Elmira Clipper Chilled Plow Company

 by Erin Doane, Curator

When you think about bicycle manufacturers in Chemung County, the first company that usually pops into people’s minds is Eclipse. Not many people think of the Clipper Chilled Plow Company. A plow company made bicycles here? Yes! In 1897, its factory at the corner of William and Clinton Streets in Elmira was running day and night, with 150 employees cranking out 65 bicycles every 24 hours. The company also made plows and farm equipment and had a surprisingly turbulent history. 

The Clipper Chilled Plow Company trade card, early 1880s

William G. Strait of Elmira and H.G. Mix and J.G. Green of Williamsport, Pennsylvania organized the Clipper Chilled Plow Company in the early 1880s. By 1890, it employed 21 people manufacturing agricultural implements, including plows and harrows, at its Elmira factory. Just two years later, the company was embroiled in the first of many lawsuits related to its products, its employees, and its non-payment of bills. That first lawsuit was against the National Harrow Company. National Harrow claimed that the Clipper Chilled Plow Company infringed on its patents and went after both the company and dealers of the spring tooth harrows in question. It seems that most, if not all of the cases, were found in favor of Clipper Chilled Plow and the dealers.

With that issue behind it, in 1896 the company started investigating how to diversify its operations into bicycles.  It began negotiations with the Butler Wheel Manufacturing Company of Ohio in September and by May 1897, the “Elmira Special” high grade, full nickel bicycle was on display in the window of Hyland & Brown department store in downtown Elmira.

Elmira Model D bicycle made by the Clipper Chilled Plow Company in the late 1890s

The factory was kept so busy manufacturing bicycles and farm equipment around the clock that security began to slip. Pieces of bicycles and tools began to go missing. At least four employees, including an 18-year-old machinist and a 43-year-old foreman, were arrested for theft. It was around that same time that the company began neglecting to pay its employees on time. At least 20 workers filed suit against the company to get paid back wages in 1897. Oddly enough, that same summer, someone doused a rear room of the factory with oil and lit it on fire. The night watchman discovered the fire just after it had started and was able to extinguish it.

Along with the legal actions against the Clipper Chilled Plow Company for back pay, there was another lawsuit against the company. The plaintiff, Leroy Sunderlin, had been injured on the job. On April 27, 1896, Sunderlin, a 25-year-old shipping clerk, was lowering harrows in a hand-operated freight elevator from the second floor to the first floor. The rope attached to the brake became untied and the elevator dropped down the shaft. Sunderlin was struck by the elevator. His head was badly cut, his right forearm fractured, right leg fractured in the thigh, and left hand crushed. He survived but three fingers on his left hand were amputated, he lost use of his right arm, his set leg ended up being shorter than the other, and his head injuries led to epilepsy.

Sunderlin claimed negligence by the company and filed suit for compensation. Dr. T. A. Dundas, who had responded to the accident and treated Sunderlin on site, also sued the company to get paid for his services that day as had been promised by the company. The doctor won his case and was awarded the $364 due to him plus interest. The jury in Sunderlin’s case, on the other hand, could not reach a decision after a full night of deliberations so he received nothing.

Sunderlin’s accident had ended his employment with the Clipper Chilled Plow Company and his new disabilities prevented him from getting regular work. His wife took on sewing jobs to help support their family with two young sons. He did manage to earn some money by delivering bills and notices for firms within the city. Rumor has it, though, that one of the business owners was not fond of Sunderlin and turned him in to the United States Post Office Inspector for running an illegal mail route. A deputy U.S. marshal arrested Sunderlin on January 4, 1900. After agreeing to no longer make deliveries, Sunderlin was released and not prosecuted. Eventually he found work at American LaFrance.

Clipper Chilled Plow Company factory, c. 1890s

Back at the Clipper Chilled Plow Company, there were more business and legal troubles. In June 1900, 31 employees walked off the job and filed lawsuits because they had not been paid on time. Shortly after they went back to work, a constable arrived at the factory and removed a number of plows and bicycles to cover debts owed by Clipper Chilled Plow Company to other businesses. On August 25, 1900, the Chemung Canal Bank, the company’s largest creditor, took possession of the factory and shut it down. The factory reopened in mid-October but it was destroyed by a massive fire on November 1.

