Hole in the Clouds


Pens

Feb 4, 2018

For a hundred years, up until 1971, Chicago's Union Stockyards and surrounding meat-packing plants made the city the meat capital of the universe. The industry gave the neighborhood a definite aroma, but of course, it was still the scent of money.

The city had to make the Chicago River run backwards in order to keep the animal waste out of municipal drinking water.

The stockyards burned to the ground in 1939, but they'd been newly rebuilt by the time of this photo in 1941.

Chicago   birdseye view   industry   livestock   1941   meatpacking   Union Stockyards   (Image credit: John Vachon)