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Being in a pickle (company) holds good memories for some

By Erin Hunsader
Staff Writer


HOWARD – With the demolition of the former pickle factory building, located at 2014 Glendale Ave. in the Village of Howard, imminent following approval by the village board last month, those connected to the building’s history can’t help but look back at its past and the connections it had with the community.

According to Tim Rasmussen, President of the Village of Howard Historical Society, specific dates of the building’s history are a bit fuzzy.

In terms of how long it was a pickle company, Rasmussen said, “Forever.” 

With the news of the building’s pending demo, Rasmussen took a deep dive in the historical society’s archives and found several photos back from when the building thrived as a pickle company.

The original owner and operator was E. J. Balza.

Mike Balza, great grandson of the late entrepreneur, said he believes the company was started sometime in the mid- to late-1920’s. 

“We have evidence that the company existed in 1927 via a picture and letter dated from that year,” he said. “Further evidence that the company existed in the 1920s is by the make of the truck used to haul the foodstuffs to the plant,” Balza said.

Mike Balza said though his great-grandfather dabbled in a handful of other business ventures, it was his pickle company that thrived producing “pickles, sauerkraut and olives as evidence by the canning jars in possession of all the family – I have an olive jar.”

Balza said his great-grandfather had a well-oiled machine in terms of how they got their cucumbers to be processed into pickles. 

“The company owned many stations along the train line to which the farmers would haul their food stuff,” he said. “The food would then be picked up by train and hauled to the processing plant. Trucks would then haul the food stuff to the vats to be processed.” 

Rasmussen said some historical documents names the business as the first namesake of the park across the street.

“The park across from the processing plant – currently called Howard Memorial Park and boat landing – it was said to have been donated by the Balza family and was then known as Pickle Park,” Rasmussen said. 

Balza said while the start date was hard to pin down, documentation as to when the business put an end to pickle production was easier to come by.

“The plant closed its doors in 1936,” Balza said.

The building, however, didn’t stay vaccant long.

Just two years later, pickle production picked back up again.

In 1938, the building was purchased by the Stokley Company who continued to can pickles, along with its cabbage cousin, sauerkraut. 

“1938, Stokley buys pickle plant,” Balza said as he read from an ad he had dated June 3, 1938. “The new purchasers are one of the largest canneries and packaging firms in the United States, operating 35 canneries in parts of the country, including 10 of them in Wisconsin.”

Balza said though was too young to remember his great-grandfather, he said he’s heard many stories from people who knew him.

“I would have people who worked for him come up and tell me stories,” he said.

E.J. Balza died in 1944.

Demolition

Demolition of the former pickle plant is scheduled to begin soon, Director of Public Works Geoff Farr said.

Last month, the Howard Village Board approved a low bid of $91,999 from Earth Construction, LLC, to tear down the structure on village-owned property.

In addition to the contracted demolition work, the total estimated project cost of $186,849 also includes tipping fee charges for 1,125 tons at $50 a ton ($56,250) and other expenses and contingencies.

Farr said the demolition project is being funded by the Community Development Block Grant program the village is using to remove blight.

“The pickle factory demolition, basically, knocks the entire building down, removes all the concrete from the basement (and) fills it back in with some general fill that we’re getting from the county for free,” he said.

Farr said gravel will be placed on top and left as a large parking lot, which could be used in the summer as overflow parking for swimmers at Duck Creek Quarry Park.

“The (demolition) schedule is basically December through February,” he said. “But (Earth Construction believes) they can get it done quicker than that. They’re going to start in late December and hopefully be done in January.”

Farr said the village sent letters to neighboring property owners “to discuss fencing and how to kind of dress-up the edges, make it look good, and kind of transition the land, so there’s no sharp edges, and remove a few trees along the lot line.”

“Depending on how (Earth Construction intends) to run their operation, they can actually crush all the concrete and remove that offsite,” he said. “Otherwise, they can crush a portion of it and keep it as a parking lot top. But they’re also able to sell it all off and use it for other purposes, if that is more cost-effective for them.”

Farr said the area where the pickle factory is located is being looked at for redevelopment, with realignment of that portion of Glendale Avenue being discussed.

“You may recall, this was part of the Green Bay Core property, where they recycled motors and spilled a bunch of oil and gas all over,” he said. “The existing area around the building has contamination, so if that area is redeveloped at some point in the future, or we realign the roads, I think they were saying – I read a 100-page report – the top 2-4 feet is basically contaminated. I don’t know over the years if it’s been kind of abating itself naturally – generally not – but we can probably plan on when we put a road or buildings (on the site), we’re going to have to haul 2-4 feet of the whole site off and take it the landfill, which is pretty expensive.”

Under Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources regulations, Farr said contaminated soil that’s been excavated must be taken to a landfill and may not be re-spread anywhere else.

Press Times Staff Writer Kevin Boneske contributed to this story.

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