The Admiral Radio Factory

In the late 1940s, McHenry like much of the rest of the country was doing very well economically. Some of the prosperity was coming in the somewhat new field of what we think of today as electronics. Radios have been popular in the country since the 1920s. However, there was an emerging technology that was coming out and becoming popular and more affordable, television. In 1934, the Admiral Radio Corporation was founded. In 1947, company president Ross Siragusa announced that Admiral was going to be building a plant in McHenry in November of that year. One of Admiral’s most popular products was the television & radio combo.

Photograph of the Admiral factory in 1965.

Admiral took over the location of the Kaiser-Frazier Auto Agency, which is where the CVS is now located on Rt. 120. This would be the second Admiral factory in McHenry County, as a factory opened up in Harvard a few years earlier. The year it was started, the Admiral ranked 52nd in the industry. When it moved to McHenry in 1947, it was ranked fourth. By April 1948, McHenry became the central hub of portable radio construction. The plant in Harvard would focus on the table model radios. At the same time, the Chicago factories were assembling television-radio combos. Later in the spring of 1949, Admiral announced that they had a triple increase in the previous year’s net earnings. Admiral credited this to a new line of televisions and radios. This included the portable models being assembled in McHenry. The factory started with roughly 200 employees when it opened. The peak years for the factory were from 1953-1955 when about 400 people worked there per year on average.

Admiral advertisement from Dacy’s electronic store in Woodstock. Appeared in the June 15, 1949 Daily Sentinal.


In 1958, the Admiral plant announced that it would be closing. Operations would be consolidated to the Harvard plant. On the plus side, the Trolex Corp., a local company based out of Crystal Lake, had leased the building soon after the announcement that Admiral was closing. At that time, the building was listed as measuring 32,000 square feet. Trolex produced switches for radios and televisions. Despite renting the space, they made several renovations to the factory. This included a more centralized location for the general office. Trolex ended up selling to the Chicago Telephone Supply Company in November 1959, which shortly after moved production to Indiana. Trolex was purchased for its molding and automation process. The old Admiral factory sat vacant for many months, then was taken over by Anderson Controls, Inc. in September 1961. Anderson started with 50 employees and assembled mechanical and electronic devices.

Photograph of Admiral parking lot, which sat upon a structure used as a machine shop. Also, note the logos toward the front of the lot.


Anderson moved out in 1964 after being bought out. Soon thereafter, Admiral Radio Corporation moved back into its old factory. During the early 1960s, Admiral had seen an uptick in business and was looking to expand its manufacturing moving back into their old facility only made sense. The business moved along fairly well for the next ten years. There were occasional shutdowns, but they were usually temporary ones that occurred between February and March. They had an average of about 250 people working in the factory between 1964 and 1974. In 1974, the Admiral was purchased by Rockwell International Inc. By 1976, Rockwell decided to close the McHenry factory and transfer its production to its Harvard location. Employees were given the choice to transfer to the Harvard location. The building was many things for many years, including being vacant for much of that time. In January 2015, the City of McHenry announced that CVS would be taking over the property. Part of the pharmacy coming in included the destruction of the old Admiral building and five other buildings in the lot for the construction of a brand new business.

Sources

  • “Admiral Radio Corporation To Locate To City.” The McHenry Plaindealer. (McHenry, IL) 28 Aug 1947, 1. Newspapers.com. Web. 17 Jan 2025.
  • “Admiral Opens New Plant Here.” The McHenry Plaindealer. (McHenry, IL) 22 Jan 1948, 1. Newspapers.com. Web. 17 Jan 2025.
  • “Admiral Portable Radios Centers In McHenry.” The McHenry Plaindealer. (McHenry, IL) 29 Apr 1948, 1. Newspapers.com. Web. 17 Jan 2025.
  • “Net Earnings Of Admiral Reported Triple That Of 48.” The McHenry Plaindealer. (McHenry, IL) 21 Apr 1949, 8. Newspapers.com. Web. 17 Jan 2025.
  • “Remodel Admiral Building For Complete Manufacturing Facilities Of Trolex Corp.” The McHenry Plaindealer. (McHenry, IL) 28 Aug 1958, 1. Newspapers.com. Web. 17 Jan 2025.
  • “Trolex Purchased By Telephone Supply Corp.” The Herald. (Crystal Lake, IL) 12 Nov 1959, 1. Newspapers.com. Web. 12 Feb 2024.
  • “New Industry Opens Doors.” The McHenry Plaindealer. (McHenry, IL) 98 Sep 1961, 1. Newspapers.com. Web. 2 Feb 2025.
  • “Admiral Plant Closing.” The McHenry Plaindealer. (McHenry, IL) 1 Sep 1976, 1, 3. Newspapers.com. Web. 17 Jan 2024.