Forging Ahead
Post rewritten in 2024
This is actually the first new post of the new blog! If you still are not sure why I switched you can read about that here. I still haven't finished moving everything over but I want to make something new for once.
Jackson Michigan's Lefere Forge has been a longtime landmark in the industrial district of the city. The towering narrow green and white building with its single stack is a stark contrast to the grey boxes that surround it. The forge had been operating in Jackson for 89 consecutive years when it closed.
Had it not been for the work of Riley Dudek, a descendant of Alidor Lefere, many of this information would have been lost to time, the majority of the following information has been paraphrased from her two articles which I have linked down below and encourage you to read for yourself.
The founder of the Lefere Forge, Alidor Lefere originally immigrated to the United States from Hooglede Belgium in 1905. At the time Belgium was experiencing a major economic decline which drove many of it's citizens to seek new opportunities in America.
After working many different odd jobs, Alidor Lefere would partner with "Mr Wilkins" another mechanic, to found the Riverside Forge and Machine Shop in Jackson. At the time Jackson was the 8th largest city in Michigan.
Their small shop would specialize in turret and automatic lathe work. Due to the small but dedicated staff the Riverside Forge and Machine Shop had an excellent work pace with little to no overhead costs.
In 1929 the Riverside Forge and Machine Shop was sold off. In the same year Alidor Lefere begun the ground work on what would become the Lefere Forge. Despite the country entering the Great Depression, Alidor constructed five buildings which made up the Lefere Forge.
The Lefere forge started off hammer forging truck hubs and gear blanks. Alidor wouldn't let another economic depression stop his dream and throughout the Great Depression the Lefere Forge forged onwards eventually landing a contract with the Ford Motor Company. Riley commented on this stating "It is pretty incredible that an immigrant who had been in the country for less than thirty years and started out making ten cents an hour had landed a contract with the company who started the assembly line.".
Alidor would spend the rest of his life working tirelessly to grow the company more and more. A large number of people working at the forge were family members of Alidor. Another excerpt from Riley's project where her grandmother recounts life in the forge growing up reads as following; “The only time we went down to the actual shop, to see all of the hammers and to hear the sound of all the banging hammers was awesome, and it’s too bad Riley that you can’t get that in your project, but to hear the sound of the hammers in the loud, working shop where everyone was doing their jobs very professionally with fire and steel and watching it all move down the line as each section of guys did their jobs was amazing.”.
According to their own website "Alidor Lefere invented process flow and handling techniques, with forgings from production cells traveling a series of conveyors until cool." Alidor also patented the process of putting "reverse draft" on heavy truck wheel hubs in 1932. This technique allowed the Lefere Forge to capture 98% of the hub manufacturing industry. Some of their clients included: Dayton-Walther, Kelsey Hayes, Motor Wheel, and Rockwell International. Rockwell International is the company that produced the B-1B Lancer (My favorite aircraft) as well as the Space Shuttle.
In 1959 Alidor Lefere would pass away at the age of 73 years old. However thanks to his hard work and dedication throughout his lifetime he left his family with great financial success. After his death the Lefere Family would continue to operate the Forge into the 21st Century.
In 2017 their website stated they specialized in "Hubs, Spindles, Body Forgings, Differential Cases, Flange Yokes, Wing Yokes, Gears, Adapters, Companion Flanges, Flanges, Valves, and Wheels.". Forged metal is often used in industries where a part CANNOT fail under any circumstances. Because welds are often weak points in metals parts, things like; aircraft, missiles, and engines are typically made of forged metal.
In the early 90s the forge would greatly diversify their clients, going from only 10 clients to over 100. This move likely saved them from drowning with the rest of the industry during the recession. The Lefere legacy how now survived the Belgian recession, The Great Depression, and the 2008 Recession.
During the early 2000s the Lefere Forge would introduce CNC machines into their operation allowing them to produce non-symmetrical parts much easier than before. In 2009 the forge became ISO 9001:2008 certified allowing their Pressure Vessel forgings into the European market.
Unfortunately in 2018 the Forge would close for good. The closure came as a shock for many, including the employees of the forge. In an email to the employees of the plant the president stated "The last several years have been challenging financially, and a continuing labor shortage has not allowed us to operate the plant efficiently".
I somehow managed to pick the hottest day of the year to visit the forge. As I did my initial slow cruise past the plant to quickly scope it out I was disappointed to see workers actively gutting the forge. Not wanting to turn back after making a rather long drive I decided to make a hail Mary attempt at gaining access to the forge.
Parking in the lot with the employees, I confidently strutted up to them and gave them some bullshit excuse. I honestly don't remember exactly what I said but I was left undisturbed to roam the forge. Looking back on it I really wish I brought my Nikon. I shot many of these older posts on my iPhone because I assumed my Nikon camera sucked for low light. (It does but its better than my phone for a lot of things).
While I was exploring the workers were busy filling dumpsters with scrap metal and other debris. I'm still not 100% sure if they were scrappers or workers but I doubt that they were scrappers considering they had keys to the forge.
I originally wanted to climb the gantry crane and attempt to operate it however the heat and lack of water was starting to get to me. It was probably over 100°F inside some of the buildings. After a short cruise around the buildings I headed for home.
As of 2024 there are currently no plans for the site.
Mutagen Out!
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