The Point Breeze plant of the Western Electric Company / Edwin M. Gue

th:: poiiit Brt:^'!;^-^ plmt op te'C "f'^.sT'^i^E .''^iriCTPLic cojrpAiiy

■^DWrtT M. GUI]

///^/3o

The establishment of the Point Breeze 'Vorks of
the 'Vestern ''llectric Company in Baltimore.Hd, is a t^/pical
example of the many companies, which have ohosen that city
as the site to build factories. Such activity has increased
thB industrial prestijre of Baltimore,

About one year rgo the Vestern lleGtric Company
with two manufactiiring plants, realised the need of a new
factory.

The location of this plant at Point Breeze was
the result of a long and thorough investl;!Tation with cer-
tain requirraentB in mind.

Due to the necessity of beginning manufacturing
at once '-eatern Slectric rented the Colgate 'Warehouses
and planned to lay out a small plfnit thsre.

At the new plant there is to l>e a cable building,
an insulated wire frctory, a power h.:nise,a s-cale h6\3se and
office buildings. In addition roads, streets, and parks
are to be laid out,

A bulkhead is also being constructed In the Pat-
apsco river and Colgate creek, to provide docking facilities
and to re-'laim land,

Beginjiing only a fev; days after January 1,19?.9 de-
velopment at the Colgate ".Warehouse h was very rapid, llany
sections were taken over, and a complete manufacturing unit

'7. H, Meese, Works Manager at Point Breeze

THE] POINT T^R'-l^^Si: PMU'C 0? Ym l^.f^'H'^RH [^Ji^j^.'V'^lC COrPATTY

IRTHODTT^TION

At tbe present tir.e in the City of Baltiriore,
Trlthin viBion of the -^vnovB Fort '''cHeniry, the hirthplrce
of the '*Star Span^^led Banner," there is helnr conB+ruoted
one of the ^re-^^t'est raaniiff.ctnrln-^ plrnts in the strte of
Maryland. This referr; to the new Atlantic Beahoard plrnt
0' the '/eotern "'Uectric Gonpan^f, lu.r.ely the ''"'oint Breeze
'Vorfcs. Thin «:i?:antiG indiir^trirl enter"nrlRe in r typicrl
exR:3:ple of tlio laany Gor.ipanies, ^vhich, dnrin^- the pant fev/
ye.-rs, hare choBen Balti.'-^ore, Tarj^'land a;-- the sjte to bnlld
plantsa, in preference to the other indnc'ricl citien t:.lon;'
the Atlantic Coa^t. IJotahle anoii^ these conpfnies are the
CiirtiBS-Caproni Aircraft Gorport tion, Proctor and Ganhle Co.,
Standard Sanitary Kan7factllrin'^ C,or\-pvnyf and the lentern
Electric Co-jipany--.^:ll o-^ ther.e attracted to Br Iti-ore hy
the city'c ideal location and the cooperative ar.KiFitf.nGe of
its officirls.

All of ■^heae jaanufactTU'in;'? units have increared
the indnstrial rsrestige of 'Baltiy.ore and o:^" the ^tate of
Varyl'iid. Hence they are all o^ inportance, hTit perhaps the
parar^onnt one in pnhlic interest today is the Point P-reeze
'.Vorlcs of the Western "^llectric Gonpany, This-^ inter ep.-i; in
prohahly |A to the vAze of the project; to th.' fact tht t it
is under construction at the pree.ent tlno, rn'' to the fact

-2-

tliat thin enterprine rfhen completed, will rrrJ: Baltimore
£.s the n.'tlon's thirrl telephoBS r-r.rmfrctnrin-' citv, 'Tence
this project is worthy of note to r,ll T'orylrnderfi, no in
the follov/lns: pages T will -i'/e RO-.e infor-i? tion re-prriinr
the hictor;/, locr tion, doni;';!!, ; nd other pniut:' of Interest
concerning the "^oint Breeze "Plant.

