Eagle Electric
Encyclopedia
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
. The company was founded by Louis Ludwig and his younger brother Philip Ludwig both of whose children ran the company after the founders died. In Spring of 2000, it was purchased by Cooper Industries
Cooper Industries
Cooper Industries is a former US-based company that in 2009 switched its incorporation office from Bermuda to Ireland, maintaining its chief operational offices in Houston, Texas. It produces transformers, tools and electrical equipment, employing 29,000 staff around the world. Revenue in 2007 was...
to form Cooper Wiring Devices
Cooper Wiring Devices
Cooper Wiring Devices is a division of Cooper Industries and provides a range of residential, institutional and industrial grade electrical devices and wiring for consumers and building contractors. The company is the successor to both Arrow-Hart & Hegeman and Eagle Electric, both of which Cooper...
, Inc. Cooper Wiring Devices is now based in Peachtree City, Georgia
Peachtree City, Georgia
Peachtree City is a city in Fayette County, Georgia, United States.Census estimates in 2005 indicated a population of 34,524. In 2007, the city announced a plan to formally annex an unincorporated area between Georgia State Route 74 and the border with Coweta County that is commonly referred to as...
.
For many years, Eagle had a giant neon billboard
Billboard (advertising)
A billboard is a large outdoor advertising structure , typically found in high traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertisements to passing pedestrians and drivers...
overlooking the Queensboro Bridge
Queensboro Bridge
The Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge, also known as the 59th Street Bridge – because its Manhattan end is located between 59th and 60th Streets – or simply the Queensboro Bridge, is a cantilever bridge over the East River in New York City that was completed in 1909...
that became a familiar sight to motorists. It read, in capitals, "Eagle Electric-Perfection is not an accident". In 1987, the Advertising Manager began a process of updating the slogan and the logo graphics. When the building was purchased the company had moved production to various parts of the world. As of 2006, Cooper Wiring Devices has moved all of their manufacturing out of Long Island City, to Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, and the south-east United States.
Ahead of its time, in 1991 Eagle Electric introduced a line of surge protector wiring devices under the brand eSmart, with the strong support of senior management. The eSmart brand was the first trademark with an "e" in front of it. The brand sold well to the big box stores as there was no competitive surge protector line in the industry. Eventually the brand was dismantled by, then Marketing Director, Jim Cook because he felt that computers were a "passing fad."
In 1997, the company announced that a new labor contract and tax abatements had convinced it to keep its operations in New York. But a year later, the company's president and some other executives were removed by its board of directors.
The company's New York workers were represented by a union. Picketers were arrested outside the company's plant in January 1938.