Kokomo Spring Company During World War Two
Kokomo, IN
1910-2019

This page added 4-22-2023.

An article in the Kokomo Tribune dated September 27, 2010, noted that the Kokomo Spring Company had been sold to Peterson Spring Company.  The article went on to state that Peterson was going to move the jobs and the equipment of this 100 year old company in Kokomo to several of its other eleven plants in the United States and Canada.  This was to be accomplished by the end 2010 which would take 25 jobs away from the City of Kokomo.  However, Google Maps information shown below indicates that the former Kokomo Spring Company still had a presence in Kokomo as late as 2019.

The address of the Kokomo Spring Company factory was given in the article as 500 East Wheeler Street.

Kokomo Spring Company World War Two Products:  Surprisingly, this small company had two major contracts totaling $134,000 during World War Two.  This small company that had employment between 15 and 25 employees was able to make its contribution to help win World War Two by manufacturing an estimated 462,000 tent wire slips.  These are tensioning springs used with 3/8 inch rope to keep a constant tension on ropes for large tents used by the American military during World War Two.  While a small piece, the wire slips were an important part of a larger system that kept tents upright during their use.

It should be noted that the major contracts listed in Table 1 are for contracts greater than $50,000.  Most likely, the Kokomo Spring Company had other military contracts for less than this amount.  As the manufacture of springs takes special equipment, most likely it continued to supply its normal peacetime customers with springs for their military products. 

This is a World War Two tent slip made from galvanized wire.  Most likely, the Kokomo Spring Company obtained its supply of galvanized wire from the nearby Continental Spring Company, which specialized in this product. 

One can do a rough estimate of the number of tent slips the Kokomo Spring Company made on its two major contracts.  One dollar in 2023 is the equivalent of 0.06 dollar in 1944, when the last major contract was awarded to the Kokomo Spring Company.  Currently, original World War Two tent slips are selling for $4.95 each.  Reproductions are selling for $4.75 each.  If we use the $4.75 current value and assume that the World War Two cost to make this was similar, this would equal $0.29 each in 1944. 

This calculates out to 462,068 tent slips. 

The production of the tent slips was from this U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps engineering drawing dated May 4, 1926. 

This diagram of a hospital war tent shows a wire slip as part of the required components to keep the wires taut. 

M1 and M1A1 Wreckers 6x6:  The Kokomo Spring Company provided engine mounting springs for the M1 and M1A1 wrecker trucks of World War Two.  Ward LaFrance and Kenworth built 5,765 M1 and M1A1 wreckers equipped four each of springs made by the Kokomo Spring Company. 

This is a Ward LaFrance Series 2 M1 heavy wrecker.  Author's photo.

This is an M1A1 Ward LaFrance heavy wrecker.  Author's photo.

Below are the pages from the Ordnance Supply Catalog, showing the Kokomo Spring Company components (KSD) used on the M1/M1A1 series wreckers.

Note that the address given for the Kokomo Spring Company is 529 Firemen Avenue in Kokomo, IN.  This is incorrect.  It should be 529 E. Firmin Street. 

Kokomo Spring Company Factory Location:  All of the images below are courtesy of Google Maps.

This satellite view shows the location of the factory at 500 East Wheeler Street.  The image shows that Kling's Computers is the current tenant in a portion of the former spring plant. 

This Google Maps street view is dated July 2019 and shows that the Kokomo Spring Company may still be present at this location.  It appears that all of the equipment was not moved to other locations by the end of 2010, as originally planned.  There is a pickup truck with an attached trailer among several other vehicles in the parking lot.  While there is nothing on the trailer, it is staged in such a way that it could could very well be ready to have equipment loaded onto it.  It could be that the Kokomo Spring Company was finally vacating the premises.

I drove by this factory in early March 2023.  The Kokomo Spring Company sign was no longer on the building.  I would have noted this, as I was wondering at the time which company had used this plant during World War Two.  Now I know.  The small office building in blue trim is the location of Kling's Computers.  Their sign was there in March 2023.

This is a view of the plant looking west down Wheeler Street. 

This structure at the corner of East Wheeler and South LaFountain Streets appears to be the original plant at this location.

This is looking at the west side of the factory that faces South LaFountain Street.

This is 529 East Firmin Street in Kokomo, IN.  Employment advertisements in the local Kokomo newspaper during and after World War Two directed the applicants to come to this location.  While this looks like a house, a closer examination shows two stories with lots of windows.  It appears this was built as the office and headquarters for the factory which was to the east of this building. 

There are remnants of was appears to be a wooden signpost in front of the building.  It may have well said that this was the office for the Kokomo Spring Company.