HISTORY Alio R^lASOMfj 0?. BriLDIlIf'^ A l^W FACTORY

The hii3tory oi the Point Tireoze 'VorlcB hr.p. its
source v/ell hack in the annals of the /estern 'jlectric
CoEipRny,

The "/evStern Uectric Gor.vpnny is the r/.aniTir eti:rin!:,
purchasing, distrihutino:, and Ki^ppljr subsidiary of the
A!?>,erican Telephone ond Telegraph CoT^.psny. AhOTit one ^/evr r^ro
this corporction had two hrr.nches, one, the Hawthorne "/or]:s
c.t Chiorfo, 111. and +he other tlio erntorn fnctory rt TCerrny,
Nev7 Jersey. These tv/o plrntrj were e^'^ployin'^ rhoiit -30,000
people, yet it vvbr evident thrt eren if they he exp' nded to
their '»;rerie't porsihle di^-en^ions, they won Id not her hie
to si^pply the fiitiire de-n.-ndc, e-specially for lon«: distmce
coKivinii cf t ion appr-ir.'; tus .

In the lsf":t five yerrs thero her, heen ri tre^ond-
OTjg htilldin'' ■pro.rreTi in the United otc.tec, '"'ny office
Iirjldinj'S hi ve heen confitrncteri rnd there hc.y heen an in-
cre.T.ned deruind for hrnd ets, denksets, cr^hle teriinr.ls rnd
other telephone <':,ppf?.rttuG, Alno the hiiolneos 'u:n hen learned
to make vne of the ^reat -udllity of the l-'nr lintance tel-
ephone ,, instead of leaving tin hiislness and r\ahin»^ a journey

-i3-

to carry on go?'0 desl or pronositioii lie rr.rkes une of 1011,'^:
distfiiGQ telephony and Jsaren botla ti^e f-nd r.oney. This
inc^ea^•ed "ase has cn.ised ;• >»rec':ter detif nd for puch lines aad.
hencG for lonr dist; iico telephone cj:hle. 3o in order t .r.eot
this iiicrei^red der-isnd v. new plant lu-'l to he conBtni.cted, the
purpose of which Iv, explrined hy ^^dsrar y. Blooix, president
of the ■'/eRtorn Electric Corapany, in the follov/inr atcitenent ,
He stys, "The Baltimore Plant iB reonirrd primarily for the
for the mamifacture of telephone cable to meet the increasing
demands of the American public for loniT iistJ^nce telephone
seryice. The improvement .15 in trnnsmisBion and in the maniif-
BCtiire of long distance telephone cable have revolutionised
long distance telephony. 'Vhile these improvements hcve m£! do
possible the things to v/liich I have jtist referred, I believe
lon^ distance telephony is still in its infancy."

LOCATION Oy POIIJT BH 'P-^ZiS AIJD R'HAHOire FOR GHOOSIirr SITR]
In searching for site for the new plant the
company's engineers hod several msjtters in mind, First^they
def;ired r, site alonr': tha Allu,ntiG seaboard in order to be 7ier.r
the lew York and Hew Jersey Telephone Companies, the greatest
users of toll cable. The comnany also desired from 100 to 150
acres of Itrid, well located as to transportation facilities,
both water and rail; proximity to an adeqiiete labor supply for
a plant th t would have an ultimate ca-pacity of 50,000 employ-
ees; rer.sonable ta?: r;tes; suf iciont power at fair rates and
governing officials with a fevor-ble attitude toward indiistry.

-4-

The compfiny's officials first visitod the principle
railroads serying the Atlantic senboard and found mont of them
rerdy to give a.sRist&nce. Eoxt they went to all the possible
cities and ecch one wg.b given r. thDroijn:h investigation.
Finally the prospects were thinned down to three cities,
Y/ilmin.^ton, Philadelphiai and Balti'iore, Of those throe cities
Baltimore was chosen s.p. t e niost desirable one dne to its
excellence of location^ md to the wholo-heartod cooperation
of its busines' nen. In v/lnnin,rr this nev/ indnstry for the city
the Industrial Bureau, and or.'^aiization whose purpose is to
encourage new business in Baltimore and to render thern all
possible aid in "becoininp: eBta.blished, ^ns very active in sidinr-
the 'Western iSlectric Gonpany to deterriine the most advantageous
site.

