Haskell Manufacturing Company Building
Building in 1917
Haskelite Building is located in Michigan
Haskelite Building
Haskelite Building is located in the United States
Haskelite Building
Interactive map showing building location
Location801 North Rowe St., Ludington, Michigan
Coordinates43°57′54″N 86°26′43″W / 43.96500°N 86.44528°W / 43.96500; -86.44528
Built1892 (1892)
NRHP reference No.1100005785[1]
Added to NRHPNovember 10, 2020 (2020-11-10)

The Haskelite Building, also known as the Haskell Manufacturing Company Building, is a former factory building located at 801 N. Rowe Street, Ludington, Mason County, Michigan. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 10, 2022.[2] In 2022, the building was refurbished into residential apartments, known as the Lofts on Rowe.[3][4][5]

Description

The structure is a 45,000-square-foot, rectangular, three-story factory built with load-bearing brick walls and a flat roof, and a stone and concrete foundation. The main section was constructed between 1890 and 1895, with an addition in 1904 to 1911 that was twice the size of the original building.[6] The main entry has a cream brick surround within a large round-arch with a keystone. The entry is flanked by two large segmental-arch windows containing a single pane of glass and a transom above. The second and third floors each contain six 9-over-9 wood-sash, double-hung, segmental-arch windows.[7]

History

Four Ludington businessmen founded the Development Company of Ludington in 1892. Their aim was to develop a portion of the city into a manufacturing park and entice companies to move their manufacturing operations to Ludington. To that end, they platted out an addition to the city, laid in utilities, and constructed a railroad spur. They also built three manufacturing plants along Rowe Street, including this building. The first company to move into this building was the Mendelson Manufacturing Company, which made men's clothing.[7] After the clothing company went out of business in 1894, the building remained empty until 1904 when furniture makers Tubbs Manufacturing Company moved in. Tubbs expanded the building to manufacture wood products, and stayed in residence until 1911.[8][6][9]

In 1911, Henry L. Haskell's Carrom Company moved into the building.[10] The company first made the Carrom game at the plant.[10] Meanwhile, Haskell experimented with new ideas, and ultimately developed a waterproof glue out of blood albumin in 1913. He used this glue to glue together thin plies of wood, naming the resulting plywood after himself, calling it Haskelite.[11] From this plywood, he made at the factory on N. Rowe Street airplane body parts and was the largest manufacturer in the United States at the time.[12] Haskell then in 1916 formed the Haskell Manufacturing Company and started making canoes and boats on a mass-production basis from Haskelite plywood.[13] Haskell used the moldable Haskelite waterproof plywood to construct canoes and boats, and also body parts for trucks, buses, automobiles, and airplanes.[6][14][15]

Haskell opened a second factory plant in Grand Rapids to make plywood on a larger scale and in the 1930s consolidated operations there. The Haskelite Building in Ludington was then used less and less as time went on for production of plywood.[7] The building was next occupied by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1940.[16] The Wolverine Sportswear Company occupied the building starting in 1944.[17] It made sportswear producing coats and jackets at the building for forty-five years.[18] The final use as a commercial building was by Change Parts who occupied it from 1989 to 2019 making packaging equipment.

The owners of the building then donated it for conversion to affordable housing.[19] The newly refurbished Lofts on Rowe apartments opened in 2022. The building now contains 67 units, split between studios, one bedroom, two bedroom, and three bedroom apartments.[5]

Haskelite Building in 2017

References

  1. ↑ "National Register of Historic Places Program: Weekly List of Actions Taken on Properties: 11/6/2020 Through 11/13/2020". National Park Service. Archived from the original on October 15, 2022. Retrieved November 13, 2020.
  2. ↑ "Weekly List 20201113 / Weekly actions taken". National Park Service. Archived from the original on October 15, 2022. Retrieved April 29, 2021.
  3. ↑ Bossick, David (January 27, 2021). "Lofts on Rowe receives $2 million in grant funding". Ludington Daily News. Ludington, Michigan. p. 1.
  4. ↑ Bossick, David (November 24, 2020). "Financing, environmental work continues for Lofts on Rowe". Ludington Daily News. Ludington, Michigan. p. 2D.
  5. 1 2 Joseph Boulter (September 23, 2022). "Lofts on Rowe in Ludington Set to Open". 9&10 News. Archived from the original on October 15, 2022. Retrieved September 24, 2022.
  6. 1 2 3 "History of the Haskelite Building". The Ludington Torch. Torch Light. August 9, 2019. Archived from the original on October 15, 2022. Retrieved October 15, 2022. Yet, many who know of its past will still refer to the building by the product its incredibly creative owner put out over 100 years ago, the Haskelite Building.
  7. 1 2 3 Jennifer Metz; Rebecca Smith-Hoffman (January 2020), National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Haskell Manufacturing Company Building
  8. ↑ Jensen, James R. (February 11, 2022). "Expansion of Ludington; The Manufacturing Addition: Part 2". Shoreline Media Group. Archived from the original on October 15, 2022. Retrieved October 15, 2022.
  9. ↑ Williams, Leonard P. (January 29, 1953). "Industry on Parade / Ludington Machine & Tool". Ludington Daily News. Ludington, Michigan. Archived from the original on October 15, 2022. Retrieved October 15, 2022 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  10. 1 2 Williams, Leonard P. (December 22, 1952). "Carrom Industries/from Lumber to Game Boards". Ludington Daily News. Ludington, Michigan. Archived from the original on September 22, 2022. Retrieved October 15, 2022 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  11. ↑ John, H. F. (1930). Veneers and Plywood. S.H. Smith. p. 18. OCLC 1680860.
  12. ↑ "Carrom Company is Diversified". Ludington Daily News. Ludington, Michigan. September 3, 1965. Retrieved October 16, 2022.
  13. ↑ "Haskell Finances Company to Manufacture Canoes and Boats in Tubbs Building / Waterproof glue adds durability to veneer coatings". Daily News. Ludington, Michigan. October 19, 1916. p. 3.
  14. ↑ "Connecting route in Whittier Street made by cinders". Ludington Daily News. Ludington, Michigan. June 8, 1930. Archived from the original on October 15, 2022. Retrieved October 15, 2022 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  15. ↑ Cabot, James L. (2005). Ludington : 1830-1930. Charleston, SC: Arcadia. p. 114. ISBN 0-7385-3951-1. OCLC 62380346.
  16. ↑ Williams, Leonard P. (September 28, 1940). "CCC Headquarters is opened here". Ludington Daily News. Ludington, Michigan. Archived from the original on October 15, 2022. Retrieved October 15, 2022 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  17. ↑ Michigan Manufacturer and Financial Record. Pick Publications. 1944. p. 13.
  18. ↑ "Help Wanted - A PRESSER". Ludington Daily News. Ludington, Michigan. February 27, 1973. Archived from the original on October 15, 2022. Retrieved October 15, 2022 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  19. ↑ Moore, Lynn (18 October 2019). "Donated century-old building could become Ludington apartments". MLive Media Group. Archived from the original on October 19, 2019. Retrieved April 22, 2020.
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