Below the ice plant
In February 1921 the Clarke Courier announced Berryville's newest industry. The Berryville Basket Co., Inc., "recently chartered by the State Corporation Commission for the manufacture of all kinds of fruit containers," had begun putting up its buildings on an acre-and-a-half lot below the ice plant, alongside the Norfolk & Western Railroad. The plan called for a main building 30 by 120 feet, a second of 30 by 60 and a drier, with another building of 30 by 120 to follow. The paper counted the factory as the twelfth enterprise doing business beside the tracks at Berryville, in company with a flour mill, a barrel factory, warehouses, coal and lumber yards, a creamery and the ice plant itself.
Source note: Clarke Courier, 1921
The Clarke Courier of February 17, 1921 reported that the Berryville Basket Co., Inc., recently chartered by the State Corporation Commission to make all kinds of fruit containers, had begun putting up its buildings on an acre-and-a-half lot below the ice plant, alongside the Norfolk & Western Railroad: a main building 30 by 120 feet, another of 30 by 60 and a drier, with a fourth building of 30 by 120 feet to be erected later.
What the source supports
What the Courier reported of the company's charter, site and planned buildings when it was organized.
Uncertainty
A report at organization. The charter itself was not inspected, and whether every building was put up as described is not established. The lot is placed only by the paper's words and is not mapped.
Source
Evidence role: supports. The charter and purpose, in the report's opening.
Clarke Courier, Berryville, Va., February 17, 1921
Clarke Courier · 1921-02-17 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, report of the new Berryville Basket Co., headline, subhead and opening
Relevant passageBerryville Basket Co. To Make 3600 Fruit Containers A Day ... H. C. Warden Heads New Enterprise, and P. J. Keymel is Manager—Company Has Maximum Capital of $25,000—It Will Supply Containers for Fruit Trade of This Section of Virginia and West Virginia. ... The Berryville Basket Co., Inc., which was recently chartered by the State Corporation Commission for the manufacture of all kinds of fruit containers, will have a maximum capacity of 3600 baskets and wooden containers when the plant is fully completed and running in full blast
Checked: Original inspected. A digital reproduction was inspected; no original has been handled.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
Evidence role: supports. The lot and the planned buildings.
Clarke Courier, Berryville, Va., February 17, 1921
Clarke Courier · 1921-02-17 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, same report, the site and the buildings
Relevant passageThey will be erected upon an acre and half lot below the ice plant alongside the Norfolk & Western Railroad. There will be three buildings at the present time. One will be 30x120, which will be the main structure. Another will be 30x60, and the third building will be the drier. Still another building, to be 30x120 feet, will be erected later
Checked: Original inspected. A digital reproduction was inspected; no original has been handled.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Opus 5.5) · 2026-09-25. How this project checks its sources
Source note: Clarke Courier, 1921
The same report says that, apart from the apple industry, about 60,000 baskets of berries and cherries had been shipped from along the Norfolk and Western within 40 miles of Berryville the year before, and that the basket factory would make twelve enterprises doing business alongside the Norfolk and Western tracks at Berryville.
What the source supports
The fruit trade and the row of trackside businesses the Courier set the new factory among.
Uncertainty
The shipping figure is the paper's own illustration, with no stated source. The list of enterprises is the paper's as of February 1921.
Source
Evidence role: supports. The berry and cherry shipments along the line.
Clarke Courier, Berryville, Va., February 17, 1921
Clarke Courier · 1921-02-17 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, same report, the fruit shipped along the line
Relevant passageAn idea of the fruit business, outside of the tremendous apple industry of this immediate section, can be had from the fact that approximately 60,000 baskets of berries and cherries were shipped from along the Norfolk and Kestern [Western] last year within a radius of 40 miles of Berryville.
Checked: Original inspected. A digital reproduction was inspected; no original has been handled.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
Evidence role: supports. The twelve trackside enterprises.
Clarke Courier, Berryville, Va., February 17, 1921
Clarke Courier · 1921-02-17 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, same report, the enterprises beside the tracks
Relevant passageThe establishment of the basket factory will make twelve enterprises doing business alongside the tracks of the Norfolk and Western at Berryville.
Checked: Original inspected. A digital reproduction was inspected; no original has been handled.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Opus 5.5) · 2026-09-25. How this project checks its sources
Containers for the fruit trade
The organizers had the orchards and berry fields around them in view. Apart from the apple trade, the paper said, about 60,000 baskets of berries and cherries had been shipped from along the Norfolk and Western within forty miles of Berryville the year before. The company meant to supply growers in this part of Virginia and West Virginia with baskets for peaches, cherries, huckleberries and raspberries, with barrels for apples, and probably with egg crates. Once the plant was complete it expected a maximum capacity of 3,600 baskets and wooden containers, a day by the headline's reckoning, and work for between 40 and 50 people. These were the plans of February 1921: none of the later reports read for this story shows barrels or egg crates being made, or says when the machinery was installed.
