HAMMOND

 

Orgel Productie Faciliteiten
Leslie Productie Faciliteiten

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Privé en zakelijke adressen

 

Overzicht van faciliteiten en vestigingen/bezittingen van Laurens Hammond

Laurens Hammond Laboratory
456 Broome Street.
New York, NY
Rented loft space in New York City.
Hammond’s first lab space as an independent inventor. The synchronous AC clock motor and 3D movie system were invented here around 1921-1923:

 

Andrews-Hammond Laboratory
616 Davis Street, 2nd floor
Evanston, Ill
Early lab above the Evanston store known as the “Community Kitchen,” 1925-1929.
Built A-Boxes, a battery eliminator for early radio sets. 
Hammond’s old lab is now a dance studio with a camera store on the ground level.

 

Hammond Clock Company
4115 N. Ravenswood Ave.
Chicago, Ill
First move in early 1930 to this temporary rented second floor space to manufacture electric clocks. The front of this building has been extensively remodeled and only the second floor is original.

 

 

 

Hammond Clock Company
2911 N. Western Ave.
Chicago, Ill
Moved in 1930 to this five story company-owned building.
The first prototype and patent model Hammond Organ was built here in 1933. 
The “2911” doorway was bricked up some time before mid 1931 and later records list this property as 2915 N. Western Ave.

 

Hammond Factory Showroom (1)
666 Lake Shore Drive, 30th floor
Chicago, Ill.
Hammond company-operated showrooms in operation as of December 1935.
Hammond also had franchised dealers in 19 other U.S. cities.
Most organ customers were churches with few sales to individuals.

 

Hammond Factory Showroom (2)
119 W. 59th Street (Penthouse)
New York, NY

The Chicago (home) store was located in the old American Furniture Mart. 
The address was later changed to 680 N. Lake Shore Drive, possibly to avoid negative biblical references to the Mark of the Beast.

 

Hammond Factory Showroom (3)
730 W. 7th Street
Los Angeles, CA

Hammond Organ Co.
4200 W. Diversey Ave
Chicago, Ill
Organ manufacturing, service, management and marketing from 1949 to 1986. Here the B3 and C3 were manufactured. A three story annex was added in 1956. This became the company headquarters, but the Western Ave plant was still used for manufacturing and research.

You still can see today, where the letters were.

 

De typische watertoren van de Hammond fabriek in Chicago (foto Aart van de Beek).
 

 

 

Hammond Woodworking Plant
5008 W. Bloomingdale Ave.
Chicago, Ill
Produced organ consoles and other wood components from 1937 to June 14, 1977.
This plant also produced caskets for the U.S. Military during WWII (1942-1945)

 

Temporary Hammond Plant
4737 N. Ravenswood
Chicago, Ill
Four story brick building leased April 1, 1942 for five years.
Used for military projects during WWII. 
This building has been renovated and converted into condominiums.

 

Early Hammond Properties

W. George St., 
N. Oakley Ave.
Chicago, Ill
Street addresses unknown.
Warehouses, possibly some manufacturing during the war years (1942-1945)

 

Hammond Organ Plant
23?? W. St. Paul Street
Chicago, Ill
Hammond leased the second floor of this building for assembly of Chord Organs from 1950-1963. 
Building is now the “St. Paul Lofts” (condominiums)

 

Hammond Organ Plant
4046 N. Rockwell
Chicago, Ill
Property purchased Dec. 19, 1952.
This plant replaced the St. Paul Street building. 
(Hammond may have had other leased buildings on Rockwell before 1950).

 

In this factory the SPINET model and the A-100 were built.

 

 

Hammond Organ Plant
4249 N. Knox
Chicago, Ill
Produced organ sub assemblies/manuals.
This unusual building had parking for employees on the roof.

 

Hammond Organ Co.
1740 N. 25th Ave
Melrose Park, Ill
Service, parts warehouse and final assembly plant for tone wheel generators from June 1956 to January 1976. The final B3s were assembled here in early 1975.

