Workers are shown inside Russell Engineering Works in this undated photo from the mid-20th century. Photo courtesy Libby Russell
Over five generations, the Russell family built landing crafts to storm the beaches in World War II and hydrogen tanks for the space program. Richard Russell even engineered and supervised the construction of the foundation of one of Boston’s most iconic skyscrapers, the tower at Prudential Center.
They did it all from a sprawling complex of foundries and workshops tucked into a nondescript assortment of warehouses and sheds tucked along Dot Ave near Savin Hill.
Last week, after 142 years of Dorchester-based innovation and craftsmanship, the James Russell Engineering Works fired its furnaces for the last time. Richard Russell’s children, none of whom followed in their dad’s engineering footsteps, sold the firm to the Ohio-based conglomerate Worthington Industries in 2014, three years after their dad passed away at age 82. Last year, in a separate transaction, they sold the buildings and land for a reported $5.25 million to the Morningside Group, which is controlled by a China-based businessman named Gerald Chan.