When you think of service businesses that operated in Holyoke for nearly ninety years, very few come to mind. Today's topic centers on one such business that stood the test of time: the Elmwood Dye Works, later known as Hegy's Cleaners.
Theobald (aka Theo or Dabol) Hegy was born July 2, 1848, in Nieder-Burnhaupt, Alsace-Lorraine, France, to Jacob and Catherine (Rudler) Hegy. At a very young age, he learned the dry-cleaning trade in France. When the Franco-Prussian War started in 1871, he enlisted in Napoleon III's army. He fought in several major battles, including the siege of Paris.
He arrived in the United States in December 1873 and moved to Holyoke shortly thereafter, where he married Mary Magdelene Sender in 1875. His son, Frank Joseph Hegy, who later became a prominent member of the business, was born in 1875.
In 1878, he opened the Holyoke Dye Works at 135 Main Street. In the mid-1880s, he also worked as a manager/dyer for the Holyoke Paper Co., New York Mills, and Connor Brothers. He lived at 231 Park (now Clemente) Street at the time and, in 1880, moved to 127 Main Street, close to his business.
In 1890, he purchased a building lot on Brown Avenue, where he built and opened a dye works. Directories indicate the dye works was at 19 Brown Ave., and his residence at 17 Brown Ave. During 1893, he added a retail location and renamed the business Elmwood Dye Works, with a receiving office and tailoring establishment at 319 High Street opposite the Fire Department's Engine House.
Mr. Hegy had branch offices at 97 Main St., 22 East St., 121 and 524 High St., Joseph Campagna, 544 Bridge St., and 317 Park Street. His City Directory advertisement in 1893 noted, "I will pay street car fares both ways of all that come that way to me with a dollar's worth of custom." Late 19th- and early 20th-century slogans were priceless.
In February 1896, he relocated from High Street to 81 Dwight Street. This was about 11 years before several major downtown streets were renumbered. After the renumbering, the address became 527 Dwight Street. In reading news accounts, some performers at the Holyoke Opera House brought their clothing to Hegy's to be cleaned.
Frank J. Hegy joined the business as a tailor in 1890. The business also cleaned and dyed clothing and household furnishings.
On April 8, 1901, Theobald Hegy died at the age of 52. Frank J. Hegy, who succeeded his father, was well trained in the cleaning-and-dyeing business. He attended Holyoke Schools and left in 1890 to join his father in the business.
In September 1904, Elmwood Dye Works opened a branch office at 145 Main Street in Northampton. The firm also opened branches on Main Street in Springfield and in Westfield.
Elmwood Dye Works cleaned all sorts of fabrics, including velvets and felt, as well as clothing and furnishings such as shawls, kid gloves, furs, rugs, lace curtains, parasols, draperies, carpets, piano and table covers, blankets, and costumes. The company was awarded a patent for its Steam Sponging Machines for fabrics that needed safe, specialized treatment. They also used an odorless French dry-cleaning process.
Around 1915, the company changed its name to Hegy's Elmwood Cleaning and Dyeing Works.
In March 1916, Frank J. Hegy and architect W.B. Reid visited Louisville, Kentucky, to seek ideas for the latest in mill construction. Mr. Hegy had recently purchased land from Mary A. Vershon just south of Riverside (Springdale) Park and planned to build a new cleaning and dyeing mill.
The final plans included a 2-story 33' by 12' main building, a 1-story dye house measuring 33' by 12', a 65' by 32' building, and a 53' by 32' garage. This building remained in use and later became Ridgewood Mills and the Waterfront Tavern. As of this composition in 2026, Sweet Dreams Bridal Boutique and the Waterfront Event Venue are located there.
In January 1917, a fire destroyed the dye works on Brown Avenue, one week before its move to the new plant at 920 Main Street. There were 6 employees who were in the shop at the time, all escaping injury, except for John Hegy, who suffered severe burns on his hands and arms, and minor burns on his face and neck. The fire started when static electricity from silks and other fabrics ignited clothing soaked in naphtha, a flammable cleaning solvent. The brothers Frank J. and Theobald A. J. Hegy owned the plant then.
The second chapter will cover the relocation of its Dwight Street drop-off office, another name change, and more about the Hegy family's cleaning and dyeing business.
Citations:
Newspapers.com (paid subscription): Holyoke (Massachusetts) Transcript -Telegram; publication dates and pages shown.
Ancestry.com (paid subscription): Genealogy Records and Price & Lee, Holyoke, Massachusetts, City Directories
1639-1925 Western Massachusetts: A History, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
1895 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map
No comments:
Post a Comment