River Works, formerly known as Air Force Plant 29, is a plant of

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...

's aviation division located in

Lynn, Massachusetts Lynn is the eighth-largest List of municipalities in Massachusetts, municipality in Massachusetts, United States, and the largest city in Essex County, Massachusetts, Essex County. Situated on the Atlantic Ocean, north of the Boston city line ...

. It is serviced by the River Works station on the MBTA's Newburyport/Rockport Line. It was purchased by General Electric in 1983 from the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

History

Lead Trident propulsion turbines completing final assembly at the General Electric West Lynn plant

The

Thomson-Houston Electric Company The Thomson-Houston Electric Company was a manufacturing company that was one of the precursors of General Electric. History The company began as the American Electric Company, founded by Elihu Thomson and Edwin Houston. In 1882, Charles Al ...

moved its operations to a new factory building on Western Avenue in West Lynn in 1883. By 1892, it had expanded into a sprawling factory complex between Western Avenue and the

Boston and Maine Railroad The Boston and Maine Railroad was a United States, U.S. Class I railroad in northern New England. It was chartered in 1835, and became part of what was the Pan Am Railways network in 1983 (most of which was purchased by CSX in 2022). At the e ...

Eastern Route tracks. That year, the company merged with Edison General Electric to become

(GE). By 1894, the Lynn plant was known as the "river works" after its position along the Saugus River. The factory was expanded in 1943 as a supercharger facility (Air Force Plant No. 29), and helped to build the first jet engine during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Activities performed at the plant originally included aircraft engine testing, disassembly, lubricating, cleaning and assembly. Operations included, degreasing, electrochemical grinding, engine maintenance, metal washing, parts cleaning and stress fracture testing. The workers at the facility were known for leftist politics, joining the new United Electric Workers union in 1936. They were targeted by state and federal governments during the Second Red Scare; in 1954, Joseph McCarthy subpoenaed five employees. From 1968 to 1972, the 'Pilot Program' was introduced. Faced with rising tensions on the shop floor, bottle-necks in production and low-quality products, GE management tried a scheme of

workers' control Workers' control is participation in the management of factories and other commercial enterprises by the people who work there. It has been variously advocated by anarchists, socialists, communists, social democrats, distributists and Christi ...

of production in one area of the plant. Immediate results in increased output and machine utilisation, and a reduction on manufacturing losses but was eventually terminated by the management. The plant had operations boosted in the late 1980s after

decided to close the General Electric Everett Plant and move operations there.

References

{{MAMilitary Plants of the United States Air Force Lynn, Massachusetts General Electric