In the 2000s, has any American gun manufacturer fallen harder than Remington? With their company facing not one but two bankruptcies in the past decade, their former factory in Ilion, New York, has closed down. Now, instead of a plant that makes Fudd Friday fare, developers are reportedly planning a data center for the site instead.
Remington history @ TFB:
Historically, the firearms manufacturer Remington has been tied to the town of Ilion and the surrounding area since its founding by Eliphalet Remington and his family in 1816. At one point, the plant actually claimed it was the oldest factory in the U.S. that still made the products it was originally built to produce.
To put it in perspective, this factory was opened in the months right after the War of 1812, when the U.S. fought the British with flintlocks, and stayed open right through until the end of the GWOT with its M4s. Talk about staying power—but after its 2020 bankruptcy, Remington Arms (the gunmaking side of the business) moved its manufacturing to Florida.
The machinery in the old factory was sold off and moved (including the Marlin production lines, which Ruger bought and shifted to North Carolina). That meant the massive factory site in Ilion was abandoned, and now it’s about to be repurposed.
Reportedly, developers are planning an initial 250,000 square-foot data center on the site, with a second to follow. According to the plans filed with the state (see some more on that here), they’ve divided the site into five zones, with environmental clean-up to accompany the development. Two of those zones will house the new data centers, and another will house an electrical substation to power the data centers.
The construction is reportedly going to cost $2B-$3B, but not every local is happy with the investment. There’s a petition on Change.org to block the development, urging leaders to reconsider based on potential negative effects.