With tho aid of the above nentloned Btireou and
its director 11, i'indlay French, the company decided upon
Point Breeze, a section of la,nd loca'^ed in the Canton district
of Baltimore on the Northern side of the Patapsco river. It
was only after con^^iderablo deliberations that this i3ite v/as
chosen, as it w as necessary to consolidate two pieces of
property owned by different interests, Purthermore a railroad
passed directly tlirough the property inhere it v?oiild be necessary
to construct buildings. Also the land on deep v;ater could
not be made of sufficient area to handle shipping unless the
IT. S. Government v/ould grant the Company perinission to cons-
truct bulkheads in the Patapsco river and In ^^olgate Croek,
finally all of these difficulties were arranged by the im-

-R-

selfish, cooperation of the citizens and officials, and as a
re stilt V/e stern ,'illectric pitr chased the property from the riill-
road corapany and tho Gunton company.

It Ik hu interesting fact to note that River View
Park occupied part of this land for many years and before
constrnction for the Point Breeze '/orlCxS coi^ld becrln, rollar
coasters, nierry»»go-ro"aiids, and all sorts of anrasenent dOTic os
had to be removed,
D?,3I0TJ 0"^ TORKS AT GOL^A'TS ■.YAPJ'iIHOTT'; 53

In studying the design of the Point Breese ''!or]£8,
there are two di:^ferent plants to be considered, that is, the
temporary quarters in the Colp:tite j'orehouses must bo explained
as well as the v/ork at the Point,

The 'Testern Electric Company, desirinn: to be^in
operations at onoe an^l knowinf^ that some little time woiild
elapse before manufacturing could berin at the Point, rented
from tlie Canton Gompan;/ a frroup of one stor;/ buildings Icnov/n
as the Colgate '.Varehouses. These warehouses are located only
a short distance from the iroposed plant ?::nd are nov; being
used as 'he rnanufrctiirinG" and storing unit of the ?oint T3ree se
Works. There are foixi' rows o:'" thene barracks, separated by
concrete drives. On the outer sideB of buildings 1 and 8
there is a freight landing, Virhich extends the entire len-Tth of
the structures. The v/arahouses are numbered in the foliar:! ng
manner: dlonfr the ends they are labelled 1, 3, 3, aM 4 md
each separate warehoiise Ib divided into sections desin:n?.ted
by the letters A, B, G, Th^is it is possible to refer

(

a'chiteot 'b drawing olT find plant

-G-

directly to one particnlr-.r soGtion of the •a:ronp, as A~2,
this of course, siginifies the first section In "/^rehouse rio,
2, and as the above method is applied to till divisions it
greatly enhances the ease of directin;T: or I'eferring to any
definite section of the plnnt.

As stated above the 'Ypjrehotises are n coTriT-'lete inr;rm-
factnrlng iinlt and ;ire laid out in such a manner as to provide
departments for f.ll branches of the v/ork. The en.^ineer v/ho
was chrTrred with the task of layinjr out, reiriOdellinf\ , find.
Installlns: machiiiery in the barren v/arehoiises was Charles ■'.
Davidson of the Factory Planning Division of the 'Western
raiectrlc Oorapany. A thorough dlsci^sslon of this installation
and development will be given in p. later paragraph,
DESirJlI op N?7 PLAZTT

Nov/ the most important part of the design miist be
considered, that is, the part at the ^oint itself. The
accompanyinpr drav/ing will perhaps be more explanatory thart
the following disconrse, however a few facts may help t o ex-
plain some of the details.

The main parts of the Point Breeze 'Vorks ire the
cable plant; the insulated wire plant; the building of a bulk-
head to reclaim land e^.nd to provide a suitable dock for deep
water vessels; the yard railroad scale house; the pov/er house,
and the railroad tracks. In addition there ivill eventually be
constructed store houses; concrete roa.ds and streets; light-
ing systems for all roads, an'^ complete park and playground
facilities for tho use of fie einployees.

