Classic Cars at Work: Vintage Photos Of Industrial Sites — 1950s-1960s

Text by Patrick Bell. 

Today, we’re taking a stroll through the industrial landscapes of a bygone era, peeking into the parking lots where working people left their cars for the day. What a different world it was: rows of colorful American sedans, with a few imports and trucks scattered among them. Their workplaces provide the backdrop, from heavy industry in full swing to power plants and storage facilities. Together, the cars and their surroundings capture a mix of nostalgia and the busy rhythms of mid-century life.

This was a joint effort, as Eric703 lent his talents in finding the locations and other interesting tidbits on many of these vintage images.  Many thanks, Eric!

The opening photo shows the Ketchikan Pulp Company, which was Alaska’s largest pulp mill, and located just north of the city of Ketchikan.  The mill opened in 1954 and remained in business until 1997.  While in the 1950s, Ketchikan’s economy was driven by the pulp and fishing industries, it’s now dominated by tourism, and the pulp mill site is currently used as a cruise ship pier called “The Mill at Ward Cove.”  Google Street View doesn’t quite get close enough for a then-and-now shot, but here’s a good image of the mill when it opened in 1954.

All of the cars in the parking lot were from the 1950’s as best as I can tell.  I see two imports; a maroon Hillman Minx in the center, and a Metropolitan towards the right edge.  Two pickups were parked together in the foreground; a dark perhaps International, and a green 1958 or 1959 Chevrolet.  The two Chevrolets on the left edge represent the oldest and newest; a 1959 and a 1951 or 1952 Styleline.  And closest to the camera were two 1955 models; a Chevrolet Bel Air 4 door sedan, and a Buick perhaps 4 door hardtop.

The image shows part of the Endicott-Johnson Shoe Company complex in 1951, which was absolutely huge and located on Oak Hill Avenue in Endicott, NY.  We’ll assume the “ENDI” on the smokestack references the company.  Endicott-Johnson gradually lost its market prominence in the 1950s & ’60s, and most of the company’s real estate was sold to Endicott’s other well-known employer, IBM.  Most of these buildings have been demolished, though the white and brown building in the background still stands.  That building was actually one of IBM’s earlier properties (acquired from EJ in 1949)–it still stands today, though it is now painted completely gray.

The only car I can ID here is the green 1949 Ford in the center.  It was either a Business Coupe in Standard trim, or a Club Coupe in Standard or Custom trim.  Going by sales numbers would have made it a Custom Club Coupe, as it was the most popular of the three by over a 4.5 to 1 margin.

This 1954 photo was a stack of logs heading to a mill via rail cars.  One of the cars was marked “Canadian National”.  They now have routes in the U.S., but I am unsure if they did in the 1950’s, so this could be a Canadian location.

The cars facing this way were, from the left, a 1938 Ford De Luxe, 1937 Chevrolet, green 1951-1953 Dodge B series Job-Rated pickup, black 1952 Studebaker Commander 4 door sedan, and a maroon 1940 Dodge Luxury Liner 2 door sedan.  The two visible license plates are the same, but I don’t recognize them.

This one looked like a chemical processing plant, or something along those lines.  The license plates are all the same, but California, New York, and others used that color during this period, so the location is unknown.

The cars are much easier.  From the left, a 1956 Buick Special or Century 2 door Riviera hardtop, a green 1954 Ford Customline Tudor Sedan, tan 1953 Ford Customline Fordor Sedan, 1951-1955 Chevrolet Advance Design pickup with the Nu-Vue cab corner windows, and on the right edge perhaps the boss’s 1950 Cadillac.

The Hales Bar Dam was the first dam built on the Tennessee River and was located in Marion County, Tennessee.  It went into operation in 1913.  A new dam replaced it in 1967, and the old one was dismantled the next year.  Today the site is the Hales Bar Marina and Resort.

Beginning in the foreground, the parking lot occupants were a 1956 Ford Mainline Fordor Sedan, which apparently was the dam police car.  Next was the same car in a 1955 version without a cherry on top.  The black one mostly hiding may have been a 1949-1952 Chevrolet Styleline, with a white 1955 Chevrolet next.  And the long-looking gold 1957 Pontiac Star Chief Custom 4 door Catalina hardtop is the last one I can ID.

We are now at Airstream headquarters in Jackson Center, Ohio, in a 1959 image.  That has been their location since 1952, but as you can imagine, nothing from this image remains.  It is now a destination in itself, with a Heritage Center along with the manufacturing facility.

There were two Oldsmobiles in the foreground; a 1957 Golden Rocket 88 2 door sedan that had been at Dells Dancing Waters & Ski Show that took place on Lake Delton in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin.  On the right was a 1956 88 Holiday Coupe.  Above it was the nose of a 1958 Rambler Custom Cross Country wagon, and on the left edge facing this way was a 1957 Ford.

We have no location or information for this one, but it was busy on the day the photo was taken. A lone 1954 Pontiac Star Chief convertible can be seen facing right, perhaps it was the photographer’s car.  This was Pontiac’s only convertible model, and the L-head straight 8 and 6 cylinder engines were in their last year.  A new V8 would debut in 1955.  There is part of a car on the opposite end, but it was too blurry to ID.