Source note: Clarke Courier, 1921
The same report says that, apart from the apple industry, about 60,000 baskets of berries and cherries had been shipped from along the Norfolk and Western within 40 miles of Berryville the year before, and that the basket factory would make twelve enterprises doing business alongside the Norfolk and Western tracks at Berryville.
What the source supports
The fruit trade and the row of trackside businesses the Courier set the new factory among.
Uncertainty
The shipping figure is the paper's own illustration, with no stated source. The list of enterprises is the paper's as of February 1921.
Source
Evidence role: supports. The berry and cherry shipments along the line.
Clarke Courier, Berryville, Va., February 17, 1921
Clarke Courier · 1921-02-17 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, same report, the fruit shipped along the line
Relevant passageAn idea of the fruit business, outside of the tremendous apple industry of this immediate section, can be had from the fact that approximately 60,000 baskets of berries and cherries were shipped from along the Norfolk and Kestern [Western] last year within a radius of 40 miles of Berryville.
Checked: Original inspected. A digital reproduction was inspected; no original has been handled.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
Evidence role: supports. The twelve trackside enterprises.
Clarke Courier, Berryville, Va., February 17, 1921
Clarke Courier · 1921-02-17 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, same report, the enterprises beside the tracks
Relevant passageThe establishment of the basket factory will make twelve enterprises doing business alongside the tracks of the Norfolk and Western at Berryville.
Checked: Original inspected. A digital reproduction was inspected; no original has been handled.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Opus 5.5) · 2026-09-25. How this project checks its sources
Source note: Clarke Courier, 1921
The same report says the company would supply fruit growers in that section of Virginia and West Virginia, making baskets for peaches, cherries, huckleberries and raspberries and barrels for apples, and probably egg crates; that it would have a maximum capacity of 3600 baskets and wooden containers once fully completed, which its headline gives as 3600 a day; and that between 40 and 50 persons would be employed.
What the source supports
The products, capacity and workforce planned when the company was organized.
Uncertainty
Plans at organization, not production. No later report read for this story shows barrels or egg crates being made, when the machinery was installed or how many people were first employed. Read on the page image: the machine-read text gives 8600 for the capacity and 40 and 60 for the workforce.
Source
Evidence role: supports. The planned products and workforce.
Clarke Courier, Berryville, Va., February 17, 1921
Clarke Courier · 1921-02-17 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, same report, the planned products and workforce
Relevant passageIt will manufacture barrels for packing of apples. It also will probably go into the making of egg crates to meet the demand of the egg-shipping business from this section. The company will turn out all kinds of fruit containers. There will be baskets for peaches, for cherries, for huckleberries, raspberries as well as barrels for apples. Between 40 and 50 persons will be employed in the new factory.
Checked: Original inspected. A digital reproduction was inspected; no original has been handled.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
Evidence role: supports. The planned capacity, the headline's "A Day" and the growers to be supplied.
Clarke Courier, Berryville, Va., February 17, 1921
Clarke Courier · 1921-02-17 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, report of the new Berryville Basket Co., headline, subhead and opening
Relevant passageBerryville Basket Co. To Make 3600 Fruit Containers A Day ... H. C. Warden Heads New Enterprise, and P. J. Keymel is Manager—Company Has Maximum Capital of $25,000—It Will Supply Containers for Fruit Trade of This Section of Virginia and West Virginia. ... The Berryville Basket Co., Inc., which was recently chartered by the State Corporation Commission for the manufacture of all kinds of fruit containers, will have a maximum capacity of 3600 baskets and wooden containers when the plant is fully completed and running in full blast
Checked: Original inspected. A digital reproduction was inspected; no original has been handled.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Opus 5.5) · 2026-09-25. How this project checks its sources
The men who organized it
Harry C. Warden, a director of the Bank of Clarke County and president of the Hyde County Land and Lumber Co., headed the new company. E. G. Coiner, proprietor of Coiner's Department Store, was its treasurer, and Capt. H. H. Burks, the Norfolk & Western's local agent, its secretary. With P. J. Keymel, S. S. Thomas and C. H. Phillips they would make up the board. Keymel, who had come to Berryville several years before and built the Battletown Fruit and Evaporating Company, was to manage the plant. The company's capital was set at a maximum of $25,000.
Source note: Clarke Courier, 1921
The same report names Harry C. Warden, a director of the Bank of Clarke County and president of the Hyde County Land and Lumber Co., as head of the company; E. G. Coiner, proprietor of Coiner's Department Store, as treasurer; and Capt. H. H. Burks, local agent of the Norfolk & Western, as secretary. With P. J. Keymel, S. S. Thomas and C. H. Phillips they were to make up the board, and Keymel, who had built the Battletown Fruit and Evaporating Company, was to manage the plant. It gives the company a maximum capital of $25,000.
