150 Year Anniversary-Missouri Meerschaum Trip Report

Good evening all!  I was able to convince my wife to go with me to Washington Missouri (an hour drive) to attend the Missouri Meerschaum 150th Anniversary factory tour.  It is a neat old facility!  The crowd was huge!  More people attended than they were anticipating, but the local news media put out the word this past week so that helped drive up the numbers.

We had to wait outside and alongside the building for about a half an hour before we made our way inside.  When we made it to the door the line was considerably longer than when we arrived.  They only allowed so many people inside at once.  We were divided into around groups of 20 or so.  Once inside the plant manager gave us a brief history of the place.  We moved from one waiting area to the other.  I did get to see Phil Morgan as he lead one of the tours.  See attached picture.  The assistant plant manager (daughter of plant manager) was our tour guide.  She showed us the various work stations (starting w/ cutting cobs down to size and shape and then into the finishing room) and how the process works.  It was not a long tour because the process isn't that long.  After the finishing room we went upstairs where they have overflow piles of cobs that won't fit on the third floor where they keep their cobs for 2 years to dry.

After that we went into the gift shop where I purchased a special run Bulldog and a Dagner Poker.  They are celebrating again in October if you can make it.

All in all a very cool place!

Off topic:  If you're a railfan, the UP River Subdivision runs right in front of the factory.  Washington MO is a great little town to enjoy a pipe and watch choo choos!