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Knaur Cheese Factory John Simon Knaur and
his son George established the first cheese factory in the Texoma area. In
1928, Knaur built a small brick structure, very similar to his Diamond Ice plant.
The building, which still stands, is located at the south end of the Austin Avenue viaduct, at 809–11 South Austin Avenue. In those days, however, the former viaduct came down behind the building. When the new viaduct was constructed in 1954, it came within a few feet of the front door of the building.  West side of viaduct, 1990s On the right, the old buidling that held Simms Candy Company & the first Kraft Cheese plant. Knaur Cheese preceded Kraft in that building.  South end of Austin Avenue Viaduct, 1990s, looking south. The viaduct is out front (left), while the west (right) side shows the Kraft Building (far right). These buildings are still standing. Knaur Cheese preceded Kraft in that building, & Simms Candy followed it.   There were several
large dairy farms in the Denison area. It seems likely that these supplied the
raw material from Only in 1929 did the
Denison City Directory list the Knaur Cheese Manufacturing Company. President
was John S. Knaur. S. C. Whitten
served as superintendent. In 1929, John Knaur persuaded the Kraft-Phenix Company to take  Kraft-Phenix Cheese Corporation Postcard postmarked 1941 His obituary says that he was instrumental in bringing
Kraft to Denison. The cheese-making operation grew rapidly. Kraft Foods moved
it to larger quarters in 1930. The company was a mainstay of the Denison
economy during the When Kraft Foods vacated the Knaur Cheese building, Ashburn’s Dairy used it for many years. The Simms Tobacco Company eventually took it over. Since that firm moved out in the early 1950s, the building has been occupied by many merchants.  Knaur Family Susan Hawkins © 2024 If you find any of Grayson CountyTXGenWeb links inoperable, please send me a message. |