Hawthorne Works was a large manufacturing facility located in Cicero, Illinois, established by the Western Electric Company in 1905. It produced electrical equipment, including telephone components, and became one of the largest industrial plants in the United States. The facility was known for its innovative production techniques and played a significant role in the development of mass production methods.
The site gained historical significance due to the Hawthorne Studies, a series of experiments conducted in the 1920s and 1930s. These studies explored the effects of various working conditions on employee productivity and led to important insights in industrial psychology and management practices, emphasizing the importance of social factors in the workplace.