What the source supports
Who the Courier named as the company's officers, directors and manager in February 1921, and its stated maximum capital.
Uncertainty
The paper's own descriptions of each man's position. In 1938 the same paper prints one founder as P. J. Kimmell and another as Sam S. Thomas; those forms are not reconciled with Keymel and S. S. Thomas here. Maximum capital is an authorized limit, not money paid in.
Source
Evidence role: supports. The officers, directors and manager.
Clarke Courier, Berryville, Va., February 17, 1921
Clarke Courier · 1921-02-17 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, same report, the officers and directors
Relevant passageMr. Harry C. Warden, a director of the Bank of Clarke County and President of the Hyde County Land and Lumber Co.; Mr. E. G. Coiner, proprietor of Coiner's Department Store, is treasurer, and Capt. H. H. Burks, local agent of the N. & W., is secretary. These men, with Messrs. P. J. Keymel, S. S. Thomas and C. H. Phillips, will constitute the Board of Directors. Mr. Keymel, who came here several years ago and built the Battletown Fruit and Evaporating Company, will be manager of the new enterprise.
Checked: Original inspected. A digital reproduction was inspected; no original has been handled.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
Evidence role: supports. The subhead: Warden at the head and the maximum capital.
Clarke Courier, Berryville, Va., February 17, 1921
Clarke Courier · 1921-02-17 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, report of the new Berryville Basket Co., headline, subhead and opening
Relevant passageBerryville Basket Co. To Make 3600 Fruit Containers A Day ... H. C. Warden Heads New Enterprise, and P. J. Keymel is Manager—Company Has Maximum Capital of $25,000—It Will Supply Containers for Fruit Trade of This Section of Virginia and West Virginia. ... The Berryville Basket Co., Inc., which was recently chartered by the State Corporation Commission for the manufacture of all kinds of fruit containers, will have a maximum capacity of 3600 baskets and wooden containers when the plant is fully completed and running in full blast
Checked: Original inspected. A digital reproduction was inspected; no original has been handled.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Opus 5.5) · 2026-09-25. How this project checks its sources
The log pile
The logs arrived in freight cars, and a huge crane lifted them onto a pile; Taylor Knight ran the crane's engine. On the Thursday morning before the Courier of September 6, 1923, Hugh Armel, 23, a farmer's son from the White Post neighborhood who had taken work at the factory only a short time before, was on the pile when an end hook slipped and a log rolled down and crushed him against a freight car. The men who ran to help were too late. Work stopped for the rest of the day; many of the men, the paper said, "felt they could do nothing more that day," and a number of the factory's employees attended his funeral together. He left a wife, a daughter of J. W. Butler of White Post, and a baby.
Source note: Clarke Courier, 1923
The Clarke Courier of September 6, 1923, reporting Hugh Armel's death at the basket factory, says the big logs were unloaded from the freight cars by a huge crane whose engine Taylor Knight operated, that one of the end hooks slipped off as the crane rose, and that work was suspended for the day because many of the men were so grief stricken they felt they could do nothing more.
What the source supports
How the logs were handled at the plant in 1923, and how the factory stopped after the death, as the Courier reported them.
Uncertainty
The paper's account of the accident. No inquest or other record was inspected, and no fault is stated here. Taylor Knight is known here only from this report.
Source
Evidence role: supports. The crane, its operator and the slipping hook.
Clarke Courier, Berryville, Va., September 6, 1923
Clarke Courier · 1923-09-06 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, report "Hugh Armel Killed Unloading Logs at Basket Factory Plant", the crane and the hook
Relevant passageThe big logs are unloaded from the freight cars by a huge crane. Mr. Taylor Knight operates the engine of the crane. ... As the crane started to rise and the chains tightened, one of the end hooks, which evidently had lost part of its grip when it had first rested on the pile, slipped off.
Checked: Original inspected. A digital reproduction was inspected; no original has been handled.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
Evidence role: supports. The day's suspension and the funeral.
Clarke Courier, Berryville, Va., September 6, 1923
Clarke Courier · 1923-09-06 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, same report, the factory after the accident
Relevant passageThe accident cast a pall over the basket factory. Work was suspended for the day, as many of the men were so grief stricken that they said they felt they could do nothing more that day. A number of the basket factory employes attended Mr. Armel's funeral in a body.
