Thursday, May 6, 2010

Bygone Business: Rochester Packing

The building at 301 Hacker St., along the Clinton River, that housed the Rochester Packing Company was built in the summer of 1947 by Roy Mason. Mason slaughtered and butchered locally-raised cattle and hogs at his processing plant, and sold his meat at Mason's Market, his retail store at Fourth and West Alley, at the back of the D&C building.

Rochester Packing was later owned by Art and Al Gruener, who sold meat and meat products from a retail counter right at the plant on Hacker. The Grueners closed the business on May 3, 1988.

Anybody else remember taking a grade school field trip tour of the packing house and finding out how sausage is made, up close?

This ad for the Rochester Packing Company ran in the Clarion in 1964.

3 comments:

  1. OMG...yes I recall a field trip in 4th grade from North Hill Elementary to Rochester Packing. This was in 1980 & now that I'm 40, I STILL cannot look at steaks the same way.

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  2. Why did they close up? Retirement, sold business, losing sales to local markets? Just curious. I remember buying meat there growing up. Always wondered why it shut down.

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  3. Remember it well in about 1960. the smell of blood!

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