MANSFIELD — The history of Westinghouse in Mansfield reaches back more than a century.
Here is a timeline history of Westinghouse in Mansfield, from 1918 to the start of today’s demolition celebration.
1918 — Westinghouse moves into the former Baxter Stove Co. along the railroad tracks on East Fifth Street to fabricate electric stoves. An announcement was mad in February and the plant was in full operation by May. Initial employment was 125 people at what became known as the “A” building.
1923 — The Fifth Street plant was called the Westinghouse Electric Products Co, one of 39 in the United States. Mansfield was an appliance division, including electric ranges, water heaters, safety switches, toaster stoves, “Cozy Glow Heaters,” electric irons, vacuums, roasters, fans, curling irons, and coffee makers. In 1922, the plant started making radios, and “radiophones” (for communicating with airplanes).
1924 — Employment rises to 1,200 in four different buildings.
1931 — The 1930s started with 1,879 employees. In 1931, Westinghouse started making refrigerators in Mansfield and added 500 more to the local payroll.
1934 — Westinghouse creates a model home on Andover Road in Mansfield to showcase all of their domestic electrical appliances families couldn’t live without—most of which they hadn’t even realized they needed. Before it closed in 1936, more than 75,000 visitors from all over the US walked through its doors.
1937 — Westinghouse builds a huge warehouse on the other side of Fourth Street, requiring the landmark bridge.
1940 — Mansfield site begins the 1940s and record production, 5,000 employees and the addition of two more buildings.
1943 — World War II had huge impact on the Mansfield plant with steel rationing and a reduced workforce as the factory was retrofitted to manufacturing equipment to support the war effort.
1955 — Westinghouse employs 8,177 workers at its zenith.
1956 — Labor-management relations became frayed. In 1946, the United Electrical Workers Local 711 closed the plant for 115 days. A violent strike marred the city in 1956 when Westinghouse was picketed for 156 days.
1975 — During a decade of a dangerously sagging economy, Westinghouse sold the Mansfield works to White Consolidated Industries of Cleveland. The strain of hard times wreaked havoc in Mansfield with a three-month labor strike in 1976.
1990 — Known as Mansfield Products Company, the plant was slowly whittled down to encompass only the laundry division of White-Westinghouse. Just 643 employees were employed when local operations ended in 1990.
2012 — After standing empty for a couple decades, a great deal of the Westinghouse structure was removed in 2012, leaving a 13-acre “concrete jungle: and a few buildings, one of which was the original 1918 factory along East Fifth Street.
August 2021 — Richland County Commissioner Tony Vero announces a public-private effort, including the Richland County Land Bank, to acquire, demolish and remediate three former Westinghouse properties — the former “A’ building, the “concrete parcel” just to the east, owned by Mansfield Business Park, LLC, of Richfield, Ohio; and a nearby vacant building, owned by Electrolux, based in North Carolina.
Dec. 1, 2012 — The Richland County Land Bank on Wednesday officially accepts ownership of the “A” building, the first step toward the demolition of a 5-story decaying building that has dominated the city’s eastern skyline.
Dec. 14, 2021 — The Richland County Land Bank board takes the first step toward demolition, approving state applications for about $7.7 million worth of projects in the first round of funding, including former Westinghouse properties and the former Ocie Hill Neighborhood Center.
Dec. 16, 2021 — Richland County commissioners on Thursday pledge up to $1 million in matching funds toward the brownfield cleanup of former Westinghouse properties on the city’s east side.
Dec. 30, 2021 — The Richland County Land Bank board accepts donation of the 13-acre “concrete jungle,” clearing the way for it to be cleaned up.
Jan. 18, 2022 — Mansfield City Council authorizes up to $500,000 for the the demolition and clean up of former Westinghouse properties. Just like Richland County commissioners, the city will use American Rescue Plan Act funds.
April 26, 2022 — Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine comes to Mansfield to announce $3 million in state grants to help demolish and clean up local former Westinghouse sites. Combined with $1 million in local funds, the project can go forward.
July 29, 2022 — Eleven companies tour the Westinghouse properties before possibly submitting bids to demolish and clean up the properties.
Aug. 11, 2022 — The Richland County Land Bank awards a $4 million demolition/remediation contract to R&D Excavating of Crestline.
Sept. 8, 2022 — Contracts for the demolition are signed.
October 4, 2022 — Demolition/remediation work begins on the three properties, including a significant asbestos abatement effort inside the former “A” building.”
Nov. 23, 2022 — The Richland County Land Bank announces actual demolition of the former “A” building is scheduled for Dec. 19 at 3 p.m. as part of a “Westinghouse Demolition Extravaganza.”
December 2022 — Efforts are successful to remove a historic entry way into the “A” building. The stones and bricks are removed and stored. Plans are to rebuild the large archway at the Westinghouse site when it’s demolished and cleaned up.
(The work of local historian Timothy Brian McKee contributed to this report.)
