Built in phases from 1906 through 1971, SouthWorks is an 820,000 square-foot former industrial facility. Over the course of the site’s history, everything from industrial chains, automotive parts, critical components for bicycles, motorcycles, typewriters and calculators were manufactured on site. Notably, during World War I, the Tommy Plane was built here. Morse Chain occupied the facility from 1906 until 1928 when the company merged with BorgWarner, which owned the property from 1928 to 1982. Emerson Power Transmission continued manufacturing at the site from 1983 until its closure in 2011.
Inspired by the industrious past of chains, planes, power, and people.
Connecting with your stories
For more than a century, history was made at the site by the thousands of workers who kept the factory running, working three shifts, seven days a week. The site was a major driver of immigration to the area and supplied jobs to the area in every industry from manufacturing to maintaining the railroads. In collaboration with Harry Littell, we are preserving photographs, oral histories, and artifacts from the factory’s days of operation.