At one time, the Columbia Sportswear plant in Chaffee employed more than 400 people and produced about a third of the apparel company's consumer goods.
But when the plant closed in early 2000, Chaffee — and the surrounding region — lost one of its largest employers.
And except for some cabinet assembly and warehousing by neighboring S&W Cabinets, the 75,000-square-foot industrial building on Cummins Drive near the town's northwest edge has remained mothballed and mostly vacant since then.
That will change this summer when a new company, Organic Remedies-Missouri (ORMO), starts making products for one of Missouri's fastest-growing industries — medical cannabis.
ORMO is a partnership between a Missouri investor group and a sister company in Pennsylvania and was formed soon after Missouri voters approved the production and distribution of medical cannabis in 2018. It sought and received a pair of licenses from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services to cultivate and manufacture cannabis in Chaffee.
Read more at semissourian.com