Samuel W. Allerton.
Hudson River Cowboys:
The Origins of Modern
Livestock Shipping'
By David S. Rotenstein
To understand the dynamics underlying the emergence of an early nineteenth-century network of kin-based livestock drovers who were anl11ng the principal architects of modern livestock shipping, it is neces,ary to fast-forward from
Dutchess Ct)unty, New York, in the early nineteenth century tll a morning speech
delivered in 1903 on an isla nd in the Allegheny River in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania.
On Septemher 7, 1903, the Pittsburgh
nion Srockyan.:ls on
Herr's Island opened a nd the nation's first union stockyards, at East liberty, three
miles away, closed. At the dedication ceremonies for the new stockyards, the
event's chairman, Frank McLain tl Lancaster, Pennsylvania, introduced 75-ye~lr­
old Amenia, Dutche "
l
uney, native Samuel W,lters Allerton. Described by
one Pittshurgh newspape r covering the event as "The grand old m,m of the livestoc k industry," Allerton was sa luted by McLain: "Samuel Allerton is really the
father of the srock yards in Pittsburgh.":
Forty yea rs earlier, Allerton developed the Pennsylvania Railroad's
entral
Stock Yards a t East liberty. With its connecting lines to other railroads and the
Pe nnsylvan ia's contracts with the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad,
the
Clevelnnd
nnd
Pittsburgh
Railroad
C()~npany,
and
the
Western
Trans portation Cu mpany, as well as its hotel and terminal sales facilities, the East
liberty stockycm.i s hec~1me the prototype integrated union sttlckyard facility in
the United States. Predating the more famous Chicago Lnion Stock Yards by
more th an two years, Allerton's bst Liberty stockyards beccune the model for all
such f,lCiiities to f()llow'
S cliTlLIel W. Allerton (1828-1914) was born into an extended blTlily uf
Dutchess
Dunty drovers, livestoc k dealers, and butchers. Between the lBIOs
and the turn of the twentieth century, Allerron and his relatives built nr acquired
controlling interests in mo re than a dozen stockyards thn)ughuu[ the United
States. Despite its geographic dispersion, the f"mily's livestock interests remained
focused un (me llhjective: tran porti ng mea t animals (un the huuf or dressed)
l-/,.dson River C (n<'oo\'s: The Ongms
"f Modem
Livew 'ck Shi/J)ling
from (;H1ns to New York City. Histo rians llf the meat and livestllck industries
have written riecemeal accounts of A lie rtll n's exrlClits as a livestock shirrer and
Chicagll meatracker.4 Allertlln devoted his life to raising and moving livestock
and the evidence for his contributions to the emergence of agribusiness during
the nineteenth century remains mostly overlooked. This parer exrlores the kinbased livestock trade and the role that Samuel W. Allerton rlayed in defining the
ways in which meat animals were transported from rural farms to urban abattLlirs.
The tollis used tll reveal the Allertllns' role in American livestock and
meatracking history are varied. The details and dynamics of the Allertons' intermarriage and incirient business patterns that crystallized in Dutchess Cllunty at
rhe turn of the nineteenth century are forever obfuscated by the rassage of time.
Despite amassing considerable wealth in the livestllck business, the Allertllns left
behind few accounts. Samuel W. Allerton, because of his position at the head of
what by today's standards would be a legally questionable, if not murally ambigullUS livestock empire, remained anonymous by intent.
Allertons in general,
wmte family historian Walter S. Allerton, were "usually uncommunicative and
reserved." The vast scope of the family's business interests made it impossible for
conremporary llbservers
to
"get at their true position.";
Without volumes of family papers and business records from which to draw
information on the Allerton family of livestock entrepreneurs, alternate sources
were used.
During the far-reaching federal investigations of the meatpacking
industry conducted in 1904-1905 and 1918-1919, lists of stockyards owned by
"Allerton family interests," as well as Allerton biographies, rrovided baseline
research bearings." At the sites of each Allerton stockyard, rrimary documents
such as legal instruments-including deeds, leases, and contracts-improved the
evidence's grainy resolution. Additilmal details were culled from the ledgers of
the R. G. Dun & Company collection housed at Harvard University's Baker
Library and the collections of the Pennsylvania Railroad at the Hagley Museum
and Libwry.
Livestock Entrepreneurs
Kinship ties were important threads in the fabric of American industrial and
corporate development. In the early Republic, networks of extended kin groups
crystallized in a wide array of entrepreneurial and manufacturing enterprises.
Wherher drawing fTOm the wellspring of studies that explore the market transfllrmation in rural America, the thick descriptions of community-based industrialization, or the business biographies documenting the rise of elites and business
networks, the common tie binding rhe studies is kinship.'
ln the Mid-Hudson
The I-iuJson Valley Regiol1<ll Review
West Philadelphia Stockyard Company, c. 1879. Photograph of a painting, "Number
4 Abattoir," by Benjamin R. Evans. Courtesy of The Library Co. of P h iladelphia.
Valley, personal relationships-reciprocity between neighburs and extended kin
gro ups forged through marriage---contributed to the rise of personal relationships
marked by labor and commodities exc hange, as well as information and risk management thM defined incipient informal community and regional business networks.'
Livestock raising in the Mid-Hudson Valley was a significant sector of the
region's agricultural econumy. Cattle, sheep, and hogs pmvided meat and raw
materials (hides, skins, wuul, hair, etc.) for local residents during the years bracketing the American Revolution; however, there was little market movement of
meat animals from the Mid- Hudson
to
urban markers before the tum of the nine-
teenth century." The lower Hudson Valley-especially W estchester County-as
early as the 1790s was a source of livestock moved on the hoof to New York City.
