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List,
We have had several discussions on the Swift meat plant in Rochelle, IL and seemed to have determined that it opened around 1948, having been bought and converted from another company's holdings. I was tooling around on Google tonight and I found the following article from the Sycamore True Republican, dated March 9, 1962:
Swift And Company Start Operations At New Rochelle Plant
Swift and Company started operations in its new meat packing plant at Rochelle , Monday , March 5 , D . D . Miller , manager , has announced . This is the largest full line meat packing plant to be built in the United States in more than a quarter of a century , Miller says . It will provide a wide variety of quality products for the great Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin trade area , including the vast Chicagoland market . Employment at the plant , on a two shift basis , is about 500 people . This will eventually reach 600-700 . The capacity of the plant on a weekly basis will be about ) 10 , 000 hogs ; 3 . 000 cattle ; 5 , 000 lambs and 3 , 000 calves . In addition to fresh meats , tthe plant will process smoked- meats such as ham and bacon and a wide variety of table-ready meats . A primary service of the new Swift plant will be an offering of a ready cash market to livestock producers , Miller pointed out . He estimated that the procurement area for livestock will be approximately ithe same as the market or trade territory . livestock will be purchased at the plant Monday through Friday from 7 a . m . to 3 : 30 p . m . In addition , arrangements can be , made for purchase of livestock at the time of sale , and should be able to- have livestock graded , sold and have their checks in 5 to 7 minutes . .
This raises a host of questions on whether this is a new plant that replaced an existing plant or if the meat packing didn't start until 1962 in the existing plant. The late Michael Spoor had told me that Swift plant did exist in 1950, so I'm wondering if this was a brand new plant.
Rich G.
__._,_.___ Posted by: rgortowski@aol.com __,_._,___ |