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Fuller, Warren & Co. Stoves
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Fuller, Warren & Co. was a major manufacturer of stoves in Troy, at a time when the Capital District was the national center of stove making. This billhead from The Biggert Collection of Architectural Vignettes on Commercial Stationery shows their riverfront factory in Troy. The works, originally Johnson, Cox & Fuller, and known as…
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DeGolyer Varnish Works
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Another elegant billhead from The Biggert Collection. This sample from 1930 is from the DeGolyer Varnish Works, manufacturers of varnishes, japans, shellacs, &c. Apparently a G.W. Peters was in need of two gallons of E-kon-o-me Remover, which ran him a neat $3.60 plus parcel post. According to the billhead, the company was established in…
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C.W. Billings Slate & Wood Mantel Works
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Another magnificent billhead from the Biggert Collection. C.W. Billings was the proprietor of a factory that made slate and wood mantels, as well as tile hearths, brass fire plates, and fine finish grates. In the age before central heating, when every home had a fireplace and the well-to-do might have several, being in the…
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Troy Stove Works
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From 1864, the Biggert Collection has preserved this wonderful billhead from the Troy Stove Works of Burdett, Paris & Co. The office and showroom were at 253 River Street, a building which still stands on Monument Square and is known as the Burdett Building. (Curiously, “Burdett, Son & Co. also operated a wholesale wine…
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Cluett, Coon & Co.
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From Scribner’s magazine in 1890, we have this stylish ad for Cluett’s collars and cuffs for gentlemen. Your choice of the Penokee or Natillo collar, not to mention full dress Monarch shirts in flannel, cheviot, and madras. I sometimes wish shirts still had detachable collars; it’s the first thing to go on a white…
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Seneca Ray Stoddard
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Nims and Knight were successors to Merriam, Moore & Co., who published a variety of things including the famous Franklin Globes from the historic (now, not then) Cannon Building in Troy. Among the offerings of Nims and Knight, as advertised in Scribner’s magazine in 1890, were a variety of books depicting the beauties of…
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Mertens & Phalen
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I don’t think I’ve ever heard of Mertens & Phalen, but to judge by this ad from 1892, they were once a sizeable manufacturer of clothing in the Collar City. You can still find a number of trade cards and even some sheet music advertising the firm on eBay, but all other traces of…
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Uncle Sam Station
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The United States Bicentennial was a very big deal, celebration-wise. I don’t know what kind of events were involved with the U.S. Bicentennial Philatelic Fair, but they did have a special postmark for Uncle Sam Station that was applied to this postcard of Uncle Sam’s Grave on April 4, 1976. I wish all my…
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Mr. Lincoln in the Collar City
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One hundred and fifty-one years ago, on his way to inauguration as President of a not-very-United States, Abraham Lincoln made a visit to Troy. Arthur J. Weise recounted the visit in “Troy’s One Hundred Years”: “One of the memorable incidents of the year was the passage of Abraham Lincoln through the city, on Tuesday…
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American Seal Paint
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William Connors established a paint factory in 1878 at Hill and Ida streets, close to the Poestenkill in Troy. Eventually called the Troy Paint and Color Works, the firm manufactured American Seal brand paint in “any desired shade or color.” In 1889, “Carpentry & Building” magazine noted that “We have received from William Connors,…