After passing through
Bridgeport on my way south on Halsted, I came to New City which is best known as the home of the Union Stock Yards at 4100 south (Exchange Ave). The stockyards were made famous in Upton Sinclair's novel "The Jungle". The stockyards were established in 1865 and reached their peak in early-mid 1900s, but eventually became less important as the slaughtering industry became decentralized. The stockyards closed in 1971. The former stockyards area is now an industrial park, but the original old stone gate still stands. There are many interesting articles on the web about the stockyards.
Here's one.
Less well known than the old stone gate to the stockyards is the
memorial to fallen firefighters which stands directly behind (west of) it. The memorial commemorates the lives of 21 firefighters who were killed while battling a blaze in the stockyards on December 22, 1910. According to
this article, the Union Stock Yards fire ranks behind the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center and the 1947 Texas City Disaster as the third largest loss of firefighters in a single event in US History.
Continuing south on Halsted to 47th and then east on 47th, I was shocked to find a mountain of J. B. Hunt truck/train trailers at 47th and Normal, just west of the train tracks.
After passing through Bridgeport on my way south on Halsted, I came to New City which is best known as the home of the Union Stock Yards at 4100 south (Exchange Ave). The stockyards were made famous in Upton Sinclair's novel "The Jungle". The stockyards were established in 1865 and reached their peak in early-mid 1900s, but eventually became less important as the slaughtering industry became decentralized. The stockyards closed in 1971. The former stockyards area is now an industrial park, but the original old stone gate still stands. There are many interesting articles on the web about the stockyards. Here's one.
Less well known than the old stone gate to the stockyards is the memorial to fallen firefighters which stands directly behind (west of) it. The memorial commemorates the lives of 21 firefighters who were killed while battling a blaze in the stockyards on December 22, 1910. According to this article, the Union Stock Yards fire ranks behind the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center and the 1947 Texas City Disaster as the third largest loss of firefighters in a single event in US History.
Continuing south on Halsted to 47th and then east on 47th, I was shocked to find a mountain of J. B. Hunt truck/train trailers at 47th and Normal, just west of the train tracks.
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