Springfield Photo Mount Company was reaching its peak in employment numbers, spurred by government and business contracts.
In 1986, the company was awarded a $7.5 million federal contract to supply binders and desk pads. 80 additional employees would be added to the current 300 workers. It was anticipated that with the anticipated new agreements, the jobs would be permanent. At the time, the company was one of the nation's leading manufacturers of photo albums.
The business was peaking. In 1986, the company sought an area that would accommodate a 500,000 square-foot factory. The plant hoped to remain in Holyoke but was also considering neighboring South Hadley, Chicopee, and Springfield. The City of Holyoke recognizedits role in attempting to retain plants and existing employment. One of the issues was the availability of land to accommodate the requests. Some plants required 5 acres of land, but wanted to purchase 10 acres for possible expansion 10 years into the future. This could result in the excess land remaining vacant.
Neither the new plant nor further expansion occurred. The company's growth was abruptly halted when it filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection in April 1989. Regarding a major government contract, the company could not collect on the contract because a shipment of notebooks was found defective due to faulty materials. In another case, a company with a $1 million contract went bankrupt. Just one year prior, Springfield Photo Mount had 600 employees.
The company continued to operate during the bankruptcy proceedings. In November 1990, Heritage Albums, Inc. of Yellow Springs, Ohio, was incorporated. The following month, Antioch Publishing Co., also of Yellow Springs, Ohio, acquired SPM Manufacturing for $5 million, renaming it Heritage Albums Inc. The company had 100 employees at the time.
Two Shaine family members would remain. Robert Shaine was appointed Senior Vice-President of Corporate Sales, and William Shane was Vice-President of Operations. The purchase was completed in December 1990. The deal took months to complete because it required arranging financing through two banks and 4 public agencies.
Antioch Publishing Company had a similar experience five years earlier, saving a high-end photo album company in Minnesota from Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Very little news was available after this acquisition. It was revealed that the FDIC acquired the SPM real estate in 1989, when the company entered bankruptcy. In April and May 1991, Heritage Albums, Inc., advertised for several administrative, financial, clerical, and factory foreman positions.
In 1992, WBC, Inc., a repackaging company, purchased the 28 Appleton Street portion of the mill from the FDIC. The company had been leasing the premises since 1989.
Heritage Albums Inc. was rebranded as Heritage Springfield Inc. and continued at 475 Canal Street into 1995. During its first three years in business, the company reported a loss of $1 million. The key officer of Antioch expressed that it would be challenging to sell this business given its current operating record. No further information was found under the Heritage corporate names, Antioch Publishing or SPM, regarding Holyoke or elsewhere after 1995.
Citations:
Newspapers.com (paid subscription): Citations: Holyoke (Massachusetts) Transcript & Transcript-Telegram; Springfield (Massachusetts) Republican; Dayton (Ohio) Daily News; Boston (Massachusetts) Globe; Hampshire Gazette (Northampton, Massachusetts); publication dates and pages are shown.
Massachusetts Cultural Resource Information System, Boston, Massachusetts
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