''^'f ^ausiiiiiilsasssaiiiKffi __

.aJ^'iSfii

i^

"%

%«

-7-

The fir^-it unit of the cable plant is the larsrest of
the biiildings now incler constniction, Itn iiiiiennions are 500
feet \';ide by 600 feat long, and it has-:: a total floor aree. of
7.5 acres. At the ';Qrth "Vest corner of the structure there Is
a three-story office hiTildinP^. The syperstrnctitre hef! a frnrtie-
work of structural steel which hs.s a total weight of abotit
4,500 tons. This enormo-us frameworic is supported by 5,500
GTibic yards oi concrete v/hioh rests on S,800 piles. The out-
side walls are made of brick while the roof, or the open sect-
ions of the roof, is covered with a speoiril trlnss which permits
the passage of trie ultra-violet rays of light into the building^.
Another feature of the building is th^t It is so constriioted
thfit additional units "nay be built to it at any time. In this
tremendous plant there is to be installed and in fret is being
installed all the necesrcry apparatus for the manufacture of
lead and tape armoltred coble. This includes insulators, cotton
binders, tv/inters, slranding int chines, lead presf as end the new
35 ton tape amoitring machines.

The second largest building is the insulated wire
building. It in to coyer 6.4 acres and to be Bimul;;r and ad-
jacent to the -able mannf'::ctnring unit, /.Iso it is onl- one
unit of the probable plant of the future. The only real dif-
ference in design and construction from the cable building is
that the nature of the soil under this structure riakes the
driving of piles unnecessary, but there are about 2,000 cubic
yards of concrete foundation which support the steel super-
structTire,

^0 IiisrlBtE^l ""ire ■p.iTil.iinfr

-0-

The other niaiii bulldinpis teina; erected rt pret-ient
are the holler house portion of the power imit, which when
completed will arise to a height approximately eonfil to tJte t of
a thirteen-story b-ailding, raid the railroad scale house.

In addition to these projects there is also another
major o^^eration on the Point. This in the hulkhead, v;hich is
bieinaj constructed to provide i satisfpctory doclc for sea
going frei;^hters. This hnlkheed will he v.. concrete v/all, whicji
rises seven feet from mean low tide f.nd will h;. ve a total
length of 7,100 feet. There will jiIho hj a suhstnntial "rip-
rap" deposited to c.ct as a sustaining wall foi- the fill-had:
of tjie hulkhead. This wall
will he Gonstrueted in the
waters of the I'^atapsco rivor
and the Dolaiate Creek, and
will serve as the new shore
line of the Point, As this
line will he extended from
the old position, a numher
of acres now under water v/ill
he reclaimed.

The above laeiitioned
structures, along v/ith several
miderpaff&es, ^re the main feat-
ures of the Point Breeze 'Vorks
at present , hut from the accorji-

panying drawing it is seen that Vie^s of property lines and

bulkheads

-9-

many more namifacturing units, and beautifying projects are
contemplated in tlie future, The man in cliarge of the design and
construGtion of the plant is Herbert ^r. Dean, Construction
Engineer, and a representative of 0. ^. Spnrling, the co;np-
any's ^-^ngineer of Plant.
D'WH:I0P>T^NT at OOLGATa -'/AHI^HOITSKS

A few days after Januar;/ 1, 1959, \-iheii it was fin-
ally settled as to the location of the new factory, negotiat-
ions were carried on by the Western :-']lectric Company vd. th the
Canton Goinpany for the rentimr of a pert ion of the Colgate
V/arehouses. So about the third v/eek in January, 19S9 the
Company took over Sections ? and G in V/arehouse No. 1, and
the installation of flame-proof wire equipment was promptly
stf-rted. A hospital rnd offices v/ere also installed in
Building G— 1 jtb u'ell as facilities for shipping and receiving.

However the demana f02: more npace grew, ;.- nd in Aiiri 1
1939, "Building E-1 was rented. This section with a floor area
of 32,400 squfjre feet was used to install more Y/ire equipment;
and to provide a re taurant for the ever- increasing number of
emuloyees.

