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{{Infobox company
| name = Sprague Electric
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== Sprague Electric: Early years (1942–1960) ==
After the [[Pearl Harbor attack|Japanese
One of Sprague Electric's biggest contributions to the war effort was in the manufacturing of the variable timing [[proximity fuse]].<ref name="MCLA" /> The proximity fuse was a small transmitter (and in some cases a receiver) built on a bomb or artillery shell that would detonate the bomb or shell before impact, causing greater destruction. Sprague Electric continued to make capacitor and resistive components to meet military requirements of quality and reliability. Robert C. Sprague was also a member of War Production Board for the Advisory Committee on Capacitors (1942-1945).
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In the 1980s, Sprague Electric was a division of [[Penn Central]]. In 1981, John L. Sprague, the younger son of Robert C. Sprague, was named chief executive.<ref name="takesover" /> John Sprague tried to bring the employees and management closer together. The ''Sprague Log'' increased its frequency of publication, and again emphasized the need to work together. During his leadership, sales of Sprague Electric products still grew steadily but not the company's profits. Capacitor products from overseas as well as other electrical and electronic components were cutting into sales from US manufacturers.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Schoepfle|first=Gregory K.|title=Imports and Domestic Employment: Identifying Affected Industries|journal=Labor Review|date=August 1982|pages=13–14|url=http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/1982/08/art2full.pdf|accessdate=2014-01-12}}</ref> Also by the 1980s, many electronic assembly plants were overseas, and there was more inclination to buy local or from areas closer to assembly. This was an area Sprague Electric could not compete. Even though sales of Sprague products reached $500 million in the mid-1980s, the Sprague division continued to reorganize. In 1985, it was announced that the Sprague division headquarters would move to [[Lexington, Massachusetts]], and the North Adams plant would close down.<ref>{{cite web|last=Log April 1985|first=Sprague|title=Sprague Consolidates Headquarters|url=http://www.mcla.edu/StaticContent/Library/Sprague/1985_Issue1.pdf|work=April 1985|publisher=Sprague Electric|accessdate=2013-03-09}}</ref> As a company Penn Central focused on profits; it viewed Sprague Electric performance as unsatisfactory, and gradually closed or sold off operations. Sprague was spun off from Penn Central in 1987 under the holding company Sprague Technologies.<ref>{{Cite web| title = Penn Central to spin off electronics unit| work = UPI| accessdate = 2018-08-30| url = https://www.upi.com/Archives/1987/05/14/Penn-Central-to-spin-off-electronics-unit/4873547963200/}}</ref> In 1990, Sprague sold its semiconductor unit to Sanken Electric of Japan.<ref>{{Cite news| issn = 0362-4331| last = Ap| title = Deal for Sprague Unit| work = The New York Times| accessdate = 2018-08-30| date = 1990-10-02| url = https://www.nytimes.com/1990/10/02/business/deal-for-sprague-unit.html}}</ref> Many of the capacitor products were sold in 1993 to [[Vishay]], a leading manufacturer of components used in electronics for industrial and military/space applications.<ref>{{cite web|last=Timeline|first=Vishay|title=Timeline|url=http://www.vishay.com/landingpage/50year/main.swf|publisher=Vishay|accessdate=2013-03-09|type=[[Adobe Flash]]}}</ref>
After Sprague Electric's permanent closing in North Adams, the population of North Adams dropped by 4,000 and the unemployment climbed to 14%. The biggest employer was gone and the site was rusting and decaying.<ref>[http://cr4.globalspec.com/blogentry/2733/The-Sprague-Electric-Company-s-Long-Goodbye-Part-1 The Sprague Electric Company's Long Goodbye Pt1-4]</ref> Removal and cleanup of the [[industrial waste]], including carcinogenic [[polychlorinated biphenyl]]s (PCBs) were also lingering problems. In 1996, 17 homes were demolished on Alton Place, Avon and West Main Streets in the [[Braytonville]] area due to the vaporizing of a toxic trichloroethylene (TCE) plume of groundwater seeping west from the Brown Street site.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzqahyk01bY TCE Contamination: North Adams, Massachusetts]</ref>
=== Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art ===
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[[Category:Manufacturing companies based in Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Capacitor manufacturers]]
[[Category:History of radio in the United States]]
[[Category:Sprague family]]
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