The Hopfenmaier rendering plant was a fixture on the Georgetown waterfront, producing constant odors of putrescence from 1873 to its demise in 1971. The Wilkins Rogers milling co across the street produced baking goods, receiving grains via rail and shipping out their mixes to local grocery stores and distributors via truck. In the 1950s and 1960s, as more and more of Georgetown became residential, folks were really starting to take notice of the incredible odors that permeated. Even when the plant wasn’t operating, on very hot days the caked-on slime and sludge from the plant would permeate the air along the waterfront. At some point around 1958, in protest, the Wilkins Rogers company had this sign created and mounted prominently on their mill where passing motorists on the Whitehurst Freeway could view it.

It read “THE OBJECTIONAL ODORS YOU MAY NOTICE IN THIS AREA, DO NOT ORIGINATE IN THIS PLANT. W.R.MLG. CO.”

In the late 1960s the government even used a sort of “smell-o-meter” to try to detect dangerous levels of chemicals. This failed, but eventually the Government “won” by buying out the Hopfenmaier company and razing it ca 1971.

Additional reading:

Searching for that old Washington Flour sign about ‘objectionable odors’ along the Whitehurst Freeway

AIA Honors The Rebuilders Of History