Greenfield Enterprises

In 1967 I made a career decision to leave the electronics industry and Collins Electronics to attend college and pursue a career in education. This was also the year when I acquired and repaired my first antique clock. With limited income, and the expenses of college ahead, money was pretty tight, so I started a little part-time business that I cal... led Greenfield Enterprises. Direct dial telephone service was relatively new and the phone company designated the Trappe Md. Exchange as "Greenfield-6" or "GR6", which corresponds to the 476-, which is still in use today. A street was also renamed "Greenfield Avenue", so "Greenfield" seemed like a good name for my business as well. The business at this point was mostly confined to subcontract assembly of electronic circuit boards for Fisher Mfg. Co., Seaford Delaware, refurbishing and selling used bicycles, and repairing an occasional radio or "whatever got in the way". By 1972 the ten-speed bicycle craze was in full bloom and I had taken on selling and servicing a line of "better quality" Japanese bicycles. I developed a reputation for quality work and reasonable prices. The bigger shops in the next town would even send me some of their more challenging repairs. The bike shop had been good to me, but after graduating, and securing a teaching position, I soon realized that there just was not enough time to do both, so the retail business was closed. Greenfield Enterprises continued, largely out of the public eye, as the contract operator for the local municipal water system until I left the teaching profession in 1990. At that time, Greenfield Enterprises also began performing mechanical maintenance, welding, and food processing machine restoration for a local canning factory and equipment exporter. The canning industry in this area was in decline and the factory was eventually forced to closed, and the city gave the utility operation contract to a large corporation, so in 2004, being eligible for Social Security and a small teacher's pension, I retired. Retirement ...Read More