Backtracking: Rise and fall of S.J. Bailey

July 06, 2009 07:56 am

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The region's economy was definitely on the mend in 1939, as the Great Depression was loosening its grip. And it turned out to be a pretty good year for Walton.

The village had a vacant factory that once housed the Walton Novelty Works. Meanwhile, a manufacturer of wood products across the Pennsylvania border was looking for a place to open a factory. For nearly 60 years, Walton became home to one of the S.J. Bailey & Sons family of factories in the eastern U.S.

The company's president and founder, Samuel J. Bailey, had a favorable predicament at hand in 1939. Sales had outgrown the production capabilities at his Nicholson, Pa., manufacturing facilities, so he went on a search.

A stop in Walton produced a meeting with Norris H. Dann, president of the Walton Chamber of Commerce, and six other local business leaders. Bailey worked out a deal in which the Chamber paid two-years' rent for the factory building and for a railroad switch so that cars could be loaded with products at the loading dock and then shipped on the O&W Railroad.

In return, Bailey had to maintain a payroll of 25 during the first six months, and then 50 after a year, or the company would have to pay a percentage of the rent. Employees made between 30 and 40 cents an hour, with a payroll of about $750 a week.

S.J. Bailey & Sons got its start back in 1906 in Brooklyn, Pa., as a manufacturer of miscellaneous wood parts. During the 1930s, the company extended its product line to unpainted furniture and opened the plant in Nicholson. Then, in 1941, the company built a furniture plant in nearby Honesdale.

The operation in Walton was doing well, and as World War II expanded, so did the need for more space. Bailey's was engaged in part of the manufacture of ammunition boxes and soldiers' lockers for the U.S. Army. Another plant had recently opened in Peru, Ind.

Business was so good that it was announced in mid-September 1943 that the company had purchased the Kenneth Owens property on West Street, across from what was then the Sheffield creamery, to build a 60,000-square-foot, three-story factory. Plans were to get construction underway after Oct. 1. Materials were hard to get, so the new building went operational in 1947.

Rumors were abundant around Walton in 1957 that S.J. Bailey was leaving, after the O&W Railroad was abandoned. The railroad was still the primary means of shipping, so the company was forced to transport goods to Deposit, where they could be loaded onto railroad cars.

During the 1970s and 1980s, a production facility was added in Fryeburg, Me., a small factory in Fleischmanns, and a two-story addition at the West Street plant, among other advancements in technology.

Modernization, depending on where you are in a company, can be a blessing or a curse. To management and owners, if it increases productivity and profit, they're all for it. To production workers, if it means their plant becomes outdated and they might lose their jobs, fear arises.

This was the situation in late August 1998 when S.J. Bailey told workers it planned to close plants in Walton and Honesdale to consolidate operations in a new facility in Carbondale, Pa. Closure was set for the middle of 1999. The Fleischmanns plant had been closed in 1990.

Both the Delaware County Industrial Development Agency and Catskill Watershed Corp. offered financial incentives to the company to stay in Walton or build the plant slated for Carbondale somewhere in Delaware County. S.J. Bailey claimed no offered sites were acceptable, including Sidney and Deposit.

Employees were angered by the decision. S.J. Bailey did offer them an opportunity to apply for jobs in Carbondale, but few if any decided to move or make the 118-mile round trip commute from Walton.

It probably was good that there were no takers. By 2003, any Walton employees who may have relocated to Carbondale would've been looking for jobs again. S.J. Bailey filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May 2003 and laid off remaining employees in October.

At an auction on Jan. 26, 2004, Guenter Metz, a 28-year employee of S.J. Bailey & Sons, was on hand in Carbondale to watch equipment and machinery being sold.

"We came here to watch the Titanic go down," said Metz when asked his opinion by The Scranton Tribune.

This weekend: A 1904 Cherry Valley High School graduate gets the red carpet treatment in his old hometown.

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City Historian Mark Simonson's column appears twice weekly. On Saturdays, his column focuses on the area during the Depression and before. His Monday columns address local history after the Depression. If you have feedback or ideas about the column, write to him at The Daily Star, or e-mail him at simmark@stny.rr.com. His website is www.oneontahistorian.com.

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