Historic Eastern Machinery Elevator

Connecticut museum to preserve elevator components from a bygone era.

by Michael Dumas

Just as industrial marvels transported the masses to new perspectives and possibilities in the 19th and 20th centuries, in this era of unprecedented technology, those same machines are educating new generations destined for their own signature breakthroughs. In New Haven, Connecticut, some of the finest elevator components manufactured on American soil are being preserved for that very purpose, in a brand-new city museum, by citizens whose family histories in the area go back several generations. 

Not unlike the archeologists glorified in Hollywood films, Paul Farnsworth and Robert Greenberg are fiercely passionate about history, while maintaining an almost mythic reverence for their native city. And when the 1870s-built ACME Furniture building, located about a mile from Yale University, was sold to developers in recent years, the pair took action to preserve as many of its artifacts as possible, which included two elevator mechanisms from a bygone era that would look positively alien to any contemporary lift operator. 

Devoid of any brand name or manufacturer, the oldest of the two mechanisms was constructed in 1877 and had long sat dormant, although the rudimentary device was installed when the four-story building was new. According to Greenberg’s research, the mechanism would have been used to move goods by either of the two original tenants, who produced baking powder and corsets, respectively. The second elevator mechanism was built and installed on October 20, 1916, by the Eastern Machinery Company, which was owned and operated by Paul Farnsworth’s great-grandfather, Frederick Farnsworth. 

That device, which hoisted and dropped a weathered wooden car bound by riveted metal via a signal rope, operated continuously for 106 years. Its ancient motor, long leather strap and wooden rails stood testament to the craftsmanship of New Haven’s artisans, which is why Farnsworth, Greenberg and a few others conspired to save the 1877 and 1916 elevator mechanisms. On August 29, 2022, they watched as a crew from the Smedley Crane & Rigging Company freed both from the ACME Furniture building, en route to preservation. The providence of the operation was underscored by the fact that Smedley was founded in New Haven just before the Civil War erupted. 

For the Farnsworths, knowing the craftsmanship of their forebears is on display is an added honor for the family’s legacy — and by no means for the only one.

Greenberg grew up in the ACME building and would watch his father regularly oil the Eastern Machinery control system. He clearly remembers the kinesthetic impact of its use. “The Farnsworth family machine mesmerized me because it still worked,” Greenberg says. “And the sound of it humming, the clanking of the belt running through its motor, it was beautiful.” 

If objects had DNA, then Farnsworth and Greenberg would be close cousins, as the ACME building was bought by Greenberg’s grandfather in the 1940s — and owned by their family until its recent sale. Farnsworth is a fourth-generation elevator man going back to the Eastern Machinery Company. By the turn of the 20th Century, his entrepreneurial great-grandfather also owned the nearby McLagon Foundry Company. Farnsworth said: 

“As a foundry man, my great grandfather not only manufactured the legacy elevator, but he also owned and operated the foundry that cast the iron for the winding drum for the machine bed plate and all the other cast metal component parts for this 106-year-old elevator.” 

A closer look at the layers of achievement within the 1916 Farnsworth elevator reveal, in microcosm, an industrial and cultural relevance woven throughout New Haven that Greenberg has dedicated his life to illuminating. For years, he has accumulated hundreds of artifacts, curated and accessed through the Lost in New Haven Museum, which lived in two previous sites before landing where Greenberg hopes it will stay for a long, long time. 

Two of the most recent vignettes he’s created contain the 1877 and 1916 ACME building elevators, shown just as they looked if someone had climbed to the fourth floor and viewed them before they were removed in August. Just as they looked at many points throughout the last century, with the same roofs above them, oil stains below, and dust scattered all around. Greenberg said: 

“The patina was very important to me. What I’ve wanted all along was for people to see the ingenuity and the amazing abilities of one family to bring multiple different businesses together to create one machine. These things were even built with old-growth wood from trees that grew around New Haven.” 

Lost in New Haven recently opened to private patrons, and Greenberg said in the coming months the 18,000-ft² museum will fully open to the public, where he can achieve his overarching goals of preserving something much more important than artifacts. Greenberg said: 

“My hope is that when young people, especially kids and students, come into the new space, and I tell stories of the families who were involved in New Haven, that those future generations will understand the grit and ingenuity of these people. They really need to consider the past in order to understand the technologies of the future. And it’s great to show these old machines in relation to the modern ones we have today that most people don’t even think about.” 

For the Farnsworths, knowing the craftsmanship of their forebears is on display is an added honor for the family’s legacy — and by no means the only one. In addition to his industrial prowess, Frederick Farnsworth also served as New Haven’s mayor, and was seen as one of its most progressive at the time. Recently, when Paul Farnsworth visited City Hall on an errand, he looked up and was greeted by an oil painting of his great-grandfather. 

“What I’ve wanted all along was for people to see the ingenuity and the amazing abilities of one family to bring multiple different businesses together to create one machine.”

— Robert Greenberg

Paul’s son, Will, represents the fifth generation of his family to work in the family business, which is now called Elevator Service Company, Inc., where he has been an elevator mechanic for nearly a decade and a half. Will Farnsworth said: 

“I definitely love to see the history of our family continue, and I appreciate all the help that everyone’s offering my dad and Mr. Greenberg. And it’s wonderful that we’re able to preserve some of the history of the families of New Haven who share a common ancestry in this elevator. Our family was dedicated to putting out a great product, and we’re able to keep that in people’s minds forever because it’s going to be preserved.”

To donate or learn more about the museum, contact Greenberg at lostinnewhaven@gmail.com.