Richmond Builds the Machines That Move

[1]In 1836, a small machine shop opened in the town of Richmond, Indiana. Richmond sat in the eastern part of the state, far from any major river or port. No railroad yet reached Indiana, so the town had no easy way to send goods to faraway customers. Instead of waiting for help to arrive, the early settlers decided to solve the problem themselves.

[2]The leaders first idea for how to connect Richmond to the broader world was a canal (a man-made waterway). The plan was for a canal that would link Richmond to the Ohio River. But after investors spent about $45,000, a terrible flood in 1847 destroyed the project. Richmond's leaders abandoned the canal.

[3]The canal's failure was a setback, but Richmond's settlers did not give up. During the 1840s, they opened three new turnpikes (roads you paid a toll to use) heading in different directions. These roads connected Richmond to nearby towns. Factories were still small. But by building workshops and pushing new roads outward, the people of Richmond had turned their town into a place where making things was already part of everyday life.

[4]In the 1850s, new railroad lines passed right through the city. This changed everything for Richmond. Before the railroads, factory owners could only sell their goods to nearby customers. Now, trains could carry those goods north, south, east, and west. Factories that had once been small shops began to grow. Between 1850 and 1860, Richmond's population jumped by more than 5,000 people as workers arrived to fill jobs.

[5]Richmond's factory owners took advantage of the new railroads. The Hoosier Drill Company ended up moving its whole factory to Richmond to be closer to the rail lines. Meanwhile, the Starr Piano Company began making pianos in Richmond in 1872, and its factory grew steadily.

[6]By the late 1800s, Richmond's manufacturers expanded their factories almost every year to keep up with growing demand. They produced all kinds of goods — farm tools, coffins, school furniture, and more. They shipped them by train to customers across the country.

[7]Richmond's manufacturers had grown their businesses from small local shops into larger and larger operations. By the early 1900s, some of their factories covered many city blocks. They built foundries, machine shops, and assembly lines that turned out many products — from seeding machines and pianos to automobiles and lawn mowers. The Hoosier Drill works, now part of the American Seeding-Machine Company, filled an enormous plant and shipped seeding machines all over the world. The Starr Piano Company employed more than 600 workers and filled buildings that covered about ten football fields of floor space. Richmond's manufacturers had carried the town from a handful of small workshops on the Indiana frontier to one of the top manufacturing cities of its size in the western part of the country.