 

Gibbs Manufacturing & Research
(AKA Gibbs Special Products Corp.) AKA = also known as.
Janesville, Wisconsin.
Hammond-owned company, produced reverberation units and other (non-organ) products  from March 1961 to the late 1960s (Prior to Hammond Accutronics Div.)

 

Everett Piano Co.
South Haven Michigan
Hammond bought the Everett Piano Co. in 1962. 
Manufactured Everett, Hammond-brand and other private brand pianos.

 

Northern Electric Co., Ltd.
1261 Shearer St.
Montreal, Quebec
Canada
Canadian Subsidiary (ca. 1937)
Assembled organs in Canada before and after WWII. 
Cabinets and non-standard electronics were manufactured locally.

Hieronder de versterker van de D-20 L Cab.

 

Northern Hammond was manufacturing in Canada by Northern Electric at the Montreal plant and at the Belleville Ontario Plant (on Water Street) for a few years.
Northern Electric became Northern Telecom in the 1970s and was renamed again last year to Nortel.
The Belleville plant has been moved to Sydney Street and the old plant on Water street
where the organs were made is still standing (thoroughly renovated into a professional commercial center)
I know this because I am temporarily working in Belleville and the gym where I work out is on Water Street next door to the old plant.
Last month we, the Nortel Sydney Street plant, were celebrating our 50th anniversary (the Water Street plant is older yet)
A hall of fame displaying some of the various products that were made here was set up and retirees were invited along with dignitaries (including the prime minister of Canada)
Amongst the objects displayed was the good old Northern Hammond model D which otherwise leads a peacefull existance in the cafeteria.
Needless to say that I took the ocassion to do some history gathering.
I have the name of two fellows who individually tested every single organs assembled here.
I gather that these guys were excellent organists and one of them rocked the place down every lunch hour.
I am still debating wether I should or not disturb these people in their retirement with my fanatism.
The Northern Hammonds are essentially the same as the Chicago Hammonds with some very minor differences.
Northern Electric has now become Northern Telecom (NORTEL) which manufactures telephone and data communication equipment.
The plant in Belleville is still going strong, manufacturing PBXs and data network switches.
I gather that the Belleville plant had leftover parts from its organ manufacturing years up to 4 years ago when it junked everything. I became aware after the fact.
Business takes me to that plant every now and then since I work for NORTELs R&D subsidiary (BNR) designing products that are manufactured there.
Every visit to the plant is punctuated by a spinning of the old faithfull model D that still sits in the cafeteria. Northern Hammond was affiliated with Northern Electric in Canada.

As of January, 1973, Hammond Corporation operated the following eight locations:

Hammond Corporate Offices
100 Wilmot Road
Deerfield, Ill
Management

Diversey Plant
Western Ave. Plant
Bloomingdale Plant
Melrose Park Plant
These older Hammond plants were still in operation in 1973.

Hammond Division
11610 Copenhagen Court
Franklin Park, Ill
Hammond location used as a service center and warehouse from 1966-1973.

 

Southern Division
Rowland Drive
Carroll Reese Station
Johnson City, Tennessee
Produced the Hammond “Piper” Organ

 

Poncher Industries
225 N. First St.
Cary, Ill
Produced printed circuit boards and subassemblies.
This operation became Accutronics, one of several locations used for Hammond’s technical division.

 

Accutronics Division, Past and Present:
Accutronics
628 North Street
Geneva, Ill

Morley-Accutronics
185 Detroit St.
Cary, Ill
Sound Enhancements

 

Accutronics, Inc.
225 N. First
Cary, Ill 60013
Former Hammond Division, still produces reverb units for OEM use.
(No longer part of Hammond/Suzuki or Leslie Speakers)
OEM = Original Equipment Manufacturers

 

Accutronics/Connor-Winfield Corp.
2111 Comprehensive Drive
Aurora, Ill 60505
Split from former Hammond Division.
Currently manufactures PC boards and other electronics. 
(No longer part of Hammond/Suzuki or Leslie Speakers)

 

Later Hammond locations:

Hammond Woodworking Plant
Sikeston, Missouri
Replaced the Bloomingdale Av. plant in July 1978.
Hammond closed the original cabinet shop after labor problems in 1977.

