Opening in 1887, the St. Joseph Stockyards was just one indication of the importance of the city to the burgeoning trade in the West. It once stretched to 413 acres and moved a half million animals a year in the 1920s.
A beautiful exchange building sat at the front door, and according to my research, was only demolished less than a year before we surveyed its location.
The remaining gate is all that has survived, though there are other ancillary buildings such as grain elevators nearby that takes advantage of the gargantuan rail lines that serve the flat lands along the Missouri River.
Otherwise, the vast acres of flat land where the pens once stood are now vacant, and I imagine St. Joseph would like to see new industrial development.
But what was so striking were the sublime rows of grain elevators closer to the river which seem to stretch on for miles. Here and there, where corn spilled out of trucks, birds flocked and ate the kernels.
We ate dinner one night at the Hoof and Horn, which has held a restaurant since the 19th Century. The current business dates from the 1960s and is a really great steakhouse.
We saw the buildings below from a distance, and as we neared the structures, it began to smell like tortilla chips.
Now part of Life Line Foods, the factory complex has a much older history.
In fact, it was a Quaker Oats Company facility, and before that, it was in fact the Aunt Jemima Mill! It turns out this was a critical building in the history of milling in America.
Massive silos provide storage for the mill.
Heading back north, we found a warehouse converted into apartments.
