Note: ACIPCO Fifty Years Ago takes a quick look at the company's proud past as a leading manufacturer in the water/wastewater industry. As the year 1950 ushers in a decade of post-war prosperity for much of the nation, AMERICAN Cast Iron pipe is in heavy use from the East to the West coasts in a range of projects geared toward revitalization and meeting the needs of a rapidly growing population. ACIPCO plays a key role in helping the fast-growing city of Dallas, Texas — with a population of 500,000 — keep pace with commercial and residential demands for water by providing pipe for the construction of a new $40 million water system. ACIPCO furnishes more than 20 miles of Mono-Cast bell and spigot Cast Iron pipe, ranging from 16 to 42 inches in diameter, for the construction of four major water mains. Further to the west, in the eastern gateway of majestic Mt. Rainier, ACIPCO is providing pipe to Yakima, Washington, for a major expansion of the city's elaborate irrigation system. A total of 60,000 feet of Mono-Cast Doublex Simplex pipe is installed to extend the irrigation system in support of the area's important agricultural industry. Pipe sizes being used in the project range from 3 to 16 inches. In Tampa, Florida, the U.S. Army enlists the expertise of ACIPCO in providing pipe for both water and gas lines at a newly constructed housing project for non-commissioned officers at Mac Dill Field. Because the ground location for the project is only a few feet above sea level, project engineers select 4-inch and 6-inch Mono-Cast Doublex Simplex for the 7,000 feet of pipe laid at the development. A 1950 issue of Pipe Progress says that project engineers are "pleased with the Doublex Simplex pipe, because only a few men are required to install it." Because of the pipe's superior performance, the contractor completes the Mac Dill Field installation in record time. AMERICAN Cast Iron pipe and fittings are also being used for the expansion of a filtration system in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Named for Spartanburg Water Works Superintendent R.B. Sims, the addition utilizes AMERICAN's Mono-Cast pipe and increases the plant's filtration capacity to a total of 11 million gallons per day — a net daily increase of two million gallons. And, at corporate headquarters in Birmingham, Alabama, American Cast Iron Pipe Company pays tribute to the completion of a new 14-story city hall building with the donation of an ornate cast iron cornerstone box — believed to be the largest of its kind in the United States. The box — weighing more than 1,000 pounds — is a gift from ACIPCO employees to the present and future citizens of Birmingham. Lowered into place during an elaborate summer ceremony, the box contains eight large cartons of memorabilia from the citizens of Birmingham to the people who will open it in the year 2050. Some of the items contained in the box, which serves as a time capsule, include: thousands of letters, the signature of every Birmingham school child, samples of locally manufactured products, recordings made by some of Birmingham's leading citizens, and other historical data.

More than 20 miles of large diameter pipe were installed in the water distribution system in Dallas. This view shows 30-inch pipe ready for installation around Love Field.