Empson Cannery
The Empson Cannery, also known as the Kuner-Empson Cannery, is a historic cannery and factory building located at 15 3rd Avenue in Longmont, Colorado. It was built in 1901. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
Description
Of several buildings on the site, the red brick warehouse building was nominated for National Register listing. This is a building, actually including three separate structures:- The northernmost section, about in plan, two stories, with thick solid brick walls; the bearing walls stand about tall. It is a two-story structure with a crawl space below. There are three weight bearing walls that are high. The wood-decked, metal-finished roof is long, with two brick chimneys.
- The middle section is attached to the northern portion of the first and second floors. It is in length and approximately wide. There is an basement space and a loading dock on the east side.
- The southernmost section has solid brick walls, thick. The structure is long by wide with a full basement. Two brick chimneys are located on the east side.
History
John Howard Empson, a confectioner from Cincinnati, founded the cannery and built the building. He is considered a "pioneer in the canning industry". The main crop of the cannery was peas, and Empson received several patents for his pea-canning devices. He also developed an improved pea stock that was both sweeter and smaller. Max Kuner was a pioneer in the pickle industry.At the turn of the 20th century, the cannery was the largest employer in Longmont, having a considerable economic effect on the region. In 1903, the cannery was producing 300 railroad carloads of canned produce annually, and employed 400 workers. It was used as the warehouse of the Empson Cannery until the end of 1970.