Until the late 1970s, the Pea Ridge Canning Plant was an important industry in our town, canning tomatoes under a variety of labels, and supplying seasonal employment to about 50 of our local people, many of them women and older teen girls. During the Depression years of the 1930s and the trying World War II years in the first half of the 1940s, the Canning Plant supplied some cash income to local families, many of whom were quite cash-poor during those times.
Most of the members of my own family were full-time farmers during the 1930s and 1940s, and none of my family ever worked for the Canning Plant. But even for those who were not employed there, the Canning Plant, in season, was a significant part of the community. I remember every day when it was in operation we were treated to the steam whistle, which served not only as a time keeper for the employees at the plant, but for the larger community within hearing distance. The whistle sounded as the plant started a day's operations, sounded out the noon break, and finally the close of operations for the day. I didn't carry a watch as a young boy, so the canning plant's steam whistle was my helpful timekeeper. We could often hear the factory whistle from our home on the farm.
Through the years we have lived in several small towns for which the fire siren served the same purpose as our old Pea Ridge Cannery steam whistle, keeping time for community activities. I especially recall Tingley, Iowa, the small south Iowa town where we lived in the late 1960s. The noon siren was a signal for people to take a lunch break and to watch "As the World Turns." That town was obsessed with "As the World Turns," and conversations about Bob and Lisa on the show were just part of the local gossip around town.
In the earlier days, our Pea Ridge Canning Plant was located just out of town to the south, across the road south from the Pea Ridge Church of Christ. In those days, the street we now call Patton Street was the south edge of Pea Ridge. As I recall, we didn't have street names then. It entertains me even today to think that what was then the south edge of Pea Ridge is now very much in the north part of town, and what we consider to be the center of town today was nearly a mile out of town back then.
The earliest owner of the Canning Plant that I know of was Albert Putman, going back to at least 1932. During my early years at Pea Ridge, the owner was Bert Watson. Later on, the Canning Plant was purchased by Frank Strode of Rogers, who also owned the Rogers Vinegar Co. My father-in-law, Ray Patterson, along with Marvin Dean, worked for Mr. Strode for a number of years, and Ray and Marvin managed the plant operations.
In the 1930s and 1940s, it was quite common for a small landowner to devote a portion of his property to truck patches, sometimes tomatoes, sometimes beans, sometimes corn. Early on, a good portion of the tomatoes that were processed at our Canning Plant were locally grown. Later, local truck patches became much less common, as more of our local people found work in the developing industries of northwest Arkansas. So, to a growing extent, the tomatoes being canned here were trucked in from distant growers.
Truckloads of tomatoes delivered to our Pea Ridge Cannery would first be weighed on the scales on the north side of the building. In the later years, Ray Patterson was usually the scale man. Then the tomatoes would be unloaded at the dock on the east side of the building. They first went through a scald bath, then to the peeling crew, a busy, busy place. We have one of the little spoon-like peelers which was used by the women who peeled bucketful after bucketful of tomatoes. The peeled tomatoes went into a large stainless vat, then were dipped out and placed in new cans by other workers. Then the cans went to the capping machine, a fascinating apparatus to me as a young boy. Next, the capped cans were placed in large baskets and submerged in very hot water for cooking. Finally, the labels were attached, and the cans were packed for shipping.
During the late 1970s the cannery building was heavily damaged by a fire, and was never rebuilt for operation. The east portion of the building survived the fire and still exists today. With a new building, Bill and Dub Snow operated a furniture store there for some years, as did Alan Ash. Currently the facility is home to The Ridge Community Church.
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Editor's note: Jerry Nichols, a native of Pea Ridge, is an award-winning columnist, a retired Methodist minister with a passion for history. He is vice president of the Pea Ridge Historical Society. He can be contacted by e-mail at [email protected], or call 621-1621.
Editorial on 08/13/2014