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Dark days in Amsterdam in 1955

By Bob Cudmore

The announcement that Bigelow-Sanford Carpet Company was leaving Amsterdam for Thompsonville, Connecticut shocked Amsterdam residents and brought joy to people in Thompsonville.  The move eliminated 1,650 jobs in Amsterdam, most of them employed in weaving Axminster, a patterned carpet with a cut pile.  A 12-person plastic manufacturing plant remained in Amsterdam. 

“I remember the announcement of their leaving broadcast over WCSS in 1955 that made the rumors official,” recalled Rochester resident and Amsterdam native Dave Northrup. “It cast a real pall over the city.”

Company president James D. Wise broke the news at Noon on Saturday, January 29.  The local papers didn’t print the story until Monday.  Historian Hugh P. Donlon said those were “dark days.”

Wise cited competition from new tufted carpet mills in the South, plus competition from woven carpet plants in America and overseas as reasons for consolidation.  Local wisdom has held that corporate control passed outside of Amsterdam when the Sanford family merged their company with Bigelow-Hartford in 1929.  

New York Governor Averill Harriman moved quickly to publicly pressure Stephen “Laddie” Sanford, the company’s largest stockholder, to do what he could to save jobs in Sanford’s native Amsterdam. 

But Sanford, then living in Florida, told reporters, “Conditions in the carpet industry are very bad making it necessary for us to cut down on our overhead.”

Local leaders had been aware of the possibility of Bigelow-Sanford’s departure.  A community drive had raised $300,000, secured land for an industrial park on Edson Street and work had begun on a new factory building.  Local officials offered the building to Bigelow-Sanford.

The president of the Amsterdam Chamber of Commerce, Karl Kempf, told the Daily Gazette that unsuccessful efforts had been made to bring about a merger of Bigelow-Sanford and Amsterdam’s other major rug maker, Mohawk Mills.  Kempf said, “Such a merger would have been of obvious benefit to Bigelow-Sanford stockholders.”

Kempf said the move to Connecticut was, “An injustice both to Amsterdam and to the company’s stockholders.”

That January weekend Harriman dispatched his new Commerce Commissioner, Edward P. Dickenson, to Amsterdam for meetings with local leaders.  Fred Krokenberger of the textile union told Dickenson his members had accepted concessions.  Krokenberger noted that while Amsterdam only had four union grievances in four years, workers in Thompsonville had participated in 17 work stoppages in two years. 

Some said the move was engineered by Connecticut’s Governor Abraham Ribicoff, who had met Bigelow-Sanford officials at their 140 Madison Avenue offices in New York City in December 1954.

In Thompsonville, a section of the town of Enfield, prayers of thanksgiving were offered up at Sunday church services that weekend.

Theodore Misaszek, president of Local 2188 of the Textile Workers Union of America was pleased for his workers and community but added, “We feel sorry for the people of Amsterdam and our sincere sympathy is with them.”

In October 1955 more than two million square feet of Bigelow-Sanford factory space divided into 21 parcels was offered for sale at an Amsterdam auction, along with company houses and vacant lots.  According to historian Donlon, property assessed at $5 million brought total bids of only $300,000.

Thompsonville merchant Frank Tokarczyk happily told a reporter in 1955 he hoped Bigelow-Sanford would stay 125 years.  However, by 1971 the company had closed its Thompsonville mills after moving manufacturing to southern states.

The Enfield Historical Society in Connecticut has an Axminster carpet loom from Bigelow-Sanford’s Thompsonville plant on display at their museum at 1294 Enfield Street.  There is still carpet in the loom and society president Tony Secondo would be happy to show it you.  More information on carpet making in Thompsonville is on the Web site, http://www.enfieldhistoricalsociety.org

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Master furniture maker John Los will be the featured speaker for the first Wednesday lecture of the Old Fort Johnson summer  series. He will demonstrate how the classic American Windsor chair was made, using four variations of the style that he built and donated to Old Fort Johnson.

Saturday, June 17, 2023-From the archives- Friday, August 31, 2018-Historians Episode 230-Presidential historian David Pietrusza discusses his book, “TR’s Last War: Theodore Roosevelt, the Great War and a Journey of Triumph and Tragedy.”

Sunday, June 18, 2023-Focus on History- Up on the roof

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Mohawk Valley Weather, Thursday, June 15, 2023

60 degrees in The City of Amsterdam at 6:15AM

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