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Joshua Hendy Iron Works

Joshua Hendy Iron Works

Image creditPacific Marine Review, March 1919
Public domain ↗

Joshua Hendy Iron Works

Year
1906
Creator
Joshua Hendy (founder, 1856)
Company
Joshua Hendy Iron Works
Location
Hendy Avenue, Sunnyvale, California

Description

Joshua Hendy Iron Works started in San Francisco in 1856 and moved to Sunnyvale after the 1906 earthquake. It made mining machines, dam gates, and marine steam engines, such as this 2,800-horsepower engine from 1919.

Importance

Sunnyvale offered Hendy free orchard land, so the company built its new plant there in 1906. In World War II, the plant made approximately one third of all the engines for American Liberty ships. Westinghouse bought the plant in 1947, and from 1956 the plant made launch equipment for the Polaris missile.

Interesting fact

In November 1940 the Sunnyvale plant had approximately 60 workers, but two years later it had approximately 11,500.

Acquisition

Westinghouse Electric Corporation · 1947

Sources

  1. #34 Joshua Hendy Iron Works (landmark citation) ↗American Society of Mechanical Engineers · 1978-12-14
  2. The Joshua Hendy Iron Works 1906-1946, Sunnyvale, California (landmark dedication brochure) ↗American Society of Mechanical Engineers · 1978-12-14
  3. Wallace Erichsen: Working at the Hendy Ironworks (oral history, archived) ↗City of Sunnyvale Public Library