In 1938 just before the start of World War II, Connolly Brothers started working at the Eastman Gelatin/Eastman Kodak gelatin manufacturing facility at 227 Washington St. After the war the U.S. entered a period of an economic expansion - Americans were ready to celebrate and they wanted to record their happiness on film. This meant that film-grade gelatine was increasingly in demand and Connolly was there to assist Eastman with their expansion. In fact, for over fifty continuous years Connolly had an on-site office and staff dedicated to new construction and the constant maintenance and upgrading of the plant that was required for the manufacturing process.
With the new century, the digital camera came along and suddenly the market for film-grade gelatine shrank exponentially. The plant that was once thriving with 95% of its production going toward film was slowly being phased out and its future was bleak. The Connolly site office was closed and the Connolly staff dispersed to other projects in more viable industries.
In 2012, Rousselot purchased the plant from Eastman Kodak. Rousselot, a leading world-wide manufacturer of gelatine for the food and pharmaceutical industry, saw the value of the existing operation. They made the decision to salvage the plant, increase its efficiency, and modernize the manufacturing process for the new applications for gelatine.
Rousselot and Connolly rekindled the relationship in 2013 working together on a plant efficiency project to reclaim condensate water used in the manufacturing process. Rousselot engineers devised a plan to reuse condensate water by installing storage tanks in an existing underutilized building.
The new process is being housed in one of the older structures that has been renovated many times over the years by Connolly. Existing slabs and structure were removed to make room for new foundations to set six 15,000 gallon stainless steel tanks. The tanks were rigged into place through openings created in the existing roof structure. Elevated floors and catwalks were designed to gain access to the 25' tall tanks. The Connolly design team collaborated with Rousselot personnel to plan the renovations while Connolly's construction management team scheduled and completed the work.
Connolly is looking forward to collaborating with Rousselot on many re-purposing and new construction projects as they continue to modernize their facilities.