EDITOR’S NOTE: Looking Back features past articles from The Tidewater News with commentary by local historian Clyde Parker.

Union Bag-Camp Paper Corp. has completed plans for an installation, which will eliminate much of the soot and smoke that now come from the smoke stacks at the Franklin mill.

Construction of a new recovery boiler will begin in May. The project is estimated at $3 million.

The structure housing the boiler will be an imposing one. It will add to the Franklin skyline, rising in height equivalent to a 20-story building.

SURVEY POINTS TO AREAS FOR REDEVELOPMENT

A recently completed redevelopment survey indicates several areas within the city that are sub-standard. Following are excerpts of the report:

n One way to deal with sub-standard residential properties is to condemn and demolish them. Then, the question becomes, what will replace those structures? What happens to the people displaced by rampant destruction of residential property? Do we want massive public housing units? State law says that people displaced by redevelopment must be provided housing within their means.

n The other option would be to require owners to maintain their property in accordance with city codes. Much of the problem lies with residential rental property that is sub-standard. Landlords, and oftentimes they are absentee owners, should be required to meet and maintain certain standards.

The survey says that deteriorating areas are numerous in Franklin, but many are only a section of a block. A map of the city points out six large areas that would be prime targets for redevelopment.

RAY ANNOUNCES NEW BUSINESS

Another homegrown business, Franklin Paper Sales Corp., has been organized effective Jan. 1, 1963. The corporation is the result of rapidly increasing sales of the paper division of Franklin Concrete Products Corp.

Robert C. Ray is president and R. Ellsworth Jones is vice-president.

Sales offices and warehousing will be located on the Franklin Concrete Products Corp. property near Carrsville Highway and Lee’s Mill Road just east of Franklin.

A spokesman for the corporation indicated that a warehouse will be built in the next few months and that increased employment in the sales office staff and operational forces is expected soon.

Franklin Paper Sales Corp. will distribute Union Bag-Camp office papers and other diversified products. Plans call for unlimited sales coverage of the Tidewater area.

FRANKLIN EQUIPMENT CO. CONTINUES TO DEVELOP

Franklin Equipment Co., another homegrown business, is continuing to develop its logging tractor designs and expanding its marketing area.

The company, founded by Boykins native Roger Drake in July 1962, is assembling logging tractors from a hangar at Franklin Municipal Airport.

Markets are expanding into North Carolina. Company marketing officials are in the process of establishing a dealer network with Tidewater Equipment Co. of Brunswick, Ga. Tidewater has outlets in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina.

CLYDE PARKER is a retired human resources manager for the former Franklin Equipment Co. and a member of the Southampton County Historical Society. His email address is ParkerC@seva-redcross.org.