DURHAM / VIRGINIA-CAROLINA CHEMICAL / FERTILIZER COMPANY
Virginia-Carolina Chemical Company, looking northeast, ~1920
(Courtesy Durham County Library / North Carolina Collection)
Samuel Tate Morgan, in partnership with Eugene Morehead, and Louis (Lewis) Carr, established the Durham Fertilizer Company around 1881; he hit upon using a waste product of the tobacco production process - the stems - to make fertilizer. On September 12, 1895, he formed the Virgina-Carolina Chemical (Fertilizer) Company, which was headquartered in Richmond, VA. The Durham plant was located on Angier Avenue (the Macadam Road) - east of East Durham.
1913 Sanborn Map Sanborn Map.
(Copyright Sanborn Map Company)
Virginia-Carolina Chemical Company, looking northeast, ~1930
(Courtesy Duke Rare Book and Manuscript Collection / Chamber of Commerce Collection)
Aerial looking west towards downtown, ~1940. The main railroad line is to the left of the plant and Angier Ave. to the right.
(Courtesy Durham County Library / North Carolina Collection)
By 1953, this plant, described as "the big red frame and brick plant on Angier Ave." was one of 36 V-C plants located in the southeast. I don't have a great deal of additional information about the Durham plant and its operations through the mid-20th century. Their tasty process is described thusly in 1953:
"The first step in the work here is the manufacturing of sulphuric acid which in turn is used to make super-phosphate, a major ingredient in commercial fertilizers. For the acid work there are huge containers, partly surrounded by vats that give the plant an air of a melodramatic movie."
"After the sulphuric acid comes the actual making of super-phosphate. The acid is mixed with phosphate rock shipped here from the company's mining operations. There was a pile of super-phosphate weighing about 3,000 tons at the plant recently."
"Then, with materials brought from all over the United States, the plant here mixes various grades of fertilizers, an exacting work that [plant manager WM Caldwell] described as 'mixing prescriptions on a terrific scale.'"
"Fertilizers made at the plant run from fish pond fertilizer to tobacco fertilizer, general crop and pasture fertilizer. It is shipped to a surrounding area of about 100 miles."
(Courtesy University of North Carolina)
The company was listed in the Fortune 500 from 1957 to 1963. The papers for the company seem to terminate at 1965, though I don't know the cause of death.
The plant itself seems to have still been around in 1972. Sometime later, likely in the 1970s or 1980s, the plant appears to have been demolished and replaced with another industrial center. It appears, from the multiple listings at that address, that the present-day building provides space for numerous tenants.
Site of the Virginia-Carolina Chemical Company, 01.01.09.
Find this spot on a Google Map.
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11 comments:
Nice post! Musta smelled good around there!
I wonder if using tobacco byproducts cause the spread of tobacco mosaic virus to other crops?
My father was a chemist and I remember him talking about Virginia-Carolina Chemical. He may even have had an investment in it at one time.
VCC was bought in the early 1960's by Socony-Mobil, later Mobil Oil which has since merged with Exxon (nee Standard Oil of N.J.) to form Exxon-Mobil. Exxon-Mobil still has a very important chemical business.
My dad Charles Tayloe Harding of Washington, NC worked for VC for 49 years becoming President of the Company in the early 60's. When Mobil acquired VC he became a Vice President in the Chemicals Division. Dad retired in 1967 and moved to Lakeland, Florida where he continued his career in the phosphate industry until his death in 1984. A plant in Nichols Florida was named after him...The Harding Plant.
My father purchased the V-C Fertilizer (VCC) plant at Lynchburg, Va. in 1968 - about four years after it closed. The seller, at the time, was listed as Mobil chemical Corp. which is now part of Exxon-Mobil(XOM). XOM is now engaged in a voluntary cleanup of this and other former VCC sites. Of course, they've got the money to afford it and there can be no doubt that there's a cerain amount of self-service involved - like reducing potential future liability. But on the other hand, nobody is pressuring them to do this and I, for one, appluade for their good corporate citizenship.
You might find it interesting to know that Samuel Tate Morgan at one time owned the Bennett Place and planned to develop it as a Civil War tourist site, an early theme park.
Thanks for mentioning that Curtis - it is mentioned at the Bennett Place post.
GK
I have a log book from Virginia-carolina chemical company with a list of brands, other companies, measurment and weight instructions, and some hand written names. The calender on the back is dated 1906-1907. I wonder if it is worth anything?
I have rock/mineral samples in VC products labeled jars with corks on the bottom. They are labeled Virginia-Carolina Chemical Corp. Nichols, FLA
Anyone interested in them? I was going to throw them away!
Karen
The new SE Narrow Gauge & Shortline Railroad Museum has just acquired a steam engine that ran at the V-C plants.
To "Monty," can you please contact me? I would love to talk with you about your dad's history with the company and his time in Florida-
Email matt@tarheelpress.com
Thanks
Matt Bumgarner
I was metal detecting at the site of a long gone plantation outside of Pikeville, NC yesterday and found an old watch fob that says, "Compliments, Virginia-Carolina Chemical Co, North Carolina Sales Division, L. A. Carr, M(?), Durham, NC" Very interesting find, this is a great website.
There's a letter from VC to a customer that was written in 1935 and it being sold on ebay.
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