American Can Company

Summary

Business	Can Maker
Main Location	New Jersey
Active	1901-?
Predecessors	Great Western Can Company

San Jose plant details from History of Santa Clara, 1922

Locations

Location	Years	Address	Details
Maywood, IL	-~1970
Monterey	1937-1954	Ocean View at Dewey
San Francisco	1901
San Francisco	1916-	Kentucky and 20th
San Jose	1919-	198 Martha at 5th
San Jose	1984	1598 South First Street	Sun Garden Packing buildings.
Seattle	1934	Railroad Avenue at piers.
Stockton	1963	McKinley Avenue	Fire in 1963.

Photos

American Can Co., San Francisco University of Washington Libraries

American Can Company, San Jose University of Washington

Details

"The American Can Company, a branch of the great New Jersey Company, has a plant on Martha Street, which takes in an entire block. This company is now employing 450 men and women. Foreseeing difficulty in obtaining the amount of help they needed should other industries locate in San Jose and give regular employment throughout the year, and also anticipating the continued growth of the canning industry in this section of the state, the company early in 1919 completed plans for enlarging its business."

"These plans have been developed so far that warehouse facilities to store 32,000,000 cans and track facilities for loading and unloading 50 freight cars at a time are the result. This storage capacity is now being added to the present plant in a warehouse 200 by 600 feet being built adjoining their original plant of 225 by 500 feet, making a plant covering an entire city black bounded by Martha, Keyes and Fifth Streets, with the Southern Pacific railroad on the Fourth Street side."

"In making these additions to its plant the company intends to start year-round work for its employees. None but adult help will be employed and except in case of emergency all night and overtime work will be done away with. With the greatly increased storage capacity there will be enough room to care for the needs of the company's customers with the constant shipment of those concerns operating throughout the greater portion of the year. The plant was located in San Jose in 1912. In 1919 the company's output was over 10,000,000 cans. John S. Reed is the superintendent."

Warehouse added in 1951 according to Lodi News Lodi News

Hm... if the cans were so fragile, why do they need so many tracks? The raw materials shouldn't require so much incoming freight.

See American Can Company listing in 1912 Moody's Manual of Investments for list of plants and original merged companies.

Known as American National Can Company by 1991.

[San Francisco Call August 2, 1901 mentions the can company's shutdown is causing problems.

For Seattle, see http://www.ilwu19.com/history/photo/8742.htm