Stitches from the Past - Litchfield Glove Factory
On September 15, 1902, Litchfield’s Commercial Club voted to form the Litchfield Glove Factory with the hope of expanding the town’s manufacturing industries. The money for the venture came from local citizens. As the idea got started, there were seventy-five shares available at $100 each, for a total of $7,500. This would soon be expanded to $15,000. It was estimated the factory would employ thirty to forty people and bring in $50,000 a year.
A board of directors was formed and Gustav A. Settergren became factory manager. William Tooker was hired as superintendent of the manufacturing department. Tooker had over forty years of experience in glove making and came from Gloversville, New York, a city that made about ninety percent of all of the gloves in the country.
Machinery was ordered and installed in a building on East Second Street in Litchfield, either at number 26-30 or 40, accounts vary. The factory would share power with the nearby Hedberg’s Laundry.
On December 8, 1902, the factory started its operations. The first employees included a few experienced workers from New York who did the cutting and laundry, along with two women from Hutchinson to work the sewing machines.
By December 16, the first mittens were available in John T Mullen’s Litchfield store and were described as “handsome, comfortable, and serviceable.”
By January 1903, the factory had a full line of samples for their traveling salesmen to display. Salesmen included Ai Edson, whose job it was to travel around the state, meeting with store owners and convincing them to sell Litchfield’s gloves and mittens. The factory had about 85 styles of men’s gloves and mittens at this time.
By March, “everything is hustle and hurry at the Glove Factory,” with twenty-five employees, plus salesmen. Two months later, the factory had orders for 3,000 gloves, enough work to keep everyone busy through the summer months.
At the factory’s annual meeting looking back at the first year, the board of directors was happy to report a balance on the “proper side” of the accounting books. The factory made between $30,000 and $35,000 in gloves and paid $8,000 in wages. In 1904, $13,000 was paid in wages, although warmer winter temperatures had affected sales.
By 1906, changes were underway for the factory. The year started with employee William Tooker suing the factory for an unknown reason. It was ruled there was no basis for Tooker’s suit.
On January 12, 1906, the Litchfield Glove Factory announced it was discontinuing operations. The following day, manager G.A. Settergren purchased the assets of the factory and leased the machinery to run the business as his own.
By the end of 1906, Settergren was ready to turn his attention back to the family hardware business, and the factory closed. The machinery was offered up for sale, and at least some of it was purchased by John Toland who ran a short-lived factory in 1909.
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