An Abandoned Manufacturing Plant

https://youtu.be/F28jUObGguc



In the late 1800’s Cleveland’s streetcars were powered by horse and mule. Cleveland wanted to electrify streetcars by 1890. In the spring of 1888, the East Cleveland Railroad Company, only one of numerous streetcar companies, started building a power plant at Cedar Avenue and Ashland Road. This power plant opened in 1888. By 1889. many electrical cars were running to Public Square. In 1899 the plant added a new 400-ton, 32-foot high General Electric generator which at that time was one of the largest in the world. In 1902, the plant installed a new coal handing system were an entire train car of coal was lifted and dumped into an overhead coal storage bin. The plant was so successful that by 1912, the plant outsourced power to the Illuminating Company.
In 1917, the Cleveland Railway Company left the Cedar Avenue power house and their other building tenant Cleveland Ice Machine Company later in 1922 becomes Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing. Westinghouse would manufacture and sell circuit breakers, motors and controls for elevators, insulating materials, fuses, lights, lighting fixtures, electric motors, electric panel boards, , safety switches, fans, small turbines, switchboards, water heaters, welding equipment and other electrical products. By 1933, Westinghouse transferred its local sales and service offices to Edgewater Park, where an existing lighting products division was located. In 1936, Thompson Products purchased several buildings from the Cleveland Railway Company. Thompson produced bolts, automobile engine valves for high-performance aircraft engines. In 1941, Thompson Products known as Tapco ( Thompson Aircraft Products Company) made other products including booster pumps for airplanes. After WWII, Thompson Products had a major decline and layed off 90% of their employees 1958 Thompson Products merged with Ramo-Wooldridge Light Metals division. In 1961, Thompson-Ramo-Wooldridge (TRW) started to move to the Independence warehouse and headquarters in 1962, Thompson-Ramo-Wooldridge (TRW), sold their Ashland Road property. After Thompson left, the Ashland Road plant became the new facility for Virden Manufacturing Company which was originally named The Howler Manufacturing Company. Tithe Company expanded into the manufacture of fluorescent and incandescent lighting equipment, and then into commercial and residential lighting products. In 1965, the Virden Company was acquired by Scott & Fetzer and the company became known as the Virden Lighting division. Scott & Fetzer laid off hundreds from the Virden Lighting division due to a housing slump in 1970. The company sold off its Virden Lighting and Rembrandt Lamp divisions in 1977 to a new company Virden Corporation, which employed 360 people. In 1979, Virden failed to make payment to 300 employees and closed. Several years later he was transferred to Weiser Management Inc. In 2012 the property was transferred to Sandusky Solutions LLC.1.




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