Frigidaire Appliance Company is the American consumer and commercial home appliances brand subsidiary of multinational company Electrolux , a Swedish multinational home appliance manufacturer, headquartered in Stockholm.
126-527: Frigidaire was founded as the Guardian Frigerator Company in Fort Wayne, Indiana , and developed the first self-contained refrigerator , invented by Nathaniel B. Wales and Alfred Mellowes in 1916. In 1918, William C. Durant , a founder of General Motors , personally invested in the company and in 1919, it adopted the name Frigidaire. The brand was so well known in the refrigeration field in
252-546: A United States fur trade factory was established in Fort Wayne. It was burned by the local Indians at the beginning of the War of 1812 . The first settlement started in 1815. In 1819, the military garrison abandoned the fort and moved to Detroit. In 1822, a federal land office opened to sell land ceded by local Native Americans by the Treaty of St. Mary's in 1818. Platted in 1823 at
378-711: A lacustrine plain formed by Glacial Lake Maumee . The Little River flows southwest of Fort Wayne, a tributary of the Wabash River , and remnant of the Maumee Torrent . Fort Wayne is situated on the Saint Lawrence River Divide , a continental divide separating the Great Lakes Basin from the Gulf of Mexico watershed. The most important geographical feature of the area is the short distance over land between
504-401: A park and boulevard plan conceived by urban planner Charles Mulford Robinson in 1909 and finalized by landscape architect George Kessler in 1912. The master plan proposed a network of parkways and boulevards connecting the city's three rivers and Spy Run Creek to dozens of neighborhoods and parks. Several parks were designed by noted landscape architect Arthur Asahel Shurcliff . Much of
630-527: A brand in consumers' minds in and outside the UK, print ads and spots were produced, causing confusion rather than attraction for buyers. BL marketing and management attempted to draw more obvious distinctions between the marques – most notable was the decision to pitch Morris as a maker of conventional mass-market cars to compete with Ford and Vauxhall and Austin to continue BMC's line of advanced family cars with front-wheel drive and fluid suspension. This resulted in
756-543: A disastrous couple of years in the marketplace, by the end of 1974 BLMC was on the brink of bankruptcy. Its financial backers – the City banks – had become very nervous about its future, and persuaded Lord Stokes to approach Tony Benn for financial assistance." Sir Don Ryder was asked to undertake an enquiry into the position of the company, and his report was presented to the government in April 1975. Following Ryder's recommendations,
882-488: A driver behind the wheel at all times. The reason for experimenting with autonomous vehicles is a looming shortage of drivers. In 2015, the American Trucking Association predicted that there would be a shortage of 175,000 drivers by 2024. In addition to manufacturing room air conditioners, Frigidaire also provided the factory air conditioning systems for General Motors (GM) automobiles. From the 1950s through
1008-508: A male householder with no wife present, and 38.0% were non-families. 31.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.44 and the average family size was 3.09. The median age in the city was 34.5 years. 26.4% of residents were under the age of 18; 10.2% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 26.5% were from 25 to 44; 24.9% were from 45 to 64; and 12% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of
1134-438: A number of locations, particularly during heavy rainfall events. However, as of 2023, a several million dollar citywide sewage overflow tunnel project is set to be completed, among additional efforts, such as a $ 135 million investment from the city into rain gardens , to prevent further discharge into the rivers. There has been growing investment and development along the riverfront since at least 2019. Fort Wayne lies in
1260-423: A product to sell. This meant that Austin and Morris still, to an extent, competed with each other and meant that each product was saddled with effectively twice the logistics, marketing and distribution costs that it would have if sold under a single name or if production of a single model platform was concentrated in one factory. Although BL did eventually end the wasteful double sourcing – for example production of
1386-463: A recognised and respected marque across India, the wider subcontinent and parts of Africa in the form of Ashok Leyland , a company formed from the partnership of the Ashok group and British Leyland. However, now the company has been largely Indian in its ownership for over three decades. Now a part of the giant Hinduja Group , Ashok Leyland manufactures buses, trucks, defence vehicles and engines. The company
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#17328588309851512-604: A series of forts built near the Miami village of Kekionga . Named in Wayne's honor, the European-American settlement developed at the confluence of the St. Joseph , St. Marys , and Maumee rivers, known originally as Fort Miami , a trading post constructed by Jean Baptiste Bissot, Sieur de Vincennes around 1706. The modern city was platted in 1823 following its revitalization after
1638-601: A single all-new model, the Austin Montego. The Acclaim was replaced in that same year by another Honda-based product, the Rover 200 -series. The MG factory at Abingdon and Triumph factory at Canley were both closed in 1980. By the end of Michael Edwardes' tenure as chairman of BL plc in 1982, the company had been restructured into two distinct parts – the Cars Division (which consisted of Austin-Morris, Rover and Jaguar, and
1764-539: A small number of tractors with some modest success. The car marques inherited by the company are as follows. The dates given are those of the first car of each marque, but these are often debatable as each car may be several years in development. Several of these names (including Jaguar, Land Rover and Mini) are now in other hands. The history of the mergers and other key events is as follows. Pre-BL: As BL: As BL: Post-BL: As BL: Post BL: In some cases, British Leyland continued to produce competing models from
1890-459: A small trading outpost. It was part of a group of forts and trading posts built between Quebec and St. Louis . The first census in 1744 recorded a population of approximately 40 Frenchmen and 1,000 Miamians. Increasing tension between France and Great Britain developed over control of the territory. In 1760, France ceded the area to Britain after its forces in North America surrendered during
2016-659: A step closer to reconnecting with its British heritage, as Optare is a direct descendant of Leyland's UK bus-making division. During the time of British Leyland's transition into Austin Rover during the 1980s, a version of the Rover SD1 was licence built in India as the Standard 2000 from 1985 to 1988, briefly reviving the Standard brand which had been axed in 1968. British Leyland also provided
