Back at the cherry st site.

[Brian Dudley]

I was in Meriden this afternoon for some research and decided to stop back by the factory site.

The office building is still standing. In as much disrepair as ever before. Looking no more utilized than it was a year ago, or a few years before that. And for anyone wondering... The stacks of wood pellet fuel pallets are still there. lol.

44322

[Dave Noreen]

Looks like it has been painted since 2003 --

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v316/Ansleyone/Parker/FactoryBldgwithBabeKevin8x10.jpg

[Rick Losey]

good thing there is a golf shirt in there- with the hat - i would have thought you meant 1903

[edgarspencer]

Brian, It's best not to go there past sundown. Were you picking more bricks out of the building? It's sad how buildings with the historical value such as this one, are so neglected. It looks like the building to the left is getting more attention.

[Brian Dudley]

It wasnt that late. It was early afternoon. The pic just looks dark. But i know what you are talking about. Looks shady around there.

[edgarspencer]

Looks shady around there.
You ain't just sayin!

[John E. Williams]

Thanks for posting the new photo, Brian. Maybe we should all pool our lunch money and just buy the place...

[George M. Purtill]

What is the building used for now?

[Brian Dudley]

I do not know at all. Looks like just storage.

I woild be curious as to who owns it and what the details are. I understand that it was last sold sometime within the past 10 years or so.

I was thinking yesterday that it woild be a neat idea to operate a gun shop oit of it or something.

[John E. Williams]

I woild be curious as to who owns it and what the details are. I understand that it was last sold sometime within the past 10 years or so.

I'm betting this lady could tell us everything there is to know about the property's current state of ownership:

Irene G. Massé
Meriden City Clerk

Meriden City Hall
142 East Main Street
Meriden, CT 06450
Phone: (203) 630-4030

Hours: Monday - Friday 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM

[Brian Dudley]

I was at the clerks office yesterday searching land records for close to 3 hours.

Here is a few photos from a big Meridan map from 1891.

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Charles Parker Mayor

[Brian Dudley]

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[Bill Murphy]

Did you determine who owns the building now?

[Brian Dudley]

I was not at the clerk researching the building. I was researching a particular Parker employee.

I am not even sure what the technical address of the former office building is today.

[John E. Williams]

Google Maps shows the address as being 16 Cherry Street. I wouldn't put a lot of faith in that number's accuracy, but it's likely pretty close. As that section of Cherry street is blocked off along the railroad tracks immediately to the left of the office, effectively dead-ending it, so it shouldn't be difficult to identify the property's location within the context of a phone conversation.

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.5346299,-72.8045931,78m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en


Bing Maps shows it as being 30 Cherry Street, and also offers bird's-eye views of the proprty:

http://www.bing.com/maps/#Y3A9NDEuNTM0NzQwfi03Mi44MDM4NzcmbHZsPTE2JnN0eT1yJ nE9MzAlMjBDaGVycnklMjBTdCUyQyUyME1lcmlkZW4lMkMlMjB Db25uZWN0aWN1dCUyQyUyMFVuaXRlZCUyMFN0YXRlcw==

[Erick Dorr]

http://gis.meridenct.gov/meriden/PropertySearch.aspx

Click on 26 Cherry St. for assessment account info

Erick

[Brian Dudley]

Last sold in '02 for $66k. What a bargain.

The build date of 1900 doesnt sound right though. Maybe it was last added to at that time. ???

[Rick Losey]

Last sold in '02 for $66k. What a bargain.

The build date of 1900 doesnt sound right though. Maybe it was last added to at that time. ???

in many cases (at least around here), when the more modern record keeping started they just picked a generic date as a build date for older buildings. We looked at many old homes before picking this one that showed that practice- ours has a historic plaque on it that says built in 1830 (and we know that to be approximate for the start of construction)- but the listing had a generic date


good luck on your research- looking forward to another of your articles

[George M. Purtill]

What did the office building originally look like? I assume the overhead door sections did not exist?

[Bill Murphy]

Leave the overhead doors in place. I plan to park a couple of rods in there.

[Gary Carmichael Sr]

I personally think it would be a great place for the PGCA museum, Probably could be bought for a song, I will donate a gun to go to the first raffle to generate funds to buy the place, I know this sounds crazy but what better place for a Parker museum than at the old site where they were made, Gary

[John E. Williams]

I'm with you, Gary. I can't imagine a finer place.

