National City, Illinois
Encyclopedia
National City, Illinois is a suburb of East St. Louis, Illinois
. Incorporated in 1907, it was a company town
for the St. Louis National Stockyards Company.National City was annexed by nearby Fairmont City, Illinois
not East St. Louis
.
, the American economy began to undergo a dramatic change as smaller markets and operations were being replaced by more centralized and efficient ones. This was due in no small part to the advent of the railroads, which by this time crisscrossed much of the country and connected previously isolated producers to one another in a more expedient fashion. This transformation of the nation’s transportation network by railroads had a particularly strong impact on livestock-related industries. It eliminated the need for long cattle drives by connecting the producers of livestock (especially cattle) in the West with the major meat processing companies in the East. It also enabled livestock markets to become transregional, with animals being shipped to large, centralized markets for sale, processing and distribution. The result of this was that over time, smaller, localized markets became obsolete and a relatively small number of terminal livestock markets—markets built near important railroad centers—came to dominate the livestock and meatpacking industries. St. Louis, Missouri
was a natural choice as one of these locations.
Situated near the juncture of the Missouri River
and Mississippi River
, the city of St. Louis had long been an important transportation center. Its access to these river systems coupled with its central location in the country had contributed to its becoming a major industrial center and railroad hub, with all the nation’s major rail lines converging in the city and from there running to all the different regions of the country. As railroads became the primary means by which livestock and processed meat was shipped, St. Louis developed into a major livestock and meatpacking center. This was also due to the fact that most of the U.S. population lived east of the Mississippi River prior to 1900, while most of the animals used to produce the meat it consumed were raised west of it, thus making St. Louis a logical place for the interchange between supply and demand in the meat market. However, the Mississippi River provided a hindrance to this movement of livestock and meat to the East at first, because until 1874, when the Eads Bridge
was completed, no bridge linking Missouri
to Illinois
had been constructed. This meant that livestock from the West had to be unloaded in St. Louis, then ferried across the river to East St. Louis, Illinois, where it would then be stocked until it could be taken by railroad to eastern cities. This inefficiency provided additional costs to producers, both in time lost and money spent on ferry fees. It was these problems that caused a group of eastern financiers to invest in the construction of a large stockyard complex outside the already well-established rail center of East St. Louis.
in Chicago and make the stockyards in nearby St. Louis minor by comparison, and he approached a group of wealthy investors about establishing it. Most of these investors were railroad men, and virtually all of them were from the East. The man who led this group of investors was Archibald M. Allerton of the New York law firm Allerton, Dutcher and Moore, who also was one of the owners of New York’s National Drove Yard. Allerton and his fellow investors believed such an operation would be a successful venture, but had several conditions they wanted met before they would invest in East St. Louis: 1)they wanted to build their operation on land not incorporated into any existing city, so as to avoid strict regulations, with a promise that East St. Louis would never attempt annexation of their property, 2)they wanted to build their own infrastructure independently of East St. Louis, and 3) they wanted East St. Louis to provide their property with city services such as fire protection. Mayor Bowman acquiesced to these conditions, and the agreement was made official on July 17, 1872, at the East St. Louis city council meeting. The investors had purchased 656 acres (2.7 km²) of land known as Gallagher Pastures (400 acres of which was procured from Mayor Bowman and W.D. Griswold for $145,000, and 256 acres (1 km²) from Virginia Matthews for $50,000) on the northeast edge of East St. Louis upon which to build their new stockyard operation, and construction had begun on May 30, 1871. Ultimately, they would spend $1.5 million to construct the complex. It included 100 acre (0.404686 km²) of animal pens and 60 acres (242,811.6 m²) for sheds, as well as the Allerton House (later known as the National Hotel
, at which Theodore Roosevelt
once stayed)—one of the finest hotels in the area—and a new Exchange Building. On October 31, 1872, the original 17 stockholders who had invested in the new stockyard operation met in Mayor Bowman’s office and elected the first Board of Directors for the operation, with Archibald Allerton as its first President. The St. Louis National Stockyards Company was incorporated in Illinois four days later on November 4 and officially opened for business on November 19, 1873.
. The first shipment of cattle had arrived at the complex in June of 1873, almost five months before the yards officially opened, and many more shipments would follow. The National Stockyards had been built to accommodate up to 15,000 head of cattle, 10,000 sheep, 20,000 hogs, in addition to a large quantity of non-meat animals such as horses and mules. This large capacity did not go unnoticed by the meatpacking firms in the East, who very shortly after the Stockyards’ inception began to build plants there—which the Stockyards’ board had anticipated by purchasing enough land to accommodate packinghouse operations alongside the yards. The centralization of stockyard operations along railroad terminals had led the major meatpacking companies to follow suit, locating their major operations near the stockyard operations to trim shipping costs connected to transporting whole animals by killing and processing their meat in a single location and shipping only the finished product. The first packinghouse operation to build a plant at the National Stockyards was the White House Provision Company. It was followed soon after by Richardson and Company’s East St. Louis Packing and Provision Company, which opened on November 13, 1873. Richardson’s was able to process 2,000 hogs per day at its beginning, and by the end of 1874 was processing 6,000 per day. Other packing companies began to arrive right on their heels. The St. Louis Beef Canning Company relocated to the Stockyards in 1879, and was followed closely by plants owned by the big-name meatpacking firms. Nelson Morris began operations at the Stockyards in 1889, Gustavus Swift arrived in 1893, and Philip Armour commenced production in 1903. There were also many other smaller firms who built plants near the yards, who along with the big operations helped to make the St. Louis area—and specifically the St. Louis National Stockyards—one of the nation’s premier meatpacking centers, with the Stockyards directly employing 1,200 workers and processing approximately 50,000 animals weekly and boasting sales of more than $2 million each year at the turn of the 20th century.
