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A Freeland factory, 1914
What's on this page:
- Inside an early Freeland factory, ca. 1914, with Elizabeth
Wilson Domchick as one of the workers
- An identification of another one of the workers as Cecelia
Rymsza
- Which factory was this and where was it?
- St. Casimir's Church - see text and photos there about 1915 Choir and Cecelia Rymsza
Inside an early Freeland factory ca. 1914, from Judy Domchick Hall
When Judy sent me
this photo, she wrote: Hello again.
I was going through my Dad's
albums and found two pictures you might be interested in. The first is
a picture of my grandmother Elizabeth Wilson Domchick, seamstress. She
was the wife of George Domchick, the Butcher. She was born in 1894. She
left school at 14 and went to work as a seamstress in a factory. I
don't know which one, but she lived on Alvin Street so maybe the one
across from the high school? In this picture, she is the 6th young lady
on the left, counting from front to back, in a dark blouse. The
photo,
as you'll see, is amazing. [The
enlarged view was repaired digitally by Jay Cawley - thank you, Jay!]
I have never seen an interior view of a Freeland factory from so long
ago. There is so much information in this image! However, it also
contains some mysteries. Perhaps some of our readers can help to solve
them.First, who are the other people in this photo? If you recognize anyone, please let us know!
Second, when would this
photo have been taken? Judy didn’t have any information on that. There
is a calendar on the factory wall at the front right part of the photo,
from the First National Bank. [Here’s an enlargement at right.] I can
see that it’s showing the sheet for January, and that January 1 is on a
Wednesday. I checked at http://www.timeanddate.com/date/weekday.html
and saw that January 1 was a Wednesday in 1908, 1913, 1919, 1930. (For
some reason there didn’t seem to be another Jan. 1 on a Wednesday
between 1919 and 1930; perhaps that’s an error from the website I
checked? This needs further checking.). If Elizabeth Wilson quit school
at age 14 to go to work at the factory, that would have been around
1908, and looking at her in this photo she seems to be a young woman,
so this suggests that it may have been taken in 1908, 1913 or 1919. My
brother Steve noticed that Elizabeth is dressing in black, while most
of the other workers are wearing white blouses, suggesting that perhaps
she was in mourning. Judy is checking with relatives to see if that
suggests anything in terms of what year this photo was made.
Then, a third question:
what factory was this? Here at left is one clue, and I’m hoping that
perhaps someone reading this page will be able to help with it. I’ve
cropped and enlarged the image of the man in the suit who’s standing in
the center area of the photo – the factory owner? He looks familiar to
me, but I don’t know who he is. Yet. Someone out there will recognize
him. Please email me and let me know! A bit further down on this page
you'll see some guesses as to which factory this was, but first pleast
enjoy the following additional close-ups cropped from the main photo.
Fortunately Judy sent a high-resolution
copy, so we can all benefit from the resulting detailed views. These
enlarged details almost allow us to walk into the photograph. The first
one [at right] focuses on the left side of the main photo, showing us
that there were apparently three long tables in this room. Think of the
noise! At least there was a fair amount of natural light admitted
through the windows, and there were lamps hanging over the tables every
few feet. Still, this must have been eye-straining work for long hours
in a noise-filled room. It's interesting to see the stacks of fabric,
the wooden boxes, the coat racks. This crop also gives a good view of
the sewing machines.
Another cropped detail [at left] focuses on
the table most in focus in the main photo. What were they sewing? The
fabric seems to be of various colors, but the thread all seems to be
white. Judy's grandmother is clearly shown here. Most or all of these
women seem fairly young. The man standing at the back of the room would
have been, what, maybe a foreman, or (he's wearing overalls) a janitor
or handyman? The overhead lamps are easier to see in this photo. It's
really pretty impressive to see how many work stations have been fitted
into the space. People today who work in offices with cubicles complain
about the lack of private space, but compared to this factory
situation, those cubicles seem kind of luxurious.
A third cropped detail [at right] focuses
on the front edge (closest to the photographer) of the table most in
focus in the main photo. It's easier to see that these women are
wearing dark skirts and white or light print blouses, some of them also
wearing aprons. They're just sitting on stools! That can't have been
comfortable, hour after hour. Maybe the stools had cushions on them.Cecelia Rymsza, another worker in this photo
Bob Rymsza sent email about this 1914 mystery factory photo, writing: I've been doing some research on Cecelia Rymsza. I saw on your page that you have questions about which factory it is.
The
sixth young lady, going down the right side, is Cecelia Rymsza. Here is
some background on Cecelia to try to help you determine what factory it
is and what year it is on the calendar. For starters, Cecelia lived at
929 Burton Street. So, I imagine that the closer to Burton Street, the
more likely it was the factory she worked at. Second, if the census is
to be believed, in 1910 she is shown not working, in 1920 she is shown
as working as a garment worker in an overall factory, and in 1930 she
is married and not shown as working. So, I think that might help to
narrow it down to 1913 or 1919. In 1919 she was 27 and obviously 21 in
1913. I will leave it to you to determine if she looks more like she's
21 or 27 but here is a close up photo along with a cropped detail from
that 1915 photo I sent you of the St Casimir
Choir.Cecelia was a daughter of Kajeton and Antonia Rymsza. I said she did not show as working in the 1910 census but her younger sister, Victoria, did. Now, I freely admit that it could be an error on the census taker's part and they could have written it on the wrong line for the wrong daughter. Regardless, Victoria was working as a "color maker" at age 15 in 1910 and I do not see her in the photo. And, I am assuming it is the same factory.
