North Carolina is an important state for The Campbell’s Company of Camden, N.J., one of the leading U.S. food and beverage manufacturing companies. Its annual revenues exceed $10.25 billion.
In 1978, Campbell’s announced that it would construct a massive soup manufacturing plant in Robeson County near Maxton.
The
story has historical significance. The Campbell’s factory was built on a
670-acre site that was once part of Laurinburg-Maxton Army Air Base.
According
to NCPedia, the military post was a vital installation during World War II for
developing airborne operations and training glider pilots to fly the CG-4A, the
most widely used American military troop and cargo glider of the war. The base
was active from 1942-45. At its peak, 10,000 soldiers were stationed here.
Army
Maj. Gen. William C. Lee, who was known as the “Father of the Airborne” for his
leadership in organizing Army airborne units, was responsible for construction
of the base in his home state. (He was a native of Dunn, N.C., in Harnett County.)
During
World War II, glider units operated with paratroop, infantry, artillery,
engineer and medical units. Each glider could carry 13 soldiers and their
equipment. Pilots who were trained at Laurinburg-Maxton participated in the
invasions of Sicily and Italy in mid-1943 and in the airborne landings on June
6, 1944, in Normandy, France.
The
primary airplanes used to tow the gliders at Laurinburg-Maxton Army Air Base
during World War II were the Douglas C-47 Skytrain (shown above) and the Curtiss C-46
Commando (shown below).
The
Laurinburg-Maxton base was deactivated in October 1945. The towns of Laurinburg
(in Scotland County) and Maxton took over management of the airfield, which
continues to operate two runways to serve general aviation customers.
The rest of the former air base was ripe for economic development – with plenty of flat land, rail infrastructure and easy access to major highways. Additionally, the site offered abundant underground water tables and direct access to the Lumber River, vital for the high-volume water needs of a soup and broth plant.
Campbell’s benefited from state and local incentives, customized training programs and a dedicated, skilled workforce.
The $100 million project to build the sprawling 1.2 million-square-foot facility, known as Campbell’s Maxton plant, created about 1,000 new jobs. The first can of soup in Maxton was produced on June 8, 1982.
Interestingly, there is only one community in the entire United States named Maxton, and Campbell’s has put it on the world map.
Maxton’s
historic Town Hall, once serving as a bank and later a laundry, was
meticulously renovated in 1997 to house municipal offices.
The first European settlers came to this area from Scotland in the 1700s. A community formed at Shoe Hill Creek and the Lumber River and was incorporated in 1874 as Shoe Hill.
It was later named Quhele (pronounced as “Kwayl”…rhymes with “jail”), in honor of a Highland Scottish clan.
That didn’t last long. The name of the village was changed back to Shoe Hill in 1881 and finally named Maxton in 1887. Maxton was chosen to honor the immigrants who came from the Scottish Borders region of southeastern Scotland.
The lands and barony of Maxton lie in the County of Roxburghshire on the northern banks of the famed River Tweed.
Campbell’s
and Maxton were in the news just recently, as the company dedicated a major
addition to the Maxton plant in mid-June 2026.
The expansion project added 88,000 square feet of manufacturing space with another 28,000 square feet of utility mezzanine space, while creating about 100 jobs.
This will boost the Maxton plant employee group to about 1,250 people who are working at the 2.2 million-square-foot facility.
The facility makes products that carry the Swanson, Pacific Foods, Campbell’s, Campbell’s Chunky, Campbell’s Homestyle and SpaghettiO’s labels.
The
Maxton plant produces roughly 8.2 million cans/cartons per day. This is 110 to
115 truckloads per day, or a truckload every 12 minutes.
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