Other services and infrastructure soon followed. The St. Louis Live Stock Exchange was established in 1885 to manage livestock trading at the site, and it did not take long until the Stockyards had a United States Post Office, telegraph offices and the offices of The Daily National Live Stock Reporter, a trade newspaper. The Stockyards had paved roads, which East St. Louis did not have at the time, and its own waterworks that provided cleaner drinking water for the animals there than was available for the people living in downtown St. Louis
at the time. It also boasted a system of fire hydrants to protect the operation from catastrophe. In the words of Dr. Andrew Theising, a scholar who has studied East St. Louis and the surrounding area, the St. Louis National Stockyards had quickly become “a world unto itself”, and it would not be long until it became officially a town unto itself.
began to push for food regulations and standards, spurred on by Upton Sinclair
’s novel The Jungle
, which chronicled the meatpacking industry; the Roosevelt administration
had begun to oppose what it called the beef trust”; and the city of East St. Louis had tried to annex the yards, in violation of the agreement it had made with the company prior to the construction of the complex. In order to counter the increasing intervention of government into its affairs, the St. Louis National Stockyards and its related commercial interests incorporated as National City, Illinois, in July of 1907. National City was in all respects a company town
, as the St. Louis National Stockyards Company owned all the property in the town. The town consisted of two streets a block long, with about 40 houses arranged in four rows on them, a building that served as a church and school, a police/fire station and a store. The village had a population at its height of 300, all of whom were employees of the stockyards. Everything in the town was under the direct control of the company, from the mayor (handpicked by the company, the town only saw three changes of mayor between 1907 and 1982) to the tax assessments. This control enabled the St. Louis National Stockyards Company to efficiently run its own affairs with minimal outside governmental interference such as taxation and regulation. National City was the first industrial suburb
outside East St. Louis, and it would set an example to be followed by other major industries in the St. Louis area, establishing such other company towns on the Illinois
side of the Mississippi as Granite City
(steel), Alorton (Aluminum), Sauget (Chemicals) and Wood River
and Roxana
(Oil refinery
).
The federal government responded by passing the Packers and Stockyards Act of 1921. This law gave to the U.S. Department of Agriculture regulatory rights over ownership, trading practices and financial transactions in the stockyard industry. Perhaps most importantly, though, it separated the stockyard and meatpacking industries by forcing the major meatpacking firms to give up their majority interests in stockyard companies. The major business interests in these industries would fight back fiercely against this law’s regulations, to no avail, over the next 20 years. This mandated divorce between the stockyard and meatpacking industries would be the first step toward the decentralization of both industries later in the 20th century—a major factor in the decline of National City. However, another major factor evolving in the market during this period would have an even greater impact on National City and hasten its demise: the truck.
and the increasing mechanization of industry. The yards were converted to handle truck traffic, and the last auctions of work horses and mules took place in 1948, as those animals became obsolete with the increasing ubiquity of farm machinery. This shift from railroad-based shipping to truck-based shipping would threaten the terminal livestock markets across the nation as the livestock and meatpacking industries evolved right alongside the transportation network
.
during this period, however, ultimately led the packinghouse workers to organize and resist their employers, seeking better wages and working conditions.
Of course, the major meatpacking firms opposed this trend. Apprehensive of a unified, well-organized labor force, meatpackers—like many other industrialists of this period—hired people from many diverse, non-English-speaking ethnic groups in order to hinder the organization of their employees into unions. Another tactic used by the meatpackers was to bring in African-Americans from the South as replacement workers to create tension and discourage unionization and strikes
. This latter move played a major role in causing the infamous East St. Louis Race Riots of 1917. However, the packers were not ultimately able to quell the fires of unionization, and by the 1950s virtually all the industries in National City—packinghouses, railroads, etc.—had become union workplaces. This led to increased wages and improved working conditions, including shorter workdays, as well as periodic strikes
. These changes in management/labor would eventually play a major role in the packing companies choosing to relocate to the countryside in search of cheaper, nonunion labor.
to become the largest hog market in the world in 1954 and earning East St. Louis the epithet “Hog Capital of the Nation”. However, though National City would continue to dominate the hog market for the next decade, its fortunes were changing with the market. The advent of the truck—and later, the interstate highway system
—coupled with rising labor costs connected to unionization and the antiquation of outdated factories was causing the meatpacking industry to decentralize and relocate away from centralized terminal markets such as National City to rural areas, where it could find cheaper, nonunion labor as well as build new factories close to the livestock producers and buy directly from them, thus eliminating the middleman of the stockyard industry and cutting costs.