 

Hammond International (USA)
1060 Thorndale Av.
Bensenville, Ill
Later corporate offices after the 1985 reorganization.

 

Hammond International Pty. Ltd
Beaumont Road
Mt. Kuring-gai N.S.W. 2080
Australia
Australian Noel Crabbe bought the Hammond name and remnants of the company after the 1985 liquidation. 
Organs in those days were manufactured in Japan at Sakata Shokai under Direction of Mr. Takahiro Miyatake.

 

Hammond Keyboards Canada Ltd.
50 Mural St., Unit 6
Richmond Hill
Ontario, Canada
Hammond’s Canadian distributor in the late 1980s 
Headed by Mr. Bruce Mitchell at the time.

Hammond Suzuki Ltd.
No. 1138 Koikecho
Hamamatsu, Japan
Parent company in Japan.
Eigenaar Mr. Manji Suzuki
Actuele medewerkers Mr. M. Terada en Mr. S. Ohtaka
Voorheen medewerkers maar gepensioneerd:
Mr. MacSeshimoto en Mr. Saiki

Suzuki Music, USA
Oak Brook Office Center,
Oak Brook Terrace, Ill
April 1989 to Nov 1989.
Suzuki’s US corporate headquarters.

 

Suzuki Music USA
1121 N. Main
Lombard, Ill
November 1989 to early 1992.

 

Hammond/Suzuki USA, Inc.
733 Annoreno Drive
Addison, Ill 60101
Current owner and manufacturer of Hammond Organs and Leslie Speakers in the U.S.
from 1992 to present.
Former Presidents: Mr. Mike Armstrong, Mr. Glenn Derringer, Mr. Tom Tuson, Mr. Frank Sheehan, Mr. Dennis Fioramonti, Mr. Dennis Capiga
Actual management a.o. Mr. Peter Nguyen
Engineering dept: Mr. Warren Brunsting
Service dept Mr. Ray Gerlich

 

Hammond Suzuki Europe BV
Ir. D.S. Tuynmanweg 4
4131PN Vianen
European sales office
President Siem Lassche
Management Derk Mertens
Engineering and sales Jan Kok

LESLIE Speaker Manufacturing:

“Brittain Sound Equipment Co.”

“Electro Music Accessories Co.”
3804 W. 54th St.
Los Angeles, CA
Early nameplates list this location/company names, as manufacturer of Leslie Speakers. 
The address, however, was that of Lou Brittain, an early Leslie partner.
The partnership was dissolved after WWII and Leslie Speakers were never built at this location.

 

Electro Music
199 S. Fair Oaks Av.
Pasadena, CA
Early Leslie Models 30A and 30C were produced in this rented storefront from 1940-1943 and again after WWII. The current tenant is a curio shop.

 

Electro Music
267 S. Fair Oaks Av.
Pasadena, CA
Post-war models were built here some time after 1946.
The original building has been demolished and this location is now the site of a medical center and parking garage.

 

Electro Music
313 S. Fair Oaks Av.
Pasadena, CA
Leslie manufacturing until 1963.
This location is now a Jamaican restaurant and medical office.

 

Electro Music Inc.
56 W. Del Mar Blvd.
Pasadena, CA
Final Leslie Speaker plant in California.
Built by Don Leslie in 1964 and sold to CBS, Inc. in 1965.
CBS produced Leslies here until 1980, when the company was sold to the Hammond Corporation.
Hammond’s Accutronics Division built Leslies in the Chicago area until the 1985 reorganisation.

