The Industrial Economy Takes Off
Five major industrial parks serve heavy to light manufacturing, high-tech operations, and warehouse / distribution facilities in the area. Some trace their history to the textile mills while others developed when Macon established military units here, especially Robins Air Force Base and Warner Robins Air Logistics Center. Employing thousands of civilian and military personnel, the base helped spur Macon's "Aerospace Alley" and a multitude of government operations. The area's leaders continue to work toward expanding the industrial economy, predicting considerable growth well into the next century.
When the Selig Center for Economic Growth at the University of Georgia announced that Macon's economy grew faster than any other city in Georgia except Atlanta in both 1993 and 1994, Maconites were certainly pleased-but not surprised. They knew the city's pro-business attitude and capable workforce invited serious consideration from companies looking to relocate or expand. The Macon Economic Development Commission's public and private partnership diligently courted over 300 new national and international business prospects in the decade's first three years and assisted numerous existing firms with expansions. The Macon-Bibb County Industrial Authority worked with other agencies to help secure land, mostly in the major industrial parks surrounding Macon. Various tax credits and other financial assistance further confirmed Macon's commitment to converting prospective businesses into job opportunities for the area. Also, the Greater Macon Chamber of Commerce assembled a team of business volunteers and designed company-specific employee relocation programs, sometimes traveling to the home city to introduce Macon to the newcomers, or leading community tours here. In 1993 alone, the cooperation of government and private industry brought over 200 new businesses into the area. And the effort continues.
The cohesive approach to "marketing" Macon generally targets
prospective firms that can benefit most from the city's proximity to
natural resources, its central location, an excellent transportation
system, and impressive human
resources. This combination of
key assets has always existed
in one form or another,
attracting a diversified economic
base to Macon. Similar
to most other cities in the
United States, Macon's emphasis
shifted from agriculture to
manufacturing, then to service
and retail. However, remnants
of the early eras remain intrinsically
woven into Macon's
economic tapestry.
Mills Weave the Past to the Future
After driving.from Wisconsin to work at a plant in Macon, a computer system analyst seemed perplexed upon his amval. "Where's the city?" he asked. "It's all around you," the plant engineer replied.
The visitor expected the conglomeration of factories, tall smokestacks, and dense traffic more common in the northern cities of the United States. Instead, most of Macon's modern manufacturing facilities operate in spacious pockets of industrial parks skirting the city's perimeter. Although most northern cities now have similar industrial parks in their suburbs, Macon and many other southern metropolises can trace the roots of their manufacturing districts to the heavy influence of the textile industry.
Hillcrest Industrial Park encompasses about 60 acres in the northwestern section of Macon
and focuses on light industry and business-to-business services Photography by Michael A. Schwarz.
During Reconstruction and after the turn of the century, textile mills opted for locations on the city fringes for easier access to raw material and the nearby rural labor force. The fields around Macon yielded ample supplies of cotton even before the Civil War, so it simply made sense to build mills there. Macon's downtown business district also provided the textile firms with a centralized commercial trading center and convenient railroad distribution network. The city's expansion in the twentieth century eventually encircled two of these "outskirt" mill areas, and this single pair of in-town industrial zones remain as viable today as their modern counterparts.
Hillcrest Industrial Park in the northwestern section of Macon once seemed far from the hustle and bustle of the city. Originally cleared in the mid-1800s for Govemor Charles McDonald's expansive summer home, the site also served as a Confederate arsenal during the Civil War. In the late 1890s, the Payne Mill began manufacturing operations and support businesses moved into the area. The Macon-Bibb County Industrial Authority, formed in 1962, set aside acreage for further industrial purposes. Macon's residential growth in the following decades helped determine Hillcrest's present size of about 60 acres. By 1989 the mill had ceased operations, but vestiges of the textile-related beginnings remain and the Hillcrest enterprises today continue to prosper, primarily focusing on light industry and business-to-business services.
The downtown industrial district, a loose grouping of businesses now bordering the southeastem edge of the city, also evolved in the late 1800s. Bibb Manufacturing Company purchased the Macon Manufacturing Company's mill on Oglethorpe Street in 1878 to complement its plant across from the Macon Coliseum. Renamed The Bibb Company in 1971, the firm's logo can be found on linens in homes and hotels across the country.
