Powel Crosley Jr.
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Powel Crosley, Jr. (September 18, 1886 – March 28, 1961) was an American inventor, industrialist, and entrepreneur. He and his brother Lewis were responsible for many "firsts" in consumer products and broadcasting. He was the builder of the Crosley automobile and played a major role in support of the U.S. military effort in World War II. He was the owner of the Cincinnati Reds major league baseball team for many years. Crosley Field, a stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio, was named for him.
| “ | I believe that every American who can afford ANY car should have an opportunity to buy a brand new, truly FINE car. | ” |
[edit] Youth, education
Powel Crosley Jr. was born in Cincinnati, Ohio to Charlotte and Powel Crosley, a lawyer. He was completed his first year of high school in College Hill, after which the school closed. He transferred to the Ohio Military Institute, where he graduated in 1905. He attended the University of Cincinnati but dropped out after two years, obsessed with the mechanics of automobiles. The mass production techniques employed by Henry Ford also caught his attention and would be implemented by his brother, Lewis, when the two began manufacuring radios in 1921.
[edit] Early career with automobiles and parts
In 1907, Crosley formed a company to build an inexpensive automobile, the Marathon Six, in Connersville, Indiana. It failed. From there, Crosley traveled to Indianapolis where he went to work for Carl G. Fisher as a shop hand in the Fisher Automobile Company. That job ended when he broke his arm starting a car. From there he went to work for several auto manufacturers in Indianapolis and Muncie, Indiana. Although he often claimed that he was slotted to be a driver in the Indianapolis 500, this was a bit of a stretch. He tried but was unable to find anyone to sponsor him.
Powel returned married Gwendolyn B. Aiken in Muncie in 1910, according to an interview. They had two children during the next five years, Powel returning to Cincinnati after the birth of the first, Powel Crosley, III. Powel made several additional failed attempts to manufacture cars (one of them a cycle car) before finding success in auto accessories. In 1916, he co-founded the American Automobile Accessory Company with Ira J. Cooper. The company's best seller was a tire re-liner of Powel's invention, which mail order giant Sears soon picked up. Another popular product was a flag holder that held five American flags and clamped to auto radiator caps. World War I generated patriotism and thousands were sold. Crosley's two secrets of success were his ability to invent useful gadgets and the business sense of his brother Lewis M. Crosley. By 1919, Powel and Lewis Crosley had sold more than a million dollars in parts and were diversifying into other consumer products such as phonograph cabinets.
[edit] Consumer products
In 1920, Crosley first selected independent local dealers as the best way to take his products to market. He insisted that all sellers of his products must give the consumer the best in parts, service, and satisfaction. Always sensitive to consumers, his products were often less expensive than other name brands, but were guaranteed. Crosley's "money back guarantee" paved the way for some of today's most outstanding sales policies.
[edit] Crosley Radios
In the early 1920s, his young son asked for a radio, then a new item, and Crosley was shocked at the prices for such a "toy" at a local department store, all in excess of $100. Instead, he purchased a booklet titled "The A.B.C. of Radio," and he and his son built their own radio.
He recognized the appeal of radio almost immediately, and soon he was manufacturing radio components. From there it was a short step to manufacturing radios. He hired two University of Cincinnati co-op students to help design a set he named the "Harko." By 1924, Crosley Radio Corporation was the largest radio manufacturer in the world. The slogan "You’re There With A Crosley" was used in all Crosley advertising.
[edit] The Crosley Pup and Bonzo
In 1925, Crosley introduced a small 1-tube regenerative radio called the "Crosley Pup" that sold for $9.75. While RCA Victor had Nipper (its mascot from the famous logo showing the dog listening to "his master's voice" from a phonograph), Crosley also adopted a mascot in the form of a dog with headphones listening to one of his "Pup" radios. In the 1920s, a cute, pudgy little dog named Bonzo, a creation of British artist George E. Studdy, was the inspiration for much commercial merchandise, such as cuddly and mechanical toys, ashtrays, pincushions, trinket boxes, car mascots, jigsaw puzzles, books, calendars, candies, and a profusion of postcards. Soon, Bonzo, wearing a set of headphones, became associated with the Crosley Pup radios.
Years later, both Bonzo commercial items and Crosley Pup radios became valuable as collectibles. A paper mâché Crosley Bonzo is on display at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC.