Checked: Original inspected. A digital reproduction was inspected; no original has been handled.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Opus 5.5) · 2026-09-25. How this project checks its sources
Source note: Clarke Courier, 1923
The Clarke Courier of September 6, 1923 reports that Hugh Armel, 23, son of John Armel, a farmer of the White Post neighborhood, was crushed to death the Thursday morning before at the Berryville basket factory, when a log being unloaded broke from its hooks, rolled down the pile and jammed him against a freight car. It says he had lately taken work at the factory, that work there was suspended for the day and employees attended his funeral in a body, and that he was buried in the Macedonian cemetery in Frederick County. It names his survivors: a wife, a daughter of J. W. Butler of White Post, a baby, his parents, three brothers and a sister.
What the source supports
That Hugh Armel, 23, was killed in an accident unloading logs at the Berryville basket factory, as reported on September 6, 1923.
Uncertainty
Read from uncorrected OCR, not from the page image. The item describes how the accident happened and assigns no fault; none is stated here. It dates the death only as "last Thursday morning." His wife and child are not named. His parents, two of his brothers and his father-in-law have records here, each linked by proposal.
Source
Evidence role: supports. The September 6, 1923 report of the death of Hugh Armel.
Clarke Courier, Berryville, Va., September 6, 1923
Clarke Courier · 1923-09-06 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, report "Hugh Armel Killed Unloading Logs at Basket Factory Plant"
Relevant passageHUGH ARMEL KILLED UNLOADING LOGS AT BASKET FACTORY PLANT ... Hr. [Mr.] Hugh Armel, 23 years old. son of Mr. John Armel, a prominent farmer of the White Post neighborhood, was crushed to death last Thursday morning when a huge log breaking lose from its kooks [hooks] while being unloaded, colled [rolled] down the pile and jammed him against a freight car. ... It is believed he was killed instantly
Checked: Original inspected. A digital reproduction was inspected; no original has been handled.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
Evidence role: supports. Its account of his family.
Clarke Courier, Berryville, Va., September 6, 1923
Clarke Courier · 1923-09-06 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, report of the death of Hugh Armel, continued
Relevant passageMr. Armel was the son of Mr. and Mrs. John Armel, of White Post ... He had been in Berryville only a short time, having accepted employment in the basket factory. ... He is' survived by a wife, who was a Miss Butler, daughter of J. W. Butler, of White Post, and a baby. Besides -’'-his pareuts [parents] he leaves three brothers——Messrs. Thomas Armel, of Boyce, Floyd Armel, of White Post, Lawerence Armel
Checked: Original inspected. A digital reproduction was inspected; no original has been handled.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
Evidence role: supports. Its account of the funeral.
Clarke Courier, Berryville, Va., September 6, 1923
Clarke Courier · 1923-09-06 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, report of the death of Hugh Armel, funeral
Relevant passageIt was later taken to the home of his father, Mr. John Armel, near White Post, and after funeral services from there Saturday it was interred in Macedenian cemetery in Frederick county. The accident cast a pall over the basket factory. Work was suspended for the day ... A number of the basket factory employes attended Mr. Armel's funeral in a body.
Checked: Original inspected. A digital reproduction was inspected; no original has been handled.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Opus 5) · 2026-09-16. How this project checks its sources
From gum log to basket
In May 1931 the Courier described how the plant worked. Its logs were gum, shipped from Southside Virginia. The crane lowered each log into a steam vat to loosen the bark. Peeled, the log turned against a knife that pared it into a thin sheet, and a conveyor carried the sheets under a drop knife that cut them into side slats. Saws made the hoops and the slats for the tops. Workers assembled the slats and bottoms by hand, and a machine shaped each basket and fastened its hoop. The plant then had, the paper said, a capacity of 600 dozen baskets a day, and it was making baskets for spinach, other greens and garden truck. Its president was H. C. Warden and its manager R. H. Grubbs.
Source note: Clarke Courier, Berryville, Va., 1931
The same report describes how the plant worked: a crane lowered the gum logs into steam vats to loosen the bark; each peeled log turned against a knife that pared it into a sheet; a conveyor carried the sheets under a drop knife that cut the side slats; saws made the hoops and top slats; the slats and bottoms were assembled by hand, and a machine shaped the basket and attached the hoop. It says the logs were shipped from Southside Virginia.
What the source supports
The Courier's description of the plant's process and its log supply in 1931.
Uncertainty
A description of the plant in May 1931. It does not say when the machinery was installed or how the plant worked in other years.
Source
Evidence role: supports. The description of the process and the log supply.
Clarke Courier, Berryville, Va., May 7, 1931, page 1: "Basket Plant Now Running"
Clarke Courier, Berryville, Va. · 1931-05-07 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, same report, the description of the machinery
Checked: Original inspected. A digital reproduction was inspected; no original has been handled.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Opus 5.5) · 2026-09-25. How this project checks its sources
Source note: Clarke Courier, Berryville, Va., 1931
The Clarke Courier of May 7, 1931 reported that the Berryville basket factory had opened on the Monday of that week with about 50 people, that it was making baskets for spinach, other greens and garden truck, that it had a capacity of 600 dozen baskets a day, and that H. C. Warden was its president and R. H. Grubbs its manager.