In 1959, National City placed fourth among major stockyards in the nation. However, as the 1960s began, its gradual decline had begun in earnest. The Armour packinghouse in National City was the first plant owned by a major national firm to close in 1959, laying off 1,400 employees. It would not be the last. By 1986, the last meatpacking plant located in National City had closed its doors, ending an era. As this process of decentralization was underway, the Stockyards themselves continued to gradually diminish in importance to the livestock industry as well. By 1963, National City had slipped to fifth in stockyard production, losing its place atop the hog market in 1967 to Omaha
, and it dropped to third place just a year later as St. Paul overtook it. This was evidence not just of National City’s decline, but also that of terminal livestock markets as a whole across the country. In 1970, St. Louis National Stockyards Company President Gilbert Novotny stated that 30% of livestock sold in the U.S. was sold through terminal markets, a dramatic decline from the 90% sales terminal markets boasted in the 1920s. This precipitous decline mirrored the loss of packinghouse operations to the rural countryside. In 1965, the St. Louis Metro-East region, of which National City was a part, had 43 packing plants processing 100,000 animals weekly; by 1970, just five years later, there were 32. In National City, Hunter Packing Company closed its doors in 1980, laying off 1,100 workers; Royal Packing Company followed closely behind in January 1981. They were followed by others, until Swift Independent Packing Company, the last packinghouse located in National City, shut down for good in 1986.
auctions in October 1960, and they undertook conversion projects aimed at making the yards more truck-friendly, but these efforts to revitalize the Stockyards were ultimately unsuccessful. The industry had changed. Livestock farming in the U.S. had undergone a paradigm shift from a large number of small farmers to a relatively small number of huge corporate farms, where animals could be grown to full-size independently of a centralized stockyard operation. The interstate highway system
constructed in the 1950s enabled the major meatpacking firms to bypass the railroads and terminal stockyard operations and purchase their animals directly from the producers, and with the advent of refrigerated trucks, the packing firms could locate their plants near the source of the animals, being able to ship their products anywhere in the country. This also provided them a way to avoid costly labor in unionized major cities, as most countryside labor pools were unorganized. The National City Stockyards were but one victim of this evolution in the market. Across the nation, the major terminal livestock markets were becoming obsolete and shutting down. The Chicago Union Stock Yards, long the industry leader, closed down in 1971; that year, the St. Louis National Stockyards Company was one of only 11 remaining terminal markets in the nation.
As the decline continued, the St. Louis National Stockyards saw many changes. The number of commission houses was cut in half—from 12 to 6—between 1971 and 1990, and the Stockyards went from employing 100 full-time workers to employing just 34. The National Hotel
, no longer necessary as shippers made their trips in one day by truck, was shuttered and demolished in 1986. That same year, a fire destroyed the Exchange building—a metaphoric picture of what was happening to the Stockyards themselves at that time. In addition, the industries that the meatpacking industry had spawned at the yards, such as hide processing, rendering, and fertilizer and feed operations, began to leave as well as the meatpacking industry in National City dried up.
National City, Illinois is a testament to the dramatic changes in American industry during the late 19th century and the 20th century. Established as a centralized terminal livestock market, it owed its existence to the railroads, which transformed the livestock and meatpacking industries from spread-out, localized operations to consolidated and integrated major complexes in central urban locations. When the market evolved again in the mid-20th century with the interstate highway system
and trucking coming to prominence, the railroads—once king of shipping—began to diminish, and with them the terminal markets as meatpackers were able to bypass the middlemen of the railroad and stockyard companies, leading to the meatpacking and livestock industries once again becoming decentralized. This ultimately led to National City’s demise.
bridge proposed for the St. Louis Metro Area, many local leaders hope that it will help to drive revitalization efforts in National City. National City was annexed by Fairmont City. There are plans for a grain transfer facility to begin construction.
Rt 3, the main highway through the town is going to be updated in conjunction with the new Highway 70 Interstate Bridge. the new bridge will have its first Illinois exit in the old National City/new Fairmont City. The once moribund National City is now showing buds of life and potential with the small but progressive Fairmont City.
East St. Louis, Illinois
East St. Louis is a city located in St. Clair County, Illinois, USA, directly across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, Missouri in the Metro-East region of Southern Illinois. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 27,006, less than one-third of its peak of 82,366 in 1950...
