Description: A photograph of women assembling electric motors in the Small Motor Division of the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company factory. Located in Lima, Ohio, the factory was built in 1935. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B07F07_001_1
Subjects: Assembly lines; Factories; Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company; Women--Employment; Machinery industry -- Ohio; Manufacturing processes
Places: Lima (Ohio); Allen County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph showing the interior of the Punch, Shear Fitting and Erection building of the Ralston Steel Car Company, located on Cassady Avenue, east of downtown Columbus, Ohio. The Ralston Steel Company was founded by Joseph S. Ralston and Anton Becker in 1905, when the men bought the former plant of the Rarig Engineering Company on the east side of Columbus. The increasing power of steam locomotives drove demand for the all-steel cars they manufactured, and the company was extremely successful with their drop-bottom general purpose gondola car. These cars had bottom pans that would drop down, allowing coal to pour out instead of the traditional method using shovels and wheelbarrows. This allowed for automatic unloading of coal and hopper cars which led to more efficient production. With the exception of the Great Depression, Ralston experienced a successful run until the 1950s, when demand for freight trains dropped after World War II. The company shut its doors in 1953. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B07F07_002_1
Subjects: Manufacturing industries--Ohio; Steel industry; Transportation--Ohio--History; Factories
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph showing the interior of the Punch, Shear Fitting and Erection Shop of the Ralston Steel Car Company located on Cassady Avenue, east of downtown Columbus, Ohio. The Ralston Steel Company was founded by Joseph S. Ralston and Anton Becker in 1905, when the men bought the former plant of the Rarig Engineering Company on the east side of Columbus. The increasing power of steam locomotives drove demand for the all-steel cars they manufactured, and the company was extremely successful with their drop-bottom general purpose gondola car. These cars had bottom pans that would drop down, allowing coal to pour out instead of the traditional method using shovels and wheelbarrows. This allowed for automatic unloading of coal and hopper cars which led to more efficient production. With the exception of the Great Depression, Ralston experienced a successful run until the 1950s, when demand for freight trains dropped after World War II. The company shut its doors in 1953. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B07F07_004_1
Subjects: Manufacturing industries--Ohio; Steel industry; Transportation--Ohio--History; Factories
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
 

Description: The photograph shows the interior of the Ralston Steel Car Company forge shop in Columbus, Ohio. Railroad tracks run down the center of the building with large machines and forges on either side. The Ralston Steel Company was founded by Joseph S. Ralston and Anton Becker in 1905, when the men bought the former plant of the Rarig Engineering Company on the east side of Columbus. The increasing power of steam locomotives drove demand for the all-steel cars they manufactured, and the company was extremely successful with their drop-bottom general purpose gondola car. These cars had bottom pans that would drop down, allowing coal to pour out instead of the traditional method using shovels and wheelbarrows. This allowed for automatic unloading of coal and hopper cars which led to more efficient production. With the exception of the Great Depression, Ralston experienced a successful run until the 1950s, when demand for freight trains dropped after World War II. The company shut its doors in 1953. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B07F07_005_1
Subjects: Manufacturing industries--Ohio; Steel industry; Transportation--Ohio--History; Factories
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
 

Description: Taken ca. 1930-1939, this photograph shows an aerial view of the International Harvester Company plant in Springfield, Ohio, located at Buck Creek and Lagonda Avenue. Founded in 1902, International Harvester manufactured farm equipment such as plows, harvesters, tractors, and automobiles. In 1985, International Harvester sold its agricultural division to a company called Tenneco, Inc., where its farming products are sold under the Case IH brand, and in 1986 the corporate company changed its name to Navistar International Corporation. This photograph is one of the many visual materials collected for use in the Ohio Guide. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Works Progress Administration by executive order to create jobs for the large numbers of unemployed laborers, as well as artists, musicians, actors, and writers. The Federal Arts Program, a sector of the Works Progress Administration, included the Federal Writers’ Project, one of the primary goals of which was to complete the America Guide series, a series of guidebooks for each state which included state history, art, architecture, music, literature, and points of interest to the major cities and tours throughout the state. Work on the Ohio Guide began in 1935 with the publication of several pamphlets and brochures. The Reorganization Act of 1939 consolidated the Works Progress Administration and other agencies into the Federal Works Administration, and the Federal Writers’ Project became the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio. The final product was published in 1940 and went through several editions. The Ohio Guide Collection consists of 4,769 photographs collected for use in Ohio Guide and other publications of the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio from 1935-1939. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B07F07_006_1
Subjects: Factories; International Harvester Company; Industries--Ohio--Springfield; Agriculture; Aerial photography; Ohio--History--Pictorial works; Works Progress Administration; Ohio Federal Writers' Project
Places: Springfield (Ohio); Clark County (Ohio)
 

