Indian Orchard Manufacturing Company

 At times, businesses are formed in one community, but soon outgrow their space with no option but to move elsewhere. The Indian Orchard Manufacturing Company was a business with its roots firmly established in Springfield, but could not find the space it needed within the city. Enter the City of Holyoke, the Chamber of Commerce, the Holyoke Street Railway Company, and Whiting & Company, which collaborated to facilitate the company’s move to Holyoke. 

With papermaking on the decline, several of Holyoke's paper mills had space available to rent or lease to other companies. 

The Indian Orchard Manufacturing Company produced cafe curtains, and demand for its product was growing in the mid-1950s. The company was a subsidiary of Bartmann & Bixer Company of New York City. Bartmann & Bixer was itself a subsidiary of United Merchants, Inc., which manufactured clothing for the Robert Hall retail clothing chain.

In late 1955, the company began discussions with Holyoke officials about the availability of mill space. The company was operating at 40 Front Street in the Indian Orchard section of Springfield, and its lease was about to expire on April 1, 1956. The business had outgrown its 46,000-square-foot space at its Springfield plant.

Discussions with city officials centered on securing the correct space layout, adequate square footage with expansion potential, public transportation availability for its Indian Orchard workers, and a significant local labor pool composed mainly of women. After several months of discussions, all the necessary requirements were met.

The company secured 60,000 square feet of space in the Whiting & Company building at 110 Lyman Street. The space was renovated to meet the company’s needs. Soon after, it added about 18,000 square feet at this location. This was the most significant industry to relocate to Holyoke since 1946.

Additional Holyoke Street Railway runs were made from the Springfield area to accommodate workers who wished to remain with the company at its new factory in Holyoke. The company had approximately 300 employees before the move.

In May 1956, the company hoped to expand its labor force from 170 to more than 350 by September. At the time, 90 workers hailed from Indian Orchard and another 60 from Holyoke.

A goal was to triple production from 500 to 1,500 draperies daily, in addition to increasing the number of cafe curtains. The company’s geographic distribution had moved beyond the United States to Canada and South America.

The company heavily advertised for various positions within the mill from the late 1950s through mid-March 1965. 

In late March 1965, a report was published indicating Bartmann & Bixer had several offers to purchase the Holyoke plant. Upon reading the report, Holyoke’s mayor, Daniel Dibble, attempted unsuccessfully to reach out to company officials to lend assistance in keeping the operation in the city. 

This was the last report discovered for this business. The business likely closed or was sold and moved at about this time.

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 Holyoke, Massachusetts, City Directories

Hampden County Registry of Deeds, Springfield, Massachusetts