M. W. Graves

The M. W. Graves fruit and vegetable processing plant in Berwick was a large customer of the DAR and an important market for several generations of valley farmers. The plant started out as a large cider distillery built in the 1920s by a New Jersey businessman. He abandoned the plant after several years as temperance campaigners in local churches scuttled his chances of getting a liquor license. The buildings were purchased in 1938 by Minard W. Graves, who ran a cider making plant in Bridgetown. Graves timing was good as World War II produced a demand for processed and canned fruit and vegatable rations. The plant expanded in peacetime to juicemaking and other types of canned foods. Graves sold the plant to the Stokely Van Camp operation in the 1960s but the plant continued under the Graves name.

Gallery

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  M. W. Graves Plant, Berwick. c. 1940.

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  M. W. Graves former plant, Berwick, 2016.

References and Footnotes

• Valley Gold by Ann Hutton