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Famous Cattle Towns

St. Joseph, Missouri: A River Town That Became a Livestock Market

From Oregon Trail jumping-off point to one of the nation's busiest livestock markets.

Why St. Joseph became a livestock town

St. Joseph sits on the Missouri River at the edge of the plains, and its livestock story is older than its stockyards. The Clio entry on the stockyards and industry says livestock and meatpacking began in the 1840s and notes that the city was a starting point of the Oregon Trail. The first railroad line reached the city in 1859, and three more lines arrived in or around 1887, the year the stockyards opened.

The stockyards open in 1887

The St. Joseph Stockyards opened in December 1887 on 413 acres in downtown St. Joseph, between the river and the railroad, according to Beef Magazine's report on the yards' closing. The facility changed hands many times over the years. Mark Servaes bought it in 2012.

The Livestock Exchange Building, completed in 1899 at 4603 Packers Avenue, was a four-story Classical Revival structure that served as the hub of what Clio describes as the country's fifth largest livestock trading and meatpacking center. The St. Joseph Stockyard Company and other tenants, including a USDA office, stayed until the end of 2004, when the building was abandoned.

How big did the market get?

Figures vary by what they measure. Beef Magazine says upward of 500,000 animals were auctioned annually in the early 1920s, while Clio says the peak came in 1918, when well over four million livestock were sold. The second number appears to count all livestock handled through the yards and the first only animals sold at auction, so the two are not in direct conflict, but readers should not treat them as the same measure.

From 1951 to 1961 sales consistently exceeded three million head, and by 1953 St. Joseph had the eighth-largest cattle market in the country. In the early twentieth century meatpacking and livestock were the city's largest industry, employing more than 4,500 workers.

What Made It Work

St. Joseph's livestock business grew out of position and infrastructure: a river port, a trail head and a growing web of railroads. The stockyards put a central market where those rail lines met, and packers built around it.

Regulation and changing logistics later made that model harder to sustain.

  • The city's location on the Missouri River and the Oregon Trail route made it a natural gathering point for people and animals.
  • Railroads arrived in 1859 and again around 1887, giving shippers several outlets to eastern markets.
  • The stockyards occupied 413 acres downtown, between the river and the railroad, which kept handling costs low.
  • A Livestock Exchange Building concentrated buyers, sellers and agencies under one roof from 1899.
  • The Packers and Stockyards Act of 1921 regulated interstate livestock commerce and required local packers to give up controlling interests in the stockyards.
  • Decline began in the mid-1960s as local meatpacking plants closed, which reduced the number of buyers at the yards.

Decline and the last auction

The stockyards kept operating on a smaller scale for decades after the packing plants began closing in the mid-1960s. By the 2010s the facility was a sale barn in the middle of a city that wanted the land. Servaes told the Beef Magazine reporter he never did want to sell, but an aggressive buyer for the land and city regulations led to the sale.

The article dated May 26, 2021, covers the last beef cattle auction before the sale barn closed after 134 years. It does not give an exact closing date.

The Livestock Exchange Building today

The Livestock Exchange Building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. As of early 2019, according to Clio, it was vacant and in disrepair, and the nonprofit Friends of St. Joseph owned it and hoped to restore it. Check local sources for the current state of any restoration before planning a visit.

For more on the rail-and-river towns that built the cattle trade, see the ranching section on farm.FM or a farm.FM story about Missouri stockyards.

Timeline

  1. 1843St. Joseph founded
  2. 1840sLivestock trade and meatpacking begin
  3. 1859First railroad line reaches the city
  4. 1887Stockyards open in December on 413 acres
  5. 1899Livestock Exchange Building constructed
  6. 1918Livestock sales peak at well over four million head
  7. 1921Packers and Stockyards Act regulates the trade
  8. 1953Eighth-largest cattle market in the country
  9. 2021Last beef cattle auction held

Frequently asked questions

When did the St. Joseph stockyards open?

The St. Joseph Stockyards opened in December 1887 on 413 acres in downtown St. Joseph, between the Missouri River and the railroad.

How big was the St. Joseph livestock market?

Clio reports a peak in 1918 with well over four million livestock sold, and over three million head a year from 1951 to 1961. By 1953 it had the eighth-largest cattle market.

When did the St. Joseph stockyards close?

Beef Magazine covered the last beef cattle auction in May 2021, after 134 years. The source does not give an exact closing date for the sale barn.

What is the Livestock Exchange Building?

It is a four-story Classical Revival building from 1899 on Packers Avenue, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It has been vacant since the end of 2004.

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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