 

Calo Corporation
Electro Music Division
1040 Kingsland Dr.
Batavia, Ill
Post-Hammond independent Leslie production after 1965.
(Electro Music name was not used after August 1, 1991) 
Calo Corp also had rented locations in West Chicago and St. Charles, Ill.

 

Hammond/Suzuki USA, Inc.
733 Annoreno Drive
Addison, Ill 60101
Current Hammond plant. 
Leslie Speakers were built here after August 1, 1991 
(This pre-dates organ production at this location)

Mercotac Inc.
6195 Corte Del Cedro E.
Carlsbad, CA 92009
Manufacturing company founded by Bob Leslie (Don Leslie’s brother) 
Mercotac is still in business and produces rotary mercury connectors for Leslie Rotosonic drums plus non-organ applications.

 

Hammond family sites:

William Andrew Hammond House
235 Greenwood St.
Evanston, Ill
Hammond family home, ca. 1883 to mid 1909 when Idea Hammond moved to Europe, with two year old Laurens and three older daughters after the suicide of William Hammond in January 1897. The family returned to this property in 1909 and lived here until 1912.

 

Hammond Family Residence
1305 Forest
Evanston, Ill
Hammond family lived in this home from 1912-1914. 
This property is one block south of the original family home on Greenwood. 
Also, Laurens Hammond’s older sister Elizabeth is listed in the 1914 Evanston phone directory as living at “1313 Forest.” This is the same property.

 

Early Hammond Residence
12 Gramercy Park
New York, NY
Laurens Hammond’s New York residence following WWI and during the years he worked on his synchronous AC clock motor and 3D movie system projects. (1921-1923)
His first lab was near by at 456 Broome St. at this time.

 

Hammond Residence
418 Hamilton St.
Evanston, Ill
Laurens Hammond, his first wife Mildred and baby daughter lived in this multi-unit Evanston apartment building when they returned to Evanston in 1925 (from New York) until 1929.
Hammond’s mother also lived here until shortly before her death in 1938.
(Laurens Hammond may have owned this building)

 

Laurens Hammond Residence
1421 N. State St.
Chicago, Ill
Laurens Hammond’s “Gold Coast” Chicago home ca. 1930 until 1960.
In later years, Hammond maintained an apartment on Lake Shore Drive (in Chicago), a chateau in Laizet, France and villas in Montevideo, Uruguay and Antigua. 
He also owned a penthouse on Park Avenue in New York City.

 

Laurens Hammond Estate
3 Ford Hill Road
Cornwall, CT
Laurens Hammond’s primary residence after his retirement in 1960.
He lived here until his death in 1973.

 

Hammond Family Residence
1390 Scott Av.
Winnetka, Ill
Home of Laurens Hammond’s mother and sisters, Louise and Elizabeth, in 1930.
(From Hammond Stockholder’s Report, July 10, 1930.  Also listed in 1930 Evanston phone directory)

 

Chicago Historical Society
Clark St. at North Ave
Chicago, Ill 60614
The Marmon Group donated old Hammond company records, artifacts, organs and other historical data to the Chicago Historical Society in 1986.
(Source for company data, 1930-1985)

 

 

Evanston Historical Society
225 Greenwood St
Evanston, IL 60201
Located in the “Charles Gates Dawes”
House next door to the William Andrew Hammond house near Lake Michigan.
Charles Gates Dawes was a Nobel Peace Prize recipient and Vice President of the United States under William McKinley. 
(Source for early family data, no commercial information)

 

St. Marks Episcopal Church
1509 Ridge Av.
Evanston, Ill
Hammond family church, ca. 1883-January 1897. 
(The family left this church after William Hammond’s suicide)

 

St. Lukes Episcopal Church
939 Hinman Ave
Evanston, Ill
Laurens Hammond’s boyhood church,  after 1909 when he and his family returned from Europe.

