June 1990

NARC Rayon Plant at Bemberg

The Elizabethton, Tennessee based NARC Plant (North American Rayon Corp.) seems to be working on this day. This is directly across the highway from the Bemberg Depot, and the Bemberg Rayon plant is next door to the right. NARC was a huge place covering acres with its concrete and brick buildings. That's the powerhouse in the back with the smoke and steam, but I'm not sure what else was done in that building. Those are scrubbers on top of the structurefor the newer coal-fired boilers, the old stack no longer being used except in an emergency situation. That powerhouse produced both electricity and steam for the plant.

Another ten years or so and this business will have burned to the ground over a period of several days and caused massive hazardous waste damage from the fire-fighting runoff. The powerhouse still stands though as it was not physically connected to the rest of the buildings.