From worn baseball uniforms to vintage waffle makers, the new exhibit at the Sunnyvale Heritage Park Museum tells a tale of three companies that changed the history of the city.
The exhibit, which opened June 18, details the history of Hendy Iron Works, Westinghouse and Northrop Grumman in Sunnyvale.
Included in the exhibit are photos of factory workers, Westinghouse artifacts and models of products crafted by the companies.
Heritage Park Museum executive board member Janice Havey said that director Laura Babcock was the mastermind behind the exhibit.
“Laura, our director, came up with the idea,” she said. “We had about half of this stuff in our archives; we had a lot of Hendy and Westinghouse items. Then Laura contacted Northrup Grummond, and they brought things over and information on Hendy.”
Hendy Iron Works came to Sunnyvale after the 1906 earthquake. According to the museum exhibit, “Hendy Iron Works was the first heavy industry in Sunnyvale and Santa Clara Valley’s largest manufacturing concern at the time.”
Leslie Lawton, president of the Heritage Park Museum executive board, said that Hendy was just the beginning of innovation in the area.
“I always say, when I give tours, that we had a Silicon Valley before Silicon Valley because there was so much going on in this community with Hendy, etc.,” she said.
One of the iron company’s greatest contributions, according to Havey, was its participation in World War II efforts.
“The most significant thing that we think of is during the second World War, they made parts for Liberty Ships–huge turbine engines,” she said. “They worked seven days a week, 24 hours a day, making parts for Liberty Ships. It was a very important part of the war efforts.”
More than 900 employees worked on the engines for the liberty ships, and Hendy delivered more than 750 engines, according to the exhibit.
In the late 1940s, Hendy was sold to Westinghouse, and the focus of production shifted.
During its almost 50 years in Sunnyvale, the company produced large fixtures for submarines, rockets and missiles, among other large-scale projects.
Westinghouse was also known for producing smaller household items like washing machines, cooling fans and waffle makers, some of which the museum has on display.
In 1996, Westinghouse sold the facility located at 401 E. Hendy Ave. to Northrop Grumman. The company remains at the site to this day.
The original Spanish-style building that originally housed Hendy Iron Works still remains at the site and has been turned into a museum.
Lawton said the companies featured in the exhibit are a major part of the city’s history.
“We in Sunnyvale have such a rich history that it’s obviously, to me, worth sharing. These are things that you don’t often see,” she said, adding that the museum “is not only for people who have been here a long time. It’s for people who haven’t been here a long time who may not know about this history.”
The museum is holding a reception for the exhibit on July 12 from 1 to 3:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
The exhibit will run until October when a new exhibit, titled “History of Lighting,” will move in.
“We encourage people to bring their kids. It’s appealing to people of all ages,” Lawton said. “One of the things that we hear here all the time is, ‘Gosh, I didn’t even know this was here.'”
Visit heritageparkmuseum.org.
