75 Hammond St., Worcester.

George F. Wright organized the first factory for his wire cloth in Palmer and then opened the Worcester plant on Hammond Street in 1889 as Wright and Colton Wire Cloth Co. Samuel H. Colton was his partner. In 1902, it became the Wright Wire Co.

George F. Wright started the business with his sons, Herbert Wright and George M. Wright. George Wright would make a name for himself not just as a business owner, but as mayor of Worcester in the early 1900s.

The company that made the Wright family fortunes produced not only wire cloth, but chicken wire, window screens, wire rope and cable, and scores of other steel products.

Around 1910, the company fell victim to a common scourge of manufacturing buildings, and many residential buildings of the era as well: A fire nearly destroyed the building.

The building was rebuilt in 1915 (the date now...