Do you know that you cannot take an air conditioning unit to the scrap yard without a notice signed by you saying from whence it came and who owned it?
Yep! The scrap metal industry has really had a booming business with thieves far and wide who would in the night remove folks AC unit from their homes and take them to the scrap yard for money. Gasp and…God saw it all.
I’m sorry to report. The problem got so bad that the scrap yards were forced to ask for proof of where a unit came from and who it belonged to.
My Father and Mother’s property on the Westside of Jacksonville was so full of scrap metal that one guy took away 6 full loads in a 5 x 12 trailer piled at least 5 feet tall. He and his girl friend were happy folks each time they completed a run to the scrap yard.
In this photo, is a small load of scrap that was on the back of our 10 acres. Someone will be happy though because the bottom of the flat area is solid metal. Metal does not bring much per pound but it adds up.. Oh! And, look at the tire rim! Ha!
Current Prices
Insulated Copper Wire (Cat 5/6)$0.62/lb. …
Aluminum NA. …
Car Batteries$0.22-$0.26/lb. …
Car Batteries$0.22-$0.26/lb. …
Small Foreign Cat$82-$97/each. …
Steel $0.03-$0.05/lb. Stainless Steel $0.23/lb. …
Clean Green Motherboards$1.15/lb. Non-Green Motherboards$0.55/lb. …
The Dinsmore Dairy that was in North Jacksonville probably dating back to the early 1900’s to the 1970’s is no longer producing milk for the Jacksonville and beyond community but there are still artifacts and remaining relics of the business. Today, I came across a metal milk jar container and was glad to find it.
Dinsmore Dariy Bottle Carrier-(Ramey)
The dairy at one time had one of the largest groups of Guernsey cattle and the Johnson family were known for producing milk for the community. I went to school with Earl A. Johnson’s son, Andy, graduating in 1971 so I remember those days.
The house where the milk was processed has been turned into a pretty home set back among beautiful oak and pecan trees. Hanging from them are wispy Spanish moss. Some of the old milk barns can be seen from the dead-end street but much of the farm out-barns and other farming structures like silos’ are gone. Around the old farm are two subdivisions dotted with brick homes. While there is still a semblance of the country, the country has come to town out there.
Emily Carolyn Mehaffey was a long time First Baptist Church of Jacksonville member and director of youth and adults over her 40 some years at the church. She worked in various places in the fellowship including church training, the ladies department, with young people and as a director in the Women’s Department under the leadership of Miss Guinell Freeman. In her young adult career, she worked at the Eelbeck warehouse on Beaver Street in Jacksonville, Florida. Later, she became a real estate agent with fine skills of order, and detail. Mehaffey had a lot of satisfied home buyers.
Google Books, Kenneth Jr.
Emily was born October 30, 1918 in Eelbeck, Chattahoochee County, Georgia and died in Duval County on August 21, 2012. She was buried in Columbus, Georgia.
Emily Mehaffey
She was preceded in death by her parents and many of her siblings including Clifford, E. L, Hubert, William, Madeline and Lucile.
It was her parents who built the Eelbeck Grits and Pancake company in Columbus, Georgia. The name Eelbeck was derived from the homeplace of Henry J. Eelbeck, the postmaster, who married Sarah Cook whose father owned the property. Over the years, it became a milling business and called “Eelbeck”. Mr. Cliff Mehaffey leased the property and Eelbeck Milling became a house-hold name.
Note: “Jacksonville” on the Eelbeck packaging. Courtesy of Jason Wittkopp
“The mill is a large wooden structure which age has blackened but notimpaired its sturdy longleaf pine timbers and weather-boarding. The lumber was cut on the site which once had many beautiful bodies of original timber. Every beam and every board in it was dressed on both sides by hand. This was done mostly by slave labor. Every piece of it appears today as sound as it was theday it was put in place. Inside the mill are parts of the original equipment, such as the meal bins and elevator. The former are made of solid pieces of long leaf, pine twenty inches wide, which gives an idea of the size of the timberonce foresting the section.”( Chattahoochee Cty GaArchives, 1922)
Eelbeck Mill, Photo- Mehaffey
The actual plant site was sold to Fort Benning Military Reservation. The family moved to Jacksonville and the Eelbeck name continued on with warehouses on Beaver Street in Duval County. Emily worked in the office on Beaver Street before retiring and taking up the real estate business.
The Beaver Street warehouse in Jacksonville, Florida for Eelbeck Grits, and pancakes.(Photo 2022)
Until 1941, the site was filled with all of the workings to make grist but that year, it was absorbed by Fort Benning. Military Reservation. The Eelbeck Mills complex was dismantled in 1943.
Eventually, Eelbeck sold to Martha White, an American brand of flour, cornmeal and mixes. It was established in 1899 in Nashville, Tenn.
Andrew L. wrote on Emily Mehaffey’s “Find a Grave listing”, “You are loved and missed by your First Baptist Family.” We can all make a difference. Right?
See you tomorrow,
Sources, Find a Grave, Sarah Cowie, H. G. Mehaffey, photo, Chattahoochee County GaArchives History-Eelbeck 1933, N. K. Rogers, Google Books, Kenneth, Jr.,J.M. Land, Jason Whittkopp Collection (photo).
