General Electric announces plans to build a fleet of household appliances

Steve Wiser
| Special for the Courier Journal

On Saturday morning, May 19, 1951, what do you think Louisville residents were thinking when they opened their Courier-Journal and saw this front-page headline: “GE Picks 700-Acre Site Near Buechel for Multimillion-Dollar Plant,” with a subhead: “16,000 Jobs Likely in 3 to 6 Years”

It is very likely that everyone was both surprised and happy to learn of the existence of one of the most important economic development projects in the history of the metropolitan region. The General Electric Company (and since 2016, the Haier Company) has employed thousands of people there since 1951. Today, the factory still manufactures its flagship appliances such as dishwashers, dryers and ranges. An impressive record when many other similar manufacturing plants have been closed and relocated outside the United States over the past 70 years.

Like Courier Journal readers this historic morning, the editorial staff had many questions about this surprising announcement:

Why Louisville? “A major factor in choosing Louisville was its location on the Ohio River for steel shipments, and its proximity to the population center and distribution center,” said Clarence Linder, general manager of GE’s major appliances division.

Why Buechel? Several other sites were considered. “The Okolona site would have required more grading and more expensive drainage. GE also looked at the Indiana Ordnance Works near Charlestown, but declined because the utility rates and taxes were higher than the Buechel site,” Linder said. It was also noted that “the (Buechel) area is fairly flat.”

Why is it called Appliance Park? “It will be landscaped to give a park atmosphere. Numerous plantings of trees and shrubs will be carried out. The power plant will be equipped with modern soot reduction devices and specially designed chimneys to keep smoke to a minimum. Household appliance manufacturing operations do not produce unpleasant odors for the neighborhood. Linder also explained that “no finished jet engines will be built or tested, so there will be no unpleasant noise.”

Why jet engines? Jet engine parts were initially planned to be built here due to the Korean War then raging. However, by the time the factory became operational, the jet engine parts were no longer needed and so only the devices were manufactured from day one.

Why rezoning? According to Linder, approving a zoning change is “the final step for the company to take in determining whether we can bring Appliance Park to Louisville.” In total, 22 parcels of land zoned for residential uses had to be rezoned for heavy industrial use. On June 7, 1951, just three weeks after the announcement, the rezoning hearing was scheduled in what must be a record for this somewhat controversial process.

What did the local residents think? Also in the May 19, 1951, paper, Grady Clay interviewed several nearby residents: “It’s a gold rush!” said one boy as he looked at the afternoon paper. “Now we’ll have to get a bigger fire truck,” said a member of the Buechel Volunteer Fire Department. “Where are we going to find another place to live like this?” cried another housewife. “There’s going to be a lot more people here,” said Beverly Slater. “This is too big a case to take to court and try to fight (the rezoning),” said Mrs. Kiser. “Anything that’s good for the city is good for us,” said Lewis C. Tingley.

How have property prices evolved? On May 27, 1951, the newspaper reported that real estate prices around the factory had already skyrocketed. Asking prices “had become unaffordable…A farm was put on the market after GE’s announcement at $500 an acre, whereas the owner had previously been asking $300 an acre.”

With the fundamental questions resolved, GE wasted no time in launching this colossal project. Two months after the announcement, on July 12, 1951, GE acquired the 700 acres and began construction. The initial cost was $14 million, or about $170 million in 2024 dollars.

In the July 28, 1951 newspaper, GE placed a large ad stating that it wanted to be a good corporate citizen in Louisville: “Good wages, steady employment, recreational facilities, opportunities for education and advancement, forward-looking benefit plans and corporate and individual contributions to support social welfare organizations and civic activities. »

Construction continued through 1952, and the first dryer was shipped from Building No. 1 on February 6, 1953. By 1957, more than 2 million laundry machines had been assembled. Employment peaked at 23,000 in 1972. The economic crisis of the 1970s reduced employment to about 11,000. Today, about 6,000 people work on 920 acres. By comparison, Ford’s Glendale, Kentucky, battery plant plans to hire 5,000 workers on 1,500 acres.

Steve Wiser, FAIA, is a local historian, author and architect.