Factories Fueled Growth of Valley By JASON SCHAFF Staff Reporter Manufacturing, especially in the post-World War II years, may have single-handedly fueled the rapid growth of the San Fernando Valley and its surrounding communities. The factories, both large and small that have dotted the Valley’s landscape over the years, have provided well-paying jobs that provided the main fuel for the strong economic engine that was created here in less than a century. Even though the Valley began mainly as an agricultural and ranching area, a variety of manufacturing industries began to spring up in the late 1880s before the “manufacturing” of films became the Valley’s first big manufacturing industry sector. The area’s first filmmakers came here soon after the turn of the 20th century drawn by its “western”-looking terrain and its sunny climate. Aerospace eventually became an even bigger industry than movies attracting thousands of workers to the Valley and truly establishing the area as a distinct section of the city of Los Angeles where people came to live and to work. As the importance of aerospace waned toward the end of the century, the Valley’s manufacturing economy became more of a mixture of several different types of industries actually making for a healthier industrial base as it did not rely on one single industry. Here is a timeline with some highlights of the Valley’s manufacturing history: 1882: The railroad stimulated the manufacturing industry in the Valley more than a century ago. The Andrew Jergens Co. sets up a soap factory located at Verdugo Avenue and the Southern Pacific Railroad tracks in Burbank. The hard water of the western states had created a demand for soaps and lotions. Jergens started its business with a single product, coconut oil soap. 1887: The Burbank Furniture Manufacturing Co. is established at the Verdugo railroad crossing. Burbank would later become the Valley’s manufacturing hub for several years. 1912: Universal, the first established studio in the Valley, opens on the Oak Crest Ranch near the Cahuenga Pass. 1915: The Valley, where only 3,000 residents live, is annexed to the city of Los Angeles. 1916: Adohr Farms dairy is established. A milk bottling facility is opened in Reseda. In the 1930s, child star Shirley Temple does a series of promotional photographs for the farm. 1920: Morgan Pipe Organ Factory is churning out musical instruments at Van Nuys Boulevard and Oxnard Street in Van Nuys. Meanwhile, over in Burbank, Moreland Motor Truck Co. is humming along. 1926: First National Studios, later to become Warner Bros., moves onto farmland in Burbank. 1928: Metropolitan Airport, later known as Van Nuys Airport, opens. That same year, Lockheed-Vega Aircraft opens a factory in Burbank. The company would later evolve into Lockheed Corp. 1930: United Airport opens in Burbank. It is taken over by Lockheed Aircraft in 1940 and renamed Lockheed Air Terminal. It is now Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport. 1933: Lockheed introduces the Model 10 Electra. 1938: Lockheed receives its first defense order when the British place an order for $25 million worth of Hudson reconnaissance bombers. It was the largest military contract ever awarded at the time and seen as a pivotal point for growth of the Valley’s defense industry. 1942: The Lockheed and Vega plants employ more than 90,000 workers as World War II rages. 1940s: General Motors Chevrolet assembly plant opens in Van Nuys and the Joseph Schlitz Brewery opens in Panorama City. 1950s: Nine of the 10 biggest manufacturers in the Valley are defense contractors including Lockheed, Rocketdyne, Litton Systems, Ramo-Wooldridge, RCA, Marquardt and Radioplane. Lockheed’s Skunk Works plant in Burbank builds the U2 spy plane and other Cold War aircraft. 1958: Explorer I, America’s first orbiting satellite, is launched with an engine produced at Rocketdyne in Canoga Park. 1980s and 1990s: The technological hardware industry, which is still a major force in the Valley, begins to thrive. 1990s: General Motors plant closes and Lockheed ends a major presence in the Valley.