By Dusty Fraley
In the early part of the 20th century, the demand for Portland cement was growing. The bulk of U.S. cement production was in the Northeast, and in the Southern states there were only seven cement plants. The need for cement in the South was more than twice what the production was. The time seemed right to build a cement plant in Chattanooga.
In August 1920, the Signal Mountain Cement Co. was established. The board of directors consisted of prominent local businessmen, including bankers Charles Lyerly and W.A. Sadd, and W.E. Brock of the Brock Candy Co. The initial capital investment was $3 million. The first public offering of stock was on Sept. 23, 1920, and consisted of 30,000 shares at $100 a share. The original prospectus indicates dividends were to be at 8 percent annually and the plant would be paid off in five years with substantial profit to be made in addition to the dividend. The investment in Signal Mountain stock was highly promoted by the Industrial Board of Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce.
A year later, a reorganization of the company and the board of directors brought in an experienced cement man to run the company. John L. Senior, who was associated with cement plants in Michigan and Texas, became president. Construction of the plant began in early 1922 in the area now known as Glendale. The location was considered particularly advantageous. There was a mile of waterfront along the Tennessee River, and the limestone and clay needed for production were located on the plant site. Coal, which represented 38 percent of the cost of cement, was found on Signal and Raccoon mountains.
The limestone was taken from an underground quarry on the west side of the property. Directly above the underground quarry, a streetcar line ran from Chattanooga up Signal Mountain. The rock was loaded into dump cars that ran on rails to the crushing department, where a crusher and two hammer mills crushed the stone down to a half-inch in size. The clay, also located on the plant site, was loaded into dump cars and transported by rail to the raw material storage area. The stone and clay were conveyed into four “compartment ball mills” which mixed the materials with water. The mills ground the raw materials so 90 percent of it would sift through a sieve. This product was called slurry.