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Hendey plant Torrington Ct.

Bellindustries

Cast Iron
Joined
Sep 18, 2008
Location
Thomaston Ct. USA
Hendeyman asked if I could get some pictures up of the old Hendey plant and give a little commentary on the state of things now. I am only to happy to do so, pictures will be a day or 2 as the weather here is not nice right now. As for the comment, you asked for it! The main buildings housed Stone container Corp for as far as I know since Hendey left, Stone left several years ago and that portion of the property is for sale or lease. I would love to move in there but they only fixed it well after it broke. Years ago my boss and I kind of obsessed about the whole rise and fall and did a ton of research, and were able to talk to several gentlemen who worked there. Amazing is all I can say! The Torrington Company owned or leased the "planer shed" and we used to do a ton of work for them so we got our buddy to snag the keys and let us in. There were no machines left:bawling: except for the way cool overhead gantry crane, complete with jump seat for the operator (no seat belts hee hee) it is about 35 to 40 feet to the seat. If you look at the 1940 ish book they show several awsome shots of this area and there is a sort of balcony around three sides, not sure what they kept up there jigs,fixtures,gages I would guess. We also got into the shipping barn with the railroad tracks still intact, with the switch gears and splitter for the narrow gage to run through the rest of the factory. Sadly the power house and foundry are now a JC Penny and a super Stop&Shop. During WWII they had enough generator capacity to run the entire city ( 10 box cars of coal a day). CL&P didn't have enough coal due to the war effort. Thats the story for now, I will update more and add pictures when I can, and when something pops into my head.
Terry
 
my Daughter went to High School in Litchfield and I would stay at the Yankee Pedaler in when I went to vist. I took many walks around the city, nice town. this was about 10 years ago. Was the Brunswick plant Hendy?
 
that is the building I thought was Hendy. Seems like it was Brunswick in the 90s, to bad it is going down hill now, reminds me of my Father's old building in Utica.
 
The Brunswick complex is (was) located about 3/4 mile north on the same river that the Hendey plant was on. Coe Brass was also located just downstreem of the Hendey plant.
 
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Well I know this is the building that I used to walk buy and wonder if it was Hendy, but it definetly had a Brusnwick sign on it so maybe they were using it for a while. I remember the Monitor roofs, building styles, street incline, it is across the street from a shopping center, a few blocks uphill from down town, etc. I was always interested in torrington, since it looked so much like Utica must of looked in its better days.
 
In the 90's Stone Container still had the whole complex except for the planer shed. I believe Stone left in the 97-98ish Brusnwick was at that time barely holding on and were consolidating operations to smaller and smaller portions of the huge complex. From the Peddler if you took a right out the door and another right at the end of the block and kept straight you would hit Brunswick, if you took the same right at the end of the block and then a left at the next, then another right one block down, and under the train tressel you would be at the corner of the planer shed as soon as you came out from under the tracks. Some years ago the historical society made a documentary "Pursuit of Precision:The Hendey Machine Co. 1870-1954" It was shown on PBS here. My boss and I had donated time and materials for the the Hendey shop at the Historical society and for our help we were invited to the screening at UCONN and were able to talk to one gentleman who was in a good portion of the film. His name was Paul (can't remember his last name) he started sweeping and worked up through into sales. Before he could try to sell a machine he had to be able to make the parts and assemble a machine, had to know what we was selling inside and out, literally. He told us a story of a machine in Chicago he sold, they were having trouble with the spindle bearings and poor finish, he had stopped in as a regular visit and boy did he get it! He got word back here to the plant and had a complete spindle out there express (I think he said it took 2 days) and he in his suit and tie ( well he took off the tie ) swapped out the spindles and got another order for a few more. Imagine the day when a salesman could trouble shoot and repair a machine! I don't think sales people (politically correct) to day would know how to open the electrical cabinet let alone tell you whats wrong and fix it while he happened to be there. I'm not sure if you can get the DVD from the Historical Society any more. We were given a DVD and really cool poster for our efforts as well as a chance to talk to some of the men who made Hendey. What an honor!
Terry
 
Photos

Here are a few pics of the front of the main buildings. The first are of the planer shed followed by the main offices. Pretty much the same pics John shared. Because the Torrington Co. is no more, Timken moved everything out except the sample shop which I don't even want to get into, ( I worked in sample shop when it was on the second floor and had 75-100 people now its in the back corner with 5 or 6 guys:() I have no way to get inside the shed. I think it has been sold anyway (I think my old boss is friends with a friend that bought it, I will find out tomorrow) So with out further ado here she is as of lunch time today!

