Grand Rapids Cycle Company Factory | |
Formerly listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places | |
![]() Factory fire, February 2007 | |
![]() Interactive map showing building location | |
Location | 514 Butterworth St. SW, Grand Rapids, Michigan |
---|---|
Coordinates | 42°57′35″N85°40′53″W / 42.95972°N 85.68139°W Coordinates: 42°57′35″N85°40′53″W / 42.95972°N 85.68139°W |
Area | 0.5 acres (0.20 ha) |
Built | 1895 |
Architectural style | Late Victorian |
Demolished | 2007 |
NRHP reference No. | 04000600 [1] |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | June 16, 2004 |
Removed from NRHP | September 1, 2022 |
Grand Rapids Cycle Company Factory was a historic manufacturing plant located at 514 Butterworth Street SW in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004. [1] In 2007 the building was destroyed by fire. [2]
For a short period, from about 1890 to 1903, Grand Rapids was one of the largest bicycle manufacturing cities in the nation, with up to six separate manufacturers. The first of these was the Grand Rapids Cycle Company, which was founded in about 1890 by a group of local Grand Rapids businessmen. They were in production by 1891. At the beginning, sales doubled every year, and by 1895 the company had outgrown its original factory space. Construction began on a new factory on Butterworth, and the company quickly moved production to the new location. However, in 1897, sales began declining as the market was satiated, and in 1899 the company was absorbed into the American Bicycle Company along with 35 other companies. However, bicycle production ceased in Grand Rapids in 1900, and American itself went bankrupt in 1903. [3]
In 1902, the C. S. Paine Company, Ltd., a manufacturer of lacquered furniture, purchased the factory building. They used the factory building until 1924, when they were absorbed into Williams-Kimp Furniture Company, a manufacturer of mahogany reproduction furniture. In 1951, the Baker Furniture Company purchased Williams-Kimp and furniture manufacture at the plant ceased. Beginning in 1952, the American Seating Company used the building as a warehouse. They ceased in 1957 and in the mid-1960s the building was briefly occupied by the Star Mist Foam Rubber Company. Beginning in 1970, the Kent Foundry operated in the building, and continued until 1994. The building was vacant afterward. [3]
In the early 2000s, plans were being made to renovate the factory into lofts. However, in 2007 the building was destroyed by fire. [2] The site is now occupied by Grand Valley State University. [4]
The Grand Rapids Cycle Company Factory consisted of three parts. The original two parts were constructed in 1895 as two separate buildings. The first was a two-story building at the corner of Butterworth Street and Front Avenue, with an 80-foot frontage on Butterworth Street and a 100-foot frontage on Front. The second was originally separated from the first by a ten-foot alley, and was a three-story building with a 50-foot frontage on Butterworth running 100 feet in depth. The third portion of construction was a 1912 building connected to the original along the Front Avenue facade; this structure additionally connected the previously separate 1895 buildings and filled in the alley. All three portions of the factory were constructed of cream-colored brick, with wood framed floors and flat roofs. The windows were 12/12 double-hung units, primarily in segmental arched window openings. The original office portion of the facade, located on the ground floor corner of the second building, contained semicircular arched openings. [3]
The Birmingham Small Arms Company Limited (BSA) was a major British industrial combine, a group of businesses manufacturing military and sporting firearms; bicycles; motorcycles; cars; buses and bodies; steel; iron castings; hand, power, and machine tools; coal cleaning and handling plants; sintered metals; and hard chrome process.
The bicycle business of the Wright brothers, the Wright Cycle Company successively occupied six different locations in Dayton, Ohio. Orville and Wilbur Wright began their bicycle repair, rental and sales business in 1892, while continuing to operate a print shop. These shops helped them fund their aeronautical studies.
Humber Limited was a British manufacturer of bicycles, motorcycles, and cars incorporated and listed on the stock exchange in 1887. It took the name "Humber & Co Limited" because of the high reputation of the products of one of the constituent businesses that had belonged to Thomas Humber. A financial reconstruction in 1899 transferred its business to Humber Limited.
The Swift Motor Company made Swift Cars in Coventry, England from 1900 until 1931. It grew progressively from James Starley's Coventry Sewing Machine Company, via bicycle and motorised cycle manufacture. The cars ranged from a single-cylinder car in 1900 using an MMC engine, through a Swift-engined twin-cylinder 7-horsepower light car in 1904, and a 3-litre model in 1913. After the First World War a successful range was sold during the 1920s, but the Cadet of 1930 was its last vehicle as it could not compete economically with volume manufacturers such as Ford and Morris Motors.