As the region's transportation infrastructure crystallized in the years following the
Revolution and New York City's demands fur meat and produce increased, the
ci ty's agricu ltural catchment area extended up the Hudson River, east intll
Cmnecticu t, and west across the up tate into Ohio.'" By the third decade of the
nineteenth ce ntury, most of
ew York City's cattle began arriving from Ohio,
Pe nnsy lvan ia, and the Urst8te."
Before the adve nt of mass livestock shipments via rail in the 18505, animals
Huds on l~ iver CoU'bo)'s : Tho? O ri!!lllS of M",lem Lil'eSlOck Shippill.~
bound for urban abattoirs were driven on the hoof from farms, to feedlots, and
then to the eastern cities. The people who drove the an imals were both livestock
raisers and professional dmvers. l ~ Improved roads leading into New York City
were oftentimes crowded with large droves of cattle, sheer, hogs, and fowl, and
businesses, such as general inns and taverns and specialized dmveyards, sprouted
along them to service the growing traffic." Taking advantage of increased urban
demands and imrroved transrortation facilities, rrofessional drovers emharked
upon an integration strategy that enabled them to profit from the burgeoning
movement of animals from fanns to cities at multiple points along the route.
During the first decades of the nineteenth century, professional drovers like the
Varians of Westchester County who owned a farm-cum-droveyard along the Post
Road in Scarsdale, integrated vertically as butchers in New York City's markets
as tney continued
to
operate the Wayside Inn droveyard. '1 According to one
local history, the Wayside Inn "was the favorite resort of the drovers, who, with
their cattle, made there the last StLlp on their journey from the Ohio towns to
New York City."';
Its assl1Ciation with such notahle entrepreneurs as drover and droveyard proprietor Daniel Drew and butcher Hemy Astor indelibly marked New Yllrk City's
ninetee nt h-century meat and livestock industry. Drew and Astor dealt with
many drovers, some of whom were hased on Amenia, Du tc hess County, farms.
Amllng these drovers were members of one extended kinship n twork o( livestock entrepreneurs drawn from the Allerton, Sherman, and Hurd fa milies.
Dutchess Drovers
The Town uf A menia is located in eastem D utchess County, near the Ne w YorkConnecticut state line. By 1828, the yea r Samuel W. Allerton
W:15
horn, much
of his family already had hecome professional drovers. The first documented
Allerton drover was Samuel Allerton's unde Archibald Montgomery Allerton
(1780-1863); ne moved frum Dutchess County to Manhattan shortly after his
1803 marriage. According to nne Allerton family histllry, in Manhattan he "for
many years conducted a droveyard or cattle market, known as the Upper Bull's
Head." After Archihald retired
[U
Broome County, New York, to resume farm-
ing in the 1830s, his sons George Washington (b. 1806), David (I818-1877) and
Archibald M. (b. 1821) rook over the dmveyards at Fourth Avenue and 34th
St ree t known alternately as "Allerton's Gull's H ead," "Upper Bull's Head,"
"Washington Drove Yards" and, simply, the "Allerton Srock Yards."'"
When tne Civil War began, David and Archihald M. Allerton Jr. had several stllck yards in eastern and weste rn lower Manhattan. After failing during the
4
Thc Huds()n Valley
Rc.~i"n31
Review
Pittsburgh Union Stockyards, aerial vi-ew of Herr's Island, c. 1970. Courtesy of the
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
late 1840s, Archibald Montgomery Allerton's sons DavId and ArchIbald
lowed the human tide
to
Jr.
fol-
California during the Gold Rush. They returned to
New York City with a cache of $31,000 and resumed theIr livestock busmess with
several Manhattan droveyards. After the CIVti War, Archibald M. Allerton Jr.
formed a partnership with John B. Dutcher (a Dover, Dutches, County, native
and director of the Harlem Radroad who later became livestock agent for the
New York Central Railroad) and William C Moore (his former bookkeeper)
called the National Stock Yard Company. By the early 1870s, the company operated stockyards for the Erie and the New York Central railroads in Albany and
Buffalo, New York, and at Weehawken, New Jersey. They also operated the St.
Louis National Stock Yards Company before selling to Samuel Waters Allerton
in 1879. 11
The Allertons, who proudly traced their ancestry from the controversial
Mayflower patriarch, Isaac Allerton, migrated to the eastern part of Dutchess
County from Connecticut during the last two decades of the eighteenth century.I' In Dutchess County they began intermarrying with other agricultural families, notably butchers and livestock drovers and dealers. Archibald Montgomery
Allerton's cousin, Amaryllis, for instance, married cattle dealer Shadrach
H udsun River Cuwbuys: The Oril<ins of Modem Llveswck Shi/Jpinl<
Another of Archihald's cousins, Samuel Waters Allerton
married Hannah
the
of Ehenezer Hurd.
fmm in Amenia, and hesides
Hurd had d
and cattle. . and was well known
the eastern part
where he was
York
purchasing cattle and
dealt in sheep
New York
which he drove to New
" wrote Walter S. Allerton in his family
described somewhat amhitiously as the
" had three sons (also in the livestock
who further was
cattle
one of whom
and
have
been Hebron Hurd who in 1828 was one of ten butchers
York
Greenwich Market. ,.,
There is little
the first Allerton drover
since the middle of the
had
two drover sons-Shadrach
married into hoth the Allerton and Hurd
Allerton name came to be
the
in
have
Shermans and Hurds.
