Remembering Conshohocken and West Conshohocken (8 page)

Vistex Brothers out of New York opened a yarn plant in 1929 that would employ more than seventy Conshohocken residents. In 1889, Stanley Lee had his cotton factory in full operation, and in that same year, James and Lawrence Ogden operated a woolen factory. Textile mills employed thousands of residents on both sides of the river for many years, including Superior Knitting Mill, Rambo & Regar Knitting Mill and J&S Lees Textile Mill. Aramink Carpet Mills, owned by James Hall, began in West Conshohocken in 1881 and employed more than fifty residents. The J.N. Susskind Company purchased the old Lee Surgical Supply factory at Eighth Avenue and Harry Street and for many decades manufactured military clothing.

In January 1918, the Ford & Kendig Company of Philadelphia announced the purchase of seven and a half acres from R.V. Mattison of Ambler. The ground was located on Washington Street and was the former site of the Longmead Iron Company. Ford & Kendig was one of the best known manufacturers engaged in the iron pipe and steam specialties business. The firm was incorporated in March 1888 by partners Alfred E. Ford and John Kendig, and the two established their business at 712 Filbert Street in Philadelphia. Within the first year in Conshohocken, nearly 150 residents were employed for the pipe-making business. By 1930, the company announced an expansion that would increase the workforce by another 150 employees to work in the foundry and warehouse. The Ford & Kendig Company ceased operations in the 1980s, and the site is currently one of many office buildings constructed by O'Neill Properties, owned by Brian O'Neill.

Frank Carlile and Leon Doughty were high school buddies, and in their senior year of high school in 1906, the two envisioned a future where the new technology of electricity would power the nation into a new century. By 1912, the two friends had set up a small battery plant in Conshohocken called Carlile and Doughty Batteries, later shortened to C&D Batteries. C&D Batteries operated out of Conshohocken for nearly ninety years before moving its headquarters to Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. The battery company took off in Conshohocken, and by the Second World War, it met the challenges by developing industrial batteries. The company stayed on top of the industry and never failed to expand with the changing demands of technology. Today, C&D Technologies has locations throughout the world, including Mexico, England, Canada, China and several locations in the United States. For more than a century, C&D Technologies has followed the lead of Carlile and Doughty by continuing to meet the technological challenges of the future.

Although we can't mention the hundreds of companies that have had a chapter in the borough's history, here's a list of some of the old—and not so old—factories, mills, companies and other places where Conshohockenites have earned a living for their families.

A few were founded in the 1800s: Longmead Iron Works, 1882; Plymouth Rolling Mill, 1881; H.C. Jones Company, 1880–1950; Colwell's Furnace, 1866; Merion Furnace, 1866; Spring Mill Terra Cotta Works, 1898; Schuylkill Iron Works, 1898; Schuylkill Woolen Mills, 1898; Poulterer & Co. Iron & Steel & Machinery, 1898; A.L. Miller & Co. Planing Mill, 1898; Albion Print Works, 1871; Joseph Whitton Woolen Mills, 1871; John O'Brien Brick Yard, 1871; George Tracy Brick Yard, 1871; George S. Yerks Planing Mill, 1871; Walter Cresson and Brother Saw Factory, 1889; Jacoby & Company Marble Yard and Saw Mill, 1889; Farr & Kinzie Furnace, 1835; Merion and Elizabeth Furnaces and Merion Iron Company in West Conshohocken, 1847; Plymouth Furnaces, 1845; W.C. Hamilton & Sons, 1856; and Merion Worsted Mills, 1891.

A few industries some of us just might remember founded in the 1900s include: the Bentley-Harris Manufacturing Co., 1924; Philip Carey Manufacturing Co., 1902; Coopers Creek Chemical Co., 1938; Empress Hosiery Co., 1937; Flexton Inc., 1946; Francis L. Freas Glass Works, 1905; Glassine Paper Co., 1925; Graeber Machine Works, 1927; Gray's Ferry Brick Company, 1942 (Gray's Ferry Brick Company was located in the former Harrison mansion once located at the corner of Seventh Avenue and Fayette Street, currently the CVS Pharmacy); Kimble Glass Co., 1910; E.J. Levino & Co., 1916; Moser Glass Works, 1914; Philadelphia Steel & Iron Co., 1929; Philadelphia Uniform Co., 1903; Reilly-Whitman-Walton Co., 1923; Tompkins Rubber Co., 1938; United Pattern Co., 1939; Valley Forge Cement Co., 1927; Yergey Peanut Co., 1936; Chrome Alloy Products Inc., 1929; No-Gum Products Co., 1918; and Getz-There Soap Laundry Company, opening in 1908 and employing more than fifty residents. The laundry business was operated out of the old Martin Building once located on Hector Street.

In 1937, the Marsden Glass Corporation moved to Conshohocken following seventeen years of production in Ambler. J.E. Marsden was the owner of the glass company that manufactured the glass vacuum–type coffee maker, for which Mr. Marsden held the patent. The plant was located on the property located at Elm and Ash Streets and employed seventy-five residents.

In December 1930, a new industry began operation in the old Miller Planing Mill owned at that time by C.B. Daring Millwork Company, once located at Elm and Poplar Streets. The construction of miniature golf courses for home use would be manufactured with the help of eight to ten employees. Keep in mind that in 1930, Conshohocken had four public miniature golf courses, and an in-home miniature golf course was very popular at the time. The four public miniature golf courses were the Washita Indoor Course, once located at Sixth Avenue and Harry Street; the Rock Garden Golf Course, located at Sixteenth and Fayette Streets; the Conshohocken Junior Golf Course, run by Henry Feingold and located at Twelfth Avenue and Wood Street; and Fayette Street Junior Golf Course, located at Twelfth and Fayette Streets.

