Forces of Change: South Omaha

Sign over meat counter in grocery store, 1950s

Sign over meat counter in grocery store, 1950s
Courtesy Nebraska State Historical Society, RG2183-1949-0617-8
Eddy Gold handing a tray to a car hop at Ken Eddy’s Restaurant, 1953

Eddy Gold handing a tray to a car hop at Ken Eddy’s Restaurant, 1953
Courtesy Nebraska State Historical Society, RG2183-1953-0205-4 SFN19418

Since the 1920s, the major meatpackers (Swift, Armour, Cudahy, and Wilson, called the "Big Four") held a near monopoly on beef production. And Omaha’s Union Stockyards sprawled over two hundred acres and was a city unto itself. The dominance of the Big Four and pre-eminence of the stockyards would eventually fade away.
From the 2008 NET Television program, Beef State

After World War II, South Omaha’s stockyards and packing houses were caught up in a postwar hunger for beef. In 1949, the average American consumed 144 pounds of meat per year, and in 1950, that number jumped to 160 pounds per year. That was nearly half a pound each day for every man, woman, and child. This was the beginning of the baby boom. There were a lot of families having babies out there!

Welcome to Omaha sign: "World’s Largest Meatpacking Center", 1955

Welcome to Omaha sign: "World’s Largest Meatpacking Center", 1955
Courtesy Nebraska State Historical Society, RG1085-06-06

In 1956, Omaha beat out Chicago as the largest meat-producing city in the world. That year, too, for the first time, Nebraska used “Beef State" on its automobile license plates. It was also the year that the Interstate Highway System was born. More and more, cattle were brought to the yards by truck, gradually ending the industry’s dependence on rail transportation.


Nebraska Farmer “Union Stockyards, Omaha . . . The World’s No. 1 Livestock Market” February 4, 1956
Aerial view of the Omaha Stockyards

Aerial view of the Omaha Stockyards
Courtesy Nebraska State Historical Society, RG1085-24-01e


Prior to World War II, management forces in Omaha had successfully confined efforts to organize labor. After the War, things were quite different. In 1948, workers in Omaha joined in a national strike against the Big Four, and for the next twenty years, management and labor struggled with each other. But while they struggled, Nebraskans, and others, continued to eat beef at an ever-increasing rate.

Striking Armour Co. packinghouse workers try to keep warm in south Omaha, 1948

Striking Armour Co. packinghouse workers try to keep warm in south Omaha, 1948
Courtesy Durham Western Heritage Museum, Omaha World-Herald/John Savage Photography Collection