East Chicago Enterprise Center (East Chicago, Indiana)

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In 1909, JW Hubbard and Albert Pack of Pittsburg bought the Davidson Foundry, reorganized and enlarged it and installed an open hearth steel furnace and constructed additional buildings. Renamed Hubbard Steel Foundry the company prospered and a second steel furnace opened in 1915 and an additional foundry was completed in 1918 to produce tractor and war armaments. After the War the company was acquired by Continental Foundry and Machine.

Continental Foundry & Machine Company aafter experiencing financial difficulties sold the plant and two others to Blaw-Knox Foundry & Mill Machinery Company in 1955. Blaw-Knox made some of the largest steel castings in the United States. Traditionally one of the country's few builders of steel mills, the plant also made vital parts for ships, pipelines, railcars and mining equipment. With over 200 machinists in the 1970s, it was one of the largest machine shops in the Midwest. Blaw-Knox was bought in 1968 by White Consolidated Industries, a diversified machinery and appliance conglomerate based in Cleveland.

Through the 1970s and early 1980s, White diverted much of the profit from Blaw-Knox and other machinery subsidiaries into its high-growth home appliances division. As the demand for steel mills declined, White put all its East Chicago eggs in the Pentagon's basket by tooling up to supply General Dynamics with the armor hulls and turrets for the M-60 military tank. Despite the fact that the Pentagon committed the Army to the new M-l tank in 1976 and began taking delivery of the new model in 1980, White kept the East Chicago plant producing the M-60, relying on foreign orders.

In the Spring of 1984 White Consolidated announced a new corporate strategy, setting a hurdle rate for profits which none of its heavy machinery divisions could hope to meet. including Blaw-Knox which was put up for sale. The foundry closed in 1986. In 2015 Hoist Liftruck renovated the 550,000 sq. ft building at 4407 Railroad Avenue and opened up a plant to manufacture lift trucks.

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