A famous landmark in Fredonia will soon be only a memory. The 200 foot high smoke stack at the Red Wing Company is being demolished.

The demolition symbolizes the end of the old style canning industry in Fredonia. Dense smoke pouring from high stacks characterized the area’s fruit processing industry during each canning season through the first part of the century. Actually, The Red Wing stack has not been used in the several years since the Fredonia Company voluntarily converted their boilers from coal to gas to eliminate the smoke pollution and happily, in the case of Red Wing, the change not only marked the passing of the old, but was part of a modernization program for the local concern.

The Red Wing Company started life in the year 1912 as the Puritan Food Processing Company, a subsidiary of the Cudahy Packing Company and in 1917 the name was changed to the Red Wing Company. In the first 10 years of its existence, the company reportedly lost over one million dollars and in a salvage operation, Leon C. Steele was sent by Cudahy with orders to sell or close-out the business. Instead, upon taking a close look at the operation, Mr. Steele made drastic changes which saved the plant for Cudahy and for the community.

Mr. Steel remained here as Vice-President and General Manager. He was succeeded in 1938 by Louise Long who stayed until 19511 when he became President of the Cudahy Packing Company. It was at this time that the present President, Edward C. Steele, became General Manager and assumed increasing control of the enterprise.

The recent revitalization of the company has been achieved in the face of a general deterioration of the industry as it was constituted a generation ago. It was no longer possible to have a one or two product-plant limited in its major operations to one season of the year. Recognizing this, the production line of Red Wing has been greatly expanded so that today it includes jams, jellies, peanut butter, grape juice, catsup, and chili sauce. Employment still peaks in the Autumn, but the greater part of the plant’s production rolls steadily off modern lines twelve months a year.

As a qualify packer, the Fredonia Company enjoys the patronage of millions of people from New England to St. Louis and south to Florida, although the customers might be unaware of the origin of the products because they are mainly marketed under 300 different brand labels of chain stores and wholesalers. Replacing the smoke stack as the most prominent physical feature of the plant is a recently completed one-story warehouse on Newton Street.