The cement facility started in Davenport in 1906 as the Santa Cruz Portland Cement Company.  It became the Pacific Cement and Aggregates in 1956, Lone Star Cement Corporation in 1965, and RMC Pacific Materials in 1988.  The latest owner was Cemex USA headquarter in New Braunfels, Texas. Cemex USA is a subsidiary of Cemex, a world-wide company headquartered in Monterrey, Mexico. Cemex took over the Davenport facility in 2005 from RMC Group p.l.c. (London, England). In addition to being one of the area's largest employers, Cemex was the biggest contributor to the county's property tax roll.

The Davenport facility was originally built to supply cement for the Panama Canal and Pearl Harbor.  This location supplied cement for many well known California landmarks including the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco-Oakland Bay bridge, Candlestick Park, Transamerica Pyramid building, San Francisco International Airport, Oakland Coliseum in the San Francisco Bay area, and the California Aqueduct.

In 2006, the company put out a press release to celebrate the cement plant's 100th year at Davenport. It read in part:

Santa Cruz, Calif.- August 30, 2006 - In celebration of its 100 year anniversary in the Davenport community and its commitment to resource stewardship, CEMEX, Inc. teamed with Conservation International at a premiere book event held on Wednesday, August 30, 2006. The ceremony, at the Chaminade, showcased Hotspots Revisited, the 12th edition in CEMEX's conservation book series, to area community leaders.

Cemex won several awards for land stewardship in the Davenport area. (They own about 10,000 acres of timberland.)

In 2008 the Monterey Bay Unified Air Pollution Control District reported high levels of hexavalent chromium, at the elementary school and fire department in Davenport, California. This was three months after a news announcement that "CEMEX Davenport Wins Overall Environmental Excellence Award." The kiln part of the facility was shut down in 2009.

In January 2010 Cemex announced the closing of the Davenport facility. By May, the facility had only security personnel. The top of the facility has both microwave dish and cell phone antennae. So it is important to keep out scavengers and squatters.

Cemex also owns a cement facility in Southern California. Shipments (by boat) to Redwood City and Sacramento, will fulfill commitments of cement formerly done by the Davenport facility. The Southern California facility was operating at half capacity during the shut down at Davenport.

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Departed Businesses Davenport lime kilns Metro Santa Cruz article