During the same month the Company also rented sect-
Ions J-2 and G-3, with a combined area of 41,600 square feet.
In Building F-2 machine shop equipment was Installed, and to-
day it is one of the finest shous of its nrture in t he country.
In Section G-2 a tool room vras laid out. Toward the end of
Fay, the Buildings 3-2 and H-1 were also taken over, !>ection
H-1 with an area of 19,200 square feet v/as to be used for the

4

^'^^^^^ ^L ^H ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^H

1

UNDERWflB|

Bqton

II* G, lean, Construdtion ^n.crineer

-10-

manufacture of er.ble ternl?iol,s, v/hlle i^-g was ass-lsnied to leed
covered calile apparatus wliioli included '>vinders, doublers, £nd
tvisterR "but not the lead presres. The raanufrcture of fuses
was also started in tiiip Kcction,

On August 10, 1929, 5,400 square feet in rieGtion A-3
were rented to he utilised a*- a storehouvse for machinery, aid
a clearing hou.ge for equipraeiit destined for the Point, ^XMng
this \*iole period the office force had ftrov/n steadily and rooms
for them hod heen found in different parts of the Tnanuf^cturing
sections, however, it I'tas (decided th: t thoy should he more cent-/'
ralized in a better locp.tion. It the sane time it became nec-
essary to h* ve more space for merchandise, no in order to re-
move these tv/o conditionH Building A and C v/ere talcen over on
October 29, 19S9, Of the--e tv/o aections, A v/r.s a,ssigned to tlie
merchendise department f.nrl w^.s utilized as the nev> loc tion
of the entire office group.

The si:ae of the plant on IJovenemher IE, 1929 was- as
follovVB: Totf-il gross^ area in the .Varehouses 194, SOD Bqi:^-. re
feet, made up of 83,200 square feet in Ho. 1; 105,600 squere
feet in ;>Io, 3,and 5,400 square feet in V/arehouse I?o, 3. In
fact the sise of the plant had oontinously incresned, rndby
this time the barren warehouses of January, 1939 h£^.d been
transformed into a small raanuff ctnring unit.
DaVT^LO^^T^lJT AT IJlilV/ VltlJlT

In studying the develo-iir.ent at Point Bree ze perhaps
the rncR t rstonishimT thizig is the swiftness of its -rowth. Tn
an article by Tiss Alice H. Jlrameyer, an employee of the IVest-

ern Electric, this charpcteristic is aptly put. She writes

\

-11-

"Tho KOBt amazing thing atout Point Breeze Ik the swiftness
of its ,5ro*yth; ljesifl.e it, Jr.ck's fsmons "bean stclk Ir p cent-
tiry plant" .

On August 1, 19:^8 a f^ronp of "Vestern Uec trie off-
icials made their first trip to PaltiMore. 7ifter haia ng
fOTind a desiralDle site as descrihed before, the oontir. ct fbr
all eiif^ineorinp: &nd construetion v/ork was awarded to the H,
K. rerguson Company on lIOYeraber 10, 1928. This Gompp.jiy sn*b-
av/arded the contrKct for all excavetionF) and ,^rf-.,din»- t'o Potts
and Callahan, on January 28, 1939,

The excavations were first he^nin on Jamirary 19,
1929 when work on the cable plant found£:.tlon was started.
By April 1, 1929 the first pile of the 2,800 which support
the structure had been driven, and by September 6, the last
poiind of structural steel had been rivited in place. At the
present time this first unit of the cable plr.nt is nearly
completed and in fact some nanuf cturln^g' is 1'ein.R; carr-ied on.

On April 30, 1929 the United titates Governraent
granted the Vifestern Electric Comj.any a permit to dredge
channels in Golgf.te Creek and to construct bulkheads, bo lb
to reclaim Is nd. '.7ork on this structure progreci-ed raplflly,
v/ith pile drivers end dredges workinji day and night, and by
September 16, 1929 there had been 5,500 piles driven, 13,200
cubic yf:.rdK of preliminary dredfring removed, and 252,00
board feet of lumber used for pile caps, decking aid the like.
At tbe rresent time the portion of the bulkhead in tlie Patapsco

-IS-

river is completed except for the 'btiildinE- of a mud fence,
an^ the portion on Col??;- te Greelc is expected to "be fininli-
ed about Petrxmry 1, 1930.

icoavations for the Insulated '7ire BulMing "be-
gan on July 12, 19S9 anl by the middle of Septent er the steel
frftmev/ork was partly erected, .- nd ft preBont the plcnt is
about 50 percent cori^pleto.

