Frederick C. "F. C." Steele operated one of the major meat-processing plants in Holyoke during the latter 1880s. Mr. Steele was born in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1841, and arrived in Holyoke in April 1886.
Mr. Steele established his first business in Hartford in 1874, where he remained for one year. He relocated to Springfield, where he worked for Botsford, Ingraham & Company until 1882. He then moved on to Albany, New York, where he established the city's first beef house.
Shortly after he arrived in 1886, he constructed a wooden building at the corner of Race and Cross Streets to conduct his business. During the latter part of 1886, he advertised for 10 butchers to work at the plant. Many of the meats, including beef, mutton, pork, and tripe, arrived by train from Armour & Company, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.
The following year, he received approval to build a wooden warehouse addition to the existing structure. Interestingly, the combined structures formed the shape of the later-built brick plant, which remains on the property. The building's shape was more triangular to accommodate the train spur, which ran alongside the structure's curved portion. This enabled train cars to be in close proximity to the plant. Workers removed sides of beef directly from the train onto rail hangers on the exterior of the building, then into the plant.
By 1889, F. C. Steel had entered city government and was elected to the lower board as a councilman representing Ward 7.
In 1895, the F. C. Steele & Co. partnership was dissolved. F. C. and his son, Ernest C. Steele, had built the wholesale meats and provisions business over 8 years. F. C. Steele continued to operate the business. During that year, F. C. Steele erected the modern, similarly shaped brick building on the site of the wooden plant and outfitted it with up-to-date meatpacking equipment. The building was constructed to handle its large meat business.
F. C. Steele continued working until he retired at the end of 1904. The business was sold to Armour & Company, which is the story to follow.
Citations:
Newspapers.com (paid subscription): Citations: Holyoke (Massachusetts) Transcript & Transcript-Telegram; Springfield (Massachusetts) Republican; publication dates and pages are shown.
Ancestry.com (paid subscription): Price & Lee Holyoke, Massachusetts, City Directories
Massachusetts Cultural Research and Information System, Boston, Massachusetts
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