The Mile-Long Factory: Sagamore’s Keith Car Company

Founded in 1846, the Keith Car & Manufacturing Company in Sagamore eventually grew to become the Cape’s largest employer, at one point employing 1,400 people. While they started with stagecoaches and prairie schooners, their legacy was cemented in WWI when they built 40,000 freight cars under contract for use in France. The factory was so massive that it stretched nearly a mile long, essentially defining the village of Sagamore before the expansion of the Cape Cod Canal led to its eventual demolition.

Since 2009, we’ve taken pride in the same kind of local grit that built the Cape’s industrial past, ensuring every project we finish is as resilient as a Sagamore-built rail car.