Historic New York village that made weapons for 200 YEARS is ‘losing its soul’ as nation’s oldest gun-maker Remington shuts massive firearms factory – leaving entire families jobless

A historic New York town is in danger of “losing its soul” after the country’s oldest gunmaker, Remington, announced plans to close its massive firearms factory next month, leaving entire families out of work.

Eliphalet Remington forged his first gun barrel in the village of Ilion in 1816, and over the next two centuries his company grew into a million-square-foot factory with thousands of employees.

But in December, Remington’s current owners, RemArms, revealed they would move their operations to gun-friendly Georgia, laying off 270 people.

With only 7,600 inhabitants, the factory has long been the city’s main employer.

Now, Mayor John Stephens, 57, said the village will lose $1 million in revenue if the plant closes, while local businesses will also take a “major financial hit” – adding to the emotional toll.

Speaking to DailyMail.com, he said: ‘It’s like the city is losing its soul. It’s almost like losing a family member. That’s what people struggle with: the nostalgia, the history. It feels like we are losing the identity of the city.’

Mayor Stephens, 57, said the factory is the only one he has ever known and that there are generations of families who have worked there – sometimes six or even seven.

His own father worked at the factory for 37 years and raised four children on a Remington salary.

He told DailyMail.com: ‘There are people in this village who are 100 years old and it is all they have ever known. Ilion is Remington and Remington is Ilion’.

Remington brought nearly $1 million in utility bills and taxes to the village and the workers also brought custom work to local businesses.

‘I’ve spoken to a few companies, that’s the financial part that’s going to hurt. Even if it’s only 300 people, they still buy gas, they still buy shoes. That will be a blow to local businesses,” Mayor Stephens added.

He is also concerned about the building being vacant, saying, “It’s just going to deteriorate over time and then I’ll have an abandoned factory falling in on itself.”

Mayor Stephen believes those who are laid off will be able to find work because there are “plenty of jobs available.”

But that may offer little comfort to those left behind in the meantime, with entire families losing their jobs in one fell swoop.

One of them is furnace operator and technician Frank “Rusty” Brown, who said the move is a “double whammy” for him and his wife, now that they are both out of jobs.

He said: ‘My mother worked there. My father worked there. My wife now works there with me. My daughter now works there with me. My second daughter now works there with me. And my son-in-law works there.’

Similarly, former Remington employee Konstanty Patrick Bielanski said on Facebook that the closure was “sad news” because it was a “great place to work.”

He said, “Many of us built millions of these rifles from early 1971 through 2010 to make Remington the best. No matter how sad it had to end, Ilion will never be the same again.’

In a 2016 promotional video, Remington employee Scott Nichols said, “We bring jobs to the area and the revenue from those jobs is distributed throughout the community.

“It’s hard to find someone in the area who doesn’t have someone related or know someone. It’s easy to walk onto the floor and find someone you know.”

In a letter to union officials in November, Remington Firearms’ current owners, RemArms, blamed “production inefficiencies” for the plant’s closure.

They cited the high cost of maintaining and insuring the 92,903 square feet of space in multiple buildings, many of which date back to World War I.

RemArms added that Georgia provided an environment that “better supports and welcomes the firearms industry.”

New York Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik blamed the state’s gun laws for the shutdown.

In a statement, she said: New York Democrats’ unconstitutional gun-grabbing policies have driven key businesses out of the state.

“History cannot be erased. I am proud to represent Ilion, the former home of Remington Arms in Upstate New York. And I will always stand up for our 2A Constitutional Rights!’

Another former employee, David Brewer, wrote on Facebook: “I spent 34 years there and it’s sad to see it go, but the governor wants to make a name for the do-gooders and punish not the criminals, but the law-abiding. citizens.’

Remington isn’t the first firearms maker to push for a more gun-friendly state.

Smith & Wesson opened its new headquarters in Tennessee in October after having been based in Springfield, Massachusetts since 1852.

In announcing the move in 2021, company officials criticized proposed state legislation that they said would ban them from manufacturing certain weapons.

Remington’s previous owners were forced to file for bankruptcy after the company was sued in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook school massacre, in which 20 first-graders and six adults were killed by a gunman with a Bushmaster AR-15-style rifle.

Family members of victims and a survivor of the shooting filed a lawsuit against Remington in 2015 established in 2022 for $73 million.

RemArms took over ownership of the factory, but the workforce has still shrunk from about 1,300 employees a decade ago to 270 today.

In December they announced that they would close their doors on March 4.

Local officials hope the factory site will eventually house a mix of manufacturing, retail and residential units. But its fate remains unclear and it was put up for sale last month $10 million.

Michael Disotelle, a historian at the Ilion Public Library, told AP: “Things can quickly become an eyesore and you can’t just let go of the fact that you are in the middle of the village.”

Mayor Stephens said he has repeatedly asked the owners what their plan is for the site, but they have not responded. DailyMail.com contacted RemArms for comment.