Slaughterhouse: Chicago's Union Stock Yard and the World It Made

by Dominic A. Pacyga

From the minute it opened—on Christmas Day in 1865—it was Chicago’s must-see tourist attraction, drawing more than half a million visitors each year. Families, visiting dignitaries, even school groups all made trips to the South Side to tour the Union Stock Yard. There they got a firsthand look at the city’s industrial prowess as they witnessed cattle, hogs, and sheep disassembled with breathtaking efficiency. At their height, the kill floors employed 50,000 workers and processed six hundred animals an hour, an astonishing spectacle of industrialized death.

Slaughterhouse tells the story of the Union Stock Yard, chronicling the rise and fall of an industrial district that, for better or worse, served as the public face of Chicago for decades. Dominic A. Pacyga is a guide like no other—he grew up in the shadow of the stockyards, spent summers in their hog house and cattle yards, and maintains a long-standing connection with the working-class neighborhoods around them. Pacyga takes readers through the packinghouses as only an insider can, covering the rough and toxic life inside the plants and their lasting effects on the world outside. He shows how the yards shaped the surrounding neighborhoods and controlled the livelihoods of thousands of families. He looks at the Union Stock Yard's political and economic power and its sometimes volatile role in the city’s race and labor relations. And he traces its decades of mechanized innovations, which introduced millions of consumers across the country to an industrialized food system.

Although the Union Stock Yard closed in 1971, the story doesn’t end there. Pacyga takes readers to present day, showing how the manufacturing spirit lives on. Ironically, today the site of the legendary “stockyard stench” is now home to some of Chicago’s most successful green agriculture companies.

Marking the hundred-and-fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the stockyards, Slaughterhouse is an engrossing story of one of the most important—and deadliest—square miles in American history.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History, Cultural, Food, Animals

256 pages, Hardcover

First published September 10, 2015

About the author

Dominic A. Pacyga, PhD, is Professor of History in the Department of Humanities, History, and Social Sciences at Columbia College Chicago.

Dr. Pacyga received his PhD in History from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1981. He has authored, or coauthored, five books concerning Chicago's history, including Chicago: A Biography (2009); Polish Immigrants and Industrial Chicago (1991); Chicago: City of Neighborhoods with Ellen Skerrett (1986); Chicago: A Historical Guide to the Neighborhoods (1979) with Glen Holt; and Chicago's Southeast Side (1998) with Rod Sellers.

Dr. Pacyga has been a faculty member in the Department of HHSS since 1984. He has lectured widely on a variety of topics, including urban development, labor history, immigration, and racial and ethnic relations, and he has appeared in both the local and national media. He has worked with various museums, including the Chicago History Museum, the Museum of Science and Industry, and the Field Museum in Chicago, on a variety of public history projects.

Dr. Pacyga has also consulted with numerous neighborhood organizations, student groups, and ethnic, labor, and fraternal groups to preserve and exhibit their histories. He was guest curator for a major exhibit, "The Chicago Bungalow," at the Chicago Architecture Foundation. He and Charles Shanabruch are coeditors of The Chicago Bungalow (2001), a companion volume to the exhibit.

Dr. Pacyga is a winner of the Oscar Halecki Award from the Polish American Historical Association and a winner of the Catholic Book Award. In 1999, he received the Columbia College Award for Excellence in Teaching. He has been a visiting professor at both the University of Chicago and the University of Illinois at Chicago. In the spring of 2005, he was a Visiting Scholar in Campion Hall at Oxford University.

Reviews

[David Eppenstein · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a rather difficult book to rate. For what it really is, an academic presentation, it probably deserves 4 stars. However, as a book for the average reader its popular appeal is very limited. I have opted for the the rating with the average reader in mind and given it 3 stars. It is a book that will appeal to a narrow group of readers. If you have read Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle", and most of us probably have, then you are at least aware of the subject of this book, the Chicago Stockyards. I am a born and bred Chicagoan and Chicago history is one of my favorite reading subjects. The history of my hometown is colorful to say the least and I try to learn as much as I can about it. I found this book on the TR list of a GR friend (thank you Cathy K) and ordered a copy as the Stockyards is a gap in my knowledge of Chicago and it has a strong personal significance. My maternal grandfather and several of my mother's 7 brothers worked in The Yards. I spent the first 6 years of my life living next-door to my paternal grandparents on the 4300 block of South Emerald Avenue. For those not familiar with Chicago, Emerald is the next street East of Halsted and Halsted is the East boundary of the The Yards. Less than a half block down the street was the 19th century home of Ira Darling the infamous founder of the Darling & Co. rendering firm and less than 2 blocks down the street was the 19th century home of Augustus Swift of Swift & Co. fame. This was Canaryville, a neighborhood created in the shadow of The Yards and where the smell of The Yards was what we thought air always smelled like. Yes, the story of this particular place has a special interest to me.