Macon's nearby railroad hub simplified transportation of raw and fnished materials for the mills and other businesses in the area. The Norfolk Southern Brosnan Yard assumes a large portion of today's downtown industrial district and the Norfolk Southern Corporation employs around 800 people in the area. Named for D. William Brosnan, president of the Southern Railroad Company which initiated the yard in 1965, this busy railyard vividly reminds Maconites of the significant role railroads play in the city's industrial history and current economy.
The Macon Telegraph newspaper claims the second largest circulation in
the state.
Photography by Ken Krakow.
Recording all of the city's development over the years, the original business of The Macon Telegraph still thrives in the downtown industrial district. Dr. Myron Bartlett founded the newspaper in 1826, not long after the city's incorporation. Today, The Macon Telegraph claims the second largest circulation in the state, and its printing facilities, expanded by 49,000 square feet in the late 1980s, feature advanced printing machinery with exceptional color capabilities for its daily editions. Downtown industrial district businesses have access from Seventh Street to the new Fall Line Freeway, providing a vital link to the four-lane connector between Augusta and Columbus for the future.
Beyond serving as a catalyst for the early industrial districts, Macon's textile mills forged a foundation for related twentieth-century businesses. When YKK Corporation of America sought a location for its new production facility in 1973, then-Governor Jimmy Carter extended a warm reception. A combination of several favorable variables, including the area's familiarity with manufacturing and textiles, helped sway the corporate decision makers. The first Japanese firm to invest in Georgia, YKK (USA), Inc. rates as the world's largest zipper manufacturer. The company employs over 1,000 people to produce millions of zippers daily on its expansive 300-acre campus in the Ocmulgee East Industrial Park.
Pictured to the left is the Saddle Creek Warehouse. This is just one of
many industries located in Ocmulgee East Industrial Park which encompasses
about 1,500 acres and is located just six miles from the downtown business
district. Photography by Ken Krakow.
This newer park, located just six miles
from the downtown business district, was the
original site for Camp Wheeler during World War
I and World War II. In the early 1940s, the
barracks, firing range, and administration
buildings of the 11,500-acre camp gave
infantrymen their first taste of military life.
Today, Ocmulgee East Industrial Park
encompasses about 1,500 acres. Exceptionally
clean and maintained by covenants, this
industrial area attracted other textile-related
firms as well, including Texprint (Ga.), Inc. and
TKG International Corporation. The Bibb Company,
Bibb Yarns, Georgianna Products, Politex (U.S.), and similar textile
manufacturing firms located throughout the area employ about
ten percent of the present Macon MSA workforce.
Agriculture Grows Into Industry
Just as the textile industry entwines Macon's history with its current manufacturing base, agriculture, forestry, and mining also significantly contributed to the area's development over the years. Tobacco, the South's earliest cash crop, grew readily in the rich soils and gentle climate. Farmers still harvest it today within a 500-mile radius of Macon. The city's central location amid the tobacco-growing regions helped prompt Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation to purchase over 200 acres in the Ocmulgee East Industrial Park from the Macon-Bibb County Industrial Authority. There, Brown & Williamson built one of the world's most advanced cigarette manufacturing plants. The first carton came off the line on September 21, 1976. Since then, the company's facilities have expanded to house several million square feet and over 2,500 employees.
Georgia's claim to fame as the "Peach State" began near Macon as early as 1884.
Photography by Ken Krakow.
Georgia's claim to fame as the "Peach State" began near Macon at the city of Fort Valley. Peach blossoms flooded the fields with their delicious aroma and delicate colors as early as 1884. Historians credit Samuel Henry Rumph for planting Fort Valley's first orchard, developing a feasible refrigerated rail car, and introducing the Elberta peach to Fort Valley. Nearby, John David Duke also established an orchard he called the Diamond Fruit Farm. This became the Lane Packing Company-Southern Orchard Farms, now nationally recognized for its automated packing plant and mail-order business. Several other businesses, most family owned, operate in the area to help rank Georgia as the country's third largest producer of peaches. Not coincidentally, the Georgia National Fairgrounds & Agricenter opened in 1990 just south of Macon in the city of Perry to promote agriculture and agribusiness, especially among the youth. The State Farmers Market on Eisenhower Parkway in Macon overflows with bountiful--and tasty--crops from the area's growers at the height of the vegetable and fruit seasons.
