Union Concrete Pipe Co.

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Established in Ceredo in 1925, the Union Concrete Pipe Co. turned out miles of pipe and
Millions of cinder and aggregate block each year, Shipping its products to customers
throughout West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky.  This photograph shows the
plant as it appeared in 1939.

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 CEREDO — At its peak, the Union Concrete Pipe Co. turned out 30 miles of concrete pipe and nearly 2
 million cinder and aggregate blocks a year, all produced to exacting specificaons.

 In 1937, J.L. Richmond, who had been associated with Edwin P. May
 and others in the Union Sand and Gravel Co., became the president
 of the pipe company,which had had been established in Ceredo
in 1925. The busy plant serviced road and highway
 builders and construction contractors throughout
West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky.

Mountains of materials were poured into the whirling, slashing maws
 of its mixing machines. In a typical year, that included 54,000
barrels of cement,17,820 tons of cinders and aggregate,
12,640 tons of sand and 15,115 tons of crushed stone.

The plant was so arranged that materials arriving by truck or rail car were
 routed to the top of six massive silo-like structures on the north side of
 the 250-acre plant site. There they were separately stored. When
needed for the manufacture of pipe or blocks, the materials
 were poured into revolving mixers. After being thoroughly
 mixed, the batch went to a battery of three pipe-
forming machines and two block-
making machines.

Molded into the desired shape and size, the pipes and blocks
then were placed in a steam room for final curing.

Until the Ceredo floodwall was built, the riverbank plant was
 regularly all but washed away by recurring floods. When
completed, the floodwall put an end to that.

According to records in the West Virginia Secretary
 of State’s office, the pipe company’s license to do
 business was revoked in 2000 when it failed
to file an annual report.

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Note:  This Article and picture appeared in the Herald-Dispatch Newspaper on Nov. 9, 2021.

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