If you can identify anyone else in this factory photo, please let me know and I'll post the information here. Thank you!
Which factory was this, and where was it?
Meanwhile, site contributors Bob Zimmerman and Charlie Gallagher have both looked at the factory photo and given some feedback as to which factory it might have been. Possibilities suggested: the factory that used to be located at Foster and Cunnius streets, the DiSpirito feed store, the Freeland Bobbin Works across the street from the feed store on south Washington street, and the Abrams factory that was on north Centre street just a few buildings up from Chestnut street, across from the old Herkalo’s store. (All four buildings are now gone.)
The factory that
used to be at Foster and Cunnius streets was the first location of the
Blass Overall Factory in 1896 (which became the Freeland Overall
Manufacturing Company, later moving to south Ridge street), and later
was Bressler’s Cigar Factory, and even later the Major Shirt
Corporation. Here’s a photo showing what it looked like, along with a
detail cropped from a Sanborn map.
[This DiSpirito text was updated 7-2019.]
The Dispirito
feed store (recently torn down) seemed like an attractive possibility
from the
perspective of the configuration of the building, but there doesn’t
seem to be any reference to its having been used as a factory at any
point. In spring of 2019 I received email from Jim (Spirits) DiSpirito,
and also
had a phone conversation with him. He wrote: "I'm writing you
concerning the speculation as to where the factory was located in the
article "inside an early Freeland factory by Judy Domchick Hall". You
wrote that one
of the possibilities was the DiSpirito feed store on Washington St. I
doubt if our feed mill was the place. My grandfather and great uncle
bought the property from the Armour company. My uncle 'Packy'
DiSpirito, who is still alive and well living in N.J., says it was
bought in 1917; however the publication "Freeland" by Charles K. Stumpf
dates the purchase to Jan/Feb 1916. I never heard it referred to in the
family as having been a factory. Only a warehouse. Hopefully this will
shed some light on part of the mystery. -- Jim (Spirits) DiSpirito." Here are Bob Zimmerman's musings as he proposed this building as a possiblity. He wrote: “Architectural comparative anatomy works! Seven windows on the right side of the factory picture. Assume seven on the opposite side - et Voila! - matches the exterior shot of the feed mill. The interior picture also gives a strong suggestion that there was an outside entrance at the left rear of the building. Encore une fois - et Voila! The feed mill sports one at the same general area. Estimating the height of the ceiling on the interior at about 10 ft. and trying to make a comparable guess using the front porch ghost line it looks to me as though the distances are similar. It also seems that the width of both buildings are almost identical. I realize this is not conclusive proof but I’d like to propose Dispirito’s feed mill as your sewing factory.” Charlie Gallagher wrote: “Also, the Dispirito Store building on Washington always had railroad tracks adjacent to it on the South Side. It started out as the Armour Chicago Beef warehouse on the 1895 Sanborn map. I believe the railroad preceded the building. Armour is still listed on the 1912 Sanborn map, so I have no reason to believe that it was a factory for another purpose during the 1895 to 1912 time frame.”
We wondered
about The Freeland
Bobbin Works was approximately across the street from the feed store,
but my impression is that it was a factory that actually made bobbins,
and the few references in my files refer to their staff as being men,
not women, so it doesn’t seem to me that it was a sewing factory.
Charlie Gallagher wrote: “The interior photograph suggests a very
narrow building. This may have been the Freeland Bobbin Works. I'm a
little confused as to the location, but if you look at google maps,
there ia a large building just south of Dispirito's on Washington (that
would have been across the railroad tracks and the first property on
Foster Township). The Bobbin works is always listed at South Washington
Street, but that used to start with any location south of Front Street
back then. But then there is also a description as being south of
Carbon Street. I'll have to do more digging.” Charlie later was able to
identify its location as being part of the same building shown on this
map detail from 1912 labeled "Hame M'f'y." My notes list it at 175
south Washington street, which would be about right for that location.
The
fourth proposal for this factory location is the Ambra Manufacturing
Company, which was managed by Irving and Phillip Abrams, later becoming
the Freeland Shirt Company annex. According to Charlie Stumpf it was
originally built by Emmanuel Berger, Freeland contractor, for a
religious sect known as the "Burger Church” (listed on Sanborn maps as
the Christian Holiness Church). It was purchased by the Bethel Baptist
congregation as its headquarters until their new church was erected,
and later the building was used by the Freeland Shirt Company.
According to a 1931 newspaper clipping in my files, it was the first
factory to be operated by the Freeland Shirt Co., but was abandoned
“when the new Dewey street mill was completed.” It was remodeled and
converted into a cutting department and storage house by the company
and was used in that way until it burned down. I have the impression
that after the fire it was rebuilt and continued to be used as a
factory for another couple of decades. Bob Zimmerman wrote of this
location: “Another possibility is the old Chapel across from Mike
Herkalo’s little store on North Center St. I know it was used as a
factory in 1941 as I remember large trucks with the Arrow Shirt logo
loading in the alley behind D.C.M. School when I was in 1st grade. Of
course, your picture is much earlier; if only the year on the wall
calendar was legible.” Charlie Gallagher also suggested this location:
“Now there is one other possibility for the building in the picture.
There was a factory of very narrow width on Center Street just north of
Chestnut on the east side of Center. This was a sewing factory and was
torn down years ago.” Charlie later added that perhaps this wouldn't be
it, because the buildings on either side wouldn't let much light in.
Thanks to Colleen Tatar for this photo (a detail cropped from a larger
one).What about you - can you who are reading this page tell us anything about this factory photo?