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Not sure why the corner stone is in the middle on the second or third floor?

same part of the building as above this was the planer shed by the way

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under the train tressle

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the main building showing the offices (theres a couple of them)

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Didn't notice the Subaru till now sorry!

Will post more as I get em!
There is a moving and storage company in one part or another I will get more details and see if I can't get inside!
Terry
 
Beautiful.....

An excellent example of industrial architecture. Now if there was just a way to fit it in my back yard.......a real shop! I hope that I.D. stone (HM C0. 1906) stays around for a long time.
 
According to the website of the Torrington Historical Society:
http://compx2.com/ths/

The film "Pursuit of Precision is available from them on DVD and VHS. Click on "Information " to find their listing of publications which in addition to the DVD/VHS also includes the poster "Pursuit of Precision" based on an old Hendey poster. You cannot order these online (to save you the trouble of trying to figure our how).
David
 
I was poking around today and got the names of 2 company's that are in the main building. I am going to make a few calls and see if they will let me in to get some inside pics. I never would have thought of doing that until Hendeyman asked for pictures! Even if they wont let me take photos hopefully I can still take a good look around and report back. I would love to actually get into the final assy area, that is shown in the operators hand book with the funny pitched sky lights.
Thats all for now will update Monday or Tuesday when I hear back.
Terry
 
I am planning on doing a similar project with some of the Cincinnati machine tool plants, ie, showing modern images of whatever is left. I frequently drive by the old LeBlond plant with its huge smokestack---right in the heart of a yuppie shopping center. I have addresses for L&S, Niles, ATW, Greaves/Klusman, and a few others, though I have no idea if anything is left standing. This is a project I am hoping to pursue over the fall/winter slow down in my line of work.
 
Initeresting. I grew up in Cornwall, so Torrington was always "town" for us, and I still get down there from time to time. I never really got familiar with all the factories there, but I'll have to get a closer look next time I'm down.

I was sad to see last time I was there that the big Torrington Co. plant seems to be closed.
 
Bruto, what a small world, I was born and still live in Cornwall! Now I work in the big city. We used to goto Torrington every other week to stock up on grain for the critters and sometimes actually go into shop rite what a thrill! And yes it is sad to see the Torrington Co. really is closed, and its really strange to go through and see the odd photo-copier and office chair in the halls. As I had mentioned the only thing still there sort of is Sample shop which is in the back corner of the Excelsier building (the whole complex was once 6 city blocks of manufacturing now its down to around 80 thousand sq. ft.) They are also planning on tearing down the six story tall section thats along side RT 4. Very sad indeed.
Terry
 
Just an update. I have been bouncing between 2 different customers about 60 miles apart working on three different problems. (yeah!!) I will try to get to the inside pics next week!
Terry
 
Bruto, what a small world, I was born and still live in Cornwall! Now I work in the big city. We used to goto Torrington every other week to stock up on grain for the critters and sometimes actually go into shop rite what a thrill! And yes it is sad to see the Torrington Co. really is closed, and its really strange to go through and see the odd photo-copier and office chair in the halls. As I had mentioned the only thing still there sort of is Sample shop which is in the back corner of the Excelsier building (the whole complex was once 6 city blocks of manufacturing now its down to around 80 thousand sq. ft.) They are also planning on tearing down the six story tall section thats along side RT 4. Very sad indeed.
Terry
Small world indeed. I happen to be in Cornwall tonight, and was in Torrington this afternoon. Unfortunately, taking my mom to the dentist, and unable to linger to hunt for factory buildings. Between the Alzheimer's and the nearly non-functional knees, there's not much slack for sightseeing. You may know my mom, or know of her: Beth Currie, on Cemetery Hill.

Next time we're here I hope I'll have a couple of hours to spare, so I can get out and scout around a little more. Among other things, I'd like to drop into the Torrington Historical Society and see if I can get a copy of the Hendey DVD.
 
Sad Update

This morning around 5:00 am Torrington time a four alarm fire broke out at the Hendey facility.:bawling: The back side of the plant seems to be a total loss, the front section shown in the photo's and the final assembly seems to be ok. I will try to get some photos tomorrow as the road is still blocked off and the are pouring water on whats left of the second and third floors.
Terry
 








 
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