ILION, NY — Remington started here two centuries ago, and generations of workers have produced rifles and shotguns in the massive firearms factory in the middle of this working-class village in the heart of New York’s Mohawk Valley.
Now the residents of Ilion are preparing for Remington’s departure, ending an era that began when Eliphalet Remington forged his first gun barrel nearby in 1816.
The nation’s oldest gunmaker recently announced plans to close the factory in the company’s original home early next month, citing the high costs of running the historic factory. Remington is consolidating its operations in Georgia, a state the company says is friendlier to the firearms industry.
The company’s recent history has been marked by a lawsuit following the Sandy Hook school massacre and bankruptcy filings that led to new ownership of the Ilion plant, where the workforce has shrunk from about 1,300 employees more than a decade ago to about 300.
But the move remains painful for the village of 7,600, which faces the prospect of a dramatic loss of income and an empty, sprawling factory.
“When Remington leaves, it won’t be like a factory is leaving, it will be like part of your family has moved,” said Jim Conover, who started packing guns at Remington in 1964 and retired 40 years later as a production manager. .
Weapon making dominates and defines Ilion. It is as intertwined with the city as car production is with Detroit.
Mayor John Stephens meets with village board members under a seal showing Eliphalet Remington holding a long gun. The four-story brick factory at Armory Street and Remington Avenue towers over the community about 60 miles east of Syracuse.
Everyone knows someone who worked in the factory. For some families, a job there is practically a birthright. Conover’s father and sons also worked at the factory. Kiln operator and technician Frank “Rusty” Brown was still clocking there this year with family members.
“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,” said Brown, president of the United Mine Workers of America Local 717. “So it’s a double whammy for me and my wife: two of us are out of a job.”
Remington Firearms’ current owners, RemArms, blamed “production inefficiencies” for the plant’s closure in a Nov. 30 letter to union officials. They cited the high cost of maintaining and insuring approximately 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.”
CEO Ken D’Arcy also said in a press release that the industry was concerned about the “legislative environment” in New York.
Some believe Remington is shifting south primarily to reduce labor and operating costs.
But in a part of New York state where support for gun rights is typically strong, some Republican elected officials seized on the company’s comments about Georgia. They linked the plant’s closure to gun control measures championed by Democrats in the New York area in recent years.
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 being based in Springfield, Massachusetts since 1852. When announcing the move in 2021, company officials criticized proposed state legislation that they said would ban them from manufacturing certain weapons.
RemArms, which bought the firearms business in 2020, did not respond to emails and calls seeking comment.
The company said in a letter to the union that it expected to end plant operations around March 4. The company announced earlier in 2021 that it would move its headquarters to LaGrange, Georgia, and open a manufacturing facility and research operations there.
Long gone are the days when there was a traffic jam in Ilion every afternoon when day services were scheduled. Empty spaces dominate the factory’s large parking lot. Area businesses that deliver lunches to the factory, such as Franco’s Pizza, have already seen orders drop dramatically.
“They are declining,” said Franco’s owner Daniel Mendez. “This doesn’t necessarily mean we’re going bankrupt, but it does hurt.”
With a fraction of its former workforce, Remington is leaving Ilion with more of a whimper than a bang.
Stephens believes the remaining employees will be able to find other work in the region. But he also estimates that the loss of the plant could cost the village nearly $1 million a year, including utilities and taxes.
Local officials hope the factory site can house a mix of manufacturing, retail and residential units. But its fate remains unclear. It was listed for sale last month for $10 million.
“Things can quickly become an eyesore,” said Michael Disotelle, historian at the Ilion Public Library. “And you can’t just let go of the fact that you are in the middle of the village.”
The current factory site dates to 1828, when Eliphalet Remington established its operations along the newly opened Erie Canal. Although guns have historically been Ilion’s main product, Remington also made typewriters, sewing machines, and other consumer items.
Cerberus Capital Management bought Remington Arms in 2007, placing it in the same corporate family as Bushmaster Firearms and other gun companies. Bushmaster Firearms moved its production activities to Ilion for a while in 2011.
Remington Outdoor Co. and its subsidiaries filed for bankruptcy protection in 2018, citing declining sales and legal and financial pressure following the Sandy Hook school shooting that left 20 first-graders and six adults dead. A Bushmaster AR-15 style rifle was used in the massacre.
Relatives of victims and a shooting survivor who filed a lawsuit against Remington in 2015 settled for $73 million in 2022.
A second bankruptcy petition was filed in July 2020. Within months, 545 workers at the Ilion factory were laid off.
The company’s assets were distributed at auction. A judge approved Vista Outdoor’s $81.4 million bid for Remington’s ammunition and accessories business. The Ilion factory went to a group of investors called the Roundhill Group, as part of a $13 million bid.
After months of union negotiations, the firearms factory reopened in the spring of 2021. If RemArms sticks to the March closure schedule, the restart in Ilion will have taken just under three years.
The mayor said difficult decisions will be made, but he is confident the site will be put back into use. And while Remington may leave, he said the connection can never be completely severed.
“Even if they are ultimately 100% no longer involved in the Village of Ilion in any way, shape or form, we will still be known for this,” Stephens said. “You can’t erase history.”