Union Stock Yard Gate

Address: Exchange Ave. at Peoria St. Year Built: circa 1875 Architect: Burnham & Root Date Designated a Chicago Landmark: February 24, 1972

At one time sprawling over 475 acres, the Union Stock Yards thrived for a century, until its closing in 1971. This rugged limestone gate, which marked the entrance to the stockyards, survives as one of the few visual reminders of Chicago's past supremacy in the livestock and meatpacking industries. The limestone steer head over the central arch is traditionally thought to represent "Sherman," a prize-winning bull named after John B. Sherman, one of the founders of the Union Stock Yard and Transit Company. Through the arch once passed the people and livestock that made Chicago the "hog butcher to the world".