Domino Sugar Factory and Locust Point Area (Baltimore: real estate, house)

[Mike from back east]

I worked in the Traffic Dept of Domino from Jan 1969 - Nov 1972 and enjoyed my time there.

I cannot imagine them selling the facility. They'd only have to replicate it somewhere else, so why go to that trouble and expense, and it would cost them much more than they could ever get for the existing property, which is a fully functioning and on-going operation.

During my time there they built the huge raw sugar shed (white domed structure) to hold large amounts of raw sugar to smooth out potential service disruptions.

[trainman82]

I work for CSX Railroad and trust me, Domino Sugar isn't going anywhere fast. they have recently increased rail traffic use. We are bringing in more covered hoppers of sugar then in the past. And with the newly renovated New Yard, and the Transflow facility off of Andre Street there is plenty of work down there. though i love the "snooty" folks who get all mad cause we block Andre St. when were working down there. Beep your horns and yell at us all day, we have the right away...

[Mike from back east]

Trainman, good to hear these words.

During my time there the old Coca Cola syrup plant on Fort Ave (IIRC it's now Phillips Seafood) used to take about 30 tanks trucks per day of syrup. They wanted to build a pipeline from Domino to their building but the B&O blocked it in regulatory proceedings. Then Coca-Cola switched to jumbo covered hoppers, five per day, each one holding 200,000 pounds of dry bulk sugar. The poor B&O really got screwed on that deal; not only did they have to provide the railcars, they were only able to garner about $19.00 per carload move since it was a "local switching move"within the Locust Point terminal. Truth is, it wasn't Domino's sugar, it was sugar that Coca-Cola purchased on the world market and paid us a fee to refine it for them; money makes for strange bedfellows....

I fondly recall walking the larger rail yard that used to serve us and the P&G plant; I did it at least once a week looking for empties that the yard clerk may have missed when they called us each morning with the inbound empties and to tell us what train the outbound loads left town on.

We used to ship liquid sugar in tank cars down to Potomac Yard for points south; that train was called the Pot Yard Turnaround. About 90% of our loads went west on Train 97.

I remember seeing the old reefer icing racks over on Locust Point yard; the only name I recall from that era was a Yardmaster named Tony Tiano. It was a lot of fun for a RR fan to work in the traffic department.

A lot of our workers lived nearby and walked to work, including most of our secretaries. We used to walk across Key Hwy East to a home on Stevenson Street where a retired longshoreman and his wife cooked hotdogs on a hot plate in their living room. IIRC his hame was Joe Conway and everyone called him Broadway Joe. From the looks of google maps, a whole row of those homes are now a parking lot for semi-trucks.

A lot of those families down in that Locust Point area had been there for generations, working the plants and docks. Multiple generations lived within walking distance of each other.

Gentrification has caused major changes to life down there, but I hope Locust Point retains a lot of its industrial heritage.

[End-User]

I heard reports that the factory just got the largest shipment of sugar ever recorded this side of the Mississippi, just in time for their 90th birthday. Sounds pretty sweet.

[MDguy99]

Originally Posted by HandsUpThumbsDown

Agreed. "Ooh lets pay $1 million to have a loft in an old sugar factory! We love Baltimore's blue collar vibe!" No thanks.

Exactly. No thank you, they can enjoy their massive comeplexes in Canton and Harbor East, they've already taken over there.

[brooklynborndad]

Originally Posted by MDguy99

Exactly. No thank you, they can enjoy their massive comeplexes in Canton and Harbor East, they've already taken over there.

I lived in Tindeco when the renovation was still newish. It was great. And the renov didnt displace any bluecollar jobs, the factory had closed years ago - (notice any tin can decorating jobs these days? Plus modern light industry generally doesn't like old multi story buildings)

note, we also enjoyed looking across the water at the Domino sugar plant.

But what was really too bad, was losing the McCormick spice facility - gave the harbor a distinct aroma.

[HandsUpThumbsDown]

Originally Posted by brooklynborndad

But what was really too bad, was losing the McCormick spice facility - gave the harbor a distinct aroma.

If you close your eyes in Hunt Valley, where McCormick still bottles spices, you will think you are at the harbor!

[MDguy99]

Originally Posted by brooklynborndad

I lived in Tindeco when the renovation was still newish. It was great. And the renov didnt displace any bluecollar jobs, the factory had closed years ago - (notice any tin can decorating jobs these days? Plus modern light industry generally doesn't like old multi story buildings)

note, we also enjoyed looking across the water at the Domino sugar plant.

But what was really too bad, was losing the McCormick spice facility - gave the harbor a distinct aroma.

This is true... just the idea of Dominos closing its doors to reopen as an arsenal of high-priced condos wouldn't sit well with me. And, true, don't you miss McCormick? I liked when I had visitors asking me where the aromas were coming from. These days, the closest I get to hearing that question is when I driving over the Back River bridge...

[Mike from back east]

I can't imagine Domino closing the Baltimore plant; they've sunk a lot of capital into it over the years and IIRC they've closed one or more refineries further north. At one time they had plants in Philadelphia, Brooklyn, and Boston (plus New Orleans and a beet sugar operation out west).

Cheap high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) destroyed most of their business with the soda pop makers and others, so some of the refineries were shuttered. Baltimore has lower labor costs than the ones further north, so it's the one they'll keep for the longer term.

[jonjj]

Not sure if anyone saw this article but I found it interesting. I never thought
I'd see the day that Domino is going to try to clean up it's act.

Domino spruces up Baltimore plant - baltimoresun.com