Grayson County TXGenWeb

Levi Strauss Company
Denison plant
Denison, Texas
located on Hwy. 84

Denison Herald
July 25, 1972

Levi Strauss Co. Plant Grows to Second Largest Employer
Levi Strauss & Co. began production in Denison with 60 employees in 1949; it has grown to be the largest manufacturing employer, topped only by the Katy in total work force.
Levi’s largest sportswear plant today, the Denison factory’s first 60 employees worked at 56 sewing machines to turn out waist band overalls and denim jackets.
Voy Nicholson has been with the Levi’s operation longer than any other Denison employee; he began in 1946 at the Wichita Falls plant and came here in 1949.
Eight women have also been with the local facility since its establishment. They are Ann Powers Barnhill, Velma L. Carroll, Una S. Kerley, Helen M. Snow, Eva M. Braden, Juanita V. Sims, Vinita M. Sinor, Roma E. Wicylowski.
From the beginning the story has been one of constant growth and change; just two years after its establishment Levi’s employed 272 persons and the number today had reached 452.
Just as Levi’s has always been geared to trends in manufacturing – the local plant has turned out a wide variety of apparel at different times – the big step forward in facilities was made in recent years.
Until 1966 the Levi Strauss plant had been located in a building at 220 North Houston leased from Southern Ice Co.

The Levi Strauss Co. took over the building and did extensive remodeling over a period of years, to tailor the building to its needs.

216 N. Houston Ave.

As the operation grew, expansion became necessary. On June 6, 1965 a banner story in the Denison Herald announced the biggest event in Levi’s history here, the planned construction of a 80,000 square foot masonry building to be erected on a 20 acre site in the Denison industrial park northwest of the city.
Ground was broken for the new plant on July 4, 1965, with Levi Strauss employes joining Denison officials in that ceremony.

The biggest day came March 15, 1966 when formal plant dedication and an open house were held to showcase the facility to Denison. Thousands of local residents toured the facility, taking in the air-conditioned well-light surrounding housing surrounding the most modern garment-making machinery.

During the past year (1971) the plant completed its second parking space expansion since 1966. An area on the plant’s south side was marked and paved, increasing the available spaces from 265 to 350 and making the ratio of 1.5 employes per stall.
Various Levi products have been made at the plant during its 23-year history, including the blue denim jackets which were a mainstay before the plant moved into the sports trousers field several years ago. Today the jackets are contracted out to other firms which produce them for Levi’s distribution.
The plant here once produced “Levi’s for Gals” but this production is now concentrated in other locations.
In 1972 production of trousers at the plant in Denison is geared to the latest moves in men’s fashions, the 542 employes currently make two lines.

Collection of Grayson County
Frontier Village

The Banchee line, which is selling well, is a new fashion item featuring flap pockets front and back.
The Regent is a sports trouser of double knit with polo-style pockets.
From the local Levi’s plant, trousers go to Amarillo and Knoxville, Tennessee for treatment in Sta Prest ovens to give them a permanent crease, a process originated by Levi Strauss & Co.
A number of men have served the Denison operation as manager, including Don True, who recently took over from Al Hamlin. Hamlin was promoted to manager of the Central Division for sportswear with headquarters in at Memphis, Tennessee.
Throughout its years in Denison, the Levi Strauss & Co. plant has been lauded as Levi’s headquarters and local citizens for its growing modern and efficient operation.

Fourteen years after Levi Strauss Co. left the old building at 216 N. Houston; 14 years later in 1980, Buddy Clay purchased the building at 216 N. Houston Ave., demolished it, and moved his Lakeview Ice Co. from Loy Lake Rd. and North 75 into a brand new structure on the site. The ice company was later bought by Ready Ice, which changed the name to Fun Time Ic.
The building was torn down in less than 10 years and now the site is as vacant as it was before Denison was founded.