These 7 Rare Photos Show Chicago's Meat Packing History Like Never Before
By Elizabeth Crozier|Published March 05, 2020
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Elizabeth Crozier
Author
An Illinois transplant who grew up and went to school in Indiana for 22 years, Elizabeth holds a BFA in creative writing and has enjoyed traveling across the country and parts of Europe. She has visited half of the states, as well as parts of Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean, and regularly travels home to the Hoosier State to see friends and family. With more than five years of writing experience, Elizabeth’s articles have been featured on several websites, and her poetry and short stories have been published in multiple literary journals.
Whether or not you’ve read Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle,” you’re likely familiar with the history of the meat packing industry in Chicago. Taking place alongside the rest of the American Industrial Revolution, this advancement in the way we produced and sold animal products changed the lives of our entire nation.
Of course, our first go at this industry so many years ago wasn’t as successful as it could have been. Sinclair’s novel brought attention to the horrendous work conditions suffered by employees as well as the disgusting ways our food was being processed. Scroll on for seven rare photos of the city during this time.
1. This aerial photo of Armour & Company was taken around 1910. One of the five leading businesses in Chicago's meat packing industry, it was founded in 1867.
3. A producer of both meat and dairy products, Swift & Company was another south Chicago business that made it big. This photo was taken around 1917 and features the rail yard where products were brought in a shipped out.
4. Inspectors for Swift & Company split backbones and check for problems with hogs ready to be butchered. The photo was taken in 1906, and this is most likely being done in anticipation of the Meat Inspection Act that would be signed into law later that year.
6. Taken in 1947, this photo is from well after changes were made to the meat packing industry. Here, you can see a maze of livestock pins at the Chicago Union Stock Yards.
7. And just for fun, here is a photo of Upton Sinclair around 1910. Without him, you might still be eating meat that was nibbled by flies or left to sit out in a hot warehouse.
