Newark Machine Works

Advertisement for the original Newark Machine Works published in the 1857-1858 Newark City Directory.

The Newark Machine Works, one of Newark's earliest manufacturers, produced steam farming implements in the pre-Civil War era. The company was a short-lived operation (c. 1854-1864), yet its shops generated a number of successor manufacturers whose impact on the county was significant. The Machine Works' history is also complicated by an ambiguity; a second, seemingly unrelated company with similar products called the "Newark Machine Works" began operations in Newark in the 1880s, moved to Columbus, and then relocated back to the city from Columbus in 1895.

Old Newark Machine Works

The first Newark Machine Works, which opened in 1853 or 1854, operated at the southwestern corner of First Street and Locust Street. The original founder remains unknown, though Willard Warner, who would later become a Union general in the Civil War and post-war senator in Alabama, served as shop and business manager. The company appears to have closed its doors during the Civil War and was then purchased by Henry Blandy of Zanesville. It had reopened as Blandy Machine Works, or Blandy's Newark Machine Works, by 1864, but continued to produce the same engines and boilers for farm equipment. This closure during the Civil War would have major implications for the next generation of Licking County manufacturers; Reinhart Scheidler of Scheidler Machine Works, Julius McNamar of McNamar Machine Works, and James Thomas of Thomas Foundry Works each started as employees of Newark Machine Works around 1855. After the Civil War, these three men struck out on their own into similar business ventures. The Machine Works impact therefore, was much greater than other short-lived enterprises.

Blandy's Machine Works would continue in operation until around 1880. The site at First and Locust would become the location for the Consumers Brewing Company.

New Newark Machine Works

Photograph published in Greater Newark 1911 that shows the second location of the Newark Machine Works after it had reorganized into the Blair Manufacturing Company. The building still displays the Newark Machine Company name on the side.

There is confusion about whether there is any connection between the old Newark Machine Works, which become Blandy Machine Works, and the later Newark Machine Works or Newark Machine Company, which opened around 1883. Each company made manufactured agricultural implements, though the latter made threshers and hullers. It is possible that the 1883 Newark Machine Works was the direct successor of the 1854 Newark Machine Works and involved some of the same proprietors, but there is no concrete evidence connecting the two businesses. More research on the topic is needed.

The New Newark Machine Company built its first production site in Newark along Wilson Street and the Canal around 1883. The company would soon relocate to Columbus in 1884-1885, only to return to Newark in 1895.

The Newark Machine Works of the 1880s became embroiled in a dispute with the city over those relocations; reciprocal promises had been made by each party regarding finances and employment quotas respectively. The City Council of Newark regarded the Machine Works in violation of its agreements after its departure from the city. A reconciliation took place between Council and the Machine Works and the company returned to Newark.

The relocated Newark Machine Works occupied a new location at what would become South 21st Street north of the Newark Earthworks and along a railroad line. The company would change its name to Blair Manufacturing Company in honor of Frank M. Blair, the engineer and mechanic behind their new truck design. The company would continue to evolve into the American Motor Truck Company of Newark, makers of Ace Trucks.

J.G.

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