Paoli Research Center
The Paoli Research Center was a research and development facility established in 1954 by the Burroughs Corporation, then known as the Burroughs Adding Machine Company. It was created a university campus like setting in the Philadelphia suburb of Paoli, Pennsylvania for the Burroughs Research Laboratory, then located at 511 North Broad Street in Philadelphia. The initial focus was for the development of business accounting systems and experimental work in electromechanics. The Paoli Research Center grew over the years and was the source of many research contribution to computing, including work on computing hardware design, programming languages, algorithms and defense applications.
The research center continued after Burroughs and Sperry Corporation merged to become Unisys and performed both research for the Unisys corporation as well as for government sponsors. Research topics included artificial intelligence, computational linguistics, database systems, software engineering and bioinformatics. In the 1990 the research staff was relocated to Unisys' nearby Great Valley facility and the Paoli building was sold in 1992, demolished and replaced with condominiums and an assisted living center.
History
Establishment
In the early 1950s, the Burroughs Corporation sought to expand its electronics research capabilities beyond its existing laboratory at 511 North Broad Street in Philadelphia. Under the direction of Irven Travis, a former professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School of Electrical Engineering, the company looked for a location that could offer a "university campus-like setting" to attract top scientific talent.In 1951, Burroughs purchased a 12-acre plot of the John H. Dingee estate in Paoli, a suburb on the Philadelphia Main Line. The site was chosen for its proximity to the Pennsylvania Railroad and the residential communities of Chester County.
Construction and Architecture
The facility was designed by the architectural firm Walker-Yeomans Associates with Aaron Colish and Frank E. Hahn serving as associate architects. Construction was carried out by the Baton Construction Company and completed in 1954 at a cost of approximately $5 million.The modern, L-shaped building featured two long, two-story laboratory wings and a central section emblazoned with a large "B" logo, which is visible from U.S. Route 202. The facility included an administrative quadrangle, a cafeteria, an auditorium, and a library. It opened with a staff of nearly 400 employees, including physicists, mathematicians, and engineers.