601 Delaware Street Plant
601 Delaware Street Plant
The Hoffmann-Hayman Coffee Company’s major new facility, built in 1932. Described at opening as “the Southwest’s finest modern coffee roasting plant” and “one of the largest and finest in the entire South.”
Address
601 Delaware Street, between South Cherry Street and Hoefgen Avenue, at the Southern Pacific tracks, San Antonio, Texas.
Construction
- Groundbreaking: July 25, 1932
- Architects: Morris, Noonan and Wilson (Builders Exchange building)
- General contractor: G. W. Mitchell (313 Builders Exchange building)
- Size: 16,000 square feet of floor space
- Cost: $130,000
- Construction type: Two-story, fireproof
- Target occupancy: October 15, 1932 (revised to November 15; actual occupancy ~November 1932)
Features
- Modern coffee roasting and vacuum-packing equipment
- 60 or more employees
- Showers and lounge rooms for both men and women
- Commodious company cafeteria
- Garage and workshop for fleet maintenance
- Special railroad siding arrangement for simultaneous loading/unloading of several freight cars
- A large H and H Crystalvac container placed on the roof — visible for blocks in all directions
Open House
Wednesday, December 21, 1932, 6:30–10:30 PM
75 Lions Club members attended a luncheon and tour on December 28. Open House broadcast over Station WOAI at 8 PM December 21.
The original hand roaster used by William R. Hoffmann in 1904 — “hardly larger than a 50-pound lard can” — was given a place of honor in the new plant, a tribute to the company’s founding.
Previous location
The company had been at 331 Burnett Street for approximately ten years before this move (so ~1922–1932). Earlier locations: 1223 West Commerce Street (1912), 228 East Commerce Street (Hoffmann’s original business).