Owosso Pressed the Very First Beatles Records in the U.S.

There are still a good handful of people who recall the old American Record Pressing Company in Owosso, which was located inside the former sugar factory at 1810 W. King Street in Owosso. If it weren’t for this record plant, Michigan may have not been inaugurated into the realms of the mid-60s Beatlemania.

The ARP Company manufactured 45's and long play records for many years; in this case, they cranked out albums and singles by The Beatles on the VeeJay label. Don’t bother driving out to find it: on Oct. 30, 1972 the record pressing company burned.

Owosso was responsible for the very FIRST pressings of a Beatles record in America.....that's right...in the entire COUNTRY. Not Detroit, New York, Los Angeles.....but Owosso.

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The American Record Pressing Company also cranked out many early Motown hits, but Owosso can be proudest of the fact that they produced the very first American record release from the Beatles, “Please, Please Me” in 1963, BEFORE Beatlemania caught on around the world.

Some Beatle mavens may be familiar with an early pressing of “Please, Please Me” where the label mistakenly spelled the Beatles’ name as “Beattles”……well, THIS was the plant that did that…and today it is a highly sought after, expensive collector’s item.

When the plant burned down in 1972, everything was destroyed. Curiosity seekers say they have visited that empty field and found pieces of old vinyl records scattered and buried among the weeds and bushes.

1810 W. King Street is currently an address that no longer exists, but the empty field is still there, located between Delaney Rd and Cleveland Avenue. Scroll down and see the images in the photo gallery below.