In 1850, when Conshohocken incorporated as a borough, the village had a mere 727 residents and very little, if any, criminal activity. Twenty years later, the young borough was laying down the foundation for becoming a major industrial town. The iron- and millworkers were a young, rough bunch who, upon being paid on Saturday mornings, found themselves in one or more of the local taverns for an afternoon of relaxation. By early evening, the overcrowded bars, some with dirt floors, became a crush of loud voices, rattling bottles and the smell of stale beer.

Generally, the conversations were jovial, and all too often the ironworkers would get to bragging about their abilities as workers. More than once the townspeople were heard saying that “more iron was made in the saloons on Saturday night than made at the mills during the week.” Of course, all of their differences were settled outside.

The workers came from Fulton's two furnaces in Conshohocken and Moorehead's two furnaces in West Conshohocken, and the workers from Spring Mill furnaces were always involved in the weekly fisticuffs, as were the employees from the furnace at Matsunk—now Swedeland—and the mighty ironworkers of Alan Wood. As the industries grew, so did the taverns and saloons, and by 1870, the Saturday night get-togethers also included the quarry workers from Whitemarsh, the lime burners from Plymouth and, of course, the steel workers from Connaughtown.

The Conshohocken Police Department was formed in the early 1870s and was already more than fifty years old when this photo was taken in the mid-1920s. The four-man police force, led by Chief William Heald (standing in the back on the right), was made up of Samuel Himes, Daniel Donovan and Frank Jacquot. Burgess John Hampton is standing in the back on the left. This photograph was taken outside the police lockup once located on West Hector Street.

Eventually, the company workers formed themselves into company gangs. There were the Connaughtowners, the Guineatowners and the Pikers. Just outside of the borough were the Hickerytowners and the Limeburners from Plymouth. Adding to the rowdiness of the Saturday night drinking parties were the boatmen who worked and traveled along the canal, who tied up their boats on Saturday afternoons until they were sober enough to unhitch the boats on or about Monday morning. The town residents also had to contend with workers from the freight trains as well as the free travelers of the trains known as hobos.

Residents who lived in certain parts of town had trouble traveling to other parts of town because the gang mentality transferred to all parts of the community. West Elm Street became known throughout the borough as “the Bowery” and was a very rough stretch of real estate to pass through, especially when an outsider—particularly one from Connaughtown—attempted to make his way through the Bowery. As stated earlier, Lower Maple Street was known as Cork Row, named for the Irish section of town, long before Italians started moving into the borough along Maple Street and Cork Row eventually became known as Little Italy.

By 1871, borough officials were under a lot of pressure from the residents to stop the lawlessness and hire a sheriff or policeman. Borough records show that the town was paying fifty dollars per month for two men in 1871 for part-time police service. The borough hired a constable before hiring any police officers. George McGonigle was hired as constable in 1871 and held the post until 1873. John Stemple, known as “Jacky,” and Michael Wills, who owned and operated a cigar store on Elm Street for many years, wore civilian clothing with badges as an emblem of authority. Too often, the two part-time officers were not taken seriously, and they were always outnumbered on Saturday nights, forcing the hiring of a full-time police officer.

Conshohocken Borough Council honored the request of Burgess William Hallowell, and in March 1873, Jack Harrold was appointed as the borough's first full-time policeman at a salary of forty dollars per month. During Harrold's first year serving as a policeman, he was standing on the corner at Fayette and Hector Streets in front of the newly formed First National Bank of Conshohocken. While Harrold was on duty at two o'clock in the morning, a man whose identity was never discovered stood on the opposite side of the street at what was then known as Saylor's Corner. The unidentified man fired three shots at Officer Harrold from a revolver; one of the bullets grazed his shoulder. Officer Harrold, unfazed, chased the man down Fayette Street, past the canal and lost sight of him along the railroad tracks.

Part of Harrold's duties was to light and extinguish the gas street lamps. A single-room jail cell was set up along the Pennsylvania Railroad, and when Harrold would have more than one man in the cell, especially on a Saturday night, the men would continue their fight or start a new one with a fellow inmate. Harrold was often forced to let one prisoner go to prevent a jail cell fight.

Jack Harrold served the borough as a policeman for four years until 1877. Harrold was an amazing individual, as he later served on town council on and off from 1883 until 1922. He was an outstanding baseball player and played on the borough's very first official ball club, called the Nerve of Conshohocken. He later built one of the town's finest hotels of the day on West Elm Street, later known as Zalik's Hotel. Harrold would often entertain his hotel guests as an accomplished violin player, accompanied by his son Donald “Doc” at the piano. Harrold was also a boxer and trained several great boxers of the day, including James J. Corbett. Harrold was in Corbett's corner when he defeated the great John L. Sullivan in twenty-one rounds for the heavyweight title in New Orleans on September 7, 1892.

Harrold wasn't the only police officer in 1873, although he was the only full-time officer. John Field and Joseph Griffith worked as part-time police officers, making twenty-five dollars per month.

In 1875, the borough leaders recognized the need for a proper police lockup with at least two jail cells, and later two more cells were added. The borough purchased a lot of ground next to the Washington Fire House on the corner of West Hector and Forrest Streets. The borough still operated with one full-time police officer and two part-time officers.