Luxuray--an employment mainstay in 20th century Fort Plain

By Bob Cudmore, Focus on History, Daily Gazette, Amsterdam

     A textile mill on Willett Street in Fort Plain produced women’s underwear, mainly panties, and was a major employer for most of the twentieth century.

The multi-storied factory was occupied in 1874 by the Shipman Spring and Axle Works, previously located in nearby Springfield and Van Hornsville. Minden town historian Rob Carter wrote, “In the course of a business combination, the factory was removed to Chicago Heights, Illinois, in 1894. The loss of this industry to Fort Plain was keenly felt.”

In about 1900, the Bailey brothers bought the Willett Street complex for their silk mill. That ran until 1931 when a company with the poetic sounding name of Luxuray bought the facility and embarked on an expansion.

“When this work is finished,” wrote the Otsego Farmer newspaper in 1933, “Luxuray Inc. will be one of the most complete and modern underwear plants in the United States, with a force of employees totaling from 250 to 300.”

The Gloversville Morning Herald that year reported Luxuray was implementing two shifts at its Fort Plain factory making rayon underwear. The predominantly female Luxuray employees, most of them operating sewing machines, were regularly noticed in local newspapers for sporting events, employee parties and good deeds. In 1945 many of the women from Luxuray used their own funds to help pay for a bingo party for soldiers recovering from war wounds at a Utica hospital.

Luxuray sold its own line of panties and also supplied lingerie to stores like Macy’s and J.C. Penney’s. Luxuray had a factory store in Fort Plain. Luxuray had several corporate owners. In the 1950s it became part of the Beaunit Corporation. The Fort Plain plant was sold to a group of Mohawk Valley investors in 1974.

“They may not know it,” wrote reporter Charles Tobey in a story in the Courier Standard Enterprise in 1984, “But right now, thousands of women are wearing panties made in Fort Plain.”

"We have people here who have worked 40 or more years in this factory," said plant manager Harry Reeder.

“Ladies' panties always have been the dominant product at Luxuray, although some other items have been manufactured,” Reeder said, “We make everything from a skimpy string bikini up to a size 68-inch hip."

Reeder added, “We like to think of ourselves as a good place to work.” Rolls of cotton, nylon, acetate and other materials were trucked to Fort Plain, and Luxuray’s cutting room staff was responsible for minimizing fabric waste.

From there, the material went to the sewing machine operators, women who comprised the majority of the employees.

Lightning apparently started a fire that damaged the roof of the factory in 1986. The company kept going. Foreign competition led to Luxuray’s demise. The company merged with Johnstown Knit in the closing years of the 20th century,

By 1999 underwear production ceased.

NOSTALGIA CORNER   

   Reader Ronald Johnson wrote, “I was happy to see my grandparents’ Walter and Gertrude Johnson's business (on East Main Street) mentioned in your Sam Stratton column in which Sam meets John Naple.  (Ron’s relatives) started the ice cream business in the 50's and it was one of the first soft serve ice cream stores in the area.  My sister, Linda and I recall the name as Frosty Freeze.  My grandfather had previously run service stations on Church St., Guy Park Ave and Tribes Hill.  My father, Ron and Uncle Walt (both WWII vets) helped their parents in the evenings and weekends as both had full time jobs.  After several years, my grandparents left the business primarily due to their ages and amount of time required.  The location on East Main and Elk later became an insurance business and used car lot.”

Bob Cudmore is a freelance writer.

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