Baldwin Locomotive Works Contractor's PostCard

From www.railphotoexpress.biz Baldwin Locomotive Works Contractor's Locomotives 1903 Jacob Shannon & Company was headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.They were in business for fifty years; at that time, their line of derricks was being distributed by Mundy Sales Corporation, and Shannon itself was a dealer for various equipment lines including Baldwin Locomotive Works Contractor's Locomotives The Baldwin Locomotive Works was the largest and most successful locomotive building firm in the world. It was begun as a machine shop owned and operated by Matthias W. Baldwin in 1831. Baldwin turned out its first locomotive engine from its shop in Philadelphia in 1832; within a few years the company was producing two a month and employed 240 men. By 1852, 500 engines had been produced; by 1861, 1,000; and by 1868, 2,000. At that point, the company employed between 1,600-1,700 men, and was one of the very largest machine works in the nation. In 1906 Baldwin began construction of a large auxiliary plant in the Philadelphia suburb of Eddystone. In 1928 the Broad Street plant was closed and all work transferred to the Eddystone Plant.