Lancastrian painter L.S. Lowry captured them on canvas as they swarmed through the factory gates.
But after 117 years the factory will fall silent for the last time today with the loss of 100 jobs.
Currently trading as Mathers Foundry, it has struggled with three takeovers in as many years - and the gradual shrinking of its workforce
The company, which had a global reputation, moved to its Newton Heath site in 1900 with the building of a two-storey administration building.
That was the start of moving to and developing the Park Works, joining with Dowson, Taylor and Company Limited, to form Mather Platt.
The site covered 50 acres and had direct access to the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway.
The first machine shop started life as the Machinery Annexe of the Paris Exhibition of 1900; Mather and Platt's staff travelled to France, dismantled it and shipped it to Manchester via the Manchester Ship Canal, then re-erected it.
The site expanded over the years, eventually incorporating a research laboratory, an iron foundry and a sports ground.
In 2008 200 jobs were saved when it was bought from the Weir Group by the West Midlands based Westley Group who pledged to work with its 'highly-skilled and dedicated' workforce.
But in 2011 it was taken over again by Indian engineering giant, WPIL. The foundry was recently used as a set in the new series of Peaky Blinders, the TV drama about a Birmingham crime gang from the 1920s.
But after 117 years the factory will fall silent for the last time today with the loss of 100 jobs.
Currently trading as Mathers Foundry, it has struggled with three takeovers in as many years - and the gradual shrinking of its workforce
The company, which had a global reputation, moved to its Newton Heath site in 1900 with the building of a two-storey administration building.
That was the start of moving to and developing the Park Works, joining with Dowson, Taylor and Company Limited, to form Mather Platt.
The site covered 50 acres and had direct access to the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway.
The first machine shop started life as the Machinery Annexe of the Paris Exhibition of 1900; Mather and Platt's staff travelled to France, dismantled it and shipped it to Manchester via the Manchester Ship Canal, then re-erected it.
The site expanded over the years, eventually incorporating a research laboratory, an iron foundry and a sports ground.
In 2008 200 jobs were saved when it was bought from the Weir Group by the West Midlands based Westley Group who pledged to work with its 'highly-skilled and dedicated' workforce.
But in 2011 it was taken over again by Indian engineering giant, WPIL. The foundry was recently used as a set in the new series of Peaky Blinders, the TV drama about a Birmingham crime gang from the 1920s.