[Jim DiSpagno]

I would ask Edgar about the area. Security might be an issue all the way around. Nice idea if the semantics work out.

[Brian Dudley]

Edgar can buy up all the houses on the street in order to clean up the area.

[edgarspencer]

:shock:Edgar can buy up all the houses on the street in order to clean up the area.

Do you know something I don't? Where is all this cash coming from? Last I checked, No one has died and left me any money, but if they had, Houses in a Bad section of Meriden aren't very high up the list of things I'd spend it on. I think Brian has me confused with George P.

[Bill Murphy]

The PGCA attitude about a PGCA museum has always been "ZZZZZZZZ", even though some fairly good ideas were presented. I somehow agree with them, after many years of discussion and non discussion that a museum would be a difficult project. I'm OK with no museum. However, this building in Meriden could be a bit of Parker Brothers history, even if it were restored and made into something other than a museum, or left empty or near empty.

[John Dallas]

Does anyone know whatever happened to the machinery? I assume it went to Ilion From there?

[Brian Dudley]

I am sure some was moved to illion. Some was maybe absorbed by some of The Charles Parker Co's other facilities/operations. Some maybe left. Parker still owned the factory building after the gun works moved to illion. It was utilized by the company until it burned in 1980. It was used primarily for warehousing and storage for The Univac products at the end if i am not mistaken.

[Jean Swanson]

Maybe someone should address these questions to Louis, Bill or Charlie---they just might know the answers.

Allan

[Bill Murphy]

Allan, Kevin, Ron, The Parker Story authors and I know the answers. The machinery was shipped to Ilion, was used for a while, but then was put into storage at the beginning of the war. After the war, Remington made a valiant effort to put the guns back into production with the existing machinery, but the machinery could not be brought back up to speed, or operation at all. Some companies were approached to assist in the effort, but it didn't work out. The companies included Griffin and Howe, Frank Lefever and Son, and others. End of story, sort of. There is more, but those are the basics. I don't know if any of us are interested in more of the details, but I have them in my research material. I would love to share this research material if anyone is interested.

[ForrestArmstrong]

Sad seeing old decrepit buildings like that which represented so much more in bygone days. Progress, I suppose. If I lived around Meriden, I'd try to buy it, just for storage and bragging rights if nothing else.

[Bill Holcombe]

Ed Muderlak rightly or wrongly wrote a different theory about why the Parker gun never resumed production.

[Dean Romig]

I imagine the property taxes on a commercial building in a commercially zoned section of Meriden would be pretty costly.... I wonder how the revenue to pay the taxes and the upkeep on the building would be generated..... Edgar?... George?..... :corn:

Nevermind....:whistle:





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[Bill Zachow]

Just for info, Frank LeFever, in Lee Center, NY, bought the original barrel matting machine from Remington. It stayed in Lee Center (North of Rome, NY) until the 90s and has since dissapeared.

[Jean Swanson]

Check Tony Galazan's storage area, I think he owned it at one time after Frank. Bill is correct about the matting machine, I saw it at Frank's shop years ago.

[Dean Romig]

Might Tony be using it to matt the ribs for the $50K Remington Parkers?





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[Jean Swanson]

Dean-----I would think not, with the advent of CNC machines the process can be done more accurately and quicker

[Brian Dudley]

And only a dozen of those new Parkers have been built and only about half of them actually sold.

I with someone would get that machine going again or come up with another way to re-matte Parker ribs. That would be an invaluable thing these days.

Our best hope at this point is John Hosford, who is currently able to matte Fox ribs. He can matte any rib really, but it would look like a fox pattern. I am hoping thag he adjusts his operation some in the future to allow for other makers to be done.

Besides, if you want to be 100% correct about things, a CNC matted rib woild just not have the right look. But i guess beggers cant be choosers. But now i am off topic, talking about rib matting and all.

[Gary Carmichael Sr]

I guess by all the talk the drug dealers and dope heads have taken over the block, I would like to get up to Meriden and see that building before i leave here, I bet you can feel "feel" the presence of the old guys who worked there! Well guess I will not be giving up a Parker for the building raffle, by the way here is the gun I was thinking about offering, Gary

[Rick Losey]

I guess by all the talk the drug dealers and dope heads have taken over the block, I would like to get up to Meriden and see that building before i leave here, I bet you can feel "feel" the presence of the old guys who worked there! Well guess I will not be giving up a Parker for the building raffle, by the way here is the gun I was thinking about offering, Gary

:eek:

:rotf: :rotf: :rotf:

[John E. Williams]

Might Tony be using it to matt the ribs for the $50K Remington Parkers?

