Serving the community since 1939!
History - 1940s
Beginnings...
Kaiser Cement Corporation started because of a dam Henry Kaiser did not get to build.
Breaking ground for a new cement plant.
The dam was Shasta on the Sacramento River in 1939. While the Bureau of Reclamation rejected Kaiser’s bid to build, it accepted what many considered a phantom bid by his firm to supply the cement, sand and gravel. At the time, his Permanente Cement Company had no plant and no customers and only an option on a limestone deposit overlooking Permanente Creek near San Jose, California.
Permanente Plant
24001 Stevens Creek Blvd.
Cupertino, CA 95014
General Number:
(408) 996-4000
Media/Community Hotline:
(408) 500-5034
Construction of the original two-kiln plant completed.
Permanente Plant
The World's Largest...
Kaiser saw the possibilities in the limestone deposit along Permanente Creek, and construction on the new plant started early in 1939.
PCC’s first job was to supply the 1.1 million tons of cement needed for Shasta Dan. In typical Kaiser style, the two-kiln plant was completed in record time, just nine months from start to finish, two months ahead of schedule. By 1941, Permanente was operating what was then the world’s largest cement plant with 4 wet kilns and an annual capacity of 940,000 tons.
Bags of cement ready to be shipped for the war effort.
The war demanded people, as well as building materials. Drivers, machinists, mechanics, chemists, operators – employees of all skills and rank answered Uncle Sam’s call. The men’s vacant positions were filled by their wives, sisters, mothers and girlfriends, who were soon proving them selves equal to the task asked of them. Production records were made, then broken as all pitched in to support the war effort.
The War Years...
During World War II, ninety-nine percent of Permanente’s massive output went to the U.S. government. Kaiser pioneered the use of bulk cement in ocean-going vessels, though skeptics claimed it would arrive in a concretized mass. Faster to ship than sacks, the bulk cement saved the government precious time and millions of dollars.
Production records are made as many women join the work force during war time.
On the Job, on Time...
Permanente Cement found its horizons virtually unlimited after the war. Pent up demand for residential and commercial building projects kept business bustling, and Permanente operated at capacity every month. Kaiser’s reputation for reliable—even early—deliveries was eagerly embraced by a building industry long plagued by shortages and delays.
Rail cars carrying much of the original plant’s output.
During the early 1940s, work crews such as those shown here, participated in the operation of the new cement plant. Wages at the plant far outstretched those paid by other jobs locally and eager workers came from miles around.
By 1949, PCC’s tenth year, production was running at 1.1 million tons of cement a year. Marketing plans called for expansion in the Pacific Northwest. Glacier Sand & Gravel was purchased, and Permanente expanded its innovative shipments of bulk cement through new distribution facilities in Portland, Seattle and Anchorage.
Electric shovels digging limestone in the new quarry.
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