Royster

End Of An Era For East Side Fertilizer Plant Madison doesn't have many big industrial buildings like the huge yellow one on Cottage Grove Road. It seems out of place. The building is located amid older homes and small businesses on the edge of Monona and has long been a mystery to many passersby on the east side. The building was a fertilizer manufacturing plant for over 50 years. A small sign above the truck loading dock at the front states, "Royster-Clark." It's the last of several signs that have identified the complex over the years. Soon, that sign will be gone too. And so will the building. Today the historic farm fertilizer plant stands idle. The dozen or so wooden bins that at one time held up to 30,000 tons of fertilizer are empty. The overhead crane is idle. The headquarters office building appears empty and packing boxes are piled in vacant offices. By Sept. 29, the last of the current 10 employees will be gone. Only the ghosts of the hundreds of employees who have worked there will remain. And one day, not far into the future, the building itself will give way to developers who will build houses, stores and parks on the 26 acres of prime land. The fertilizer plant has had a good run. In 1947, earth movers prepared the land at the corner of Cottage Grove and Dempsey roads for a new business. A 380-foot building was erected, railroad tracks were laid and the FS Royster Guano Company began. In 1952, the first fertilizer was produced, a process that continued for 54 years. Some 200 full- and part-time employees worked at the plant in the 1950s and the farm fertilizer that was produced there helped crops grow in farm fields across the land. Henry Schultz of Poynette started working at the plant in 1959. He retired in 1999 as plant manager. "It was a busy place," he says. "Our peak was in 1981-1983; we were shipping 83,000 tons of fertilizer a year." Schultz remembers making sulfuric acid in the 1960s. "It was used in fertilizer production," he says. "And we shipped a lot to A.O. Smith in Milwaukee. They used it in making automobile frames." In February of this year, Royster Clark was acquired by Agrium, a Canadian firm, for $515 million. Soon after, the announcement was made that the Madison facility would be closed. Ken Breezer of New Glarus has worked with the company for 34 years, the last six as plant manager. He wasn't shocked by the change in ownership, it had happened a number of times during his tenure. "It was our fifth or sixth buyout," Breezer says. "We thought it would be better for us; the new owners would provide more financing for expansion." Needless to say, the closing announcement was bad news for Breezer and other longtime employees. Maintenance foreman Dana Stover has worked for the company for 33 years. He's worked in Madison since 1981. Office manager Joyce Hoel of Cottage Grove can remember when she applied for a job at the plant. Her first duties involved checking in the trucks that were loaded with fertilizer. Then she worked in payroll, accounts payable and in 1984 became office manager. "I had hoped to make 40 years with the company," she says with regret. "But I'll only make 34 1/2 years." The few remaining employees admit they were given a good severance package. But they were disappointed Agrium didn't offer them jobs elsewhere. This was the last original Royster fertilizer plant, Breezer said. "We were a granulation plant," he says. "The raw materials were processed with steam and water to make the granules. "At one time we were one of the company's biggest plants." Royster-Clark dates back to 1870 when F.S. Royster moved to Tarboro, N.C., to work in a general store. Two years later, W.S. Clark opened a general mercantile business nearby. In those years following the Civil War, technology was making major advances in agriculture fertilizers. Up until that time, guano, made from Peruvian bird droppings, was the main farm fertilizer. But supplies were limited. Royster heard of the recently discovered potash as a source of plant food and began processing it for farm use in 1885 at his F.S. Guano Co. The company grew to be one of the largest fertilizer companies in the nation and in 1928 production hit 700,000 tons. Royster went public in 1975 and in 1980 it was bought by Universal Tobacco Leaf, then by a Danish firm. In 1991 the firm went bankrupt and in 1992 a group of former Royster employees bought the company. Meanwhile, the Clark company had also gotten into the fertilizer business and by 1983 sales hit $40 million. In 1992, the two companies merged to form Royster-Clark. Prior to the purchase by Agrium, Royster-Clark was a billion dollar company with 200 employees serving 43,000 customers in the Southeast and Midwest. It operated over 250 farm centers throughout those parts of the United States. It also operated seed processing, fertilizer granulation and blending plants, and storage and distribution terminals and warehouses. Early this year, what began as a friendly offer became a hostile takeover and a new era began. An era which no longer includes Madison. For most of its time, the Madison plant made only farm fertilizer. About 10 years ago the plant began selling lawn and garden products as well as cranberry fertilizer. The Madison plant was a major factor in the farm fertilizer business and provided steady, well paid jobs for hundreds of workers. I suspect that many Madisonians won't regret the passing of this industrial plant and that developers will look toward a grand future for all that land. But the bottom line is that 54 years of success have ended. A new era is about to begin.