Marquette Cements

The Ray family migrated to Cowan, Tennessee in the early 1920s to work at the Marquette Cement Manufacturing Company. Click here for a history of the migration of  Davidson, Hicks and Greene from Overton County to Lakeview Mountain to Cowan, TN

One of the Portland and masonry cement manufacturing plants of Marquette Company was located in Franklin County on a 1,250-acre tract of land just outside the southeastern corporate limits of Cowan. The history of the Cowan plant dates to a half century ago when Davidson, Hicks and Greene Company, hardwood lumber manufacturers, after careful investigation, organized the Cumberland Portland Cement Company, a Delaware corporation, obtaining the corporate charter on May 26, 1926.

In 1926 the Cumberland Portland Cement Company was organized wit the officers of the DH&G Company filling similar positions with the cement corporation. The DH&G Co. deeded to the Cumberland Co. 1,140 acres of the land from the northwest corner of its 52,000-acre tract, containing some 240 acres of clay fields and plant-site land and about 900 acres of foot-of-the mountain limestone acreage. By separate deed or deeds, the lumber company deeded to the cement company groups of 39 houses and lots inside the corporate limits of Cowan upon which 35 houses were rented to the lumber company employees, who would ultimately become cement company employees. The consideration received by the lumber company for the transfer of the above properties was 11,000 shares of common stock and 2,000 shares of preferred stock of the Cumberland Portland Cement Co.

A contract was signed with Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Co, Milwaukee, WI, for most of the machinery for a two-kiln (10 feet in diameter by 150 feet long-plant, capable of producing 800,000 barrels per year or 2,200 barrels per day.

The plant produced its first clinker and finished cement in May, 1927, and the first carload of cement was shipped on July 1, 1927. On January 1, 1947. the plant was sold to Marquette Cement Manufacturing Company who merged with Gulf & Western Industries in September 1976. The plant closed in 1981.

W.R.S. Corporation Worksite Research Report

1926	The Cumberland Portland Cement Company, a Delaware corporation, incorporated in May of 1926 and opened its cement plant near Cowan, Tennessee. The plant was built in 1926, southeast of the corporate limits of Cowan, Tennessee.
1930	Cumberland Portland Cement Company continued to operate its Cowan cement plant.
1940	Cumberland Portland Cement Company continued to operate its Cowan cement plant.
1946	Marquette Cement Manufacturing Company of Chicago, Illinois purchased the Cumberland Portland Cement Company’s plant in Cowan, Tennessee in December of 1946.
1947	Marquette Cement Manufacturing Company began to operate the former Cumberland Portland Cement plant in Cowan, Tennessee in January of 1947.
1960	Marquette continued to operate its Cowan cement plant.
1976	Marquette Company merged with Gulf & Western Industries in September of 1976. Gulf & Western Industries continued operations at the Cowan cement plant.
References:
History of Marquette Company, by Frank Pearson, Sr., The Franklin County Historical Review, Volume VIII, July, 1977; Ceremonies at Marquette Follow Relocation of Safety Monument, The Winchester Herald-Times, August 2, 1950. Other Links: ​L&N Railroad​ and ​photos ​Railroad Depot - Cowan, TN Visit Cowan