Gibson Ice Cream Plant Dedicated in High Point, 1947

 “Around Capitol Square” by Lynn Nisbet from the Saturday, May 10, 1947, issue of the Statesville Record Landmark

Tangible evidence of progress already made in the dairy products industry in North Carolina and regarded by those in position to know as an earnest of more rapid development in the future, the Gibson ice cream plant at High Point was dedicated Wednesday by former Governor J.M. Broughton, Lieut. Gov., L.Y. Ballentine and representatives of the industry from all sections of North Carolina. During the rest of the week, visitors are expected from all over the country, some flying in from the west coast to inspect the model plant and join in accolades according to Sloan Gibson Jr. for the Horatio Alger success he has made in the business since he started it 16 years ago.

Sloan Gibson makes ice cream—and how! Other plants of similar character produce ice cream, frozen sherbets, chocolate milk and what have you. This is solely an ice cream makery and it turns out the stuff at the rate of 7,500 gallons a day. It goes to army camps, drug stores, roadside stands and elsewhere but a whale of a lot is served across the counter and on the tables of the “gold room” at the plant. Parking space is provided for a hundred or more cars and uniform curb service attendants are at hand.

Ice cream was free during these opening days, but it will take a lot of dime and quarter sales to pay for the plant. Estimates on the total cost of the plant varied form a quarter million to three quarters of a million dollars. Gibson wouldn’t talk about that, but in an offside comment he let out that there was $26,000 worth of concrete paving on the lot, including parking space for customers, the delivery yard and the service area for the 14 big trucks and several other cars required to keep the business going. Most of the visitors who were conducted on the tour of the plant didn’t understand or appreciate some of the technical equipment, but they were convinced that it was ultra-modern and not cheap.

Ballentine, Broughton and other speakers in the brief program which followed a delightful luncheon emphasized the significance of the occasion as much more than a local event. It symbolizes the progress of North Carolina in processing and distributing finished products, which is an important step away from traditional policy of sending raw materials out of state for finishing, paying big money to other sections for the finer part of the processing job, as well as paying freight both ways. The mayor and secretary of the Chamber of Commerce voiced community pride but the other speakers saw more than local import in it.

Lex Ray, executive vice president of the N.C. Dairy Products Association, noted that dairying provided a cash farm income of about $65 million a year for the state and that a few more plants like this might boost the total to double or treble that amount. Dairying is already big business in North Carolina, and can be a lot bigger to the mutual advantage of farmers, industrialists, bankers and the whole citizenship. Governor Broughton quoted figures showing that this state imports the equivalent of 50 million gallons of milk a year from other areas, whereas in fact the climate and other physical attributes of the state lend themselves to production of excess milk for export rather than having to bring it in.

Milk producing farmers and dairy product processors are sort of “tetchy” right now about statutory and ordinance regulations of the industry. It was inevitable that Broughton should mention this situation, since he was speaking in his capacity as general counsel for the N.C. Dairy Products Association. He emphasized that there is no pretext, but rather full cooperation with respect to reasonable regulations to assure purity of the product delivered to North Carolina consumers. He intimated that many of the restrictions were sponsored by the industry itself.

On the other hand, he said he hoped the public would not be misled by newspaper headlines and ill-considered editorials into the belief that everybody engaged in the business of producing and distributing mil and its various products is a crook or engaged in an unworthy business. “There is a place for critics and even for cynics,” he said, “but I’ve never known a community or a state of a business to be built by them. Building requires work and co-operation and faith.” He hesitated to evaluate the three ingredients, but was included to put most emphasis on faith.