What the source supports
The plant's reopening, workforce, product, stated capacity and officers as the Courier reported them in May 1931.
Uncertainty
The paper's figures at a reopening. The page image and the item's subhead read about 50 people; the machine-read text gives 60. Capacity is a stated maximum, not output. R. H. Grubbs and the Raymond A. Grubbs of 1938 are not reconciled.
Source
Evidence role: supports. The reopening, workforce, product, capacity and officers.
Clarke Courier, Berryville, Va., May 7, 1931, page 1: "Basket Plant Now Running"
Clarke Courier, Berryville, Va. · 1931-05-07 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, report "Basket Plant Now Running", opening and closing paragraphs
Checked: Original inspected. A digital reproduction was inspected; no original has been handled.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Opus 5.5) · 2026-09-25. How this project checks its sources
Seasons of work
The Courier's reports show a plant that stopped and started. It reopened in the first week of May 1931 with about 50 people. In April 1934 it resumed with 35 to 40 after standing idle since the fall, at a stated capacity of 200 dozen baskets a day. In September 1935 the paper put the company's weekly payroll at between 60 and 70 men and women, and expected it to run the year round, with a possible slowdown in the winter months. In July 1938 it described a plant that had lately operated year after year, with short pauses in production each winter. These figures come from different kinds of report, and they do not make a single series.
Source note: Clarke Courier, Berryville, Va., 1931
The Clarke Courier of May 7, 1931 reported that the Berryville basket factory had opened on the Monday of that week with about 50 people, that it was making baskets for spinach, other greens and garden truck, that it had a capacity of 600 dozen baskets a day, and that H. C. Warden was its president and R. H. Grubbs its manager.
What the source supports
The plant's reopening, workforce, product, stated capacity and officers as the Courier reported them in May 1931.
Uncertainty
The paper's figures at a reopening. The page image and the item's subhead read about 50 people; the machine-read text gives 60. Capacity is a stated maximum, not output. R. H. Grubbs and the Raymond A. Grubbs of 1938 are not reconciled.
Source
Evidence role: supports. The reopening, workforce, product, capacity and officers.
Clarke Courier, Berryville, Va., May 7, 1931, page 1: "Basket Plant Now Running"
Clarke Courier, Berryville, Va. · 1931-05-07 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, report "Basket Plant Now Running", opening and closing paragraphs
Checked: Original inspected. A digital reproduction was inspected; no original has been handled.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Opus 5.5) · 2026-09-25. How this project checks its sources
Source note: Clarke Courier, Berryville, Va., 1934
The Clarke Courier of April 12, 1934 reported that the Berryville Basket Factory had resumed operations the Monday before with 35 to 40 people after standing idle since the fall, that how long it would run was not stated though it was thought it would continue through the summer and fall, and that it had a capacity of 200 dozen baskets a day.
What the source supports
A spring restart after a winter idle, with the Courier's head count and stated capacity.
Uncertainty
The expected season is an expectation, not a record that the plant ran through it. Capacity is a stated maximum.
Source
Evidence role: supports. The resumption, head count, idle season and capacity.
Clarke Courier, Berryville, Va., April 12, 1934, page 1: "Basket Factory Resumes Operations"
Clarke Courier, Berryville, Va. · 1934-04-12 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, report "Basket Factory Resumes Operations"
Checked: Original inspected. A digital reproduction was inspected; no original has been handled.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Opus 5.5) · 2026-09-25. How this project checks its sources
Source note: Clarke Courier, Berryville, Va., 1935
The Clarke Courier of September 26, 1935 reported that the Berryville Basket Company had a weekly payroll of between 60 and 70 men and women, and that it and the Berryville Silk Mill were due to operate year-round, with a possible slowdown at the basket company in the winter months.
What the source supports
The size of the company's payroll in the harvest season of 1935, that it employed women as well as men, and the paper's expectation for the winter.
Uncertainty
A payroll figure in a report on harvest-season employment, and an expectation for the winter. It gives no names, wages or kinds of work, and it is not comparable as a count with the paper's other figures.
Source
Evidence role: supports. The payroll figure and the expectation for the winter.