2142-634: A stop-gap until the Austin Maestro and Montego were ready for launch. This car would emerge as the Triumph Acclaim in 1981, and would be the first of a long line of collaborative models jointly developed between BL and Honda. At the same time, Leyland Trucks introduced the Landtrain , the first in a series of vehicles developed specifically for export markets. A rationalisation of the model ranges also took place around this time. In 1980, British Leyland
2268-551: A visit from then president of the United States, Ronald Reagan. In the 1990s, the city began a turnaround. Local leaders focused on crime reduction, economic diversification, and downtown redevelopment. By 1999, Fort Wayne's crime rate decreased to the lowest levels since 1974, and the city's economy recovered, with the unemployment rate hovering at 2.4 percent in 1998. Clearing blighted buildings downtown resulted in new public greenspaces, including Headwaters Park, which has become
2394-571: A weak tornado formed on the city's west central side and moved northeast, striking the downtown area. On May 26, 2001, an EF1 tornado struck a shopping center on the city's northeast side, flipping cars and damaging roofs and windows on nearby residences and businesses. Three people were injured in the storm. The city experienced 91 mph (146 km/h) wind gusts in the June 2012 North American derecho , knocking out power to 78,000, uprooting approximately 500 trees, and costing $ 2.5 million. Fort Wayne
2520-407: Is 29 percent, double the state average of 14.5 percent and above the national average of 27.1 percent. The canopy is decreasing, notably from development and the emerald ash borer infestation . Fort Wayne has been designated a Tree City USA since 1990. Historically, Fort Wayne has been divided into four unofficial quadrants: northeast, northwest, southeast, and southwest. Calhoun Street divides
2646-508: Is a center for the defense industry which employs 1-2% of the population. Fort Wayne was an All-America City Award recipient in 1983, 1998, 2009, and 2021. The city also received an Outstanding Achievement City Livability Award by the U.S. Conference of Mayors in 1999. This area here on the river confluence was occupied by successive cultures of indigenous peoples for as long as 10,000 years. The Miami tribe would eventually establish its settlement of Kekionga at this confluence of
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#17328588309852772-549: Is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Indiana , United States. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is 18 miles (29 km) west of the Ohio border and 50 miles (80 km) south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 as of the 2020 census , making it the second-most populous city in Indiana after Indianapolis , and the 83rd-most populous city in
2898-751: Is a leader in the heavy transportation sector within India and has an aggressive expansionary policy. In 1987, the UK-based Hinduja Group bought the India-based Ashok Leyland company. Today, Ashok-Leyland is pursuing a joint venture with Nissan and through its acquisition of the Czech truck maker, Avia , is entering the European truck market directly. With its purchase, in 2010, of a 25% stake in UK-based bus manufacturer Optare , Ashok Leyland has taken
3024-399: Is built to LEED certification standards. Workers will manufacture the company's Electrolux ICON, Electrolux and Frigidaire product lines, including drop-in/slide-in ranges, wall ovens, specialty free standing ranges and cook tops. The $ 190 million, 750,000 square foot Memphis manufacturing plant began production of stoves and ranges in 2013. The plant's research and development center includes
3150-445: Is not uncommon to the region, but usually appears in the form of light snow flurries. The National Weather Service reports the highest recorded temperature in the city at 106 °F (41 °C), most recently on June 28, 2012, and the lowest recorded temperature at −24 °F (−31 °C) on January 12, 1918. The wettest month on record was June 2015, with 11.98 in (304 mm) of precipitation. The greatest 24-hour rainfall
3276-460: Is the principal city of the Fort Wayne metropolitan area , consisting of Allen and Whitley counties in Indiana. It had an estimated population of 423,038 as of 2021. In addition to the two core counties, the greater Fort Wayne combined statistical area includes Adams , DeKalb , Huntington , Noble , Steuben , and Wells counties, with an estimated population of 649,105 in 2021. According to
3402-436: The 2010 census , there were 253,691 people and 113,541 households. The racial makeup of the city is 73.62% White , 15.41% Black or African American , 0.37% Native American or Alaska Native , 3.3% Asian (1.4% Burmese , 0.4% Indian , 0.3% Vietnamese , 0.2% Chinese , 0.2% Filipino , 0.1% Korean , 0.1% Laotian , 0.1% Thai ), 0.06% Pacific Islander , 3.72% from other races , and 3.52% from two or more races . 7.96% of
3528-546: The American Revolutionary War . In 1780, French Canadian soldiers coming to assist the U.S. with the revolution were slaughtered in several nearby locations in what is known as La Balme's Defeat . At the end of the Revolutionary War, in the Treaty of Paris in 1783, Britain ceded this area to the new United States, though they continued to maintain an influence on trading activity and the forts of Miami, with
3654-605: The Appalachian Mountains , and refused to meet for negotiations over a possible treaty to instead cede land for white settlement. The growing violence led to the Northwest Indian War . In 1790, President George Washington ordered the U.S. Army to subdue and pacify the tribes. The first expedition, led by General Josiah Harmar reached Kekionga and exercised scorched earth tactics on the village and crops. Miami war chief Little Turtle , who had been long tracking
3780-500: The Arts United Center (1973) was inspired by a violin and its case. Other notable buildings include Indiana Michigan Power Center (1982), the tallest building in the city and tallest building in Indiana outside of Indianapolis, at 442 feet (135 m). The 1970s characterized an era in Fort Wayne that saw substantial changes to the downtown area in accommodation of increasing suburbanization and urban sprawl that began in
3906-450: The Austin , Morris and Wolseley marques became part of China's SAIC , with whom MG Rover attempted to merge prior to administration. As of 2024, Mini , Jaguar Land Rover , Leyland Trucks , and Unipart are the most prominent former parts of British Leyland that still exist, with SAIC still operating its UK base out of the former Longbridge site. BLMC was founded on 17 January 1968 by
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4032-651: The Austin Metro (initially named the Mini Metro), a three-door hatchback that gave buyers a more modern and practical alternative to the iconic but ageing Mini. This went on to be one of the most popular cars in Britain in the 1980s. Towards the final stages of the Metro's development, BL entered into an alliance with Honda to provide a new mid-range model which would replace the ageing Triumph Dolomite , but would more crucially act as
