What remains of the  B.F. Avery & Sons Factory site is located in Louisville, KY at 1721 S. Seventh Street.  The factory on Seventh  street was actually the third factory opened in Louisville by BF  Avery.  The first two factory were outgrown due to business increases.  The new factory on Seventh street was well planned by George C. Avery, son of B.F. Avery. George  with his attention to detail personally supervised all aspects of the new facility.  He consulted with factory architects and facility experts so that everything from the powerhouse to the shipping platform was designed to work together for continuous output.  The office building was one of the largest in Louisville at the time with over an acre of floor space.  The shipping warehouse covered more than seven acres.  Railroad track access was included on all four sides of the plant facility.  Avery even had their own boxcars emblazed with the trademark Avery cross on the sides.  The factory was designed so that raw products came in one end and finished products came out the other end. 

George Avery even took into consideration the health and welfare of his workers when building the plant.  This was extremely rare in the early twentieth century when labor was abundant and cheap.  He had modern features built into the plant such as water-tube boilers and a A-C generator to power all of the electricity for the motor driven machinery.  Fuel oil was used to fire the blast forges instead of coal and all of the buildings were heated with steam.  Every building had state of the art electric lighting and were equipped with automatic fire sprinkler systems.  The plant had indoor restroom facilities for the workers as well as sanitary drinking fountains which did away with the common method of a barrel of water with a shared drinking dipper. 

When completed in 1910, it had a total of 11 buildings all constructed of steel, concrete and brick.  In 1919 two additional buildings were added and more land was added to increase the overall plant footprint to 43 acres.  Sometime later on, five more buildings were added for a total of 18 buildings and along with an additional 15 acres that were added gave a final total footprint of 58 acres and to the Avery plant.

In an article printed in the Light * Heat* Power* trade paper in November, 1946 stated the following:

"From a modest beginning 121 years ago in a Clarksville, VA blacksmith shop, the B.F. Avery & Sons Company has grown into one of Louisville's leading industries with current production at a rate almost double re-war.  

Benjamin Franklin Avery moved his original Avery Plow Factory to Louisville in 1845, and as the farm implement business grew, the firm built three successive factories to fill the expanding demand.  

The first, located at Preston and Main Streets was known as B.F. Avery and D.H. Avery.  In 1852, B.F. Avery, the successor firm, built a larger plant at Fifteenth and Main Streets.  The business continued to grow, and 1877 was incorporated with a capital of $1,5000,00.

In 1909-10, the present plant was built on a large tract of land on South Seventh Street, so well designed by George C. Avery, son of the founder, that the plant can be increased without altering the basic layout.

Several months ago a program was started to retool the plant almost entirely.  Such items as a 400-ton hydraulic press, three 300-ton press breaks, automatic welding machines and a complete new precision machine shop and tool room are included in the s program.  This equipment is being installed as fast as deliveries are made.  Many new machines and the new tractor assembly lines are in operation.

Today the company has approximately 750 workers, mostly skilled.  Prior to 1939, Avery’s products were 95 per cent horse-drawn implements.  Today they are 95 per cent tractors and tractor-powered implements.

Original B.F. Avery Plow Factory

  Here is a picture of the Avery Plant at its zenith.  Click on picture for a better view

The factory as it looked in 1916

Another picture taken in the early 1900's of the factory:

Here are some more pictures that were taken at the plant site in 2006.  As you can see, several of the buildings are still in use.

  In addition to the main factory in Louisville, KY, BF Avery had Branch Houses and transfer points in the following cities:

Atlanta, GA

Memphis, TN

New Orleans, LA

Shreveport, LA

New York, NY

Dallas, TX:

This warehouse structure was built for the B.F. Avery & Sons Farm Implement Company at the corner of Market and Pacific Streets in the Historic West End District of Downtown Dallas in 1905.  It has a total of 62,000 square feet of space in six floors and a basement.  In 1950, it was sold to the Awalt Furniture Company.  Recently the building was purchased by Slingshot, an advertising agency.  After the building was purchased, it was restored, leaving the original wood floors and structure.  The upper levels now are home for loft offices and the ground floor contains retail space.  The Awalt Building is located at a DART Light Rail Station

Houston, TX

San Antonio, TX

Oklaloma City, OK

Kansas City, MO

Big Four Implement Co. 

Knoxville, TN  (Wright Hardware)

Charlotte, NC    B. F. Avery and Sons Plow Company, 601 South Cedar Street

Raleigh, NC (S.W. Brewer)

St. Louis, MO (Broadway Vehicle Co.)