The Armour Meat Packing Plant - Final Visit
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- Опубликовано: 4 май 2016
- The Armour Meat Plant was once at the center of a large conglomeration of stockyards and slaughterhouses in East Saint Louis Illinois. Farmers from all around would visit the stockyards for the buying and selling of cattle and other livestock. In the first half of the 20th century, this was one of the busiest such locations in the United States.
The East Saint Louis stockyards were devised to compete with the larger firms already well established in Chicago. The first shipment of cattle had arrived at the stockyards in 1873. By the turn of the 20th century, the stockyards were processing 50,000 animals a week and reaching annual sales of $2 million.
In 1903, the Armour Meat Plant was constructed here. According to some sources, Armour employed some 4,500 people to process the animals from the nearby stockyards. Tours of the facility and its operations were made available to visitors.
Philip Armour had already been established as a baron of meats. By 1883, he had established his own refrigerated fleet of rail cars. His plants were renowned for his large-scale pioneering efforts. Armour & Co. became one of the largest meatpacking companies in America by the 1890s, generating $110 million dollars in revenue in 1893.
Armour & Co. were also one of the first to take advantage of the byproducts of the slaughtering process and make use of what had otherwise been waste products. They sold every kind of product made from animals, from glue to oil, fertilizer, hairbrushes, buttons, and drugs. Armour famously declared that he made use of 'everything but the squeal'.
In 1948, Armour & Co. developed a deodorant soap by adding the germicidal agent AT-7 to their soap. This reduced bacteria on the skin and thereby limited body-odor. The new soap was named "Dial" due to its round the clock protection against odor.
The stockyards continued to thrive during two world wars, eventually peaking production in 1947. The following decade, however, would see the decline of not only Armour but the stockyards in general. Primarily, the advent of the automobile, the interstate and rising labor costs all combined to bring about the decline of the out-dated stockyard operations and facilities. Meat was now being sold at terminal markets and the stockyards were swiftly becoming obsolete. The industry had shifted from its dependance on the railroads to interstate truck deliveries. Industrial farming had taken over much of the demand as individual farming was on steep decline as well.
Armour, despite being owned by a major national firm with many other plants across the country, closed operations in East Saint Louis in 1959, laying off some 1,400 employees.
-source: wikipedia
Unfortunately, just days after this video was taken, The venerable Armour Meat Plant was demolished in a controlled implosion, a video of which exists on youtube. In my video you can already see the holes drilled in the walls where the explosives were to be placed days later. This was one of the best locations I've ever visited and I did so many times over the years. RIP Armour.. 
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As a 7 year old kid my brother and i used to spend hours watching those Corliss Amonia pumps run. Terrifiying and fascinating at the same time. It was much quieter than you would think, but the odor was all encompassing. We would spend time in the blacksmith shops and on the E StLouis Junction Railroad locomotives. (Dad was Vice president of the railroad and the Stockyards Bank at the time.
The former Armour plant’s Frick/De La Vergne steam engine and flywheel were rescued by the American Farm Heritage Museum in Greenville, Illinois, about 45 miles east of St. Louis, back in August of 2016. (courtesy John via Mitch)
YES IT WAS RESCUED AFTER WE BLEW THE BUILDING UP. SOME THINGS WERE DAMAGED A LITTLE, BUT IT WAS SALVAGABLE.
This is why i love explorers who respect the places they go. Take only pjotos, leave only footprints .. they all preserve so much history that would otherwise be forgotten forever.
I don't understand how your channel isn't bigger. These videos are really really really great! I love your stuff dude 💜
I'd be taking every machine plauqe and sign I could get and make myself a million on ebay
Thanks for posting this interesting historical adventure!
Amazing bit of heavy industry there. It's interesting how some of the older machinery had a bit of art to it, even the details like the pin striping. I think thoughts about machines have changed, and people don;t put as much pride or effort into some of this equipment that we use.
Great video! Thank you. Can you even begin to imagine what this place sounded and felt like while running?
Tremendous video. Good thing you captured this. Some of that machinery was like works of art.Now commenting towards the end. You were up on that roof? Wow! A building that old you were taking your life into your own hands.
Thanks Much for the video and history. I saw the holes too and know it wouldn't be long. THanks again.
Hi from the UK. I remember Dial soap. I loved it. Thank you for showing this and for the history about it. Sad to see such places die.
Very good video. Thank you.
That open frame electric motor in the beginning is really neat. That is one big ass refrigeration system. @ 9:35 I think is the condenser coils for it. Thanks for sharing.
my dad worked for this company in south saint paul minn for years also in west fargo north Dakota in fact lot of my family did
Great job. Be safe
Thank you so much for posting this. My grandparents on both sides, worked at some point, for some time, at this plant. I was surprised it was gone!! I did some urbanexing there and at Hunter, a few years ago.
