Picture Box: A look back at Chartiers Township’s RCA plant
This photo from our archives is dated July 22, 1960.
This photo of the RCA plant during construction is undated.
This photo is dated Oct. 30, 1964. Today, the Villas of Arden housing plan sits where the barn across the street used to be.
On Tuesday, Nov. 17, 1959, the Radio Corporation of America made an announcement that would change the economic landscape of Chartiers Township – it was going to build a $4.5 million, 50,000 square-foot administration and engineering building on a 50-acre site on the McClane Farm. The sub headline in the Washington Reporter’s Nov. 18, 1959, issue, read: “RCA’s Project Gives New Life To Canonsburg.” The opening paragraph to the story stated, “The Canonsburg area, which for some time has been held in economic doldrums by the grasp of unemployment, saw a rebirth of prosperity Tuesday in the announcement that the Radio Corporation of America will build a new plant in Chartiers Township.”
The plant closed in 1984, and the building today is home to Washington County Conservation District. The photos below show dirt being moved at the site, the site during construction and the building upon its completion.