Aeroplane Factory

The 1882 bird’s eye map of Ithaca shows an extensive complex of multistory factory buildings and smokestacks at the site now known as the Aeroplane Factory. The Thomas Brothers Aeroplane Company began renting a factory at this site in December 1914, according to Ithaca Journal news articles announcing the move to Ithaca of the aviation company. According to deed records, the Thomas-Morse Aircraft Corporation owned the factory at this site from 1918 to 1923. During its tenure operating the factory, the company got the order for the Tommy plane from the Army in 1917, and the plane was manufactured in part there. “The Inlet plant, of frame construction covering 60,000 square feet,” explained a 1919 Aircraft Yearbook article, “is busy with the manufacturing of airplane parts, especially those requiring hand work.” Today the Aeroplane Factory buildings house an office park.

The Ithaca Board of Trade recruited the company, from Bath, NY. They offered them space in what had been the Wycoff poultry incubator plant on Brindley Street, recently vacated. There were two buildings, one of which still stands. The other was a wooden building that was located where a parking lot is now.