You may have heard of the town Schenectady, but you may not know much about the town. It’s a manufacturing center that’s known as “The City that Lights and Hauls the World,” which is a reference to two prominent businesses in the city, the Edison Electric company (known as GE) and the American Locomotive Company (ALCO). Learn more about this town and what happened to GE in Schenectady below! We’re your trusted Latham dealer for all of your financing and leasing needs, as well as providing exciting details about our town.
Schenectady is located in eastern New York, close to where the Mohawk and Hudson Rivers join. It’s a town deep-rooted in culture and history that dates back to the 1600s. Learn some quick history factors about Schenectady below:
The city has a lot of history that’s worth further exploration! If you’re interested in learning more about the history of Schenectady, we recommend collaborating with our local historians. You can learn more about our local city’s great history at the city of Schenectady’s website, Schenectady County’s History and Genealogy site coordinated by the Schenectady Public Library, and Albany’s Guide to the Capital Region website!
General Electric’s (GE) history in this town goes back to 1886 when inventor Thomas Edison set up Edison Machine Works there. After GE was formed through an 1892 merger, Schenectady became a company town known as The Electric City or “The City That Lights and Hauls the World”. After the industrial giant GE, the American Locomotive Company was still operating. The Alco plant was later torn down in 2011 and replaced by the Mohawk Harbor mixed-use development.
At Erie Boulevard, the GE campus, which once had 45,000 people, now has around 3,000 employees or less. This is still the largest among the other 22 GE facilities in New York, but less than 5,000 people worked at those facilities in December 2020.
For many years the town was tied to GE, with about 30,000 people working on spreading out the Schenectady/Rotterdam campus at the start of the Great Depression. Then about 45,000 after World War II and diminishing to 32,000 by 1950. Many people, including multi-generational families, worked there, with corporate philanthropy and employee volunteerism helping to make Schenectady a better community. The downtown area was packed with shoppers through the 1960s and 1970s.
What happened to the once vibrant GE campus??
Around the time of Kack Welch’s retirement in 2001, the stock exploded, and the company’s value went from $14 billion to $410 million. This made Welch “Manager of the Century.” The workforce had dwindled to 6,700 while the town was reaching a low point and Schenectady’s population plunged by half.
There was a transition at play, it was a post-industrial economy, and people were leaving Schenectady for nearby towns in the Capitol Region and other areas of New York. The shrinkage in employees followed the same pattern in other industrial towns. We have seen a redevelopment of Schenectady since this time period, especially as nearby student populations grow and industries have become more varied in Schenectady and the Capitol Region overall.
According to reports, In 2021, the union representing hourly production works in town reports it only has about 800 members, with just 600 of those workers currently working for GE in Schenectady. COVID-19 has also transformed some of the workforces, with some people also being able to work remotely.
Many people often search to see if anyone famous hails from their hometown. While Schenectady was the home of the fictional NBC character Grace Adler on “Will & Grace,” many often wonder, “Why is Schenectady, NY Famous?” You’d be surprised at the list of celebrities who were born, grew up, or spent some time here! Check it out below:
At Ford of Latham, we’re proud to be part of the community, and we’ll do what we can to help those around us. Whether you’re searching for your next new or used Ford car, truck, or SUV, or if you’re looking for ways to help our Capitol Region community, we can help! Give us a call today!
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