The Franklin Sugar Refinery was a steam-powered, brick building constructed starting in 1866 on Almond and Swanson Streets by the Delaware River in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States.
[2] The Franklin Sugar Refining Company was formed as a corporation controlled by various firms of which Charles Custis Harrison was the senior partner.
[3] The company purchased raw sugar in large amounts from Cuba, less significantly in Java, Indonesia, as well as from the spot market in New York or Philadelphia.
[8] Sugar from Louisiana at that time would have been a result of the labor of freedmen and women living in only marginally better conditions than when enslaved pre-emancipation.
Sugar from a Dutch-Occupied Java would have been grown by native Javanese who were forced into harsh conditions and low paying labor.
[10] The Franklin Refinery sold their products throughout the United States where they could be competitive, such as the mid Atlantic and the midwest.
There were no reported deaths, though one person, Louis Luerson, a Swedish foreman, was missing, having last been seen attempting to fight the fire.
The block bounded by Delaware Avenue, Swanson, Almond, and Bainbridge streets was destroyed.
[3] The offer, given by Mr. Parsons on behalf of H. O. Havemeyer, was to give 10 million dollars, half common and half preferred stock of the American Sugar Refining Company for 5 million dollars of stock of the Franklin Sugar Refining Company, with the option to sell one half of the preferred stock of the ASRC at 80 cents on the dollar.
[3] Several of the partners remained in management of the Franklin Sugar Refinery for seventy days after the sale.