Dubuque Packing Company

The Dubuque Packing Company was a former meat packing company that operated under a variety of names in Dubuque, Iowa from 1891 until 2001. It was recognized for the quality of its products, and in the 1950s it became one of the largest employers in the city. The company was widely known in the community as "The Pack." The company had the fleur-de-lis as its logo and trademark.

In June 1891 the Dubuque Packing Company was founded by the merger of the Dubuque Packing & Provision Company and the Dubuque Butchers Association. For the next forty years, the company acted as a local meat supplier. In 1931 Harry Wahlert purchased the plant for $80,000. At the time of Wahlert's purchase, the company employed only sixty people. Even though America was in the middle of the Great Depression, the company flourished under Wahlert's leadership.

Following World War II, the company became the first company to export food to Italy when it exported canned hams to Italy. In the 1950s the company was the largest employer in Dubuque in front of the John Deere Dubuque Works manufacturing plant because the Dubuque Packing House is located within the city while the Deere works is not. During the 1960s, under the leadership of Robert C. Wahlert, the plant employed about 3,500 people, with a payroll of about $20 million. In 1948, ten employees of the Dubuque Packing Company pooled $5 each, in combination with a loan for $123.20 from the Amalgamated Meat Cutters Local Number 150, to charter Dupaco Credit Union, which eventually became Dupaco Community Credit Union.

Labor union negotiations with the company made workers at the plant amongst one of the highest paid employers in the city. Dun's Review listed the company as the 15th largest privately held company in the United States in 1978, with sales of about $390 million. At its peak, the company's sales approached $2 billion and it had 12 plants. It was the 3rd largest beef slaughter in the U.S.

The company was also recognized for the quality of the products they made. In 1960 and 1961 the company won gold medals at the California state fairs for their canned hams. They also became one of the largest suppliers of kosher meat in the United States.

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