Sepia Saturday 279: Safety, Danger, Industry

Sepia Saturday 279: Safety, Danger, Industry

Scan2814-stitch
Scan2811-stitch
Scan2817-stitch

While I have plenty of photos of the coal industry for this Sepia Saturday, I thought this would be a great chance to explore a ‘cleaner’ industry through three photos of factory workers.  Two of my grandmothers (biological and step) worked in various sewing factories over the years.  Rolled up in paper tubes, I found these great panoramic photos of the factory staff – they were a little bit of a trouble to scan and piece together (three scans for each, then stitched up in photoshop), but the result is worth it!  All three were taken in the 50s and 60s at the Phillips-Jones (Van Heusen) Corp in Patton, PA.  The first one is labelled as being taken in September 1955.  In that particular photo, both grandmothers are present!  In fact, my biological grandma is about 6 months pregnant with my father at that point.  The second photo has no date but may have been taken prior to 1955, best guess, since my step-grandma looks younger in that one.  However, I had found a written work history that Romayne (Greenaway) Kitko compiled at some point in her life.  She lists having worked at the Van Heusen Co of Patton, PA from 1955-1966.   The last photo is dated September 1961 (very faintly, in white), at the same location.  It’s interesting that they took a sort of ‘class photo’ for every year at the factory.  I have to imagine that this was in part to boost employee morale by making everyone feel like they were part of a large team, and in part to show off at headquarters.

The Phillips-Jones company eventually became the Van Heusen company we know today.  Here’s a good link containing more information on the history of the company.  The factory employed many women during a time when women were just starting to go to work right after World War II.  You can see the company was still run by the men standing up front, but women were in the workplace, in a factory even.  There’s a wide age range to the women in the photos too – from young gals straight out of high school to women who look to be in their 60s and 70s.  They appear to be of differing ethnicities, but I couldn’t find a single black woman in any of the groups.  Whether that was purposeful discrimination or just the fact that the region was largely caucasian, I can’t be sure.

I found a great newspaper article detailing a little history of the plant.  It was built in 1947 and employed 250 people.  After the expansion (article dated i1954) which you can see in the third photo on the right and left of the original building, they planned to employ over 400 people, mostly women.  While the article was dated 1954, the plant either underwent another expansion after that for the 1961 photo or the second photo was on or after 1954.  The trees appear to be smaller, but not by much, so it has to be slightly earlier than the first photo, but the buildings appear the same.  I’m not sure exactly when the factory ceased operation, but another company was in the same location by 1994, so it was well before then.  You can click any of the above photos to see a larger version, but as for me, I’m working industriously towards the next Sepia Saturday.
Phillips-Jones Patton PA Pennsylvania van Heusen
2015.04W.48

6 Comments

  1. La Nightingail

    Impressive photos & even more impressive Photo Shopping! Very nicely done!! Interesting, too, to see the photos were taken at different times of the year as evidenced by full-leaf trees, & bare branches. There are no trees immediately evident in the third photo – though I can see some on the other side of the building, so it appears the 3rd photo was taken out back behind the factory instead of in front.

  2. I love those old panoramic photographs. With a good photographer it’s fun to look closely at all the individuals and be able to see them clearly.

    It’s fun that you were able to recognize your grandmothers in the photos.

    I was trying to date the photos by the clothing, particularly the length of the skirts, and then I realized that the many of the ladies were wearing pants in the last photo: definitely the most recent photo of the bunch.

  3. Very nice work to stitch these photos into digital form. The ratio of women to men is extraordinary. I had an aunt who worked a similar shirt factory on Maryland’s eastern shore which I suppose is gone now like so much of the textile industry.

    1. Sheetar

      I have a feeling that part of the reason they survived in such good condition for so long is because they were rolled up in tubes! If only I had more wall space though 🙂

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