John Morrell Aerial View Estherville, Iowa

John Morrell was considered by many to be the life blood of the city of Estherville. They were the largest employer for many years with many Morrell employees stating that, "it was the best paying job in town." But like so many packing plants, it suffered through the economic downturns and was forced to close this facility. Today there is not much remaining of this huge complex, but the town of Estherville survived this loss. We could probably write a book on this history of this plant from its early beginnings as Tobin's, but will leave that to the historians. This photo shows the plant as viewed from the west looking east. The road in front is the forerunner to Highway 4 and appears to be gravel at the time this picture was taken. The plant was located on the south edge of Estherville.

If you would like a full size scan of this card for your personal use please send e-mail and we will make it available to you. We do not honor requests for scans to be used in commercial ventures.

If you entered this page directly you can find more about our hometown of Estherville by clicking here and look for the hometown page link.