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MONFORT / CONAGRA BEEF.
2014
A mile and a half outside of Garden City sits Monfort Meat Packing, known today as ConAgra Beef Company. Some saw it as hard work and cheap labor. I grew up knowing it as opportunity. It brought in culture since the late 1970s.Vietnamese. Hispanics. Burmese. Somalian. Ethiopian. Over time it made the population a minority-majority society.
In 2000 an electrical fire broke out and shut the factory down. After the fire, the plant was stripped out and walls were knocked down for a project to restructure and remodel the plant. A year later no one heard any activity from the plant. After 20 years of service it remained inactive. Thousands of immigrants left Garden City, along with their families, and deeply affected the city's population.
I sought out what was once Garden City's major economic booster. I wanted to see first hand one of the buildings that aided in bringing in so much culture. Meat brought my family to this town. I figured the least I could do was visit.