respecwith New York
of the nineteenth century, the
entree into the trade
may,
with the
It is unclear if Samuel W. Allerton Sr. ever drove animals
ttl
New York
There is extensive evidence, however, that he did
most
his life in
culture. After abortive fmays as a merchant and woolen-mill promoter, Samuel
Sr. moved in 1837 to Iowa and by 1842 was back in Kew York
1
Samuel Sr. farmed a rented tract in Yates
in 1848 he
of Newark.
a
County, New
Between
farm in the
most of Samuel W. Allerton Sr.
children found themselves either in the livestock business
the relative of one)
lIvestock dealer
married Helen
Orville Hurd
---had entered the livestock
and Samuel \V
chose to return
to
Manhattan's nineteenth-century
for himself 8[1 unparalleled
in Americnn economic
Between 1850 and 1860, the younger Samuel Allerton lived an active life movThe Hudson Valle\,
ing between upstate New York and Illinois, working in various livestock-related
positions on Illinois farms and driving cattle. In 1860, he moved permanently to
Chicago and began trading livestock. By the time that Allerton made Chicago
his home, direct rail links hetween Chicago and New York and Philadelphia had
been established. Located at the gateway to the \X/est, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,
emerged as a significant rail transfer point.
At the height of the Civil War, in April 1863, the Pennsylvania Railroad
acquired fllrty-one acres approximately three miles from downtown Pittsburgh.
This site, selected by the railroad as its first stockyards, was a mostly rural community known first as Torrens Station and later, East Liberty. Prior tLl the construction of the new stockyards at East Liberty, livestock from the Midwest
entered the Pittsburgh region via the Pittsburgh and Fmt Wayne Railroad.
Drovers used several yards located in the region before t ransferring stllck to the
Pennsylvania Railroad for the final leg of the trip eastward. Like C hicago and
other nineteenth-century cities, the Pittsburgh region had no centralized livestock facilities. Small, independent droveyards sprouted along rail lines and at
their termini as railroad construction was completed.
The imretus
to
build the stockyards at East Liberty came from the tremen-
dous volume of livestock passing through Pittsburgh's discretely distributed
droveyards. Once the direct rail link between Chicago and the Pennsylvania
Railroad was completed, livestock rapidly became the dominant commodity
shipped eastward. For the first time, in 1859, more livestock (by weight) was
shipped on the Pennsylvania Railroad than any other commodity. The U. S.
Department of the Treasury reported that the railroad in 1859 shipped
65,103,756 tons of livestock between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. By 1863, the
figure was more than four times the
J 859
amount: 270,713,390 tons. Like the
smaller, independent drcweyards, the Pennsylvania Railroad stockyards at East
Liberty had facilities for both drovers and their stock. What set them apart from
the droveyards, however, and what make them the first integrated union stockyards in the United States, were connecting rail lines with other roads and the
facilities for offices enabling commission men to work on the premises.~'
At its May 13, 1863 meeting, the Pennsylvania Railroacl's Board of Directors
read a proPllsal for the Pittsburgh Union Stock Association to lease the proposed
new stockyards and referred it to the Road Committee for consideratilln; two
weeks later, at their next meeting, the Board of Directors accepted the proposal
and the path was clear to begin construction of the nation's first union stuckyards. 12
The first lease to operate the East Liberty stockyards was executed
between the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Pittsburgh Union Stock Association
lln July 8, 1863. The Pittsburgh Union Stock Association was a partnership of
Hudson River Co·whoy.1: The Oll!;ins (If Modern Livestock Shipping
7
PictSburgh !andllwner Andrew J.
J. J
Andrew Wilson Jr. and Chicagoan Joseph McPherson.'l
At the same time the Pennsylvania Railroad was
its
contracts with other
tion the new stockyards, the road was
m handle livestock at the new facility. The East Liberty
nons to the
Main Line and
those connections, connections with other railroads passing through
The
Railroad
entered into a contract on May 14, 1863 with three railroads-the
Fort
and
the Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad
and
Transportation Company-to ship all livestock delivered at
east via the Pennsylvania
those in the ci ties of
to the terms of the conRailroad was to receive rent from each the roads based
on the percentage of livestock
seven percent interest on one half the
COSt of the land on which the
[n exchange for the rent
due the first
of October
n~<T,prn
of
said
parties of the first part, all live stock intended
the Pennsylvania Railroad, or that may be
them over their
roads, intended for the new stock
in cars, on the
[Pennsylvania Railroad]
east of their new passenger staagrees and bind themtion, at which point the [Pennsylvania
selves to receive cars loaded with live
the motive
power, and promptly transport them
and upon their arrival
at said stock depot to cause them to be
unloaded. ..
deliver from their
Construction of the East Liberty
commenced at the end of
after the
Railroad Board of Directors
the contract
with the
Post
pens were constructed under a
sheep pens, and those for
and
8
with proper u~,~"''''''
with
surfaces in the hog and
of cinders,
"hardened with a
to the Pennsylv:mia Railroad,
The
Valley Regional Review
A large amount of grading and walling has been done along the railroad
front of the property, and sewers have been built. A well 18 feet in
diameter has been sunk, and a house 24 by 42 feet erected over it, in
which is placed a Worthington steam pump. On the highest ground
ad jacent to the hotel, a tank house has been erected, containing two
tubs, each 18 feet in diameter and 8 feet in height, into which the water
is forced from the well, and which it is distributed by various lines of
pipe to the several pens.'"
