Early Industry in North Olean

North Olean always had the distinction of being the industrial section of Olean and today, the City of Olean still maintains that we are. With so many of the industries that once were here and are no more, I don’t know if that distinction can be given to our part of town.

TANNERIES According to the Olean Sesqi-Centennial paper of 1954, Walter Wood established the first tannery where North Olean would be located. It was a small, old-fashioned tannery on the edge of a swamp.

In 1864 Jewett & Keating were the next to establish a tannery on what is now N. Union St, locating on an area from about Gardiner Ave. to N. First Street. The tannery also owned all the land from Union St. to N. Fourth Street as well as the area where Clarks Bros. was built. Mr. Root purchased Mr. Jewett’s interests in 1874, thus the tannery became known as the Root & Keating Tannery. This tannery was one of the first important industries of Olean. In 1894, the tannery that had been purchased by the United States Leather Co. about a year earlier resumed operations after a shutdown. Improvements were made by adding a new power department, steam plant, two tank bark ovens and two 150 horse-power boilers. The force of workers was also increased. After a threat of shutdown in 1895, the tannery was once again booming and continued to operate. On July 8, 1911, a second attempt was made to burn down the Root & Keating tannery. Later that same month the sale of the tannery property was put in the hands of the Herrick Agency. In May of 1935, the Spindler Brothers purchased the tract of land owned by the Root & Keating Tannery that consisted of 38 acres that was divided into building lots and streets. The tract was named Spindler Brothers Brookview sub-division.
The Hubbard, Blake & Co. tannery was built in the western part of Olean in the summer of 1889. A street had been opened from Buffalo Street to the site, and the Erie Railroad also put a switch connecting to the tannery. In May of 1891, an injunction was made against the tannery restraining them from emptying the refuse matter from their tannery into the Two-Mile Creek causing it to be polluted. This tannery had quite a few strikes, one in 1892 over the wages, again in 1894 and 1895 resulting in the removal of the finishing department to be removed from Olean. On September 29, 1904, the big tannery was consumed by fire that threw about 140 men out of work. There was rumor that the tannery would be rebuilt, but it never was.
It was announced that the Lee, Claflin & Co. new tannery was sure to come to Olean in May of 1888. It would be located on ten acres of land on the Homer tract, south of the Two Mile Creek to be used as drainage, with access to switches to both the Erie and W.N.Y. & P. Railroads. The Claflin Tannery that had not been in operation for two years was sold in 1894 to Adam Kinley. The Adam Kinley & Sons at North Olean became the most prosperous sole leather tannery in this part of the county. About 1910, the Cattaraugus Tanning Co. purchased the property located at Connell Street and Avenue B, operating until 1919. It was then sold to the Kistler Leather Co., but operated under the name Cattaraugus Tanning Co. On July 1, 1929, it was announced that the Cattaraugus Tannery would cease operations due to the natural economic phases of the tanning business. The raw material being shipped here from the east coast and the finished leather having to be shipped back to the seaboard for shipping. About 123 men were affected in the closing of the plant.

More Early Industry in North Olean Another of the earliest industries in North Olean was the Olean Chemical Works that was located on the site of Daystrom Corp. between Washington (now Connell) and Franklin Streets. A Mr. and Mrs. Driscoll were the former owners of the property on which the Chemical Works was located. They had moved from Olean to Brownsville, Minnesota. The Chemical Works a branch of the Graselli Company of Cleveland, Ohio, was organized in 1881in North Olean. Here they manufactured sulphuric, nitric, and muriatic acids, aqua ammonia and so forth. The orders for mixed acids were in great demand to supply the glycerin factories during 1885. In 1891 they employed about 20 men, whose wages averaged about $50 a month.

After the demise of the Chemical Works because of a fire, George Luther purchased the property for $5,000 in November of 1904. George Luther built a factory 80 by 30 feet on that site in July of 1905. It was to be called the Sanitary Dinner Pail Company made up of W. N. Stephan and W. B. Simpkins Jr. On July 25, 1905, the Dinner Pail Co. was gutted by fire and the cause was not known. The North Olean Fire Department saved part of the building.

The executive committee of the Board of Trade secured an option on a portion of the old Chemical company land now owned by George Luther. Plans to build the new Demijohn Works were in progress. This would be a large glass bottle and Demijohn manufacturing plant that was expected to employ about 150 hands. B. U. Taylor would put up the new buildings. After the Demijohn factory was in operation they employed about 200 people with a capacity of 3,000 demijohns daily. On January 1, 1907, a fire visited The Boley Manufacturing Co. and the damage amounted to about $25,000.
In February of 1907 a site for the Alcohol Refinery was selected north of Franklin Street and the Pennsylvania Railroad on the west. Here crude alcohol would be brought from various factories, most of which were in Pennsylvania, in metal drums and shipped out in barrels after being refined. The plant was never operated.

