http://www.memphisflyer.com/AskVanceBlog/archives/2010/05/17/where-is-this-factory Comments On: Where Is This Factory? by Vance Lauderdale en-us Copyright 2013 Memphis Flyer. All rights reserved. This RSS file is offered to individuals, Memphis Flyer readers, and non-commercial organizations only. Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact Memphis Flyer. wil@desert.net (Memphis Flyer Webmaster) Fri, 24 May 2013 00:00:01 -0500 Fri, 24 May 2013 16:00:00 -0500 Foundation http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss My good pal Michael Donahue at The Commercial Appeal confirms that the plant pictured here is indeed the Virginia Carolina Chemical Company, north of Poplar at Collins, because he attended Blessed Sacrament Church, located just a block or so away, and he remembers the wonderful smell of the cotton seed oil being processed at the plant.



He also shared with me another memory, and it's so interesting that I thought I'd share it with my half-dozen readers. Actually, it's a memory of a DREAM: "I was a boy," he says, "and I was sitting on a wooden fence by the plant, and a man came up to me and he had a big hat on.
Posted by Vance Lauderdale]]> Mon, 14 Jun 2010 14:16:07 -0500 Memphis Flyer Posted by Vance Lauderdale]]> Wed, 02 Jun 2010 10:46:17 -0500 Memphis Flyer It was the Virginia Carolina Chemical Company, located at 152 Collins at Everett, just north of Poplar. They made Ammonium Nitrate Fertilizer.

Posted by Big Bird]]> Mon, 31 May 2010 00:29:34 -0500 Memphis Flyer It's not Durham — the soil is the wrong color and it's much too flat. Soil in the NC piedmont is red.

Posted by voluntarheel]]> Wed, 26 May 2010 21:31:55 -0500 Memphis Flyer It can't be the plant from Durham unless the water tower had been moved. The aerial photo and the building plan don't line up with the photo from the slide — but you are right; they are very similar.

Posted by cr33]]> Tue, 25 May 2010 15:50:37 -0500 Memphis Flyer Folks, let's remember that this photo is from a box of photos, and Vance himself said he had no clue where it was from. Is it possible that it's a photo of that plant in Durham?



The photos from the blog make it look mighty close.

Posted by Toddon]]> Tue, 25 May 2010 11:11:56 -0500 Memphis Flyer Page 8 in the googitized book gives some geographic clues. I'm no longer living in Memphis so not really sure, but if you are familiar with, or brave enoug to root around in South Memphis you might find it.



http://books.google.com/books?id=fOhIAAAAY…

Posted by voluntarheel]]> Sun, 23 May 2010 22:22:25 -0500 Memphis Flyer Posted by warbirdali]]> Fri, 21 May 2010 13:56:15 -0500 Memphis Flyer Not much info on it out on the interwebs, except that there was indeed a factory and sales office here:

http://books.google.com/books?id=uyfOAAAAM…



Maybe a phone book or similar from the '50s or '60s would be the next step? V-C was bought out by Socony Mobil sometime around 1963-1965.

Posted by cr33]]> Wed, 19 May 2010 14:05:39 -0500 Memphis Flyer Now if we can just find an address of the location in Memphis. VC was mostly used for tobacco in the Carolinas, and Virginia.
Posted by peterwertz]]> Wed, 19 May 2010 00:27:29 -0500 Memphis Flyer http://endangereddurham.blogspot.com/2009/…

"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."
Posted by cr33]]> Tue, 18 May 2010 15:20:27 -0500 Memphis Flyer http://endangereddurham.blogspot.com/2009/…
Posted by cr33]]> Tue, 18 May 2010 15:18:09 -0500 Memphis Flyer http://cgi.ebay.com/OLD-MUSLIN-VC-FERTILIZ…
Posted by cr33]]> Tue, 18 May 2010 15:13:11 -0500 Memphis Flyer Posted by dsbyrd]]> Tue, 18 May 2010 12:46:46 -0500 Memphis Flyer There is smaller text on the water tower written across the "VO" emblem. It might be "PRAT...", but I'm guessing.
Posted by randrews4]]> Tue, 18 May 2010 12:35:34 -0500 Memphis Flyer