If anybody is developing a new Holyoke trivia game, I have a question to contribute. What company purchased both the first and last available parcel of land at Main Street’s Springdale Industrial Park? My initial guesses, including the notable Lestoil and Acme Chain, would not be correct. If you gave the answer Wrap King, you are spot-on, and its story is the subject of this 4-part series.
Brothers Francis W., Larry Vincent and Clarence Ouellette organized the Wrapping Machine Service Company as a partnership in mid-1947. The company found its initial home in the Rackliffe Building on the northwest corner of Suffolk and Railroad (now Heritage) Street.
Both Vincent brothers had experience in the industrial sector: Francis with 21 years at Package Machinery Corp., and Larry with several years at American Bosch. Clarence Ouellette was Package Machinery’s key designer.
Their stay in Holyoke and ownership of the company were short-lived. In May 1949, the company was purchased by a new ownership group, moved to West Springfield and was renamed Wrap-King Corporation. The company operated as a sales, engineering and equipment manufacturer. Clarence Ouellette was the company’s President and the inventor of the Disc Wrapper. Cornelius Robb was the Treasurer.
The infant company’s first contract called for them to produce a machine that would wrap sugar dics. The trio knew that they could manufacture the product. However, the stipulation was that the final product had to be produced in 6 weeks. The owners worked day and night, from design to the production of the parts for the final product. On day 42, the project was completed, the item shipped, and it was a resounding success. The machine wrapped 105 candies per minute, greatly surpassing the 9 to 12 that can be wrapped by hand.
The Disc Wrapper, as it was named, was a piece of machinery to automatically wrap many disc-shaped items such as “typewriter ribbons, round chocolates, bearings, cookies, deodorant blocks, and compressed coffee.”
When word spread of the machine’s accomplishments, orders increased, and more factory space was necessary to keep up with the demand. The company moved to an industrial area at 70 Front Street in West Springfield, where it set out to produce 10 more Disc Wrappers, which were sold to various industrial concerns.
By 1953, the company had 30 employees and needed more floor space. An opportunity arose to relocate to the Holyoke Water Power Company’s (HWPCo) new Springdale Industrial Park. HWPCo hired Daniel O’Connell’s Sons to construct the one-story building on Berkshire Street to the south and across from the Livingston Worsted Mills. The factory would provide about 20,000 square feet of floor space in the 200-foot-by-100-foot structure. The property was double that size to accommodate parking and transportation.
Groundbreaking for the new building occurred on March 2, 1953. Once erected, Wrap-King would purchase the real estate. HWPCo hoped that other companies would follow Wrap-King’s lead into the industrial park.
The plant opened in July 1953 with 28 workers and, by January of the following year, had grown to 42 employees, a 50% increase. The company had produced 7 types of wrapping machines for different industrial uses.
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