The Abandoned Sugar Mill and Cryptic Plans for its Future

The White Satin Sugar factory raised economic stability in Loveland for 89 years until the significant accident when the molasses storage tank exploded on Feb. 16th, 1990.

582,000 gallons of molasses spread over a square mile, pouring onto the roads. Police closed Madison Avenue from Eighth Street to Nickel Drive until the spillage was cleaned.

The White Satin Sugar Mill in Loveland, Colorado, opened in 1901 and is one of
the city’s most significant landmarks – an iconic part of the area’s history. The turn of the century brought dramatic changes to America, and the people of Loveland were struggling for money. So, when a beet sugar mill opened, many quickly applied for work there.

In the last few years of its operation, the company was losing money – due to the taste of beet sugar, most Americans had switched to cane sugar.

After the molasses tank exploded, the Augmented Sugar Company didn’t have
the funds to continue to work at the factory in Loveland so it officially closed. The factory remains to this day, even though most of it is destroyed.

The main factories’ properties are challenging to find ownership due to the land rights of the Augmented Sugar Company, and Loveland, where Loveland owns most of the factory and Augment Sugar Company owns most of the land around it. The train tracks by the factory, previously used to transport sugar, are now owned by Western Union. The Augmented Sugar Company owns the main office in front of the factory entrance.

The City of Loveland has struggled with plans for the building and what to make out of it because the surrounding land is owned by the Augmented Sugar Company. This is due to the Augmented Sugar Company opening a new factory behind the old factory’s destroyed remains.

Kim Miller, Loveland’s City Manager of Parks and Recreation, has confirmed that “insight into the future of the property right now is unclear.”