LOCATION: Packers Avenue; Stockyards District; National City, Illinois
DATES OF CONSTRUCTION: 1900s
DATE OF ABANDONMENT: 1959

More information: East St. Louis, Illinois: "Hog Capital of the Nation" by Thomas Petraitis

On a drive up to Alton on Route 3, I pass the East Side’s hallmark of decay, the old Armour Packing Plant, alongside the concrete shells of the old National City stockyards. Those buildings, just outside of East Saint Louis, summarize the problem of industrial decay in Illinois: dealing with the remains of messy, declining industries that were barred from locating in cosmopolitan St. Louis. Thus, one sees the remains of meat and agricultural industries in East Saint Louis, old half-used steel mills in Granite City and who knows what in Alton.

North of the Armour plant lies Brooklyn and its shabby aluminum-walled strip clubs and adult video stores. One of the largest strip clubs stands abandoned and appears to have been closed for at least two years. Strange how that building stands near the imposing authority of the Armour building, suggesting its future as the landmark of what might be a vacant district. The cycle would make sense: the decay of the vulture-like trades that preyed upon the laid-off meat-packers and mechanics of the East Side. As the Armour crumbles way to its planned demolition, its successive Route 3 industries will experience their own fall until the area is nothing but tall grasses and scattered frame homes in the shadow of the long-abandoned trestle leading to the closed McKinley Bridge. This land between East Saint Louis and Granite City presents a concentrated narrative of decay that permeates Saint Louis. The larger Missouri urban area has more resources to fight off decay, as do larger Illinois towns like Belleville and Alton. But much of the East Side will fall down and never be rebuilt. In the meantime, sex video rentals and lap dances will deplete what little use value remains in this land.

A note on the photographs: The open concrete structures shown below are abandoned stockpens that were part of the National City Stockyards, not Armour. We include them for context. We also recommend looking at our photos of the nearby Hunter Packing Plant, which also stands empty.

Contemporary images: Urban Adventure; Built St. Louis.

Historical information: Penny Postcards; The National Stockyards; ESLARP Postcards.
 

September 8, 2004