Lee Wilson & Company

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The Lee Wilson and Company was an American agricultural group in Arkansas .

history

In 1886 Robert E. Lee Wilson founded Lee Wilson & Company with his father-in-law. The company owned a sawmill on the Mississippi oxbow lake called Golden Lake . In the first few years, the company cleared and processed the existing forest in the Arkansas Delta . Lumberjack settlements were established and the company's own shops were set up. The cities of Marie , Victoria , Ecadale , Keizer, and Wilson emerged from these Mississippi County settlements .

Unlike many other logging companies, the land was not sold after it was cleared. Lee Wilson began the country dry to lay and to cotton , corn and alfalfa grow. As a result, the world's largest cotton plantation was created. The company participated in banks, manufacturing companies and generated electricity for a while. In addition, railway lines were built to facilitate the removal of the felled wood and to develop the cleared area. Railway companies of Lee Wilson & Co. were the Jonesboro, Lake City and Eastern Railroad and the Delta Valley and Southern Railway . The majority of the employees were associated with the company as tenants. In many cases, the reward came in the form of money, which could only be used for purchases in the company's own operations. The level of wages was also the subject of investigations by state authorities.

In 1933 Robert E. Lee Wilson died and his son and long-time employee James Crain took over the company. At the time, Lee Wilson & Company owned 260 square kilometers of land.

The Wilson settlement was designed as a model town and was entirely owned by the company, including all buildings and shops. The city was inspired by the European Tudor style .

After James Crain retired in 1950, Robert E. Lee Wilson III took over. the enterprise. The town of Wilson began to slide into the red. The company therefore began to sell the buildings to the residents and the city received official status. Members of the Wilson family became mayors of the city.

Half of the arable land was used for growing cotton. On the remaining area, corn, alfalfa and wheat were grown.

Lee Wilson & Company created a further mainstay through sales agreements with the tractor manufacturers Ford and Case . The company itself also invested in the mechanization of agriculture. A soybean oil mill was built and the company entered the seed and fertilizer business.

Since many of the residents of the Arkansas Delta emigrated to the cities after World War II , the company was short of workers. Mexican workers were therefore recruited as part of the Bracero program . During this time, the company took the opportunity to grow vegetables, strawberries and sweet potatoes on state land. After the program was discontinued in 1964, there was again a labor shortage.

As a result, production was changed again and cotton, rice and soy were grown again. Oils were also produced and animal husbandry began. The company flourished until the beginning of the 21st century.

While the company used to employ thousands of people, this number has been reduced to around 50 as a result of mechanization and automation in agriculture.

In December 2010, the Wilson family sold the company to the bankers and investment entrepreneur Gaylon Lawrence and his son Gaylon Lawrence Jr . for $ 150 million.

literature

  • Jeannie Whayne : Delta Empire: Lee Wilson and the Transformation of Agriculture in the New South . Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge 2011, ISBN 978-0-8071-6401-3 (English).
  • Mabel F. Edrington: History of Mississippi County, Arkansas . Osceola, Arkansas: Osceola Star Banner, 1962.
  • John A. Fox: Mississippi County, Arkansas: Through the Years . Osceola: Historical Heritage Documentation Committee, 1986.
  • Lee Wilson and Company: Growing Prosperity: The Story of the South's Best Known Farmer . Wilson, Arkansas: Lee Wilson and Company, 1930.
  • Deanna Snowden: Mississippi County, Arkansas: Appreciating the Past, Anticipating the Future. Little Rock: August House, 1986.

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