Johns-Manville plant at Marshville, North Carolina

Marshville, North Carolina, was home to an asbestos textile mill that changed hands several times: the Carolina Asbestos Company, then Union Asbestos & Rubber Co. (Unarco), then Johns-Manville, and in 1969 an agreement to sell it to Raybestos-Manhattan.^4,8,9 The sources differ on how it began: in December 1941, Asbestos, the industry's trade journal, reported "the purchase by the Carolina Asbestos Company of a new plant at Marshville, N. C.," for "the manufacture of asbestos textiles," and a 1972 history in the same journal said that "by 1941" a "30,000 square foot plant was acquired at Marshville."^6,8 A 1968 history in the journal says instead: "In 1939, an additional plant was established at Marshville, North Carolina," and that "the new operation at Marshville was principally a weaving mill."¹

In 1947, Asbestos reported that Union Asbestos & Rubber Co. "acquired control of the Carolina Asbestos Co. with factories at Davidson and Marshfield, N.C."; the journal printed "Marshfield."¹⁰ A 1971 history in the journal put it as: "In January 1947 Union purchased the two asbestos textile mills operated by Carolina Asbestos Company at Davidson and Marshville," and its 1968 history says that "in 1947, these plants were acquired by Unarco Industries, Inc."^1,9 Under Unarco the journal named Marshville among the company's plants in 1949 and 1950, and in 1954 Unarco reported "new machinery recently installed" there.^2,7,11

In December 1963, Johns-Manville announced that it "has agreed to purchase an asbestos textile plant at Marshville, North Carolina, from UNARCO INDUSTRIES," to be run by its Packings and Friction Materials Division; its 1967 employee magazine, J-M News Pictorial, said the company "purchased" the plant in 1963.^12,13 A 1964 J-M advertisement told buyers of asbestos yarns that "J-M has added a new plant in Marshville, N. C."³ In 1990, the fund answering lawsuits for Manville Corporation dated J-M's Marshville plant "1963 to 1969" in sworn answers and listed its products as "Asbestos Textiles."⁵

In December 1969, Raybestos-Manhattan announced "an agreement to purchase an asbestos textile plant in Marshville, North Carolina": "the 100,000-square-foot plant," about "40 miles southeast of Charlotte," was to be run as part of its Manheim, Pennsylvania, division.⁴ An R/M vice president said it would "augment the Pennsylvania division's requirements for asbestos textiles and friction materials."⁴

Location

What each document says

Every statement about this plant in the documents, in each document's own words.

Other names

Documents call this plant “Marshville Plant”, “Marshville, NC Plant”.

See also

• Johns-Manville: the company's history, documents, people, products and plants
• Asbestos exposure sites in North Carolina

References

1. Asbestos Magazine, 1968, August 1968 (August 1, 1968), p. 22.
2. Asbestos Magazine, 1949, March 1949 (March 1, 1949), p. 48.
3. Asbestos Magazine, 1964, July 1964 (July 1, 1964), p. 9.
4. Asbestos Magazine, 1969, December 1969 (December 1, 1969), p. 47.
5. Manville Fund's Responses to Plaintiffs' Interrogatories in Moore v. H.K. Porter (February 15, 1990), pp. 19, 24.
6. Asbestos Magazine, 1941, December 1941 (December 1, 1941), p. 10.
7. Asbestos Magazine, 1950, December 1950 (December 1, 1950), p. 44.
8. Asbestos Magazine, 1972, March 1972 (March 1, 1972), p. 12.
9. Asbestos Magazine, 1971, September 1971 (September 1, 1971), p. 8.
10. Asbestos Magazine, 1947, December 1947 (December 1, 1947), p. 5.
11. Asbestos Magazine, 1954, October 1954 (October 1, 1954), p. 48.
12. Asbestos Magazine, 1963, December 1963 (December 1, 1963), p. 20.
13. J-M News Pictorial, 1967, February–March 1967 (February 1, 1967), p. 12.