[edit] WLW and Crosley Broadcasting
Once he was established as a radio manufacturer, Powel Crosley Jr. decided to get into broadcasting, to give people a reason to buy radios. He began experimenting with broadcasting from his home with a 20-watt transmitter soon after he built his first radios. The station was designed and built by a young radio engineer from the University of Cincinnati named Dorman D. Israel. After he left Crosley Israel went on to become first, chief engineer and later executive vice president of Emerson Radio. On March 22, 1922, Crosley went on the air with a 50-watt commercial station whose call sign was WLW. Over the next six years, the station's broadcast power was increased to 50,000 watts, Crosley's theory in increasing power being that the more powerful the broadcast, the cheapter he could build radios. In 1934 Crosley put a 500,000-watt transmitter on the air (on occasion, the station's power was boosted as high as 700,000 watts).
Throughout the 1930s, Cincinnati's WLW was truly "the Nation's Station," producing many hours of network programming every week. Among the entertainers who performed live from WLW's studios were Red Skelton, Doris Day, Jane Froman Fats Waller, Rosemary Clooney, and the Mills Brothers. Crosley developed some of the earliest "soap operas" with sponsorship by the Procter & Gamble Company, the maker Ivory soap and other popular household products.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ruled that WLW had to reduce its power to 50,000 watts in 1939, ostensibly because it interfered with other stations, but really because of political scuffles. During World War II, the higher power of WLW was utilized again, and the station could be heard throughout most of the world. The 500-kilowatt transmitter was eventually crated up for shipment for use in Asia, but the war ended before it was shipped.
WLW's engineers also built high-power shortwave transmitters that became the "Voice of America." Crosley's broadcasting company eventually expanded into additional markets and experimented in 1939, 1941 and after World War II with television broadcasting. (Crosley Broadcasting did not go on the air with regular television broadcasting, with WLWT-TV, until after Powel Crosley, Jr. sold the company to AVCO. Crosley was, however, still on the board of directors at this time.)
See articles on WLW and Crosley Broadcasting Corporation.
[edit] Appliances
Beginning in 1930, Crosley had added refrigerators and other household appliances to his products. During the Great Depression, because he had invested in his own businesses instead of the stock market, he was better able than many industrialists to keep his employees working and his products available to the public.
The Icyball was an early non-electrical refrigeration device. The unit used an evaporative cycle to create cold, and had no moving parts. The dumb bell shaped unit was "charged" by heating one end with a small kerosene heater. Crosley Radio Corporation sold several hundred thousand Icyball units before discontinuing manufacture in the late 1930s. In 1932, another product, his "Shelvador" was the first refrigerator to have shelves in the door.
[edit] Sports
In 1934, Crosley purchased the Cincinnati Reds professional baseball team from owner Sidney Weil who had lost much of his wealth after the Stock Market Crash of 1929. Crosley secured permission from the baseball commissioner to hold seven night games at the renamed Crosley Field. On May 24, 1935, the first nighttime game in baseball history was held there between the Cincinnati Reds and Philadelphia Phillies under newly installed electric lighting. With attendance up more than 400% from daytime events, the team's financial position was greatly improved.
On a personal level, Crosley was quite a sportsman. He never got a pilot's license, stating that he was too busy to keep appointments for lessons, yet he owned as many as six aeroplanes at a time, several of them seaplanes such as the Douglas Dolphin. He also built a series of five Crosley Moonbeam aeroplanes.
Crosley owned a number of yachts. At the Crosley winter retreat built in 1929 on Sarasota Bay, now called Seagate, he had a deep path dredged from the center of the bay to a berth that accommodated his yachts and the seaplane in which the Crosleys regularly flew to Sarasota from Cincinnati, as well as to resorts. Tide level indicators were built into the walls of the berth. The berth remains as a current aspect of the property. The Crosley boats were luxury yachts with powerful engines, not sailing vessels. A wind indicator to alert Crosley to changes in wind conditions, swept around the ceiling of his second-story study. It was driven by a distinctive weathervane atop a tower built into the house. The circular tower has a bank of windows along the entire curve, providing a broad vista overlooking the bay.
Powel Crosley was a renowned fisherman who participated in celebrated tournaments in Sarasota and rose to being the president of its sport fishing club.
Other sports, hunting, and fishing camps Crosley owned as retreats included an island in Canada called, Nikassi, where he spent every August fishing and hunting. In later years he owned, Bull Island, located off the coast of South Carolina. He also owned a retreat in Jennings County, Indiana that now is called the Crosley Fish and Wildlife Area, as well as a house in Havana, Cuba, and another on Cat Cay in the Caribbean.
