Sparton radio

I photographed this old radio at a flea market last summer.

Founded in Jackson, Michigan as the Withington Company in 1900, it became Sparks-Withington a few years later. It initially produced steel parts for agricultural instruments and then moved into automotive stampings.  In 1911 the company came out with the all-electric car horn, which first found application on Hudson cars and which made the old bulb horns obsolete.  They moved into radio production in 1925 and in 1926 produced the first radio run from an outlet rather than a battery, and promoted as "Radio's Richest Voice."  In 1930, a wholly-owned Canadian subsidiary, Sparton of Canada, was established in London, Ontario.  (Another division located in London, Sparton Records, manufactured and distributed Columbia Records in Canada from 1939 to 1954.  In 1958, it became the first company in Canada to manufacture stereo records.  The record company folded in 1969.)  The Sparton Mirrored Radios, introduced in 1936 and designed by Walter Dorwin Teague, are considered to be some of the most beautiful radios ever produced. Eventually, TV sets were added to the Sparton line, and production continued until 1956 when some of its assets were sold to Magnavox to form the "Spartan" division.  After World War II, Sparton developed sonobuoys for the U.S. Navy to use in detecting submarines. Sparton is still around today as an aerospace, defence, medical and industrial designer and manufacturer.

Sparton was one of Jackson's largest employers for decades. However, due to declining profits, the original Jackson factory was closed in 2009, and production was moved to Florida and Vietnam. Corporate headquarters were relocated to Illinois.  An Alabama developer salvaged what he could from the factory before arson burned it to the ground in 2011.  The remains and land are in foreclosure due to non-payment of back taxes.  Same old story we see played out again and again.

You can see some Sparton products at the Ye Ole Carriage Shop museum in Jackson.

For a more detailed history of the company, visit Peek Through Time.  A retrospective from previous employees was produced in 2009 by Michigan News.

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