Armour & Company was an American company and was one of the five leading firms in the meat packing industry. It was founded in Chicago, in 1863, by the Armour brothers led by Philip Danforth Armour. By 1880, the company had become Chicago's most important business and had helped make Chicago and its Union Stock Yards the center of America's meatpacking industry. During the same period, its facility in Omaha, Nebraska, boomed, making the city's meatpacking industry the largest in the nation by 1959. In connection with its meatpacking operations, the company also ventured into pharmaceuticals (Armour Pharmaceuticals) and soap manufacturing, introducing Dial soap in 1948.
Presently, the Armour food brands are split between Smithfield Foods (for refrigerated meat, Armour Meats) and ConAgra Brands (for canned shelf-stable meat products, Armour Star). The Armour pharmaceutical brand is owned by Forest Laboratories. Dial soap is now owned by Henkel.