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Penn-Dixie Cement From Clinchfield ? Houston , Builds South
Big Plant Here
Began in 1923
Largest single industry in
Houston county and one which
has a direct part in building up
the entire Southeast, Penn-Dixie
Cement Corp. plant No. 2 at
Clinchfield, had its inception in
1923 in the successful efforts of
the Clinchfield Portland Cement
Corp., Kingsport, Tenn., to estab
lish a new plant in southeastern
territory.
This company, under the lead
ership of its president, John A.
Miller of Nazareth, Pa., had built
up a highly successful business
throughout the South. In order
to meet the demands of its rapid
ly expanding business and better
serve Georgia, South Carolina i
and Florida, a search was made |
for a suitable plant site and raw I
materials within the PCftte of
Georgia.
Attention was attracted to the
deposits of limerock in Houston
county through state geological
reports and also by a small com
HOME JOURNAL, PERRY, GA.. THURSDAY, JULY 19, 1951
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mmi i PHONE 292 PERRY, GA.
COHEN WALKER „
CHARLES P. GRAY
! mercial limestone plant operating
at Coreen (now .Clinchfield).
Early Limerock Plant
This plant was owned by W. F.
I Culbert of Marion, Va. and op
j era ted by his son, G. T. Culbeit.
Limestone was quarried and pul
| verized for agricultural use and
the quarry exposure disclosed a
j massive bod of comparatively
uniform high calcium limestone
j confirming geologic reports.
Preliminary investigation of
the Coreen deposit by the Clinch
field company indicated that the
materials were suitable for the
manufacture of Portland cement.
Negotiations were started through
the firm of Duncan and Nunn,
Perry attorneys, to secure options
on the Culbert property and sur
j rounding lands.
These options included about
! 1,000 acres under the following
ownership:
W. F. Culbert, H. P. Tucker,
Mrs. Susan W. Clark, G. T.
Brown, Clinchfield Lumber Co.,
Robert L. Woolfolk and William
F. Woolfolk.
On Main Rail Line
The optioned lands provided a
splendid plant site parallelling
the G. S. & F. Railroad as well as
a large area of limestone.
In May 1923, the Clinchfield
Company began a thorough ex
ploration of the above properties
with a core-drill. This investiga
tion w’as carried out under the
direction of E. P. Newhard, Chief
Chemist of the above company. A
thorough and systematic program
of drilling continued for three
months. Samples of limestone
and fuller’s earth were shipped
to the Kingsport laboratory for
chemical analysis. In fact a num
ber of experimental burns were
made in a small laboratory kiln
and small batches of cement were
made for test purposes. In Aug
ust 1923, Mr. Newhard reported
these materials suitable for ce
ment manufacture.
The investigation proved, how- |
ever, that a third raw material |
would be required in the form of
kaolin. After some search, suit
able deposits were located near
Kathleen. Clay lands aggregat
ing 130 acres were purchased
from the following: Mrsl Sarah
E. Davis, J. A. Davis, H. E. Tal
ton, Henry Cain Solomon, Gabe
S. Solomon, and Will Gordon.
Immediately following acqui
: j igSW *
THE OFFICE (foreground) and part of the huge Plant No. 2
of the Penn-Dixie Cement Corporation at Clinchfield, Houston
county, on U. S. Route 341 toward Hawkinsville, are shown
above. The vast pits from which the raw materials are mined
are to the right. M. L. Silcox is plant superintendent.
—Home Journal photo by Cooper Etheridge.
sition of the necessary raw ma- ?
terial deposits, plans for the new
plant were started and in May of
1924 actual work at Clinchfield
was started with construction of
railroad sidings to the new plant
site. Location work was assigned
Ito Chas. S. Vance, Civil En
gingeer of Fort Valley.
The name of the station at
Coreen was changed to Clinch
field which became the center of
intensive activity during the
months to come. The design and
construction of the new plant was
in charge of F. Guenther, Jr.,
General Manager of the Clinch
field Portland Cement Corp. The
first concrete for foundations was
poured in August 1924 and one
year later in June 1925, smoke
rolled from the tall concrete stack
signallized the beginning of op
erations of Houston County’s
$2,000,000 cement plant.
Concurrently with plant con
struction at Clinchfield, a hous
ing program for employees was
undertaken at Perry. Several
tracts of land comprising about
30 acres within the corporate
limits, were purchased from Mrs.
Clifford H. Banks and Miss Kath
erine Holtzclaw. The Holtzclaw
residence was acquired by this,
purchase and used first as a club
house and later as a residence.
In addition, twelve frame cot
tages were constructed on the re
maining property.
Later, the old Colonial house
owned by Edgar E. King, on ad
jacent property, was purchased
by the company and attractively
remodeled. The grounds were
enhanced by formal landscaping
and driveways, and the house
was known for a period of years
as the Clinchfield Club. It was
used entirely for accommoda-)
tion of visiting officials but more
recently has been made the su
perintendent’s residence.
In September 1926, the Clinch
field Portland Cement Corpora
tion merged their interests into a
new consolidation, the Pennsyl
vania-Dixie Cement Corporation
with Richard Hardy, deceased,
of Chattanooga, as Chairman of
the Board, and John A. Miller,
President. A southern operating
division was formed with head
quarters at Chattanooga with
W. H. Klein as General Manager.
The plant and all of the above
mentioned properties were con
veyed to the new corporation by
the former owners on September
23, 1926. The local plant is de
signated Plant No. 2 of the eight
mills owned by Penn-Dixie.
