GleamBlog

Employee number four.

Bernie Rosenthal was the fourth person ever hired at GE Appliance Park.

The year was 1950 when the company created by Thomas Edison purchased 900 acres of farmland to create GE Appliance Park, a revolutionary manufacturing facility in southern Jefferson County.

Louisville at that time just had the tobacco people here, Brown Williamson.

But when the news that G.E.

was coming to this vast farm land in the rural part of the county, everybody was delighted.

They could tell the economic impact.

They can tell the numbers of employees of the the number of G.E.

people that would be moving in here, rather, from Bridgeport or from Scranton, Ohio.

And it was big news, really big news.

The groundbreaking for the first manufacturing plant, Building one happened in July of 1951.

It would take two years before the first product a dryer was shipped.

Since then, some of GE's most innovative appliances have been created right here in Louisville, including the first automatic portable dishwashers, the first toaster oven.

And not to mention they are credited with first making appliances fashionable from mid-century into the 21st century.

Today, GE Appliances employs more than 7000 people.

The appliances made here are in more than half of all us homes and in many cases, it's a family affair.

My grandfather started working here in 1956.

I think he retired sometime in the early eighties.

Seven of his children had the majority of their careers here as well.

My father retired after 38 years with the company.

My wife and I both work here.

We're both in sourcing as well as my brother.

They have such a good educational program.

You were crazy not to take advantage of it.

I even had the opportunity.

I was the first African American to work over here in Building six and teach computer classes.

I was a single mom and I raised my family right here and my kids knew.

And when it was time for them to get a job, they wanted to come over here and work for gee appliances also.

So it means a lot.

It hasn't been without its challenges.

In 2008, when the economy took a turn, so did G.E..

The company was preparing to shut down Appliance Park and GE sold off its appliance division to hire a Chinese company, creating a few years of uncertainty.

But it ultimately proved to be an opportunity for GE Appliances to reclaim its roots.

Roots of innovation.

When things were looking bleak with the certainty, the future was uncertain here for years.

We're in the process of this place is shutting down and all that turned around in 2008 when we started looking to continuous improvement and we started developing a new product, which is the base of where we're at today.

Today, GE Appliances is growing.

This year, the company unveiled two new dishwasher assembly lines, the result of a $450 million investment to expand Appliance park, making GE Appliances the largest dishwasher manufacturer in the United States.

We've we've made a lot of changes, a lot of heartache.

But now we're to the point where everybody's excited to be here.

It's it's contagious.

You know, we want to make good product.

We want to make more products.

We want to ensure that this place is going to be here tomorrow.

I think it was a real vision.

And while Appliance Park may be one of these silent dinosaur, so to speak, in the community, the impact that appliance park and the employees G e the large number of retirees, the whole story of G.E.

and Appliance Park is a remarkable part of Louisville's history.

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