Peoria, IL: Union Stockyards

(Satellite)

What amazed me about this stockyard was how late it was open. This yard opened in 1878 and closed in 2017.

Roger Kujawa posted
Peoria Union Stock Yard Postcard. 1920’s era.
David Jordan Most of it was torn down in 1997 to make room for a Freesen asphalt plant. The stockyards closed in December 2017.

Unlike most stockyards that were built by railroads, this one was built by a distillery so that the animals could consume the grain mash. Since Peoria became the "Whisky Capital of the World," it had a lot of grain mash to dispose of. Its longevity was probably because it never was dependent on the railroads. It served a more local environment. "By 1928, Peoria was the third largest truck market in the United States, and by 1935, 97 percent of hog receipts were transported by truck." [PeoriaMagazines]

Glen Snodgrass, Jun 2016

Mike Wettstein, Jan 2017

Digitally Zoomed

Peoria Historical Society posted
Bird's Eye View of the Stock Yards, Peoria, IL (ca. 1920)

One of several photos posted by pjstar in an article about the closing
The Peoria terminal hosted as many as 7,000 hogs per day and up to 2,000 head of cattle on days those animals were accepted when Swalve started working on the yard in 1974. More recently, the Peoria Stock Yards accepted cattle only on Mondays and would receive 10 to 15 animals. Hog numbers dwindled to low triple digits.
“The profit margin just became so small in the farming industry....You have to be so big and limit your expenses so much to be profitable,” Swalve said. “The big companies are raising and producing a lot of their own product. They’d be large enough that they didn’t need a middle guy like us.”