Description: The photograph shows workers on a factory assembly line assembling refrigerators. The General Motors Corporation Frigidaire Division Plant No. 1 was located at 300 Taylor St., in Dayton, Ohio, and the assembling plant was located in Moraine, south of Dayton. It was the world's largest producer of electric refrigeration equipment and was Dayton's biggest single industry. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B07F07_007_1
Subjects: General Motors Corporation. Frigidaire Division, Dayton, Ohio; Refrigerators; Assembly lines; Factories; Industries--Ohio--Dayton
Places: Moraine (Ohio); Dayton (Ohio); Montgomery County (Ohio)
 

Description: This photograph shows the exterior of the Republic Steel plant in Warren, Ohio. Republic Steel Corporation was founded in 1899 in Youngstown, Ohio. The firm was originally known as Republic Iron and Steel Company. In 1927, Cyrus Eaton purchased a majority of the stock in the Republic Steel Company. Under Eaton's leadership, the Republic Steel Company expanded its manufacturing holdings to include plants in Massillon, Elyria, Canton, Cleveland, and Warren, Ohio. The company ceased to exist in 1984 when it merged with the Jones and Laughlin Steel Company to create LTV Steel. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B07F07_008_1
Subjects: Republic Steel Corporation; Factories; Industries--Ohio; Steel-works--Ohio--Pictorial works;
Places: Warren (Ohio); Trumbull County (Ohio)
 

Description: The first caption on the back of the photograph reads: "Polishing Glass, Rossford (Toledo) Photograph by courtesy of Libbey-Owens-Ford Glass Company." The second caption explains the action in the photograph: "The rough "blanks" of plate glass are ground and polished on continuous tables more than a city block long. Here men are shown placing plaster of Paris on the various "blanks" to hold them in place. Man in foreground is spreading out the setting plaster. In the background a suction-cup lifter is lowering a "blank" upon the production line for grinding and polishing in a a [sic] Toledo plant of the Libbey-Owens-Ford Glass Co., Toledo." View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B07F07_009_1
Subjects: Glass grinding and polishing; Libbey-Owens-Ford Glass Company; Factories; Industries--Ohio--Toledo
Places: Toledo (Ohio); Lucas County (Ohio); Rossford (Ohio); Wood County (Ohio)
 

Description: Illustration depicting the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company complex, located on the east side of the city in Mansfield, Ohio. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B07F07_010_1
Subjects: Factories; Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company; Industries--Ohio
Places: Mansfield (Ohio); Richland County (Ohio)
 

Description: Dated 1930-1943, this photograph shows a worker silhouetted against white-hot molten metal being poured from a blast furnace into a ladle. This could be one of any number of steel mills in Ohio. In the early nineteenth century, there were a number of furnaces in Ohio that processed iron. These small industries were made possible by local iron ore deposits in southern and eastern Ohio. In addition, some parts of Ohio also had coal deposits that could be used to fuel furnaces. Because of their proximity to the state's iron manufacturing, by the second half of the nineteenth century communities such as Cleveland, Akron, Canton, and Youngstown had begun to emerge as major industrial cities. Railroads also encouraged the growth of the iron industry. After the American Civil War (1861-1865), iron manufacturers in Ohio began to introduce new processes to refine iron ore. The resulting product was steel, which was much stronger and more versatile than iron. Because Ohio companies such as the Otis Steel Company were quick to adopt new technology, Ohio became the second largest producer of steel in the nation by the 1890s. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the rapid growth of some steel companies led to a wave of mergers that created big businesses like the United States Steel Company (U.S. Steel), Republic Iron and Steel Corporation, and Youngstown Steel and Tube Company. Very often, smaller companies that had produced either iron or steel since the early 1800s were taken over or driven out of business because they were unable to compete with the large corporations. The developments in the steel industry helped to encourage construction of large buildings, such as skyscrapers, as well as bridges and other projects. The automobile industry also contributed to the growth of the steel industry in the early decades of the twentieth century. This photograph is one of the many visual materials collected for use in the Ohio Guide. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Works Progress Administration by executive order to create jobs for the large numbers of unemployed laborers, as well as artists, musicians, actors, and writers. The Federal Arts Program, a sector of the Works Progress Administration, included the Federal Writers’ Project, one of the primary goals of which was to complete the America Guide series, a series of guidebooks for each state which included state history, art, architecture, music, literature, and points of interest to the major cities and tours throughout the state. Work on the Ohio Guide began in 1935 with the publication of several pamphlets and brochures. The Reorganization Act of 1939 consolidated the Works Progress Administration and other agencies into the Federal Works Administration, and the Federal Writers’ Project became the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio. The final product was published in 1940 and went through several editions. The Ohio Guide Collection consists of 4,769 photographs collected for use in Ohio Guide and other publications of the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio from 1935-1939. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B07F07_011_1
Subjects: Industries--Ohio; Factories; Steel-works--Ohio--Pictorial works; Blast furnaces--United States; Works Progress Administration of Ohio (U.S.)
Places: Ohio
 