Clarke Courier, Berryville, Va., 26 September 1935, page 1: report on local employment in the orchards and packing houses
Clarke Courier, Berryville, Va. · 1935-09-26 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, report on local employment, paragraphs on the silk mill and the basket company
Checked: Original inspected. A digital reproduction was inspected; no original has been handled.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Opus 5.5) · 2026-09-25. How this project checks its sources
Source note: Clarke Courier, Berryville, Va., 1938
The same report says the company was first formed in 1921 by Harry C. Warden, H. H. Burks, P. J. Kimmell, Sam S. Thomas, E. G. Coiner and C. H. Phillips; that lately the plant had operated year after year, stopping briefly in the winters; that its baskets were known in the East and South and favored by apple growers as a package; and that its officers before the sale were C. H. Phillips, president, E. G. Coiner, treasurer, and Raymond A. Grubbs, secretary.
What the source supports
The company's recent pattern of operation and its officers before the sale, as the Courier summarized them in 1938.
Uncertainty
A retrospective in the same newspaper seventeen years after the charter, not a contemporary record of 1921. Its name forms differ from those printed in 1921 and are not reconciled.
Source
Evidence role: supports. The company's history and officers.
Clarke Courier, Berryville, Va., July 14, 1938, page 1: "New Jersey Man Makes Purchase of Berryville Basket Factory"
Clarke Courier, Berryville, Va. · 1938-07-14 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, same report, the company's history and its officers before the sale
Checked: Original inspected. A digital reproduction was inspected; no original has been handled.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Opus 5.5) · 2026-09-25. How this project checks its sources
A New Jersey buyer
In July 1938 Raymond A. Grubbs, the plant's manager, announced its sale to Herbert M. Smalley of Bridgeton, New Jersey. The price was not disclosed. Smalley, the paper said, had spent 21 years in the package business, the last eight as treasurer of the Jersey Package Company of Bridgeton, and had started out as a boy working in the plants. He said that for the present he would make only baskets, without changing how the plant was set up, with Grubbs as sales manager, and that new machines to raise its capacity were already on the way. By then, the report said, the factory's baskets had a name across the East and South, and apple growers favored them. Before the sale its officers were C. H. Phillips, president, E. G. Coiner, treasurer, and Grubbs, secretary.
Source note: Clarke Courier, Berryville, Va., 1938
The Clarke Courier of July 14, 1938 reported that Raymond A. Grubbs, manager of the Berryville basket factory, had announced its sale to Herbert M. Smalley of Bridgeton, New Jersey, and that the price was not disclosed.
What the source supports
That the sale was announced, by whom and to whom.
Uncertainty
An announcement. No deed or contract was inspected, so the date, terms and completion of the transfer are not established. Nothing here connects the buyer with the Smalley Package Company that a 1989 county survey lists in Berryville.
Source
Evidence role: supports. The announcement of the sale and the withheld price.
Clarke Courier, Berryville, Va., July 14, 1938, page 1: "New Jersey Man Makes Purchase of Berryville Basket Factory"
Clarke Courier, Berryville, Va. · 1938-07-14 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, report of the sale, headline, decks and first paragraph
Checked: Original inspected. A digital reproduction was inspected; no original has been handled.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Opus 5.5) · 2026-09-25. How this project checks its sources
Source note: Clarke Courier, Berryville, Va., 1938
The same report says Smalley had been in the package business for 21 years, the last eight as treasurer of the Jersey Package Company of Bridgeton, having started as a boy working in the plants, and that he said he would for the present make only baskets, without changing how the plant was set up, with Grubbs as sales manager, and would raise its capacity with new machines that were already on the way.
What the source supports
The buyer's stated background and his stated plans for the plant.
Uncertainty
His background is his own or the paper's account and was not checked. The plans were intentions at the sale; whether the machines arrived or capacity rose is not established.
Source
Evidence role: supports. The buyer's background and stated plans.
Clarke Courier, Berryville, Va., July 14, 1938, page 1: "New Jersey Man Makes Purchase of Berryville Basket Factory"
Clarke Courier, Berryville, Va. · 1938-07-14 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, same report, the buyer's background and plans
Checked: Original inspected. A digital reproduction was inspected; no original has been handled.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Opus 5.5) · 2026-09-25. How this project checks its sources
Source note: Clarke Courier, Berryville, Va., 1938
The same report says the company was first formed in 1921 by Harry C. Warden, H. H. Burks, P. J. Kimmell, Sam S. Thomas, E. G. Coiner and C. H. Phillips; that lately the plant had operated year after year, stopping briefly in the winters; that its baskets were known in the East and South and favored by apple growers as a package; and that its officers before the sale were C. H. Phillips, president, E. G. Coiner, treasurer, and Raymond A. Grubbs, secretary.
What the source supports
The company's recent pattern of operation and its officers before the sale, as the Courier summarized them in 1938.
Uncertainty
A retrospective in the same newspaper seventeen years after the charter, not a contemporary record of 1921. Its name forms differ from those printed in 1921 and are not reconciled.
Source
Evidence role: supports. The company's history and officers.
