Automatic Electric Tidbits

 I used to work at a place called Automatic Electric in Northlake, Illinois.  It was a good place to work, I didn't really realize how good at the time.  It was a generous place, not just in the sense of money but generous of spirit.  For example, one of my co-workers didn't have his degree (which is a whole topic for discussion, technical folks without a degree).  So he went to school at the company's expense, but he didn't study engineering, he studied music.   And his boss and the company knew that.  The company made the world a better place by allowing people to further their education / dreams.
 

But the operations moved out and the building I used to work in was sold in the 20th century.  One of the parts where I worked (in the front, we moved around a lot within the building) was torn down.  Here is how Bing shows it now in 2022 from above:

Bing aerial view of Automatic Electric turned so that the front of the building (east) is DOWN

This current satellite view shows a building roughly 1100 x 700 feet  or over 17 acres and of course there was more square footage up front for two floors of offices (most of which has been torn down).  I think that there must have been hundreds of feet on the south side of the building that were removed because I remember it being more square.  The building walls were masonry with internal floor to ceiling masonry firewalls (actual, literal firewalls) inside.   Also, that legend on the roof shouldn't be cut-off like that, CenterPo and Properti should be CenterPoint and Properties, right ?  Later I found an aerial view from a 1965 pamphlet:   

Automatic Electric as an artist pictured it in 1965

Some people (not me) used to take a walk around the outside of the plant at lunch time, roughly 1 mile.

Here is a recent photo by Gary, K9MMS:

Northlake dog park with former Automatic Electric building in background

The town of Northlake fenced in a dog park area near the building in the background.  No, that building isn't a prison but it kinda looks like one now :)

Before Automatic Electric there was a golf course on this site, some nice oak trees still remained when I worked there.  The parking lots were essentially asphalt plated fairways, not really flat.

The company was started by Almon B. Strowger, here's a brief story, often told, of the reason for starting Automatic Electric:

from the book: Technical Aspects of Data Communications, page 65

Here is a picture of a replica of the collar box that Almon Strowger used to house his first rotary switch

the replica collar box

(they were given out to all employees, we also had a nice picnic for that anniversary in 1991, the company was then known as AG Communication Systems, A was for AT&T, G for GTE, clever ?):

The brass plaque from inside the lid fell out so it was used as a coaster on a night-table by my Dad :)

I would have never remembered the year without this

GTE Automatic Electric used to give us small gifts on our service anniversaries, I got this nice Swiss Army knife for 10 years of service (still use it daily !):

Gee, no GTE !

Now in that building they bottle soda and put spices into little packets (quite a smell when the fire doors are open :) and do other stuff and I doubt there's a tenth of the people working there now as were there in the 20th century.

Best Regards,
Chuck, WB9KZY
http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm