J.C. Cowen Plant

Burlington Industries
Forest City, NC

The J. C. Cowen Plant had a Warp Knitting area under Greige Division management and a Fabric Finishing area under the Finishing Division management when under Klopman. It was a Lingerie Fabric Division plant under BI before the Klopman era and ended up in Menswear Division (circa 1995) then transferred to the Klopman Division as a finishing plant.

After closing by Burlington, the plant was converted to manufacture salt water fishing boats for Bass Pro Shops. The recession in the middle to late 2007 – ­09, caused the boating industry to cut back and the plant closed again. The latest use for the property is as a East Coast data center for Facebook.  The plant is slated for demolition (2011). (1)

Source:  John Pearson, BI 1992-1998