|
|
In
1988 and 1989 I photographed the stockyards of South St. Paul. Begun in
1886, the South St. Paul Union Stockyards were once one of the largest
stockyards in the world, employing several thousand workers, and
containing vast holding pens, an auction barn, and two meatpacking
plants. Changes in the marketplace eventually caused business to
decline. As a result the two meatpacking plants relocated and finally
the remaining stockyard facilities closed in April, 2008. These
photographs were thus taken in the twilight years of its operation,
when many areas were unused, and one of the former meatpacking plants
was in the process of being torn down. The site of the South St. Paul
Stockyards is today an office park.
|