daily newspaper in the midwestern United States, the primary newspaper of the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area. It was locally owned from its founding in 1885 until 2020, when it was sold to the newspaper ch ...

'' said that the industry was "the backbone of Omaha's economy ever since the first steer trotted into its pens in 1884."

Decline and closing

In the 1960s, the Stockyards began to lose business due to downturns in the market and changes in the industry. In 1973, the Union Stockyards Company was sold to the Canal Capital Corporation of

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. Led by companies like IBP, the meatpacking industry started moving slaughterhouses closer to cattle

feedlot A feedlot or feed yard is a type of animal feeding operation (AFO) which is used in intensive animal farming, notably beef cattle, but also swine, horses, sheep, turkeys, chickens or ducks, prior to slaughter. Large beef feedlots are called conc ...

s in rural areas, where they hired non-union workers. In Omaha, trading was centered at the Livestock Exchange Building. In 1997, the Stockyards processed 197,575 animals. In 1989, the Minneapolis-based

United Marketing Services United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two fi ...

purchased the livestock operation from Canal Capital. The facilities fell into disrepair. In 1996 the City of Omaha bought of land for an office park, and condemned the rest of the facilities, except the Livestock Exchange Building, which was slated for renovation.

Redevelopment

Today the former site of the Union Stockyards is the site of the Stockyards Historic District redevelopment project. The project includes a new South Omaha campus for the Metropolitan Community College.Holian, K. (2007
South Omaha Campus Expansion Project
. MCC. Retrieved 6/22/07. The Livestock Exchange Building was redeveloped as mixed-use, with more than 100 apartments, community and commercial space, and the

City of Omaha Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest city ...

partnered with the College to build a new home for the South Omaha Library.

References

External links

Historic Photos
of the Stockyards

- description of selling animals at the Livestock Exchange Building in the 1950s *

Historic American Engineering Record Heritage Documentation Programs (HDP) is a division of the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) responsible for administering the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), and Historic American Landscapes ...

documentation, filed under 2900 O Plaza, Omaha, Douglas County, NE: ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** {{Coord, 41.210, -95.958, type:landmark_region:US-NE, display=title Former buildings and structures in Omaha, Nebraska Meatpacking industry in Omaha, Nebraska Landmarks in Omaha, Nebraska Historic American Engineering Record in Nebraska History of South Omaha, Nebraska German-American culture in Omaha, Nebraska African-American history in Omaha, Nebraska 1883 establishments in Nebraska 1999 disestablishments in Nebraska

History

1900 to 1940s

1950s to 1970s

Decline and closing

Redevelopment

See also

References

External links