Remington started here
in Ilion two centuries ago
.
Generations of workers have made rifles and shotguns in the massive firearms factory in the middle of this blue-collar town in the heart of New York's Mohawk Valley.
Now Ilion residents
prepare for Remington's departure
, ending an era that began when Eliphalet Remington forged his first rifle barrel
nearby in 1816.
The country's oldest gun maker recently announced plans to
close the factory
at the company's original headquarters early next month, citing
the high cost of operating the historic plant
.
Remington is consolidating its operations in Georgia, a state the company says
is friendlier
to the firearms industry.
The company's recent history has been marked by
a lawsuit after the Sandy Hook school massacre
and
bankruptcy filings
that led to new ownership of the Ilion plant, where the workforce has been reduced from about 1,300 more ago. from a decade
to about 300.
The Remington factory, since 1816 in Ilion.
factory.
Photo: AP
But the move still hurts for
the town of 7,600 people
, who face
the prospect of a dramatic loss of income and an empty
, sprawling factory.
"When Remington leaves, it won't be like a facility leaving,
it will be like part of your family moved away
," said Jim Conover, who started at Remington in 1964 packing guns and retired 40 years later as production manager.
Weapons manufacturing
dominates and defines Ilion
.
It is intertwined with the city in the same way that automobile production is with Detroit.
Mayor John Stephens meets with village board members under a seal depicting Eliphalet Remington holding a long gun.
The four-story brick plant
located off Armory Street and Remington Avenue looms over the community about 55 miles (90 kilometers) east of Syracuse.
Mayor John Stephens under a seal depicting Eliphalet Remington holding a long gun.
Photo: AP
Everyone
knows someone who worked at the plant
.
For some families, employment there is practically a birthright.
Conover's father and sons also worked at the plant.
Furnace operator and technician Frank “Rusty” Brown was still there this year with members of his family.
“My mom worked there.
My dad worked there.
My wife works there with me now.
My daughter works there with me now.
My second daughter works there with me now.
And my son-in-law works there,” said Brown, president of Local 717 of the United Mine Workers of America union.
“So
it's a double blow for me and my wife
: two of
us without work
.”
Remington Firearms' current owners, RemArms, blamed
“production inefficiencies”
for the plant's closure in a Nov. 30 letter to union officials.
They cited the high cost of maintaining and securing about 92,903 square meters of space in multiple buildings, many of which
date back to World War I.
The four-story brick plant located off Armory Street and Remington Avenue.
Photo: AP
RemArms added that Georgia offered an environment that "
better supports and embraces the firearms industry
."
CEO Ken D'Arcy also said in a news release that the industry was concerned about
the "legislative environment" in New York.
Some believe Remington is primarily moving south
to reduce operating and labor costs.
But in an area of upstate New York where support for gun rights tends to be strong, some Republican elected officials seized on the company's comment on Georgia.
They linked the plant closure to gun control measures advocated by New York City-area Democrats in recent years.
The owners cited the high cost of maintaining multiple buildings, many of which date back to World War I.
Photo: AP
Remington is not the first firearms manufacturer to commit to a more gun-friendly state.
Smith & Wesson opened
its new headquarters in Tennessee
in October after being based in Springfield, Massachusetts, since 1852. In announcing the move in 2021, company officials criticized proposed
state legislation
that they said
would prohibit them from manufacturing certain weapons.
RemArms, which bought the firearms business in 2020, did not respond to emails and calls seeking comment.
The company said in its letter to the union that it expected to end operations at the facility
around March 4
.
The company previously announced in 2021 that it would move its headquarters to LaGrange, Georgia, and open a factory and research operation there.
Gone are the days of traffic jams in Ilion every afternoon when shifts ended.
Photo: AP
Gone are the days of traffic jams in Ilion every afternoon, when the day shifts ended.
Empty spaces
dominate
the factory's large parking lot.
Nearby businesses that deliver lunches to the plant, like Franco's Pizza,
have already seen orders drop dramatically.
"They have been decreasing," said Franco's owner, Daniel Mendez.
"This isn't necessarily going to put us out of business, but it does hurt."
With a fraction of its previous workforce, Remington leaves Ilion with more of a whimper than a bang.
A town, without a clear destiny
Stephens believes the remaining workers will be able to find other work in the area.
But he also estimates that the loss of the plant could cost the town
nearly a million dollars a year
, including utility and tax payments.
Local officials hope the plant site can house
a mix of manufacturing, retail and residential units
.
But his fate remains unclear.
It was put up for sale last month for $10 million.
"Things can quickly become
an eyesore
," said Michael Disotelle, a historian at the Ilion Public Library.
“And being like this in the center of town, you can't just let it go.”
The factory's current site dates to 1828, when Eliphalet Remington located its operations along the newly opened Erie Canal.
Although guns have historically been Ilion's primary product, Remington
also manufactured typewriters, sewing machines, and other
consumer items.
Cerberus Capital Management purchased Remington Arms in 2007, placing it in the same corporate family as Bushmaster Firearms and other gun companies.
Bushmaster Firearms moved its manufacturing operations to Ilion for a time in 2011.
Remington Outdoor Co. and its subsidiaries
filed for bankruptcy in 2018
, citing declining sales as well as legal and financial pressure after the Sandy Hook school shooting that killed 20 first-graders and six adults.
A Bushmaster AR-15 style rifle
was used in the massacre .