Firearm Factory of the Month: Remington-UMC

There are several places in which we could begin the story of the Remington-UMC factory in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
The best place is perhaps with the Union Metallic Cartridge Company. 
Shortly after the Civil War a sporting goods and arms dealer by the name of Schuyler, Hartley and Graham purchased two manufacturers of cartridges: Crittenden & Tibbals of South Coventry, CT and C.D. Leet of Springfield, MA. 
The two companies were combined in 1867 to form the Union Metallic Cartridge Company in Bridgeport. 

 

In 1888  Schuyler, Hartley and Graham purchased E. Remington & Sons and renamed it Remington Arms. 
In 1909 UMC built a 190 ft shot tower, for making lead shot.

For many years was the tallest building in Connecticut.
 

In 1912 Remington and U.M.C. were merged into one company with Bridgeport being the new headquarters.
The manufacturing of arms remained at the old Ilion, NY plant and cartridges continued to be made in Bridgeport.

In July of 1914 war broke out in Europe. As the countries lined up on opposing sides it became immediately apparent that there was not sufficient means to produce arms for the war. As the contracts began to come available the leaders of Remington-UMC made sure to get their share of them. 
They received an order for 3,600,000 1914 pattern Enfield rifles from the British, 1,500,000 1891 Nagant rifles from the Russians and the French ordered 250,000 "Berthier" rifles and 100,000 Rolling Blocks.
Just as the Europeans were overwhelmed with the need for arms, Remington knew it could not handle the contracts with their existing facilities.

Remington created a new joint venture with Baldwin Locomotive Works in Eddystone, PA to handle the British contract. In Ilion, Remington demolished a few old factory buildings, some dating back to 1828 and replaced them with larger more modern facilities, but this was just the beginning.

The Imperial Russian Government provided a down payment of $7,500,000 which Remington used to purchase additional land 1/4 mile to the Northeast of the UMC plant in Bridgeport and began construction of thirteen interconnected buildings.

Once completed they had close to 1 million square feet of production space, which at the time, was the largest factory on Earth. It was so large that workers often used roller skates and bicycles to travel between the buildings.

March 3rd, 1915 construction of the new Remington Bridgeport Rifle Works

conceptual drawing

The orders for the Russian Nagant rifles and the French order for Rolling Blocks and Berthier rifles would be fulfilled by the new factory

roll mark from a Remington made Nagant rifle

The French Berthier Military Rifle

The Remington Rolling Block 

A Colt M1911 made for the US Army at Remington Bridgeport.

I used to own a Remington model 51 just like the one below and pictured at the top of the page

 

Crates of rifles ready to be shipped

In November of 1917, the Imperial Russian Government fell to the Communists and in true Communist fashion they refused to honor the contracts or even pay for the rifles already received.
Remington was forced to layoff thousands of workers and sell it's massive factory in Bridgeport.
In 1920 General Electric  purchased the plant and used it for producing electrical products until 2007.

After GE abandoned the buildings they fell into decline
 

In 2012 they were torn down and the property leveled. the only remains are 76 empty acres and dirt turned red by brick dust.

The UMC shot tower and some buildings from the UMC plant still exist, it can be found on the corner of Helen and Arctic streets. Remington closed the plant in 1986 and moved operations to Arkansas

This picture shows the proximity of the UMC plant and the former Remington Rifle Works.

Links:
Remington Society
Wikipedia
Damned CT
Mosin Nagant.net
Bridgeport Library
Business Insider
SCS Journalism
Atlas Obsucra
Liberty Tree Collectors
CT Post