Rowe International Corp. says it will move the production of its jukeboxes to Mexico after nearly a century of making them in Grand Rapids, Mich.

This is a 1948 Model "B" at Rowe International's jukebox museum

The iconic music-machine maker told about 100 factory workers on Thursday that the change will take place in August.

Rowe, one of the largest makers of commercial and residential coin-operated jukeboxes, was founded in Chicago in 1909 and moved its headquarters a few years later to Grand Rapids, where more than 1 million of the machines have been made. A St. Louis-based private equity firm owns the company.

Rowe plans to keep about 70 administrative positions in engineering, sales and accounting in Grand Rapids.

"The downturn in the economy became too much, and we'd done all we could do to keep the company viable here,"

Production will be transferred to a facility in Reynosa, Mexico, near the Texas border. Some Grand Rapids employees will be offered jobs there,