Union Stockyards

The Union Stockyards, which would eventually become one of Chicago's most famous landmarks as well as its largest employer for more than half a century, formally opened on Christmas Day, 1865. Chicago had already played a major role in supplying beef to the Union troops during the recently-ended Civil War, and now, an association of six meat-packers and nine railroads consolidated their operations on a square mile of land south of 39th Street and west of Halsted, far beyond the then-existing city limits. At the peak of its operations in the early 1900s, the Stock Yards housed 20,000 cattle, 75,000 hogs and 20,000 sheep. As the 20th century moved on, meat-packing faded from Chicago, and the Union Stock Yards closed down in 1971.