Although the Pennsylvania Railroad owned the land a nd paid for the const ructio n of the stock pens, construction of the hotel and operation of the yards
were the responsibility of the lessees . The Pennsyl va nia Ra ilroad stockya rds a t
East Liberty opened for business Monday morning February 1, 1864. S hortl y afte r
th e stockyards opened, the Pennsylvania Board of Directors approved a new lease
to operate the stockya rds with Chicagoans Samuel W. Allerton and Joseph
McPherson. According to the terms of the contract, the lessees received the title
to the stockya rd s hotel constructed by the PittSburgh Union Stock Association
flnd the
right to enter upon flnd occupy the said premises and buildings and to
receive from the cars of all W es tern Rail Roads, all live stLJck that may
be delivered a t the said stock yards and to provide at their own cost sufficient force a nd all other facilities that may be found necessary to
unlofld, rel oad, feed, water and take proper care of said stock while in
said yards. (It being understood that [the Pennsylvania Railroad] shflll
furnish a full supply of wflter for said use) and to take proper care of said
stock while in sa id yards, and to reload said stock intt1 the cars of the
[Pennsylvania R8ilroad] for shipment eastwardly free of cost to them, to
clean properly all cms in which stock may arrive at or be shipped
from ... :.
The lessees were to de ri ve their profits frum yardage and weighing fees charged
on stock sold at Pittsburgh a nd for preparing the "bedding" in eastward-bound
stock cars. The Pennsylvania Railroad, however, emphasized that the lessees
were not to charge sh ippers on stock bound for Eastern markets:
[Ilt is expressly understood tha t s[()c k shipped Eastwardly by railroad
either upon through recei pts or bills of lad ing, or that may not have
been sold at Pittsburgh shall not be subject to ya rdage or weighing
Hudson River Cuwbo)'s The Origins of Model11 Li,'el[ock Ship/Jing
9
charges, and all of the charge~ he re inbefore mentioned, to be made by
[lessees], shall be such as not tll prejudice the said livestock traffic o ve r
the [Pennsylva nia Railroad) or its western connections."
Allerton's invo lvement with the Pittsburgh stoc kya rds prnvided him wit h
the mode l he needed to begin pushing C hicagoans for building a un ion stockya rd
facility in that city. When the Chicago Uni on Stock Yards opened Christmas
Day 1865, it was nearly ten times the size of the PittSburgh prototyre and it
immediately was hailed by the medi a as the biggest and the best. Its younger,
more robust, sibling immediate ly overshadowed Allerton's first success in
Pittsburgh.
Allerton lobbied heavily for founding a Uni tlO stockyards facility in Chicago.
Working his connections in the railroad industry and the public through letters
published in the Chicago press, he was successful. Insta lled as the first manager
of the new stockyards was Allerton's co usin, John Brill S herman. As his livestock
e mpire grew in the 1860s in Chicago and PittSburgh, A llerton's focus remained
centered on shipping meat animals to New York City.
In less than a decade,
Allerton had been transformed fro m a specu la tive newcomer in Chicago's li vesttlck trade to one of its most influent ial membe rs.
By 1869, Allerton was
described by o ne R. G. Dun & Compan y reporter as worth y of good credit a nd
"in business several yea rs"; estimates of A llerto n 's wo rth in the 18605 ra nged from
$250,000 to $300,000.:"
During the 18605 and 1870s, Samue l A llerto n successfull y re peated the
PittSburgh model in cities from the Miss iss ippi Rive r to the sho res of the Hudson.
In 1871, Allerton began a partnership with Philadelphia ca ttle dealers Jose ph and
David B. Martin, Alfred M. Fulle r, and Thomas B. S hrive r. Together they leased
a parcel of land at 44· Street and Lancaste r Avenue in West Philadelphia on
which. they ope rated a stoc kya rd for the Pennsylvania Railroad.
Prior to
Allerton's arrival, Martin , Fuller and Company h ad a modest West Ph iladelphia
stockya rds which they had operated since ca. 1866.
As early as 1869, Philadelphia cattle dealers (perhaps even the Martins and
Fuller themselves) petitioned the Pennsylvan ia Ra ilroad to cons truct stockyards.
On January 11, 1870, the Pennsylvani a Ra ilroad's board of directors ac ted on the
petition by passing a resolution that "deemed ir importan t that ea rly measures be
taken for the location and construction of Cattle Yards suitable for the proper
accommodation of the business o f the Road."'c
In 1873, the Pennsylvania Railroad began finalizing its pla ns
to
build a union
stoc kyards facility in Philadelphia. On December 3, 1873, Martin Fuller & Co. ,
McPhirson [sic) and McPhillan [sic) submitted a proposa l to the ra il road to lease
!O
The Hudson Va ll ey RegionDI Rev iew
the yet-tn-be-huilt yards. The first planned location for the yards was on a 95acre tract in Philadelphia's 25th ward (in the city's Northeast). In July 1874, the
railroad reversed itself and decided t,) locate the new stockymds in West
Philadelphia alung the b::mks of the Schuylkill River. The homd uf directurs subsequently executed
<1
contract for the constructiun of the yards and a twenty-year
lease \-vith Joseph J. Martin, Alfred M. Fuller, Samuel \V Allerton, John R.
McPherson, William M. Fuller, Thomas B. Shriver and James McFillen Jr
A llerton and his partners were bound to construct and operate a "first-class stuck·
ymd and abattoir."" The ymds opened in March 1876.
