Western Electric - Major Works - Status Today?
hanc...@bbs.cpcn.com
three large factory complexes ("works") in Chicago (Hawthorne), Kearny
NJ, and Baltimore (Breezy Pt). I get the impression all three are
long closed up, if the buildings even exist?
W/E also built some newer facilities to make computer components for
modern gear, such as in Allentown PA. I take it today Lucent
(successor to W/E) uses those places, though I presume Lucent is far,
far smaller than W/E. I also recall W/E having a modern office
building in Newark NJ (near the train station) in the mid 1980s, and I
wonder if that is in use by Lucent today.
FWIW, in W/E's early days, they made relays for Hollerith's tabulating
machines. Hollerith's outfit became IBM.
[public replies please]
Eric Tappert
> [public replies please]
Agere Systems inherited the Allentown, Reading, and Orlando
facilities. Reading is now closed, all production at Allentown has
ceased and the production buildings have been demolished (some office
buildings are still in use, however). Orlando was up for sale a
couple of years ago, but I don't know the current status of production
there.
Hawthorne, Kearny, and Baltimore are long closed. Phoenix was sold to
local management, who moved several cable lines from the Atlanta works
to Phoenix. Teletype's plants in Skokie and Little Rock went to
Avaya, but I'm not familiar with the current status of those plants,
although last I heard Shreveport and Denver (also went to Avaya) were
still in business.
I believe that the Northern Illinois works is closed and all switching
manufacturing for Lucent domestically is in Dallas. Last I heard
Merrimac Valley (Massachusetts) was still doing manufacturing, but at
a reduced level. The North Carolina plants are all closed, AFAIK.
Kansas City works has also closed.
Lucent is shadow of the former Western Electric and is doing more
manufacturing overseas (after all, they are a global supplier now).
E. Tappert (former WECo employee)
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I am not certain, but I think in the
case of Cicero, Illinois at that location now is a shopping mall/
condominium apartment complex called 'Hawthorne Place'. PAT]
Kenneth P. Stox
> Teletype's plants in Skokie and Little Rock went to
> Avaya, but I'm not familiar with the current status of those plants,
The Teletype plant in Skokie was sold around 1990, and converted to a
shopping mall. Most of the facility was torn down, but some was kept
and converted into a parking garage.
Arthur Kamlet
<hanc...@bbs.cpcn.com> wrote:
> The Western Electric Co, manfuacturing arm of the Bell System, had
> three large factory complexes ("works") in Chicago (Hawthorne), Kearny
> NJ, and Baltimore (Breezy Pt). I get the impression all three are
> long closed up, if the buildings even exist?
> W/E also built some newer facilities to make computer components for
> modern gear, such as in Allentown PA. I take it today Lucent
> (successor to W/E) uses those places, though I presume Lucent is far,
> far smaller than W/E. I also recall W/E having a modern office
> building in Newark NJ (near the train station) in the mid 1980s, and I
> wonder if that is in use by Lucent today.
> FWIW, in W/E's early days, they made relays for Hollerith's tabulating
> machines. Hollerith's outfit became IBM.
Hawthorne, site of the Hawthorne Study of providing feedback to relay
winders, closed quite a few years ago.
Kearney was sinking into the bay, and at least one major Kearny
building had been closed while others were still sinking. It was sold
quite a while ago -- before Lucent was spun off from AT&T I believe.
I live in Columbus, where the building has been sold and split into
three parts -- a hospital, a home builder, and a commercial site. But
about 1000 Lucent employees still occupy rental space there.
Many other large Works and other plants have been sold.
Art Kamlet ArtKamlet @ AOL.com Columbus OH K2PZH
Jim Millick
At one time, Cicero, IL, was famous for two things that
had absolutely nothing in common: Al Capone and Western
Electric. The blue-collar town on the West Side of Chicago
served as headquarters for the notorious gangster. But,
Cicero also was home to a sprawling manufacturing complex
called the Hawthorne Works, which produced some of the
most technically advanced products in the world.
http://www.assemblymag.com/CDA/ArticleInformation/coverstory/BNPCoverStoryItem/0,6490,98914,00.html
Jim Haynes
Jim Millick <j...@panix.com> wrote:
> From a Lucent friend, an article on Hawthorne Works:
> At one time, Cicero, IL, was famous for two things that
> had absolutely nothing in common: Al Capone and Western
> Electric. The blue-collar town on the West Side of Chicago
Actually there was a connection, however slight. In the book
Manufacturing the Future : A History of Western Electric by Stephen
B. Adams and Orville R. Butler there is an anecdote about a
W.E. statistician who wandered over to one of the gambling dens and
used his knowledge of statistics to determine that the roulette wheels
were not exactly random (because of personal idiocyncrasies of the
operators). He was able to win a little money.
--
jhhaynes at earthlink dot net