As the name of the corporation suggests, the Springfield PhotoMount Company was indeed formed in Springfield, Massachusetts, in June 1919. Having hailed from Holyoke, I never gave the name a second thought because of its longevity in Holyoke.
The original incorporators were Albert Webber with 40 shares, Noah B. Levine with 40 shares, and Perley P. Langevin with 20 shares, for a total of 100 shares of stock authorized.
On December 31, 1921, William Shaine purchased the 40 shares held by Noah B. Levine, with the stipulation that the remaining 20 shares held by Mr. Langevin be equally shared by Mr. Webber and Mr. Shaine, each then owning 50 shares.
William Shaine was born in Russia in 1870 and emigrated to the United States at the age of 19. His first job was as a farm helper in Manchester, New Hampshire, earning $10 per month. He moved on to work in a lumber mill and at the Woosocket Rubber Company before opening his own grocery store in Somerville, Massachusetts.
Springfield Photo Mount began its operations at 49-51 Taylor Street in Springfield. With 6 workers in 1922, the company had gross sales of $48,000, double those of the previous year. By June 1925, the company employed 68 workers.
Mr. Webber was the company president, and Mr. Shaine the Treasurer. After errors occurred in the stock transfers amongst the three officers, which were resolved by court action, Mr. Shaine purchased and owned the entire business in 1924. Joining him were his daughter and son, Jennie, a practicing lawyer, and Samuel, the sales manager.
In 1925, the company added products to its photograph mount line, which was its main product sold to photographers. These included albums for photographs, memorandum books, scrapbooks, autograph albums, and telephone indexes, all sold by chain stores.
The company had recently installed new equipment, including printing presses, die-stampers, cutters, drillers, and perforators.
The company continued to enlarge its space from 2,200 square feet when it began to 18,000 square feet in 2025. Plans were underway to construct a 5-story, 82-by-100-foot building, which would provide about 40,000 square feet of space. In June 1925, the company purchased the land and buildings at 45 Boylston Street with the intention of demolishing the existing structures and following through with plant construction plans.
The plans did not materialize for the Boylston Street site. After several damaging fires, the company planned to move to an existing 3-story factory building at 11-21 Bond Street in Springfield. The Fraser Bedding Company was moving out, and the 27,000 square feet would provide ample room for production at the time. The move occurred around October 1927.
The company continued to expand its product line and by 1930, was producing several games and books, including table tennis, anagrams, and children's drawing books.
On December 1, 1933, the company placed an advertisement for its 27,000 square-foot mill. Springfield Photo Mount's Holyoke history was soon to begin.
Citations:
Newspapers.com (paid subscription): Citations: Springfield (Massachusetts) Republican; publication dates and pages are shown.
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