Description: Dated 1930-1943, this photograph shows a worker silhouetted against white-hot molten metal being poured from a blast furnace into a ladle. This could be one of any number of steel mills in Ohio. In the early nineteenth century, there were a number of furnaces in Ohio that processed iron. These small industries were made possible by local iron ore deposits in southern and eastern Ohio. In addition, some parts of Ohio also had coal deposits that could be used to fuel furnaces. Because of their proximity to the state's iron manufacturing, by the second half of the nineteenth century communities such as Cleveland, Akron, Canton, and Youngstown had begun to emerge as major industrial cities. Railroads also encouraged the growth of the iron industry. After the American Civil War (1861-1865), iron manufacturers in Ohio began to introduce new processes to refine iron ore. The resulting product was steel, which was much stronger and more versatile than iron. Because Ohio companies such as the Otis Steel Company were quick to adopt new technology, Ohio became the second largest producer of steel in the nation by the 1890s. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the rapid growth of some steel companies led to a wave of mergers that created big businesses like the United States Steel Company (U.S. Steel), Republic Iron and Steel Corporation, and Youngstown Steel and Tube Company. Very often, smaller companies that had produced either iron or steel since the early 1800s were taken over or driven out of business because they were unable to compete with the large corporations. The developments in the steel industry helped to encourage construction of large buildings, such as skyscrapers, as well as bridges and other projects. The automobile industry also contributed to the growth of the steel industry in the early decades of the twentieth century. This photograph is one of the many visual materials collected for use in the Ohio Guide. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Works Progress Administration by executive order to create jobs for the large numbers of unemployed laborers, as well as artists, musicians, actors, and writers. The Federal Arts Program, a sector of the Works Progress Administration, included the Federal Writers’ Project, one of the primary goals of which was to complete the America Guide series, a series of guidebooks for each state which included state history, art, architecture, music, literature, and points of interest to the major cities and tours throughout the state. Work on the Ohio Guide began in 1935 with the publication of several pamphlets and brochures. The Reorganization Act of 1939 consolidated the Works Progress Administration and other agencies into the Federal Works Administration, and the Federal Writers’ Project became the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio. The final product was published in 1940 and went through several editions. The Ohio Guide Collection consists of 4,769 photographs collected for use in Ohio Guide and other publications of the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio from 1935-1939. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B07F07_012_1
Subjects: Industries--Ohio; Factories; Steel-works--Ohio--Pictorial works; Blast furnaces--United States
Places: Ohio
 

Description: Interior photograph taken at Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company, which was established in Youngstown, Ohio, in 1900. Starting with capital of $600,000, the company became one of the largest steel manufacturers in the world. The Briar Hill Steel Company of Youngstown was purchased in 1923, along with The Steel and Tube Company of America in East Chicago and Indiana Harbor, Indiana, making it the fifth-largest steel manufacturer in the United States. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B07F07_013_1
Subjects: Youngstown Sheet & Tube Company; Industries--Ohio; Steel-works--Ohio--Pictorial works; Factories
Places: Youngstown (Ohio); Mahoning County (Ohio); Trumbull County (Ohio)