Celebrates 50 Years at Parsons Location

Nothing says it’s summer like the smell of  a backyard cookout as plump hot dogs, thick, juicy burgers or mouthwatering, meaty steaks sizzle over an open flame. Whether  you consider it grilling or barbecueing, the end results are finger-licking good summer meals.


With the return of the summer season, a lot of folks are pulling their grills out of storage and pulling off the cover that’s been protecting the family investment over the last several months. The bright sunny days and 80-plus temperatures make for the perfect day to get out of the kitchen and head outdoors.


And in preparing to whip up a summer favorite, it’s important to get the right kind of cooking materials — namely charcoal. Luckily for folks around the region, one of the top selling charcoal producers is just down a country mile in Parsons: Kingsford Manufacturing Co.


It’s been 50 years since the  Kingsford manufacturing facility in Parsons began operations, and while much has changed through the half century, the product remains one of America’s top choices when it comes to “simply a matter of taste.”


To mark the occasion, on May 31 company officials hosted lots of activities including plant tours, games, live music, and of course ... a cookout. Hundreds headed to the Parsons plant including Kingsford associates, their families, Clorox/Kingsford representatives, as well as invited guests from city and county governments.


It all began on Valentine’s Day, 1956, when the love and hopeful wishes for a prospering county prompted commerce members to seek an industrial business to locate within its borders. J. Kenton Lambert, who served as chairman of the Tucker County Chamber of Commerce’s Industrial Relations Committee, drafted letters to four different companies, offering the chamber’s assistance in locating in the Parsons area.


A few weeks passed before chamber members learned that a charcoal manufacturing company had been in Tucker County, surveying and trying to generate interest from local sawmill operators in producing charcoal. At that time, no one knew the name of the company who had sent its representative to check out what the county had to offer.


Two months later on May 15, 1956, chamber members Lambert and John Wilson confirmed that the president of Kingsford Chemical Co., Owen Pyle, planned to make the trip to Parsons himself before the company decided on a location for the plant.


Another two years passed as negotiations passed between the company and chamber. Then on April 21, 1958, the final plans to secure a charcoal briquet plant owned and operated by the Kingsford Co. got under way with local, state, power company, Kingsford and other officials.


Kingsford selected the 40-acre Dorsey Knight farm priced at $25,000. Chamber member W. Del Roy proposed that an Industrial Development Nonprofit Corp. be formed and notes be sold with 5 percent donation and 95 percent note for what was put into the corporation.


Kingsford officials wanted an answer within three days whether the purchase price could be secured. Donation solicitations began the very next day and on April 24, a total of $27,000 in pledges had been collected.


The company’s president scheduled his next visit for May 1 to look over the site and  give a definite answer as to whether the plant would locate there.


By May 13, 1958, $21,250 of the $25,000 need to purchase the Knight property had been collected. Eighty-seven individuals and business contributed to securing the charcoal plant’s location.   


The Parsons plant was the third in the U.S. for the Kingsford company and has undergone many changes and upgrades, survived fires and floods, and is one of the major contributors to the local economy — more than $20 million a year. The staff and parent company — Clorox, which acquired Kingsford in 1972 —also kicks back another $65,000 in donations.


With 100 employees, the Kingsford facility in Parsons produces and packages charcoal briquets under the Kingsford and Match Light labels, operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week, recycling wood waste and sawdust from area mills. On that schedule, the plant delivers 130,000 tons of charcoal a year.  


According to the Kingsford Web site,  the company “remains the leading manufacturer of charcoal in the U.S. More than 1 million tons of wood scraps are converted into quality charcoal briquets every year.”


Barbecueing with charcoal has become immensely popular since the first fuel for grilling was produced in Henry Ford’s time. And despite the popularity of gas grills — which hit the markets in the 1980s — causing charcoal sales to flatten, officials say that trend has reversed as more people prefer the taste of charcoal-grilled food to gas.


Charcoal is mostly char, or burnt wood, and anthracitic coal, mixed with smaller amounts of Borax and starch which aid in bonding. All are blended together, formed into briquets, dried to significantly reduce moisture content, bagged, tagged and placed onto palettes for shipping.


In addition to the Parsons location, Kingsford also has charcoal producing plants in   Beryl, Summer Shade, Ky., Burnside, Ky., Belle, Mo., Springfield, Ore., and, Glen, Miss. 


For more information about the Parsons Kingsford facility, call Lonnie Wolfe, plant manager, at 478-5530.