Salant & Salant To Get Additional Storage Space

from the collection of Brenda Fiddler

October 20, 1939
Lexington Progress

At the request of Mayor Joe C. Davis, members of the Board of Aldermen and business men of the town met in the City Hall, Tuesday night to go into the matter of furnishing to Salant & Salant more storage space, for the manufactured product of their great shirt factory.

The meeting was opened by Mr. Davis, who in detail explained its purpose.  He also expressed his view and that of our people on the great benefit the factory has been to the town, the pleasant relations that have and now exist between that organization and official Lexington, and expressed his hope that adequate space could be furnished the manufacturers, for which they were willing to pay.

Mr. A. B. Salant was introduced and soon explained the necessity of more storage space--because buyers of their shirts rarely gave shipping dates, that the shirts had to be manufactured, and stored, to await their instructions.

Mr. Salant also stated that if this storage space was given them, they would be enabled to remove from the factory building sufficient of the already manufactured product to allow them to place sufficient machines to employ from 75 to 100 more operators.  If it is not done, more space would have to be used in the factory building, thus forcing them to cut off equally as many.

After Mr. Salant had made known the amount per year his company would be willing to pay rent on the new building, Mr. John A. McCall of the First National Bank, stated that his bank would be willing to underwrite the additional space without additional cost to the taxpayers of the city.

For seven years, the Salant & Salant shirt factory, under the management of Mr. H. B. Bagwell, has been Lexington’s greatest industrial institution and the citizens of town will welcome the news that the concern will continue its operations even on a larger scale.