Clarke Courier, Berryville, Va., July 14, 1938, page 1: "New Jersey Man Makes Purchase of Berryville Basket Factory"
Clarke Courier, Berryville, Va. · 1938-07-14 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, same report, the company's history and its officers before the sale
Checked: Original inspected. A digital reproduction was inspected; no original has been handled.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Opus 5.5) · 2026-09-25. How this project checks its sources
About the accountsWhat the evidence says
Courier reports of 1921, 1923, 1931, 1934, 1935 and 1938 document the company's charter and plans, a fatal accident at the plant, its production process, its seasonal restarts and its announced sale. They do not show which of the 1921 products were made, or what the plant became after 1938.
Each report was read on a scan of the printed page. The 1921 capacity, products and workforce are plans at organization. The 1931, 1934 and 1935 figures are the paper's own statements at a reopening, a resumption and a harvest season, and they measure different things. The 1938 sale is the manager's announcement, with the price withheld and no deed read.
- An account exists✓ Supported by a source
The Clarke Courier of February 17, 1921 reported that the Berryville Basket Co., Inc., recently chartered by the State Corporation Commission to make all kinds of fruit containers, had begun putting up its buildings on an acre-and-a-half lot below the ice plant, alongside the Norfolk & Western Railroad: a main building 30 by 120 feet, another of 30 by 60 and a drier, with a fourth building of 30 by 120 feet to be erected later.
See the evidence
✓ Supported by a sourceAn account existsThe Clarke Courier of February 17, 1921 reported that the Berryville Basket Co., Inc., recently chartered by the State Corporation Commission to make all kinds of fruit containers, had begun putting up its buildings on an acre-and-a-half lot below the ice plant, alongside the Norfolk & Western Railroad: a main building 30 by 120 feet, another of 30 by 60 and a drier, with a fourth building of 30 by 120 feet to be erected later.
What the source supports
What the Courier reported of the company's charter, site and planned buildings when it was organized.
Uncertainty
A report at organization. The charter itself was not inspected, and whether every building was put up as described is not established. The lot is placed only by the paper's words and is not mapped.
Source
Reporting Evidence role: supports. The charter and purpose, in the report's opening.
Clarke Courier, Berryville, Va., February 17, 1921
Clarke Courier · 1921-02-17 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, report of the new Berryville Basket Co., headline, subhead and opening
Relevant passageBerryville Basket Co. To Make 3600 Fruit Containers A Day ... H. C. Warden Heads New Enterprise, and P. J. Keymel is Manager—Company Has Maximum Capital of $25,000—It Will Supply Containers for Fruit Trade of This Section of Virginia and West Virginia. ... The Berryville Basket Co., Inc., which was recently chartered by the State Corporation Commission for the manufacture of all kinds of fruit containers, will have a maximum capacity of 3600 baskets and wooden containers when the plant is fully completed and running in full blast
Checked: Original inspected. A digital reproduction was inspected; no original has been handled.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
Reporting Evidence role: supports. The lot and the planned buildings.
Clarke Courier, Berryville, Va., February 17, 1921
Clarke Courier · 1921-02-17 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, same report, the site and the buildings
Relevant passageThey will be erected upon an acre and half lot below the ice plant alongside the Norfolk & Western Railroad. There will be three buildings at the present time. One will be 30x120, which will be the main structure. Another will be 30x60, and the third building will be the drier. Still another building, to be 30x120 feet, will be erected later
Checked: Original inspected. A digital reproduction was inspected; no original has been handled.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Opus 5.5) · 2026-09-25. How this project checks its sources
- An account exists✓ Supported by a source
The Clarke Courier of September 6, 1923, reporting Hugh Armel's death at the basket factory, says the big logs were unloaded from the freight cars by a huge crane whose engine Taylor Knight operated, that one of the end hooks slipped off as the crane rose, and that work was suspended for the day because many of the men were so grief stricken they felt they could do nothing more.
See the evidence
✓ Supported by a sourceAn account existsThe Clarke Courier of September 6, 1923, reporting Hugh Armel's death at the basket factory, says the big logs were unloaded from the freight cars by a huge crane whose engine Taylor Knight operated, that one of the end hooks slipped off as the crane rose, and that work was suspended for the day because many of the men were so grief stricken they felt they could do nothing more.
What the source supports
How the logs were handled at the plant in 1923, and how the factory stopped after the death, as the Courier reported them.
Uncertainty
The paper's account of the accident. No inquest or other record was inspected, and no fault is stated here. Taylor Knight is known here only from this report.
Source
Reporting Evidence role: supports. The crane, its operator and the slipping hook.
Clarke Courier, Berryville, Va., September 6, 1923
Clarke Courier · 1923-09-06 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, report "Hugh Armel Killed Unloading Logs at Basket Factory Plant", the crane and the hook
Relevant passageThe big logs are unloaded from the freight cars by a huge crane. Mr. Taylor Knight operates the engine of the crane. ... As the crane started to rise and the chains tightened, one of the end hooks, which evidently had lost part of its grip when it had first rested on the pile, slipped off.
