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The Chicago Stockyards

The tracks long abandoned now
  weeds growing between their rails
tracks that once brought sheep and cows
  thousands of workers with lunch pails

The stockyards closed 'bout seventy-one
  technology spelling their doom
Buried beneath those acres of grounds
  stories of blood and guts and passions bloomed

A spectacle they were to see
  Their niche in history sure to be

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Caren Krutsinger Date: 12/17/2021 8:09:00 AM I do not know about the passions blooming but I do know "stories of blood and guts and fear of animals" were prevalent in the stockyards. Login to Reply

Bill Baker Date: 12/8/2021 4:30:00 PM Nice historic flash back poem, gw Your friend, Bill Login to Reply

Debra L Brown Date: 12/8/2021 4:11:00 PM History for sure what will take it's place? Login to Reply Rico Leffanta Date: 12/10/2021 10:03:00 AM You might suggest they open their eyes to opportunity, e.g., many businesses have gone belly-up due to the pandemic and Amazon, but consumers still consume, so trains should be catering to them with "Mall" trains, e.g., Sears big-ticket items to Farmers' markets, swap meet, trains to the towns lining the tracks . . . . Gershon Wolf Date: 12/8/2021 6:07:00 PM Basically, refrigeration on trucks killed this train-centered industry. Chicago was the hub of the nation, as it was centrally located. Now trucks do the job that trains used to do.

Rico Leffanta Date: 12/8/2021 10:30:00 AM Enjoyed, but I hope you are a voice for restoring that "nourished" land to agricultural purposes . . . . Login to Reply Rico Leffanta Date: 12/10/2021 10:00:00 AM Why not, indeed! In Honolulu, such land becomes Community Gardens, i.e., divided into plots which condo-dwellers can rent to grow vegetables, flowers, etc. whilst relieving the tax burden . . . . Gershon Wolf Date: 12/8/2021 6:08:00 PM You know, it's a great idea. The land, especially the maze of RR tracks downtown and near downtown, has been lying there unused for decades. Why not plant something?!

Kim Rodrigues Date: 12/8/2021 7:25:00 AM Great history! Login to Reply

John Lawless Date: 12/8/2021 6:27:00 AM what was that great poetic opening line "Chicago, hog butcher to the world" or something like that....been a while since i read it... Login to Reply

Tom Cunningham Date: 12/8/2021 1:37:00 AM What was once a hive of industry now relegated to history. Tom Login to Reply

P.S. Awtry Date: 12/8/2021 12:20:00 AM So descriptive. I could see those layers of years. :) Login to Reply Gershon Wolf Date: 12/8/2021 6:05:00 PM Those layers of years were filled with fears and tears as well. The Stockyards were a hellhole for those who worked there in the first couple of decades of the 20th century. :) gw

L Milton Hankins Date: 12/7/2021 9:06:00 PM I think the stockyards are a thing of the past everywhere now, gw. I know the one here in Boyd County closed, oh, probably five or six years ago. Login to Reply Gershon Wolf Date: 12/8/2021 2:01:00 PM Gosh, I hope the stockyards are part of history 100% at this point. They were pretty awful places, however impressive they may have been from a distance...