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On this date in Maine history: Dec. 10
By Joseph Owen
Richard Dyke, founder of Bushmaster rifles, photographed in 2011. Staff photo by John Ewing
Dec. 10, 2010: Bushmaster Firearms International announces it plans to close its assembly plant in Windham, effective the following March 31.
Founded in 1973, the company employs 73 workers in Maine at the time of the announcement.
Bushmaster’s parent company, North Carolina-based Freedom Group Inc., says in a news release that the Windham staff will get comprehensive severance packages and help finding new jobs. The parent organization will keep the Bushmaster name and transfer manufacturing to plants elsewhere.
The following June, former Bushmaster owner Richard Dyke and other investors announce a plan to reopen the Windham site and manufacture rifles there under the name Windham Weaponry. Their enterprise expects to hire back about half of the 73 people who lost their jobs in the closure.