083 american can plant

Old American Can Plant St. Louis, Missouri 083

This is an view of the old American Can Plant in St. Louis, Missouri. During the middle and late 1990's, much of the plant was torn down to make shopping mall. Only the old litho department and smaller area survives to this day.

Sad, this was a historical building that greed allowed to be turned into inner-city shopping. The plant produced war materials during the Second World War and became a major container producer. Beer cans, food cans, oil cans (both metal and paper), tobacco cans, coffee cans and much, much more.

Might I also add, if the current "retirees" would have known how the company would treat retirees and their benefits, we would have opposed the tearing down and sided with historical preservation interests in the area. We believed the company (American National-current owners and the Silgan folks) promise that no one would benefit nor would anyone lose any benefits. Appearently the folks with company did not tell the truth. (note: this is my personal take on the matter and yes, I am currently unhappy as an early "retiree")

Many can plants closed in the last few decades and a disproportion of them were union plants by the way. Steelworker plants were heavily targeted by the varied master companies.

Some might also find of interest that some in this plant were "recruited" to go to Mexico to help set up equiptment moved there to compete with fellow can plants. This goes back to the Ronald Regan era and the helping American companies "offshore" and "outsource" products. Sad tradition continues today and one might wish to note this if you ever ask yourself what happened to the American economy.