GUIF helped businesses
It was a time when more than 22,000 coal mining jobs evaporated, leaving families in Fayette County without income. But business leaders rallied to battle a local recession that some said was worse than any other in the area’s history.
In 1952, civic, governmental and civilians partnered, seeking jobs and business to replace those lost in the foundering coal industry.
Using practices that are standard today in economic development, the first organization – the Greater Uniontown Industrial Fund (GUIF) – organized, chartered and offered its first prospect – Ludman Corp. – $10,000 to help defray its moving expenses to the county.
Within several months of its first meeting on Jan. 4, 1952, the GUIF was authorizing expenditures, buying land and contacting businesses to locate here.
The first land purchased is in what today is the Greater Uniontown Industrial Park on Route 119 in North Union Township.
In 1953, Rockwell International moved into the county, initially bringing 300 jobs. The GUIF leased nearly 20 acres of land in 1960 to E.W. Bowman Inc., a company that continues to do business here.
In 1966, the GUIF bought 311 acres in Georges Township forming the Fairchance Industrial Park (today the Fayette Business Park, home to WE Motors, Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania, Berkeley Medical, Hunter Truck and soon SenSyTech Inc.)
This last park to be developed was the Fayette Business Park, where infrastructure improvements were begun in 1975. In 2000, Fay-Penn announced development of the new University Technology Park next door to Penn State Fayette. It was the first new industrial park in the county in nearly a quarter century.
Wolford Swimmer, former president of GUIF, reported on the status of the group more than a decade ago, explaining some of its history as well as its achievements.
“The Greater Uniontown Industrial Fund was founded in 1951, originally to aid in the establishment of the Rockwell Meters Plant in Uniontown,’ Swimmer said.
“In the middle 1950’s, two public capital fund drives were held: the first raised over $650,000 in gifts to establish “The Five in Four” program, and the second raised approximately $300,000 to help fund a Berkowitz Company expansion.
“The “Five in Four” program was so named to establish the goal of building five new plants in the Uniontown Area in four years and resulted in the establishment of the Industrial Park on Route 119 north of Uniontown and the subsequent building of the Steel Scaffolding, Fruehauf and Malsbary plants. It provided seed money and sponsorship for applications for Pennsylvania Industrial Development Authority (PIDA) loans. These were not grants, but they were low interest loans to aid the establishment of industrial jobs under Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Commerce Programs,” he added.
Swimmer said those funds and others were spent on sites at the Route 51 Industrial Park where Health Mart’s distribution center and United Parcel Service were located.
“During the years GUIF has been in existence, it has aided and/or sponsored most of the industrial development in the Greater Uniontown Area,” he said.
The following all have obtained GUIF assistance, not all of which has been financial: Rockwell, Fruehauf, Malsbary, Young Spring & Wire, Xaloy, Berkowitz, Cavert Wire, E. W. Bowman, Sproul Lumber, A&W Foods, Shanefelter Industries, Steel Scaffolding and Penn State Campus.
“The original $900,000 in community-generated gifts has resulted in more than $50 million in real estate construction and as of 1990, 1,400 jobs have been directly created by GUIF connected projects. Approximately $2 million has been spent on the Fairchance Industrial Park site to develop a perimeter road as well as bring sewage, water, gas and electricity to the site,'” he said.
But since 1992, when Fay-Penn was founded, FIF has participated in more than 160 completed projects resulting in more than $447 million in new construction, $768.6 million in new investment, more than $80 million in annual payroll and about $3.4 million in new taxes.
Fay-Penn lists the number of jobs from these developments under “created and retained” as 5,364.