The Avon Manufacturing Company Workforce in 1921

In September 1921, the Avon Manufacturing Company’s crate mill resumed operations after a ten-month closure. The contemporary press reported it gave employment to “about 850 men.”[ocala-star-1921]

This figure contradicts the recorded population of the precinct in early 1920. The mill plant was located outside the Avon Park town boundary but squarely inside Precinct 14. The 1920 census recorded 1,698 total people in the precinct, of which 890 lived inside the town limits, leaving an 808-person gap on the fringe.[census-1920-fl] Since 413 of those precinct residents were marked Black or mulatto (comprising roughly half the fringe population assuming most lived at the mill quarters), the 808 total fringe residents of all races and ages combined could not possibly supply 850 grown male laborers.[census-1920-ed23]

If the 850-man figure was not simply an operational boast by general manager J. A. Caldwell, the workforce had to be drawn largely from men who arrived after the January 1920 enumeration, or who commuted from outside the precinct boundaries.[ocala-banner-1922] By August 1922, Caldwell was managing both the Mutual Crate Company and the Avon Manufacturing Company, pushing them to produce two and a half million crates annually.[ocala-banner-1922] Half of the Avon Manufacturing Company was owned by the Highlands Crate Company, which was managed by the Polk County Sub-Exchange.[palatka-news-1922]

The physical hazards of this scale of production are documented in state Supreme Court records: in August 1921, an employee named John G. Herrin lost his left hand to a gang saw at the mill.[herrin-1924]

References

• ocala-star-1921 — The Ocala Evening Star (Ocala, Florida). “The Avon Manufacturing Co.” 6 September 1921, page 1.
• palatka-news-1922 — Palatka Daily News (Palatka, Florida). 18 June 1922, page 2.
• ocala-banner-1922 — The Ocala Banner (Ocala, Florida). “Preliminaries are being cleared away.” 25 August 1922, page 4.
• herrin-1924 — Supreme Court of Florida. John G. Herrin v. Avon Manufacturing Co., 87 Fla. 385, 100 So.2d Rep. 174. 1924.
• census-1920-fl — United States Bureau of the Census. Fourteenth Census of the United States: 1920, Population, Florida, Number of Inhabitants: Table 2, Population of Counties by Minor Civil Divisions, page 7, and Table 3, Population of Incorporated Places, page 13. 1921. https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1920/bulletins/demographics/population-fl-number-of-inhabitants.pdf
• census-1920-ed23 — United States Bureau of the Census. Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920, population schedules, Florida, DeSoto County, enumeration district 23 (Precinct 14, Avon Park), NARA microfilm T625 roll 217, enumerated 6–25 January 1920. 25 January 1920.

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