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Crosley Main Page
Crosley Richmond, IN Plant Photo
Page
Crosley Motors Marion, IN Plant Photo
Page
Crosley
Corporation Cincinnati, OH Plant Photos
This page added 1-19-2021.
The former eight story Crosley factory is an
icon in the northwest industrial area of Cincinnati. It has been
the subject of multiple websites and videos. However, there were
more Crosley plants and offices in the same area that have been
overlooked. This page will take a more comprehensive look at the Crosley factory complex. It should be noted that the Crosley
Corporation was a very dynamic growing company in the early 20th century
and was in several plants and offices to the north of the complex at
Colerain Avenue and Arlington Street in Cincinnati. It added
factory space as needed and then moved out to others as more space was
needed. It also added factory space in Richmond, IN in 1937 to
build refrigerators when it ran out of room in Cincinnati.
This is 3401 Colerain Avenue in Cincinnati,
OH which was the first building Crosley occupied when it moved into the
area of Colerain Ave. and Arlington Street. Colerain runs north
and south. It was known as Plant 1. This photo is looking
southwest.
Some factories never die. They just
get recycled over and over by different companies. The Reliable
Casting Corporation now occupies 3401 Colerain Ave. Dominating the
skyline behind 3401 Colerain is the eight story Crosley factory.
At one time this was the main entrance to the Crosley
Corporation headquarters and offices before
the eight story building was constructed. However, Crosley
continued to use 3401 Colerain as its business address.
This empty lot is just to the south of 3401
Colerain Ave. In the 1920s through the 1940s there was a building
here that Crosley occupied as its business was expanding and more space
was required.
This one story building to the south of the
empty lot was also utilized for a while to build Crosley products.
This empty lot on the east side of Colerain Ave. is across from the west side vacant lot. For a short time, Crosley used the former building that was here for production.
In 1926 Crosley built its iconic eight story
building which housed the corporate offices, a radio station, and
production facilities. This consolidated all of the operations in
one location. It is interesting to note that there are the two red
brick residences on the south side of Arlington Street that are between the two Crosley buildings. They
may well have been apartment buildings for Crosley workers. They
could also have been small restaurants, small stores, or bars.
Every factory has to have a bar next to or across the street from it.
This view is looking west down Arlington
Street. From the east side of the building, one can only see seven
stories. As the terrain slopes down, the eighth story can be seen
from the west side.
This two story red brick residence or
apartment building is right next to the eight story's east side
driveway. The two butt up against each other.
The lower opening is a door into the eight
story building for raw material and parts to enter and finished products
to leave. There is at least one video on the internet where a
person has flown their drone into the building through the openings in
the walls.
The eight story building photographed
looking east up Arlington Street.
The west side of eight story of the building.
Historical references note that the
production of proximity fuzes took place across the street from the
eight story building. This building originally manufactured
refrigerators before that production moved to Richmond, IN in 1937.
This building had to be air-conditioned to maintain the reliability of
the fuzes.
This photo view is to the south at the north
end of the single story proximity fuze building. In the background
is the iconic Crosley building.
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