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Crosley Corporation Richmond, IN Plant Photos

This page updated 1-18-2021.

This undated photo shows what the Richmond plant would have looked when originally built in 1937.  One historical source indicates the 200-foot wide building had room for two parallel assembly lines.  One was for the popular Shelvador refrigerator which was needed to increase capacity.  This was the publicly advertised reason for the plant, as shown in the photo.  The other, which was not publicly announced, was for the yet undisclosed Crosley car.  The first Crosley cars would come out of this plant in 1939.  For Powel Crosley, Jr, it was the fulfillment of a lifelong dream.

Production numbers for the vehicles built in the Richmond plant are only available for 1939 and 1941.  In 1939 2,017 vehicles rolled off the assembly line and in 1941 another 2,280 were built.  There were at least 4,297 vehicles built by Crosley in this plant.  World War Two stopped production in this plant in February 1942.  One source indicates Crosley built 1,029 1942 model year vehicles.  Most of these would be included in the 1941 calendar year data of 2,280.  Based on an average monthly production in 1939 and 1941 of 179 units per month, the Crosley Richmond plant built around 360 vehicles in January and February 1942.

On August 8, 1945, the plant was sold to AVCO who continued to make Shelvador Refrigerators (They are called Shelvador because they were the first to have shelves on the inside of the door).  Crosley auto production was maintained by Powel, Jr, and Lewis Crosley and moved to Marion, IN after the war as a new company.   This photo is looking north-west.

Author's Note on the length of the Richmond plant:  Some sources indicate the Richmond plant is a mile in length.  This is totally incorrect, as it is about a third of this distance.  Another source states that the plant is 200 feet by 1,200 feet.  This is closer to the truth but still not quite right.  I visited the plant twice in 2020.  The first time was in May when I took most of the photos shown below.  While there, I was most interested in photographing the plant and did not really measure the size of the building.  This was an oversight on my part.  So I did a return trip in July 2020 to use my vehicle odometer to measure the plants' length.  The measurement was approximately 0.35 of a mile or 1,848 feet.  At the same time, I discovered there was about a 264 foot addition to the original building.  The vehicle odometer indicated that the original building when initially built was approximately 0.3 of a mile long, or 1,584 feet.

For the width I stepped it off which was 75 steps.  I got the same value going in both directions which cancelled out any variation in my stride which is about 3 feet.  This gives a value of 225 feet which is pretty close the 200 feet given by other sources.  The width of the plant is about 200 feet, maybe a little wider. 

Please see my photos at the bottom of this page.

DDJ 1-18-2021

This is from a post-World War Two booklet for new employees of the Crosley Division of AVCO.

Crosley Vehicles built at the Richmond, IN Plant: 

This 1939 Crosley is from the first year  of the company's auto production.  It was built at the plant on the northwest side of Richmond at 1767 Sheridan Street.  The plant is still there over 80 years later; and is still in use by several small companies for warehousing and small manufacturing operations.  This vehicle is on display at the Wayne County Historical Museum in Richmond.  The vehicle is just 2.1 miles away from where it was built in 1939.  Author's photo added 6-13-2020.

The engine was a Waukesha 150 Cub Twin of 580cc air-cooled two-cylinder engine.  The vehicle could get 50 miles to the gallon.  Author's photo added 6-13-2020.

Author's photo added 6-13-2020.

This 1941 Crosley convertible was on display at the Champaign Aviation Museum in Urbana, OH in 2019.  It was built in Richmond, IN.  Author's photo added 6-13-2020.

This is a 1941 Crosley as seen at the National Automotive and Truck Museum in Auburn, IN.  With a two cylinder 12 hp engine, it was designed to get 50 miles per gallon of gasoline, for which those who owned one during the Second World War would have found invaluable with the gasoline rationing.  Author's photo added 6-13-2020.

One could get Crosleys as sedans, station wagons, and pick-ups, as shown here.   Author's photo added 6-13-2020.

Note that the previously shown Crosley vehicles all have soft tops.  This is one of thirty "Liberty" Crosley cars built with a steel roof.  The steel came from extra refrigerator door steel stock in the plant.  This is the rarest of the Richmond built vehicles.  Photo courtesy of Bill Kreiner added 6-13-2020.

Current Richmond, IN Plant Photos: 

This photo shows that an additional plant was added to the east of the original building.  It is almost identical to the original building constructed by the Crosley Brothers in 1937 shown in the photo at the top of this page. This photo and those below bring up an unanswered question.  Was the second building added by the Crosleys so there would be one building for refrigerators, and the other for vehicles?  Or was the almost identical building added by AVCO after World War Two for increased capacity?  The historical record is unclear on this.  Note that the roof on the east building changes at the half-way point.  It is the opinion of the author that the second building was added by AVCO after it purchased the plant in 1945.  AVCO went on a large scale expansion of its new Crosley Division by purchasing several vacant plants in the Midwest.  Most likely along with the purchase of the plants was the addition of a new building east of the original plant of the same roof type as the original.  The addition to the north was most likely added later, as it had a flat roof.  Photo courtesy of WayNet.org added 6-13-2020.

Author's photos taken on 5-22-2020:

Currently, the original Richmond, IN Crosley plant still exists at 1767 Sheridan Street on the northwest side of Richmond. It is currently in use by several different companies for warehousing and manufacturing operations. 

This is the front of the original plant that faces south on Sheridan Street.  It looks the same as it did when built in 1937.  The only difference is the Crosley name is no longer in big letters across the front of the building.

This is the west side of the original Crosley plant looking north.  

There was a liberal use of windows for natural lighting in the plant.

This photo was taken from outside the plant looking southeast. 

The former power house still stands but is no longer functional. 

The choice of bricks used in the plant is interesting.  The front section is made out of tan bricks, while the long manufacturing portion of the plant is constructed of red bricks. 

The second building to the east of the original can be seen here.  The front section is again tan brick but of a slightly different design.  The rear red brick section has windows that extend only part of the way to the north. 

This is the north end looking south.  The design of the north section of the east building is different than the south end, and the original building to the east.  This, along with the different roof style, indicates it was added on after the south section of the east building.

Doors and windows have been bricked in and covered up on the north end of the original plant.

Author's photos taken on 7-6-2020:

This is where the original west building stopped.  This was 0.3 of a mile on my car odometer, or approximately 1,584 feet.  Photo added 1-18-2020.

 Photo added 1-18-2020.

 Photo added 1-18-2020.