Syracuse, New York: The Past, Present, and Future (in relation to manufacturing)
...racuse didn’t suffer during business depression due to the diversity of its industries. During the depression however, another reason for the city’s success, maybe be credited to the mayor of Syracuse at the time, Rollie Marvin. He put together a $23.5 million dollar deal to create private railroads, renovate an old train station into a 24-hour news station, and of course acquiring “Municipal Stadium” (later renamed as MacArthur Stadium), which was located on some marshy land to the city’s North. He also had a hand in Pioneer Homes, one of the state's first public housing projects, addition downtown, as well as extensive improvements at several city parks, and was able to get it all done by federal laborers put to work by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's "New Deal." With the budding city, the downtown area was receiving a makeover, and finally a defined skyline. Industrial buildings from one-to-six stories high, and made in the now stereotypical style that still exists in downtown Syracuse, with brick grid factory designs and segmental-arched windows. Architects such as Horatio N. White, who built the Gridley Building on Clinton Square, John Lyman Silsbee, designer of the Syracuse Savings Bank and the White Memorial Building, and Archimedes Russell, architect of the towering Crouse College on Syracuse University's campus, the County Court house on Columbus Circle, and the Dey's department store at Jefferson and Salina streets, all brought their talents to bear in the creation of many unique, beautiful and lasting monuments through the downtown and campus areas. (“The Architecture of Industry”). In the 1920s, city planners proposed building a 25 story city hall, and a 30 story office building in 1950, although neither plans were ever placed into action; The tallest building in Syracuse is still the 22 floor State Tower (Gadoua). Though it’s true Syracuse’s was diverse, a large portion of the credit for the city’s survival goes to the C.E. Lipe Co. machine shop at 208 S. Geddes St. Charles E. Lipe the owner of the store invented a cigar-rolling machine, a broom-winding machine, motion picture equipment, automatic looms and time recorders. Soon the machine shop became a refuge for inventors and an incubator of industries. Along with Alexandre T. Brown, Lipe created the 2-speed gear for bicycles, and founded the Brown-Lipe Gear Co. Soon after, the company began supplying differentials to the automobile industry, and became the Inland Fisher Guide of General Motors, and employed more than 1300 people in the area, until the plant closed in 1993. Lipe’s brother Willard also started a company, the Rollway Bearing Co., with which Lipe merged his own, Lipe Co. in 1942 to sell clutches and automotive manufacturing machinery (today, Lipe-Rollway Corp. still employs about 280 people making bearings and automated conveying systems). (Knauss) Of course with the growth of the city, in size, the population soared as well, affecting the community of Syracuse. The website for the city of Syracuse defines the word community by, “the people who settle there, by the types of institutions and organizations that are developed to serve them, and by the residential neighborhoods in which they dwell” (“The Architecture of Industry”). The aid of the booming industries in Syracuse greatly contributes to this aspect of the community. New school systems and shopping centers drew from the city's base, and although urban renewal resulted in demolition of dozens of downtown blocks, both good and bad old landmarks, unprotected by law, were victims of the wrecking ball. New buildings arose, including the twin towers of MONY Center, the War Memorial, Civic Center and I.M. Pei's Everson Museum of Art. All added significantly to the area, as did new government buildings, and numbers of high rises dedicated to modern banking, financing, and core city apartment dwelling. As the railroad declined, the automobile became king. Overhead roadways carried arterial traffic and interstate highways lead in all four directions. This hodgepodge threatened to engulf the region until local government and visionary planners began to protect the truly historic -- the Erie Canal's Weighlock Building, Clinton and Hanover Squares, Columbus Circle, Armory Square, and such areas as the Nettleton and Franklin Square developments, located north and west of downtown. It was too late, however, to save the mansions of the community's early leaders, spaced along elm-lined James Street, West Onondaga and West Genesee streets. Their homes could not withstand the inflationary maintenance costs and property taxes following World War II. As residents fled to the suburbs, street widening projects and development of the sites for commercial use soon wasted these avenues. One section remains architecturally secure - the protected Sedgwick Farms historical tract to the north of James Street, where homes blend the English Tudor concepts of Ward Wellington Ward with Colonial and Moorish style homes on graciously landscaped grounds. While the tearing down of more buildings having played parts in the historical birth of Syracuse, local and state officials continue to back their promise of bringing more high-tech industry to the area. Residents of course will welcome the economic benefits, but wish to keep some of the remaining businesses that have been around for over a 100 years. They not only reflect the regions history, but also add character to the city (Gadoua). The City of Syracuse contains an impressive collection of buildings representative of its dynamic growth from two small crossroad villages into an important urban area. Many of these structures still stand as originally designed, and are in use today. Some of these include: the Cathedral Candle Co. and the Crouse Hinds Electric Co, both of which were founded in 1897; Edward Joy, founded in 1875; Lipe-Rollway Corp; the F.H. Ebeling pet centers which still have several stores in central and northern New York; and finally Syracuse China, the John Marsellus Mfg. Co. Ltd, and the Gustav Stickley Co., all three of which have been in operation since the mid 19th century (Gadou). This is not to say that Syracuse’s ecomonmy hasn’t faced challenges over the past decades as industrial jobs have left the area. This strend continued into the 1990s and picked up speed again after September 11, 2001, and it is true that the top employers are now primarily in education and in the service industry. The traditional dependence on the manufacturing of goods is just becoming less convienient...