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Greetings Packard Fans, just wanted to relay some sad news. The "Original Packard Plant" in Warren Ohio, and run be GE, was closed Friday, Jan,24, after 123 years of being in business. The building was build in 1890 by William D Packard and James W. Packard who started Packard Electric at that time. Later on in 1899 They build the first Packard automobile at that location. The build which stands on North Park Ave, in Warren, was a lamp plant, and at one time employed 1200 people. This past year there were only 125 employees and due to a vote by the remaining workers not to accept a new contract from GE, the plant was scheduled to close on Friday. Sad to say the vote to accept the new contract which would have kept the plant open was only defeated by 8 votes. I am sure the plant will be put up for sale, so here is your chance to purchase the "original" Packard Plant, and not fret over the one in Detroit, as this building is in great shape. I only live 15 miles from it and drive by all the time. If you want to see a photo of the original plant and the article about it you can go to Vindy.com and check out the article on the front page of Jan.24 2014 paper and the photo is on page A 4.

Here is the link:
vindy.com/news/2014/jan/24/lights-out-at-ge-lamp-plant-in-warren/

Notice that the paper referred to it as the GE Lamp Plant. Guess closing is what happens when the government decides do forbid incandescent lamps.

Attached is the only online photo from the article that I could find.

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John

Sad day

I have a picture around here somewhere taken by that building during the Centennial in 1999. There is a plaque Packard put on the wall celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first Packard. I used to own a 1950 Eight that was built very close to that event. Stuart Blond took a picture of me and the car by the plaque, 50 years after the car was built and the plaque installed , and 100 years after the first run.

Maybe I can figure out how to scan and post it.



Regards

John Harley

I will get a better photo of the outside of the Building. The building sure doesn't look that old and it was kept up very well. The main entrance door area has not been changed, and the garage door where they rolled the first Packards out can be seen in the photo. Now that would be the place of buy and fix up. I bet the city and GE would be willing to make a deal just to save it.

John Harley's 50 Eight at the plant, and the plaque.

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I might be wrong, but I don't think they were making standard A19 screw base bulbs at the plant.

For the union to vote themselves into unemployment (especially in Ohio - an economic black hole) means the terms must have been pretty rotten.

The big problem with bulbs is that today's cars barely use any. It's all LED that costs a fortune to replace and is blatant built in obsolescence.

However, the quality of conventional merchandise being sold is total junk. For example, my modern car is 18 years old and has never needed a bulb. When I was in Pentagon City brand new fleet vehicles were burning bulbs out.

Owen

Thanks for posting the pictures. It saved me the bother of pulling the album apart to scan them.

Looking at them caused considerable reflection about the changes that have happened since, particularly in places like Warren. The two business started by the Packard brothers supported many families in Warren for over a century but the current owners were unable or unwilling to change the operations to keep manufacturing viable for the 21st century.

Makes one wonder about what innovation meant to different generations



Regards

John Harley

You're right that something is rotten in the way people think. In terms of places like Washington DC people who live and work in a place like Warren are just losers. American politics likes to pay lip service to so-called family values but actions don't support that babble.

In England the rich have bled the population base so heavily the birth rate has collapsed and now there aren't enough poor slobs to support the rich.

I don't have any kids. After I graduated from a university I quickly found work in science. That became harder and harder to sustain and the conditions more and more harsh. Soon all management were people whose primary skill was devaluing people.

When I came to work in automotive Detroit I found about a 50/50 mix of jerks versus real people. Those odds are better and lately work has been pretty good. At one place the notion of using analysis to deal with billion dollar problems was considered enemy thinking. That's no place for me.

However, the age of scientific thought is dead. The rich can rely on immigration for people to soak.