Founded in Chicago in 1863, Armour and Company became one of the five leading firms in the meatpacking industry. By 1880, Armour was Chicago’s most important business and helped make the city the center of America’s meatpacking operations.
The company’s 1922 Food Source Map showed North Dakota as largely empty compared to neighboring states. The map index listed only crops like wheat and potatoes, and no livestock. But Armour eventually revised its view of the state, expanding into North Dakota with the 1925 purchase of the Equity meatpacking plant in West Fargo. That event is generally considered Armour’s official entrance into North Dakota. However, the company had already begun moving into the state a year earlier.
While meatpacking remained Armour’s core business, the company branched out into consumer goods made from animal byproducts like glue, fertilizer, and buttons. Always looking for new markets, Armour began expanding into the dairy business in the early 1920s. The company purchased Northern Produce Creameries in Bismarck and Minot, renaming the business Armour Creameries. In 1930, Armour added a creamery in Fargo.
On this date in 1924, Armour announced its support for the Northwest Mutual Dairy Loan Association. The Minot Association of Commerce received a letter from Armour’s general superintendent of creameries, Mr. F.E. Gould of Chicago. He expressed a desire to cooperate “with any movement made in the direction of improving the condition of the dairyman.” Gould emphasized that the success of companies selling dairy commodities depended on the success of the dairymen producing the products.
Armour’s presence in North Dakota continued to grow. The Fargo creamery was a welcome addition to the state’s dairy business and earned several prizes at the 1930 North Dakota Dairymen’s annual banquet. In 1936, local companies ran ads congratulating the new Armour creamery in Bismarck.
Armour continued to expand with products ranging from makeup to soap. But the company faced financial difficulties after World War II. It began consolidating operations and selling off subsidiaries, eventually closing all of its plants in North Dakota.
Dakota Datebook written by Dr. Carole Butcher
Sources:
- Bismarck Tribune. “Armour Would Push Dairying.” Bismarck ND. 5/23/1924.
- North Dakota State University. “Armour Meat Packing Plant.”
- https://library.ndsu.edu/AS2.pub/repositories/3/resources/4059 Accessed 4/24/2014.
- Bismarck Tribune. “Contest Winners Named at Banquet of N.D. Dairymen.” Bismarck ND. 1/23/1930. Page 6.
- Bismarck Tribune. Ads. Bismarck ND. 12/5/1936. Page 13.
- University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. “Armour’s Food Source Map.” https://collections.lib.uwm.edu/digital/collection/agdm/id/1967 Accessed 4/24/2025.