The other loaln structures, the t is the boiler
house end: the scale house, were started in Aufnist rnd Sept-
ember resnectlvely. 'York on these buildinpr pro^resped rsp*-
Idly rnd now the scale house Ib about 80 percent completed,
while t he boiler house lacks r.bout 70 percent of being fin-
ished.

In addition to the projects describe'-] aljove, there
haT0 beeji roads built, ntreet car lines re-ronted, and r£dl-
rofid tracks run into the property/. Tisch of this work is nw;
beir^R' done and more is contenplt ted for the futui'e .
FHODITOTH' TO BJ rjiUUi^ACTITH^^D

V/henthis industrial enterprise is corTilet ed there
will be three prodiiotion brr.nches. The main one /.'ill be for
leod and tape arrao^red cable, and tho othorB will > e for
flame proof v;ire and for sub-vstf tion apparatus. Includin,^ in
this sub-station equipment will be sub-sets, condenser f?,
induction coils, rnd other telephone paits.
PEODUCTIOIJ AT PHSSilKT

At present in tefqjorcry quarters in the Colpr-'te

-15-

V/arehoiLseB, the '7e stern •'llectric iR employing fbout lf)00 —
1400 persons in the nianufj ctiire of t he three ole. :r €s of pro-
dticts mentioned in the last par^igraph, lowerer in the nomi-
fecttjre of enisle there are no de^^ioeF. for apnlyirje: the leid.
eorerin.'^ on the Rteel tfipe used for arnofr. At the nev/
plpnt over on the "Point, there is "being sorae cable inanufact-
Tired . H^owerer they are not opert'ting extensively aR yet.
Inreg£rd.sto the smonnt of production it cm he S£. id that
erch d;.:y sees an increcssed T3ersonnel and rn increased output,
"relictions hj-.ve "been made ±11'. i eventually the plant will
provide ei:iplo;/ment for ap"nroxim- tely 30,000 peoiile, an1 that
the cable unit, alone, in full o^ierrtion will produce v;eekly
cables containing 170,900,000 feet of wire.
COEGIl^SION

The Gonfstrnction of thl3 great nev/ ftctory nrnrks
ranoth&r step in the industrial development of BaLtlraore rnd
of t lie State of T'arylrnd. It is another cvr.e where the paries
and. open p]a pes of the city hrve given away before the re-
lent let:s iTErch of industry.

V.o nac e do "Bpltimoreans go to ?.lv€r Vlev/ Per Ic to
en^oythe ocean breezss and the thrills of the plsf sure dev-
ices, instee. d they ,'ro to Point Breeze as employees of or
visitorp to the fcrert new pl&nt of the './extern Electric Com-
pany, Mo loji3:er do the roller coasters clf^t'er ?nd rtn.ible
aloniT t heir tracks, and no nore ^lo the me:'ry-8;o-rau nds send
out their plaintive tunes. All of ihis is gone. In its

-14-

place there is the htim of braiders, the vrtiine of tv/isters,
and the clatter mid b;izz of indiistry. In ftct when one lookss
at the tremendous "building's which have hoeii erected, it is
hard to realize thfit only one year aixo thin laiid vva s pf.rtly
covered with a great amuReaent park, Tiowever this ^larveloiis
developr.Bnt ie merely an exairple of the gre't engineer ing:
skill of today.

-15-

The material for this paper wgr ob-
tained fron the following ptiblications,; and
partly from interviews v/ith I-r. B. r^, Yining,
Publicity Director at Point Breeze; ?!r, G>.3.
Booth, Merchandice Ilanager; Ilr. L. B, Davids,
Office T'anaFTGr, and Kr, ^, H, Leedoro, an emplo^/-
ee in the Iterchandice Department*

The publications rre as follows:
The Baltimore :>un .
The '(Western 'Jllectrio News.

The Pointer (a pub li cat ion at Point Breeze) .
"How A City 'Ton An Indnstry" by P. I. I'homson, '
Director of Public Relations, V/e stern Electric
Company.