4158-588: The Battle of Fallen Timbers . The fort throughout this period was described as a, "Defiant mixture of Indian warriors and lawless renegades of the frontier, such as the Girties. It was also the home of a heterogeneous population of English and French traders and their families, French 'engages", and Miami, Delaware and Shawnee tribes." In 1772, the British regained influence over the village after Sir William Johnson suggested to
4284-622: The British Motor Corporation , Pressed Steel and Jaguar) was perilously close to collapse. The government was hopeful LMC's expertise would revive the ailing BMH, and effectively create a "British General Motors ". The merger combined most of the remaining independent British car manufacturing companies and included car, bus and truck manufacturers and more diverse enterprises including: construction equipment, refrigerators, metal casting companies, road surface manufacturers; in all, nearly one hundred different companies. The new corporation
4410-577: The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception , Saint Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church and Trinity Episcopal Church . Fort Wayne's Reform Judaism population is served by Congregation Achduth Vesholom , the oldest Jewish congregation in Indiana, founded in 1848. In 2013, construction began on the first Burmese Muslim mosque to be built worldwide since the mid-1970s. As of December 2012, four national Christian denominations were headquartered in
4536-620: The Ewing Tavern , the village became an important frontier outpost and was incorporated as the Town of Fort Wayne in 1829, with a population of 300. The Wabash and Erie Canal 's opening improved travel conditions to the Great Lakes and Mississippi River , exposing Fort Wayne to expanded economic opportunities. The population topped 2,000 when the town was incorporated as the City of Fort Wayne on February 22, 1840. Pioneer newspaperman George W. Wood
4662-515: The Fort Wayne metropolitan area had a gross domestic product (GDP) of $ 25.7 billion. The top four industries were manufacturing ($ 8.1B), health care ($ 2.54B), retail trade ($ 1.4B), and finance and insurance ($ 1.3B) Government, if it had been a private industry, would have tied for third, generating $ 1.4 billion. British Leyland British Leyland was a British automotive engineering and manufacturing conglomerate formed in 1968 as British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd ( BLMC ), following
4788-492: The Land Rover Group . JRT later split up into Rover-Triumph and Jaguar Car Holdings (which included Daimler ). At the same time the public use of the "British Leyland" name ceased, being abbreviated simply to "BL", whilst the company's "hurricane" logo was redesigned with the central "L" removed. The Austin-Morris division was given its own unique brand identity with the introduction of the blue and green "chevron" logo, which
4914-667: The Masonic Temple (1926) and North Side High School (1927). Beaux-Arts , an architectural style closely related to Neoclassical, gained popularity during the City Beautiful movement of the 1890s and early 1900s, which is reflected in the Allen County Courthouse (1902). The Pennsylvania Railroad Station , also known as Baker Street Station (1914), was designed in American Craftsman style. At 312 feet (95 m),
5040-583: The Maumee , St. Joseph , and St. Marys rivers in the late stages of the Beaver Wars in the 1690s. It was the capital of the Miami nation and related Algonquian tribes. In 1696, Comte de Frontenac appointed Jean Baptiste Bissot, Sieur de Vincennes , who began visiting Kekionga in 1702, and would later build the original Fort Miami here in the wilderness and pays d'en Haut of New France around 1706; Initially,
5166-578: The Morris Minor which was introduced in 1948 and the Austin Cambridge and Morris Oxford , which dated back to 1959. Although BMH had enjoyed great success in the 1960s with both the Mini and the 1100/1300 , both cars were infamously underpriced and despite their pioneering but unproven front wheel drive engineering, warranty costs had been crippling and had badly eroded those models' profitability. After
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5292-651: The Ohio River into the area, leading to conflict with an alliance of native tribes known as the Western Confederacy . It was headquartered at Kekionga, where the Miami had permitted two refugee tribes dislodged by white homesteaders, the Delaware and the Shawnee, to resettle. The confederacy—which included other Great Lakes and Algonquin tribes as well—began sending war parties to raid settlers, hoping to drive them back across
5418-649: The Seven Years' War , known on the North American front as the French and Indian War . Managing to hold down the fort for only a mere couple of years, the British lost control of it in 1763 when various Native American nations rebelled against British rule and retook the fort as part of Pontiac's Rebellion . From this point forward in 1763, no active fort existed at Kekionga for the next three decades until American General Anthony Wayne established Fort Wayne in 1794, following
5544-598: The Simca 1307 (Chrysler Alpine) in 1975. The company also wasted many of its scant funds on concepts , like the Rover P8 or P9, that would never be produced to earn money for the company. These internal issues, which were never satisfactorily solved, combined with serious industrial relations problems with trade unions, the 1973 oil crisis , the three-day week , high inflation and ineffectual management meant that BL became an unmanageable and financially crippled behemoth. "Following
5670-728: The U.S. Army by Native Americans in history. This defeat left the US army crippled and borders open to attacks from the British and allied native tribes. General Anthony Wayne was recalled from civilian life to lead a third expedition, defeating the confederacy's warriors at the Battle of Fallen Timbers , near modern-day Toledo, Ohio on August 20, 1794. Wayne's men then marched up the Maumee River , systematically burning evacuated native towns, crops, and winter food stores, until they reached its headwaters, where Kekionga remained in ruins. Wayne then confronted
5796-532: The War of 1812 and its siege . It underwent tremendous growth after completion of the Wabash and Erie Canal and advent of the railroad. Once a booming manufacturing town located in what became known as the Rust Belt , Fort Wayne's economy in the 21st century is based upon distribution, transportation and logistics; healthcare, professional and business services; leisure and hospitality, and financial services. The city
5922-513: The humid continental climate zone ( Köppen : Dfa ), experiencing four distinct seasons. The city is located in USDA hardiness zones 5b and 6a. Typically, summers are hot, humid, and wet. Winters are generally cold with moderate snowfall. The average annual precipitation is 38.34 in (974 mm), recorded at Fort Wayne International Airport. During the winter season, snowfall accumulation averages 33.5 in (85 cm) per year. Lake-effect snow
6048-402: The last glacial period . The most distinguishable topographical feature is Cedar Creek Canyon , just north of the city proper near Huntertown . The Fort Wayne Moraine follows two of the city's three rivers: the St. Marys and St. Joseph . The two rivers converge to form the Maumee , which eventually empties into Lake Erie . Land east of the moraine includes the former Great Black Swamp ,
