Dayton, OH: Frigidaire Plant #3 & Headquarters and Electric Refrigerator History

#3: (Satellite, it is now a parking lot.)

Hedquarters: (Satellite)

Buildings #1 and #2 were evidently in Moraine, OH. [DaytonVistas] I'll leave them for another day.

Andrew Hershner posted six images with the comment:

Frigidaire Plant 3 

Below are 6 photos showing the original Frigidaire Plant 3 at Amelia and Keowee near Monument.

Photo 1: Plant #3 of Frigidaire at the corner of Amelia St and Keowee. Taken from Monument looking North towards the Keowee St Bridge. This plant was used during WW2 for the Manufacture and test fire of the M2 50 cal. Machine gun.Also included is a current view.

Photo 2: Frigidaire Plant #3 along Amelia St.  Amelia St. ran between the building on one side an the parking lot and Monument ave on the other. You can see the service flag for all the frigidaire employees oversees. If you look further down you can see the building that was Frigidaires Headquarters at 300 North Taylor Street, which was the original Delco Light Factory. [Delco was another GM division.]

Photo 3: A night view of plant 3 during World War Two 

Photo 4: A view of the Frigidaire marquee on top of plant 3 looking south from North Dayton

Photo 5 and 6: showing plant 3 during demolition In 1996.

Open photos for full view

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The plant was served by the B&O.

1955/57 Dayton North Quad @ 24,000

The foundation remnants are still present for the buildings along the river that we see in the topo map between Taylor and Keowee Streets.

Satellite

 

23:36 video @ 0:35
A History of Frigidaire
The first electric refrigerator designed for sale to the home consumer and backed by a company was the GE model in 1911 (screenshot). In 1915, the Guardian Refrigerator was formed in Fort Wayne, IN. In 1918, GM's founder, William C. Durant, invested in Guardian Refrigerator. A year later, GM bought the company and renamed it as Frigidaire. In conjunction with DuPont, Frigidaire developed Freon.

Frigidaire sold their millionth fridge in 1929. "In 1937, new fridges began including fancier components, such as ice dispensers and humidified drawers for produce....It was around this time that the executive team decided to expand its markets and release lines of ranges, air conditioners, and laundry products like washers and dryers." [ApplianceZone]

"In January 1979, General Motors announced it had sold Frigidaire to White Consolidated Industries [WCI] of Cleveland, Ohio." [findingaids] The above video says that White also bought other appliance companies. (Is this the same "White" that bought tractor manufacturers such as Oliver and Minneapolis-Moline?)

Manufacturing was moved from Fort Wayne to Detroit in 1919. In 1921, GM transferred the division "to its Delco Light subsidiary in Dayton, Ohio. With guidance from electrical engineer and Delco president Charles F. Kettering, Frigidaire made rapid progress....The implementation of efficient manufacturing processes brought the price of a Frigidaire refrigerator down to $468 per unit by 1926." (In 1919, the price was $775, which was too expensive for most consumers.) "The Frigidaire corporate entity was revived after 1986, when WCI became a subsidiary of Sweden's AB Electrolux. A 1991 reorganization brought all of the brands in WCI's Major Appliance Group under the aegis of Frigidaire Co. Brands offered by the reborn subsidiary included White-Westinghouse, Kelvinator, and Gibson." [FundingUniverse]

Building #3 "made washers, dryers, and dishwashers from the 1940s through the 1970s."  [DaytonVistas]

To support the World War II effort, Frigidaire stopped all civilian production and manufactured “363,000 .50 Caliber Browning M2 Aircraft Machine Guns, 1,000,000 spare .50 Caliber Machine Gun Barrels … 21,263 three blade Hamilton Standard propellers for the C-47, B-17, B-24, PB4Y and C-87, and 54,737 four blade propellers for the B-29 and P-47.” Company engineers also “made over 500 design and manufacturing changes to reduce the cost of the machine gun to 25% of the original cost, using mass manufacturing techniques.” [DaytonVistas]

See usautoindustryworldwartwo for more information about Frigidaire's war contribution.

Andrew Hershner posted eight photos with the comment:

This afternoon several historical photos of the Frigidaire complex that once stretched from Keowee to Webster along Monument. The official address was 300 North Taylor st. The headquarters buildings seen in several of the photos were originally used By Delco Light. The complex which was expanded over the years (most of it occurring during World War Two) included the absorption of the Dayton Biscuit Company Building( later Laurel Biscuits) which was located on Webster near the bridge (see last two photos). The Complex would later become home to Delco Air and then Harrison Radiator after Frigidaire was sold to White Consolidated in 1979, which in 1986 was purchased by Electrolux, its current parent.

Also included are several photos that show part of the complex as it looked prior to demolition which occurred starting in 2008 through 2010.

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Aerial view of the complex at its height of expansion

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Aerial view of the complex at its height of expansion

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Early aerial view of the Frigidaire complex.

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Frigidaire Headquarters at 300 N Taylor st. This building was originally used by Delco Light.

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Partial view of the complex in 2008

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view of the complex in 2008

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view of The Dayton Biscuit Company Building on Webster near the bridge. It had become the Laurel Biscuit Company by the time this photo was taken and would eventually be absorbed by Frigidaire.

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view looking North on Webster from Monument. The building with the windows was originally the Dayton Buiscut Company, it was later absorbed by Frigidaire. This photo was taken prior to demolition in 2008.