There is a sense of pride in seeing many of those names and locations, but I don't attribute any of those to Ted Kennedy.  Those locations are the enteprenural creations of the CT-valley firearms industry, CT aviation industry, and the Detroit auto/aviation industry.

Many non-descript machine shops in the CT river valley are still parts suppliers or vendors to the small-arms industry.  CMT/Stag get a lot of their parts made, treated, finished, etc, from a lot of local companies.  I have a buddy, whose father owns a very small machine shop that is a supplier to some big name gun companies.  There is heat treating, testing, small parts creation and finishing, complex machining like EDM, all sorts of little shops that make jobs by suppling the small arms industry.  Not to mention the shops that make the tooling, prototypes, or supply the lubricants, bits, etc. And this is how it has been for a long, long time as well.  

The real questions would be, how many more shops would still be in business in the region if Kennedy's buddies hadn't taxed the hell out of them, and supported debilitating organized labor demands.   These days, if you want a gov contract, get a woman to be your president on the bid form.