Spreckels, California: California's Best Preserved Company Town
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- Опубліковано 27 вер 2024
- Spreckels is a company town that was founded just before the turn of the 20th century. While many company towns get abandoned, demolished, or repurposed, Spreckels surprisingly has been able to keep its small town charm well over 100 years. I wanted to create a video to document Spreckels's past & present to help preserve its history. I hope you enjoy!
Song Credit: Oak Studios - Woods
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Spreckels built a massive sugar beet factory south of Chandler Arizons where I lived. It opened in the mid 60s and processed beets that were shipped in by rail and by trucks. It processed liquid and granular sugar and the beet pulp was sold as cattle feed to local stockyards. The plant generated their own electricity for production and could have easily supplied the town of Chandler as well at the time. The plant closed in 1981 after soft drink makers switched from beet sugar to high fructose corn syrup and it was demolished in the late 80s and there's now a golf course where the plant once stood. Many of my friends and neighbors worked at this plant and my next door neighbor was chief of maintenance having transferred to Chandler from Spreckels California operations.
In my student days in the Bay Area I remember the cartons of Sprekels sugar, nostalgia....
Spreckels also had a sugar beet factory in Manteca next to Highway 99 and Moffett Blvd. until about the 1980s or 90s. You could ALWAYS tell when they were processing sugar beets because of the strong odor, like a sewer. My dad told me the smell came from after extracting the sugar the beet pulp was spread on the ground outside to dry. Then it was sold for cattle feed. Nothing was wasted. Sugar beet industry nationwide has been killed off by high fructose corn syrup. Corn syrup is cheaper and can be piped.
Exactly! Remember when moffett was connected to hwy 99?
I love driving through and admiring the buildings that still stand.
Spreckels also had a livery stable turned bicycle shop turned gardeners residence
Spreckles was also in manteca ca. My elementry school was across the street. It had sugar beets AND processed them. Its a very stinky business. 😂 the plant was demolished in the late 90's, which i got to watch. That plot of land is now a major shopping area.
I love Spreckles. I worked at the Spreckles Sugar Beet plant for about 15 months from 1980-1981 as a security guard until turning 21. Beautiful town. Great memories.
That's nice to hear. We always hear about the "bad" stuff companies do, but they do supply products to customers who purchase them voluntarily and they do offer wages and benefits to their employees.
Reminds me of Crockett! Great video!
My grandpa's sister and her husband came to Spreckles, and built their house out of town.
It was definitely rural, but housing was creeping up to the property line, this was in the 70s
I live there
It looks nice. Where do you have to go to shop, Salinas? How did it do in the floods this year?
Perhaps you'll able to live on the peninsula one day!
@@pcatfulI like there too, i usually go to Salinas or Monterey to shop but the little corner store is a convenient option too
My kind of town.
The houses are very cute and nice, I like them.
Good well made video. I worked at one of the namesake sugar factories.
Subbed!
In this era, company towns were not uncommon.
What a beautiful little community. Would like to visit it sometime! Thanks, 🙂
I remember Spreckles from my time as an infantryman stationed at Fort Ord(back when there still WAS a Fort Ord) on the Monterey Peninsula.
We used to love to tour the local areas from Big Sur up to the Bay Area and all the way to Yosemite(it's not so local though 😊).
Best days of my life. Thanks for the video. Great memories.