Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (also Hogopolis, Pigopolis, Porktown) Cincinnati.

1844		Spirit of the Times (N.Y.) 12 Aug. n.p.: It is said that there are now from 1,000 to 1,500 believers in Millerism in Pigopolis.
1844		Spirit of the Times (N.Y.) 27 Sept. n.p.: Parson Miller has not entirely succeeded in regenerating the morals of Porkopolis yet [DA].
1855		H.A. Murray Lands of the Slave and the Free 154: [...] whence the city obtains the sobriquet of ‘Porkopolis,’ i.e., the auto dafe [sic] of the unclean animal.
1866		Paisley Herald 7 Apr. 1/4: Cincinnatti [is] surrounded by hogs which [...] swarm the streets of ‘Porkopolis’.
1869		L. Simonin Grand-Ouest 11: Chicago [...] fait concurrence à Cincinnati, et lui dispute le surnom de Porcopolis, ou la ville des porcs [DA].
1872		Borderer 3 July 2/1: This is not the first of his class from Hogopolis that has perambulated and deadheaded through this territory [DA].
1873		J. O’Connor Wanderings of a Vagabond 354: Arriving at Porkopolis, we found the levee crowded with steamers of all sizes, many of the larger class plying between that port and New Orleans.
1882		St Louis Globe-Democrat (MI) 27 Mar. 6/2: The Lousiville and Cincinnati papers are blowing about their respective clubs. Here the knowing ones are banking on the Porktowners.
1884		Atchison (KS) Globe 18 Dec. 2/4: I have a letter from a woman out in Cincinatti. [...] Her name is ‘Movingham’, which, I think, is just a little suggestive of ‘Porkopolis’, don’t you?
1886		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 13 Nov. 14/1: The Cincinnati people were heartily sick of Caylor [...] and there was talk of a torchlight procession [...] , but Caylor skipped the town before the Porktowners got a chance to pay this high tribute of respect.
1900		Bellefontaine Republican (OH) 7 Dec. 2/1: Pigoolis has a genuine ‘juke’, the Duke of Manchester, who married a Cincinnati woman.
1908		I.T. Martin A Voice from the West 194: Porkopolis is worthy a place in the world, and there is no need for the heiresses of the east to monopolize the titled blood of Europe.
1911		Wash. Times (DC) 16 Dec. 11/3: [headline} Manager O’Day Has Best Year Yet at Porkopolis.
1921		Mt Sterling Advocate (KY) 27 Sept. 1/1: Cincinnati, the one time Porkopolis of the U.S.
1938		H. Asbury Sucker’s Progress 271: The people of early Cincinnati proudly called their town ‘The Athens of America’ and ‘The Queen City of the West,’ but it was better known throughout the country as ‘Porkopolis.’.
1946		J.T. Adams Album of Amer. Hist. III 215: ‘Porkopolis’ Cincinnati, Ohio, still maintained first place in the pork packing industry [DA].

2. in attrib. use of sense 1.

1885

Richmond Dispatch (VA) 25 Oct. 4/3: The very day the Cincinnati Committee proclaimed a new order [...] ‘one little Pigopolis boy killed another little Pigopolis boy with a toy pistol’.

3. (also Hogopolis) Chicago.

1858		Dly Dispatch (Richmond, VA) 7 Mar. 1/5: Lola made a speech in which she eulogized Hogopolis to the skies.
1860		Nashville union & American (TN) 19 Dec. 2/3: This is characteristic of Hogopolis.
1863		Liverpool Dly Post 11 Apr. 5/4: [from N.Y. Times 28 Mar.] We sympathise with Cincinnatti; we congratulate Chicago — henceforth crowned the true and undisputed Porkopolis.
1869		Paisley Herald 22 May 3/3: Chicago, the Porkopolis and Cornopolis of the United States.
1884		Preston Chron. 19 Apr. 6/3: The big, miraculously-increasing hogopolis of the north-west.
1887		Sheffield Dly Teleg. 19 Feb. 5/2: The prolificness of the pigs [...] in all regions about Porkopolis.
1893		Arbroath Herald 26 Jan. 2/3: This was none other than the great Hogopolis, Chicago.
1894		Truth (Sydney) 13 May. 5/3: [He] has published his magnun opus under the suggestive title of, ‘If Christ Came to Chicago.’ Stead having gone to Chicago [...] tries to make out that Christ would have even worse times than he had.
1895		Edinburgh Eve. News 20 July 2/6: Mrs Catherine O’Leary is deasd [...] the owner of the fractious cow which [...] in October 1871 kicked over a lamp and started the blaze which was not put out until Chicago had lost 190,000,000 dollars. Mrs O’Leary was one of the notorieties of Porkopolis.
1901		Daily Tel. 7 Jan. 8/4: The firm of Armour and Co. is one of the chief of those huge meat-packing concerns which have given to Chicago its epithet of ‘Porkopolis’ [F&H].
1913		Cambridge Indep. Press 4 Apr. 6/5: A Chicago butcher [...] wanted him to go to Porkopolis.
1921		Aberdeen Jrnl 23 Mar. 4/2: Chicago makes no bones about it [...] These Porkopolis ladies [etc.].
2002		(ref. to 1861) Thomson & d’Eramo Pig and the Skyscraper 29: In the winter of 1861–62, having dispatched 32000 more pigs than its arch-rival, Chicago became the official Porkopolis of the United States.

4. used of other US centres of pork production.

1886

Omaha Dly Bee (NE) 19 June 4/3: Omaha will soon be the American hogopolis. the omahog is looking up.

5. used semi-facetiously of pork production centres in the UK, e.g. Calne, Wilts., Melton Mowbray, Leics.

1865		Oxford Jrnl 13 May 7/2: The proprietor of what the Times calls ‘the English Porkopolis’.
1875		Exeter Flying Post 24 Mar. 6/2: ‘What can’t be cured must be sold fresh,’ is the watchword of Porkopolis.
1890		Devizes & Wilts. Gaz. 27 Nov. 3/5: Messrs Harris, of the Wiltshire porkopolis, are [...] manifesting some solicitude for the reputation of the British pig.
1909		Grantham Jrnl 2 Jan. 2/7: From far and wide each good farmer [...] drove in to see the muster at Porkopolis [i.e. Melton Mowbray].