. Incorporated in 1907, it was a company town
Company town
A company town is a town or city in which much or all real estate, buildings , utilities, hospitals, small businesses such as grocery stores and gas stations, and other necessities or luxuries of life within its borders are owned by a single company...
for the St. Louis National Stockyards Company.National City was annexed by nearby Fairmont City, Illinois
Fairmont City, Illinois
Fairmont City is a village in St. Clair and Madison Counties, Illinois, United States. The population was 2,436 at the 2000 census. Fairmont City holds the highest percentage of Hispanics in the entire St...
not East St. Louis
East St. Louis, Illinois
East St. Louis is a city located in St. Clair County, Illinois, USA, directly across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, Missouri in the Metro-East region of Southern Illinois. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 27,006, less than one-third of its peak of 82,366 in 1950...
.
Background and Context
Following the American Civil WarAmerican Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, the American economy began to undergo a dramatic change as smaller markets and operations were being replaced by more centralized and efficient ones. This was due in no small part to the advent of the railroads, which by this time crisscrossed much of the country and connected previously isolated producers to one another in a more expedient fashion. This transformation of the nation’s transportation network by railroads had a particularly strong impact on livestock-related industries. It eliminated the need for long cattle drives by connecting the producers of livestock (especially cattle) in the West with the major meat processing companies in the East. It also enabled livestock markets to become transregional, with animals being shipped to large, centralized markets for sale, processing and distribution. The result of this was that over time, smaller, localized markets became obsolete and a relatively small number of terminal livestock markets—markets built near important railroad centers—came to dominate the livestock and meatpacking industries. St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
was a natural choice as one of these locations.
Situated near the juncture of the Missouri River
Missouri River
The Missouri River flows through the central United States, and is a tributary of the Mississippi River. It is the longest river in North America and drains the third largest area, though only the thirteenth largest by discharge. The Missouri's watershed encompasses most of the American Great...
and Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
, the city of St. Louis had long been an important transportation center. Its access to these river systems coupled with its central location in the country had contributed to its becoming a major industrial center and railroad hub, with all the nation’s major rail lines converging in the city and from there running to all the different regions of the country. As railroads became the primary means by which livestock and processed meat was shipped, St. Louis developed into a major livestock and meatpacking center. This was also due to the fact that most of the U.S. population lived east of the Mississippi River prior to 1900, while most of the animals used to produce the meat it consumed were raised west of it, thus making St. Louis a logical place for the interchange between supply and demand in the meat market. However, the Mississippi River provided a hindrance to this movement of livestock and meat to the East at first, because until 1874, when the Eads Bridge
Eads Bridge
The Eads Bridge is a combined road and railway bridge over the Mississippi River at St. Louis, connecting St. Louis and East St. Louis, Illinois....
was completed, no bridge linking Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
to Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
had been constructed. This meant that livestock from the West had to be unloaded in St. Louis, then ferried across the river to East St. Louis, Illinois, where it would then be stocked until it could be taken by railroad to eastern cities. This inefficiency provided additional costs to producers, both in time lost and money spent on ferry fees. It was these problems that caused a group of eastern financiers to invest in the construction of a large stockyard complex outside the already well-established rail center of East St. Louis.
The St. Louis National Stockyards Company is formed, 1873
National City had its beginnings as a business investment by East-Coast venture capitalists in the early 1870s. East St. Louis mayor John Bowman had envisioned a new stockyard operation in East. St. Louis that would rival the famous Union Stock YardsUnion Stock Yards
The Union Stock Yard & Transit Co., or The Yards, was the meat packing district in Chicago for over a century starting in 1865. The district was operated by a group of railroad companies that acquired swampland, and turned it to a centralized processing area...
in Chicago and make the stockyards in nearby St. Louis minor by comparison, and he approached a group of wealthy investors about establishing it. Most of these investors were railroad men, and virtually all of them were from the East. The man who led this group of investors was Archibald M. Allerton of the New York law firm Allerton, Dutcher and Moore, who also was one of the owners of New York’s National Drove Yard. Allerton and his fellow investors believed such an operation would be a successful venture, but had several conditions they wanted met before they would invest in East St. Louis: 1)they wanted to build their operation on land not incorporated into any existing city, so as to avoid strict regulations, with a promise that East St. Louis would never attempt annexation of their property, 2)they wanted to build their own infrastructure independently of East St. Louis, and 3) they wanted East St. Louis to provide their property with city services such as fire protection. Mayor Bowman acquiesced to these conditions, and the agreement was made official on July 17, 1872, at the East St. Louis city council meeting. The investors had purchased 656 acres (2.7 km²) of land known as Gallagher Pastures (400 acres of which was procured from Mayor Bowman and W.D. Griswold for $145,000, and 256 acres (1 km²) from Virginia Matthews for $50,000) on the northeast edge of East St. Louis upon which to build their new stockyard operation, and construction had begun on May 30, 1871. Ultimately, they would spend $1.5 million to construct the complex. It included 100 acre (0.404686 km²) of animal pens and 60 acres (242,811.6 m²) for sheds, as well as the Allerton House (later known as the National Hotel
National Hotel
National Hotel, is Taichung's first Five-star hotel, founded in 1980, the central one of the famous hotel, located in Chungkang Road, the tight Pro with Luyuan Road, Taichung National Museum of Natural Science and SOGO Department Store. Currently Qin Mei Group acquisition.National Hotel have 306...
