Charles Belsky was born in Lomza, Russia, on May 11, 1887 or 1888, as several researched accounts differ. He immigrated to the United States in 1904. The 1909 Holyoke City Directory indicates he resided at 42 Ely Street and operated a grocery store at 93 N. East Street.
In 1911, Mr. Belsky formed a partnership with Abraham Goldberg, known as the Belsky & Goldberg Company. The business was located at 4 Mechanic Street, and dealt with buying and selling cotton and woolen rags, wiping rags, scrap iron, and other metal and rubber items. The company also produced washing, wiping, and polishing rags. The quantities available for sale were variable from five pounds to one thousand-pound bales.
In 1916, the partners purchased a 10-year-old, three-story building at what was then numbered 72 and 73 Race Street (subsequently renumbered to 226 Race Street) to conduct their business. The building was situated between Appleton and Cabot Streets.
On January 17, 1921, the Belsky & Goldberg Co. partnership was formally dissolved.
Upon the demise of the Holyoke Plush Company in 1925, located at the northwest corner of Main and South Streets, Charles Belsky & Company purchased the land and buildings at a public auction on August 24, 1925. The business address was 651 Main Street.
In March of 1936, the banks of the Connecticut River overflowed, spilling four and a half feet of water into the basement of the business. The company prepared for flooding by elevating its equipment in the basement; however, several hundred tons of stock were ruined. The office, located in a separate building, had two and a half feet of water, which warped the wooden furniture.
In August of the same year, the company was awarded the contract from American Writing Paper Co. to remove the paper-making equipment from the Dickensen and Holyoke Paper Mills. The company would salvage some machinery for reuse and scrap the remainder.
On November 20, 1939, a raging fire destroyed a significant portion of the mill complex. Mr. Belsky had just arrived from a trip to Pittsfield in late afternoon and found two employees fighting a fire adjacent to a baling machine on the factory's second floor. A spark from an electrical switch had set the bales on fire. All forty employees were ordered out of the building for their safety, and the fire department arrived to battle the blaze. They could not enter the building due to thick smoke and intense stench.
The heavy weight of the water-soaked paper and rags caused the floors to collapse, and the fire spread to the third floor and out the back. The fire was contained within three hours, although firefighters were called back when new fires emerged from the embers in previously unburned areas.
Firefighters did save the one-story building used as the office; however, on March 12, 1940, another fire destroyed this building.
In October 1940, the American Thread Company sold the former Merrick Thread Mill No. 2, located at 532-580 Main St., to Charles Belsky & Co. This building was situated on the west side of Main Street, between Adams and Jackson Streets. An additional parcel was purchased in 1943 to facilitate future expansion. This would become the business's home until 1985.
In the 1940s and early 1950s, the company was awarded contracts by the U. S. Navy to supply paper products and wiping rags.
Tragedy struck the Belsky family on March 17, 1949, when Charles Belsky and his 33-year-old son, Attorney Abraham Belsky, were both killed in an auto accident in Maryland.
The family continued with Charles Belsky's sons, Theodore and Robert, who filled the Treasurer's position. Charles Belsky's daughter, Gloria (Belsky) Klarfeld-Solin, became the corporate president. In 2010, her obituary described her as "a pioneer among women manufacturing executives and for many years a clinical psychologist."
Over the years, portions of the building were leased to Elco Dress Company, Winfield Hat Company, Barclay Upholstery, Clark's Department Store, and others, while the family business continued to operate. Spinoffs from its enterprise included Readywipe Sanitary Wiping Cloths, Ready Disposable Mops, and Ready-Dri Floor Absorbent.
In August 1956, the city granted a permit to Charles Belsky Co. to demolish the former Germania Mills Housing at 349-387 Park (now renamed Clemente) Street. The two-and-a-half-story attached building once housed thirty families. The vacated area would be used for parking.
In November 1986, the Charles Belsky Company sold the building at 532-580 Main Street to Leon Barlow and Martin Clayton, doing business as B+C Realty Trust. Since 2012, the property has been owned by Haupstrasse LLC.
Citations:
Newspapers.com (paid subscription): Citations: Holyoke (Massachusetts) Transcript & Transcript-Telegram; Springfield (Massachusetts) Republican; publication dates and pages are shown.
Ancestry.com (paid subscription), Price & Lee City Directories, Holyoke, Massachusetts.
MapGeo, Holyoke, Massachusetts, Assessors' Office
No comments:
Post a Comment