6174-564: The "LC8" project – eventually launched as the Austin Mini Metro in 1980. In 1977, Michael Edwardes was appointed chief executive by the NEB. Edwardes embarked on a massive restructuring of the beleaguered conglomerate, selling off many of its non-core businesses such as Prestcold and Coventry Climax. Edwardes also took on the militant unions head-on, culminating in the dismissal of chief shop steward Derek Robinson in 1979, who had been seen as
6300-603: The $ 130 million Harrison Square development was launched, creating Parkview Field . Suburban growth continued, with the opening of Fort Wayne's first lifestyle center , Jefferson Pointe , and the half-billion dollar Parkview Regional Medical Center in 2012. Fort Wayne is in the East North Central region of the Midwestern United States , in northeastern Indiana , 18 miles (29 km) west of Ohio and 50 miles (80 km) south of Michigan . According to
6426-700: The 1960s. According to the Fort Wayne Home Builders Association estimates, more than 80 percent of new home construction occurred outside the city proper in the 1970s. Like many cities in the Rust Belt , deindustrialization in the 1980s brought urban blight , increased crime, and a decrease in blue-collar manufacturing jobs. Downtown and surrounding neighborhoods continued declining as residents and businesses sprawled further into rural Allen County. A 1982 flood forced an evacuation of 9,000 residents, damaging 2,000 buildings, and costing $ 56.1 million (1982 USD, $ 137 million 2015 USD), prompting
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#17328588309856552-510: The 1970s, these units developed a reputation for providing powerful air conditioning systems on virtually all GM cars and trucks from the largest Cadillacs to the small Chevrolet Vega. GM also sold Frigidaire auto air conditioning compressors to British Leyland for Jaguar and to Rolls-Royce for Rolls-Royce and Bentley branded cars. A new cooktop manufacturing facility opened in the Frank C. Pidgeon Industrial park, southwest of Memphis . The facility
6678-517: The 2010 census, Fort Wayne has a total area of 110.834 square miles (287.06 km ), of which 110.62 square miles (286.50 km ) (or 99.81%) is land and 0.214 square miles (0.55 km ) (or 0.19%) is water. For a regional summit , the city is situated on flat land characterized by little topographical relief, a result of the Wisconsin glaciation episode . Receding glaciers eroded the land, depositing an evenly distributed layer of sediment during
6804-522: The Allegro. The company were aware of the issue but had decided against a recall. They were held liable for damages as they had failed to take reasonable care, because the costs of the recall were deemed in proportion with the potential risks of injury. In 1978, the company formed a new group for its commercial vehicle interests, BL Commercial Vehicles (BLCV) under managing director David Abell . The following companies moved under this new umbrella: BLCV and
6930-507: The American pioneer settlers who continued to develop the area as a transportation and communications center. Chief Little Turtle of the Miami Nation expressed its importance eloquently at the treaty of Greenville in 1795 when he called it "that glorious gate...through which all the words of our chiefs had to pass through from north to south and from east to west". Fort Wayne's urban tree canopy
7056-683: The Art Deco-style Lincoln Bank Tower was Fort Wayne's first high-rise and Indiana's tallest building from 1930 to 1962. The E. Ross Adair Federal Building and United States Courthouse (1932) is another example of Art Deco architecture. Williams–Woodland Park Historic District includes examples of Queen Anne and Colonial Revival residential homes, while the Forest Park Boulevard Historic District includes Tudor Revival homes. Modern and Postmodern architecture can be found in buildings constructed during
7182-433: The British at Fort Miami, where the British debated an attack. Later, Wayne selected the site for construction of Fort Wayne , he ordered a fort that could withstand heavy British artillery, especially a 24-pound cannon, along with attacks from their army or native allies. The following year, Wayne negotiated a peace accord, the Treaty of Greenville with tribal leaders, in which they agreed to stop fighting, end support of
7308-615: The British market. By the end of the 1970s, the UK Government had introduced protectionist measures in the form of import quotas on Japanese manufacturers to protect the ailing domestic producers (both BL and Chrysler Europe ), which it was helping to sustain. At its peak, BLMC owned almost forty manufacturing plants across the country. Even before the merger, BMH had included theoretically competing marques that were in fact selling substantially similar badge engineered cars. The British Motor Corporation had never properly integrated either
7434-407: The British, and ceded most of what is now Ohio along with certain tracts further west, including the area around Fort Wayne encompassing Kekionga and the land portage. Wayne promised the remainder would remain Indian lands, which is why the territory west of Ohio was named Indiana. Wayne would die one year later and a Spanish spy James Wilkinson would assume his role as General. In subsequent years,
7560-406: The Land Rover Group later merged to become Land Rover Leyland . In December 1978, British Leyland Limited was renamed BL Limited and its subsidiary, which acted as a holding company for all the other companies within the group. The British Leyland Motor Corporation Limited was renamed BLMC Limited at the same time. BL's fortunes took another much-awaited rise in October 1980 with the launch of
7686-437: The Mini and the 1100/1300 was concentrated at Longbridge , whilst the 1800 and Austin Maxi ranges moved to Cowley , the production of sub-assemblies as well as component suppliers were scattered all over the Midlands which greatly increased the cost of keeping the factories running. BMH and Leyland Motors had expanded and acquired companies throughout the 1950s and 1960s which were in direct competition with each other, with
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#17328588309857812-442: The Morris Ital and the Triumph Acclaim being discontinued, their respective brands were effectively shelved, leaving only the Austin and Rover marques, whilst Land Rover moved into the Freight Rover Group alongside the light trucks division. After the divestment of Unipart and the van, truck and bus divisions in 1987 (see below), leaving just two subsidiaries – Austin Rover (volume cars) and Land Rover (SUVs) this essentially remained
7938-399: The Rover Group, and only retain the Cowley operations and the rights to manufacture the new MINI family of vehicles. Land Rover was divested to Ford , who integrated it with its Premier Automotive Group (of which Jaguar was already a part, therefore reuniting the two former BL stablemates), whilst the remains of the volume car business, including the massive Longbridge complex, became