, at which Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
once stayed)—one of the finest hotels in the area—and a new Exchange Building. On October 31, 1872, the original 17 stockholders who had invested in the new stockyard operation met in Mayor Bowman’s office and elected the first Board of Directors for the operation, with Archibald Allerton as its first President. The St. Louis National Stockyards Company was incorporated in Illinois four days later on November 4 and officially opened for business on November 19, 1873.
Consolidation and National Prominence
Once established, the St. Louis National Stockyards did not take long to become a major player in the livestock and meatpacking industriesMeat packing industry
The meat packing industry handles the slaughtering, processing, packaging, and distribution of animals such as cattle, pigs, sheep and other livestock...
. The first shipment of cattle had arrived at the complex in June of 1873, almost five months before the yards officially opened, and many more shipments would follow. The National Stockyards had been built to accommodate up to 15,000 head of cattle, 10,000 sheep, 20,000 hogs, in addition to a large quantity of non-meat animals such as horses and mules. This large capacity did not go unnoticed by the meatpacking firms in the East, who very shortly after the Stockyards’ inception began to build plants there—which the Stockyards’ board had anticipated by purchasing enough land to accommodate packinghouse operations alongside the yards. The centralization of stockyard operations along railroad terminals had led the major meatpacking companies to follow suit, locating their major operations near the stockyard operations to trim shipping costs connected to transporting whole animals by killing and processing their meat in a single location and shipping only the finished product. The first packinghouse operation to build a plant at the National Stockyards was the White House Provision Company. It was followed soon after by Richardson and Company’s East St. Louis Packing and Provision Company, which opened on November 13, 1873. Richardson’s was able to process 2,000 hogs per day at its beginning, and by the end of 1874 was processing 6,000 per day. Other packing companies began to arrive right on their heels. The St. Louis Beef Canning Company relocated to the Stockyards in 1879, and was followed closely by plants owned by the big-name meatpacking firms. Nelson Morris began operations at the Stockyards in 1889, Gustavus Swift arrived in 1893, and Philip Armour commenced production in 1903. There were also many other smaller firms who built plants near the yards, who along with the big operations helped to make the St. Louis area—and specifically the St. Louis National Stockyards—one of the nation’s premier meatpacking centers, with the Stockyards directly employing 1,200 workers and processing approximately 50,000 animals weekly and boasting sales of more than $2 million each year at the turn of the 20th century.
Related Industries, Infrastructure
The centralization of the stockyard and packinghouse operations at the St. Louis National Stockyards also led to the creation and expansion of other related industries at the site. The National Stock Yards National Bank, established with the yards in 1873, became a major financial institution in the St. Louis area, helping to finance the day-to-day operations of the yards. Up until the end of World War II, it would be the largest Illinois bank outside of Chicago. Another major development came as the meatpacking firms began to realize that they could use the vast amount of animal by-products produced by their factories to create new industries—some of which became established at the Stockyards. Other industries related to livestock also became established there, such as seed and feed businesses, companies that dealt in hardware and farm machinery, lumber, and fertilizer, and tanning and rendering plants.Other services and infrastructure soon followed. The St. Louis Live Stock Exchange was established in 1885 to manage livestock trading at the site, and it did not take long until the Stockyards had a United States Post Office, telegraph offices and the offices of The Daily National Live Stock Reporter, a trade newspaper. The Stockyards had paved roads, which East St. Louis did not have at the time, and its own waterworks that provided cleaner drinking water for the animals there than was available for the people living in downtown St. Louis
Downtown St. Louis
Downtown St. Louis is the central business district of St. Louis, Missouri, the hub of tourism and entertainment, and the anchor of the St. Louis metropolitan area. The downtown is bounded by Cole Street to the north, the river front to the east, Chouteau Avenue to the south, and Jefferson Avenue...
at the time. It also boasted a system of fire hydrants to protect the operation from catastrophe. In the words of Dr. Andrew Theising, a scholar who has studied East St. Louis and the surrounding area, the St. Louis National Stockyards had quickly become “a world unto itself”, and it would not be long until it became officially a town unto itself.
National City, Illinois Incorporates, 1907
As the St. Louis National Stockyards and its related industries grew and became established, they returned no small dividends for their investors and provided large profits for both livestock owners and meatpacking firms. However, things quickly became more complicated for the yards. The federal governmentFederal government of the United States
The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...
began to push for food regulations and standards, spurred on by Upton Sinclair
Upton Sinclair
Upton Beall Sinclair Jr. , was an American author who wrote close to one hundred books in many genres. He achieved popularity in the first half of the twentieth century, acquiring particular fame for his classic muckraking novel, The Jungle . It exposed conditions in the U.S...
