The Ferracute Legacy
By Albert B. Kelly
In recent days, you’ve no
doubt heard a lot about the “Ferracute Property”. Part of that is due to our
efforts to name a redeveloper for the Ferracute property as a first step in
trying to develop the site into something useful and productive again.
Members of City Council
deserve credit for stepping out with me in this effort because like so much in
life; there’s no guarantee of success, but for me there remains an obligation
to try. As President Kennedy once said “success has many fathers but failure is
an orphan”; only time will tell on this effort.
While we have talented
historians and preservations in Bridgeton who know the Ferracute history and
why it’s important to try, we take it for granted that most residents know the
significance of this property, but there are some who don’t know much about the
Ferracute history; which is considerable.
The 3.75 acre Ferracute
site, (429 E. Commerce Street) has 2 primary lots and sits at the corner of
East Commerce and North Elm Streets. Once home to the Ferracute Machine
Company; the site has an office building and a factory structure. Vacant,
deteriorated, and unproductive for over three decades; it was part of the wider
trend that saw the industrial-manufacturing base move down south or overseas.
The last attempt at any
kind of viability, came via the Abbott Manufacturing in the early 1990’s, a
highly questionable operation with financial problems and a serious fire in
1993 that resulted in demolition of the chimney and related structures causing
the site to remain vacant ever since.
But from a historic
standpoint, the site is where Ferracute founder Oberlin Smith did the bulk of
his work, including inventing the magnetic recording of sound. Oberlin Smith
was born in 1840 and in his twenties; he had his first machine shop on North
Laurel Street. With partner J. Burkett Webb, the shop turned out iron fences,
railings and furniture.
In the 1860’s, the
Smith-Webb partnership started making presses for food canneries locally and
eventually these presses were shipped around the country. In the early 1870’s,
Smith sold the Laurel Street shop and working with his brother (Fred), he
purchased the land currently known as the Ferracute Property near East Lake.
According to top-notch
research by our own Penny Watson from the firm of Watson & Henry, Oberlin
Smith exhibited no less than 9 presses at the Centennial Exposition in
Philadelphia in 1876. This high profile exposure led to a marked increase in
sales and expansion of the business.
By the 1880’s the
Ferracute Machine Shop grew to some 60 employees. Branching out; Smith and his
team made everything from bicycles to gas meters. The company also provided
presses to the likes of Eastman Kodak, Ford, Studebaker, Winchester Repeating
Arms, and International Harvester, helping to make them into the giants of
industry they ultimately became in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
During the period of the
1890’s, the Ferracute also branched out into the making of mints; shipping a
press to the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia. An acknowledged leader in the field of
coining presses, the Ferracute team shipped entire minting operations to China
and success there resulted in similar opportunities in places like Japan and
India.
While Oberlin Smith died
in 1926, the company was at its height in terms of success, and this continued
through the 1920’s until the Great Depression; when business fell sharply as it
did for so many businesses and industries during the 1930’s.
The company again played a
key role in World War II America, providing the presses that were sent on an
emergency basis to England to backfill the munitions left at Dunkirk in the
critical stages of World War II. The company, then under the leadership of
George Bass, provided the bulk of the presses shipped overseas during that
period. Ultimately, the business landscape changed again after the 1940’s and
business declined until it ceased in the late 1960’s.
While there is much more
to the Ferracute history than I’ve touched on here, I wanted to share a few
things to highlight why the Ferracute is special for our community. The company
and what was produced- even the site itself- links Bridgeton to a lot of
history. And that’s part of why I think I have an obligation today to try and
not only preserve the site, but make it relevant again in the 21st century
technology landscape.