[edit] Seagate in Florida
In 1929, Powel Crosley Jr. built a Florida winter retreat on Sarasota Bay for his wife, Gwendolyn. The retreat was built along the bay front of a sixty-three acre parcel (243,000 m²) that was platted in 1925 as a subdivision named Sea Gate. According to early official county documents and grandson Lewis L. Crosley's birth certificate, the name was spelled on early documents as two words, Sea Gate, but has become contracted in use over the years, including the name of the street leading to the building which was renamed as, Seagate Drive by the county.
The two and one-half story Mediterranean Revival style house, and the auxiliary garages and living quarters for staff, designed under the auspicious of New York architect George Albree Freeman, Jr. by Ivo A. de Minicis, were built in the southwest corner of Manatee County by Paul W. Bergman. The house contains ten bedrooms and the same number of bathrooms.
Seagate was the first residence built in Florida using fireproof steel frame construction that provided protection against hurricanes, as well. The cross-axis design and a circular tower that contains a second story teak-lined study with metal oculi and a wind indicator driven by a distinctive weathervane are significant elements of the house. Other important features included double louvered and screened pocket doors and transoms for all rooms that could provide privacy while allowing the natural flow of on-shore and off-shore sea breezes to cool the house through window and door grilles and rejas; a telephony system wired into the walls of the house and servant quarters; electrical wiring under the tiles in the floors to provide power for table and standing lamps; chamfered and polychrome stenciled pecky cypress beams; galleon carvings on the loggia; massive carved doors; terra cotta tile floors that were laid into unique designs for each room and the main staircase; detailed plaster ornamentation; and stained glass of ochre and lavender randomly placed in casement and French windows. External features included flagstone detailing of the patio, walkways, and entry porte-cochere, fountains, a swimming pool, a seaplane dock, and a yacht basin.
After the death of his wife, Gwendolyn, of tuberculosis at the retreat in 1939, Powel Crosley all but abandoned the house. During World War II, Crosley allowed the Army Air Corps use of the retreat to house men learning to fly fighter planes. A nightclub was operated there for a brief period. Following the war, the property was sold and the large portion west of Tamiami Trail was retained as a residence by the Mabel and Freeman Horton family for forty years.
In an unusual listing that included all of the remaining forty-five acres, the property was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982 by a purchaser who intended to build an exclusive condominium project on the site using the historic house as a clubhouse. Most listings only include structures. The project failed when the economy faltered shortly thereafter. Seagate was saved from commercial development by the efforts of adjacent residents who opposed several ensuing proposals for development and initiated a campaign for preservation and acquisition through Friends of Seagate Inc.
In 1991 the property was purchased by the state of Florida and sixteen acres of the original subdivision along the bay front, containing the structures built by Powel Crosley, were designated for renovation by Manatee County while the larger portion of the property was designated for the University of South Florida and New College of Florida for future expansion. Today, the 1929 historic structure houses the Powel Crosley Museum and is used as a meeting, conference, and event venue. The museum is aided by fundraising through the Crosley Estate Foundation.
[edit] Automobiles
Of all Crosley's dreams, success at building an affordable automobile for Americans was possibly the only major one to eventually elude him. In the years leading up to World War II, he developed new products, reviving one of his earliest endeavors. In 1939, when Crosley introduced his small car to the world, he broke with tradition and sold his car through many of his independent appliance dealers and department stores. The 1939 Crosley Motors, Inc. automobile had an 80 inch wheelbase, a diminutive 38.87 cubic inch 2 cylinder air cooled Waukesha engine (637 cm³), and a price tag between $325 and $350. The car, with its chubby profile was offered in gray, yellow or blue color, and all had red wheels and a black top. Weight was only 925 pounds. The company had plants in Camp Washington, Ohio, Richmond, Indiana, and Marion, Indiana. During the pre-war period, Crosley produced 5,757 cars. However, the onset of war ended all automobile production in the United States in 1942.
[edit] Crosley's war effort
Like the rest of American industry, the Crosley Corporation focused on war-related products after December, 1941 (Crosley was actually involved in war production planning before that). The company made a wide variety of products. The most significant was the proximity fuze, manufactured by several companies for the military. Crosley turned out more fuzes than any other manufacturer, and made several production design innovations. The fuze is widely considered the third most important product development of the war years, ranking behind only the atomic bomb and radar.
