Hoover closing Beatrice plant

Hoover Materials Handling Group, Inc., is closing its Beatrice plant.

Hoover, which makes containers for transporting bulk liquids and dry products, will close the Beatrice plant and move its operations to the Houston facility, Carlos Mendez, Hoover Materials Handling Group, Inc., director of manufacturing and Beatrice plant manager, said.

The actual closing date for the plant is unknown at this time.

The Beatrice plant currently employs six people, Mendez said.

“It’s just a strategic planning on the market,” Mendez said. “The market requires for us to be close to our customers.”

In 2007, Hoover began moving operations from Beatrice to the Houston facility to meet the demands of the fastest growing market, the petrochemical industry.

A majority of Hoover’s containers service the Gulf Coast region.

The remaining six employees at the Beatrice plant were offered the opportunity to move with the company to Houston, Mendez said. Many of them chose not to move and will be working with human resources to explore other options.

Hoover was originally founded on Nov. 1, 1911 under the name, Beatrice Steel Tank Company, by former Dempsters employee, Thomas E. Adams, Sr.

The original factory was opened in the old “Jonz” Automobile Factoring building at 700 S. Seventh St., manufacturing culverts, stock tanks, well casings, grain bins and miscellaneous farm supplies, according to company history.

Adams died in 1935 and his sons and son-in-law took over operations of the plant

The company remained in farm fabrication for many years until 1941 when it switched manufacturing operations to support efforts during World War II.

Tom Adams, while on vacation, began to shop around for defense contracts and became acquainted with a Navy commander in Washington, D.C., who provided him a contract in March 1941 to begin manufacturing depth charges. Under this first contract he would gross more than $1 million in Navy work.

During World War II, Homestead Industries, Inc., pulled together several local Beatrice companies, including Beatrice Steel Tank, and surrounding area industries together to begin manufacturing and mobilizing production items needed in World War II. Beatrice Steel Tank went on to manufacture powder tanks, cartridge tanks and pistol containers for the Navy.

Beatrice Steel Tank, because of their work during World War II, received the Navy “E” for excellence in production of navy ordnance materials. They were among just 200 industries nation-wide that received this honor. They would go onto receive this award six times.

A Beatrice newspaper article quoted the emergency management branch at Kansas City, Mo., as stating:

“The record of the Beatrice Steel Tank Manufacturing company, which won the coveted navy “E” award for outstanding naval production, stands as an inspiration to Nebraska industry as it shifts from peacetime to war production.”

On Feb. 9, 1945, the original plant and storage area was gutted by fire. Entirely on its own and without financial help from any government agency, employees built a completely new plant in 45 working days and production was resumed in the new modern brick building within 60 days after the fire occurred.

By the end of World War II, the company employed 275 people and had placed orders totaling 8 million pounds of aluminum in various forms.

The war years enabled Beatrice Steel Tank to enter the industry of manufacturing aluminum fabrication and beer barrels. Between 1946 and 1947, the company added product lines for corrugated culvert pipe, corrugated storage buildings for grain and pre-mix containers for vending machines.

In 1949, Beatrice Steel Tank acquired Tote Engineering, Inc., of Seattle, Wash. In 1959, the company was purchased by Universal Wire Spring Company of Bedford, Ohio.

In May 1960, the two companies merged and were acquired by Hoover Ball and Bearing of Ann Arbor, Michigan. The company changed its name to Tote Systems. The parent company changed its name to Hoover Universal, Inc., in 1977, and in May 1985, Hoover Universal, Inc., became a wholly owned subsidiary of Johnson Controls, Inc.

In November 1985, Johnson Controls, Inc., sold the Beatrice plant and 17 other plants acquired from Hoover Universal, Inc., to Citicorp Venture Capital. Hoover Materials Handling Group, Inc., was formed.

The Gage County Museum is currently working on a database compiling names of people who worked at the Beatrice plant. They are also collecting stories of former and current employees about the Beatrice facility.