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WHEN YOU'VE GOT a machine that slams bottles of Tabasco sauce into thin, paperboard cartons through openings just a few centimeters wider than the bottles themselves at a rate of nearly five bottles per second, you understand the value of quality cartons. That's what draws the managers of New Iberia-based McIlhenny Co. -- and a few hundred other product producers and packagers around the U.S. -- to Lengsfield Brothers Inc. in New Orleans.
During the past 70 years, billions of colorful paperboard boxes have rolled off the printing presses and cutting machines of the Lengsfield Bros. folding carton conversion plant on Tchoupitoulas Street. The trucks that line up daily at the Lengsfield loading ramps carry up to 20 tons each of the flat, foldable cartons to packagers throughout the nation. Some of the boxes will hold bottles of Phillips' Milk of Magnesia tablets or small auto parts made by the Federal Mogul Co. Many will contain Lipton's loose or bagged tea, Popsicles Ice Pops or Argo Corn Starch.
But a large number of Lengsfield folding cartons will head for packagers closer to home, because Lengsfield places special emphasis on producing custom cartons for the local and regional market. Lift the lid on a box of Zatarain's Fish-Fri, Cafe Du Monde Beignet Mix, Konriko Wild Pecan Rice or Dr. Tichenor's Toothpaste and you'll be opening a Lengsfield product. Select a Wembley tie as a gift for a friend and he'll likely receive it in a Lengsfield box. Check out the tourists carrying Creole Delicacies Pralines around the French Quarter -- that's right, more Lengsfield cartons.
Jack Lengsfield likes seeing his products on grocery shelves and store counters throughout the city. His father, Byron G. Lengsfield Sr., started the business that way in 1919, making glued-together, or set-up, boxes at the corner of Lafayette and Baronne streets for a local candy company. Later he began producing gift boxes for New Orleans-based retailers D.H. Holmes and Maison Blanche. In the 1920s, he moved the company to its present location.
When the elder Lengsfield died in 1948, Jack Lengsfield's older brother Byron, who had been chief executive officer for several years, took full control of the business. Around 1960, Byron left the company to take a position with...