8064-399: The Three Rivers system, which eventually flows to the Atlantic, and the Wabash system, which eventually flows to the Gulf of Mexico. This came to be the "portage" or carrying place, over which travelers could transport their cargoes from one system to the next. This natural crossroads attracted the Native Americans for thousands of years. It later attracted the European explorers and traders and
8190-400: The UK and as DAF in the Netherlands. In 1987, the bus business was spun off into a new company called Leyland Bus . This was the result of a management buyout who decided to sell the company to the Bus & Truck division of Volvo in 1988. That same year, the UK Government controversially tried to privatise and sell-off Land Rover , however this plan was later abandoned. The Austin name
8316-406: The United States. It is the principal city of the Fort Wayne metropolitan area , consisting of Allen and Whitley counties which had an estimated population of 423,038 as of 2021. Fort Wayne is the cultural and economic center of northeastern Indiana. Fort Wayne was built in 1794 by the United States Army under the direction of American Revolutionary War general Anthony Wayne , the last in
8442-494: The agitator pulsated up and down, a unique departure from the traditional oscillating type. The Frigidaire washers were commonly named for their mechanisms, which underwent frequent changes over the years. The Unimatic was in production the longest, for any single Frigidaire mechanism, from 1947 to 1958 for home automatic washers and through 1963 for coin-operated commercial washers for self-service laundromats. The Pulsamatic mechanism, unique in that it pulsated 630 times per minute,
8568-460: The basic structure of BL and subsequently the Rover Group until the 2000 break-up. In 1986, Graham Day took the helm as chairman and CEO and the third joint Rover-Honda vehicle – the Rover 800 -series – was launched which replaced the ten-year-old Rover SD1 . Around the same time, BL changed its name to Rover Group and in 1987 the Trucks Division – Leyland Vehicles merged with the Dutch DAF company to form DAF NV , trading as Leyland DAF in
8694-532: The best-selling Mini , BLMC had a troubled history, leading to its eventual collapse in 1975 and subsequent part-nationalisation. After much restructuring and divestment of subsidiary companies, BL was renamed the Rover Group in 1986, becoming a subsidiary of British Aerospace from 1988 to 1994, then was subsequently bought by BMW . The final surviving incarnation of the company as the MG Rover Group went into administration in 2005, bringing mass car production by British-owned manufacturers to an end. MG and
8820-456: The city during the early 1950s, of which resulted in the demolition of several prominent and historical buildings and homes around the downtown area. This included several hotels, such as the historic thirteen-floor Hotel Anthony. Most of which, were demolished for surface-level parking lots . One example was the Ewing Homestead, built by William Ewing in 1838, it once stood at the northwest corner of Berry Street: This three-story brick mansion
8946-410: The city include Queen Anne , Richardsonian Romanesque , Neoclassical , Colonial Revival , Dutch Colonial Revival , Tudor Revival , Prairie , American Craftsman , American Foursquare , and Art Deco . Richardsonian Romanesque buildings include Fort Wayne City Hall (1893) and John H. Bass Mansion (1902), each designed by Wing & Mahurin . Notable examples of Neoclassical architecture include
9072-493: The city was 48.4% male and 51.6% female. Fort Wayne has one of the largest Burmese American population in the U.S., estimated at 8,000. Burmese refugee settlement and "secondary migrants" doubled the city's Asian population between 2000 and 2010. Fort Wayne is sometimes referred to as the "City of Churches", an unofficial moniker dating to the late-19th century when the city was the regional hub of Catholic , Lutheran , and Episcopal faiths. Today, there are 360 churches in
9198-682: The city's first skyscraper and Indiana's tallest building at the time, the Lincoln Bank Tower . By 1935, the New Deal 's WPA put over 7,000 residents back to work through local infrastructure improvements, including the construction of new parks, bridges, viaducts, and a $ 5.2 million sewage treatment facility. The post-World War II economic boom helped the city prosper once again. Between 1950 and 1955, more than 5,000 homes were built, many in large subdivisions in rural Allen County. In 1950, Fort Wayne's first bypass , Coliseum Boulevard , opened on
9324-501: The city, with one being the Richardville House (1827), a National Historic Landmark . Gothic and Gothic Revival architecture can be found in some of the city's most prominent churches, including Trinity English Lutheran Church (1846), Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception (1860), Trinity Episcopal Church (1865), and Saint Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church (1889). Popular early 20th century architectural styles found in
9450-426: The city. 54 percent of Fort Wayne residents identify as religious, where 16 percent are Catholic, 9 percent are Lutheran, 6.5 percent are Baptist , 5 percent are Methodist , and 16.5 percent adhere to other Christian faiths. 0.14 percent of residents are Jewish . Increasing religious minorities are found among the city's immigrant communities, including Buddhism , Hinduism , and Islam . Major churches include
9576-948: The city: the American Association of Lutheran Churches , the Fundamental Baptist Fellowship Association , the Missionary Church and the Fellowship of Evangelical Churches . Fort Wayne is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fort Wayne–South Bend , covering 14 counties in Northern Indiana , and the Indiana District of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod , encompassing all of Indiana and north central Kentucky . In 2017,
9702-449: The dealer networks or the production facilities of Austin and Morris . This had been done partly to appease poor industrial relations, as decades old rivalries between Austin and Morris workers at Longbridge and Cowley respectively, had persisted after the 1952 merger and creation of BMC. The upshot was that both plants were producing badge engineered models of otherwise identical Austin and Morris cars so that each dealer network would have
9828-513: The design of the incrementing timer used on clothes washers and dishwashers for years to come, designed the Frigidaire automatic washer with the Unimatic mechanism in the late 1930s. Production of the first Frigidaire automatic clothes washers was halted due to World War II and therefore the machine was not formally introduced until 1947. The washing action of a Frigidaire automatic was unique in that
9954-588: The development of the Morris Marina and the Austin Allegro . The policy's success was mixed. Since the dealership network was still not sufficiently rationalised it meant that Austin and Morris dealers (which had, in BMC/BMH days, each offered a full range of cars both advanced and traditional) had their product range halved and found that they could no longer cater to many previously loyal customers' tastes. The policy
