Stop 9: Final Stop - The Block

Before the NAMCO BLOCK apartments
At Union and Main streets
Stood the Windsor Club complex
For workers and others to meet.

In 1909, when Windsor Machine Company expanded its workforce to 550 people, it decided to create a social club for employees. The company converted existing factory and warehouse space into the Windsor Club to provide recreation and boarding opportunities for mid- and management-level machine tool workers. The idea was to enhance the chances that these workers would stay in town. As Iron Age Magazine wrote of the club in January of 1914, “The first rate man is the type who is hard to keep and the club is intended primarily for him.” Townspeople and employees paid dues to be able to attend dances at the Windsor Club, eat at its dining hall, play pool or bowl there, swim, or stay overnight. The club expanded into Windsor Club Inn by the 1910s. In 1915, National Acme Manufacturing Company (NAMCO) bought Windsor Machine, and in 1920 it tore down the Windsor Club to create an apartment house in “Philadelphia style” for 72 families. NAMCO built a new employee clubhouse, which still stands off Main Street just south of the Windsor House.

(End of Walk Continue to Rec Center)