The author is a local college professor whose books I have read before. They are all well researched and well written but they do tend to be works that lack popular appeal. I would guess that this book, as well as the author's other works, is more of interest to students of urban planning, sociology, business, and history. In this book the author presents not only the history of the Chicago Stockyards but also the evolution of an industry, a social order, and an urban landscape and he does it well. The knowledge we think we might have of this area as derived from our reading of "The Jungle" is mentioned in several references primarily to illustrate how that book affected the evolution of the industry. The book's content, however, is debunked as entirely fictional and based on legends and myths about The Yards. What is presented is how The Yards changed society's relationship with our food.

Prior to the existence of the Chicago Stockyards the food people ate was grown or raised at home. With regard to meat what was eaten at dinner was probably running around outside the house just a few hours before. The Yards changed that relationship and then with the invention of refrigeration and canning and other methods of food preservation people rapidly moved away from the need to raise their own livestock and grow their own vegetables. Out of The Yards grew not only mass produced dressed meat but also various prepared and canned meats and vegetable items. It transformed and industry and a way of life in this country.

The Yards also had an affect on the labor movement and social structure both locally and nationally. It also had an early affect on race relations and progressive politics and social issues. What is most interesting, however, is to trace the evolution of the business from its origins in 1865 until it demise in 1971. It was for a long time unthinkable that The Yards would ever not be a part of the Chicago landscape. Unfortunately, businesses are not unlike living organisms and they must adapt to change or perish. The industry didn't die but adapted and technological advances in the areas that made the Chicago Yards indispensable made The Yards a relic of times past. Chicago itself even started to consider The Yards as something they would be better off without. The author ends his treatment with what could be considered a post mortem of The Yards and then its rebirth or resurrection into an eco-friendly industrial park and nursery for a variety of new businesses and entrepreneurship. As I mentioned earlier the real value of this book is for city planners, urban sociologists, and business people as it illustrates the birth, life, death, and rebirth of an industry, a social order, and an urban environment. If any of those areas is of interest to you then you will enjoy this book.

[Cfkotula · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have you ever wondered how the packaged beef, ham or veal you purchase at the grocery store came into being? During the Stockyards era, the live animal (along with millions of others) was shipped to, killed, butchered, dressed, packed and shipped out all from one place - the Chicago Stockyards. With only the limestone entrance gate left standing, it is hard to imagine the massive livestock pens, killing floors, rivers of blood, and assembly-line processing that once provided meat for the entire nation. Having grown up only a few neighborhoods away from the yards, I do remember the stench on Sundays coming from several miles away. But I never knew the whole picture of what was happening there, and how it shaped modern life in America. I’m surprised how little this subject is covered in Chicago history. Although the narrative can be a little dry, I give 4 stars for how much I learned. I look forward to the new Packingtown Museum that is being created onsite, to open in Spring of 2018!

[Caroline · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well-researched and comprehensive, and makes one proud of Chicago. But the writing sounded like a college freshman trying to tie every sentence to her/his thesis, and the number of typos was just unacceptable.

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Great Grandfather worked at the Stock Yards as did my Great Uncle who is actually in the book. And my Grandfather worked for the Rock Island Railroad so I’m thinking there was a connection there. If you are interested in Chicago history, this book is for you!

[Juan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this and feel I gained some knowledge on how important the stock yards were to the rest of the country and, sometimes, the world. It was interesting to learn how technology really made some advances to occupations that seemed very dangerous at the beginning of it all. The advancements in refrigeration were enlightening. New information that I learned was how many buildings were built or rebuilt over the course of the stock yards history. The fact that the book was able to indicate how current and future projects are in store for the area now very much rich in history.

I wouldnt say this is the bad thing but I kind of felt like the author was really being defensive to the material that was released around "The Jungle" and the picture it created for those that did not live and grow up with the stock yards. Perhaps he may have been over critical but by the end of the book I better understood why. The author himself grew up and worked the stock yards so it only made sense that he would have a fixed view. I think he described that it was in his family and his impressions of his experience did not reflect all that "The Jungle" made it out to be.

This is a good book related to Chicago history.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who grew up near Chicago and is a fan of a team called the Bulls, I thought it was overdue for me to learn about the history of the Union Stockyards. This book provided an excellent overview of the stockyards from a business, labor, and environmental point of view. I appreciated the excellent maps and helpful pictures. I actually wish the book had been a bit longer as I feel like some areas were skimmed over.

[Benjamin Nober · Rating 4 out of 5]

Deep dive into the full lifecycle of the USY&T in Chicago. Very locally oriented with extensive information on dates and names involved.

[KayB · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
Great Chicago history although not a page-turner.

[William Palmer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perhaps a little disappointing. Not sure why.

[Charles Heath · Rating 4 out of 5]

PACYGA: HE HAS THE MEAT

[Teri L.]

Good history of a significant part of Chicago history. Meatpacking was a dominant business in Chicago. Focusing on the Union Stockyards and related businesses, we can see the path of "the modern" in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Tourists flocked the the stockyards to see these factories, including the kill floor.

[Gretchen Lida · Rating 5 out of 5]

Compelling and beautifully written, A Chicago must read by one of the best historians in the city.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating subject, but the narrative was drier than I expected. Too much emphasis on numbers.