Category Archives: Factories

I came across this old photo of Mitts & Merrill Foundry. I am not sure where Tilden street was or is. Mitts & Merrill had a foundry along the river on Water Street. That is where the Saginaw River Walk smokestack came from. ( you can see a post about it HERE) I am not sure if Tilden was the original name of Water Street. I know a lot of the names of the streets changed when East Saginaw and Saginaw City merged together.

What really caught my eye is the wooden crane/hoist thingy mounted to the side of the building. I am assuming this photo was from the late 1800’s long before fork trucks and hydraulic cranes. The wooden building hoist must have been how they unloaded wagons back in the day.

If you want a Pure Saginaw Wall Calendar I have a couple that I was saving in case I had any get lost in the mail or anything. I added the few that I have into inventory so if you want a calendar you can order them by clicking HERE

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I found this photos of workers decorating the water tower on the roof of Plant 1 for Christmas. Steering gear started out as Jackson, Church, and Wilcox on Hamilton Street in Old Town. The factory became Plant number 1 of Steering Gear. It’s gone now but I did find this old photo and the memories still linger on.

I sold out of Pur Saginaw wall calendar. Thank you to everyone the purchased one. I do have some Lost In Michigan books and of course there are a few stories about Saginaw in them. You can order them while they are ON SALE  at my website HERE

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You have to go all they way back to the lumbering days for the history of the old Chevrolet Parts Plant on the corner of 6th and Washington. In 1906 Saginaw Business men Arthur Eddy and E.A. Robertson persuaded John T. Rainier to move his car company into the old Merschon-Schutte-Parker lumber mill on the corner of 6th and Washington.

In the early 1900’s William C. Durant started purchasing automotive compaies to form General Motors, and in 1907 he purchased the Rainier Motor Co. and the plant on the corner. It’s name changed to the Marquette Motor Co. and by 1912 it had employed 244 workers, and produced 15 cars a week, but sales were slow and the plant closed in 1913.

During WWI GM received a government contract to produce mortar shells, and the old plant was reopened, and production of the shells hit 25,000 in a 9 hour shift. After the war, all the General Motors plants in Saginaw were united as the Saginaw Products Company Division, and the factory on the corner of 6th and Washington became the Saginaw Products Company Motor Plant. That’s when the the famous Chevrolet “Bow Tie” sign went up on the roof.

The plant produced the 4-cylinder engine for the “Baby Grand” Chevrolet touring car. In 1923 it re-tooled to manufactur the “sensational six” engine for General Motors. The plant was shut down in 1929 in the depths of the great depression, and used as a where house, until 1935, when it became part of the foundry, and was called the Chevrolet Saginaw Service Parts Plants, building engines and service parts.

By the start of WWII, the plant was manufacturing 7 million different parts annually, such as connecting rods, clutch collars, pistons and pin assemblies. After production of new Chevrolet cars was stopped for the for the war, the plant continued making parts for armored cars and aircraft parts, along with replacement parts to keep the old Chevrolet running during those years Americans could not purchase new cars. At the end of the war, the plant was separated from the foundry, and became an independant plant for GM. In the 50’s, during the Korean War, the plant produced Wright Aircraft Parts.

During the 60’s the plant continued to produce water pumps, oil pumps, camshaft assemblies, piston and pin assemblies for General Motors, and by 1969 the plant changed it’s name to the Chevrolet Saginaw Parts Plant.

Throughout the 70’s the plant continued to produce water pumps, oil pumps and flywheels for the Pontiac 151 Ci 4-cylinder “iron duke” engine.

During the 80’s the plants tooling was slowly moved to the Chevrolet plants in Bay City and Flint, and by 1983 the plant was empty, no longer manufacturing parts for GM. Shortly after that, the old plant that produced some of the first cars in America was torn down, and is nothing more than a field on the corner of 6th and Washington.

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Driving down the 1000 block of Rust street you see giant slabs of concrete surrounded by fencing, it is all that remains of the Eaton Manufacturing Plant. The factory closed in the early 2000’s when the company decided to make its products in Mexico and the plant was razed in 2008.  I was never in the plant, but it was important to me since my grandfather, on my dad’s side, worked there for over 30 years.  He retired the year I was born, and he passed away when I was 34 years old. On my 30th birthday I joked with him, that he was retired longer than he worked.

The plant started in 1913 but I am not sure of the original name and it was eventually acquired by the Eaton Corporation. The main product was hydraulic valve lifters inside engines, and at one time the Eaton plant was the largest manufacturer of lifters in the country. I can only imagine how many cars and trucks had lifters made in Saginaw under the their hood.

The week that the plant closed, I drove by it on my way home from work, and I can remember seeing the tattered dirty and torn American Flag waving from the flag pole thinking to myself, “that’s fitting, since they are moving to Mexico”   My Grandparents, my Dad and his brothers, had a pretty good life living in Saginaw from the paychecks my grandfather revived while working at the plant. if you worked there before 1970 you probably worked with my grandpa.

Like a lot of saginaw, it’s gone and the auto manufacturing in Saginaw will never be what it was but I don’t want to forget what was built in Saginaw even if it was a part that was buried deep inside the engine ( proably cast at Gray Iron, but that is a different story for a different day)

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