We haven’t been able to figure out the location of this one, but the ship is the MS Thorold, owned by the Quebec & Ontario Transportation Co., and headquartered in Thorold, Ontario.  In the background are large piles of iron ore, so this was almost certainly taken along the Great Lakes.  The ship’s home port of Thorold is located on the Welland Canal, which connects Lake Erie with Lake Ontario.  I wouldn’t be surprised if the photo was taken along the Canal – even today there are still marine terminals there that have iron ore piles, though there are countless other places along the Great Lakes that do as well.  A good photo of Thorold in action is HERE.

I don’t see any obvious Canadian cars here, nor any imports.  The oldest was the black 1939-1947 Dodge pickup on the left, and just to the right of center was the newest, a light blue 1964 Pontiac Catalina or Bonneville wagon.  Others include a black 1956 Ford Customline Fordor Sedan on the left lower edge.  In the right lower corner was a green 1957 Chevrolet Two-Ten 2 door sedan, and a tan 1963 Mercury Comet wagon.

This photo shows the N.M. Paterson & Sons grain elevator in Thunder Bay, Ontario.  The structure was demolished in 1979, though there are still some grain elevators in the immediate vicinity.  The photo is a bit deceptive because it’s hard to tell that there’s a river between the camera and the grain elevator, but the elevator was built right on the bank of the Kaministiquia River.  The current Street View shot is HERE. Interestingly, though the elevator is gone, the small brick building in the background is still standing.

A two tone 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air 4 door sedan was passing by, which also had the optional full wheel covers and a black license plate.  This was a 1961 image, and Ontario’s plates were black that year.  So this was likely a local car.  It looked good for a six year old, at least it still had a rocker panel on this side.

Train cars from two railroads are shown in the picture–there’s an Illinois Central tank car and caboose, and also a Cotton Belt car in the background.  There are not too many places where those two rail lines’ operations overlapped.  Cairo, Illinois or possibly St. Louis would be likely choices, except that the vehicles in the foreground don’t have front license plates, which Illinois and Missouri required.  So, the best guess (and this is only a guess) for this photo’s location is either Memphis or Paducah, both of which were plausible interchange points between Illinois Central and Cotton Belt.

In this December 1965 image, from the left was a 1959 Chevrolet Impala 4 door sedan, with a black 1964 or 1965 Ford Falcon 4 door sedan on the other side of it.  Facing this way was a white 1960 Buick LeSabre 4 door sedan that must have lived on a dirt road.  Next was a 1964 Dodge 330 4 door sedan, and a 1964-1966 Chevrolet C series truck.

This was the Southern California Edison Kern River No. 1 Hydroelectric Project, near Bakersfield.  The image is dated 1967 and was taken looking down from California State Route 178.  You can see the river flowing in the background.

Seen down below is a 1964 Plymouth Valiant V-100 4 door sedan and a 1965-1967 Ford Econoline pickup.

Here is another one with no location given. A 1965 photo of what appeared to be a power plant, with an office or lab building to the left.  It was apparently an organization that had the need for uninterrupted power.  What we can see of the complex had a government or military look to it.  The only visible potential identifiers were “PCO” on the smokestacks.  That may have been only part of the name, with the rest of it weathered away.

Parked by the fence was a 1964 Chevrolet Biscayne wagon, and the beige roof on the lower edge was a 1962-1964 Chevrolet Impala 4 door sedan.

I’m not 100% sure just where on the McDonnell Douglas campus this picture was taken, but based on the street sign, we believe it would be heading south on Lakewood Blvd. towards Conant St. (incidentally, named after Frederic Conant, a McDonnell Douglas Senior VP).  The photo’s description of it being at a “factory warehouse” would agree with that, because McDonnell Douglas’s main warehouse was at the northeast corner of that intersection.  That gigantic warehouse still exists and is currently used by Mercedes-Benz as a “vehicle preparation center.”

We are going to look at the parallel parked cars in this 1969 image, and on the left were two 1960 models; a Ford Thunderbird convertible, and a Chevrolet Impala Sport Coupe.  Then were two 1st gen Chevrolet Corvairs; a beige sedan, and a brown coupe.  They were divided by a 1962 Ford Galaxie 4 door Town Sedan.  And on the right end was a Volkswagen Type 1.  I will leave the airplane IDs to someone else.

Jostens American Yearbook Company was/is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and had/has at least seven locations scattered through mid-America. We’ve no exact location for the facility in this photo but we do know they are a memorabilia company that was founded in 1897, and took on school yearbook publishing in 1950.

The parking lot was nearly full that winter day, as the yearbook season was in full swing.  In the lower left was a 1966 Ford Mustang with a 1969 Michigan license plate.  That could be a location clue, except the 1962 Buick across the aisle has a different color plate, and is too far away to read. Next to the Mustang was a 1964 or 1965 Plymouth Barracuda, then a 1963 Rambler Classic 660 4 door sedan, 1962 Ford Galaxie 500 4 door Town Sedan, 1963 Chevrolet Impala Sport Coupe, and a 1969 Pontiac Catalina or Ventura 4 door sedan, the newest visible.  And next to it was the oldest, a 1954 Chevrolet 2 door sedan.

Thanks for joining us and have a great day!

 

More Vintage Photos Here