From Boilers to Biotech

From Boilers to Biotech. East Boston. , Hodge Boiler Works was a metalworking shop that operated in East Boston for 130 years, weathering more than a century of change. When Ebenezer Hodge founded the business in 1864, it was surrounded by shipyards that built and repaired wooden sailing ships. But Hodge's business was based on a new technology that would soon make wooden shipyards obsolete , iron steamships. Hodge specialized in building marine boilers that powered steamships, even supplying boilers to retrofit wooden sailing ships., After Ebenezer Hodge's death in 1891, his business partner, John Lynch, assumed ownership of the company. The business would remain in the Lynch family for four generations. By the early 1900s, Hodge Boiler was manufacturing water towers, boilers to heat buildings, and boilers for steam trains., As steam engines in turn became obsolete, the company transitioned to building autoclaves, containers that can withstand high temperature and pressure. Autoclaves are used for aircraft manufacturing, sterilizing hospital equipment, and many other purposes. Although Hodge Boiler was remarkably resilient, the East Boston shop closed in the mid 1990s, part of a broader decline in New England., [Captions:] , Top Hodge Boiler workers pose with an enormous scotch marine boiler, circa 1890s. Hodge boilers like this one powered many coastal steamships and ferries along the Eastern Seaboard in the late 19th century., Bottom images left to right , Originally located a quarter-mile away on Liverpool Street, Hodge Boiler Works moved to this harbor-front site in 1902. Here, two boilers are loaded on a barge at the company's docks for transport in 1931., Hodge Boiler Works workers and customers pose with a newly built autoclave circa 1980s., In 1964, Hodge Boiler Works built a special hyperbaric, or high pressure, operating chamber for Boston Children's Hospital. A major technological advance, the chamber allowed surgeons to safely perform life-saving corrective heart surgery on infants for the first time. The photos capture the chamber's delivery and completed installation at the hospital.