DUANE
Duane's take
This one comes straight off the official marker, friends — I'm just the voice it's riding through Texas on. Now, every big operation starts somewhere small, and this one is no exception. Back in 1866, a man named John Winship set up a modest little machine shop and foundry right here on this very site.
His purpose was practical as a pair of work boots — he needed parts for his cotton gin. That was it. No grand vision, no empire in mind.
Just a man solving a problem with iron and fire. Winship ran that shop for twenty years before he sold it in 1886 to three businessmen: Joseph Huey, James Garitty, and J. E.
Whiteselle. Those three looked at what they'd bought and decided it needed a proper name, so they christened it the Corsicana Manufacturing Company. Cotton gin parts, same as before.
Steady, unglamorous work. Then 1898 rolled around, and a South Carolina native by the name of William Clarkson came into the picture. Clarkson had come to Texas after the Civil War, and when he leased that factory, he looked around at the landscape and saw something those before him hadn't fully reckoned with.
This area was right in the middle of an oil boom. So Clarkson did what any man with an eye for the moment does — he renamed the place the Oil City Iron Works. He didn't stop at the nameplate either.
In 1908 he bought the company outright. Then in 1921, when it was incorporated, he became its president. And the work expanded — beyond cotton gin parts, the plant started making castings for the oil industry and the building industry.
Iron going in more directions than ever before. World War II came calling between 1941 and 1945, and the plant converted to defense production. That's the kind of pivot that tests a place — you're not just making what you've always made, you're making what the country needs right now.
Oil City Iron Works answered that call. When the war ended and the importance of cotton declined in this part of Texas, the plant didn't sit down and mourn the old days. It diversified.
Castings for oil field equipment, road building, farm machinery, and other industries. Then in 1960, it pioneered in certain uses of ductile iron — something new, something that opened doors to major companies all across the United States. By the time this marker was written, Oil City Iron Works had a workforce of three hundred and twenty-five people, ranked among the three largest employers in all of Navarro County, and sat in the top ten percent of the nation's foundries.
Started to make parts for one man's cotton gin. Ended up among the best foundries in America. John Winship lit that forge in 1866 and had no idea what he was starting.
What the marker says
This modern plant grew from the small machine shop and foundry started on this site in 1866 by John Winship (1826-86) to make parts for his cotton gin. He sold the operation in 1886 to businessmen Joseph Huey (1827-1904), James Garitty (1842-1925), and J. E. Whiteselle (1851-1915), who named it the Corsicana Manufacturing Company. In 1898, the factory was leased to William Clarkson (1858-1941), a South Carolina native who came to Texas after the Civil War. He renamed it the Oil City Iron Works, because this area was then in the midst of an oil boom. He bought the company in 1908 and became president after it was incorporated in 1921. In addition to parts for cotton gins, the plant began making castings for the oil and building industries. It was converted to defense production during World War II (1941-45). When the importance of cotton declined here after the war, Oil City Iron Works diversified its operation to provide castings for the oil field, road building, farm machinery, and other industries. In 1960 it pioneered in certain uses of ductile iron and today supplies major companies around the United States. With a workforce of 325, the plant now ranks among the three largest employers in Navarro County and in the top ten per cent of the nation's foundries. (1970)