Type of Work: Manufacturing, Mills, and Factories

Sherwins Mill on Grasse River in Canton

Sherwins Mill: Flour, Seed & Farm Seed. Erected in 1859-60 by Lucius Moody (brother-in-law of Silas Wright), the mill was originally a fine three story brick building, 40’ by 60’ in size, that housed four runs of stones and machinery for grinding out wheat, oats, barley, corn, and buckwheat. Ownership passed from Moody to Hodskin […]

Employees of shoe last factory in Natural Bridge

Employees of a shoe last factory in Natural Bridge. Note the lasts in the picture with the men – these shoe lasts were wooden forms used by shoemakers to construct shoes. Men identified in the photo are Frank Cross (first row, third from the left), George Dooley (first row, far right), and Leon Weatherhead (second […]

Carthage Machine Company engineer with cylindrical chip screen in Carthage

Rollin I. Skinner, chief draftsmen of the Carthage Machine Company, standing at the edge of a cylindrical chip screen which was manufactured by the company in the mid-1920s. The side of their building on West End Avenue had to be torn out to get it out for shipment. Circa 1920s. Carthage, NY. From a booklet […]

McNeil Boiler Works employees in Carthage

Workers of McNeil Boiler Works in front of the Cook Water Tube Boiler. Circa 1900. Carthage, NY. From a Carthage Souvenir Book in the archives of the Carthage Free Library’s Heritage Room. Check out this North Country at Work story to learn more about the history of Carthage’s working class.