Macon's early agricultural base has developed over time to
employ about 15 percent of the workforce in food and related
businesses. The Greater Macon Chamber of Commerce includes
seven of these companies on its list of firms with over 200
employees. Cagle's, Inc., a chicken processor, employs about
1,000 people and the Keebler Company is not far behind, with
750 employees. Frito-Lay, Borden, Colonial Baking Company,
Restaurant Management Services, and Timberlake Grocery
Company together employ close another 1,500.
Natural Resources Attract Business
The abundant pine forests surrounding Macon also drew industry to the area, as did another local natural resource: kaolin, sometimes called china clay. An extensive deposit of this white, crumbly material formed between 50 and 100 million years ago in a broad swath following the fall-line from Augusta through Macon and toward Columbus. Active mining takes place on about 3,700 acres and reclamation projects follow every completed mining site to restore the land for agriculture, forestry, or wildlife. Unlike coal or natural gas, kaolin must be refined in complex processes before it can be used in products such as paper, paint, medicine, plastic, toothpaste, tiles, cement, or ceramics. About 80 percent of the state's high-grade kaolin is used in the paper industry, especially for filling and coating stock. Georgia's kaolin industry developed in the 1920s and gained global recognition by the 1970s. Today, its overall economic impact on the state is estimated at $771 million, with over $36 million in Bibb County alone.
The vast pine forests surrounding Macon draw industry to the area.
Photography by Ken Krakow.
At least two of the area's larger businesses came to Macon for its trees and continued operations here for the convenient access to kaolin. Both Georgia Kraft and Armstrong World Industries opened facilities here in the late 1940s. Georgia Kraft, a joint venture between Mead Corporation and Temple-Inland Company, later became Macon Kraft. Temple-lnland maintained ownership of its corrugated box plant connected to the mill, Inland Container Corporation. Riverwood International Georgia purchased the paper mill in 1992 and now employs more than 550 people from Middle Georgia. Recent multimillion-dollar facility upgrades reduced the plant's emissions to the lowest possible levels while increasing energy efficiency. Costly major modifications converted one of the mill's linerboard machines to produce quality coated board for the beverage, carrierboard, and folding carton markets. In addition to using area fresh-wood products and 800 tons per day of post-consumer recycled corrugated containers, Riverwood consumes over 30 million pounds of kaolin annually-much of it supplied by local firms.
Like Riverwood International, Armstrong World Industries first came to Macon for the plentiful pine forests. At that time, fresh wood was used to make commercial and residential ceilings. Now wastepaper furnishes the wood fiber in the company's raw material formula. However, the Macon area continues to provide Armstrong easy access to locally mined clay, one of the company's major raw materials in ceilings and coatings. Over 20,000 gallons of coatings are made daily and applied to the ceilings at the 35-acre facility, establishing Armstrong as one of the largest paint manufacturers. For 25 years, the Macon plant was the world's largest ceilings plant (now it shares the title with a sister plant). The total ceilings manufactured since Armstrong began production in Macon would make a path 15 feet wide from here to the moon!
Both Armstrong World Industries and Riverwood International
operate their facilities in the Allied Industrial Park. This centralized
area covers approximately 450 acres, with plenty of room for
heavy manufacturing, warehousing and distribution, and
business-to-business services. The Allied Enterprise Center within the
industrial park serves as a small business incubator. Beneath the park,
underground utility-line tunnels recall the safety concerns of the
original plant built there. The fuse-loading assembly plant
operated by The Reynolds Corporation for the Naval Ordnance
program during World War II couldn't take chances with above
ground sparks! This was just one of the national defense projects
in Macon in the early 1940s. Another would have an enormous
and lasting impact on the region, the state, and the country.
Robins Air Force Base and Warner Robins Air Logistics Center Forms
Military preparedness topped the nation's attention in 1940 as the prospect of another world war hammered home. The area's city and county governments joined forces in cooperation with Congressman Carl Vinson, then Chairman of the House Naval Affairs Committee, to bring national defense units here. The Macon Chamber of Commerce and the City of Macon purchased 3,108 acres of land about nine miles from downtown for the government to use as a military aviation training base. It was named "Flying School Number One" to emphasize its importance and to help ensure it would become operable before similar projects across the country.