The Clinchfield plant employs
about 125 men and has operated
continuously since started in
1925. The plant generates its own
power from waste heat developed
in the burning process. The ad
dition of a third kiln in 1926 has
increased the manufacturing ca
pacity to over 1,000,000 bbl. of
cement annually.
Other residential property in
Perry was acquired by the com
pany and six houses of Spanish
architecture were constructed at
Clinchfield near U. S. 341, but
the highway was re-routed and
as a result these homes are farth
er off the road.
The plant now employs more
than 200 people and has an an
nual production capacity of 1,200,-
000 barrels of Portland cement.
It is, therefore, not only Houston
county’s biggest industry but also
a major industrial concern of the
state.
Perry Gym
Began Rise
In Basketball
They said back in 1926 that the
new gymnasium being built
would never be filled because it
was just too big.
But J. M. Gooden, superintend
ent of Perry High School and the
coach of the basketball team,
thought that the gym should have
at least 750 seats, so they built
it that big—the largest high
school gym in this section of
Georgia.
Two years later the judgment
of Mr. Gooden was affirmed when
the gymnasium was packed to the
rafters for the old 12th district
tournament of 1928.
The gymnasium was built thru
public subscription, with some
school money. It contained dress
ing rooms for boys and girls,
ticket windows and a pot-bellied
stove. It was the latest thing in
basketball court style in those
days, and it still is one of the
best playing floors in Middle
Georgia.
Gym Moved in 1948
Three years ago, when the new
grammar school was built here,
the gymnasium was moved from
the grammar school’s present site
and relocated nearby. The seat
ing capacity was enlarged by
about 150 persons on the recom
mendation of Supt. and Coach
E. P, Staples, who had followed
Officials Os
Penn-Dixie Are
Active Citizens
Executives and employees 0 f
Penn-Dixie Cement Corp, No 2
at Clinchfield, near Perry, have
long been active citizens of their
community, as typified by M. i
Silcox, plant superintendent who
resides in Perry and is active m
civic affairs.
Hence, in addition to its 1,200 -
000-barrel production record f or
cement and the employment of
more than 200 people i n the
county, Penn-Dixie provides it s
. share of the civic leadership,
! manpower and womanpower in
the community.
President of the national or
ganization is B. W. Druckenmil
ler of New York, while E. p
i Newhard, Nazareth, P a „ former
. Plant No. 2 superintendent here,
1 is now vice president and general
. operating manager; John Norvig,
! Nazareth, director of engineer-!
; ing; George Kilian, New York,
> secretary-treasurer; Victor Road!
; strom, New York, chairman of
j the Board; Fred Doolittle, sales
> manager; and John Wilkerson,
; Atlanta, southeastern sales man
• ager.
Other executives of Plant No.
• 2 here include A. E. Carpenter,
• chief chemist; James A. Grubb,
i chief clerk; C. E. Davis, master
■ mechanic; D. M. Ryle, shop fore
i man; Walter Riley, personnel di
, rector; and Albert Skellie, quarry
i foreman.
, J. H. Jones is plant engineer
! and H. C. Armstrong, general
■ mill foreman, while other mill
i foremen are F. H.. Armstrong,
. J. M. Satterfield and L. E. Gun
; ter. D. W. Bledsoe is mainten
■ ance foreman; D. S. Marshall,
' powerhouse engineer; F. H. Doug
• las, pack house foreman, and
■ Price Satterfield, yard foreman.
ASBXJRY PARK CHAPEL
[ WAS STRONG CHURCH
1 Old Asbury Chapel, one of the
earliest of the Methodist meet
l ing houses in Houston, used to
sit on top of the high ground
;i about a hundred yards to the
■ south of the public road from
: Perry to Marshallville, just as it
turns across Savage Creek.
“Why a Methodist church
wanted to get that close to run
ning water has never been ex
■ plained,” comments an historian
■ with a sense of humor.
The church sat in the midst of
a community of fine plantations
and drew its worshippers from
miles around. It was about equal
ly distant from the villages that
afterwards became Marshallville,
Fort Valley and Perry.
Most of those who comprised
the church membership had emi
grated from the Oomulgee dis
trict of South Carolina in the
1830 s. A century before their an
cestors had come to this country
from Holland, Switzerland and
Germany to form the Orangeburg
colony.
Mr. Gooden’s reasoning in believ
ing that basketball crowds would
continue to grow.
During Mr. Staples’ experience
here he has seen the gym jammed
to the doors and crowds turned
away. In games with Fort Val
ley, spectators have come as early
as 5:30 p. m. to get a seat for a
tilt starting at 8 p. m. They bring
their lunches, camp stools, soft
pillows and thermos bottles to be
sure they get a seat for the
strongly contested games. Tour
naments held in the gym have
always filled it to capacity and
there is every indication that
basketball is still king of sports
in Perry.
Seating Capacity Enlarged
When the basketball court was
moved in 1948, during the ad
ministration of the late S. W.
Hickson, county superintendent,
and Mr. Staples, city superintend
ent, the basement dressing rooms
were removed and new dressing
rooms, rest rooms and ticket of
fices were built.
C. P, Gray gave the gym an
electric «-•-» the fans
in keeping up with the ball game.
It carried a clock, too, for the
fans’ benefit, which is operated
from the scorer’s table.
Perry’s gym may be old in
years but it is still recognized as
one of the best in Middle Geor
gia.