Memories From The Levi Strauss & Co. Factory in Powell, Tennessee

30 years of southern, blue collar memories nearly lost to time itself

While digging around in the free bin outside of the McKay’s used bookshop in Knoxville, Tennessee a few years ago, I picked up this tape thinking it was maybe a collection of family memories or a whole tape about a guy named “Levi Powell”. And though it didn’t turn out to be any of those things, “a collection of family memories” would be a great summary for what I found.

Levi's Factory In Powell Tennessee Memories Tape

Sadly, most of the information about the factory itself comes from the national news it garnered when Levi’s shuttered nearly all of their factories in the United States over the course of just a few years. Not much in the way of media exists about this factory or the people who worked there over the nearly thirty years it was in full operation, except for this video! After watching and digitizing this tape, I thought surely there would be a ton of articles and public interest in this place, but this video tape is nearly all there is.

Here’s what I was able to find:
A 2002 New York Times piece on the shut down of the Powell facility as well as 6 others, leaving 3300+ without work.
This Tennessee Modernism article written just last year (2020) about the architectural design of the factory built in 1974. The Author mentions how after the facility closed, one of the main buildings became part of Crown College.
And this realtor listing providing some photos of the completely empty factory floor as well as a floor plan for the main building.

As always, if you have any questions or comments you can get at me here or here or leave a comment below this post. If you haven’t subscribed to this newsletter yet (it’s free) please do! Have you been to Powell? Do you know anyone who has worked here or do you recognize anyone in this video? I’d love to speak with you! Thanks so much for reading this article and watching this tape with me.

See you soon.
—Forrest