While maneuvering
to
build the Philadelphia stockyards, Allerton, and his
cousin David H. Sherman, along with Jersey City, New Jersey, livestock dealer
John McPherson, succeeded in comolidating the Penmylvania Railroad's livestock facilities in Jersey City.
During the 18605, Jersey City-loG-lted on the
western shore of the Hudson River, opposite the southern tip of Manhattanemerged as an important railhead and New York City entrepot. The New York
Central, New Jersey Central and Erie railroads had terminal facilities in Jersey
City ,mel in neighboring Hudson River shore c,xnmunities uf Weehawken and
Communipaw.
Midwestern livestock
W<1S
shipped via rail to Jersey City and
lightered across the Hudson to New York City abattoirs.
The railroads, recognizing the need in 1866 for improved livestock facilities
on the Hudson, huilt a substantial abattoir and stockyards in Communipaw, south
of Jersey City. Financed by executives from the Pennsylvania, Erie, New York
Central, New York Oswego and Midland and Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and
Chicago railroads, the Communipaw Abattoir opened October 17, 1866.
Neither Samuel W. Allerton nor his extended kin appear to have had any role at
the Communipaw Abattoir until c. 1871.
By November 1871, David H.
Sherman was the lessee of the Bay Shore House, the hotel at the Communipaw
Abattoir.
One anonymous R. G. Dlin & Company observer estimated that
Sherman was worth from $50,000 to $75,000 and reported that Sherman owned
"[real eswtel and keeps a large stock yard and is interested in various kinds of bus inesses.""
As New York City's livestock terminals were migrating across the Hudson
River after 1866, ArchibClld M. Allerton and his partners in the National Srock
Yard Company, John Dutcher and William Moore, entered into a contract with
the Erie Railroad to operate stockyards fronting the river in Weehmvken, north
of Jersey City. In Septemberl868, Jay Gould acquired title to 77 acres in Union
Township at a place commonly known as Oak Cliff.
The following March,
Gould--fm behalf of the Erie-sold the land and "barns and pens" constructed
by the railroad to the National Stock Yard Company for $206,380 and the rail-
Hwison River Cowboys: The O'1gino of Mociem Livestock Shif)jJing
[I
road, in February 1870, executed a contrac t with the National Stock Yard
Company to unload, "feed, water, handle and deliver" all livestock transported by
the Erie."
Approximately five miles separated the Erie Railroad's stockyards at
Weehawken (Oak Cliff) and the Communipaw Abattoir.
Between 1870 and
1873 both yards operated independen tly providing livestock to New York City
butchers. Just o ne year afte r the Commun ipaw Abattoir opened, the
Pennsylvania Railroad began filling and improving waterfront properties in Jersey
City leased from the United New Jersey Railroads and Canal Company. The
impmve mem project and construction of termin als at Harsimus Cove-midway
between Communipaw and Weehawken- was an attempt by the Pennsylvania
Railroad to independently duplicate the success of the Central Railroad of New
Jerse y at Communipaw. In 1873, after securing a direct link between Jersey City
and the Pennsylvania's Main Line, the ra ilroad leased a portion of its new
Harsimus Cove yards (and, a second tract on the Hackensack Ri ve r) in February
1873 to Samuel W. Allerton and George W. Gregory "for a stoc k yard and establishment for receiving, hand ling, slaughtering and rendering cattle, hogs, etc." In
April 1873, Allerton, Gregory and John R. McPherson incorporated the Central
Srock Yard and Trans it Company and transferred the lease for the two new stockyards to the new corporation.'; By the end of 1873, the Jerse y City stockyards
were completed and the new facility opened for business January 26, 1874.
Conclusions
Between 1800 and 1876, Samuel W. Allerton and his kin built a livestock
empire that stretched from lliinois to New York City. By the end of the Civil
War, the Allerton family had managed to secure a position enabling them to
influence the methods and costs of shipping of livestock from the Midwest to
urban abattoirs. By the close of the 1870s, the Allertons controlled the shipment
of livestock into N ew York City on the major railroads of the time-the
Pennsylvania, the New York Central and the Erie- by obtaining valuable leases
to the roads' stockyards. With con tro l of the Pennsylvania Railroad's stockyards
at Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and Jersey C ity, Sam uel W. Allerton profited from
every animal shipped on the nation's largest nineteenth-century railroad.
Samuel W. Allerton, because he preferred to remain in the background,
became little more than a curious historica l footnote in the history of the meat
and livestock industries. Despite his relative anonymity to later historians, howevet, Allerton may truly be considered as the "father of the stockyards" in the
United States. His biographies on ly note that he was financially "interested" in
12
The Hudson Va lley Regional Rev iew
stockyards in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Baltimore, St. Louis, Jersey City, Omaha
and St. Joseph, but a closer analysis of the development of the Pennsylvania
Railroad's stockyards illustrate a more intimate role far more involved than mere
investment. \Vhen he died, in 1914, Allerton's twenty-million-dollar estate
included shares in the Pittsburgh Union Stockyard Company ($643,200), the St.
Louis National Stockyards Company, and the Union Stockyards of Omaha
($34,600). The system of stockyards Allerton pioneered along with the railroads
died with the emergence of interstate trucking and the consolidation and concentration of mcatpacking facilities in large Midwestern agro-industrial complexes.
David S. Rotenstein
Notes
I.
