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Bear School of Automotive Safety Service, 2103 5th Avenue
Most Significant Unprotected Structures:
Association with the famed automotive safety service school that trained thousands of mechanics and interesting use of modernistic details, particularly the vertical metal siding
Architectural Style:
Art Moderne
Construction Date:
1949
Architect/Builder:
Unknown
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The founders of Bear Manufacturing were brothers Will Dammann and Henry Dammann, who invented an electric starter for the Model T so auto owners could forgo their cranks. They moved to Rock Island in 1913 to manufacture and sell the starter, and the company was quickly successful. The starter was so popular that Henry Ford started making electric starters standard equipment, and the Dammanns’ market disappeared. Remarkably undeterred, they still saw a future in the automotive business and went on to build the company that was incorporated in 1917 to design and manufacture auto equipment. Bear equipment became the standard for diagnosis and repair of wheel, steering, and frame alignment. Later the company expanded into auto safety equipment of all types.
The structure at 2103 5th Avenue was a component of the Bear Manufacturing complex that included three buildings at this intersection. It was dedicated on November 30, 1949 as the Bear School of Automotive Safety Service. Bear Manufacturing had been training mechanics in automotive safety service for more than 20 years. In fact, they were so respected for their record in training that they were given the honor of managing the Official Safety Service Center at the Indy 500 in “Gasoline Alley.” From 1930 until at least 1971, Bear was in charge of servicing during this legendary race, where speed, performance and demand on vehicles increased several-fold each decade. Bear could provide the best-trained technicians in the business.
Training 800 to 1,000 mechanics annually from all parts of the country takes classroom and cutting-edge service center space. So Will Dammann built this $400,000 automotive safety school. The new building made it possible for the Bear Company to triple the capacity of students wishing to enroll for the safety service course. The grand opening was called an event of national importance in the automobile world, because it was the only school exclusively devoted to teaching a variety of subjects related to motor vehicle safety. There was an elaborate three-day opening celebration, with a dinner for 300 auto executives held here at the new school. Keynote speaker was the director of training for General Motors. Probably much more entertaining was Wilbur “Gentlemen, start your engines” Shaw, Indy Speedway president and racing champion, who told tales of his racing days to a large lunch crowd of local business and civic leaders.
In 1968, the safety service school added the Bear Actionalysis Diagnostic Test Center. This innovation added a diagnostic test lane where nearly 150 tests for performance were added that included everything from windshield wipers to brakes. Over 600 automotive technicians were trained at the school that year.
By this time Bear was being run by Victor Day, who became president upon the death of Will Dammann in 1953. The Chairman of the Board of Directors was Will Dammann’s daughter, Doris Dammann Day. They opened a new manufacturing plant at 405 30th Avenue in 1965, but operations continued at the three buildings at this intersection for several more years. The Days served Bear Manufacturing until 1972, when the firm merged with Applied Power Industries, Inc. When the Damman/Day family sold the company, manufacturing facilities remained in Rock Island, but the school was closed in the 1970s. In 1980, all manufacturing operations in Rock Island closed as well. Bear products are still made and sold by the SPX Corporation of Waukesha, Wisconsin.
The modernistic Bear School of Automotive Safety Service is a large two story, brick and metal clad, flat roofed building. Its principal modernistic features are its rounded corner on its facade and the long row of metal framed windows that extend around both sides of the two main elevations of the building. This rounded façade mirrors the similar shape of the earlier Bear building across the street. At the first level there have been changes in the fenestration. There are a series of large square openings that contain entries, as well as an overhead door. Starting at the left end of the lower facade, there is a window wall that curves around to the west side of the building. There are metal awnings over the lower part of the building on both main elevations, one curving around the corner. At the upper story, there is a long continuous band of metal framed windows that extend completely around the two main facades, curving at the southwest corner. The upper part of the building is sheathed in metal siding with vertical metal grooves.
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