Bethel Cannery

Bethel Cannery from Year to Year (1945-1976)

1966

The Haywood Industrial Education Center continued courses in 1966.  Beginning and advanced brick masonry classes were again scheduled for the Bethel cannery building while beginning and advanced typing and bookkeeping classes occurred at Bethel School.  Additional courses of study at the various county schools included public speaking, speed-reading, modern math, leathercraft, beginning oils, wood working, hotel and motel law, choir directing, and welding. (The Waynesville Mountaineer – Monday, February 14, 1966).


1968

Two year later, the Bethel cannery building would take on another new role – Bethel Youth Organization meeting house. In exchange for use of the structure, BYO agreed to beautify the building and grounds. The school board set up guidelines for building use. (The Waynesville Mountaineer – Wednesday, March 13, 1968)


1969

Haywood County Schools faced a dilemma as to how to spend limited funds: classrooms or storage.  The current food storage warehouse at the Pigeon Street School was in declining condition, with prohibitive restoration costs of $12,000.  At the same time, classrooms all over the county required maintenance, and new classrooms were needed, so teachers asked how the board could justify expenditures for food storage building upgrades.  Board members argued that school operations required both classrooms and food. The Board had purchased a large cooler for storing countywide food supplies, but a better building was needed to locate the cooler.  Ted Wells suggested the feasibility of using the Bethel cannery on school property as a likely storage space, thereby freeing up funds for other school repairs.  (The Waynesville Mountaineer – Friday, April 18, 1969)  


1970

No follow-up article indicated if the Haywood County School Board ever utilized the Bethel cannery for the purpose of food storage, but such use is questionable considering that the next year, 1970, during a school board meeting the board approved renewal of a lease of the Bethel cannery to the Bethel Youth Organization. Unless the BYO allowed temporary storage of the large food cooler, there is no documented evidence that it was placed at the old cannery.  (The Waynesville Mountaineer – Wednesday, April 29, 1970)

1973

The Bethel cannery, still leased to the Bethel Youth Organization, sustained damage when a workman, James Parton, poured gasoline into a large lawnmower sitting inside the building.  Gasoline touched the hot motor and exploded, leaving a ceiling hole and demolished windows.  Parton was propelled out the door with burns to his back.  Center Pigeon Fire Department extinguished the fire.  The building housed little league equipment.  (The Waynesville Mountaineer – Monday, June 25, 1973).


1976

Apparently, Bethel Youth Organization no longer leased the Bethel cannery as of 1976.  In a Haywood County School Board meeting, the board voted to lease the Bethel cannery to the Bethel United Methodist Church for use by the Boy Scouts. (The Waynesville, Mountaineer – Wednesday, January 14, 1976)


Today

The cannery is used as storage space for Bethel Middle School.

Recollections of the Bethel Cannery by Bethel Rural Community Organization Historic Preservation Committee members:

Mike Clark: My family, working through the East Fork Baptist Church, used it every summer in the Fifties.

Evelyn Coltman: My grandmother operated the J.B. Rigdon General Store in a location near to the cannery.  Sometimes when sitting on the front stoop of the store I could see the constant coming and going of people to the cannery during farming season.  As an elementary school student at Bethel, I recall standing by my mother at one of the sinks at the facility while glancing around to take in the sights and sounds.  Through a small child's eyes, the place seemed massive.  I was impressed with the continuous clanging of strange-looking equipment and the sounds of pressured steam.  After the awesomeness of the experience diminished due to the attention-deficit-disorder typical of a second grader, I found some friends whose mothers were also busy canning, and we went outside and played.

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Back

Bethel Cannery building today ( located on Poindexter Road  adjacent to the Bethel Community Recycle Center.)                      

Bill Terrell: 1950 - I remember helping my mother canning in the fall during the World Series. When she needed help, I would go in and help her.  When she didn't, I went to the car and listened on the radio.  The Yankees beat the Phillies 4 straight: 1-0, 2-1, 3—2, and 5-2.  That is the only World Series I can remember much about!


*Historic Preservation Committee member, Gail Guy, suggested that the committee research the history of the Bethel cannery.  The structure has occupied a place in Bethel since the early 1940s, and the building still exists today, though it is no longer a cannery.

*Tracing the history of the Bethel Cannery involved scouring The Waynesville Mountaineer archival data from 1944 - 1976.  Carol Litchfield, Historic Preservation Committee member and Rural Preservation Committee Chair, conducted the research, compiled yearly data into hyperlink attachments, and added summary commentary.

*Article by Evelyn Coltman, Historic Preservation Committee Chair, utilized The Waynesville Mountaineer data collected by Carol Litchfield, along with internet searches, including Encyclopedia.com and “U.S. Can Sizes and Equivalents,” published by Gourmet Sleuth for information about the Works Progress (Projects) Administration, canning history, and canning equipment. The article is a general analysis of canning in Bethel and Haywood County as well as a year-by-year account of available documentation of the Bethel cannery.