Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 25 January 1940 — Page 4
a ES a EY
NE MORNING in the fall of 1937, contractor's crews began ripping up sod and earth in an empty 75-acre field on the eastern rim of town. That was the beginning of International Harvester Com-
_pany’s Indianapolis Works and the beginning of our resi-
dence as Indianapolis manufacturers.
Since that day things have happened at 5565 Brookville Road. Where clover grew in 1937 there now are more than 3,500,000 bricks, 8,500 tons of structural steel, 24 carloads of cast iron and steel pipe, nearly six miles of mechanical conveyors, enough corrugated glass to cover an area of four acres; in all, about $7,000,000 worth of plant, tools, and equipment, all combined for the single purpose of building what we believe are the finest motor truck engines in the world —the power plants that go into International trucks. '
But more important than physical statistics, today there
_ are more than 2,000 steady, well-paid jobs at Indianapolis
Works—2,000 jobs that did not exist before, bringing new activity, new business, 2 new and dependable stream of revenue to Indianapolis. And all but a handful of those jobs are filled by men from Indianapolis and its environs.
They work in an efficient plant, of course. Indianapolis Works is as modern and as scientifically designed as any automotive factory anywhere. Its huge foundry, which was recently placed in operation and which brought to completion the physical structures of the plant, is the most modern large foundry in the world.
There is another thing that we would especially like our Indianapolis neighbors to know, particularly the families and friends of our men—Harvester men at Indianapolis work in a plant which is not surpassed anywhere in the safeguards that have been created to Protect the health and safety of employes.
We want our men safe. We want them well. We have
spent almost a half-million dollars and the time of ‘quali-
INTERNATIONAL
fied experts to achieve those results. That is our policy in.
all our plants, of course, but because Indianapolis Works is our newest factory, it carries safety and health prove sions to new high levels.
The completion of Indianapolis Works makes Indiana
the major state in International truck manufacturing operations, for, in addition to Indianapolis Works, Indiana
has the great Fort Wayne Works, where all heavy-duty Internationals are built, Incidentally, for the last five years
we have built more heavy-duty trucks than the next two
makers combined. Besides motor truck operations in Indiana, we build at Richmond Works a large line of
seeding machinery and cream separators for our farm equipment customers. Taken all together, Indiana is the
No. 2 state in Harvester manufacturing, second only to
our headquarters state of Illinois. - ”
That's natural enough, for we have eijoyed a fine business in Indiana for many years. One of the first eight
reapers built by our founder, Cyrus Hall McCormick, was
HARVESTER IN INDIANA
In the fiscal year which ended October 31,
1939, International Harvester Company spent in Indiana the following sums:
Nation purchased . $ 8,260,000 Power, light, etc. , 346,000 Transportation 1,159,000
Sales branch house expense . . "638,000
Salaries and wages 8,399,000 : Taxes (Direct) . . 447,000 Total . $19,249,000 ‘And that total was an INCREASE of more than.
~~ $5,000, 000 over comparable expenditure for the fiscal your | 1938.
nS
Ganenas LINE SALES 1065 West = Waskiogmn St.
3
"HARVESTER
: sold in this state. The machine was shipped from his work-
shop in Virginia by water, down the Atlantic seaboard to
~ New Orleans, up the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, and was
sold in Fayette County for use in the harvest of 1845. In that same summer of 1845 the first Indiana sales agency of our predecessor company, the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, was granted also for Fayette County. By 1857 the company had established supply houses—the forerunners of our present sales branches, at Indianapolis, Lafayette, and Terre Haute. Today we have sales branches at Indianapolis, Evansville, Terre Haut¢, and Fort Wayne. From a sales standpoint, therefore, + we are Ga -timers in
Indianapolis and Indiana.
With the completion of Indianapolis Works, however, we really take our place in this city in a new character, that of ‘a local manufacturer. As newcomers, we know we are being observed and judged by the community. That's normal in any neighborhood when a new family moves in. We welcome your inspection. We sincerely hope you'll like us and be glad we're here.
For our part, we like Indianapolis. We’ ve e bung up our
bat to stay.
When we decided to build a new motor truck engine works here, we believed Indianapolis was a ‘good place to do business. Now, after more than a year of trial, we are sure of it. Indianapolis has been friendly to us and we appreciate it. We want to thank all the individuals and organizations who have helped to make our moving-in pleasant and easy.
The celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the
Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce is an occasion call-
ing forth our heartiest congratulations and most cordial . - x ’ 3 . : eo - 1 wishes for many more years of valued community service.
Now thut we're settled down, we invite you to. visit.
either our Works or salesrooms and get acquainted. Our
motor truck sales and service branch at 1065 W. Washing-
ton St. has an interesting display of International Trucks = | powered by engines built right here in Indianapolis. We =
invite businessmen to inspect these transportation values when in need of ‘one truck or a hundred. Sizes range from half-ton pickup and panel trucks to big, heavy-duty six-
‘wheelers. They are quality trucks—powered by rugged ‘engines built by your neighbors, the Hatvegtse men of
; Indianapolis.
ow Sprivisim 5565 Brookville Road
MOTOR TRUCK SALES 1065 West Washington St.
COMPANY