The Clipper Chilled Plow plant was insured by 13 different companies but none of them were willing to cover their portion of the estimated $40,000 in damages. The factory was equipped with a sprinkler system but the factory’s watchman signed an affidavit that on the night of the fire the faucet had been turned off. When Chemung Canal Bank took the insurance companies to court, the watchman went back on the affidavit and testified that he had turned the faucet off earlier but had turned it back on again just a couple hours before the fire broke out. The court found in favor of the Chemung Canal Bank and the insurance companies had to pay up.

After the fire, the Clipper Chilled Plow Company moved to Elmira Heights and operated until 1907 when it shut down for good.

 

 

Working at the Elmira Knitting Mills

by Erin Doane, Curator

Elmira Knitting Mills was one of the first industries in Elmira Heights. It was founded in 1893 by five Elmira men – Matthias Arnot, Charles M. Tompkins, Harlan H. Hallock, Casper G. Decker, and William Bilbrough – for the manufacture and sale of woolen, cotton, and silk goods and garments. For 70 years, it was a major employer of hundreds of men, women, and children in the area. From the beginning, it drew in new employees with promises of steady work in a pleasant, clean, safe environment. The company was not always able to keep those promises.

Elmira Knitting Mills in Elmira Heights with employees, c. 1895

There’s no real way to know if the promise of a pleasant workplace was fulfilled. The company ran frequent help wanted ads in the local newspapers to recruit new employees. That may be a sign that it wasn’t as pleasant or clean a place to work as the company claimed. Conditions in the factory were likely similar to other textile mill at the time with stifling temperatures in the summer, loud machinery, and clouds of lint in the air that was impossible to keep out of employees’ lungs. In 1956, there were reports of noxious odors emanating from the mill property. The smells were coming from a pond next to the factory into which waste dyes used in the plant were dumped. That doesn’t seem particularly clean or pleasant.

Star-Gazette, July 16, 1956

The promise of safety is a bit easier to quantify. Over the years, various accidents at Elmira Knitting Mills made it into the newspaper. In 1895, a 14-year-old boy who had just started working at the mill that day was injured while riding in the elevator. He was looking over the edge when his head got caught between the elevator and the floor. Fortunately, a worker saw and was able to stop the elevator before he suffered more than a bad scalp wound, a broken chin, and several knocked-out teeth. In the 1910s, at least two employees cut their hands so badly on machinery at the mill that they had to have fingers amputated. In 1944, an 18 year old suffered chemical burns on his hands. That same year, a man lost two toes when his right foot got caught in an elevator. No word if it was the same elevator in which the 14-year-old was injured years before.

View inside the sewing department at Elmira Knitting Mills, c. 1900

The promise of steady work was one that was fairly easy for Elmira Knitting mills to keep during both World Wars. In 1918, the factory turned to war production. It manufactured 159,000 winter drawers and 13,000 winter undershirts for soldiers fighting in the Great War. The recession after 1920 brought hard times, but the company was able to partially overcome its financial problems by introducing the production of women’s rayon underwear. When World War II came around, the company received lucrative contacts to produce gloves, sweaters, underwear, and other clothing for the U.S. military.

Display of products of Elmira Knitting Mills, 1944

In 1945, right after the war, the plant underwent major upgrades. New sewing machines, new tables, and better lighting were added. Changes were also made in how employees worked. Better groupings of workers on single projects were made, rest periods of 10 minutes were added in mid-morning and mid-afternoon, and a public address system played music for about 15 minutes each hour. The previous staff of about 350 was reduced to 250, but production increased because of the improvements that had been made. So, for about 100 employees, work abruptly stopped being steady.

Elmira Knitting Mills, 1941

Despite the reduction in the workforce, Elmira Knitting Mills enjoyed post-war prosperity for years. In 1957, the mill manufactured 120,000 cotton garments a week including shirts, panties for women, children’s sports shirts, pajamas, and children’s bibs. It produced 25 different items in all. It sold primarily to chain stores, but also did work for the military, making over 12 million shirts for the Army, Navy, and Marines. The company did about $2.5 million in business a year.

By the early 1960s, however, business went into steep decline because of increased competition and the loss of major contract from two of the company’s large customers. In September 1963, Elmira Knitting Mills closed its doors for good.