The building that became known to the world as the first-ever business incubator earns a spot in the Holland Land Office Museum's countdown of The Twenty-Five Things That Made Genesee County Famous.
Museum Director Pat Weissend relates the history of this famous plant:
In 1886, the Johnson Harvester Company of Brockport, NY moved to Batavia following a fire in the Brockport plant. Company officials chose Batavia because the railroad lines that came through the village would make the shipment of product easier. Also, local citizens purchased 14 acres of land along Cemetery Street and donated it to the company to build its plant. Cemetery Street was renamed Harvester Avenue.
In 1910, a controlling interest in the Johnson Harvester Company was acquired by the Massey-Harris Company of Canada. One of the more well known products of the Massey-Harris Company was the Clipper Combine.
In 1953, the company merged with Harry Ferguson Limited of England and became Massey-Harris-Ferguson. Five years later, the name was shortened to Massey-Ferguson.
After the plant closed a few years after the merger with Ferguson Limited, the city began the search for a new tenant. When no one could be persuaded to take over the enormous space—industrial plants all over the nation were beginning to close their doors at the time—Charles Mancuso was charged with the task of filling the space. So was born the business incubator.
Mancuso came up with the idea to rent portions of the building to small manufacturing firms until they were large enough to strike out on their own. This type of arrangement allowed startup businesses to save money and resources until they grew enough to go out on their own.
One of the first tenants to the Industrial Center was a chicken company. Mr. Mancuso was traveling around the US looking for other potential tenants and spreading the word about Genesee County. He used the chicken company as an example, and started calling it an incubator. Mancuso invented the world's first business incubator. Today, there are an estimated 5,000 business incubators in the world. In Anshan City, China there is a statue of Joseph Mancuso, the father of the business incubator.
Visit the museum's Web site for more about the business incubator and to keep up with the countdown of The Twenty-Five Things That Made Genesee County Famous.
Harvester needs help Another
Harvester needs help
Another possible beautiful spot with the building, cems, tracks, park/pond, pontillos, bar, plant, winding roads
fewer no trespassing signs
What in Gods name are you
What in Gods name are you refering to this time, do we have to guess??? The condition of the street? What?
referring to? Harvester. I
referring to? Harvester. I said so specifically
I did not say
___________ needs help. That would have been nuts
Although
I'm sure you could still understand most of what was left blank if you wanted to
considering this article is only on one thing
Harvester
Condition of the street was a guess?
A real guess would have been
STOP SIGNS need help?
Much more random stop signs
Street makes me believe there was some thought put into it
as in
You've been noticing that the road could use some help
..and since the condition of the road in the area has made itself a part of your brain I'd say it's likely that you've formed opinions about other things in and around the Harvester Building
unless -and I doubt this very much- all you care about is good road
If Harvester is/was ever important to Batavia
I figure we should try to keep it around for a while by taking some pride in it
Instead of asking me a dumb question why not put out your own little thoughts
Maybe millions of Batavians want the road worked on
fix the road
Finish the job
no use in fixing the road if you don't give a $&*% what is on it
I AM CONVINCED NOW THAT
I AM CONVINCED NOW THAT YOUR MAIN INTERESTS IN ANYTHING IS TO BE AN ACTIVE TROLL ON THIS MEDIUM. Sorry Im not bitting, there! are my dumb little thoughts.
Millions of Batavians??????
What the heck are Random Stop signs, you mean they just pop up when you are driving down the street?
What pond? I been driving Harvester Ave for years and for goodness sake I missed the pond:)
I think there is alot of
I think there is alot of other places that need alot more help then Harvester AVE......
That guy is a nut. He writes
That guy is a nut. He writes the way he thinks, which is a bit scary. He seems to think he's cleaver, band he does get noticed, but he is just silly.
Dont make it personal. He may
Dont make it personal. He may have a different way of expressing himself. He seems to have his spelling down a cleaver,band than you. Everybody gets a chance to say even if it seems ridiculous.
you're convinced that my main
you're convinced that my main
interests in anything
is to be an active troll on this medium?
Millions as in a lot ..c'mon, dude.
I give you credit for random stop signs, though
lol. We do need many more random stop signs.
I was saying that stop signs would be a much more random guess than the condition of the road ..seeing as the road does have its issues
Dewitt Park = pond. It's in the area. I think the cems and the park should be tied together in some way