![]() ![]() Over the ensuing years, production and employment levels at the Broadway campus dropped consistently and at times significantly as GE shifted production to newer, more efficient factories with cheaper and typically non-union workforces. By the 1950s, the Fort Wayne location was no longer the epicenter of GE’s key business. However, through these decades, GE’s national footprint continued to expand and its prioritization of the Fort Wayne location began to diminish. By the mid-1940s, the complex supported more than 20,000 employees. As America electrified, General Electric grew rapidly. The company was at the forefront of the rise of electrical streetcar systems and the leader of electrical consumer appliances. Through World War I and into the heady economic years of the 1920s, the company continued to grow exponentially. Upon taking control of the Fort Wayne Electric Works, General Electric invested heavily in expanding its operations in Fort Wayne. ![]() By 1892, Fort Wayne Electric caught the eye of and was acquired by the General Electric (GE) company, one of the three largest electrical companies in the country at the time. Within four years, the Fort Wayne Electric Works had grown from a start-up enterprise to a successful and growing business. After meeting with the inventor of one of the earliest variations of arc lighting, local entrepreneur Ranald Macdonald established the Fort Wayne electric company to manufacture and sell the Jenney arc lighting system for Indiana and four other states. The historic General Electric complex and its contribution to the community began in 1881 with the establishment of the Fort Wayne Electric Company. ![]()
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