Artist: Ruth A. (Temple) Anderson (1891–1957)
John Alden Spoor
SPOOR, JOHN ALDEN (1851–1926), inducted between 1920–1948
John A. Spoor was the first president of the International Live Stock Exposition (1900–1908), and thereafter, its chairman for several years. The Spoor Trophy, awarded to the winner of the National Collegiate Livestock Judging Contest, is named in his honor. He was also president and chairman of the Union Stock Yards and Transit Company and the Chicago Junction Railway Company. He and Arthur Leonard, with financing from Fred Prince, established the nation’s first industrial district adjacent to the Chicago stockyards, in 1905: the Central Manufacturing District. Born in Freehold, New York, Spoor came to Chicago in 1886, as general manager of the Wagner Palace Car Company. He soon became one of the major Chicago players in integrated business pursuits centered on rail transportation, banking, industrial development, and the livestock industry. An avid art and book collector, John Spoor was a trustee of the Newberry Library.
Source: Saddle & Sirloin Guidebook 2026, p. 182