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===Growth of industry=== The arrival of the railways had the effect of transforming Rugby from a rural backwater, into a substantial industrial town. In the later half of the 19th century, local industries began to develop: Large-scale [[cement]] production began in the town in 1862 when the [[Rugby Cement|Rugby Lias Lime & Cement Company Ltd]] was founded to take advantage of the locally available deposits of [[Blue Lias]] [[limestone]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Rugby Portland Cement Company Ltd. |url=https://www.cementkilns.co.uk/cc_rpcc.html |publisher=Cement Kilns |access-date=25 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181026025059/https://www.cementkilns.co.uk/cc_rpcc.html |archive-date=26 October 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="RGOAT"/> A factory producing [[corset]]s was opened in 1882, employing local women, this survived until 1992, by which time it was making swimwear.<ref name="Rughistim"/> In the 1890s and 1900s heavy [[engineering]] and electrical industries began to set up in Rugby, attracted by its central location and good transport links, causing the town to rapidly grow into a major industrial centre: [[Willans and Robinson]] were the first engineering firm to arrive in 1897,<ref>{{cite web|title=THE WILLANS WORKS|url=https://www.ourwarwickshire.org.uk/content/article/power-people-willans-works|publisher=Our Warwickshire|access-date=7 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180308103605/https://www.ourwarwickshire.org.uk/content/article/power-people-willans-works|archive-date=8 March 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> building steam engines to drive electrical generators, they were followed by [[British Thomson-Houston]] (BTH) in 1902, who manufactured electrical motors and generators. Within a short time, their product range expanded, and a wide array of electrical equipment came to be produced by BTH at Rugby. Both firms started producing [[turbine]]s in 1904, and were in competition until both were united as part of [[General Electric Company|GEC]] in 1969. Another name associated with Rugby was [[Lodge Plugs]], manufacturer of [[spark plug]]s, who set up a factory in the town in 1916.<ref name="RLHGind">{{cite web|title=Industrial Town β From 1836 to now|url=https://www.rugby-local-history.org/industrial-town-from-1836-to-now/|publisher=Rugby Local History Group|access-date=7 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180308104242/http://www.rugby-local-history.org/index.php/industry?id=75|archive-date=8 March 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> For most of the 20th century, the various engineering works dominated employment in Rugby; at their height in the 1960s, BTH alone employed around 22,000 people.<ref name="WWBTH">{{cite web |title=Trip down memory lane for BTH workers in Rugby β and remembering when the town won at Wembley |url=https://www.warwickshireworld.com/heritage-and-retro/retro/trip-down-memory-lane-for-bth-workers-in-rugby-and-remembering-when-the-town-won-at-wembley-3853912 |publisher=Warwickshire World |access-date=4 October 2022 |date=23 September 2022}}</ref> Rugby expanded rapidly in the early decades of the 20th century as workers moved in. By the 1940s, the population of Rugby had grown to over 40,000, and then to over 50,000 by the 1960s.<ref name="Histpop"/>
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