Editor’s note: The second of two parts this week follows part one in the December 15, 2022 edition of The Voice by Charles Coddington which was a focus on two of the “Big Eight” manufacturing hubs in Aurora, All-Steel and Austin-Western Company.
Aurora used to be a major manufacturing hub whose factories sold to the Nation and the world. The major employer was the Chicago, Burlington, & Quincy railroad, now the Burlington Northern Santa Fe which operated its famous roundhouse repair shops on North Broadway Street. The combined factories overwhelmed the railroad in numbers of persons employed.
The Big Eight factories, in alphabetical order: All-Steel (office furniture); Austin-Western (road-clearing machinery); Barber-Greene (road-construction machinery); Equipto (space utilization products); Lyon-Metal (assorted steel products); Richards-Wilcox (office storage and filing systems); and Stephens-Adamson (conveyor systems).
Here is an explication of numbers three through eight large factories in Aurora:
• Barber-Greene Company on West Park Avenue was founded in 1916 by two local entrepreneurs and remained a family business until its end in 1985, Due to financial difficulties, the Company closed its doors, and was bought by Aztec Industries the following year. The operation subsequently was moved to Tennessee. The property was sold in 1987 to Trans Bulk, a wholesale lumber outlet.
• Caterpillar, Inc., on Illinois Route 31 in Montgomery, just south of Aurora. It is one of two of the Big Eight to remain in Aurora, with reduced employee numbers. It began life in 1925 with the merger of the C.L. Best Gas Tractor Company and the Holt Caterpillar Company. The name was reduced to its present name. In 1930, the operation was moved to Montgomery. Although strictly, Caterpillar is not an Aurora company, however, in heavy industry it is difficult not to include it on the list, given the short distance between the communities and the overwhelming large population and influence of Aurora.
• Equipto Manufacturing Company on Kensington Place started in 1907 manufacturing automobile parts, but diversified following World War II which ended in 1945. Equipto concentrated on industrial shelving. In a consolidation move, the plant was closed in 1993, and the operation was moved to Pennsylvania. The property was purchased by Shetland Properties in 1996 and morphed into Shetland Industrial Park.
• Lyon Metal Company, on Illinois Route 31 between Aurora and Montgomery, was founded in 1901 in Chicago as Lyon Metallic Manufacturing Company. It produced items ranging from garbage cans to kitchen cabinets. When it expanded operation to include steel lockers and shelving in 1906, it moved to aurora and changed is name to the shorter version. In a cost-cutting move, all manufacturing operations were moved elsewhere in 2009. The building is now a distribution center for the company’s products.
• Richards-Wilcox Company, on South Lake Street at Third Street, the other of the only two manufacturing concerns remaining of the Big Eight in Aurora, started in 1880, which makes it the longest continuing manufacturing operation in Aurora. Beginning in 1963, it went through a series of ownership by outside concerns, the latest the Bristol-Ill.-based Dexian UK Company. In 2003 three local employees of Richards-Wilcox bought out Dexian and returned the company to local control.
• Stephens-Adamson Company, on Ridgway Avenue, bean life in 1901 and in 1938 added Sealmasters Bearings to its line of products, by which its original industrial-league fastpitch softball team became internationally recognized in the late 1950s. Beginning in 1969, the Company went through a series of buy-outs by outside concerns, the first of which was Borg-Warner Company, Allis Chalmers Company bought it in 1974 and moved the manufacturing operation elsewhere in 1984 which left the only the engineering division. The last owner was Svedala Industries, which bought it in 1989 and moved operation elsewhere in 1993. The property is now home to a collection of small enterprises.
That was then and this is now. Industrialization continues its pace in the U.S. of A., however, no longer in Aurora insofar as heavy industry.
Aurora had its hour in the Sun and must step aside while others carry on. Even medium and small manufacturing companies have come and gone. My hometown city has become a home for the service industry and is making its mark there, which is as it should be.
President of the U.S., Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1945), once remarked that change is the only constant, and so it goes.
Just a thought.