The Kinsey Fire Observation Room

[dave ziegler]

Here are a couple of shots in what is left of Happy House the Old Kinsey Bottle House where every Liquor we ever made was bottled till Sept 1979.
1. Rod climbed over the pile of bricks to see what the Old door sticking out of the burned down Plant office went to and we discovered it is an Empty Vault room with the handle that worked steel bars to lock it. Most likely kept cash and pay money back in Kinsey days in there.
2. & 3. Lookind down from both sides what is now left of the Old Jacob G Kinsey Bottling house.
4. The Door to what was the power room in the Old Bottle House.
5. & 6. The old treated water tank and its capacity 3100 gals. Vandels have stolen all the pipes and anything else they could. The little powerhouse of a Liquor bottling house once had 3 Mighty Lines doing all the Liquors that ever came out from Continental Distilling!
7. & 8. The old cationic and anotonic tanks and filter tank shot in Sepia and then in color.

I will keep visting the Old Building as long as it stands for the fond memories of sweeping the floors for the girls from the big bottle house to make and bottle liquor's when I was in the Yard gang so many years ago around 44 years ago.
Dave Z
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It Seems All The Nicest People Drink Old Hickory
America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

[dave ziegler]

Here are some more shots from Last Sunday!

1. Old Jacob G Kinsey Warehouse B built 1892 says Continental Distilling Warehouse B
2. More rotting Barrels Kinsey Warehouse F
3. Warehouse F Old Barrels
4.,5,6. Warehouse P
7.,8. Old Bottling Machine O warehouse
9. Weird barrel warehouse P

I hope to go back to Kinsey this weekend to explore some more and get more pictures of what has happen to the place.
Dave Z
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It Seems All The Nicest People Drink Old Hickory
America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

[dave ziegler]

Just scaned two pieces of new paper work I got at Kinsey both are about our barrel plant in Markus Hook Pa the Knebb barrel works the company when they bought it in the 1940's I think, kept the original name as they supplied many other distillers with barrels, there and our barrel cooperage plant in St Louis MO.
1.Inspection report for barrels.
2. Barrels to be sold.

The Knebb barrel works was one of the earliest barrel makers. Sadly when Publicker/Continental Distilling and Kinsey went under so did the Knebb Barrel works. Ludy went to the Knebb Barrel plant to go to cooperage school and learned to build barrels and put them togther. To graduate he built a 6 gal barrel which he still has.
Dave Z
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It Seems All The Nicest People Drink Old Hickory
America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

[dave ziegler]

So far Exploring the Plant I have found at least 7 places where Pyrotronics warning lights were used, one at the power room in the bottling house one in the incoming room one in the old fire house and serveral units on warehouse docks.

With all the explosions they had in phila when they built The modern Explosion proof warehouses at Kinsey they also made every Building as fire proof as possible in the 1940's.
Also in the Old Secruity Shack there is a unit for Security to monitor. I will always be proud to Have worked there and Lament that the man who bought the place destroyed it by walking away. This morning one of my friends in electronics where I work and I talked about the old Place and he told me if the Man would have kept things closed and protected it would not matter how many years it sat the sealed explosion proof boxes would be able to be turned on. Sadly the guy just left everything to be opened and robbed of wires meaning none of the Old warehouses will ever light up or be used again. It is heart breaking for me.
Dave Z
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Kinsey The Unhurried Whiskey
For Unhurried Moments

[dave ziegler]

Well it is to be a Nice weekend and I think I may just go to the Plant on Sunday afternoon.
Been thinking about all the people who worked there and how much product we made in the 13 years the Bottle House ran. When It opened it was a thing of great beauty and very High tec. Now it is just a memory in my Mind of what it was. Back in the late 1960's People thought wow you work for Publicker you should be proud because they were the Biggest employer in Limerick Township and one of the very best paying jobs around. In Dec of 1969 I was clearing $101.20 a week big money for those days. And I will give you an example of how good they paid, in 1979 I was driving a truck for $3.00 an Hour for Pottstown Plating where I worked 18 years Hating the Place, people working at Kinsey in 1979 were making around $7.50 an hour and up. I was paying for leaving there when I did because My neigbor talked me into going where He worked which was horrible too!

Publicker was a great company and I was lucky as a young man to have worked there in the glory days of the Plant.