’s novel The Jungle
The Jungle
The Jungle is a 1906 novel written by journalist Upton Sinclair. Sinclair wrote the novel with the intention of portraying the life of the immigrant in the United States, but readers were more concerned with the large portion of the book pertaining to the corruption of the American meatpacking...
, which chronicled the meatpacking industry; the Roosevelt administration
Roosevelt Administration
There have been two Presidents of the United States with the surname "Roosevelt":*Theodore Roosevelt Administration, the 26th President of the United States, 1901 - 1909*Franklin D. Roosevelt Administration, the 32nd President of the United States, 1933 - 1945...
had begun to oppose what it called the beef trust”; and the city of East St. Louis had tried to annex the yards, in violation of the agreement it had made with the company prior to the construction of the complex. In order to counter the increasing intervention of government into its affairs, the St. Louis National Stockyards and its related commercial interests incorporated as National City, Illinois, in July of 1907. National City was in all respects a company town
Company town
A company town is a town or city in which much or all real estate, buildings , utilities, hospitals, small businesses such as grocery stores and gas stations, and other necessities or luxuries of life within its borders are owned by a single company...
, as the St. Louis National Stockyards Company owned all the property in the town. The town consisted of two streets a block long, with about 40 houses arranged in four rows on them, a building that served as a church and school, a police/fire station and a store. The village had a population at its height of 300, all of whom were employees of the stockyards. Everything in the town was under the direct control of the company, from the mayor (handpicked by the company, the town only saw three changes of mayor between 1907 and 1982) to the tax assessments. This control enabled the St. Louis National Stockyards Company to efficiently run its own affairs with minimal outside governmental interference such as taxation and regulation. National City was the first industrial suburb
Industrial suburb
An Industrial Suburb is an incorporated community, created near a large city, that is zoned for primarily industrial sources...
outside East St. Louis, and it would set an example to be followed by other major industries in the St. Louis area, establishing such other company towns on the Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
side of the Mississippi as Granite City
Granite City
Granite City may refer to:*Granite City, Illinois*St. Cloud, Minnesota*Aberdeen, Scotland...
(steel), Alorton (Aluminum), Sauget (Chemicals) and Wood River
Wood River
- In Canada :* Wood River , a tributary of the Columbia River via Kinbasket Lake- In the United States :* Wood River * Wood River , Connecticut & Rhode Island* Big Wood River, Idaho* Little Wood River, Idaho...
and Roxana
Roxana
Roxana sometimes Roxane, was a Bactrian noble and a wife of Alexander the Great. She was born earlier than the year 343 BC, though the precise date remains uncertain....
(Oil refinery
Oil refinery
An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial process plant where crude oil is processed and refined into more useful petroleum products, such as gasoline, diesel fuel, asphalt base, heating oil, kerosene, and liquefied petroleum gas...
).
Continued Growth
Following its incorporation as National City, the St. Louis National Stockyards continued to grow as a livestock and meat processing center. World War I in particular expedited this growth. The Stockyards had numerous government contracts, both for supplying meat and providing horses and mules for use as pack animals. By 1920, National City had 14,000 people working there, and the St. Louis National Stockyards had the largest horse and mule market in the world, which would continue until shortly after the end of World War II. In addition, it placed third among American cattle markets and second among hog markets. In 1919, the total money received by the Stockyards was $8,257,798, illustrating the success of the yards during this time. However, World War I and its immediate aftermath would also cause the beginnings of dramatic changes for the Stockyards and its related operations—changes that would ultimately be the beginning of the end for National City.Regulation
During the first world war, inflation began to play a major toll on the Stockyards. Yardage fees were 20% higher than they had been before the war, and price levels were 60% higher at the end of the war than they had been in 1914. Exchange members increased their fees charged to livestock producers as well and the producers, feeling they were being cut out of wartime profits by these practices and conditions, appealed to the federal government to regulate the industry.The federal government responded by passing the Packers and Stockyards Act of 1921. This law gave to the U.S. Department of Agriculture regulatory rights over ownership, trading practices and financial transactions in the stockyard industry. Perhaps most importantly, though, it separated the stockyard and meatpacking industries by forcing the major meatpacking firms to give up their majority interests in stockyard companies. The major business interests in these industries would fight back fiercely against this law’s regulations, to no avail, over the next 20 years. This mandated divorce between the stockyard and meatpacking industries would be the first step toward the decentralization of both industries later in the 20th century—a major factor in the decline of National City. However, another major factor evolving in the market during this period would have an even greater impact on National City and hasten its demise: the truck.
From Railroad To Truck: Transportation Evolves
The first truckload of hogs rolled into National City in 1921. It would not be the last. Over the next two decades, trucks would gain a greater and greater percentage of the volume of animals delivered to the Stockyards, gradually supplanting the formerly powerful and important railroads as the most important mode of shipment for the yards. By 1938, 60% of the livestock shipped to National City came by truck, and by 1952, that number would grow to 99% of hogs and 84% of all other animals. Following World War II, the Stockyards would respond to the evolution of the nation’s transportation networkTransportation network
Transportation network may refer to:* Transport network, physical infrastructure* Transportation network , the mathematical graph theory...
and the increasing mechanization of industry. The yards were converted to handle truck traffic, and the last auctions of work horses and mules took place in 1948, as those animals became obsolete with the increasing ubiquity of farm machinery. This shift from railroad-based shipping to truck-based shipping would threaten the terminal livestock markets across the nation as the livestock and meatpacking industries evolved right alongside the transportation network
Transportation network
Transportation network may refer to:* Transport network, physical infrastructure* Transportation network , the mathematical graph theory...
