The Meat Market

  I have wanted to use this ad in a blog post since I first copied it from the St. John County Capital newspaper, but I had not found a reason for using it.  Today it occurred to me that maybe it was worth sharing without a particularly good reason!  

I find it interesting to see images of the living animals alongside the images of them after being butchered and offered for sale.  The advertisement includes the farm barn name--Pyles' Barn--, and the Saturday sales each week of their stock--horses, cattle and hogs.

A related entry in Isaac Werner's journal involves his idea of forming a small country town in their community.  He even suggested a business to anchor the new town--a slaughter house!  As he visited neighbors to discuss the potential of a town, many people expressed interest.  Rather, they expressed interest in the town, but not necessarily for the slaughter house.

The idea was encouraging enough that they selected a location, and several men pledged to buy stock in the town company if plans progressed.  An entry in the County Capital reported that investors from Kansas City were planning to proceed with building several businesses, but nothing more was heard about the town--or Isaac's idea for a slaughter house.

Advertisement from the County Capital in St. John, Kansas