The economy of the City of Ludington was originally built on lumber, including logging in the white pine forests that surrounded the new city and the transportation of logs down the Pere Marquette River to the rapidly developing sawmills and other factories involved in the production of lumber and other products manufactured from wood. Many people were employed in this industry and a few became extremely wealthy.
The “good times” of the 1860s, 1870s and 1880s came to an end in the 1890s during what historian Paul Peterson called the “Gloomy Years.” The white pine trees in the forests of west Michigan had been substantially depleted and the resulting closure of sawmills in and around Ludington led to significant economic challenges for the community and its inhabitants.
A group of the remaining local businessmen, with the names Cartier and Stearns prominently listed, formed the Citizens’ Development Committee to address this challenge. That committee, which would later be reorganized into the Ludington Board of Trade, actively recruited non-lumber related businesses to build factories in Ludington. One of those companies was the Star Watch Case Company based in Elgin, Illinois.
Local newspapers of that period were filled with headlines about the new factory in Ludington:
Dec. 21, 1904: “Citizens to the Rescue, Another Factory, J. S. Stearns and H. G. Bedford Have Gone to Investigate the Institution”
Jan. 5, 1905: “Get Another Factory, Star Watch Case of Elgin Coming to Ludington”
March 29, 1905: “Very Expensive Structure, Plans of the Star Watch Case Co’s. New Building is Now in the Hands of the Contractors for Bids”
Dece. 27, 1905: “Disagree With Contractors”
April 11, 1906: “May Be A Lawsuit”
April 18, 1906: “Ready To Move, Star Watch Case Co. Coming From Elgin, Employ 175 Hands”
June 10, 1908: “Enlarge Factory”
July 21, 1908: “Model Factory, Star Watch Case Factory Lauded By State Inspector Shuart on Perfection of Its Appointments”
The original portion of the factory was built on the west side of the 300 block of S. Charles Street (today Rath Avenue) in 1905. Additions to production areas were added in 1908, 1918, 1920 and 1927 with an expansion to the company offices being constructed in 1945.
This three-story building was constructed of brick, concrete and steel and therefore was much less subject to destruction by fire than had been the fate of many earlier plants and sawmills in Mason County. The walls of each story featured numerous tall narrow windows designed to provide adequate light into the productions areas.
One of the signature features of the factory was the brick chimney that rose nearly 100 feet above the ground. This chimney was tied to the factory’s heating and power system which featured the Paul vacuum system developed and patented by Andrew Paul in the 1890s. This innovative steam heating system was just one example of the many mechanical advances employed at the factory as manufacturing moved from costly hand-crafted items toward more uniform, less costly and more technologically advanced mass-produced items.
The original plans for the building included the construction of two vaults to hold the gold, silver and other metals used in production of the high quality watch cases manufactured by Star Watch Case Co. The company also utilized local bank vaults to hold these materials when inventory quantities exceeded the in-house storage abilities.
Star Watch Case Company operated in Ludington for well over 70 years. The company survived through the Great Depression of the 1930s and two World Wars reaching its peak production in 1945 during World War II. Eventually however, due to dramatic changes in fashion, technology and global competition, the plant closed in 1982.
In the mid-1980s local industrialist Charles Conrad purchased the now vacant and deteriorating building with the intent of developing the property. Even after extensive and lengthy efforts those development plans were never realized and Conrad transferred the property to the City of Ludington in 1995. On May 9, 1995, mayor Jack Scott and city councilors gathered on the steps of the Star Watch Case Co. building to begin the ceremonial demolition of this once prominent factory in Ludington.
The brick-by-brick demolition of the tall chimney had actually been completed a decade earlier. The description accompanying the Todd Reed photo of the chimney, now circled by numerous steel bands in its last days, noted it had “a lean rivaling the Leaning Tower of Pisa.”
In 1999, the Star Watch Case Co. property once again claimed a prominent place in the community with the opening of Harbor Front Condominiums.
Note: This is the first in a series of three article related to Star Watch Case Co. In two weeks the wide range of products produced in this factory will be reviewed and in four weeks the people who worked in the factory will be highlighted.
