Stock Yards Exchange and Hotel
| Dates: | c.1877, demolished c.1973 |
| Location: | South Kentucky Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana |
| Architect: | William H. Brown |
The Belt Railroad and Stock Yard Company of Indianapolis was formed in 1877. The Belt Railroad connected all of the rail lines entering Indianapolis. The Stock Yards served as a place for unloading, watering and feeding, and marketing of livestock. In its first 20 years, the stock yards received over 20 million hogs, 2 million cattle, 2.5 million sheep, and 250,000 horses.
The Stock Yards Exchange and Hotel Building seems to have been built around 1877, prior to the opening of the Stock Yards on November 12 that year. It was a long two-story brick building with some polychromed masonry in the window arches. The corners featured flat buttresses similar to those Brown used on Ford School and Jenks School. An open brick porch covered the central entrance. The central pavilion was topped by a skylight, and was open to the roof at the center. The front wings contained offices on the first floor and part of the second, with sleeping rooms on the second floor. The rear wing contained a saloon, restaurant, kitchen, and barber shop. The saloon and restaurant were open 24 hours a day. The building was lit kerosene lamps and heated by steam.
In 1904 a fire destroyed almost all of the stockyards except for the Livestock Exchange Building. New buildings were built and the stockyard continued to grow, encompassing 147 acres at its peak in the 1930s-1940s, and handling over 3 million animals per year. In 1967 the company was sold to Eli Lilly & Co., which leased it to a Chicago company. In 1973 the stockyards were relocated and the old buildings were raised to allow the construction of Eli Lilly’s Kentucky Ave. Industrial Center.
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| View of the Stock Yards in 1893 | |
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| The Stock Yards Exchange Building, from Hyman's Handbook of Indianapolis, 1897 | |
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| View of Stock Yards and Belt Railway from Hyman's Handbook of Indianapolis, 1897 | Detail of Stock Yards Exchange Building |
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| Stock Yards Exchange Building, 1893 | Sanborn Map of the Stock Yards Exchange and Hotel, 1887 |