Company History: A. B. Farquhar
(Page 7 of 8)
September/October 1992
Gail E. Knauer
By 1948, the company still showed profit, but sales were down.
There were some layoffs in late 1948 and early 1949. A report dated
May 1950 showed that net sales for January-September 1949 were down
27.4%, in a very competitive market.
RELATED CONTENT
The A. B. Farquhar Company was sold to the Oliver Corporation in
1952. Oliver continued to go through various corporate changes,and
gradually phased out all manufacturing operations at the old
Farquhar plant. When the White Motor Corporation acquired Oliver
Corporation as a wholly-owned subsidiary on November 1, 1960, the
A. B. Farquhar Company was not included in the transaction. The
complex of buildings which once housed York's most vital
manufacturing company would remain vacant for several years.
Finally, in the York Sunday News of November 22, 1970, a banner
headline appeared: 'A Landmark in York Will Soon Be
GoneFarquhar Tract Buildings Being Torn Down.' York Mayor Eli
Bchelberger viewed the project as one of the most important his
administration would undertake, stating that the demolition of the
buildings would 'rid the city of an eyesore.'
The site of the A. B. Farquhar Company is now occupied by the
modern offices of the York Dispatch newspaper, an apartment
building, and several parking areas.
Farquhar engine on display at Agricultural Exhibit Hall in
York.
York, Pennsylvania, Develops Farm Museum
'Made in York' is the theme of the Agricultural and
Industrial Museum of York County's Agricultural Exhibit Hall at
York, Pa., which has opened as a vast educational museum in the
eastern end of the city.
A huge Farquhar engine, typifying the kind of industrial
production that contributed mightily to the advance of farming,
stands outside the building at 480 E. Market St., where long ago
farmers sold their vegetables and fruits to York customers.
Even though it has wheels, the Farquhar was not a traction
engine; although it was powered by steam it was not self-propelled,
we are told by Howard A. Mayo, Jr., associate director, who is
fully familiar with the exhibits. The Farquhar is a giant piece of
engineering, red and black with a tall stack Mayo says is original.
It was rated at 50 to 55 HP.
Originally, all exhibits acquired for museum purposes, either by
gift, purchase, or loan, were housed in the market house. Now, in
accordance with long term plans, the industrial elements (all
except those classified as agricultural) are being moved to another
location, the Motter Complex, made up of six buildings at Princess
Street and Pershing Avenue in the western part of the city.
Exhibits which are retained in the former market building,
according to the museum newsletter, are:The Laucks Farm Collection,
on loan from the Historical Society of York County; the farm
kitchen, farm machinery, dairy farming, tobacco farming industry
exhibits including powder and cigar manufacturing, York County farm
implements and machinery, and textile weaving and rural
transportation of the 19th century.
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