R. L. Beshers built a canning factory just east of the city at the north edge of town in 1912 and began canning tomatoes, finally adding chicken, sweet corn, peas and other products. He moved the factory in 1925 to his farm along the T. P. & W. at the east end of Front Street, and continued operation until 1939.
The Prairie State Canning Company also constructed their plant here in 1912, and it is now the Pfister Hybrid Corn Company's storage warehouse west of Route 51 at the west end of Front Street. This was an extensive plant covering almost a city block, and cost between $75,000 and $100,000. That year farmers raised 1,500 acres of sweet corn under contract with the company. Later the company leased its own acres and hired men to farm them. E. A. Selk managed the plant. It finally changed hands and was last leased by the Inderieden Company of Chicago, who operated it from 1934 to 1938. The Pfister Company purchased the plant in 1940.
The Prairie State Canning Company was for some years a major El Paso industry managed by E. A. Selk. Photo taken about 1914.