Scratchbuilding an early fruit processing plant

[OldEastRR]

Not REAL early, something from the early 2oth century, a all-brick building. Been searching for pix online for them but no luck. I know there are guys on here that have extra buttons on their keyboards or subscribe to Google Deluxe and will easily find tons of external pix of such buildings, so I await their input. (I tried "fruit canning plants" and got pictures of jars, steaming fruit in pans, and little old ladies holding up jars of canned this or that. And fruit plants, the growing kind). I also want to put this plant in a industrial area next to rail lines, for deliveries only.



I think they are kind of blocky, and one of this vintage has some walls with lots of windows for light, but also blank walls for the processor and canning machines areas. 

[rhwood]

Have you tried substituting "factory" or other synomyms for "plant"?

[Maletrain]

Not sure where you live, but the Delmarva Peninsula used to can tons of peaches and other agricultural produces plus seafood.  Most of the old towns still have old buildings that were served by railroads.  Some are quite interesting.  For instance, if you go to St.Michaels, Maryland, look at the old buildings along the alley between E. Chew St. and E. Marengo St. one block east of the main drag through town.  Those buildings have long been "repurposed", but are authentic and intricate.  For instance:

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Maybe there are similar opportunities where you live.  I have found many interesting things that aren't on Google search results just by looking around when i go places for other reasons.

[MVW]

It ain't fruit, but here's the the Del Monte plant in Sleepy Eye, Minn., I spent my summers at back in the '70s. It packed peas and corn.

EDIT: I guess a link would be helpful.

https://www.nujournal.com/life/lifestyle-feature/2019/09/07/sleepy-eye-del-monte-plant-has-distinguished-history/


Jim

[JoeD]

  http://coastdaylight.com/scph/scph.html      you should be able to find it here...loads and loads of them. 

Joe

[chessie system fan]

"Cannery railroad industries" yielded several results of varying usefulness.

https://www.henneberyeddy.com/project/bozeman-development-cannery-district/
https://www.cannerydistrict.com/history

https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nationalhistoriclandmarks/samuel-elmore-cannery.htm

https://www.theclio.com/entry/96002

https://calisphere.org/item/ark:/13030/kt6q2nd60c/

And maybe there's something at the LOC.
https://www.loc.gov/photos/?q=cannery

[Dwight in Toronto]

It ain't fruit, but here's the the Del Monte plant in Sleepy Eye, Minn., I spent my summers at back in the '70s. It packed peas and corn.

EDIT: I guess a link would be helpful.

https://www.nujournal.com/life/lifestyle-feature/2019/09/07/sleepy-eye-del-monte-plant-has-distinguished-history/


Jim

I had to laugh at the first sentence in that DelMonte plant story:
“Warren Cook of Sleepy Eye still remembers working cleanup with his twin brother Warren at the Del Monte plant during the summer of his high school and college years.”

Remembering the Bob Newhart show … “that’s my brother Darryl, and there’s my other brother Darryl”. 

[MVW]

I had to laugh at the first sentence in that DelMonte plant story:
“Warren Cook of Sleepy Eye still remembers working cleanup with his twin brother Warren at the Del Monte plant during the summer of his high school and college years.”

Remembering the Bob Newhart show … “that’s my brother Darryl, and there’s my other brother Darryl”.

https://www.therailwire.net/forum/Smileys/classic/huh.gif
Well, there's a reason residents of that area refer to that newspaper as The Urinal, rather than The Journal. 

I actually know Warren, and his twin brother, Wayne. They filled their summers umpiring baseball games around the area.

Jim

[nthusiast]

In California: https://pixels.com/featured/manteca-canning-company-california-circa-1920-california-views-archives-mr-pat-hathaway-archives.html

Having issues posting a larger photo.

[squirrelhunter]

From what little ive found about canning plants in South Texas in the Rio Grande Valley, they tended to be bigger buildings that packing sheds but not necessarily a particular type of construction.

I'll add this- at least in the fruit/vegetable growing areas of south Texas, the canning plants were next to the packing sheds that shipped the fresh stuff as well.

[OldEastRR]

Hmmmm .... I think what I should aim for is a canned/processed food warehouse that takes in bulk loads and breaks them down into shipments for local groceries and markets.  the pictures here reminded me I had actually passed by a canning plant on my work route regularly in eastern Central Illinois -- and it was right out there among the fields, by itself, with road and rail connections. Makes sense, the food was processed close to where it was grown (same with fish canneries on the docks). Since my building is in the middle of a large city industrial district, it most likely would be a distribution center, not a processor. I could have both reefers (fresh produce) and boxcars (canned goods) deliveries by rail. Might just be a produce/vegetable recieving warehouse. It's going to be wedged in between other tall buildings and the backdrop so it's more of a facade with a roof. A blocky brick building with loading doors and a few big windows on the upper floors should do it.

[peteski]

Moved this to the Research section of the forum. Once the actual scratchbuilding starts, it can be moved again (since I really enjoy doing this).