YorksPast

In March 1999, York College announced the donation of the 23-acre former Teledyne-McKAY complex in Spring Garden Township. At the time, the property, extending westward from Grantley Road, worth $2.5 million, was the largest gift in York College’s history.

That site was transformed into part of the West Campus of York College of Pennsylvania. A 1983 westward aerial view of the Teledyne McKAY factory is annotated to point out the two McKAY buildings that were repurposed and the site of a 2002 York College party marking the start of demolition of the other factory buildings.

The McKAY Company

The McKAY manufacturing presence in York County began with the 1919 construction of a massive 800-feet by 150-feet factory along Grantley Road in Spring Garden Township. The growth of that Pittsburgh-based maker of chains prompted them to place a state-of-the-art factory in York County, which added to an already significant chain manufacturing industry in York. The McKAY Company entered the arc-welding electrode field in 1938, requiring the first of several additions to the south side of the York plant.

In 1940, The McKAY Company built the south wing of the structure now housing Grantley Hall of York College. The front part served as McKAY offices and the rear part was for research and development, primarily for their growing welding product lines.

During WWII, The McKAY Company manufactured heavy marine chain for combat and merchant vessels, submarine nets for harbor protection, and heavy tire and towing chains for military vehicles. Virtually all of their welding electrode production went directly to factories producing Army and Navy fighting equipment. In addition to their mild steel and stainless steel electrode production, through their own laboratory research, supplemented by a fellowship maintained at the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research, they developed the McKAY Armorloy “A” and “C” electrodes which so satisfactorily met the stringent requirements for welding of heavy armor plate.

By the time Teledyne Corporation purchased The McKAY Company in 1968, most of McKAY’s profits were coming from their lines of welding electrodes and tubular welding wires. Teledyne significantly increased Research and Development spending on their welding products lines and built a separate R&D center south of their Grantley factory in 1971. After the initial R&D offices moved out of building at the north end of the plant, a new wing was added and these became the expanded Teledyne McKAY offices in York.

In 1975 a welding industry publication had this to say about Teledyne McKAY’s Research and Development Department: “Growth and broad international acceptance are the direct result of years of intensive research and development by one of the largest staffs in the Filler Metal Industry. Teledyne McKAY personnel have made major contributions to overall welding technology, while developing new welding materials and exploring the fundamentals of existing products.”

Teledyne McKAY shut down chain production at York in 1988 and sold their chain product line to ACCO Chain. In 1993, Hobart Brothers Company purchased Teledyne McKAY welding products line and within months moved production from the York plant to their factory in Troy, Ohio. The purchase did not include the Grantley factory property, which Teledyne continued to own.

Prior to the 1999 gift of the 23-acre former Teledyne-McKAY complex along Grantley Road, York College purchased the separate R&D center in 1996, along with a company athletic field behind it. The building opened as McKay Hall of York College in 1997, housing engineering laboratories in the front and classrooms for nursing students in the back. After the York College engineering labs moved to the Kinsley Engineering Center in 2008, McKay Hall was extensively remodeled to focus on Nursing Education and was renamed Diehl Hall in 2013.

In the fall of 1995, York College initiated the four-year program leading to a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering. At the time it was just one of eight programs in the country to require co-op work experience for all students.

As the York College mechanical engineering labs were taking shape as McKay Hall in early 1997, groups of engineering managers from York industries were invited to tour these labs in progress. I was among one of those groups from York International Corporation, and was impressed.

The following photo, at the Grantley Road entrance to McKAY Hall, shows the 12 graduates of the Class of 1999, which is the first class of mechanical engineering students to graduate from York College of Pennsylvania. In 2024, York College’s yearly enrollment in engineering programs reaches 300+ students.

The following aerial photos show 2003 and 2024 views of the West Campus of York College of Pennsylvania. The former McKAY Research & Development building opened as McKay Hall of York College in 1997; and was renamed Diehl Hall in 2013. Both wings of the vacant McKAY office building opened as Grantley Hall of York College in 2005.

Starting in 2002 and finishing in 2003, the former Teledyne McKAY factory buildings were demolished, and site clean-up got underway. The groundbreaking for the shown West Campus sports facilities took place in 2004. The Teledyne Readco factory along Richland Avenue and Baltimore Steel fabrication facility along Kings Mill Road were purchased and demolished to create parking lots.

Click on this LINK for a yorkblog.com Full View of the photos and illustrations in this post.

Links to related posts:

When Penn State Center was in York Junior College building

Nes Chain Manufacturing Company in York; first building within ACCO Plant

John C. Schmidt and Company, Chain Manufacturer in York is founded by a Hall of Fame Industrialist

Origins of Campbell Chain Company and the gift of the Campbell Isolation Hospital