When it comes to livestock, stockyards, and agricultural cooperative history, Jon “Bird” Armstrong has it covered. The antique enthusiast has an extensive assembly of historical items related to all things agriculture. Bird has been gathering these items since childhood and has amassed a large assortment spanning over a century of history.

The collection includes items like watch fobs, padlocks, knives, and other memorabilia from stockyards, packing houses, and farm co-ops across the country. One of his notable collectibles is a pocket whetstone from Dickson Farmers Cooperative — where he served two terms as a board member — that dates back to the early 1960s, when their phone number was HI 6-2968. The large tin button shows the Co-op’s information on one side and has a knife-sharpening stone on the other.

His most prized possession, however, is a promissory note given to him by his 86-year-old uncle. It’s dated April 17, 1939, showing when his grandfather, Frank Armstrong, purchased a 3-year-old “yellow Jersey cow with horns.” He bought it from Claude Sherrill for $50. Terms were $3 per month at 6% interest.

“The balance was due on November 1, 1939,” says Bird, “but I guess he couldn’t make all his payments on time. The last payment was dated April 20, 1940 and shows that he finally gave Claude a sow and pigs to pay off the cow.”

Before his time on the Co-op board, Bird was FFA president of his high school chapter in 1978 and later worked as an auctioneer, which provide all the makings for an agricultural historical enthusiast. He can provide a wealth of information about the development of the livestock industry, the rise of the Chicago stockyards, and the impact of technological innovations like refrigerated rail cars.

“My main love is collecting memorabilia relating to old stockyards,” he says. “Most people don’t know that cattle were not native to America. Spanish cattle were brought in with Columbus during his second voyage in 1493 and were used primarily as food for the explorers. Longhorn cattle descended from these first cattle. As European and Spanish settlers moved westward, many of the cattle got turned loose and became feral.

Bird explains that after the Civil War, cattle became abundant, especially in Texas where there were 5 million longhorns. A growing demand for beef in the north, along with this abundance, fueled the era of the great cattle drives.

“The massive amounts of cattle being rounded up and penned led to the development of stockyards,” he says. “The towns that housed the stockyards, like Abilene and Fort Worth, were called ‘Cow Towns.’”

Soon, there was a network of stockyards and Cow Towns across the West all connected by railroads that transported the cattle across the country. Bird has a plethora of late 1800s to early 1900s memorabilia from various stockyards, including postcards, pictures, articles, and letters. Some are written with a quill and ink and many are dated.

Bird explains that the stockyards became worldwide tourist attractions because nothing like them had ever been attempted. They even distributed maps that explained what happened in each building so tourists could follow along and go where they were most interested.

“After the development of the Chicago Stockyards in 1865, came the invention of a ‘disassembly line’ in meat-packing plants located in Chicago and Cincinnati,” says Bird. “If people bought their beef from a farmer or local butcher, it would take about six hours to butcher the animal. But at these new stockyard plants, [before organized slaughterhouses], many people worked to ‘disassemble’ the animal at various stations and he’d be in the freezer in 34 minutes from start to finish. Henry Ford heard about it, came on a tour, and then Ford developed the ‘assembly line’ to produce the first Ford vehicles. Instead of taking it apart, he was putting it together.”