Wilhelm: Clyde once had its own GM plant

At a time of the United Auto Workers (UAW) strikes against the major auto makers, it’s interesting to note that General Motors once had a production plant in Clyde.

It was an outgrowth of the Elmore automobile plant which was launched in Clyde by successful bicycle manufacturers Harmon Becker and his sons James and Burton.

As I understand it, the company thrived, building as many as 1,000 cars per year and employing 200 workers. In September 1909, General Motors founder William C. Durant purchased the Elmore plant and all its assets. The Clyde GM plant, which was known as the Elmore Division, was briefly lived.

In June 1910, the Toledo Blade announced that GM was planning a $600,000 addition to the company’s Clyde plant off Amanda Street in Clyde. There reportedly was an agreement for the addition of rail lines to the factory which supported the decision. By the fall of the next year, the factory was running seven days a week with night shifts on three nights and was turning out four cars a day — a lot of cars in 1911. The plant reportedly employed about 400 men at the time and was the largest taxpayer in the county, producing more than 100 cars a month in a state that reportedly had fewer than 16,000 registered cars.

Clyde's GM plant came to an end in 1912

However, Durant didn’t take part in the boom. Reportedly a visionary, he was reckless with money, creating a tangled mess of purchases. Durant was ousted from GM in 1910 and the company’s management eventually dissolved the Elmore division and closed down the Clyde plant in September 1912.

Key men at the Elmore plant resigned when GM announced the changes in operations and they launched a truck manufacturing company. Within a few years, the firm was producing the Clydesdale trucks which were supplying needs of the military during World War I.

Clydesdale Motor Truck sprung from old GM plant

The factory location was purchased from GM and the Clydesdale Motor Truck Company operated there for almost three decades. It produced a surprising variety of models even though its total production was not necessarily great.

However, according to various sources, the firm’s strong showing in the years after the war were lifted by exports to many countries around the world. The Great Depression, however, apparently took its toll on Clydesdale sales.

The Clydesdale Motor Truck Company was in operation until 1939. The factory building was sold to Clyde Porcelain Steel. Since that time, a series of changes including the disastrous fire at the Clyde Porcelain Steel plant, eventually led to Whirlpool Corporation finding a home at that location and beyond.

Roy Wilhelm started a 40-year career at The News-Messenger in 1965 as a reporter. Now retired, he writes a column for both The News-Messenger and News Herald.

This article originally appeared on Fremont News-Messenger: Wilhelm: GM plant operated in Clyde in early 1900s