Contributor: Florian Laper, Barb Vande Brink Source: Personal Collections

Fairwater Canning Factory

The canning factory, pictured above in an early photo (from Florian Laper), was constructed by William Sink and C. Yunker in 1913 and began operation under the name of the Fair Water Canning Factory. Two years later, Ralph Blodgett purchased Sink's interest in the canning factory. In its early years it canned as many as 40,000 cases of peas. In the 1930's, the federal government took possession of the plant as the result of a tax judgment, and the factory subsequently sat idle until it was purchased by the American Stores Dairy Company of Philadelphia in 1940. The postcard shown below (from Barb Vande Brink) shows the plant in a view from the south.