TRAFFORD Park became the world's first and largest industrial park in 1896.

At its peak in 1945 there were 75,000 people employed there, but by the mid-1980s decline had set-in and there were just 600 companies and a workforce of about 19,000.

Since February 10, 1987 the Trafford Park Development Corporation has been working with Trafford Park Estates plc and the Trafford and Salford councils to consolidate the future of the area as a world-wide centre of industrial and commercial excellence.

The story is told in - Trafford Park, The First Hundred Years by Robert Nicholls (Phillimore. £20.)

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.