Throwback Thursday – W.F. Hall Printing Company

For our first Throwback Thursday profile of 2016 we take a trip back to July, 1972 to Dresden, Tennessee for the opening of the W.F. Hall Printing Company's Office and Manufacturing Facility. This 365,000 square foot, one-story facility was completed an amazing 14 months after the commencement of Epstein's working drawings.

This massive Epstein designed and engineered facility located on a 115-acre site included administrative offices, a paper storage area with a 35 foot clear height, a copy presentation area, a press room with six presses and a complete bindery. In addition, Epstein engineers developed a highly sophisticated HVAC system to mitigate dust and debris, which would negatively impact the quality of Hall's printed materials.

Hall, which was founded in Chicago in 1893, had printing plants throughout the United States, including its main catalog plant which was located on West Diversey Avenue. In the 80's Hall was purchased by a joint-venture of companies based in Arizona and Switzerland. At this time the new owners closed the Chicago plant and moved most of their printing operations to this Dresden facility. Printing and binding took place in this plant until 2006 when it was closed and all remaining operations were moved to upstate New York.

Still, this plant lives on and is currently being utilized, although not for printing. It is now the home to Champion Homes, who manufacture modular homes, as well as MTD Products, who produce outdoor power equipment including garden tractors, lawn trimmers and mowers.