February 2018

Just south of Cedar Ave in Cleveland, Ohio a cluster of massive abandoned industrial structures line Ashland Road. They were occupied by quite a few companies over the years, but the stonework bears the names of only two: The Cleveland Railway Co and Westinghouse Electric.

Abandoned buildings of The Cleveland Railway Co and Westinghouse Electric

A block away from the abandoned headquarters of Warner & Swasey Company lies the crumbling industrial compound built by The Cleveland Railway Co.

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, street railways were a popular form of transportation along Cleveland's main avenues.

In 1888, when electric railways were beginning to replace horse and mule-powered streetcars, East Cleveland Railroad Company built a power plant for its rail network.

The facility housed enormous steam-powered No. 16 Edison generators, some of the largest of their day.

In 1890 and 1892 additions were constructed to accommodate more generators to satisfy the growing need.

The handful of companies that operated the city's various rail lines underwent a series of consolidations around the turn of the century. In 1910 a final merger made The Cleveland Railway Co sole operator of Cleveland's transit lines.

In 1917 it was determined that the existing plant could not generate enough power to meet the demands of the rail network. Upgrading the facility proved too expensive, so energy production was outsourced to the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company.

After The Cleveland Railway Co's generators spun to a stop, the Cleveland Ice Machine Company operated on the site for a short time. Within a few years, Westinghouse Electric moved in and began using the facilities for the manufacture of electrical components.

A 5-story building at the southern end of the compound in 1922.

In 1933, Westinghouse Electric closed the facility and moved to Edgewater Park.

Thompson Products, a producer of automobile and aircraft engine valves, purchased several of the buildings in 1936. The business flourished during WWII when it received massive orders for aircraft parts.

The American victory against Japan brought a steep decline in orders, resulting in hundreds of layoffs. Things improved again in the latter half of the 1940s when the demand for automotive parts began to rise.

1958 - Thompson Products merged with Ramo-Wooldridge Corporation, a developer of radar-guided missile systems, which were used in several defense programs, including the Titan ICBM. The new company was known as Thompson-Ramo-Wooldridge until it became TRW Equipment Group in 1963. In the early '60s the company relocated to a new facility in Independence.

Virden Manufacturing Company, a producer of lighting equipment, began to utilize TRW's old facilities in 1963. Before that time, Virdeen had operated out of a factory that once stood on the west side of Ashland Road alongside the Cleveland Railway Co substation.

Historic map of the industrial compound
courtesy of http://www.wardmaps.com/viewasset.php?aid=5759

When business declined in the 1970s, Virden went through several waves of layoffs before selling the company in 1977. The plant closed permanently in 1979.