John Plankinton began a meat packing operation in Milwaukee in 1849. In 1852,
Plankinton partnered with Frederick Layton, creating the Layton and Plankinton
Company. Layton withdrew from the business in 1861, and for two years, Plankinton
ran the business alone. In 1863, Philip Armour joined Plankinton to form Plankinton,
Armour and Company. The company grew with branches in Kansas City, Chicago, and an
export house in New York City. When the partnership ended in 1884, Armour kept the
branches and the export house. Plankinton again took on a partner, Patrick Cudahy.
Plankinton retired in 1888 and Cudahy purchased his shares of the business and moved
operations to Cudahy, Wisconsin.
When John Plankinton died in 1891, his son William administered the Plankinton estate
and organized the Plankinton Packing Company in 1893 to operate the plant, vacant
after the removal of operations to the Cudahy plant. William Plankinton was
president of Plankinton Packing Company until his death in 1905. After William’s
death, Horace Upham and George P. Miller oversaw financial affairs for the estate,
hired employees to care for the business, and managed the Plankinton House
hotel.
The company reorganized again in 1912 and was purchased by Swift and Company, a meat
packing company founded in 1855 by Gustavus Franklin Swift in Chicago, Illinois.
