Conklin Tin Plate and Metal Co. dominated the tin industry in Georgia at the turn of the 20th century. In 1886, Charles A. Conklin, a Baltimore businessman, moved to Atlanta and bought A.P . Stewart & Co., a stove, tin products, and “house furnishing” company in the city, established in 1874 and located on Whitehall (now Peachtree) Street. Mr. Conklin changed the name to Charles A. Conklin Mfg. Co. to trade in “Tin Plate, Metals, Tinners’ Stock, Stoves, Etc.” The Whitehall store would remain his retail outlet. In 1888, according to records published by the company, Conklin imported 200 tons of tin plate in 2,000 boxes directly to Atlanta from England. He was the first to do so. This decision was a boon to Georgia consumers and a windfall for the Conklin enterprise. His thriving business required expansion of his facilities, and in 1891 he built a 40,000 sq. ft., four-story warehouse on Marietta Street for $24,000 (equivalent to almost $665,000 in 2018). When it was built it was one of the largest tin ware factories in the U.S., and the largest in the South. The tin ware manufacturing division was sold to the American Can Company in 1902, and the business was henceforth known as the Conklin Tin Plate and Metal Company. By 1920 Conklin had bought property at the corner of the Georgia Railroad and Moore Street, across from the Atlanta Paper Company building. With a mill in Pittsburgh and another warehouse in Savannah, the business would concentrate on the “distribution of Sheet Metals, Metal Roofing, and Sheet Metal Shop supplies.” By the 1930s the company offered all forms of sheet metal products, especially roofing materials. Since 1985 the company has been known as Conklin Metal Industries. It is no longer the only manufacturer and distributor of metal roofing in Georgia, but many of the churches, barns, and older buildings that remain standing throughout the state owe their longevity to tin roofing material that passed through Conklin hands.
Source:
Historic Rural Churches, The Blessings of Tin
Article by Clayton H. Ramsey
December 2018