Kansas City Stock Yards

Kansas City Stock Yards. . Opening as the Kansas Stockyards Company on June 1, 1871, it soon was renamed and reorganized as a bi-state Kansas City Stock Yards Company, growing to 13 acres by 1878. Built by enterprising railroad officials such as C.V. Morris and stock traders, it was the area's first unified Stock Yards. Fairbanks Scales provided by Morris meant weights would accurately be measured by buyers and sellers. Enlarging to 207 acres within the region known today as the 'West Bottoms' the Kansas City Stock Yards industry, became the nation's second largest livestock operation behind Chicago's Union Stockyards. , Completed in July, 1869, the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad Bridge was the first to span the Missouri River, three years prior to the Union Pacific Missouri River Bridge at Omaha. As post-Civil War demand for beef expanded markets, livestock and railroads were our nation's leading industries. Our new bridge at Kansas City joined the eastern United States with railheads in the west, affording a railway connecting link to east and west coasts. Coupled with available flat land situated in the nation's heartland, the unified livestock and railroad industries inaugurated a renaissance of commerce, marked by fiscal integrity and personal honesty which endured for 120 years. , Texas cattle drives of between 2000-3000 head of cattle to northern markets were major economic activities in the 19th and early 20th century American West, getting cattle to railheads so ranchers could sell them for beef, hides and tallow. These trails led to 'Cowtowns' of Missouri and Kansas such as Sedalia, Abilene and Kansas City. These were shipping points for railways such as the Missouri Pacific and the Kansas Pacific to transport livestock to eastern markets. At one time 16 railroads converged in the 'West Bottoms', with unloading tracks and platforms capacity to receive 300 car loads of cattle per day., Livestock publications of the 1870s, such as The Daily Drovers Telegram influenced the Stock Yards' growth. Paved streets from the bluffs connecting with the 'Bottoms' provided access, enhancement and support to commercial districts of both Kansas Cities., The 1876 Livestock Exchange Building provided 'banking rooms', as banking services were pioneer Stock Yards enterprises replacing a 'cash and carry' system. Over the decades, four Livestock Exchange Buildings were constructed or expanded, either on the Kansas or the Missouri side. The Exchange built in 1886 straddled the Missouri and Kansas line. After the 1908 flood the fourth building was constructed entirely in Missouri as the world's largest Livestock Exchange! By the 1890s the Kansas City Livestock Commission system of merchants had revolutionized distribution of livestock in the marketplace. , By the 20th century, the Stock Yards covered 207 acres with accommodations daily for 70,000 cattle, 40,000 hogs, 45,000 sheep, and 5000 horses and mules, meat packing and banking. Integrated with the Stock Yards, businesses such as Columbia Tank, John Deere, Shipley's Saddlery, grain elevators and saddle horses all provided employment for thousands of immigrant and unskilled workers. The Stock Yards suffered technology advancements, the floods of 1903/08/51/93 and fires of 1917/18. The 1917 fire caused deaths of 17,000 livestock, including cattle, horses, mules, hogs and sheep. , At its closing in 1991, the Kansas City Stock Yards had discharged an estimated total of 443 million head of livestock. The Stock Yards inspired founding of the Future Farmers of America, American Royal, World Series of Barbecue, Kemper Arena, and in the Midwest the largest concentration of animal health industry assets in the world.