SWIFT AND COMPANY

Being researched

SWIFT AND COMPANY. During the 1850s, when he was still a teenager, Gustavus F. Swift began working in the beef business in Massachusetts. (1)

In 1875, Swift began buying cattle in Chicago to send to his family's butcher operations back East. He revolutionized the meat industry by using newly developed refrigerated railcars to ship fresh meat from Chicago to Eastern markets. (2) The company soon set up a national network of branch offices, which allowed it to control the distribution of its meat across the country. By 1886, when the company slaughtered more than 400,000 cattle a year, Swift employed about 1,600 people. (3)

Between 1887 and 1892, new packing plants were opened in Kansas City, Omaha, and St. Louis. By the time the founder died in 1903, his company grossed $200 million in annual sales and employed about 23,000 people across the country, including over 5,000 workers at its slaughtering plant in Chicago's Union Stock Yard. In 1908, Swift plants across the country slaughtered a total of about eight million animals. By this time, Swift owned a fleet of nearly 5,000 refrigerated rail cars. (4) Annual sales reached $700 million by the late 1920s, when the total workforce of the company—which ranked as one of the largest industrial corporations in the United States—consisted of about 55,000 people. Swift stopped slaughtering in Chicago in 1953, but its corporate headquarters remained in the city. (5)

In Dubuque, "Swift Day" became an annual event at COLUMBIA COLLEGE for hundreds of local farmers. In 1933 the focus was on dairy farming which had grown from 17% of national agricultural income in 1925 to 31% in 1932. Professor Earl N. Schultz urged farmers to weed out the estimated six million "boarder cows" which were no longer good producers. The meeting was concluded after lunch by a tour of the local plant. (6)

In 1941 an agreement was reached between the Iowa State Highway Commission and officials of Swift and Company for the purchase of the company's building at the southeast corner of Dodge and Locust. The area was planned for right-of-way for the Dubuque Plaza approach for the JULIEN DUBUQUE BRIDGE. This was the last piece of property needed for the bridge right-of-way. The purchase threatened the future of the company in Dubuque. The Dubuque branch employed one hundred local residents and spent more than $1 million in the purchase of eggs and poultry from local farmers. (7)

Relations between the company and bridge officials had been tense. In October, 1941 the commission went before the city council and asked it require a loading platform be removed by the company because it extended into the building line. The council refused to become involved in what was considered a "squeeze play" to for company officials to be more agreeable to sale of the building. At the same meeting, members of the bridge commission presented a plan for a new approach to the bridge which eliminated the ornate plaza approach. Observers did not consider this proposal truthful because the commission had the right of condemnation of any property it desired. (8) In an apparent effort not to encourage the employer to leave the city, the Iowa State Highway Commission in November, 1941 agreed to pay Swift and Company $76,200 for the property. (9)

Efforts were made almost immediately to find a place for Swift and Company to operate in Dubuque. A committee was formed including Albin Anton RHOMBERG, city manager; John A. KERPER, secretary of the DUBUQUE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, and Frederick Ezekiel BISSELL, representing the Planning and Zoning Commission. Temporary use of the purchased building was ruled out. Leasing of a temporary building was considered impractical because refrigeration appliances were not available. Any agreements would also have to be approved by various federal bureaus--a situation considered unlikely. (10)

Despite the challenges, a plan allowing at least a temporary solution was reached in March, 1943. Swift petitioned the city council to be permitted to operate the plant as a war measure. The council agreed despite fire regulations if the company agreed to such an operation only for the duration of the war and for not more than one year after the end of the conflict. (11) By September, however, Swift and Company had moved into the buildings once owned by the PETER J. SEIPPEL LUMBER COMPANY south of the bridge with plans of erecting a modern building as soon as the war was over. (12)

In November, 1946 company officials announced construction of a new addition on Dodge Street. To be known as the poultry and egg plant, the 60 x 180 building was designed specifically for the dressing of poultry and processing of eggs. The plant was expected to add significantly to the number of employees hired locally. (13)

In 1973, Swift became part of Esmark Inc., a holding company. During the 1980s, Esmark's meat division was spun off and moved to Texas. From the early 1990s through the early 2000s, food conglomerate Conagra owned Swift's operations. Swift & Company's divisional headquarters were located in Greeley, Colorado. (14)

My father, Andy Hemmer, was the head mechanic for Swift & Company in the early 1930s when they were in Dubuque. The plant, dealing mostly with chickens, was located where the JULIEN DUBUQUE BRIDGE now exists. Dad is the only image on the photo I know. He's wearing the leather jacket. Photo courtesy: Paul Hemmer

Photo courtesy:Cathy's Treasurers,156 Main, Dubuque

The 1911-12 Dubuque City Directory listed 575 6th.

The 1922 Dubuque Telephone Directory listed 22 S. Locust.

The 1929 Dubuque City Directory listed 698 White for this wholesaler.

The 1939 and 1941 Dubuque City Directory listed 26 S. Locust for this hatchery.

The 1945 and 1951 Dubuque City Directory listed 30 S. Locust.

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Source:

1. "Swift and Company"--encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/2869.html

2. "Swift,Chicago Packer is Dead," Telegraph-Herald, May 12, 1937, p. 1

3. "Swift and Company..."

4. Ibid.

5. Ibid.

6. "Swift Day Draws Crowd to College Gym," Telegraph-Herald, October 31, 1933, p. 12

7. "Buy Swift Building for Bridge Approach," Telegraph-Herald, November 2, 1941, p. 2

8. Ibid.

9. "$76,200 Paid to Swift for Bridge Area," Telegraph-Herald, November 9, 1941, p. 2

10. "Seek Suitable Spot for Swift," Telegraph-Herald, March 19, 1942, p. 45

11. "City Council Holds Swift Can Run Here," Telegraph-Herald, March 23, 1943, p. 1

12. "New Park in Making," Telegraph-Herald, September 12, 1943, p. 5

13. "Swift Starts New Addition," Telegraph-Herald, November 17, 1946, p. 13

14. "Swift and Company"

Paul Hemmer, e-mail, November, 2010