As a tool and die maker, I would absolutely LOVE to see that machine being set up and then cutting a rib!

[Dean Romig]

Dean-----I would think not, with the advent of CNC machines the process can be done more accurately and quicker


Right - Good point Allan.





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[Jean Swanson]

I know there are others out there that have ORIGINAL Parker rib machines , it would only take a lot of time and effort to find one that a person/company would be willing to dispose of. Good luck !!! If I were younger , I would find one.

Think of this question---Do you think Parker Brothers only had ONE rib machine ???

[Larry Frey]

I would like to get up to Meriden and see that building before i leave here, I bet you can feel "feel" the presence of the old guys who worked there! Gary

Gary,
If your ever traveling through the area give me a call and I will take you over there. Last year Dave and I took founding member Fred Stump and his wife to view the Parker grave sites, the Meriden Historical Society, and the old PB factory site. I'm not sure the neighbors have figured out why people would stop on a dead end street to pick up old bricks.:)

[Dean Romig]

Think of this question---Do you think Parker Brothers only had ONE rib machine ???


A well run manufacturing company wouldn't limit themselves to only one machine that was depended upon to produce 5,000 matted ribs per year, let alone the fact that machines break down and can put production way behind schedule without at least one or two backup machines.


A guy would be pretty hard pressed to even find a single whole brick there anymore. The place has been so well bulldozed and the rubble is just about all crushed and crumbled brick and mortar. I have seen some bricks from the area purported to be from the original Parker Bros. factory but which are much too recently made to be from the Gun Works.





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[Dave Suponski]

I know where they are

[John E. Williams]

I know where they are

The bricks or the rib mills?

[Dave Suponski]

Sorry for being so curt. I was on my I-phone in the shop. I was referring to available whole bricks from the factory site. There is an area on the lot that still holds a fair amount of whole bricks.

As far as the rib matting machine goes the last I saw of it was at Tony's place. The machine is more of a micro shaper than a mill. I would love to play with it as I have a lot of literature on it and it looks like fun.

[John E. Williams]

The machine is more of a micro shaper than a mill. I would love to play with it as I have a lot of literature on it and it looks like fun.

The shaper angle is what I always imagined it to be, although I've never actually seen pictures of the machine either static OR in operation. You've actually got literature on this thing?!?! I don't suppose you'd be willing to scan and share copies of that, would you?

[Dean Romig]

Dave submitted an article for publication in Parker Pages on Parker Bros machinery a couple of years ago and the rib-matting machine was featured in it.





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[greg conomos]

A CNC machine, as noted by Brian, would never be able to replicate the rib matting used by Parker. A a mill cuts metal whereas the ribs were rolled, giving a very different appearance.

[Brian Dudley]

Hey... At this point, i would take someone who could re-matte a rib by CNC.

I was just mentioning that it would habe a different look of you are talking about being completely correct.

[greg conomos]

I know. I was just commenting that CNC is not gonna 'cut it' for this type of operation.

[Garth Gustafson]

We do have an alternative to a bricks & mortar museum. A Parker film documentary on the history of PB, the factory, people and grades would be relatively inexpensive to produce. No travel required and it would reach a broader audience. Much of the material has already been researched, collected and published. I'll bet the membership has even more to contribute too.

Wouldn't it be terrific to watch a PB historical documentary and learn about the manufacturing process along with photos and maybe even some early film footage? What a great way to educate folks about Parker and preserve a proud piece of American gun manufacturing

[Dean Romig]

Thanks Garth - those are precisely my thoughts and have been for several years.
Another thing I have suggested to certain "low membership number" members is to record the history of the PGCA through each of their recollections... I mean each and every detail (good or bad) that they each can remember and record it all for posterity. Once these guys are no longer with us the PGCA's history becomes little more than "somebody once said."

There is a lot of valuable history in these guy's memories - things that were never written in The Parker Story - or any other Parker books for that matter.




.

[Bill Murphy]

Get busy. I can't believe the number of Parker experts and historians are DED, yes, dee ee dee DED. Very few of them left anything in writing. I saved Herschel Chaddick ads for years and finally trashed them. They were a true piece of history that should have been preserved.