Soon, other packers set up slaughterhouses and butcher the animals that farmers drove in from the surrounding prairies. To accommodate the ranchers, grocery keepers opened inns and provided fenced-in pens and pastures for the livestock to attract more business and add another revenue stream.
Matthew Laflin bought land at the southeastern corner of Madison Street and the Southwestern Plank Road (Ogden Avenue) and built Chicago's first privately owned stockyard called the "Bull's Head Market." It opened in 1848 and served the public.
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Bull's Head Market on Madison Street and the Southwest Plank Road (Ogden Avenue). Surveyed by Henry Hart in 1853. |
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The Three-Story Bull’s Head Tavern. Circa 1850s |

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.
In school, we read Upton Sinclair’s famous novel “The Jungle”. What I’d like to know is, what was the real impact of that book on actual meat packing industry changes? Yes, I could look it up on Google, but you’re a Chicago historian, and I’d love your thoughts.
ReplyDeleteThe book "Jungle" led to the passage of the Meat Inspection Act in 1907, which allowed the federal government, through the Department of Agriculture, to inspect meat factories.
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