Union Stockyards (Omaha) facts for kids
The Union Stockyards in Omaha, Nebraska, was a huge place where animals like cattle, pigs, and sheep were bought and sold. It started in 1883 in South Omaha. This market became very important for the United States. By 1890, it was the third largest in the country. In 1955, Omaha's Stockyards became the biggest livestock market in the nation. It kept this title until 1971. After 116 years, the Stockyards closed in 1999. The main office building, called the Livestock Exchange Building, is now a historic landmark.
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A Look Back: History of the Stockyards
Before the Stockyards, a man named James E. Boyd started a meat packing business in downtown Omaha. Later, a wealthy cattle owner, Alexander Swan, asked William A. Paxton to build a new animal market. In 1884, the new Stockyards received its first animals. These were 531 longhorn cattle from Medicine Bow, Wyoming.
At first, the Union Stockyards was a place where animals rested. They were on their way to markets further east, like the one in Chicago. The first office for trading animals was in a farmhouse. The Stockyards covered a huge area, about 260 acres (1 square kilometer). The animal pens alone covered almost 200 acres. This area was located between South 36th Street and South 27th Street, and from L Street to Q Street.
A new and bigger office building, the Livestock Exchange Building, was built in 1885. It was designed by Mendelssohn and Fisher. This building was very fancy. It had rooms for traders to live in and large meeting rooms. This showed how important the animal trading business was becoming in Omaha. During this time, four big meat packing companies started operating here: Armour, Wilson, Cudahy, and Swift.
Growing Bigger: 1900 to 1940s
Around 1900, the Stockyards added new pens with brick floors. They also put in concrete watering troughs and new scales. The sheep barn was rebuilt to hold 100,000 sheep! A new barn for horses and mules was called "the largest and best single barn in the world." It was the biggest market for ranch horses anywhere.
By 1910, about 20,000 animals arrived at the Stockyards every day. These animals came from farms and ranches in 20 different states. Ten slaughterhouses and meatpacking plants were working nearby. Between 1907 and 1910, most of the old pens were rebuilt. New walkways were added so buyers could see the animals easily. In the early 1900s, the Union Stockyards was the world's largest market for sheep.
The Stockyards depended on railroads, especially the Union Pacific Railroad. Trains brought animals to the market and took processed meat to the eastern United States. On average, 20,000 animals arrived daily for slaughter. These included cattle, hogs, sheep, buffalo, deer, horses, mules, and chickens. By 1888, the "Big Four" packing companies were processing over 1 million animals each year. By 1892, these plants employed 5,000 people in the area known as "Packingtown." In 1897, Armour's plant in South Omaha was the biggest in the nation. The meat packing industry and the Stockyards were vital for South Omaha's growth for over 100 years.
Top of the Market: 1950s to 1970s
In 1955, Omaha was the only city in the world where all four big companies—Armour, Swift, Cudahy, and Wilson—slaughtered cattle, pigs, and sheep. That year, Omaha became the biggest livestock market and meatpacking center in the country. It held this title until 1973.
Workers in the meatpacking industry were organized into unions. This helped them earn good wages and live a comfortable life. The union included people of all races. It supported the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. In 1957, it was thought that half of all workers in Omaha had jobs related to the Stockyards. The Omaha Chamber of Commerce said, "Livestock is Omaha’s lifeblood." By 1959, the Omaha World-Herald newspaper called the industry "the backbone of Omaha's economy."
Changes and Closing: Decline and Redevelopment
In the 1960s, the Stockyards started losing business. This was due to changes in the market and the industry. In 1973, the Union Stockyards Company was sold to a company from New York. Meatpacking companies like IBP began building slaughterhouses closer to where animals were raised in rural areas. They often hired workers who were not part of a union.
In Omaha, most of the animal trading happened at the Livestock Exchange Building. In 1997, the Stockyards processed 197,575 animals. In 1989, a company called United Marketing Services bought the Stockyards. The buildings and pens started to fall apart. In 1996, the City of Omaha bought 50 acres of the land for new offices. They decided to take over the rest of the land, except for the Livestock Exchange Building, which was planned for repair.
Today, the old Union Stockyards area is being redeveloped into the Stockyards Historic District. This project includes a new campus for the Metropolitan Community College. The Livestock Exchange Building has been fixed up. It now has over 100 apartments, shops, and community spaces. The City of Omaha also worked with the College to build a new home for the South Omaha Library.