Checked: Original inspected. A digital reproduction was inspected; no original has been handled.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
Reporting Evidence role: supports. The day's suspension and the funeral.
Clarke Courier, Berryville, Va., September 6, 1923
Clarke Courier · 1923-09-06 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, same report, the factory after the accident
Relevant passageThe accident cast a pall over the basket factory. Work was suspended for the day, as many of the men were so grief stricken that they said they felt they could do nothing more that day. A number of the basket factory employes attended Mr. Armel's funeral in a body.
Checked: Original inspected. A digital reproduction was inspected; no original has been handled.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Opus 5.5) · 2026-09-25. How this project checks its sources
- An account exists✓ Supported by a source
The Clarke Courier of September 26, 1935 reported that the Berryville Basket Company had a weekly payroll of between 60 and 70 men and women, and that it and the Berryville Silk Mill were due to operate year-round, with a possible slowdown at the basket company in the winter months.
See the evidence
✓ Supported by a sourceAn account existsThe Clarke Courier of September 26, 1935 reported that the Berryville Basket Company had a weekly payroll of between 60 and 70 men and women, and that it and the Berryville Silk Mill were due to operate year-round, with a possible slowdown at the basket company in the winter months.
What the source supports
The size of the company's payroll in the harvest season of 1935, that it employed women as well as men, and the paper's expectation for the winter.
Uncertainty
A payroll figure in a report on harvest-season employment, and an expectation for the winter. It gives no names, wages or kinds of work, and it is not comparable as a count with the paper's other figures.
Source
Reporting Evidence role: supports. The payroll figure and the expectation for the winter.
Clarke Courier, Berryville, Va., 26 September 1935, page 1: report on local employment in the orchards and packing houses
Clarke Courier, Berryville, Va. · 1935-09-26 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, report on local employment, paragraphs on the silk mill and the basket company
Checked: Original inspected. A digital reproduction was inspected; no original has been handled.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Opus 5.5) · 2026-09-25. How this project checks its sources
- An account exists✓ Supported by a source
The Clarke Courier of July 14, 1938 reported that Raymond A. Grubbs, manager of the Berryville basket factory, had announced its sale to Herbert M. Smalley of Bridgeton, New Jersey, and that the price was not disclosed.
See the evidence
✓ Supported by a sourceAn account existsThe Clarke Courier of July 14, 1938 reported that Raymond A. Grubbs, manager of the Berryville basket factory, had announced its sale to Herbert M. Smalley of Bridgeton, New Jersey, and that the price was not disclosed.
What the source supports
That the sale was announced, by whom and to whom.
Uncertainty
An announcement. No deed or contract was inspected, so the date, terms and completion of the transfer are not established. Nothing here connects the buyer with the Smalley Package Company that a 1989 county survey lists in Berryville.
Source
Reporting Evidence role: supports. The announcement of the sale and the withheld price.
Clarke Courier, Berryville, Va., July 14, 1938, page 1: "New Jersey Man Makes Purchase of Berryville Basket Factory"
Clarke Courier, Berryville, Va. · 1938-07-14 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, report of the sale, headline, decks and first paragraph
Checked: Original inspected. A digital reproduction was inspected; no original has been handled.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Opus 5.5) · 2026-09-25. How this project checks its sources
Each statement above is assessed on its own evidence. Nothing here is averaged, scored or voted on, and a well-attributed account can be documented while what it describes stays unconfirmed.
Source note
This account rests on six Clarke Courier reports of 1921, 1923, 1931, 1934, 1935 and 1938, each read on a Library of Congress scan of the printed page. They record what the paper printed, not independent counts, and the capacities and head counts they give measure different things. The sale is known from the manager's announcement; no deed was read. The paper prints the manager as R. H. Grubbs in 1931 and Raymond A. Grubbs in 1938, and one of the 1921 organizers as P. J. Keymel in 1921 and P. J. Kimmell in 1938; those forms are kept as printed. Apart from Hugh Armel, Taylor Knight and the plant's managers, the reports name no one who worked there. Nothing read here connects Smalley's purchase with the Smalley Package Company that a 1989 county survey lists as a Berryville maker of pallets.
What became of the plant after Herbert M. Smalley bought it in 1938?
Know more about this story, or see something to correct? Help fill a gap. It stays private until it is reviewed.
Remember this place or someone in this story? Share a memory, even if you do not know the date. It stays private until it is reviewed.
Go deeper: every source under this story Follow another threadBellview and the Sprints
Another part of the county's fruit trade, traced through the Courier's notices of orchards and packing houses.