Thi, rarer originally
w,,, rre,ented at rhe
Re,cClrching New Yurk cunference held in Alh,my, 16
NO\'~m be r 200 1. I wuulcl [,ke r" tha nk And reJ Furuughi, chair uf th e
in"teemh enr ur), N ew
Yurk B, ,,i nes< ranel, fur her Cllmmenrs on rhe carli e r ,1r.lft prc,;enrc,l ar rhe cu n (c re ncc. Th"
staff, uf the H" ,ley library, J-hm'ard U niversity Busi ness S huo[', Bab:r Librm\, g r.:", ly ", sisted
in clmciucring rescarch ;tr rheir fncilities. A ,[,ecia[ thanks is clue tl' D""IJ Buwl11 a n , supcrintendenr n( the University uf II[inuIS Urhana· C hamraign's Rohert A[lert'll) Park 'II1L[ Conferencl'
Ccntl'r, for r n.H'it.ling infornu1[inn from h is fiit':-; un S~=imuel AIIl'rtllll.
2.
" R i.~ Stuck Y,trl b un Herr> I,[ a nd Thruwn Open"
1.
NL,rgarc·t Wa lsh, Th<, Ilis<, nf chI' /vj,dU <'; lc'nl Mea! Packing InJ,<SCTY (LexlI1gtlm: Ulll\'cr" ty Pres,
l)fKentucky, 19 H2). W"I,h'., l<1nJ mark quJy ot rhe meatracking inJusl ry reinfnrced the mi, rake
that the Chicago U n ion StllckyarJs were the first of their kinJ end th " t all oth <; ro "f"l[oll'eLI t he
examr !c" (I'. 74). T hc crwr al>(, uccurs in Nbry Ye' ,c;c r, C mnl'ec ition dnd R e,~ t/iLltIon: The
DeL'ciupmenr "fOlig<ll~ o h in chl' /,v1ewi'acking IndlLl tr), (Grecnwlch, C1": JA I Press, I'i i:l [ ), 1'.14, an,[
Jimmy lv1. Ska).\gs, Prillle IH : Li t'es[(Jck Raisin!! and Mempacking in tht' U nited Sta ces !(itJ7- jCJ83
(Cn lk,Qc St J t i,' n . Tcxn.; : Tc''';!s A & M Unll'cf'icy Pres-s , 19t16 ). Pl'· 45-47. The s"lICce "f rhi' 111'"
percert itln mety he t raceJ IU the fdr-flung fedcral invest iga t ium uf the tne,lll' ackin g inJustry cun·
ducteLI hI' the Feeler,,1 Tr"de CO'l1lnt"'lll1 in 191 8- 1919; Unitc,1 States, Fecler<lI Tr<tJc
C()mlTIi~:-'lun, FnoJ Inl'csligaciull, l~cJ){JTC of 1h c FcLkral Tnule C mnmis$ion on rill' .M~a(~Pad<ing
Indt/sul (W".shu)gtnn, n.
Cm'ernmcnr Pri nting Office, 19 11'- 1919), Part 1[[, l'P. l2-l3.
4.
Yeager, CmnpeUCiO)l (/nd Re/!ttUlli()n, p. 41.
S.
W,,[tcr S. AI[crtlln, A His/flry "f che Allerton fwnd:, IH I.he lIn ireJ ~ W C l" , J 585 C,) 1885 (Chicago,
[[[inois: Sa muel W a ters All e rton, 1900), r. l2. Archiba[J M. A[lert,l[) entry, New Y,)rk Vol. \~ 2:
1115, R. O , Dun & C ll. Collectiun, Baker Lihmry, H,m'ard Univl'r.,it\, GraJu'ltc Sch"o[ "f
RliSinL's." A dminisu'1rt()n.
6.
Rel'urt Ill' th e Cli mmiso il)i1Cr o r Ctl rr",ati<l ns (In t h e Be ef Indllsrrv H.D"c. 302 , 50th Cling. lei
Ses.,. emg . ( 190 5) ; U ni reJ Scate,. Fcdcm [ T",dc C u mmissi"n. Fond IIH'esc ll!acion . /leiJOrt of rhe
Fedem l Trade C/Jmmi.' sioll (I ll ritt: lv!ear -i',u:king InJu:;rn; W~ lt c r S. Allcrrnn, A 1-lisUlr:- (Ii che
Alien»" Family in che U n,reJ Swccs, '5tl5 co 1!l1l5 .
7,
Peter D"hkin Hall, 'The Empty T()m~: The Jvbk i n~ lIf Dynastic IJentity." In LIl'<!s in Trust: The
Fortll",'.' nI ll:mascic Families in Lare Tt( cnricr/l· Cm Cllr)' Americ,", GCllCgc M<1rcu" cd" 1'1). 2S S- 34o.
