Between Its founding in 1909 and its demise in 1967, A.C.
Gilbert's companies occupied a variety of locations. The
Mysto Manufacturing Company, founded by A.C. Gilbert and
John Petrie, constructed its first factory building at 159
Valley St. in Westville, CT, which is now part of New Haven.
The factory was constructed next to John Petrie's family
home. The Valley Street facility is shown in the inset oval
in the illustration at the left. 159 Valley Street is a
private residence today.
During the first three years of its existence, the company
experienced considerable growth and leased factory
facilities on Foote Street in New Haven with an option to
buy. That facility was previously occupied by the Kirchoff
Carriage works. Advertising of the time shows the address as
53, 55, 77, and even 400 Foote Street. Gilbert moved
production there in 1912, just as he started production of
the Erector product line. The idea for Erector had been
inspired by Gilbert's study of the girder posts and overhead
structures being installed along the New Haven Railroad
between New Haven and New York for purposes of
electrification of the line. Production of the new Erector
product began at the Foote Street plant which was sufficient
until February 1, 1915, at which time a fire destroyed
Building 3 at that facility.
At
that time, Gilbert purchased land at 119 Fox Street in New
Haven and constructed a two story factory building at that
location which was completed in May of 1915. That facility
is pictured in the illustration at the top of the page and
is still standing today as can be seen in the Google Street
View photo at the left. It was in that plant that Gilbert
began his diversification into products other than toys in
an effort to provide year round sales. Toys sales were
generally concentrated around Christmas time and could not
be counted on for income during the rest of the year. He
determined that small appliances could support year round
sales and so the Polar Cub line of fans and other appliances
was born.
1916
was a year of change for Gilbert. A.C. Gilbert
determined that the name of the company, Mysto Manufacturing
no longer fit and its name was changed to the
A.C. Gilbert Company in June of that year. In addition more production
space was required so Gilbert purchased the former Maxim
Munitions Factory at 319 Peck Street in New Haven and Erector
Square was born. The facilities on Foote Street were
sold at that time. Apparently, Gilbert had previously exercised his
option to purchase them, putting him in a position to sell
them himself. The Fox Street plant was sold
in 1917 and was used by its new owner to make "Liberty
Motors" for the war effort.
The
photo at the left shows an aerial view of the Erector Square
facilities. The Fox Street plant was very near and can
also be seen In the photo. It is the large dark building
just to the rear of the row houses in the upper right hand
corner of the photo. The Erector Square factory complex, with
additional construction on the premises at various times in
the ensuing years, served the company well until it
went out of business in 1967.
The chronology above was
prepared by reference to comments by A.C. Gilbert in
his Autobiography, "The Man Who Lives In Paradise."
Exact addresses were confirmed by online research.
Come and take a tour of the A.C. Gilbert factory,
starting with some shots from the earliest days. Don't be
surprised if these photos show a lot of gas powered
equipment as many were taken by the Natural Gas Association,
possibly for promotional use by them. Click on the link
below to see a slide show.
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