Web Content for Parrish & Bingham Collection

Today, I worked on compiling web resources to use on the Parrish & Bingham Collection that I’ve been working on.  I didn’t have much luck finding online resources (or any other resources for that matter). However, I had enough to write a brief introduction to the company and the materials in the collection.

Here’s a rough draft:

Early History of Parrish and Bingham

Founded in 1894 as a trolley and bicycle frame manufacturer, the Parrish and Bingham Co. quickly grew to become an important component in Cleveland’s expanding industrial economy.  Located at the corner of Madison Avenue and West 106th Street – just across the street from the Cleveland auto manufacturer, Winton Motor Cars -  the Parrish and Bingham plant was ideally situated to enter the nascent automobile industry.  In 1923, the company merged with Detroit Pressed Steel Co. to become Midland Steel Products Company.  By the 1930s, with an expanded line of products that included steel automotive frames and axle housings for cars, trucks and busses; the West 106th Street plant became one of the central suppliers of automotive manufacturing components in the country, and “the largest producer of automotive frames.”

World War II and Beyond

Like many other manufacturers in the U.S., the West 106th Street plant rapidly adjusted to wartime production, turning out jeep and truck frames as well as parts for shells and tanks.  After the war, the company began to expand its interests beyond the automotive frames business.  Midland Steel Products Company became Midland-Ross Co. in 1957, beginning a process of diversification and acquisitions that would continue throughout the 1960s.  Industrial Rayon Corporation and the National Casting Company (both of Cleveland) are only two of the many national and regional manufacturers acquired by Midland-Ross between 1957 and 1969.

Beginning in 1969, the company began focusing its  research and development efforts on aerospace and electronics products and thermal processes, as well as steel castings, the latter of which dated back to the company’s 19th century origins as Parrish and Bingham Company.  Midland-Ross flourished during this period, as did the old plant on West 106th Street, which by the 1970s employed nearly 800  Clevelanders.  Despite corporate restructuring (leading to changing ownership) and periodic labor disputes, the plant managed to compete as one of only four automotive frame manufacturers remaining in the United States in 1976, and the nation’s largest manufacturer of frames for medium sized trucks.

Parrish & Bingham Images on Cleveland Memory

The Parrish and Bingham Collection at CSU’s Cleveland Memory Project consists of 80 photographs by Ernst-Eidman Photographers dating to (circa) 1920.  The photos were purchased by the library from a private collector, and were originally matted on linen pages housed in a single “screw ring” leather binder.  Most images are of the Parish & Bingham property at Madison Avenue and West 106th Street, including the factory floor and infirmary, as well as an interior mural and one aerial view facing south from Berea Road.  Assorted pieces of machinery; including cranes, presses, and blast furnaces; workspaces;  and warehouse and shipping and receiving areas are all well-represented.  Several images of men at work are also included.