Where are they Today

Underwood Elliott Fisher Company, Hartford, Connecticut

(41.762801, -72.695169)

Underwood, now defunct, was acquired by Olivetti, an Italian company, in 1959. The original factory at 581 Capitol Ave. was demolished in 1970. The modern office building and parking structure show above replaced it.

Check out this link to a story about Underwood’s “giant” typewriter

https://redletterdayzine.wordpress.com/2015/06/23/giant-typewriters-at-the-panama-pacific-expo-1915/

Underwood's General Research Lab, Hartford, CT.

56 Arbor Street. (41.75928,-72.70387)

Though actual parts for the carbine were not produced here, the facility was used to test parts to make better carbines. For more see War Baby pg.112

This location is now an "Art Space" which exhibits visual art, has a theater and hosts live music, theater, and community events.

With New2brass’ help, the original location of the two UEF Bridgeport factories has been determined. One was located at 575 Broad Street and the other on 480 Bunnell Street.

Underwood Elliott Fisher Company, 575 Broad St., Bridgeport, Connecticut

(41.17173, -73.18923)

These buildings no longer exist. There is a parking lot on Broad Street, shown above. This is where UEF Bridgeport Building “A” once stood. This near Jenkins Curve, an infamous sharp bend in the railway.

Underwood Elliott Fisher Company, 480 Bunnell St., Bridgeport, Connecticut

(41.18498, -73.168)

 

We have also since determined the two New Hartford location of their factories as well. 

War Baby page 109 mentions that parts were made in New Hartford but it is unclear which of these two buildings were utilized at this time.

Underwood Elliott Fisher Company, 57 Greenwoods St., New Hartford, Connecticut 

(41.8846, -72.97948)

Unfortunately, Google Earth has no Street View for this location but New2brass was able to take this picture in person.     

The building is still standing and is at 37 Greenwoods Road and is now occupied by several small businesses and called the Hurley Business Park http://www.hurleybusinesspark.com/ 

There was a second New Hartford location owned by Underwood on the same street. It is gone and now at that location a small town maintenance garage. There was no street view available.

 In 1955 Two back-to-back hurricanes saturated New England and several river valleys in the state, causing severe flooding in August 1955. Many houses and buildings were swept away or destroyed.

It has not been confirmed as of yet but it is believed this second factory was swept away or torn down as unrepairable due to the flooding.

Quality Hardware and Machine Corporation, Chicago, Illinois

(41.988185, -87.674487)

Quality Hardware was also involved in making special equipment for the fabricating and handling of uranium components for the University of Chicago during the 1944 -1945 time frame. Rumor has it that this was in support of the Manhattan project. The company liquidated its assets shortly after the war and no longer exists. The original Quality Hardware facility was at one time considered a candidate for the government’s radiation cleanup program. I guess it was decided that radiation levels were below cleanup criteria at the time (1989). You can read more about it here:

http://projects.wsj.com/waste-lands/site/379-quality-hardware-and-machine-co/

The original buildings located on Ravenswood Ave. have since become the site of a 36 unit condominium project across the street from the railway.

Rock-ola Manufacturing Corporation, Chicago, Illinois

(41.896701, -87.707705)

Today the site at 800 N. Kedzie Ave is the home of a strip mall where you can find Aldi’s Discount Supermarket and J & J’s Fish and Chicken. I guess the original factory was demolished after Rock-ola sold out and the business moved to California. Here’s a link to a little of the history of Rock-ola with some neat pictures in the “Factory” section.

https://www.jukeboxhistory.info/rock-ola/history.html

Irwin-Pedersen Arms Company, Saginaw Steering Gear, Grand Rapids, Michigan

(42.936688, -85.667031)

The site of the former Irwin Pedersen Arms Co. was, before that, a Macey's Co. Building, later taken over by Saginaw Steering Gear Division of General Motors. Today it's a fenced-in empty field at 1516 Division Ave. South. At first, I thought it was an inner city park but it’s posted with “DANGER NO TRESPASSING” signs on all sides. Notice it's on the railhead as were many large factories at the time. All that's left today are the railroad tracks. There’s not much history on the Irwin-Pedersen Arms Co. as they weren’t around long. They were incorporated in March of 1942 just to build the carbine, which didn’t work out for them and taken over by Saginaw Steering Gear in March of 1943.

I found a website that tells a little bit of the history of the Saginaw Steering Division of G.M. Surprisingly there is not much historical information about the Saginaw Division available online.

http://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/clarke/ehll--saginawsteering?view=text

National Postal Meter Company, Inc., Rochester, New York

(43.155845, -77.567401)

NPM was located in a former automobile showroom and repair shop. The buildings survive today. By the way, the Trimble Nurseryland Furniture Co. (NPM stock maker) is supposedly nearby on Lexington Ave. Here’s a bit of wartime history published by the Rochester Public Library.

https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/local/columnists/memmott/2018/01/30/jim-memmott-rochester-company-switched-meters-munitions-during-wwii/1076149001/

Standard Product Company, Port Clinton, Ohio

(41.510865, -82.921016)

Today it’s a Superfund site at 215 Maple Street. Only a few of the old buildings still remain. They have been abandoned for years. By the way, it’s also on a railhead.

https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/cursites/csitinfo.cfm?id=0510570

(41.655372, -73.935243)

This was as close as I could get to IBM, Poughkeepsie (Plant #4) on Google Earth Street View. It’s like a 200+ acre site. Big Blue has bought and sold hundreds of acres in the area over the last 70 years so it’s hard to know exactly where our favorite rifle was made. The original building may not be there anymore. Here’s a link to a site that tells a little more about the history of the Poughkeepsie plant.

http://tech-insider.org/mainframes/research/1995/0110.html

Saginaw Steering Gear, Saginaw, Michigan

(43.400568, -83977683)

It took me a while to find the location of the original Saginaw Steering Gear Plant in Saginaw, Michigan at 1400 Holmes Street. Nothing remains except an ocean of concrete and asphalt slabs. It was razed in 2002.

Here’s an interesting article about the Steering Gear Plant employee reunion.

http://www.mlive.com/news/saginaw/index.ssf/2012/12/saginaw_steering_gear_plant_2.html

I found a website that tells a little bit of the history of the Saginaw Steering Division of G.M. Surprisingly there is not much historical information about the Saginaw Division available online.

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