(f)<luldcr, Co[oraJ,,: Wc:.' l vi,' \\' r ress. 109 2 ); JalTles Henren", "F8ITli[ic> anLI Farms: M L' ma lite [J1
The i'ittsbwgh G ,zcccc , 8 S eptemher 190.3.
c. :
H w:1snn Rit'er Cl!whon: The Orizins of M{)dern Lit'escuc/< Shi/J/llng
13
Prc -In,lumi J I I\merica." Wliliiam and Mary Quanerly 35 (1978): 3·-l2; Allan Kulik"f(, "The
Transiti"n rtl Capi wli sJ11 111 Rural America." W/illiillTI and Mar)' (J, ,,merly 46 (1989 ): 120-144;
R,)bcrt K. L,mh, "Th e En trer reneur ,mJ th ~ Comillunity." In !v'len in [J"sin,'ss: Essays (In the
Hiswrical Rok of rhe Enrr~f1renwr, William Miller, cd., rr· 91-11 ':t. (N ' \\' Ynrk, New York: I-L,rrer
Torc h RlIOk. , 1962 ); Philip Scra ntun, PW/lriewry Cal)i t.alism: The Textile Man lljactl1rc ar
Phil,) .. t/>hia. 1800- 1885 (C.lmhriJge, EngLmcl: C 1Inhridge Univ ~r> i ry Pre.>s , 1':t83 ); Anrhtlny
Fe. W"II"":l', R(Jckdllk: Th e urowth of an AmaicclIl V;JUJge in rile Early IndLl.mial Remilleiem (New
York, New Y,'rk: W.W. N"rtlln, 1972).
8.
Mmrin FlrLlege l, "Unccm1lnry, [,luriacti"ity, and eighborh", )J Exch<ln.ge in rhe Rural HuJson
V'llky m the Lnc Eighteenrh Ce ntury." Ne," York His[(Jr), 77 (I 996): 245- 272.
Y.
J"mes Wc,l(;l I1 Th olll r s,ll1, [{iswry of Livestock Ruising in rh e United Stares , I t-v7- 1, O.
AgfLculrur,,1 History Sl'rie" v"t. 5. (Washingwn, D. e. : U. S. Dep>lftmenr of AgriLldture , 1042 ).
10. Th ome> F D~ v,,~, Th e MurKe c B(JuK, C un win ing Hi, corical Accmme of rhe' I'llbLic Ivlarkec , in ehe
C iries ,,( New l'orl" /3o.,t"n , Phi/adelphi" , BrOOKlyn. (Ne\\' York: Thomas Farnngt"n Dc VOL', 1862);
David Ma ldwy n Ellis, L.mdlonL, and F(mn~rs in the Hudson-Mohawk ReKion, 179 l- 1850. (New
Y<"k , New Yurk: CkWg,)i1 BU" ks, Inc. , 1967); lllivcr \XI. H" ln",s, "The TlI rnpike Er;1. Chapr" r 8 ."
III Hi,ccJrI' oj'rhe Scare of Net<' YurK, \,,,1. 5, Alexander Fli ck, ed., (1934); rr. 2'57- 294, JJme,
Wcsrf'lll T ho mpson, Hisrorv of Lil'cS lIXK Rai,ing in eh" Unic ~J Scares, 1607- 1<'360.
II
Pall I C. Henki n, Cartl", Kingdom in rhe Ohio Valley I 783- U'l60. (Lexingwn, Kentucky: Uni versity
of Kentucky P r~:;s , 1911,)); Sbgg" l'rime Cw: Lil'esruck Raisin!: Clnd Meall)ucking in rhe Un ired
'wees 1607- 1983 .
12 . Li v",tllck hi., wri 'll1 Pau l C. Hen lein, 'auk King,lom in th~ Ohiu VaUey 171l3- 186 1, p. 112 , iJentiiied fOllr types of profe :~ i on a l dmver" li ves f<H:k raisers who dmvc rhe ir ,)wn a nlln"ls 10 marker, hireJ hanJ> kmp l'lyed i:Jy sroc k rai:;er, ), agent> (Lommi s 'il)n men), ;ll1d freel.mce , Iro vers.
C,'ngr"rher Ellgene J. Wil hd m, "A nim al Dri, 'cs: A Case StuJ y in Hi, turiL<11 Gcography," The
jmmwl of Cieo,C(I'aphy 6(0 ( 19(7), 327-34, J esc ribed tWO rypes lli eightecnth -century druI'Crs: profe:<S I,ll1al (~ ge nr s anJ fredance dm\'(!" in Henkin ', ITl<lJ el ) and dLlInt'stic Jrm·e r.; (Iivcstock raisers); James W. Whir'lker, Feedlur ElIIfJir~ : B~fj' .auk F~eding in Illinois and low(/, 1840- 1900
(.'\mes, low,,: luw<1 Sta te Uni vc rsit y Prcss, 1975) , "2,
13. Hulm<:>, "The Turnl' ike Em," r r. 257- 294; Richa rJ F.. P<1lrner, "The Era of rhe Ofl)ve r." N ew Yrrrk
Folklore Quare,'rl)' iO, no. 3 ( 1974): 226 23 1; Ed mund Van Wyck, "T he Drovers." Yearh",," of Ihe
[)1t[cll~S Count)' Hlsrcn-ical SoC/elY 5l (1968): 55-56.
14. Dc Voc, The MarkeL Buok: J.T. Schm(, Hiswr:1' uf Wesr.chr:,c.er Crnmry, New Yurlc (New Yurk, Ncw
Y,1fk: JT SCh'lrf, 1886 ).