The Seaman Organization, one of the largest industries to come into North Olean, announced in October 1924 that they would take over the idle United Wood Alcohol Co plant on Franklin Street. While the new plant was being made ready the temporary plant continued to turn out buckets such as were used for shipping candy, paints, lards, greases and similar products. The company had been noted for their manufacture of fiber containers. The Van Atta Plant that had located at Penn Ave and N. Fourth Sts. in North Olean in 1916 made the hydraulic presses that were used in the manufacturing process of these containers. In the spring of 1927 the Arvey Manufacturing Co. was organized and took over the Seaman Container Co. The Arveyware Corp. purchased the building in 1934 with J. J. Blum as general manager. The year 1941 saw a number of employees on strike at the plant that was now known as the Fibre Forming Corp. The union called the strike for better working conditions. I think that the plant finally closed sometime during the 1960’s. The building was dismantled and the site is now a parking lot for Henkel Loctite.
The United Lumber Co. made plans to located on 40 acres purchased from S. R. Homer on the Homer tract opposite The Acme Barrel Works. It was expected that from 150 to 200 men would be employed and Olean would be the main storage plant for the product of the United Lumber companies various mills. Mr.. S. S. Bullis was given much credit for locating his company here in February of 1888. In September of 1889, a huge fire destroyed about 4,000 to 5,000 feet of lumber as well as the building they were stored in.
It was announced in April of 1895 that Thomas Whitton had put through the Union Planning Mills at North Olean about one million feet of hemlock to be dressed for the eastern market. That same year, Mr. Whitton had purchased the entire stock of the Pennsylvania Lumber Storage at their yards in North Olean.

On October 14, 1891, the Wilson Roller Blind Manufactory had started up at North Olean. It was located on Johnson Street near the Union Planning Mill. The product of this factory included all of Mr. Wilson’s patent, inside and outside blinds and shutters (the first Venetian blinds) among other blinds and partitions. It was in March of 1902 that a quick and fierce fire destroyed the Wilson manufacturing factory. After the fire, the Wilson Roller Blind factory left Olean and set up shop at Norfolk, VA. Many of the North Olean workers relocated there. In April of 1930, the new plant of the Olean Metal Cabinet Works was erected on Franklin Street, North Olean for the purpose of manufacturing medal products. Eventually Lloyd D. Dahmen secured the plant and in year 1935, the Daystrom Corporation became a successful manufacturer of metal ashtrays. In 1938, the Daystrom Corp. began the manufacture of chromium kitchen furniture, upholstered stools and chairs. The plant shut down in February of 1962 at which time the plant was relocated to South Boston, VA.
Clark Bros. Co. came to Olean in 1912 after the destruction of the plant in Belmont, NY. It grew to become one of the largest industries in Olean with the manufacture of compressors. In June of 1937, Clark Bros merged with Dresser Mfg. Co. of Bradford, Pa. Clark Bros is still in operation and also one of the larger manufactories in Olean.

The Olean Glass Works was located on Buffalo Street near Thirteenth Street and begun operations in 1883 by S.W. Pancoast. It was sold to H. S. Davis in 1886 but once again upon the return of Mr. Pancoast and his family from Ohio, Pancoast made plans to reopen the glass works. The glass works were badly scorched by fire in September 1894, and once again in January of 1896 the main building destroyed by fire. In the year 1899 they employed 172 hands. Once again in 1905 the glass works suffered a fire losing two large buildings. In 1913 a fire hit the plant again.
The Acme Glass Works came to Olean in 1895, locating on Franklin and Johnson Streets North Olean. They became prosperous and erected new buildings to accommodate their growing business. By 1905, nearly 200 people were employed at the glass plant. The Acme Glass purchased the Olean Glass Company in 1913 and would operate the factory in connection to the North Olean plant. Acme Glass was running to full capacity in 1916 and in March 1926 the Acme Glass was sold to out-of –town buyers, who made additions to the plant. In March of 1927 an announcement was made that a modern glass factory was to be erected on ten acres of property on Wayne Street between Third and Seventh Streets. Construction was started in April of 1927. In 1932, Flames destroyed the old Acme Glass plant on Franklin Street that had been shut down since April 1929. About 1935, Thatcher bought out the company and continued in Olean and it finally closed and moved all its operations to Elmira, NY. The Olean Board of Education bought the property in 1978 and built the Olean Junior High School on its site.

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