For the November history artifact presentation at the Senior Center, the society's Outreach Education Committee brought along several products manufactured by the Frary Spool Company, which operated a factory in Waterbury near the train depot at the end of the 19th century.
A family operation
Hubert H. Frary started the company in Jonesville in 1866. His sons, George and Edward, moved the factory to Waterbury in 1898 and employed about 15 men in sawing lumber and manufacturing spools and other such wooden sewing products, tassel moulds, and a variety of novelty toys and gadgets. Their primary material was white birch provided by local farmers who, according to a February 7, 1899 note in the Waterbury Record, "appreciated...[the] ready market for their white birch."
Presenter Skip Flanders showed two spools with white thread, two turning handles, and a molinillo whisk, all turned by lathe at the Frary Bros.' factory some 125 years ago. In March of 1899, the Record reported that the factory was expecting to handle between 800 and 900 cords of white birch lumber, bringing "a handsome little bud of money into Waterbury and vicinity for lumber which would not be very valuable if it were not for the spool factory."
Dwindling supply shuts factory
According to Flanders, however, the ready supply of white birch proved finite and by mid-November of that same
year, the Frary Spool Factory left Waterbury, "tak[ing] away a good industry, one of the kind that will be missed" (Waterbury Record, Nov. 14, 1899). Brother Edward and his family moved to Berlin, NY; George had moved a few years prior to Charlemont, MA. Both maintained friendly relationships in town in the ensuing years and can be found in Record notes whenever they visited.
The monthly history artifact presentation is accompanied by a pop-up library brought by Patron Services Librarian DeAnna Romstad, and this month DeAnna brought a number of library resources about sewing for seniors to check out.
