Much of Cleveland’s historic industrial landscape can still be seen today, though more often than not in a far different light than it was 60, 40, or even 30 years ago. Cleveland is a fairly old city, established in 1796, following only 6 years after Washington D.C. This means that as Cleveland was on its way to becoming a major US city, it saw one of the heaviest parts of the industrial revolution in the United States. Cleveland welcomed industrial growth with open arms, incorporating anything from garment factories to steel mills, iron works, coal plants, rayon plants, chemical plants and more. Cleveland’s automotive industry is a notable one as well. Following right behind Detroit, Cleveland was the next main hub for most automotive production in the US. It has been said that Detroit is actually the only city in the US with a better claim to being the heart of the automobile revolution.

While many of the old structures still stand, a lot has fallen apart over years of continuing industrial decline in the United States. This heavy decline over many decades has made Cleveland a main hub for showcasing the varied industrial decay of the rustbelt. One among many of these now dilapidated structures is the Warner & Swasey Company factory.  

The Warner & Swasey Company was responsible for constructing the former observatory in East Cleveland. The company was owned and run by Worcester Reed Warner and Ambrose Swasey, and made precision instruments and telescopes in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. In the early 1900s, they had become trustees of the Case School of Applies Science (later renamed to Case Institute of Technology), and had built the Warner & Swasey Observatory in East Cleveland. They had donated the observatory to the school in 1919. Though this observatory remains one of the most known and visited abandoned structures in all of Cleveland, there’s quite a bit more to the Warner & Swasey Company and their role in Cleveland’s industrial history, as well as US history as a whole.

The company was founded as a partnership in 1880 by Worcester R. Warner and Ambrose Swasey. This was only a few years after Swasey invented the epicycloidal milling machine for cutting true theoretical curves for the milling cutters used for cutting gears. The company contributed mostly in the way of optical devices, such as astronomical telescopes, rangefinders, optical gun sights and more, though also were heavy producers of turret lathes. Many of these lathes were used to produce components for tanks, guns, ships and airplanes during the war. After World War II, the company had also entered the heavy equipment industry. They established their business in Cleveland due to a higher number of skilled machinists compared to other cities like Chicago, which had initially been their first choice as a place to build their works.   

For the first 20 years, the two had worked together operating the company without a formal corporate agreement. After 20 years of successful growth, it was agreed upon between Warner and Swasey that the business had grown enough to deserve a formal corporate structure. In 1900, they had reorganized it under the official name of the Warner & Swasey Company, which it would remain under for the next 80 years. At one point, the company employed over 7,000 people.

Throughout the early to mid-20^th century, the company had grown to be well known in American industry. Turret lathes and other instruments created by the company had played very prominent roles in war efforts during both world wars. From the 1950s through the 1970s, Warner & Swasey was one of the major companies that followed into the world of NC (numerical control) and CNC (computer numerical control) machining. The use for programming languages to be used in numerical control machines was proposed by the Air Force, and accepted in 1956, which led to the commercial use of CNC machines. The Warner & Swasey Company can be noted as one of the largest forefront companies in the US to utilize CNC machines upon their introduction to the industrial market.

After 100 years of operation, Warner & Swasey, like many other companies at the time of heavy merger and acquisition in the world of industry fell victim, and was acquired by the Bendix Corporation in 1980. The Cleveland factory was then vacated in 1980 and fully cleared out by 1985 to be sold. As of 2019, the structure has sat abandoned for almost 40 years collecting rust and slowly falling further into disrepair. Now just a battered shell of urban industrial decay, the factory sits open, continuously bombarded by the elements, year after year falling further into a worsening state of dilapidation with the passing of time.

Though the factory remains quiet and empty, a lot of Warner & Swasey history remains across the United States to this day. In fact, there are 30 observatories in the United States that use, or have used telescopes or other equipment created by the Warner & Swasey Company.

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OHIO’S FORGOTTEN HISTORY

This is just one of many places that will be featured in my upcoming book “Ohio’s Forgotten History”

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