A tannery is a place where animal hides are transformed into leather. When cattle, sheep, or other animals are raised for meat, their skins would normally just rot away. But at a tannery, workers treat these hides with special chemicals and processes to turn them into the durable, flexible material we call leather.

For thousands of years, people discovered that certain tree barks and other natural materials could keep hides from decaying. Today's tanneries use more modern chemicals, but the goal remains the same: creating a material strong enough for boots, belts, saddles, and baseball gloves.

Tanneries have historically been located on the edges of towns because the tanning process produces strong, unpleasant odors. The work requires skill and patience: a single hide might spend weeks or even months being soaked, stretched, dyed, and treated before it becomes the smooth leather in your shoes or the rugged leather of a football.