15. Sc h"r!', Iliswrv ofWwclu:sler Crumry, New Yurk, p. 6 0,
16. Allefflm, Hisco1)' ofche Allereon Family in rhe United Sta ees , 14.
17 . Archib,dd M. All errLlJ1 elHr\" New York Vol. 372 , r. 111 5, R.C. Olin & ClI. Collection, 13~ker
Libmry, H"C\'a r,1 University l.iradu"te Schu,,,1 u ( Rusineso Administrariun. The Sr. Llliis
N.,riun ,,J St,'c kya rd., act u<1 ll y we' re loca red acr"" the Mi,sissippi Ri,'CI' in Eas t St. Louis, IIImuis.
l::;CI"C AIlcrr,lJ1 (c. I 586-c . 1658 ) mriLlly dC"e1oped <1 reputarilll1 h'r financ i,, 1 chiemery in the
Plyrnuuth Co l,' ny. I-k >e rycd as first assistanr unJ er JOVe tl1llf William Br"df~) rd ,mel was dismi>sed fur uhfllscnting dernils " f the (:,>Ion y', accou nt ' . Mi chael McGiffert, "ReligilJl1 anJ Pmiit
Du JUlTlr Tugether: Th e First Arn erl nll1 Pilgrim," Rejk crions Sum mer-Fall 1992: 15-23; Jilmcs
Deer: ,mel Parricia Scorr Deetz, The Time, of Th eir Lit'es: Life, Lot'c, and Death in l'1)')))outh Culony
(New Yllrk : W.H . Frecman & Comr'\I1Y, 20(0 ), 220-2 2,.
19. Allerton, A Hiscory uf ,he AI.lcrcrJll Fam iiy in the Uniled Scaccs , r· 58; De Voc, Th e Marker Book
r 402
20. All erton, A Hi.< rc rr)' of rill' Allcnnn Family in the Unired Stares , PI'· 57-58; John H. Sherman,
Sherman DireclrJry (Balrimore, Maryland, 1991).
14
21. United Snnes. Dermtmcm of rhe Treasury, SwtisriCi of rhe ForeiRll and Domestic Cummerce of rl",
United States (Washington, D.C.: Guvernment Printing Of(icc, 1864); Piu.shurgh G a ;:e rre
FehruClcy 2, 1864. In irs 1919 rerorr on the meatracking industry, the FederClI TraJe L ,)[nmi ssion
noted ~e\"t:'ral criteria that set "union" stuckvarJs arart from rheir rrcJecessllrs. Th ese incluJe
connccring lines with other wilrnad:; entcring () city, terminal anJ sWitching facilities, Y~l rJ S" and
rens, an exchange, scales, etc. Federal TraJe C'lInmi"ion, Fuod Invc",!:ariun, Report of lhe Fcdeml
Trade Cummision on lhe ,vleClC-Pcu.:I,ing IndLwr)', I"m III, IH, H6.
22. Pennsylvcmia Railro,',,1 Annual Rerurr IB64: 50; Pennsylvania Railfllacl BO:H,!
u( Dircctor,
Minute Buuk [PRRMB14: 307.
23 PRRMB 4 309, 3B2.
24. Pennsylvania Cumrany, Cor/)()wre Hi5tnr)' oj'the Pic Lshurgh , Furt Wa\'l1e and Chicago I-Iailway
C()ll1/lLW)' (PittShurgh, Penns),lva''''I, 1875),267.
25. Ihid.
26. Piushwgh ['usc Sertember 14, 1863; Piclshurp;h Gazell,' February 2, 1864; AnnuClI Rerurt 1864, 50.
27. Allegheny Cuunty DeeJ Book 173, 23.
28. Allegheny Cuunry Deed Il""k 173, 24.
29. Allerton's rfllclivity rowar,J, i,rivacy (secrecyl) was LlbserveJ as emly :\.,1867 when an R.G. Dun
& Cum[,cll1Y rqloncr filed tl1l' company"> first ;]C(ULlnt un "S.W. Allerton, Livestock Dealer" in
Chicago: "\VJe
CdnnO[
find anyone who can give u:-; an e : :io timate of his ll1l';~ns. S orne of the stock
dcalers tell LIS his checks have be en honord anJ he has thu.' tar paiJ his dehr, ," Sa mud W.
Allerton entry, Illinois Vol. 32, r. 231, R. li Dun & Co. C,llectiun, Baker LiDrM)" HarvarJ
University Gr<ldu3te SchLll)1 of Busin (!s' A Jministration; John Brill Sherman (I 25- 1902)
hecame the Chicago Uninn Stock Yards Comrany's first sUI:>crintenJent. B"rn in rhe Tmvn of
Beckman, Dutchess County, New York, he was a cOLlsin ru S'llnuci Allertlln <ind David H.
Shcrm;1l1.
'l0. PRRMB 7:142; PRRMB 5:348.
31
PRRMfl 6:253; PRRMB 6:262; PRRMB 6332.
32. D,lVld H. Sherman entry, New Jersey Vol. 12, ['. 637, R.G. Dun & Co. Collecrion, Raker Lihrary,
H<lrvarcl University Graduate Schon I Il( Business Administrarilln.
33. Hudson COLlnty Deed Book 207: fi,~() (DecIClf8ti,m of Trust, .lay (J"uld tll Eric Railway
C,lI1,pany); Hudson C "Llnty Dec,l Book 189: 272 (Jay "uuld ,m8 Helen D. Guuld [0 The
National St,'ck YarJ C ompany). Herburn Reron, Volume 5 (Exhihits), r. 258-261, 535.
34. George BlIrgc~ anJ Miks Kennedy, l:,nr.ennid Histrm' of the ['en n.s \·1 "anic, RailwaLi C"m/.Jany
(Philaclclrhia, Pennsylvcmi;" The Penn,ylv8\'\ia R;\ilroacl Comr,m\" 1\)49),238-240; D,miel Van
Winkle, History of the Municipalities of Huill,))) Count)' (New York, New York: Lewi, Historical
l'uhlishing, 1924). 201; Huds'll1 (:UlInt)' Del'd Book 255: 6H9; I'RRMB 6: 165-166, 170.
15