.
Labor Issues
Another major change that affected National City during the first half of the 20th century was the unionization of packinghouse workers. Originally, the packinghouses—and the Stockyards themselves—had targeted immigrants who would work cheap to man their operations. The “de-skilling” of labor on the assembly lines of the packinghouses meant that workers could be hired with no experience and without even being able to speak English to work for a fraction of what it might cost to pay domestic workers. National City advertised in Europe, soliciting immigrants primarily from Eastern Europe to come to the U.S. to work in the packinghouses. Many thousands arrived in National City and the surrounding area, establishing themselves and making their living in the meatpacking plants. The poor working conditions and low pay of the packinghouses and the rise of unionismUnionism
-Trades:*Community Unionism, describes the various ways in which trade unions can work with communities and community organizations*Craft unionism, an approach to union organizing in the United States and elsewhere that seeks to unify workers in a particular industry along the lines of the...
during this period, however, ultimately led the packinghouse workers to organize and resist their employers, seeking better wages and working conditions.
Of course, the major meatpacking firms opposed this trend. Apprehensive of a unified, well-organized labor force, meatpackers—like many other industrialists of this period—hired people from many diverse, non-English-speaking ethnic groups in order to hinder the organization of their employees into unions. Another tactic used by the meatpackers was to bring in African-Americans from the South as replacement workers to create tension and discourage unionization and strikes
Strike action
Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...
. This latter move played a major role in causing the infamous East St. Louis Race Riots of 1917. However, the packers were not ultimately able to quell the fires of unionization, and by the 1950s virtually all the industries in National City—packinghouses, railroads, etc.—had become union workplaces. This led to increased wages and improved working conditions, including shorter workdays, as well as periodic strikes
Strike action
Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...
. These changes in management/labor would eventually play a major role in the packing companies choosing to relocate to the countryside in search of cheaper, nonunion labor.
The Industry Changes
The peak year for the National City Stockyards came in 1947, with 1,860,000 cattle—in addition to other animals—being unloaded there. The Stockyards continued to do well through the 1950s. Receipts of cattle vacillated during this decade, but National City competed for first in the nation in hog receipts, eventually surpassing Chicago and OmahaOmaha
Omaha may refer to:*Omaha , a Native American tribe that currently resides in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Nebraska-Places:United States* Omaha, Nebraska* Omaha, Arkansas* Omaha, Georgia* Omaha, Illinois* Omaha, Texas...
to become the largest hog market in the world in 1954 and earning East St. Louis the epithet “Hog Capital of the Nation”. However, though National City would continue to dominate the hog market for the next decade, its fortunes were changing with the market. The advent of the truck—and later, the interstate highway system
Interstate Highway System
The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, , is a network of limited-access roads including freeways, highways, and expressways forming part of the National Highway System of the United States of America...
—coupled with rising labor costs connected to unionization and the antiquation of outdated factories was causing the meatpacking industry to decentralize and relocate away from centralized terminal markets such as National City to rural areas, where it could find cheaper, nonunion labor as well as build new factories close to the livestock producers and buy directly from them, thus eliminating the middleman of the stockyard industry and cutting costs.
In 1959, National City placed fourth among major stockyards in the nation. However, as the 1960s began, its gradual decline had begun in earnest. The Armour packinghouse in National City was the first plant owned by a major national firm to close in 1959, laying off 1,400 employees. It would not be the last. By 1986, the last meatpacking plant located in National City had closed its doors, ending an era. As this process of decentralization was underway, the Stockyards themselves continued to gradually diminish in importance to the livestock industry as well. By 1963, National City had slipped to fifth in stockyard production, losing its place atop the hog market in 1967 to Omaha
Omaha
Omaha may refer to:*Omaha , a Native American tribe that currently resides in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Nebraska-Places:United States* Omaha, Nebraska* Omaha, Arkansas* Omaha, Georgia* Omaha, Illinois* Omaha, Texas...
, and it dropped to third place just a year later as St. Paul overtook it. This was evidence not just of National City’s decline, but also that of terminal livestock markets as a whole across the country. In 1970, St. Louis National Stockyards Company President Gilbert Novotny stated that 30% of livestock sold in the U.S. was sold through terminal markets, a dramatic decline from the 90% sales terminal markets boasted in the 1920s. This precipitous decline mirrored the loss of packinghouse operations to the rural countryside. In 1965, the St. Louis Metro-East region, of which National City was a part, had 43 packing plants processing 100,000 animals weekly; by 1970, just five years later, there were 32. In National City, Hunter Packing Company closed its doors in 1980, laying off 1,100 workers; Royal Packing Company followed closely behind in January 1981. They were followed by others, until Swift Independent Packing Company, the last packinghouse located in National City, shut down for good in 1986.
