GRAFTON – Wyman-Gordon is a forging company with a long history in Grafton. Its North Grafton building was constructed by the U.S. Department of Defense in 1946, with heavy manufacturing capabilities to support larger, more-advanced aircraft designs.Wyman-Gordon was originally founded in 1883 in Worcester by H. Winfield Wyman and Lyman F. Gordon, two graduates of Worcester Polytechnic Institute. They were making parts for textile looms. The crankshaft created by the company also had a role in the boom of the auto industry, and 3...
GRAFTON – Wyman-Gordon is a forging company with a long history in Grafton. Its North Grafton building was constructed by the U.S. Department of Defense in 1946, with heavy manufacturing capabilities to support larger, more-advanced aircraft designs.
Wyman-Gordon was originally founded in 1883 in Worcester by H. Winfield Wyman and Lyman F. Gordon, two graduates of Worcester Polytechnic Institute. They were making parts for textile looms. The crankshaft created by the company also had a role in the boom of the auto industry, and 35 car manufacturers used their products in their vehicles. Due to the demands of World War I, Wyman-Gordon began aviation forging, producing engine parts, propellers, landing gear, and structural airframe parts.
By the 1940s, the industry was changing, and there was increased demand for lighter metals like magnesium, and later aluminum and titanium. Around this time, Wyman-Gordon moved from Worcester to Grafton, working in an existing facility that specialized in aviation forging for the United States military. The U.S. Air Force owned the building and contracted the work out to Wyman-Gordon.
Then came the new building, which still stands today. Wyman-Gordon bought a 150-acre farm in 1944 from Grafton, only to pass ownership onto the Defense Plant Corporation. The United States hoped to advance war programs by financing and equipping private firms. Wyman-Gordon operated the plant as a contractor.
Designed by J. R. Worcester & Company of Boston and built by the Defense Plant Corporation, the building was completed in 1946 at a cost of over $4 million and housed the nation’s first 18,000-ton forging press. At that time, the Soviet Union possessed the world’s largest heavy press, motivating the U.S. military to begin the Air Force Heavy Press Program. The building underwent a $50 million expansion in 1951 which included the installation of several smaller presses and a massive 50,000-ton press.
The Wyman-Gordon employees dubbed the massive hydraulic forging press “Major.” The Historic American Engineering Record recognized the 50,000-ton press as the “largest machine ever built” and named it a national landmark. Wyman-Gordon continued to produce parts for aircraft, space shuttles, and other military vehicles.
In 1999, the Precision Castparts Corp. acquired Wyman-Gordon. Today, Wyman Gordon owns the property, which is valued at $24.4 million, according to the Grafton Assessor’s Office.