The other day, I
watched an interesting YouTube video on the long-term cultural and political
impact of the Bubonic Plague in Western Europe. At this point, it’s too early
in the game to speculate about the fallout from COVID-19, but you would be
surprised at just how much earlier diseases have impacted our local economy.
Let’s talk typhoid.
Typhoid is an
infection caused by the bacteria Salmonella enterica
entrica. Symptoms include high fever, body ache,
abdominal pain, rash, and vomiting. It is contracted by consuming food or drink
contaminated with feces from an infected person. Today, it is perfectly
treatable with antibiotics, but, before their invention in the 1940s, it was
often fatal. During the Civil War, for example, some 80,000 soldiers died of
it. While there are still the occasional outbreaks throughout the developing
world, typhoid is incredibly rare within the United States and one local
company is part of the reason why.
During the 1880s, there were a series of
typhoid outbreaks across upstate New York. Dr. Hervey D. Thatcher of Potsdam,
New York, was convinced contaminated milk was the culprit and began devising a
way to fight the spread. In those days, the collecting of milk was extremely
unsanitary. Cows were milked into open pails in barns filled with dust and
dung, often by farmers who had not washed their hands. In 1883, he patented a
device he called the milk protector which allowed the milk to flow into a covered
container without human hands coming in contact with either the milk or the
cow. It was a step in the right direction, but it still wasn’t enough for
Thatcher.
Dr. Hervey Thatcher |
At the time, the milkman would come
around with a large can from which he would ladle a customer’s milk into a
vessel of their choice. In the spring of 1884, Thatcher was horrified to
witness a little girl dropping her rag doll into an open can of milk, only for
the milkman to fish it out and continue serving her mother. For the next two years,
Thatcher worked on perfecting a sealable, reusable glass milk bottle to prevent
such contamination. In 1886, he obtained a patent and began having his bottles
hand blown by a company in New Jersey. Throughout the 1880s, he made a series
of improvements to his designs to make them easier to seal and manufacture.
In 1898, Elmira lawyer and businessman
Francis Baldwin met Dr. Thatcher and soon purchased the company. Hand blowing
the bottles was slow going and he wanted to try making them on the Owens vacuum
machine, which would allow for fully automated manufacturing. Over the next
decade, he opened plants in Kane, Pennsylvania (1906); Streeter, Illinois
(1909); and Elmira, New York (1913).
Throughout the 1900s and 1910s, the
company campaigned hard to get dairy farmers to see their sealed, reusable
glass bottles as a more sanitary and economical alternative to the old milk
cans. By the 1930s, states and municipalities across the country had laws
requiring the use of milk bottles for distribution. As series of competitors
sprang up across the country, producing bottles for local their dairies.
The Elmira plant was located just north
of Eldridge Park. At the time, it was the largest milk bottle manufacturing
plant in the world at 86,000 square feet with three furnaces capable of
producing 500 bottles a day. The plant continued to expand. During its heyday,
it was making 1.25 million bottles a day. In 1957, they employed 1,350 people
locally with an annual payroll of over $6 million. Although the company had
half-a-dozen plants across the country, Elmira was the corporate headquarters.
In 1962, they constructed a research center in Big Flats on the corner of
Colonial Drive and County Road 35.
Thatcher Glass Manufacturing Company
became a subdivision of Dart Industries in 1966. In 1985, they were acquired by
Diamond-Bathurst which then went bust in 1987. Today the site is the home of
Anchor Glass, which still uses it to make bottles. Between 1913 and now,
literally thousands of Chemung County residents have had jobs, all thanks to
one man’s quest to stop the spread of typhoid.
I worked at Thatcher Main office 1966-1984
ReplyDeleteAt that time I was hired by Anchor Gkaas to work at their new HQ in Tampa Florida.
Thatcher was purchased by Recall Drug in 1966 which later became Dart Industries
Thacher was purchased in 1981 by Dominick and Dominick a NYC Brokerage House. They went bankrupt within a few years and three of the 6 Plants were purchased by Diamond Bathurst.
They demanded that the other three plants destroy their furnaces so that they could never make bottles again.
I was involved in the purchase of Diamond Bathurst by Anchor Glass Corp. (they did not go bust) Anchor kept most of the plants and became the largest bottle manufacturer in the USA until Owens Illinois purchased Brockway Glass.
A few years later Anchor was purchased by Monterrey Mexico based Vitro Glass. It was the largest hostile takeover of an American Company.
A few years after that Anchor also went bankrupt.
Since then the Elmira plant has been purchased by many companies yet keeps its name as Anchor Glass.
The fact that the Elmira plant has survived these many takeovers is a tribute to the quality and dedication of the Elmira workforce both Management and the rank and file workers.
Sam LEONARD
Hello Mr. Leonard
DeleteNice story. I worked there from 1968 - 1985 , Then ended up in Ga. Warner Robins at Anchor Glass from 1985 - 2014.
I worked in The Hot End & We made some Milk bottles in My early years.
AWESOME STORY !
ReplyDeleteThank you Sam! I enjoy the detailed information!
ReplyDelete-Garry White
Thank you, really enjoyed reading this.
ReplyDelete