Description:
By the turn of the Twentieth Century, growth and economic development in Oklahoma City had begun to ebb and city business and political leaders began to seek ways to expand and stabilize the area’s industrial base. The Commercial Club (later known as the Chamber of Commerce) made trips to several industrially developed cities to try and attract investment in Oklahoma City and they also produced illustrated pamphlets and other literature to send to other commercial clubs around the country.
In 1908, civic leaders got a nibble from a very big fish – Thomas E. Wilson of Morris & Co. Morris was a major player in the very large and very famous Chicago Stockyards and Wilson was attracted by Oklahoma City’s central location at the junction of a half dozen railroads in the area and a large western livestock market. Wilson entered secretive negotiations with such leaders as Sidney Brock, Anton Classen and a committee of other major business leaders. He wanted to build a $3,000,000 slaughterhouse and meat packing plant in the area, but he wanted certain concessions from the city. The city finally agreed to front 10% or $300,000 in cash to Morris & Co. and in addition, the plant would be connect to the city water main and electric lines and the city would keep the plant outside the city limits for five years (and thus exempt the company from paying any taxes to the city). The land selected was about 200 acres on the south bank of the North Canadian River just west of Pennsylvania Avenue.
Over the course of the next year arrangements were made for these concessions and money was raised. In addition a beltline railway was built around the city which would make for easy connection to and from the plant to the major railroads. A street car line was also installed by the Oklahoma Railway Company for delivery of the large workforce to the plant.
The Morris & Co. plant opened on October 3, 1910. One thousand people were employed by the plant and the adjacent Oklahoma National Stockyard Company which provided the livestock exchange market from which Morris would buy its cattle. Stockmen would drive their herds in the old way – by cattle drive – or rail and later by truck to the stockyard where agents would examine each animal and negotiate the price. The new facilities were an immediate success. In the first year of operation, the stockyards saw over a half million animals – cattle, hogs, sheep, horses and mules – pass through its gates. A year later, enticed by the success of Wilson, another packing company, Schwartzschild & Sulzberger (S & S) asked for and received the same deal as Morris & Co. and together the two plants employed about 2400 people. In later years, the Morris plant would purchased by Armour & Co. and Thomas E. Wilson would then purchase S & S and call it Wilson & Co. (it would later become Wilson Foods).
It’s important to remember that the area many of us call “the Stockyards” consisted of two parts – the packing plants and the stockyards. The two parts needed each other, but they were separate operations. Basically, the process worked something like the following. Livestock (cattle, hogs, etc.) would be delivered to the stockyards by ranchers or farmers and would be turned over to commission agents who would care for them until they were sold. Commission agents were middle men who worked to get the best price for the seller. Buyers were often the two big packing plants but livestock could be purchased and shipped anywhere in the country. Local grocers and butchers would also purchase livestock for their operations. If the local packing plants bought them they would be transferred ‘next door’ for slaughter and processing.
The area around the packing plants and the stockyards quickly became a bustling commercial center. Housing for workers sprang up east of Pennsylvania (in the city limits) and the merchants arrived to serve the needs of the industry and of the residents. This neighborhood became known as “Packingtown”. The area around the intersection Exchange and Agnew is the heart of this area.
The work associated with the industry was often gruelling, combining long hours with physically demanding work not recommended for the squeamish and the area quickly became known as one of the wilder parts of town as “cowboys” and slaughterhouse workers let off steam. According to Bonnie Speer, “Almost every business sheltered a house of prostitution on the top floor. Nearly everyone was involved in gambling and bootlegging, one way or another.”
One of the Stockyards’ and the city’s most enduring landmarks has its own legend involving gambling. The story goes that the Cattlemen’s Restaurant, which also opened in 1910, was owned by Hank Frey who entered into a craps game with Percy Wade in 1945. As the stakes climbed Frey put the keys to the restaturant on the table for collateral. Frey lost and Percy Wade and his son would operate the restaurant for the next 50 years. Thousands of customers still visit this city treasure and it is frequented by many of the city’s most illustrious visitors from Presidents to Hollywood stars or – in the case of Ronald Reagan – both.
By the 1960’s the 50 year old packing plants had begun to face challenges complying with new environmental restrictions and other economic difficulties. As a result they began a significant cutback in the labor force and by 1970 both plants had essentially closed. Scaled down operations continue today at a descendant company of Wilson Foods, but the area no longer bustles with plant workers like it did at the height of production. The stockyards still operate, though; so much so that the Oklahoma City National Stockyards is the largest stocker/feeder market in the world. They sell cattle coming and going: stockers are cattle that ‘stock’ ranches and are raised to be feeders and sold a year or so later to the food industry.
In 1979 a four block area of Packingtown was set aside and placed on the National Register of Historic Places to preserve it for future generations. No longer called Packingtown (as there are no more packers) it’s known today as Stockyards City. Many landmarks remain inlcuding Cattlemen’s Steakhouse, the famous gateway to the stockyards with its familiar longhorn steer atop, Exchange Pharmacy (opened in 1910), National Saddlery (opened in 1926) and the Wright Library which also opened in 1926 to serve the cultural needs of the community.
FURTHER READING
Painter, Bryan, “Oct. 3, 1910 Stockyards Creates 2,400 Jobs”, Daily Oklahoman April 18, 1999, p.7
Speer, Bonnie Stahlman, Historic Stockyards City and Oklahoma National Stockyards. Norman, Okla.: Reliance Press, 1996.
Stewart, Roy P., Born Grown: An Oklahoma City History. Oklahoma City: Fidelity Bank, 1974.
Cattlemen’s Restaurant (lots of history as well) http://www.cattlemensrestaurant.com/
Historic Stockyards City http://www.stockyardscity.org/