Today Robins Air Force Base (RAFB) and Warner Robins Air Logistics Center's 8,722 acres constitute the state's largest industrial complex. RAFB also maintains one of the state's largest payrolls; it's 10 times the size of the next largest area employer. Worldwide management and engineering for the F-15 Eagle, C-130 Hercules, and C-141 Starlifter, all Air Force helicopters, and all special operations aircraft take place at the base. Maintenance and training are critical components of mission readiness. RAFB has earned national recognition for its environmental quality standards and received official praise from the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for speedily refurbishing the C-141 Starlifter fleet.
Historically, Macon's existing industries have presented compelling reasons for companies to begin new operations here. This is especially true in the aerospace industry which has established a "critical mass" in the area, often called "Aerospace Alley." In 1994 alone, RAFB awarded over $130 million in contracts to Middle Georgia businesses. This includes larger firms, such as McDonnell Douglas, Northrop Grumman Corporation, Boeing Georgia, and smaller businesses, too. The Warner Robins Air Logistics Center's Small Business Office, serving as a liaison between industry and the Air Force, awarded over $50 million to the area's small businesses in 1994. Of the 50-plus firms supporting the aerospace industry here, many are located between RAFB and Macon in the Airport Industrial Park. Zantop International Airlines is just one of the notable names at this 1,750-acre site. The park's proximity to the downtown business district and the Lewis B. Wilson Middle Georgia Regional Airport makes it a premier location for Macon's growing aerospace industry.
The highly specialized technical training required for RAFB and area aerospace jobs has also created a strong bond with local educational institutions. Five area colleges and universities developed educational centers at RAFB, offering 19 dffferent undergraduate degree programs and 13 different graduate programs. Georgia College worked with RAFB and the Society of Logistics Engineers to create a unique Logistics Systems degree; Macon Technical Institute established an Aircraft Structural Technology diploma program and in 1994 began construction on a 51,000-square-foot, multipurpose facility which houses an aircraft hangar to enhance aerospace training.
At the military and local leadership's request, Mercer University opened its School of Engineering in the 1980s. One component of the school, Mercer Engineering Research Center, coordinates the efforts of engineers, scientists, project managers, and technicians with the Department of Defense and national businesses to develop solutions for engineering-based challenges. Many of the center's innovations apply directly to improving efficiency and minimizing environmental impact for the aerospace industry: a robotics system to speed aircraft wing maintenance, computer-generated models to determine load capacities, an optical fiber testing method for passenger planes. In addition, RAFB and the Mercer Engineering Research Center developed a medium-pressure aircraft paint-stepping process which earned this Department of Defense installation high honors for its environmental friendliness.
Macon's involvement with military and government operations
stretches back in time to at least the Civil War, when Confederate
troops guarded prisoners at Andersonville and Oglethorpe camps,
and Macon's own W.B. Johnston looked after the Confederate
treasury. Currently, local, state, and federal government agencies,
including the Department of Defense, employ about 26 percent
of the area's workforce. Macon's central
location in the state and its proximity to
Atlanta have brought more than 50 major
state and federal offices to the area, such
as the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, the U S.
District Court, and a branch of the Secret
Service. Half of the state's corrections
facilities operate in Middle Georgia;
the state's largest prison complex in
Milledgeville employs over 1,000
people. Georgia's Department of Human
Resources, Forestry Commission, State
Board of Pardons and Paroles District
Office, Bureau of Investigation, and
Middle Georgia Regional Development
Center all support offices here, and the
internationally-recognized Georgia Public
Safety Training Center in nearby Forsyth
prepares the state's police, fire, and other
emergency personnel for duty.
Macon's Progress Continues
Macon s industrial base today delivers an incredible range of proclucts: airplane coatings, egg cartons, plastic rings for soda six-packs, pizza boxes, bricks, clothing, air-conditioning equipment, furniture, and candy, to name only a few. Even the nation's largest school bus manufacturer, Blue Bird Corporation, is located in the area, with headquarters in Macon. The investments of nearly 20 international firms representing countries across the globe have also enhanced the array of products shipped from Macon's Metropolitan Statistical Area. Centrally located with abundant natural resources and highly skilled human resources, Macon continues to invite a diversified industrial base for a strong economy well into the next century.
