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The Union Stock Yard Gate: What Is Left of Chicago's Great Stockyards

A limestone arch on Exchange Avenue is the lasting reminder of the yards that made Chicago a meat-packing capital.

What is the Union Stock Yard Gate?

The Union Stock Yard Gate is a limestone entrance arch standing on a plaza in the middle of Exchange Avenue at Peoria Street on Chicago's South Side. According to the University of Chicago's Back of the Yards page, it marked the principal eastern entrance to the Union Stock Yards, which covered several hundred acres to the west.

The structure has a central main arch flanked by two smaller arches. For decades, cattle, hogs, sheep and the people who handled them passed through this entrance on the way to the pens.

How did the Union Stock Yards start?

The Union Stock Yard was established in 1865 to centralize the city's growing meatpacking industry. Early facilities were wood, and some were later rebuilt in stone. At its peak the yards covered 475 acres, and they operated for about a century before closing in 1971, according to the City of Chicago landmark record.

Chicago was known as the hog butcher to the world, a phrase the city's landmark record repeats. The Wikipedia article on the gate offers more detail. The gate is one of the few surviving visual reminders of the city's former dominance in livestock and meatpacking.

Who designed the gate, and when was it built?

Sources differ on the date. The City of Chicago lists the gate as built about 1875 and attributes it to Burnham & Root. The University of Chicago page gives 1879 and says the gate was probably designed by Daniel Burnham and John W. Root, who also designed other yard structures.

Either way, the gate belongs to the first generation of the yards, within about a decade and a half of their opening in 1865.

Who is Sherman, the bull above the arch?

A limestone head sits above the central arch. The city's landmark record says it is traditionally believed to depict Sherman, a prize-winning bull named for John B. Sherman, one of the founders of the Union Stock Yard and Transit Company. The University of Chicago page says Root included a bust of Sherman, the favorite prize-winning bull of John B. Sherman, over the arch.

The detail ties the building to the breeding side of the cattle business, not just the packing side. Prize stock mattered in Chicago because the yards were where the trade priced and sold animals bred on farms and ranches across the Midwest and plains.

The 1934 fire and the end of the yards

A fire in 1934 leveled the yards. The gate and a gatehouse, since demolished, were the only substantial buildings to survive. The yards themselves kept operating for decades afterward and closed in 1971.

Behind the gate stands a memorial statue for Chicago firefighters, placed there because of the Chicago Union Stock Yards Fire. The names of firefighters killed in the line of duty are engraved around its base.

Why It Mattered

The gate matters because it is nearly all that remains of a market that set prices for livestock across the country. Its story shows how a single landmark can outlast the institution around it.

  • The yards were established in 1865 to centralize a scattered meatpacking trade in one place.
  • The gate was designed by one of the best-known Chicago architecture partnerships, probably Burnham & Root.
  • Limestone construction helped it survive the 1934 fire that leveled the yards.
  • Preservation came early: Chicago Landmark status in February 1972, a National Register listing that December, and National Historic Landmark status on May 29, 1981.
  • A restoration in the 1970s kept the structure sound.

Visit or learn more

The gate can be viewed from Exchange Avenue at Peoria Street. The neighborhood around it, Back of the Yards, is documented in the University of Chicago's site. Readers who want to follow how beef reached market after the yards closed can start with farm.FM's agribusiness section or a farm.FM story about the Chicago stockyards.

Timeline

  1. 1865The Union Stock Yard is established in Chicago
  2. 1875Approximate date given by the City of Chicago for the gate
  3. 1879Date given by the University of Chicago for the gate
  4. 1934A fire levels the yards; the gate survives
  5. 1971The stockyards close after about a century
  6. 1972Chicago Landmark (February 24) and National Register listing (December 27)
  7. 1981Named a National Historic Landmark on May 29

Frequently asked questions

Where is the Union Stock Yard Gate?

The gate stands on a plaza in the middle of Exchange Avenue at Peoria Street on Chicago's South Side, in the Back of the Yards area.

Who is Sherman on the Union Stock Yard Gate?

Sherman is the prize-winning bull whose likeness is traditionally believed to appear on the limestone head above the arch. The bull was named for John B. Sherman, a founder of the Union Stock Yard and Transit Company.

When was the Union Stock Yard Gate built?

Sources differ. The City of Chicago lists about 1875, while the University of Chicago gives 1879. Both credit Burnham & Root, with the university saying probably.

Is the Union Stock Yard Gate a National Historic Landmark?

Yes. According to the University of Chicago, it became a National Historic Landmark on May 29, 1981, after Chicago Landmark status in February 1972 and National Register listing that December.

Sources and further reading

Profiles are compiled from public sources and reviewed against them. See our editorial policy to suggest a correction.

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