page_title: Murray (bicycle company)
section_title: Bicycle manufacturing
hierarchical_section_title: Murray (bicycle company) / History / Bicycle manufacturing
caption_attribution_description: English: This is a picture of a Murray USA bicycle.
context_page_description: Murray was an American company whose assets are now owned by Briggs & Stratton and Dorel Industries. The corporate brand is a descendant of the Murray Ohio Manufacturing Company, which manufactured bicycles and lawn and garden equipment. The company went bankrupt in 2005 selling most of its assets to the current owners.
context_section_description: Murray Ohio Manufacturing Company was founded in 1919 to make fenders, fuel tanks, and other automobile parts. The company was founded in Cleveland, Ohio, and the Cleveland factory was unionized by the United Auto Workers (UAW) and AFL–CIO. In the mid-1930s, the company began production of bicycles, mostly for the youth market. Other products included pedal cars and electric fans. Until 1939, Murray manufactured all of its products for branding and sale by other manufacturers, especially Sears, Roebuck & Co.  From 1939 through 1942, Murray made the body parts for the Crosley automobile. 
  In 1939, Murray introduced its Pacemaker Series Mercury bicycle at the 1939 New York World's Fair. Styled by the industrial artist and designer, Viktor Schreckengost, the streamlined machine, with an elaborate diecast metal headpiece, was finished in black, chrome, and polished aluminum, the deluxe version of the Mercury Pacemaker line. However, the Mercury was an expensive bicycle, and sales were few. It was produced only in limited numbers until 1942, when the war stopped consumer bicycle production.  
  After the war, Murray became known as a manufacturer of low-cost bicycles, and placed its own brand on some products. Since the 1930s, Murray had been producing bicycles that, while stylistically different, imitated designs by other U.S. manufacturers, including Schwinn and AMF. This occasionally brought Murray into legal conflict with competitors, as when Schwinn filed against Murray for duplicating a Schwinn knurling and machining process on its rims.  
  Most Murray bicycles were for the youth market, often featuring one-piece steel Ashtabula cranksets and internally brazed frames using inexpensive seamed or straight-gauge steel tubing. These low-cost parts and materials undercut the prices of Murray's competition, selling millions of bicycles (often with retailer names) to department stores, hardware stores, and general retailers. Schrekengost styled more than 100 mostly youth bicycles for Sears, Western Auto, Firestone Tire, and other retailers, including the Spaceliner, Western Flyer, and Firestone. By modifying chain guards, luggage carriers, lighting, handlebars, and truss rods, Schrekengost gave each bicycle a distinctive look while retaining the same welded tube frame design. 
  Like its competitor, American Machine and Foundry (AMF), Murray left Cleveland in the 1950s and moved its factory and assembly plant to the American South, choosing a factory site in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, with corporate headquarters located in Brentwood, Tennessee. Originally a non-union plant, the Lawrenceburg facility began operations in 1956, and over the next few decades, the complex grew to become one of the largest facilities of its type in the United States: 42.7 acres (173,000 m²) under roof. There was a failed effort by the Teamsters to win a NLRB election in March of 1965. The Teamsters charged unfair labor practices and proceeded to lead a 46-day strike that halted production. On April 12th 50 workers were arrested as the company resumed production. Police locked arms as they protected 1350 workers who drove into the facility. Two picketers were hospitalized, one struck by the car of a non-union worker, one injured by the police. A court declared their pickets illegal, and Tennessee state troopers were brought to the factory to stop picketing by striking workers on April 19th. The company was unable to resume production that day because an electrical transformer was sabotaged by a sniper. The next day the state troopers were initially rebuffed by striking workers, before moving against them again and then clearing a path for the replacement workers. Nine picketers were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct. Two hundred marched from the factory to the jail singing "we shall not be moved" after the arrests. The next day approximately 60 workers were arrested by state troopers. There were still scores of state troopers guarding the facility on May 12th when two explosions went off near the facility that reporters linked to the conflict. So
caption: Murray Roadster
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