President of Armour & Co. who expanded the global reach of the company and supported the International Live Stock Exposition with the creation of the Armour Scholarship.
1863-1927 | Artist: Unknown
Impact & Accomplishments
The eldest child of Philip D. Armour, J. Ogden Armour was born in Milwaukee and educated at Yale. He left prior to graduation to intern at Armour & Company in Chicago, becoming a partner in 1884 and ascending to the presidency at his father’s death in 1901.
Under J. Odgen’s leadership, the company’s production facilities were greatly expanded at Armour complexes in the United States, Canada, and South America, broadening the scope of the operations to maximize by-product utilization.
The Armour empire included thousands of refrigerated railcars, more than 400 branch houses to distribute products, and tens of thousands of employees. J. Ogden’s tenure included challenges with labor unions and concerns over monopolies in the meatpacking industry. He relinquished control of Armour in 1923, after taking the company public in an effort to recover from financial troubles following World War I.
He established the Armour Scholarship at the International Live Stock Exposition and continued to support and advance the Armour Institute of Technology, founded by his father.
Did You Know?
As his father's health declined, J. Ogden took over more and more responsibility for the direction of Armour & Co. His younger brother, Philip, Jr., died in 1900. J. Ogden Armour took over as company president in 1901. During his tenure, sales increased from $200 million to $1 billion.
1905
The Main Building, Illinois Institute of Technology, was designed by architectural firm of Patten & Fisher in 1891 and completed in 1893. It was built with funds from Philip D. Armour, a prominent entrepreneur and innovator who founded Armour & Company, the company that established Chicago as the meatpacking capital of the world. The building was the first building constructed on the campus and was designed to hold classrooms and offices for the school, then known as the Armour Institute of Technology. Main Building is a designated Chicago Landmark, which places the structure among some of Chicago’s finest and most significant buildings. Photo by Preservation Chicago 2015.