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The
original company was "Alvah Smith and
Sons". Alvah Smith and Lucinda
Weatherhead had 10 children, but I do not know
which, if any others were involved. This
concern was located on the family farm in
Weatherhead Hollow, a section of Guilford Vt.
Born in 1840, Sanford was the eldest son. He
was in the Civil War at Gettysburg.
Manufacturing expanded after he returned from the
war.
The
first real factory, that I know off, was built on
Broad Brook in Guilford Vt., The
building still stands , there is a
manufacturing concern there, that produces
stuffed trophy animal heads. Sanford and
his wife Ellen Hunt built a house next to this
factory location in 1872, but I do not know which
building was completed first. They moved the
manufacturing into Brattleboro soon after, to
be nearer the train tracks, for receiving supplies
and shipping out finished goods. They moved
into the newly vacant Estey Organ
factory at the base of Main Street Hill,
intersecting with Canal Streets.
I think this
factory burned. You can imagine the large amount
of saw dust in a wooden factory building that
assembled wooden toys, and the simple machinery.
Both the Estey and Smith factories were
plagued by fire. When the Estey factory expanded
again, this time to a large slate faced
factory on Birge street, the Smith and Hunt
factory moved into the newly vacant Estey Factory
on Frost Street. I know that the Smith
Factory had a few fires.
After
one fire, the company was reorganized as S. A.
Smith and Co. and was still owned by
the family. Brattleboro had two organ
companies - the Estey Co. and the Carpenter Organ
Co. With these companies and the Smith toy factory,
there were many
woodworkers living in this small town. Since
the hand tools were owned by the craftsmen who
took them home every evening, re-opening a factory
was not as difficult as you might first expect.
After the fire of 1899, (still an estimate), the
family was not willing to re-build on their own.
There were a number of investors who wanted to
keep the towns second largest employer operating with
Sanford
still in control.
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In 1903, National Novelty Corporation
was formed, linking S. A. Smith & Co. with 37 other toy
companies. In 1907 National Novelty went into receivership then came
out of it as Hardware and Woodenware Manufacturing Co. Each
company maintained its own Identity, and facilities, with
National Novelty Co. as more of a co-op. These companies
did not compete, but rather complimented each other's lines avoiding
duplications, they shared a showroom, and central sales staff
in New York City, at 693-697 Broadway . In 1908
Hardware and Woodenware Manufacturing Co. went into receivership.
Then the Manager Sales Co was formed. At this time the S. A.
Smith Co. was run by Sanford's son, Fred who managed the
business end with Sanford's other son, Charles Alvah,
running the manufacturing end, in both the Brattleboro plant and
a Philadelphia plant. Charles was a mechanical Engineer,
designing most of the machinery and tools, and die cuts for the
firm.
Sanford died in 1911, and
Charles returned from Philadelphia. Fred
died in 1915. Fred's
wife Edith then sold the family's remaining interest and moved to New
Jersey. Charles I
believe did consulting work for the toy factory, as well as for the
Franklin Air cooled Automobile co, of Buffalo, NY, and the Packard
Motorcar Co. of Detroit. Though he never really retired,
Charles had a small sideline hobby/ business of assembling wooden
work clocks , manufacturing over 600 before his death in 1946.
It is my understanding that the co-op was dissolved, with most of
the factories being completely returned to their original owners.
The Smith family was no longer involved. The remaining assets
I believe were merged with a toy factory named Brown in Leominster, Mass. In the 1930's my
grandparents Sanford II, and Lillias Smiths, were approached, to
sell the S. A. Smith name to the company but they refused.
They had a son, Sanford the 3rd, my father, and wanted him to own
the name.
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Original Brattleboro Factory at left
Second Brattleboro Factory |
