On, Jennie, Oh, Jennie, where are art thou now? Mostly silent on Altura’s Main Street in western Winona County is what townspeople still call the Jennie-O turkey plant. It’s been mostly gathering dust since food giant Hormel shut down the Jennie-O operation in 1996. Image: Steve Lunde
A seamy second life for once-bustling turkey producer
ALTURA, Minn. – Deputies were called to the abandoned Jennie-O turkey plant on a report that drug paraphernalia were found on-premises again. It was the second call about drugs within 2-1/2 months. The 105,000-square foot plant was last owned by an egg-producing company, Primera Foods, of Cameron, Wisconsin, but a $10 million update plan or processing food products never materialized. At its peak under Hormel-owned Jennie-O auspices, the plant bustled as the major employer in Altura, population 490. Hormel pulled out in 1996. Today a small retail turkey shop remains under the brand name Jennie-O. Hormel still has major Jennie-O plants in Barron Wisconsin, and five Minnesota – m Faribault, Melrose, Montevideo, Pelican Rapids and Wilmar,