Few Pearls Before Many Swine

Wednesday, September 20, 1871

Attendance is disappointingly thin on this the second day of the Illinois Swine Breeders’ Association Exposition at the Dexter Park race track.  There are some 5,000 thoroughbred hogs on show. The most popular breeds are Berkshires, Poland Chinas, and White Chesters, as well as such hybrids as Lancashires and Cheshires.  The pens were built under the supervision of John B. Sherman, one of the founders of the Union Stock Yard.  Attendance improves the next day, rising to six or seven thousand, but it is still well below estimates.  Among the notables present are General Joseph Hooker and Senator John Logan, after whom Logan Square will be named.