This file portion of www.watertownhistory.org website
Washington Cutlery Co
Village Blacksmith
201 Frederick
Washington
Cutlery Co
W. C. Co. stands for
"Washington Cutlery Co.," which became Village
Blacksmith, a firm that made cutlery, farm knives and tools from the early
1900s through the 1960s in Watertown. The firm went out of business and most of
the manufacturing departments became what is today Fischer-Barton.
1906
03 20 1906
Monday,
representatives of the Washington Cutlery Company were here and a conference
held with the executive committee of the advancement association consisting of
Mayor Wertheimer, Fred Keck, Eugene Meyer, Henry Mulberger, W. H. Woodard, S.
A. Hoffman and Ferd. Schmutzler.
The committee agreed
that in case the company moved its factory from Milwaukee to this city to raise
as a bonus the sum of $3000 which was satisfactory, and work will be begun at
an early day. On Milwaukee street, will be erected a building, 50 x 150 feet,
part of which will be one story high and part two stories high.
The company at the
present time employs 30 men and will increase its force when its new building
is ready for occupancy. Twenty of the employees are expert workmen who will
move to this city with their families who will need homes in which to live and
every available home will be taken.
1906
05 23 1906
The news comes from Milwaukee that the
gentlemen behind the Washington-Cutlery Company, which is soon to be removed to
Watertown, are actively engaged in drawing plans for their new factory building
on
1906
12 06 1906
The wheels of another industry in
Watertown will begin their activity today and contribute to the industrial
progress that has been the slogan in this city for the past few years.
Reference is made to the new plant of
the Washington Cutlery company, the building for which was recently completed
and which is now equipped with the necessary machinery for carrying on the
manufacturing business. A representative
of the Leader paid a visit to the
plant yesterday and was agreeably surprised as a result of his observations and
believes that there is a great future in store for the concern ... a trial run
of the machinery will be made today and the factory will start in a small way,
increasing throughout the week and it is expected that by the first of [next]
week, everything will be running full blast.
By tonight five of the ten grinding stones will be ready for action and
. . . four tripp-hammers ready to pound away . . .
1917
Jefferson
County WI and its People
Prominent among the industrial
concerns of Watertown is the Washington Cutlery Company, which was incorporated
in 1906 with a capital of thirteen thousand.
The company manufactures the "Village Blacksmith" brand of butcher
knives, cleavers, tools, corn knives, sickles, cold chisels, screw drivers,
punches, etc., and their products are sold principally in the United States.
They furnish employment to from fifty
to sixty hands, fifty per cent of whom are skilled workmen. Their plant has a
floor space of sixteen thousand square feet and is supplied with the latest
equipment, being remodeled, enlarged and new machinery being installed in 1917.
The equipment now includes automatic
grinding machines, forges burning fuel oil, oil tempering machines, punch
presses and trip hammers, all of the latest design and the best to be found in
the market.
The business has grown rapidly and the
plant is now behind in its orders.
The officers of the company are
Gustave H. Lehrkind, president and sales manager; Charles Richenbaum, vice
president; and Hugo E. Volckmann, secretary, treasurer and manager. They are
all men of long experience in metal manufacturing and their plant is one of
Watertown's prized assets.
________________________________________________________
1921
Watertown High
School Orbit
Village Blacksmith
The Village
Blacksmith Folks have been established over twenty-five years and up to twelve
years ago were located at Milwaukee. The shops were removed to Watertown
because of the superior advantages of this city, and the energetic solicitation
of the Watertown Advancement Association.
From time to time additions have been built, and it is planned to
develop the plant still farther, when normal and stabilized business conditions
warrant it.
Since its
establishment, no changes have taken place in the ownership or officers of this
company, who are: G. H. Lehrkind, President; H. E. Volkmann, Secretary and
Treasurer, and Charles Reichenbaum, Vice-President.
In the early years,
only a limited line of Household Knives was made. The output at this time was
only ten to fifteen dozen per day. The knives were sold to the retail stores in
Wisconsin.
The product now
consists of: Knives, Cleavers, Grass Hooks, Corn and Hedge Knives, Screw
Drivers, Chisels, Punches, Draw Shaves, and other tools. All of these are high
quality goods, and the production reaches some 700,000 pieces annually, which
are sold in more than 3,000 hardware stores, as well as in Restaurant and
Butcher Supply, Auto Supply, and in Seed and Implement Houses throughout the
United States.
Jobbers take care of
the major portion of the distribution under the trademark: “The Village
Blacksmith Folks.”
The goods which are
listed and illustrated in a large number of catalogues are estimated as
follows:
120,000 in Hardware
Lines.
10,000 in Butcher and Restaurant Supply
Lines.
25,000 in Auto Supply Lines.
200,000 in Seed and
Implement Supply Lines.
The company maintains
a western selling and distributing branch at
1954
Watertown
Daily Times, 12 16 1954
Officers and
delegates were elected this week in Watertown by Machinists Local No. 1367 of
the International Association of Machinists, AFL, it was announced today. The
local represents the Parts Engineering Co., the Village Blacksmith Co., the
Otto Biefeld Co., the Syncromatic Corp., the Kusel Dairy Equipment Co., and the
Brandt Automatic Cashier Co., all of this city. The following officers were
re-elected: Kurt Rex, president; Eric Loeffler, vice president; George
Havlicek, treasurer; Fred Harder, financial secretary; Roland Schauer,
recording secretary; and Melvin Gruenewald, sentinel.
1956
Watertown
Daily Times, 03 17 1956
The Village
Blacksmith Company this year is observing the 50th anniversary of operation in
Watertown, Henry Winogrond, head of the firm, told the Rotary Club at its
noonday luncheon. The firm actually was established 62 years ago, he said. It
was founded in Milwaukee as the Washington Cutlery Company. The plant moved its
operations to Watertown 50 years ago. Mr. Winogrond commented on the changes in
buying habits and living standards of the American people which has resulted in
changes in items manufactured by the firm since World War II. Professional
cutlery has become an important item at the plant. This line of knives and other
cutting equipment is sold to meat packing houses, hotels and restaurants, and
in recent years this phase of the business has become more and more important.
More people eating out, he said, is to a large extent responsible for the
growth of this phase of the business.
1958
09 26 Display showing of Village
Blacksmith's new line of “Galaxy Letter Boxes.”. WDT
Cross-References:
Prior to the 1940s
the Village Blacksmith name was incised or stamped directly into the blades of
cleavers. Afterwards it was stamped on
the handles (WFJ)