10080-457: The early-to-mid-1900s, that many Americans called any refrigerator a Frigidaire regardless of brand. In France, Canada, and some other French-speaking countries or areas, the word Frigidaire is often in use as a synonym today, and in transcribed form in Serbo-Croatian also ("frižider", "фрижидер"). Although the alliterative names Frigidaire or its antecedent Frigerator suggest an origin of
10206-564: The end of 1976 with the approval by Industry Minister Eric Varley of a £140,000,000 investment of public money in refitting the Longbridge plant for production of the company's "ADO88" (Mini replacement), due for launch in 1979. However, poor results from customer clinics of the ADO88, coupled with the UK success of the Ford Fiesta , launched in 1976, forced a snap redesign of ADO88 which evolved into
10332-549: The government that the fort be reoccupied. The mixed population of the Kekionga area had moved past antipathy with the British by this point, and accepted their friendship. In 1776, Officer Jacques LaSalle moved into the village to conduct strict supervision on behalf of the British government, ensuring that the natives remained loyal to the British, and to check passports with travelers coming down from Fort Detroit . The British continued to monitor Kekionga and Fort Miami throughout
10458-470: The government used Fort Wayne to hand out annual payments under the treaty. But in a recurring cycle, the tribes ran up debts to white traders who came there to sell them alcohol and manufactured goods, and the government pushed tribal leaders—including through bribes—to sell more reservation land to pay off those debts and, when the land was gone, then to agree to have the tribe removed to the Far West. In 1802,
10584-705: The industrial turmoil that plagued the United Kingdom during the 1970s. Action by unions frequently brought BL's manufacturing capability to its knees. Despite the duplication of production facilities as a result of the merger, there were multiple single points of failure in the company's production network which meant that a strike in a single plant could stop many of the others. Domestic rivals Ford and General Motors mitigated against this by merging their previously separate British and German subsidiaries and product lines (Ford combined Ford of Britain and Ford Germany to create Ford of Europe , whilst GM eventually merged
10710-496: The market. The lack of attention to the development of new mass-market models meant that BMH had nothing in the way of new models in the pipeline to compete effectively with popular rivals such as Ford's Escort and Cortina . Immediately, Lord Stokes instigated plans to design and introduce new models quickly. The first result of this crash programme was the Morris Marina in early-1971. It used parts from various BL models with new bodywork to produce BL's mass-market competitor. It
10836-483: The merger of British Motor Holdings (BMH) and Leyland Motor Corporation (LMC), encouraged by Tony Benn as chairman of the Industrial Reorganisation Committee created by the first Wilson Government . At the time, LMC was a highly successful truck and bus manufacturer – as well as owning prosperous car brands Triumph and Rover – whilst BMH (which was the product of an earlier merger between
10962-553: The merger of Leyland Motors and British Motor Holdings . It was partly nationalised in 1975, when the UK government created a holding company called British Leyland, later renamed BL in 1978. It incorporated much of the British-owned motor vehicle industry, which in 1968 had a 40% share of the UK car market, with its history going back to 1895. Despite containing profitable marques such as Jaguar , Rover , and Land Rover , as well as
11088-470: The merger, Lord Stokes was horrified to find that BMH had no plans to replace the elderly designs in its portfolio. Also, BMH's design efforts immediately prior to the merger had focused on unfortunate niche market models such as the Austin Maxi (which was underdeveloped and with an appearance hampered by using the doors from the larger Austin 1800 ) and the Austin 3-litre , a car with no discernible place in
11214-481: The new eighteen-pound capacity 1-18, which kept the same basic mechanism but differed in that it was belt-driven off of the motor and added a recirculating pump. Besides the unique action, another notable feature of these older washers was the final, high-speed spin cycle (nicknamed "Rapidry"), 1140 revolutions per minute in the Unimatic, 850 in the Multimatic, and 1010 in the high-end Rollermatic models. When Frigidaire
11340-607: The new models that had been introduced by BLMC failed to sell in high enough quantities outside of the home market, despite the UK now being a part of the European Economic Community – with the Allegro and Princess, in particular, having been tailored for European tastes. However, both these vehicles were saloons when the trend in Europe was moving towards family-sized hatchbacks, typified by the Volkswagen Golf in 1974 and
11466-455: The newly independent MG Rover , which collapsed in 2005. However, after suffering severe financial problems and teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, Ford decided to dissolve its Premier Automotive Group, and sold off most of its brands, with Jaguar and Land Rover being sold to the Indian automaker Tata Motors by the end of 2008. Ultimately only MINI, Jaguar Land Rover and Leyland Trucks would be
11592-452: The north side of the city, followed by the city's first arena, War Memorial Coliseum , bringing new opportunities for suburban expansion. The Coliseum was home to the NBA 's Fort Wayne Pistons from 1952 to 1957. The opening of enclosed shopping malls and the construction of Interstate 69 through rural areas north and west of the city proper further drove the exodus of retail from downtown through
11718-496: The opening of the city's first airport, Smith Field . The airport served as Fort Wayne's primary commercial airfield until Baer Field (now Fort Wayne International Airport ) was transferred to the city in 1947 after serving as a military base during World War II. Fort Wayne was hit by the Great Depression beginning in 1929, with most factories cutting their workforce. The stock market crash did not discourage plans to build
11844-566: The operations of Vauxhall and Opel ), so that production could be sourced from either British or Continental European plants in the event of industrial unrest. The upshot was that both Ford and Vauxhall ultimately overtook BL to become Britain's two best-selling marques. At the same time, a tide of Japanese imports, spearheaded by Nissan (Datsun) and Toyota exploited both BL's inability to supply its customers and its declining reputation for quality. Continental carmakers including Fiat , Renault and Volkswagen were also achieving strong sales on
11970-563: The organisation was drastically restructured and the Labour Government created a new holding company, British Leyland Limited (BL), of which it was the major shareholder, effectively nationalising the company. Between 1975 and 1980, these shares were vested in the National Enterprise Board which had responsibility for managing this investment. The original seven divisions of the company were now reorganised into four: There