The Stockyards Attempt to Adjust
The St. Louis National Stockyards Company attempted to reverse its declining fortunes, to no avail. They introduced the first stocker and feeder cattleFeeder cattle
Feeder cattle are steers or heifers mature enough to be placed in a feedlot where they will be fattened prior to slaughter. Feeder calves are less than 1 year old; feeder yearlings are between 1 and 2 years old. Both types are often produced in a cow-calf operation.-References:...
auctions in October 1960, and they undertook conversion projects aimed at making the yards more truck-friendly, but these efforts to revitalize the Stockyards were ultimately unsuccessful. The industry had changed. Livestock farming in the U.S. had undergone a paradigm shift from a large number of small farmers to a relatively small number of huge corporate farms, where animals could be grown to full-size independently of a centralized stockyard operation. The interstate highway system
Interstate Highway System
The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, , is a network of limited-access roads including freeways, highways, and expressways forming part of the National Highway System of the United States of America...
constructed in the 1950s enabled the major meatpacking firms to bypass the railroads and terminal stockyard operations and purchase their animals directly from the producers, and with the advent of refrigerated trucks, the packing firms could locate their plants near the source of the animals, being able to ship their products anywhere in the country. This also provided them a way to avoid costly labor in unionized major cities, as most countryside labor pools were unorganized. The National City Stockyards were but one victim of this evolution in the market. Across the nation, the major terminal livestock markets were becoming obsolete and shutting down. The Chicago Union Stock Yards, long the industry leader, closed down in 1971; that year, the St. Louis National Stockyards Company was one of only 11 remaining terminal markets in the nation.
As the decline continued, the St. Louis National Stockyards saw many changes. The number of commission houses was cut in half—from 12 to 6—between 1971 and 1990, and the Stockyards went from employing 100 full-time workers to employing just 34. The National Hotel
National Hotel
National Hotel, is Taichung's first Five-star hotel, founded in 1980, the central one of the famous hotel, located in Chungkang Road, the tight Pro with Luyuan Road, Taichung National Museum of Natural Science and SOGO Department Store. Currently Qin Mei Group acquisition.National Hotel have 306...
, no longer necessary as shippers made their trips in one day by truck, was shuttered and demolished in 1986. That same year, a fire destroyed the Exchange building—a metaphoric picture of what was happening to the Stockyards themselves at that time. In addition, the industries that the meatpacking industry had spawned at the yards, such as hide processing, rendering, and fertilizer and feed operations, began to leave as well as the meatpacking industry in National City dried up.
Closing Down, 1997
Though greatly diminished in importance, the Stockyards would continue to hold hog and cattle auctions until 1997. That year, due to the dramatic changes in the livestock market and diminished receipts, the St. Louis National Stockyards officially dissolved the company town of National City, closing down its livestock division by the end of the year.National City, Illinois is a testament to the dramatic changes in American industry during the late 19th century and the 20th century. Established as a centralized terminal livestock market, it owed its existence to the railroads, which transformed the livestock and meatpacking industries from spread-out, localized operations to consolidated and integrated major complexes in central urban locations. When the market evolved again in the mid-20th century with the interstate highway system
Interstate Highway System
The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, , is a network of limited-access roads including freeways, highways, and expressways forming part of the National Highway System of the United States of America...
and trucking coming to prominence, the railroads—once king of shipping—began to diminish, and with them the terminal markets as meatpackers were able to bypass the middlemen of the railroad and stockyard companies, leading to the meatpacking and livestock industries once again becoming decentralized. This ultimately led to National City’s demise.
The Present Day
Today, National City is essentially a ghost town. There are no residents living there, and much of the land is a post-industrial wasteland, with the remains of dilapidated factories—many overgrown with vegetation and covered in graffiti—standing as empty, crumbling shells, testifying to the one-time greatness of the St. Louis National Stockyards as a national meatpacking and livestock center. Nevertheless, National City has not been completely abandoned. Several industries have located there, including Darling, International, a major rendering company, a recycling plant and Baily International, one of America's largest manufacturers of Asian foods as well as several warehouse, heavy machinery and trucking operations. In addition, there are currently (as of April 2010) several construction projects begun on the property as part of what is being called the National City Redevelopment Area. With a new Mississippi RiverMississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
bridge proposed for the St. Louis Metro Area, many local leaders hope that it will help to drive revitalization efforts in National City. National City was annexed by Fairmont City. There are plans for a grain transfer facility to begin construction.
Rt 3, the main highway through the town is going to be updated in conjunction with the new Highway 70 Interstate Bridge. the new bridge will have its first Illinois exit in the old National City/new Fairmont City. The once moribund National City is now showing buds of life and potential with the small but progressive Fairmont City.