Carnation Condensery c1925 with concrete smokestack
Monroe Historical Society photo #552

View from the north looking southeast after the concrete smokestack was built in the early 1920s. From the 1988 Monroe Historical Society Calendar: "In 1908, the Monroe Commercial Club saw their chance to attract a milk condensing plant - the Pacific Coast Condensed Milk Company, also known as Carnation. They raised a cash fund of $6,000 to purchase a factory site, now (2001) the old Monroe Shopping Center, which was then donated to the company. Later that same year the condensery was constructed from locally milled lumber. All that remains of the plant is the smokestack. The plant established Monroe as an important dairying center, and employed 50 to 100 people." Modern copy of an older photo.