12096-541: The original plan was implemented by 1955. In 2010, the Fort Wayne Park and Boulevard System was listed on the National Register of Historic Places , consisting of 11 public parks, four parkways, and ten boulevards, covering 1,883 acres (762 ha). During the 19th century, Fort Wayne was dominated by Greek Revival , Gothic Revival , and Italianate architecture . Examples of Greek Revival architecture remain in
12222-651: The perpetrator of much of the strikes and industrial unrest that had crippled the company throughout the decade. Edwardes quickly reversed the Ryder Report's policy of giving prominence to the "Leyland" brand, and returned focus back to the individual brands. Leyland Cars was thus renamed BL Cars Ltd , consisting of two main divisions; Austin Morris (the volume car business) and Jaguar Rover Triumph (JRT) (the specialist or upmarket division). Austin Morris included MG. Land Rover and Range Rover were later separated from JRT to form
12348-546: The phrase "Product of General Motors", and later renamed to "Home Environment Division of General Motors". Frigidaire was sold to the White Consolidated Industries in 1979, which in 1986 was purchased by Electrolux , its current parent. The company claims firsts including: During the years that Frigidaire was owned by General Motors, it was very competitive in the automatic clothes-washing-machine business. Frigidaire engineer Kenneth Sisson, also credited with
12474-735: The policy of having multiple models competing in the same market segment continued long after the merger – for instance BMH's MGB remained in production alongside LMC's Triumph TR6 , the Rover P5 competed with the Jaguar XJ , whilst in the medium family sector, the Princess was in direct competition with upscale versions of the Morris Marina and Austin Maxi , meaning that economies of scale resulting from large production runs could never be realised. In addition, in consequent attempts to establish British Leyland as
12600-496: The population are Hispanic or Latino of any race. Among the Hispanic population, 6.1% are Mexican , 0.4% Puerto Rican , and 0.3% Guatemalan . Non-Hispanic Whites were 70.3% of the population in 2010, down from 87.7% in 1970. There were 101,585 households, of which 30.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.3% were married couples living together, 14.8% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.9% had
12726-510: The premier community gathering space and centerpiece in the city's $ 50 million flood control project. Fort Wayne celebrated its bicentennial in 1994. The city continued to concentrate on downtown redevelopment and investment in the 2000s. The decade saw the beginnings of its transformation, with renovations and expansions of the Allen County Public Library , Grand Wayne Convention Center , and Fort Wayne Museum of Art . In 2007,
12852-472: The primary objective being to slow American expansion into the Great Lakes region . The young United States formally organized the region in the Land Ordinance of 1785 and negotiated treaties allowing settlement, but the Western Confederacy of Native American nations were not party to these treaties and did not cede their ownership of those lands. American land speculators and pioneers began flooding down
12978-552: The result that when the two conglomerates were brought together into BL there was even more internal competition. Rover competed with Jaguar at the expensive end of the market, and Triumph with its family cars and sports cars against Austin, Morris and MG. Internal politics became so bad that one marque's team would attempt to derail another marque's programmes. Individual model lines that were similarly sized were therefore competing against each other, yet were never discontinued nor were model ranges rationalised quickly enough; in fact,
13104-403: The second half of the 20th century in Fort Wayne. The John D. Haynes House (1952) was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright , while the campus of Concordia Theological Seminary (1953) was designed by Eero Saarinen . Postmodern architect Michael Graves ' first commissions were built in the city, including Hanselmann House (1967) and Snyderman House (1972, now demolished). Louis Kahn 's design for
13230-408: The southwest and southeast, while the St. Joseph River divides the northwest and northeast quadrants. The Maumee River separates the northeast and southeast, while portions of the St. Marys River and Chicago, Fort Wayne and Eastern Railroad separate the northwest and southwest quadrants. Fort Wayne's early 20th century development was influenced by the City Beautiful movement and centered on
13356-523: The surviving automotive manufacturing operations of British Leyland to the present day. Many of the brands were divested over time and continue to exist on the books of several companies to this day. In total, the British Government had invested over £3 billion (not adjusted for inflation) attempting to rescue British Leyland from bankruptcy. Until the 1980s, the Leyland name and logo were seen as
13482-481: The technical know-how and the rights to their Leyland 28 BHP tractor for Auto Tractors Limited , a tractor plant in Pratapgarh, Uttar Pradesh. Established in 1981 with state support, ATL only managed to build 2,380 tractors by the time the project was ended in 1990 – less than the planned production for the first two years. The project ended up being taken over by Sipani , who kept producing tractor engines and also
13608-962: The technology and machinery to simulate a stove's lifetime usage and performance expectations and can test more than 300 products at one time. Electrolux/Frigidaire also operates a manufacturing facility for free standing gas and electric ranges in Springfield, Tennessee. The Springfield facility currently employs about 2,900 people. It also has operated a large manufacturing facility in Northern Mexico since 2005. As of 2022, air conditioning units are manufactured in China. The Consumer Product Safety Commission, alerted by users on social media platforms like Twitter/X, Instagram, Facebook, and others, discovered quality issues with Frigidaire products and issued two recalls in 2024 alone. Frigidaire has had several recent recalls: Fort Wayne, Indiana Fort Wayne
13734-404: The turn of the 20th century, the population of Fort Wayne nearly reached 50,000, attributed to a large influx of German and Irish immigrants . Fort Wayne's "urban working class" thrived in industrial and railroad-related jobs. The city's economy was substantially based on manufacturing, ushering in an era of innovation with several notable inventions and developments coming out of the city over
13860-401: The whereabouts of Harmar though the aid of various agents such as Simon Girty , would quickly drive Harmar and the US troops away. The confederacy warriors attacked the second invading force, led in 1791 by General Arthur St. Clair , before it could get that far and wiped it out, in a massacre known as St. Clair's Defeat at modern-day Fort Recovery, Ohio . It's known as the greatest defeat of
