Once one of the driving engines in the Metro East's manufacturing economy, the St. Louis National Stockyards is disappearing — the victim of both age and progress.

Livestock operations ceased in 1997 because of major changes in the industry and most of the old buildings are gone. Some business remains, but much of the visible activity is construction for the new Mississippi River bridge.

The bridge will hit the Illinois side of the river near the border between Brooklyn and the former National City, and the planned connector road will go south, cutting through the western side of the stockyards.

"It's become more of a real estate venture now. We're down to about 250 acres that are for sale," said Robert Joe Fisher, president of the National Stockyards Co., which still conducts livestock operations in Oklahoma.

The stockyard opened in 1873 on 640 acres that eventually became National City. By the early 1900s, all the major meat-packing companies and related businesses had operations nearby, providing thousands of jobs, said Andrew Theising, director of The Institute for Urban Research at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.

In the 1950s, the industry started to change, especially how livestock was moved.

"The National Stockyards was a railroad operation. There was still a lot of traffic that came through by truck, but it just wasn't the same," Theising said.

Some businesses remain. On First Street, Becker's Farm and Industrial Supplies continues. The company started about 25 years ago. Ten years later, owner James Becker bought out Robertson's Farm Supply Store, which opened in 1918. The original building was recently demolished to make way for the bridge connector, and they are currently in a temporary building while the new store is being built.

"The world is changing on us, so we have to flow with it," said Becker, who started working at the stockyards as a teenager in the 1970s.

"I'd get off (from school) and run hogs at night. We moved 20,000 hogs a night. By the end of the yards, they were saying 2,000 was a busy night," he said.

Warehouses, a Chinese noodle factory and several transportation-related businesses are nearby. In 1996 the company evicted the residents and had National City disincorporated. Fairmont City annexed the property after that.

Fisher said he hopes the completion of the new bridge helps spur more development.

Stockyards maintenance worker John Brewer, 71, started at the stockyards at 18, and wants to stick around at least long enough to see the bridge open.

"I miss it," he said of the old days. "But I'm used to being caught up in change. Things happen."

Contact reporter Scott Cousins at 618-344-0264, ext. 113