Milestones Icon: Kuner-Empson Cannery

Packing plant The Cannery Apartments at 15 Third St. in Longmont were once the site of the Kuner-Empson Cannery.

The food-canning factory operated for 90 years and was constructed by John Howard Empson in 1887. He began the Empson Packing Co. to can vegetables produced on Longmont farms.

Empson moved to Colorado from Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1880 with his daughter Lida. He opened a candy store in Denver in 1883, but health problems forced him to close the store. To restore his health, he moved to Estes Park and spent time with Enos Mills, the naturalist and homesteader, who helped create Rocky…