Born in 1909, Tempel Smith left high school after just one year. In 1930, he started working for Webster Electric Co. as a sheet metal worker, and fifteen years later, he was superintendent of the plant. In 1945, he started his own steel lamination company in a rented garage at 1939 W. Bryn Mawr, which he named Tempel Manufacturing. By 1957, he was wealthy enough to import a herd of 21 rare Austrian Lipizzan horses to a 5600 acre horse farm in Lake County. In order to avoid taxes, this endeavor was organized as a subsidiary of his steel company.

The company that became Tempel Steel grew out of the garage to encompass these 21 acres. Smith’s son, Tempel Smith Jr., was ousted as CEO in 1990 and subsequently bought out of the company by his sisters. Since that time, the company has focused on growth overseas, opening factories in Mexico, India, and China. Tempel has announced plans to close this factory, and the campus will likely be redeveloped as housing. For the time being, Tempel still employs hundreds of workers who manufacture laminated magnetic steel here, a key component of electric motors. Part of the railroad spur line which used to bring materials to the factory can still be found, crossing Wolcott at grade just north of Balmoral.