Will Remington Rand Name Be Changed To Honor Keating?

THE HISTORY OF 180 JOHNSON STREET:
Robert M. Keating originally started the Keating Wheel Company in Westfield, Massachusetts on September 10th, 1890 after working as the superintendent at the Warwick Cycle Company in Springfield and before that with the Overman Wheel Company in Chicopee, Massachusetts. The first Keating Wheel Company factory was a leased space in an existing factory building formerly used by the Westfield Whip Company located on Elm Street in Westfield. The factory employed ten men and by the spring of 1891 the Keating Wheel Company turned out the first seventy-five Keating bicycles, called “The Superior”

R.M. Keating and his Wheel Company were at the forefront of this new transportation revolution and the success of his bicycle lines required that the company expand. For that, he needed a new plant. When word got out that the Keating was looking to move, cities and towns from far and wide began to court the company with vigor. Following a fury of propositions, it was Middletown, CT that made the most attractive offer and on the evening of May 23, 1896, an official agreement to relocate the Keating Wheel Company to Middletown was signed. As part of the deal it was agreed that a massive two-story, 1000-foot long factory would be constructed on two parcels of land purchased by the company on “the old race course near the Berlin branch road” which would later become Johnson Street. Over the next year they continued to build and sell the Keating motor bicycle until it was abandoned to make way for automobile production.
Information above from: www.keatingwheelcompany

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
Eisenhuth Horseless Vehicle Company was a manufacturer of Brass Age automobiles who were originally based in New York City. In 1902 the company purchased the Keating Wheel and Automobile Company and established manufacturing operations in Middletown, Connecticut. During 1903, the company merged with the Graham Fox Motor Car Company, absorbing that firm and expanding operations in Middletown.
Their automobile was an unusual model called the Compound with three cylinders. Two were working cylinders, the larger middle one further expanded the exhaust gases of the outer working cylinders, this concept received later the name

‘5-Stroke engine’ Compound:

1906 Compound Touring Eisenhuth Horseless Vehicle Co., Middletown Ct. 1904-1908. Picture From: http://www.earlyamericanautomo...

In 1904, the company was sued by Colonel Frank A. Fox of the Graham Fox Motor Car Company, who claimed that he had “invented certain essential features of the motors now being made by the Eisenhuth company,” and went bankrupt in 1907.

In 1909, the Eisenhuth factory was sold to the “Noiseless Typewriter Company.”

From: ConnecticutHistory.org a program of Ct. Humanities:
In 1927, the state had 29 manufacturers and over seven thousand workers. These manufacturers spread out across the Connecticut landscape, bringing prosperity to their various locales throughout the state.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: One of the more innovative manufacturers was the Noiseless Typewriter Company of Middletown, Connecticut. Incorporated in January of 1909, the company sought to combat the discordant clattering found in office spaces with a quieter version of the typewriter. Taking over the factory previously operated by the Eisenhuth Horseless Vehicle Company, the Noiseless Typewriter Company was soon producing up to twelve thousand typewriters per year. In 1927 they merged with Rand Kardex to form the Remington Noiseless Typewriter Corporation—Middletown’s largest employer—but labor strife in 1936 ultimately changed the direction of the company away from typewriter production.

Remington Rand was formed in 1927 by the merger of the Remington Typewriter Company and Rand Kardex Corporation. One of its earliest factories, the former Herschell–Spillman Motor Company Complex, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013. Within the first year Remington Rand acquired the Dalton Adding Machine Company, the Powers Accounting Machine Company, the Baker-Vawter Company and the Kalamazoo Loose-Leaf Binder Company. From its inception until 1958, it was led by founder James Rand, Jr. of North Tonawanda, New York.
From 1942 to 1945, Remington Rand was one manufacturer of the M1911A1 .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol used by the United States Armed Forces during World War II. Remington Rand produced more M1911A1 pistols than any other wartime manufacturer. Remington Rand ranked 66th among United States corporations in the value of World War II military production contracts.

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SLIDE SHOW OF PAST, PRESENT AND UPGRADES FOR THE FUTURE:

Click Here For The City Of Middletown’s 60 Page PDF File with all the information and many pictures Of 180 Johnson St!

The common council meets Sept. 6 at 7 p.m. in the council chambers at city hall, 245 deKoven Drive.