Sunday, September 10, 2023

Tonawanda, NY: Western Electric/Curtis Wright Plant 1

Plant 1: (3d Satellite)
Another Plant: (3D Satellite)

Bartel Miller posted
The old Curtis Wright plant 1 in the 1930's! The plant, located on Vulcan street and Kenmore Avenue, was closed and sold to Western Electric after the conclusion of World War 2. Their other plant by the airport was also sold. Westinghouse purchased that massive structure.
[According to some comments, they built P-40 airplanes during WWII.]
Shelley Siedinski: I've worked at Speed for the past 16 years. The tiny rooms where the engines were tested are still there. We call them the 'catacombs'. They are rarely used and have an eerie quality to them.
Jim Myers shared

The Charter School for Applied Technologies uses the office building and Speed Global Services uses the factory building.

Street View, Oct 2020
A comment on Bartel's post: Mike Clifford: I worked there. That building on Northland was originally a foundry for the extrusion plant located across the yard at Grider and E Ferry. When I was there in the 90’s, a tube reducer was located in this building. All the steel for the extrusion plant came from Electro Melt out of PA.
Mike Clifford: I worked in that plant as it transitioned from CW to IXP. We had a 13,000 ton extrusion press and made seamless pipe for the OCTG industry. Also periscope rails and catapult tracks for the USN, structurals for the tails on Boeing 767(?) am song other stuff. Wyman-Gordon bought us, closed us and moved Rita (the press’ name) down to Texas.




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