 

Graceland Cemetery
4001 N. Clark St.
Chicago, Ill 6061
The cremated remains of family members deceased prior to 1939, are interred in the Hammond family plot.
This includes: Rev. Henry Laurens Hammond (grandfather) 
Eunice Bingham Hammond (grandmother)
William Andrew Hammond (father)
Idea Louise Strong Hammond (mother) and one sister Elizabeth Strong Hammond Shepard, her husband, Leonard G. Shepard, plus a niece who died as a child.
Laurens Hammond is not buried here. 
Hammond died July 1, 1973 in Cornwall, CT, the home of his wife Roxana Scoville Hammond. His remains were cremated in Pittsfield, Mass, July 6, 1973.

 

Rockefeller Chapel
University of Chicago
5850 S. Woodlawn Av.
Chicago, Ill 60637
Site of the U. S. Federal Trade Commission’s “comparison” of the Hammond Organ and the chapel’s massive pipe organ 1936-1938.

 

Hammond Chess Pavillion
Lake Shore Drive at North Ave
Chicago, Ill
Laurens Hammond donated $100,000 to the Chicago Park District to build this outdoor chess pavillion near the North Avenue Beach.

 

Harrington Organ Company
3925 W. Montrose Av.
Chicago, Ill
The late Ed Harrington, the world’s first Leslie Speaker dealer and “infamous Hammond bootlegger” (non-franchised discount re-seller of Hammond Organs) ca. 1939 to the early 1970s. This company is still in business.

 

Jensen Manufacturing Company
6601 S. Laramie Ave.
Chicago, Ill
Speaker manufacturing business founded by Peter Jensen in 1927 and moved to Chicago in 1929.
Jensen built speaker components for Hammond and Leslie tone cabinets through the 1960s. Company is still in business but has undergone numerous corporate changes over the years. 
This building and nearby properties are currently owned by the Acorn Corrugated Box Company.

 

J. C. Deagan
770 W. Berteau
Chicago, Ill
Chime and carillon manufacturer.
Hammond and Deagan cooperated with related products for the church market.
This building is on the corner of Ravenswood and Berteau (4300 North)

 

Current owners/operators of former Hammond commercial properties:

Except for Organ Service Company Inc. these companies have no association, past or present with the former Hammond Organ Company, Electro Music (Leslie Speakers) or Hammond/Suzuki Inc. USA.

 

Chicago Riverfront Antique Mart
Herbert L. Levin, Owner
2929 N. Western Ave
Chicago, Ill 60618
Current owner/operator of the 2915 N. Western property.
(The building’s address has once again been modified to make it easier to remember)
It is being converted into condominiums.

 

Graphics Parts International Inc.
4321 N. Knox
Chicago, Ill 60641
Current owner of the 4249 N. Knox property.
Company manufactures silk printing equipment and supplies.
(Graphics Parts International occupies several buildings on Knox from 4200 to 4400 North)

 

Lake Star, Inc.
David L. Verduin, President
4200 W. Diversey
Chicago, Ill 60639
Current owner/operator of the Diversey plant.
Company is a plastics manufacturer. Lake Star Inc. also leases space in this building for other manufacturing businesses.

 

General Products
4045 N. Rockwell
Chicago, Ill 60618
Current owner/operator of the N. Rockwell plant.
Company manufactures photo albums and other photographic products.
Hammond originally bought this building from Bell & Howell, a manufacturer of cameras, projectors and other audio-visual products.

 

Clear Pack Company
11610 Copenhagen Court
Franklin Park, Ill
Company manufactures containers and sheets.

 

Handy Button Machine Corp.
1750 N. 25th Av.
Melrose Park, Ill
Current owner of the 1740 N. 25th Ave property.
(The address has been slightly modified)

 

Organ Service Company Inc.
Jerry Welch, Owner
6475 Joliet Road, Suite B1W
La Grange, Ill 60525
Former Marmon company that evolved from reorganisation of the Hammond Corp. in 1986. Provides organ parts and service. 
Originally based in the 4200 W. Diversey building, the company has since relocated to this address.