The Stockyards Exchange is a building in

South St. Paul, Minnesota South St. Paul is a city in Dakota County, Minnesota, United States, located immediately south and southeast of St. Paul. It is also east of West St. Paul. The population was 20,759 at the 2020 census. Historically, the town was notable as a m ...

, United States, built in 1887 by the recently formed

Union Stock Yards Company of Omaha The Union Stock Yards Company of Omaha was a 90-year-old company first founded in South Omaha, Nebraska in 1878 by John A. Smiley. After being moved to Council Bluffs, Iowa and dissolved within a year, the company was reorganized and moved to Sout ...

. The building housed businesses associated with the nearby stockyards, which later became the largest stockyards in the United States. It also housed a post office, city offices, and the city's first bank, Stockyards National Bank. The stockyards were organized in 1886 by

Alpheus Beede Stickney Alpheus Beede "A.B." Stickney (June 27, 1840 – August 9, 1916) was the first president of the Chicago Great Western Railway, from 1884 to 1909. Youth and education Alpheus Beede Stickney was born in Wilton, Maine, on June 27, 1840, the ...

, who was the president of the

Chicago Great Western Railway The Chicago Great Western Railway was a Class I railroad that linked Chicago, Minneapolis, Omaha, and Kansas City. It was founded by Alpheus Beede Stickney in 1885 as a regional line between St. Paul and the Iowa state line called the Minnes ...

. The stockyards attracted four major meatpacking plants, including

Swift & Company JBS USA Holdings, Inc. is an American food processing company and a wholly owned subsidiary of the multinational company JBS S.A. The subsidiary was created when JBS entered the U.S. market in 2007 with its purchase of Swift & Company. JBS spec ...

in 1897 and

Armour and Company Armour & Company was an American company and was one of the five leading firms in the meat packing industry. It was founded in Chicago, in 1867, by the Armour brothers led by Philip Danforth Armour. By 1880, the company had become Chicago's mo ...

in 1919. During the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

years, the stockyards operated at their peak. Due to changing market forces and the decentralization of the industry, the stockyards declined during the 1960s and 1970s. Swift closed their plant in 1969, while Armour closed their plant in the 1970s. In 1976, the South St. Paul City Council gave its Housing and Redevelopment Authority permission to buy the building. Colonial Properties bought the build in October 1979, but two months later, vandals caused major damage to the building by flooding it with fire hoses in the attic. The building was later purchased by a private developer, who was unable to raise the money to finish the renovation as scheduled. A couple opened the building in 1998 as the Castle Hotel, but it was only open a year. The building is now able to be reserved for private events.

References

External links

Historic Concord Exchange
{{National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota 1887 establishments in Minnesota Buildings and structures in Dakota County, Minnesota Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota Commodity exchanges in the United States National Register of Historic Places in Dakota County, Minnesota