Update: Demolished in the summer of 2016. Back in late 2014, I had an opportunity to tour the Armour Meat Packing Plant with the permission of the owner. Now that the plant has been imploded, I assume it is alright to share these photos of what is now gone. The slaughterhouse is being demolished piecemeal,…
Tag: National Stockyards
Armour, Revisited, Early June 2016
Update: Demolished in the summer of 2016. After the dramatic implosion of the refrigeration plant at Armour in April, demolition is continuing, slowly but surely. It’s actually interesting to look at the building now, released from the heavy vegetation that normally obscured it. The twin smoke stacks are buried somewhere in this pile of rubble….
Armour Meat Packing Plant Coming Down
Update: Demolished in the summer of 2016. On Saturday, probably in order to avoid interrupting traffic on nearby I-70 or the surrounding industrial areas, the first half of the Armour Meat Packing Plant, one of the coolest ruins I have ever had the opportunity to explore, was imploded in a giant cloud of dust. I…
Armour Meat Packing Plant, January 1, 2016
Update: Demolished in the summer of 2016.
Checking in on National City
Update: The packing plant was demolished in the spring of 2016. I went and checked in on that little bit of purgatory, that portion of National City that runs into East St. Louis on the north side of I-64/55. Things are not good. While the Armour Meat Packing Plant still sits in isolation in thick…
Road Building, National Stockyards
Update: Most of these new roads are now complete. I knew that there were new roads planned over in the old Stockyards in what was once National City (and now largely annexed by Fairmount City), and I knew they’d been pushing dirt around, but I just realized by satellite image that they’re really doing all…
Armour Meat Packing Plant, Surviving Another Season
Update: Demolished in the spring and summer of 2016. I’m always amazed to see the Armour Meat Packing Plant still standing whenever I drive by. It must be on its last leg, as the new bridge is opening soon and the property values are supposed to rise. We’ll see.
Armour Meat Packing Plant, The Slaughterhouse
Update: Demolished in the summer of 2016. The beef slaughter house at Armour, labeled clearly on the Sanborn map, is fairly well preserved. I was surprised that it was on the top floor of the slaughterhouse building, but in retrospect, it makes sense; once the cattle are on the top floor, gravity works to bring…
Armour Meat Packing Plant, Hides and Supply Building Ruins
Update: Demolished in the summer of 2016. Another building, which was interestingly enough not nearly as tall as the nearby slaughterhouse at Armour, was an auxiliary building that seemed to hold the hides of slaughtered animals. Wrapping around the building was the sheep run, which is presumably how sheep were moved towards their slaughtering location…
Armour Meat Packing Plant, The De La Vergne Engine
Update: Demolished by implosion in April 2016; the engine survived the collapse and was relocated in pieces to the American Farm Heritage Museum in Greenville, Illinois. The massive De La Vergne engine, once one of the smaller steam engines in the refrigeration plant at Armour, is now the largest, as its larger counterparts are long…