13986-484: The widely used English word fridge , it is simply a contraction of refrigerator, a word in use since 1611. From 1919 to 1979, the company was owned by General Motors. During that period, it was first a subsidiary of Delco-Light and was later an independent division based in Dayton, Ohio . The division also manufactured air conditioning compressors for GM cars. While the company was owned by General Motors, its logo featured
14112-459: The years, such as gasoline pumps (1885), the refrigerator (1913), and in 1972, the first home video game console . The Great Flood of 1913 caused seven deaths, left 15,000 homeless, and damaged over 5,500 buildings in the worst natural disaster in the city's history. As the automobile's prevalence grew, Fort Wayne became a fixture on the Lincoln Highway . Aviation arrived in 1919 with
14238-508: Was 4.93 in (125 mm) on August 1, 1926. The snowiest month on record was January 2014, with 30.3 in (77 cm) of snowfall. The greatest calendar-day snowfall was 18.0 in (46 cm) on February 28, 1900. Severe weather is not uncommon in Fort Wayne, particularly in the spring and summer months; the city experiences an average of 39 thunderstorm days and about 10 severe weather days annually. The city has endured several tornadoes throughout its history. On July 19, 1950,
14364-837: Was acquired by White Consolidated Industries in 1979, it abandoned the General Motors design in favor of the Westinghouse-produced top-loading design, as White-Westinghouse was already among its house brands by this time. Frigidaire also produces a wide variety of refrigerators and freezers for the consumer market. Their model line-up includes refrigerator freezer units of several different types. The selection they offer includes traditional Top Freezer models, as well as more modern Side-By-Side and French Door styles. In 2016, Frigidaire partnered with Ryder and Embark, an autonomous trucking firm, to deliver refrigerators from Texas to California. Level 2 autonomous trucks are used. They have
14490-479: Was also carried out haphazardly: The advanced, Hydragas -sprung Princess began life in 1975 sold as an Austin, a Morris and a Wolseley before being rebadged altogether under the new Princess name. The Princess (and the Mini , which BL also turned into a marque in its own right) was sold across the Austin-Morris dealership network, making any distinction between the two even more vague to many customers. Critically,
14616-426: Was arranged into seven divisions under its new chairman, Sir Donald Stokes (formerly the chairman of LMC). At the time of its founding, BLMC was the world's fifth largest vehicle manufacturer after General Motors , Ford , Chrysler and Volkswagen . The seven divisions were: While BMH was the UK's largest car manufacturer (producing over twice as many cars as LMC), it offered a range of dated vehicles, including
14742-478: Was dropped from the Metro, Maestro and Montego by 1988, signalling the end for the historic Austin marque, in a push to focus on the more prestigious (and potentially more profitable) Rover badge. In 1988, the business was sold by the UK Government to British Aerospace (BAe), and shortly afterwards shortened its name to just Rover Group. It subsequently sold the business to BMW , who, after years of investment that ultimately resulted in huge losses, decided to break up
14868-457: Was elected the city's first mayor. Fort Wayne's "Summit City" nickname dates from this period, referring to the city's position at the highest elevation along the canal's route. As influential as the canal was to the city's earliest development, it quickly became obsolete after briefly competing with the city's first railroad, the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway , completed in 1854. At
14994-473: Was introduced in 1955 for the lower-end models. This became the foundation for the Multimatic, introduced for the 1959 model year. The Multimatic lasted through 1964, as the Rollermatic was brought out for the 1965 lineup. The Rollermatic was unique in that instead of using an oil-filled gearcase, metal and urethane rollers transferred the power within the mechanism. This underwent a slight revision in 1970 for
15120-463: Was later expanded in use when the car manufacturing operations were further consolidated into the Austin Rover Group in the 1980s. In 1978, the company was the subject of an important legal development concerning corporate civil liability . In the case of Walton v British Leyland , the court held Leyland liable for negligence owing to a design defect in the wheel bearings of their new model of
15246-645: Was led by Ray Horrocks ) and the Commercial Vehicle Division (which consisted of Land Rover, Leyland Trucks, Leyland Buses and Freight Rover ) – whose chief executive was David Andrews. The holding company BL plc was now chaired by Austin Bide in a non-executive capacity. Around this time, the BL Cars Ltd division renamed itself Austin Rover , shortly before the launch of the Austin Maestro and Ray Horrocks
15372-441: Was one of the finest examples of Greek Revival architecture in Fort Wayne until it was destroyed in 1970 to make way for a parking lot. Since at least the early 20th century, Fort Wayne has maintained a combined sewage overflow program, which has resulted in the city routinely discharging untreated human waste, raw sewage from businesses and homes, toxic waste from industrial sites, and agricultural runoff into all three rivers in
15498-453: Was one of the strongest-selling cars in the United Kingdom during the 1970s; being the second-most popular new car sold in Britain in 1973, though by the end of production in 1980 it was widely regarded as a dismal product that had damaged the company's reputation. The Austin Allegro (replacement for the 1100/1300 ranges), launched in 1973, gained a similar reputation over its ten-year production life. The company became an infamous monument to
15624-509: Was positive news for BL at the end of 1976 when its new Rover SD1 executive car was voted European Car of the Year , having gained plaudits for its innovative design. The SD1 was actually the first step that British Leyland took towards rationalising its passenger car ranges, as it replaced two cars competing in the same sector, the Rover P6 and Triumph 2000 . More positive news for the company came at
15750-480: Was replaced by Harold Musgrove as its chairman and chief executive. The emergence of the Austin Rover brand effectively put an end to the separate Austin-Morris and Jaguar-Rover-Triumph divisions, since by this time, Jaguar now resided in a separate company called Jaguar Car Holdings and was now led by Sir John Egan , and this was later de-merged from BL completely and privatised in 1984. That same year, with both
15876-638: Was still producing three cars in the large family car sector—the Princess 2 , Austin Maxi and Morris Marina . The Marina was succeeded by the Morris Ital in July 1980 following a superficial facelift, and a year later the Princess 2 received a major upgrade to become the Austin Ambassador , meaning that the 1982 range had just two competitors in this sector. In April 1984, these cars were discontinued to make way for
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