Air-Way Corporation factory building in Toledo OH


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Thread Number: 4353
Air-Way Corporation factory building in Toledo OH

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Post# 48888 8/17/2008 at 14:49 (5,720 days old) by aeoliandave (Stratford Ontario Canada)
Checkrate/Likes Does anyone have a street number & address for the Air-Way factory in Toledo Ohio? I can't find an address on any of my Air-Way material. There was a thread last year about various vacuum factory buildings with Satellite photos & addresses but I haven't found it yet I realize the building, if it still stands, has been vacant a long time but if I can locate it on the GPS, it would just make for a cool photo op, since I'll be zipping around Toledo tomorrow - Monday - hitting as many Thrift Shops as possible before the 4 hour drive back home... Dave

Post# 48892 , Reply# 1 8/17/2008 at 16:21 (5,720 days old) by petek (Ontario)
Checkrate/Likes are you stopping in here on your way home to pickup the GE and something else I grabbed for ya

Post# 48894 , Reply# 2 8/17/2008 at 18:07 (5,720 days old) by aeoliandave (Stratford Ontario Canada)
Checkrate/Likes Hi Pete. It's a 4 hour drive one way so if I get out of Strratford at the crack of dawn I hope I'll be back on the Ferry to Canada by 5 or 6. Gotta check out some of those Toledo Thrift stores - got 5 mapped out on a circuit back from Vaccraft Industries. :-) From the ferry I'm precticlly in your driveway already LOL so unless I'm running really late... I'll cellphone ya in any case. Must be back home and in to work at 10AM Tuesday. groan.

Post# 48900 , Reply# 3 8/17/2008 at 21:57 (5,720 days old) by hoovercelebrity (Germany)
Checkrate/Likes *Found it!* Found the link to the thread that had pictures of the building... The address of the building thats still standing, I think is this one... 2101 Auburn Ave Toledo, OH. ~Fred CLICK HERE TO GO TO hoovercelebrity's LINK

Post# 48901 , Reply# 4 8/17/2008 at 21:59 (5,720 days old) by hoovercelebrity (Germany)
Checkrate/Likes *Whoops...* I think the 2101 was torn down... Here's the one from the 70's... 518 S St. Clair St. Toledo, OH

Post# 48905 , Reply# 5 8/17/2008 at 22:35 (5,720 days old) by aeoliandave (Stratford Ontario Canada)
Checkrate/Likes Thankyou Fred! I'll check it all out, take pics and let you all know.

Post# 48987 , Reply# 6 8/19/2008 at 08:51 (5,718 days old) by aeoliandave (Stratford Ontario Canada)
Checkrate/Likes 2101 Auburn is a rubble lot.

Post# 48988 , Reply# 7 8/19/2008 at 08:52 (5,718 days old) by aeoliandave (Stratford Ontario Canada)
Checkrate/Likes But this single house is standing still overlooking it all.

Post# 48989 , Reply# 8 8/19/2008 at 08:53 (5,718 days old) by aeoliandave (Stratford Ontario Canada)
Checkrate/Likes 518 St Clair building.

Post# 48990 , Reply# 9 8/19/2008 at 08:54 (5,718 days old) by aeoliandave (Stratford Ontario Canada)
Checkrate/Likes St Clair backside

Post# 48991 , Reply# 10 8/19/2008 at 08:55 (5,718 days old) by aeoliandave (Stratford Ontario Canada)
Checkrate/Likes The only evidence that something vacuum cleaner related took place here is this sign on the northeast corner...

Post# 49016 , Reply# 11 8/19/2008 at 19:13 (5,718 days old) by williamr1248 (USA)
Checkrate/Likes *Air-Way corporation factory building* Dave, Those pictures brought back memories. We were there in about 1975 and had bought the power nozzle and they gave me a tour of that factory. I do remember a big sign on the top that you could see up the street that said "Start the Air-Way". It was a very busy place when I was there. I got to see the line and the tools being packed and women sewing the Sani-bags. Thanks for the pictures. Rob

Post# 49032 , Reply# 12 8/19/2008 at 20:59 (5,718 days old) by gottahaveahoove (Pittston, Pennsylvania, 18640)
Checkrate/Likes *Other than KIRBY,* ALL of these buildings that once made cleaners are gone. It is DISGUSTING !!!!!!!!

Post# 49091 , Reply# 13 8/20/2008 at 11:57 (5,717 days old) by ohio_tuec ()
Checkrate/Likes It certainly is. Even more of a shame that Air-Way couldn't hold on. Sad that 2101 Auburn Avenue is no longer there. I cringe to think when the building was abandoned, there might have even been parts and molds left from the Air-Way Sanitary System!

