For over 80 years, three generations of the Jones family have processed, packaged and cut meat to your specifications, providing high-quality, award-winning meat and friendly service to our customers.
Our History
Jones Meat and Locker started in 1943 when Paul and Rose Jones began butchering hogs and cattle for their local farmer friends. The first location of the meat processing plant was in the back garage and basement of their home on Sandusky Road, just north of Jacksonville, Illinois. By the early 1960s, Paul and Rose’s son, Charlie, and his wife Doris, had become an integral part of the business. Soon after, the state inspection guidelines became too strict to keep the business on Sandusky Road and the Joneses bought the Morgan County Locker located on State Street, on the east edge of Jacksonville. As the business grew, additional space was needed and in 1977, Jones Meat and Locker built an addition on the building to accommodate the need. In 1992, the third generation of Joneses, Terry, and his wife Marcy, took over the business.
Terry Jones and Marty Cockerill of Jones Meat and Locker recently attended the Illinois Association of Meat Processors Convention in Effingham. The Joneses have won numerous state as well as national awards for their products over the years and this, their 80th year in business, was no exception. The local meat processing plant came home with eight awards including Grand Champion Fully Cooked BBQ Ribs, Grand Champion Luncheon Meat/Jalapeno & Cheese Sausage, Grand Champion Deer Jerky & Snack Sticks, Reserve Grand Champion Commercial Bacon, Reserve Grand Champion Dried Beef, Champion Smoked Turkey, Champion Variety Class Beef Kabobs. The eighth award was the 2022 Innovative Beef Grand Champion, which was sponsored by the Illinois Beef Association. “Marty Cockerill has been an integral part of our meat products production for many years and deserves a great deal of credit for these awards”, said Jones. “I also want to recognize all our employees for their dedication to making excellent products year-round”.
Terry Jones, president of Jones Meat and Locker, is a past president of the Illinois Association of Meat Processors and serves as a member of their board of directors. Jones is also a recipient of the Jacksonville High School FFA Chapter Honorary Chapter FFA Degree, the National FFA Organization Honorary Section Member of the Section 13 Illinois FFA, 2019 Jacksonville Agri-Industry Hall of Fame inductee and recipient of the prestigious University of Illinois Sleeter Bull Award.