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Monday, May 09, 2011

1937: EWING TOWNSHIP'S NEW GENERAL MOTORS TERNSTEDT FACTORY

What memories surround this post! When I began what turned out to be a dead end career choice as a bearing and power transmission employee back in the early 1950's, I made daily trips to "Ternstedt Division, General Motors Corp." Mr. Walt Lawyer was the buyer at the time, and he turned out to be a true friend. Earlier in my young years, the spectacle of a Grumman "Avenger" on a test run circling over our neighborhood for a return flight to the Ewing airfield will ever be in my databank of childhood memories. I remember how low those planes flew....so low one could actually see the pilot in the large "greenhouse" cockpit. As a long time worker in Ewing, I also remember the race to get out of the Ternstedt parking lot when the shifts were changing. Many were the times when I was on my way to the plant with an emergency delivery of bearings when I got caught up in the traffic jam. Oh, those memories!
A note from Tom:
In order to present this graphic to be legible within the confines of the standard computer monitor, this graphic has been completely re-formatted from the original Trenton Evening Times article.
Blogger Ralph Lucarella said...

I CAN RECALL THE OPENING OF GM TOM. IT CREATED A BIG CHANGE THROUGHOUT THE AREA WITH THEIR STARTING PAY OF .65 CENTS AN HOUR. MOST PEOPLE WERE EARNING MUCH LESS AT THEIR JOBS. MY COUSIN, JOE MILACCI WAS ONE OF THEIR EARLIEST WORKERS WITH A MANAGER'S POSITION IN THE SHIPPING DEPT. MY BROTHER LOU AND MANY OTHER OF MY FRIENDS WERE ALSO AMONG THE EARLY WORKERS. GM MADE A GREAT DENT IN THE UNEMPLOYMENT RANK. BEST REGARDS
Monday, May 09, 2011

2 comments:

Ralph Lucarella said...

I CAN RECALL THE OPENING OF GM TOM. IT CREATED A BIG CHANGE THROUGHOUT THE AREA WITH THEIR STARTING PAY OF .65 CENTS AN HOUR. MOST PEOPLE WERE EARNING MUCH LESS AT THEIR JOBS. MY COUSIN, JOE MILACCI WAS ONE OF THEIR EARLIEST WORKERS WITH A MANAGER'S POSITION IN THE SHIPPING DEPT. MY BROTHER LOU AND MANY OTHER OF MY FRIENDS WERE ALSO AMONG THE EARLY WORKERS. GM MADE A GREAT DENT IN THE UNEMPLOYMENT RANK. BEST REGARDS

Ron Bound said...

My father in law worked there for 33 years. He retired in either 71 or 72. Seems like he could have been one of the first workers there if it opened around 1938. I remember he was retired in 72, and he came down to Cape Canaveral, for the last Apollo mission, Apollo 17. I got him a good view out at the Cape, where I was the lead AF weather guy.