Westinghouse SURE Media Contact: Susie Barbour, susie_barbour@hotmail.com, 412-952-6629
RIDC Media Contact: Desiree Niccoli, desiree@alschulerpr.com, 412-535-5701
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
RETIRED WESTINGHOUSE EMPLOYEES RETURN TO REVITALIZED EAST PITTSBURGH PLANT, RIDC’S KEYSTONE COMMONS NOW HOME TO INNOVATIVE TECH COMPANIES
PITTSBURGH, PA – September 13, 2022 – Westinghouse SURE – a non-profit, all-volunteer retiree group – hosted a facility tour for former Westinghouse employees at Westinghouse’s historic East Pittsburgh plant – now RIDC Keystone Commons.
Thirty-four retirees attended the tour, most of whom had worked in the plant, as well as SURE Director Howard Finney, the last Westinghouse Plant Services Manager at East Pittsburgh. Renny Clark, a retired Westinghouse executive and former Board Chairman of RIDC, helped organize the tour.
“While the products and manufacturing methods may have changed at the former East Pittsburgh facility where generations of workers produced large generators and switch gear equipment, it’s refreshing to see that the large capacity cranes, high manufacturing bays, and ample floor space are still being utilized today,” said Howard Finney, SURE Director & former Manager of Plant Service LRA.
“Those of us from the Westinghouse “family”, treasure the memories of our former workplaces,” said Renny Clark, retired Westinghouse executive and former Board Chairman of RIDC. “I am certain that those on the tour will be amazed at how the former East Pittsburgh Works has been transformed into the home of so many diverse businesses. It still serves as an economic engine for the Turtle Creek valley.”
“It’s our pleasure to welcome retired Westinghouse East Pittsburgh employees back to their former workplace,” said Donald F. Smith, Jr., RIDC President. “This is more than a facility tour; it’s the people who drove the industry and innovation of Pittsburgh’s past meeting the people at the companies today that are driving our region’s future, companies like Taktl, Holtech, Nexttech and EOS.”
About the Westinghouse East Pittsburgh Plant
Organized in 1886 as the Westinghouse Electric Company with a force of 200 men, the name of the company later became the Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company. By 1904, the number of workers grew to 9,000 at the main plant in East Pittsburgh with 3,000 additional employees in branch factories. It became the largest of the Westinghouse companies and was thought to be the largest and most modern workshop in the world. The plant eventually employed some 22,000 workers at its East Pittsburgh site.
The plant began with a purchase of 40 acres in East Pittsburgh and construction commencing in February 1894. Construction moved quickly and by November 1894 the machine shop, warehouse, powerhouse, brass foundry, punching and blacksmith shops were all complete, floor space totaling over two million square feet.
The main function of the Electric & Manufacturing Company was to develop and produce apparatus for the generation, transmission and application of alternating current electricity. The company also produced electric railway motors, producing approximately 75,000 by 1905.
About Westinghouse S.U.R.E.
Westinghouse S.U.R.E. (Service Uniting Retired Employees), the most successful all-retiree volunteer group in the Pittsburgh Region, is one of the largest in the nation with nearly 800 members participating in over 260 community service activities totaling more than 1.5 million volunteer hours in its 33-year history.
Find SURE online: www.facebook.com/WestinghouseSURE or at www.westinghouseSURE.org.
About RIDC
The mission of the Regional Industrial Development Corporation is to catalyze and support economic growth and high-quality job creation through real estate development and finance of projects that advance the public interest. A not-for-profit entity, RIDC has developed over 2,800 acres in 14 industrial and innovation parks and manages over 7 million square feet.
Formerly Westinghouse Electric Corporation’s East Pittsburgh/Turtle Creek complex, Keystone Commons was bought by RIDC with the goal of redeveloping it into a world class, multi-use, urban industrial facility. Several of its original buildings have been rehabilitated and now house over 40 companies, employing about 1,100 people. The site features 2.25 million square feet of industrial, warehouse, manufacturing and office space.
More information is available at www.ridc.org.
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