I did survey work for the new stan musial bridge and I went all thru this plant while back in this area.. back then it was just weeds nothing had be cleared..took a ton of pics especially of the smoke stacks.. I'm from east st louis
Amazing old machinery!
It would be better if subtitles defining the machines and processes were called out as you moved through the factory.
Wow such a cool place to explore
so sad to see those engines and compressors just rotting away :(, and pillaged for copper by theives. the open frame motors are well worth collecting if they are intact, which these ones arent.
Awesome! Thanks for sharing!
To bad it’s all gone..
I recently went to the Swift Armour plant in Fort Worth, it's all torn down now =(
I do miss this place,But I got to visit it and photograph it a few times, as well as Hunter and an what I think was Swift or Morris or Cudahy.
I guess the Pros will have more customer traffic now?
That's what goes for progress now.
💕 Mr. Gwaltney, please come back! I have much to give you; giggle!💕🥰
How about explore those cliffs in dupo where that little waterfall use to be. Falling springs
In the old plants it was all about gravity, steam, and knives.
Very interesting. I've always been fascinated by old industrial machines like these. Reminds me a bit of steampunk
🥰💕Mmmm...I wish I had a boyfriend who's a "Steampunk"; giggle!💕🤭🥰
great explore, nice shots of the chimneys, think that's a massive boiler they are connected to, must have been amazing place to work at.
Thanks for sharing
Gives thoughts about oxidation.
Is it still there?
Just found out that Robert C Armor was my father with Irene Smith... I am the unwanted child from that relationship NICE ONE ASSHATS
Armour
The Jungle Upton Sinclair.
If i had known about the large engines i would ha e tried to salvage them, got a few out of ohio.
How do you find out about these places? Let alone find a way in. And how often do you run into trouble when you're in more high security places? Also do you have any advice for safer exploring?
+Matthew Walker This location is well known since it has been here so long and had such interesting things to see inside, but other locations have taken a lot of research and hard work to find them and then to find a way inside. The more difficult locations provide challenging obstacles and sometimes are not worth the risk, other times they pay off despite very close calls. The hobby itself is realistically 1/3 research, 1/3 driving around not getting inside anywhere and 1/3 actual exploring. In general, I'd summarize with one word: discretion. Both with how one handles the location in person and with what you choose to post online about them. Discretion is key to location success and longevity.
Be sure to dress properly. I mean hard hat if you got one, steel -toed boots, jeans, long-sleeve shirt and filter mask. You'd be surprised a what's in these buildings. I see too many frat boys walking around these places in Vans and t-shirts and Duckhead shorts and they wonder why a week later they have lockjaw and rashes.
Next always have some form of weapon even after you spend some time staking out the place, you never know who or what you might find around the corner (junkie, dealer, feral dogs).
Never go alone always with a group. Try dressing alike to look official.
Take only pictures and leave only footprints.
any of it get saved?
I put one of those engines in my car.
@@Jsalrulz
❤ Besides the Steampunk industrial era, do you know any 2023 Steampunks where you live? I'll buy me a train ticket and look for some; giggle!💕🥰
@@JennieBonbons No,but feel free to look.
been there once when i was a little kid with my uncle , hauling a load of hogs
Oooooh.....!
Where was this plant located?
East Saint Louis Illinois
We had a big Armour plant here in South Omaha. They had most of the major packing houses right near the stockyards. The end was when they moved out to small rural towns and we're able to hire cheaper labor.
Where is it?
It used to be right across the river from Saint Louis Missouri. It was demolished a few years ago.
There was a stockyards next to it ..hauled cattle and pigs into there
@@sublunar
St. Louis, Missouri? Please tell Bud and Anheuser Busch hello for me; giggle!💕🥰
such sad history to them.
Rising labor costs in the 50s?...
It holds a lot of horrible memories in it.
Horrible memories?
😱 Eeeeeeeeeeek!!!😱
That Armour bacon was delicious
I want mine with a buttered waffle and maple syrup; giggle!🤭
I have a very large antique safe from Armour meats and company. Seeing if anyone is interested in purchasing
No music, or commentary? Maybe put some eerie music and dialog about the industry in 1900 in to round this out. You have the material, just read what's below and the production value will double.
I'm one of those people who doesn't want to watch some douche point the camera at himself and talk the majority of the time. I'd rather the video be 100% focused on the location with as little annoying human involvement as possible. I would even go so far as to edit out my breathing if I could. The closer it ends up to being like a video game FPV, the better IMO. I realize it could be boring for some people but on the other hand, there's no annoying music or annoying person to deal with so there's that.
I actually LOVED the quiet so you can take in the scenery, hear all of the soft echo and crunchy footsteps. It's like accidental ASMR ❤️ but maybe I'm a weirdo 🤷♀️
Amazing job and relaxing to watch/listen to. No need for anything else!
😊 Giggle!🤭
I can smell the old, musty asbestos insulation in my head.
Oooooooh....!