container that could be mechanically emptied into a garbage truck. As orders for this product arrived from around the world, the company devoted all of its resources to the production of Dempster-Dumpsters. In 1939, the company introduced the Dempster-Balester, which crushed and baled automobiles. During World War II, the company produced pontoon boats and other equipment for the US Navy. The company introduced the Dempster Dumpmaster, the first front-loading garbage truck, in the 1950s. The Dempster Brothers plant on Springdale Avenue in Knoxville consisted of eleven buildings on , and employed 450 workers. For humanitarian purposes, the plant employed a large number of handicapped workers. The plant served as a training ground of sorts for welders and machinists who would later work on nearby Tennessee Valley Authority and Atomic Energy Commission projects. Knoxville politics Dempster, a lifelong Democrat, became actively involved in Knoxville politics during the 1920s. In 1929, he was named city manager, a position created earlier in the decade. After his appointment, he convinced the state legislature to merge the offices of city manager and mayor. This move proved unpopular, and Dempster was defeated by W. W. Mynatt in the mayoral election of 1937. Dempster continued to lead the opposition to Mynatt, forming an alliance with Knoxville businessman Cas Walker, who had a strong populist backing in the city. During the 1930s, while city manager, Dempster began to clash with Guy Smith, Jr., editor of the Republican-leaning Knoxville Journal. Smith once stated that Dempster should be "relegated to the political ash heap and buried so deeply that one of his own Dumpsters can't dig him out." Dempster, likewise, quietly ordered the police to scour the city for Smith's car, and tow it away if it was illegally parked (which it often was). Smith ordered Journal photographers to crop Dempster from favorable group shots, and Dempster organized a raid that caught Journal owner Roy Lotspeich with a large supply of illegal whiskey. Running on an anti-tax platform, Dempster's allies managed to recapture the mayor's office in 1945, and Dempster was again appointed city manager. Dempster broke his campaign pledge, and proposed new city property taxes. This provoked the ire of Walker, who immediately mounted a campaign against Dempster. Walker blasted Dempster's new taxes, and claimed that "gambling, whiskey and prostitution" flourished when Dempster was in power. After Walker was elected mayor in 1946, Dempster resigned as city manager. Walker's