By 1927, company sales were
more than $1.5 million and 450 people worked in the Wabash
factory. Mr. Honeywell’s competitor was W.R. Sweatt and
his Minneapolis Heat Regulator Company. The two companies
had patents which blocked each other from further growth.
They merged to form Minneapolis Honeywell Regulator
Company with Mr. Sweatt as Chairman and Mr. Honeywell as
President. Today, Honeywell Inc. is a multi-national
company with 93,000 employees.
As a leisure interest, Mr. Honeywell developed the
“Honeywell Gardens” north of Wabash in the early 1930’s.
There he raised chow dogs, employed 14 gardeners to
maintain thousands of flowers, trees and other shrubs, and
he built a number of graceful, stone and timber
structures. An amateur photographer, Mr. Honeywell and his
small film crew photographed wildlife and flowers and many
other subjects. His studio is now the clubhouse of the
Wabash Country Club.
He built a country home, called the Lodge, near the
Studio. One room, with a field stone fireplace, pecky
cypress interior, and a timbered ceiling and balcony was
patterened after Hawthorne’s House of Seven Gables that
Mr. Honeywell visited in Salem, Masachusettes. An English
Tudor music room was finished with hand-hewn oak posts and
beams, stucco walls, and a mural of an English inn.
Olive Lutz Honeywell died in 1939 at their Miami Beach
home shortly after a fall at Boca Chita island. Boca Chita
was a small island Mr. Honeywell had purchased in Biscayne
Bay, 20 miles south of Miami.
In that year in Wabash, Mark Honeywell made a commitment
to build the Honeywell Memorial Community Center,
dedicated to his late wife and to his parents. He
established The Honeywell Foundation, Inc. in 1941 to
operate the Center. Final completion of the Center, begun
in 1940, was delayed until 1952 due to the shortage of
materials needed for the war. |
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The Center reflected a change in his philosophy toward
organized recreation. As a youngster, Mr. Honeywell noted
later, “I had no playmates for many miles around. I played
alone; I made largely my own playthings. Before reaching
teenage, I had grown to be an independent youngster.”
Later, he realized that many children were “growing up in
a different environment” and needed the help of organized
programs. The Center’s recreation facilities reflect the
appreciation that Mr. Honeywell had for the activities
operated by Wabash Community Service, now known as the
Wabash County YMCA.
In the late 1950’s he donated his country estate to the Foundation.
Over a long and productive life, Mark Honeywell
contributed much to American industry and to his native
Wabash. He was an independent, innovative, competitive
businessmen with a keen interest in details and
excellence. At the same time, he had a deep concern for
his fellow man and left a legacy that is benefiting
thousands of people every year.
In 1961, the Foundation donated an Olympic-size, outdoor
swimming pool to the City of Wabash.
The Foundation operated the Honeywell Gardens as a public
facility until 1975, when the board decided to build a
planned public golf course and residential development on
the property. Mr. Honeywell had a strong interest in golf.
With the City of Wabash, the Foundation established the
Honeywell Golf Course as a beautiful 18-hole public
facility. The course, which opened in 1980, was named one
of the ten best public courses in Indiana by the
Indianapolis Star in 1990.
Mr. Honeywell’s former Lodge was moved and remodeled to
become the course pro shop and
snack bar.
The Honeywell Golf Course is located off State Road 15
North, less than one mile north of US 24 bypass in Wabash
(260) 563-8663.
Home construction at
The Gardens, a 59-lot development
adjacent to the golf course, began in 1994. For
information about lots and home design guidelines, contact
the Honeywell Center (260) 563-1102. |
