The "Working In Yesterday's Lancaster" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Just finished talking to Jim who used to work at Armstrong Cork Company back in the days when they were the #1 employer in the city of Lancaster, PA.  They made flooring tiles and rolled linoleum at the plant along Liberty Street, about half a dozen blocks from my childhood home on North Queen Street.  Place was built in 1906 on what was a corn field before Armstrong built there.  My grandfather worked there, as did many other Lancastrians, making flooring and eventually ceiling tiles.  Jim was telling me of the glory days for Armstrong when they were the best employer a person could work for in the early to mid 1900s.  Then slowly, sales dropped and people were dropped from the employment rolls.  Jim retired and then lost part of his pension he thought he would have for the rest of his life.  Armstrong wasn't quite the employer that many had hoped.  But, it was the same for manufacturing throughout Lancaster, as it was across the country.  Even back in the mid-1900s our country was losing jobs to other countries.  Lancaster's history of manufacturing has almost disappeared today.  Since I began writing my blog I have had a chance to take photos of quite a few places in Lancaster and the manufacturing plants that still dot the landscape are an interesting feature to Lancaster.  The plants that have not been destroyed have either been made into housing or in some cases remain vacant.  This story will give you an idea of some of the manufacturing that was part of life for many workers in Lancaster and what has happened to it over the last 50 or more years.

The Lancaster Caramel Company was founded in 1886 by Milton S. Hershey.  It was Mr. Hershey's first successful candy company and eventually made him famous.  The company was located in the 300 block of Church Street in Lancaster and employed many in the manufacturing of caramels.  He sold the company in 1900 to the American Caramel Company which operated the business for years until its demise and the eventual demolition of the building.  The Lancaster Caramel Company no longer exists.

The Stehli Silk Mill, built in 1897, was the largest silk mill in the world and employed 2,100 people during their heyday.  It was located in Rossmere which was a few blocks from the home that Carol and I raised our children during the later part of the 1900s.  It was built in Lancaster because it was close to New York and Philadelphia as well as the workers in Lancaster were known for their loyalty and work ethic.  The building had 250,000 square feet for manufacturing.  This building brought the Umbrella Factory to Lancaster, since silk was primarily the main fabric in umbrellas at the time.  The Great Depression took its toll on the silk mill.  It still stands today and at one time was going to be apartment units.  I'm not sure what is planned at this time.

I found this story just after I had finished writing this post.  I thought I would include it here to give you an idea how the Umbrella Factory in my next little segment actually got it start. 
 It’s about 1900 and it’s raining cats and dogs. Where are you going to find the best umbrellas in the world? Lancaster, that’s where. The umbrella business had been gaining momentum in Lancaster since the mid 1800s, but around 1880, William Rose came to town and bought Thomas Spering’s umbrella making business on South Queen Street. After Rose’s death in 1885, his sons, James and David, took over the trade and went into business with H. W. Hartman. Together they formed Rose Bros. & Hartman in 1886. By 1889 they built a new factory at West King and Mulberry Streets. (Story written by Maryann Heckles)

The Umbrella Factory also employed many people when it came to town in 1880.  They were first located on South Queen St. in the city, but built a new factory in 1889 at the corner of West King and Mulberry Streets.  It was one of the world's largest manufacturers of umbrella by 1910.  The building was eventually taken over in 1944 and turned into a furniture store.  Any guesses as to where all the manufacturing jobs might have gone?  In 1986 it was converted into housing units.  The property is still a beautiful landmark on the west side of Lancaster city.

The Hamilton Watch Company was incorporated in 1892 and produced its first watch, known as the 936, in November of 1893.  Up until this time the company was known as the Keystone Standard Watch Co. and the Lancaster Watch Co.  The company was named after James Hamilton who originally owned the land that the company was built upon.  The company was highly successful for many years and had a large workforce to produce the products they made.  But, in 1980 the company was renamed Hamilton Technology and was moved out of the complex, into downtown Lancaster.  With the move went many of the manufacturing jobs that made Hamilton Watch one of the big employers in Lancaster.  

The B.F. Good & Company Leaf Tobacco Warehouse was also a fairly large job producer in the early to mid 1900s.  The warehouse was located at 49-53 West James Street and was built in 1899-1900.  It is a 3 1/2-story, rectangular building designed in the Beaux-Arts style.  Sits on a high foundation of gray limestone.  It was purchased by The Lorillard Tobacco Company in 1920.  Since it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places it will probably always be a part of the Lancaster landscape.  It too is one of the manufacturers that has left the city, but not for the same reason that most of the other manufacturers left. 

The listing of the different businesses that employed many Lancaster workers should show you that Lancaster was a great manufacturing center.  Armstrong Cork was the major provider for many of Lancaster's families.  The extensive manufacturing jobs in watches, silk, umbrellas, candy and cotton goods as well as tobacco products such as cigars supported another large segment of Lancaster.  When all these manufacturing jobs left town it totally changed the work force and what Lancastrians do for employment today.  Today the health care industry is Lancaster's #1 provider of jobs.  Today's jobs don't require the daily sweat and muscle of the past, but a more refined and educated workforce.  Lancaster is still surviving, so I guess we have adapted to the new look that is now Lancaster.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.