Quanah plant closure marks end of 132-year saga

Georgia-Pacific will close its gypsum plant near Quanah March 1, eliminating the jobs of 166 workers and ending a story than began 132 years ago.

The closure comes as no surprise. The company announced in 2020 it would shut down the plant it purchased in 1965 because it was “beyond the point of reasonable capital investments.”

But long ago it was a beacon of capital investment. Kansan James Sickler found a large deposit of gypsum near Quanah in 1890. Gypsum is a soft mineral that’s been mined for many purposes over the centuries, including fertilizer and building materials.

Sickler gathered partners and created the Lone Star Cement Plaster Company which soon proclaimed itself as the “largest of its kind in the world.”

The plant was constructed about five miles west of Quanah and quickly gave birth to its own community -- Acme, Texas.

Other gypsum companies moved in and the town flourished. Acme got its own post office, a school, hotel, store and train depot. Although its peak population was only about 400 in 1945, it was serviced by two railroads, the Fort Worth and Denver City and the Quanah, Acme and Pacific.

A side benefit of the mining was the discovery of relics from the area’s distant past – mastodon bones.

Good times were not to last, though. Closure of the plant in the 1960s eliminated the town’s jobs and by 1975 the population dwindled to just 14. Georgia-Pacific’s purchase created a drywall factory, but most of its employees chose to live in nearby Quanah.

Acme became a ghost town. Its buildings are gone – except for the factory.

In announcing the date for closure, Georgia-Pacific said it has helped employees with training or placement at other locations. The company did not announce long-range plans for the facility.

In a touch of irony, Harry Koch was a prominent Quanah business leader, railroad promoter and owner of the Quanah Tribune Chief newspaper. His son, Fred, founded Koch Industries, one of the largest privately-owned companies in the U.S. – and present owner of Georgia-Pacific.