James V. Forrestal, Secretary of the Navy said, "The proximity fuze has helped blaze the trail to Japan. Without the protection this ingenious device has given the surface ships of the Fleet, our westward push could not have been so swift and the cost in men and ships would have been immeasurably greater."
British Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill was quoted with "These so-called proximity fuzes, made in the United States... proved potent against the small unmanned aircraft (V-1) with which we were assailed in 1944."
Commanding General of the Third Army, George S. Patton said, "The funny fuze won the Battle of the Bulge for us. I think that when all armies get this shell we will have to devise some new method of warfare."
Also of significance were the many radio tranceivers manufactured by the Crosley Corporation, including the BC-654, which was the main component of the SCR-284 radio set. The company also manufactured portable cook stoves, B-29 gun turrets, military radios, and so called "morale receivers," which were used by civilians living in countries occupied by the Nazis to listen to Voice of America broadcasts.[1]
[edit] Post-war auto manufacturing
After the end of World War II, Crosley resumed building its small cars. A new model of the Crosley automobile continued the car's tradition of being small, light in weight, and low-priced. (Contrary to popular belief, Crosley did not copy the idea of a small car from the Volkswagen, which it predated.) It sold for $850 and got between 30 and 45 miles per US gallon. Unfortunately for Crosley, good gas mileage ceased to be an inducement after gas rationing ended. Plus, Americans were infatuated with big cars. In 1949 he introduced the first disc brakes on an American automobile on all models from Pickup to his Hotshot sports car model. Crosley sold about 75,000 cars before closing down the operation in 1952.
[edit] Portable television
Despite his ultimate failure as an automobile manufacturer, Crosley was not out of touch with consumer trends. His WLW was experimenting with television as early as 1929, when it received an experimental television license from the Federal Radio Commission (FRC, later the FCC).
He sold WLW (as well as Crosley Corporation) to the Aviation Corporation (AVCO) in 1945, and AVCO put the first television station in Ohio, WLWT-TV, on the air. At the same time AVCO began manufacturing television sets under the aegis of the Crosley Corporation. Some of the first portable television sets were manufactured by AVCO with the Crosley brand name.
"Crosley" ceased to exist as a brand name in 1956, when AVCO closed down the line due to lack of profit. Many years later, at least two American companies paid AVCO for the right to use the Crosley brand name on products made in Asia--a practice that Powel Crosley, Jr. would certainly have abhorred.
Why? In the 1920s, 30s, and 40s, when authentic Crosley products such as radios and Shelvador refrigerators were being sold in Australia, Europe, Africa, and Asia, the company made every single product in Ohio and Indiana.
[edit] Death, heritage
Powel Crosley Jr. died March 28, 1961, of a heart attack.
Crosley liked to label himself "the man with 50 jobs in 50 years," a catchy sobriquet that was far from true, although he did have over a dozen jobs before he got into automobile accessories. He helped quite a few inventors up the ladder of success by buying the rights to their inventions and sharing in the profits. His work provided employment and products for millions of people.
A few of his more noteworthy accomplishments:
- second car radio (Motorola was first)
- first push-button radio
- early soap operas
- first non-electric refrigerator (Icyball)
- first refrigerator with shelves in the door
- most powerful commercial radio station ever (WLW, at 500 kW)
- first lights on a major league baseball field
- newspapers broadcast by radio (Reado)
- America's first compact car
- first car to have disc brakes
[edit] External links
- The Powel Crosley Museum, Sarasota, Florida
- Crosley Radio History
- Crosley Automobile Club Inc.
- Antique Automobile Club of America, Powel Crosley webpage
- Powel Crosley Jr - His Life in Photos
- Foundation for Economic Education, America's Forgotten Entrepreneur, Powel Crosley Jr.
- Cincinnati Post Powel Crosley Jr.: Innovator, sportsman dreamed big
- Crosley Car Owners Club (CCOC)
- Cincinnati Enquirer "Crosleys had the Right Formula"
- Crosley Fish & Wildlife Area, Vernon, Indiana
[edit] References
- ^ Fucci, Antonio. Radio Set BC-654-A SCR-284-A Receiver and Transmitter.
2 CROSLEY: Two Brothers and a Business Empire that Transformed the Nation[1], by Michael A. Banks, David Stern, and Rusty McClure (Clerisy Press, 2006)
