After 121 years of operation, Chattanooga’s oldest family-owned foundry plans to cease operations by the end of September, leaving a handful of foundries in a region that once had more than 50 metal castings and foundry operations employing thousands of local workers.
Eureka Foundry Co., which has operated continuously near downtown Chattanooga since 1902, gave its 41 remaining employees notice Wednesday of the plant shutdown. Fred Hetzler Jr., the fourth-generation president of the family-owned company, said he and his brothers were unable to find a buyer for the business, and maintaining the aging factory at 1601 Carter St. is proving increasingly challenging.
“We had hoped to find a buyer and we had a couple that were interested last year, but for various reasons, they decided not to buy,” Hetzler said in a telephone interview. “Both of my brothers and I are getting up in years, and we ultimately felt that the only option left was to close the foundry down.”
Staff Photo by Dave Flessner / The gates will close for the last time for the Eureka Foundry in September.Eureka submitted the required 60-day notice of the business shutdown Wednesday under the requirements of the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, which triggers a number of state and local efforts to help displaced workers find other jobs or qualify for retirement or jobless benefits.
Foundry shutdowns
— Wheland Foundry, once the largest independent automotive foundry in the nation, whose parent company once employed more than 2,000 employees, closed its plant on the Southside in 2003 after operating for 129 years.