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Faculty Mentor
Dr. Randi Storch
Abstract
My essay discusses the end of Brockway Motor Company in Cortland, New York in 1977 and the events that lead to the shutdown of one of America's most dependable and iconic brands of heavy duty trucks. The death of Brockway Trucks represented not only a tremendous loss for the Cortland community, but also trends throughout the United States of consolidation and deindustrialization in American industry in the 1970s. Through an examination of local newspapers and employee accounts of labor disputes and conflict with Brockway's parent company, Mack, this essay explains how the company that produced "the most rugged truck in the world" so quickly disappeared and left an entire community feeling slighted and uncertain of its future.
Publication Date
5-2020
Document Type
Article
Keywords
Cortland NY, deindustrialization, manufacturing, Brockway Truck Company, Transformations, History
Disciplines
History | United States History