Post# 49245 , Reply# 14 8/21/2008 at 16:42 (5,716 days old) by rugmaster37 ()
Checkrate/Likes *2101 Auburn Avenue, Toledo Ohio....* Like so many industries (such as car and appliances) for example; many used most of these large manufacturing complexes over time, then abondoned them later when times got tough in the late 1960's and 70's. Like Packard's East Grand Boulevard plant, Studebakers South Bend Indiana plant, or evern Westinghouses Mansfield Ohio facilty amongst others. The companies just used , and used, and used these buildings far beyond their life expectancy, with little or no maintenence, let alone capital outlay for upkeep.. One last instance comes to mind. Ever see the old Willy's Overland plant in Toledo? That place was totally derelict when it was deactivated last year and razed. Usually because of economies, but just a lack of forsight that these building would need heavy outlay's of cash to keep them updated and current...(Much like Hoover did with it's North Canton Ohio facility). And that is what usually did these large complexes in. MASSIVE amounts of capital outlay just to keep them going. It's hard to Imagine that the upkeep of "The Hoover", let's say; was at least a month's worth of profit yearly that was costing the Hoover Compaany out of it's bottom line. One cannot just simply shut off the whole enterprise with a flip of the switch when one wants to. In many industries it can cost millions, to billions of dollars just to deactivate a facility like these. That said, by the time Air Way was done with 2101 Auburn, there was no life left, and highly likely nothing was "left" inside the building. The thought that the buildings may have been purpose built BY Air-Way for it's manufacturing needs, but more possible was that the building(s) were already there before serving a prior industry. Even had Air-Way used that facility until say 1970, they had been there for 50 years by that point. Making lots of things besides vacuum cleaners. I know that Air-Way washers, and radios were produced for instance. BY the time that the "Air-Way" facility for example was torn down, using the supposed guess estimate of 1970 as the deactivation date, when it was torn down, suppose let's say last year, it sat virtually, if not totally empty, exposed to the elements, and such for another 37 years. And all the older satellite photo's show a roof that was quite damaged , along with decay and despair. The thought of any moulds left for the Sanitary System, is quite alluring. However, many of these companies did not keep a "vault" or a "Morgue' as Hoover was to call it's product and smaples room affectionately. Many of them care little or not at all about their history. The thought is that, becasue Air-Way was already toying around with the Sanitizor 55 by 1942, my guess is that like many industries, the moulds, and any machinery was donated to a local scrap drive and melted down, creating the bullets and tanks we used to fight our side of the conflict. A sad thought but most historians believe that to be so... No compnay wanted to seem un-patriotic! When I sent Steven Tomberlin, about 15-20 different Air-Way advertisements during the late half of the 1990's, (1999 serves my mind as the year I did this), he had never even seen some of the earlier machines. They had no information past the Sanitizor 88 Mark II, excpet for a few photographs. At least that is what I was told.... Now the 518 St. Clair, shows a building with some vitality still left inside. And a few remenants that Air-Way or something even vacuum related was ever there as Dave describes. This could have stayed the manufacturing facility, but high wages, militant unions, it's de-linking with the Lamb Motor Company, and it's slow slide downwards in production possibly ended up affecting the reasonings to keeping Air-Way IN Toledo reguardless.. Maybe Tania, or Charlie could fill these cracks in as to why Air-Way even went to Talladega. And ending up dying, a whimper of it;'s former shelf in a Quonset Hut, in the bayou's of Alabama. One thing is for certain, they stayed true to what they knew unitl the very end. My thought ...longwinded Sorry for that Chad

Post# 49317 , Reply# 15 8/22/2008 at 14:49 (5,715 days old) by ohio_tuec ()
Checkrate/Likes *2101 Auburn Avenue* Yes, Chad you may have a point. Alot of money is required to maintain the upkeep on these old buildings. And as you said, most companies exert little to no effort in preserving historic examples. My father worked for the Long Island Daily Press in Jamaica, Queens until their demise on March 25, 1977. The building still sits, vacant, at the corner of 93rd. Street and Archer Avenue. From what I am told, one of the old presses still exists inside the building. That's why I wondered if the same held true for Air-Way. Air-Way folded for a myriad of reasons. Before joining the VCCC, I never even heard of the company. I don't feel they did themselves any favors not producing an upright after the war. I never really much cared for anything they produced after the Sanitary System. And I'm sure tough economic times spawned lagging sales.

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