CCM is a Canadian bicycle manufacturer based in Montreal, Quebec.
The White Building, also known as the Heberling Building, is located in the city of Bloomington, Illinois, United States. Located along Bloomington's East Douglas Street, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in June 1994 and represents one of the better examples of Commercial style architecture still extant in the city. It was built by Bloomington resident Samuel R. White in 1894–1895 to house his furniture sales company. By 1903 the Heberling Brothers pharmacy and their associated businesses occupied most of the building and the White company had moved its facilities to a nearby location. The White Building is a five-story red brick building which is elaborately windowed and has a three-story connected extension to its west which probably predates it.
The Schiller Piano Company was an American manufacturer of pianos in Oregon, Illinois. It operated independently from 1890 to 1936, when it merged with the Cable Company and thereafter produced pianos under the name Cable and Conover. Thousands of pianos were produced in its factory, which was operated by corporate successors until 1971. The 120,000-square-foot (11,000 m2), stucco-clad building was renovated for use as an indoor mall in 1975 and today operates as the Conover Square Mall.
A Hoosier cabinet is a type of cupboard or free-standing kitchen cabinet that also serves as a workstation. It was popular in the first few decades of the 20th century in the United States, since most houses did not have built-in kitchen cabinetry. The Hoosier Manufacturing Co. of New Castle, Indiana, was one of the earliest and largest manufacturers of this product, causing the term "Hoosier cabinet" to become a generic term for that type of furniture. By 1920, the Hoosier Manufacturing Company had sold two million cabinets.
Ames Manufacturing Company was a manufacturer of swords, tools and cutlery in Chicopee, Massachusetts, as well as an iron and bronze foundry. They were a major provider of side arms, swords, light artillery, and heavy ordnance for the Union in the American Civil War. They also cast a number of bronze statues which can be found throughout New England.
The Baystate Corset Block is a historic commercial block at 395–405 Dwight St. and 99 Taylor Street in Springfield, Massachusetts. Built in 1874 and twice enlarged, it was from 1888 to 1920 home of the Baystate Corset Company, one of the nation's largest manufacturers of corsets. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.
Berkey and Gay Furniture Company Factory is a manufacturing plant located at 940 Monroe Ave., NW in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.
The American Waltham Watch Company Historic District encompasses the former factory of the Waltham Watch Company, the leading American watch manufacturer of the 19th century and the city's largest employer. Located on Crescent Street and the banks of the Charles River, the surviving elements of its manufacturing facility date from the 1870s to the 1910s, and include particularly fine industrial Romanesque architecture. The buildings have been converted to a variety of commercial, industrial and residential uses since they ceased being used for watchmaking in the 1950s. The complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.
The American Seating Company Factory Complex is a historic manufacturing plant located at 801 Broadway Avenue NW in Grand Rapids, Michigan, used by the American Seating company. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.
The Metal Office Furniture Company (Steelcase) Plants No. 2 and 3 are historic manufacturing plants located at 401 Hall Street SW in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
The Weis Manufacturing Company, currently known as WoodCraft Square, is a former factory located at 800 West 7th Street in the city of Monroe in Monroe County, Michigan. It was listed as a Michigan Historic Site and added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 26, 1981.
The Robertson Paper Company Complex was a historic industrial facility on Island Street in Bellows Falls, Vermont. It consisted of a collection of mostly-interconnected factory and related buildings, built between c. 1890 and c. 1960 by various paper-related companies. It was occupied and enlarged by the Robertson Paper Company between 1907 and its failure in 1987, at which time it was the longest-lived paper company in the state. The complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990. It was demolished in 2018-19 as a Brownfields Economic Revitalization Alliance (BERA) project, with federal, state, and local funding.
The Klingman Lofts is a former industrial building that has been converted to residential use, located at 400 Ionia Avenue SW, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It was built in stages, beginning in 1895, as a furniture factory, and was formerly known as the Central Furniture Company Factory and the H.E. Shaw Furniture Company Factory. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013. The building was renovated into apartment space in 2015.
The American Box Board Company Headquarters and Factory is a former factory building located at 470 Market Avenue SW in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2020.
Indiana Bicycle Company was a bicycle and automobile company in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. The company made carriages, bicycles and electric vehicles under the name Waverley Cycles. By 1896 the company was producing 350 bicycles every ten hours.
The Haskell Manufacturing Company Building also known as the Haskelite Building is a former factory building located at 801 N. Rowe Street, Ludington, Mason County, Michigan. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 10, 2022.