Orleans County featured many manufacturers in 1958
40 companies highlighted in annual industrial directory 65 years ago
Speas Manufacturing Company operated in Lyndonville.
By Catherine Cooper, Orleans County Historian
“Illuminating Orleans” – Vol. 3, No. 28
Forty industrial firms operated in Orleans County 65 years ago, according to the 1958 Industrial Directory of New York State. How many can you remember?
The Directory was arranged by different categories. Not surprisingly, the largest number of the Orleans County entries fell under the “Food and Kindred Products” category, fifteen in all:
- Duffy-Mott Company (Holley)
- Empire State Pickling Company (Waterport)
- Friends’ Packing Company of Albion
- General Foods Corporation – Birds Eye Division (Medina and Albion)
- H.J. Heinz Company (Medina)
- Hunt Foods (Albion)
- Lake Shore Packing Company (Waterport)
- Lyndonville Canning Company
- Medina Provision Company
- Morton Canning Company
- Orleans Canning Company (Albion)
- Orleans GLF Farm Products (Albion)
- Rignel Company (Medina)
- Speas Company (Lyndonville)
- Thomas J. Lipton (Albion)
The Duffy-Mott smokestacks were a landmark in Holley.
The “Printing and Publishing” category accounted for five of the entries:
- Albion Advertiser
- Eddy Printing Company (Albion)
- Holley-Standard
- Journal-Register (Medina)
- Orleans-Republican American (Albion)
The Bemis Bag Company (Albion) was the only entry in the “Paper and Allied Products” category.
Four firms were involved in “Lumber and Wood Products”:
- A.E. Vosler Manufacturing Corporation (Medina)
- Kraus Shingle Panel & Lumber Corporation (Lyndonville)
- Shepards Mill (Holley)
- Whitmer Jackson Company (Medina)
The three companies which manufactured “Furniture and Fixtures” were located in Medina:
- Authentic Chair Corporation
- S.A. Cook & Co.
- Taylor Brothers Furniture Manufacturing Company.
Under new ownership in 1967, the American Brakeshoe Company in Medina became part of the ABEX Corporation. (Photo courtesy of Craig Lacy)
Six companies were involved in metal production:
- Acer & Whedon Inc. (Medina)
- A.L. Swett Iron Works (Medina)
- American Brake Shoe Company (Medina)
- Bignall Company (Medina)
- Medina Stamping and Machine Company
- Phinney Tool & Die Company (Medina)
A.L. Swett and the Erie Pump and Engine Company, both of Medina, manufactured non-electrical machinery.
The Clarendon Stone Company and the M & M Stone Company of Albion were listed under “Mining”. Spencer Explosives, Inc. was located in Kendall.
The DiLaura Construction Company which had plants in Albion and Holley made “Stone, Clay and Glass Products.”
Lyndonville’s Weld Shoe Company produced “Leather Products”, while the Robert H. Newell Company of Medina was the only apparel producer.
A few of the companies listed are still in operation, though under different ownership. The Phinney Tool and Die Company of Medina, for example, was purchased by S.B. Whistler & Sons, Inc. of Akron, NY in 2010 but still operates under its original name. Future columns will focus on the “corporate genealogy” of the original industries.
