For many years, Holyoke’s manufacturing base was dominated by large paper and textile firms. The loss of many of these production anchors created space for upstart businesses. The Beebe-Holbrook Industrial Complex at 380-420 Dwight Street is an example.
The American Writing Paper Company sold the site of the former Wauregan, Massasoit and Beebe & Holbrook Paper Companies to the Holyoke Water Power Company (HWPCo) in December, 1944. HWPCo converted the space to suit the needs of fledgling businesses or small companies, which hoped to gain a foothold for growth and expansion. Several of these companies have had their stories told throughout this blog series. One more will be added, the Vogform Tool & Die Company.
Born in Springfield in 1934 and a resident of West Springfield, John Ehart Vogel was, by trade, a die maker employed by Westfield Tool & Die Company in 1952.
In 1965, Mr. Vogel and two coworkers, including Vernon Morris, felt they could improve on the work of their present employer and went out on their own.
They purchased the remnant equipment from the former Acme Machine Company, added their own and formed Vogform Tool & Die Company. The company was the only independently owned facility of its kind in the city. There were other tool and die makers; those were separate departments assimilated within manufacturing facilities. The new company leased space at 420 Dwight Street in Holyoke.
Early advertisements showed the company sought apprentice and skilled tool and die workers for a 57-hour workweek.
By 1976, the company employed 10 highly skilled workers. These were the workers who would make and shape the parts that went into manufacturing a product. Think of the number of parts in a kitchen blender, microwave, a car, etc., that needed to be manufactured to exacting specifications to complete the final product. A tool and die maker also makes the machines to produce the parts.
Vogform apprentices began by taking a training course regularly provided in Springfield by the National Tool and Die Precision Machinery Association. Approximately half of the attendees complete the course successfully. The apprentices then work under the experienced workers, and soon after, are on their own.
To perform its work, the company had milling machines, drill presses, grinders, lathes, jig borers, and other equipment. The work was performed from mechanical drawings and needed to meet exacting standards. One piece of equipment was a traveling wire electrical discharge machine, a precision cutting instrument that used a copper wire whose thickness varied according to job specifications.
Some of the company’s customers included National Blank Book, Smith and Wesson, Dual Manufacturing, and Van Valkenburg. It was noted that Waring Blenders and Simmons Fasteners start with dies made by Vogform.
In 1981, the company was approved for a $300,000 industrial revenue bond. The bond was for the purchase of a 9,000 square-foot building on Doty Circle in West Springfield and new industrial equipment. The company relocated, and the corporation continued into 2020.
Citations:
Newspapers.com (paid subscription): Citations: Holyoke (Massachusetts) Transcript & Transcript-Telegram; Springfield (Massachusetts) Republican; publication dates and pages are shown.
Massachusetts Secretary of State, Corporation Division, Boston, Massachusetts
Ancestry.com (paid subscription): Price & Lee Holyoke, Massachusetts, City Directories
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