During the winter Cal Roberts and Harry Martin the fireman at the Plant would travel all through the Plant opening Hydrants to make sure they were not frozen Stan stafoniwitz was also a member of the Fire man at Kinsey. They would check every Hydrant on the property and run the Old Mack Fire truck around at least once a week. We had our own fuel pump up front and it was Sinclair Dino Gas back then! I now work in one of the Safest Chemical Plants in the world and when I look back the Linfield Publicker Plant was then one of the Safest ones for that time.
Dave Z
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It Seems All The Nicest People Drink Old Hickory
America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

[dave ziegler]

On Sunday I walked around Kinsey for the first time in months, and it was heart breaking. I walked up through and found that once again one of the most neat Warehouses ,Warehouse Q the one with the Fire Observation tower has suffered again. When the Rotten man who owns the Plant was using it while Publicker was there had a large square Hole put in the lower wall and another bulding to move warehoused stuff in and out.

However instead of putting a door He just put a large square wooden rack wall just pushed in and nailed. Well now not only does the building have the hole up on the third floor from vandals having set a fire, it has a big open hole in the lower wall to make the building get ever more weak. Why it had to happen to the Fire tower building I don't know but I am going this weekend to get some Pictures.

It appears to me that Kinsey's day are numbered by all these years of letting everything go by this Terrible man who owns the place.

If Mr Neuman saw this he would turn over in his grave seeing His Beautiful Distillery on the river, as stated in the Companies first Brosure when they went on the stock market.

Mr Neuman made trips up at least 2 or 3 times a month to look things over and this is just so Sad.
Dave Z
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It Seems All The Nicest People Drink Old Hickory
America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

[dave ziegler]

Well we had a nice day at Kinsey yesterday and I will be posting pictures on all 3 threads. Here are six of the Pictures taken in the Old #10 Rye Barn and the Old Kinsey Grain Silo.
1. Quick Aged still on the suport post in the Old Dsp-pa-10 Rye Barn
2. Another qucik aged on a old Falling Beam in te barn.
3,4,5 All shots in the Old Large Kinsey Grain Silo. The weeds were dead and I was able to climb in.
6. An Old Weather Proof switch in the Silo from the 1930's

We hd a great ime and when I get to the Memories gthread I have a couple of Fun shots for there. I am going to post pictures in all 3 threads.
Dave Z
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It Seems All The Nicest People Drink Old Hickory
America's Most Magnificent Bourbon

[ethangsmith]

...can't wait to see the barrel rolling action shot at the elevator and the group photo...

[dave ziegler]

When I was at Kinsey on Sat past weekend I was very sadened to see how bad Q warehouse has gotten. Now that the wooden wall insert Put in by the man who owns the place has fallen out the building has not only that hole in the wall, but the one punched in by the fire company many years ago on the third floor to put out a fire started by vandels in old Corn whiskey barrels that were on that floor. It got so hot that the glass in the windows of the Fire tower melted and ran down the walls. Warehouse Q was special because not only did the room in the Tower act as a watch place to look around the plant, since it sits on the High point of the Kinsey Plant.

The tower room also was used to test fading on Whiskey labels. They would put groups up on the sills for the Sun to shine on them to see how they held up.

Publicker was always trying their best to make the Best Whiskeys at prices the working man could afford. we were always trying new things such as the Wooden floaters as we called them, in barrels started in the early 1960's long before Makers Mark did the toasted sticks thing.

It is a sad story writting about the end Of Publicker and If Mr Neuman had Lived it is my belief there would have been a brand new Still built at Kinsey, there was much talk of it back then. When Si Neuman died Publicker Industries and Kinsey died. Ten years after his death Kinsey and Publicker where gone!
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It Seems All The Nicest People Drink Old Hickory
America's Most Magnicient Bourbon

[dave ziegler]

Rod and I went back to Kinsey on Sunday afternoon. My Lamp parts had a core that could not be used. We got a complete one in the Old Kinsey Bottle house, " Happy House" and were able to take it apart there. I am now cleaning it up. The first one at the top the coupler was rusted into the metal housing and not removeable. This one is fine but needs lots of Wire Brushing to clean the white corosion off it. But it is Rust free.

Rod Climbed up in the old Grain drying building and got me some shots which I will post on the My Memories thread. Vandles have totally destroyed the Old Kinsey Bottle house so I am glad to save the explosion proof Light housing for History. This unit was right in front of the old Anatonic Tank.

When the light was working Mr Jacob G Kinsey was walking around in there so it is saving not only Continental Distilling History but actual Kinsey History.

I will put it together and take a picture of the complete unit once I get the dirt off it. The Green enamel shade is from warehouse L.
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Kinsey The Unhurried Whiskey For
Unhurried Moments
Dave Z