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[RIGHT] The factory behind a RRRR caboose, around or after the Blumenthal era (late 1930s-1940s)
[BELOW] 1923
In South River, it appears that employment in the Blumenthal mill was less than half of the peak during the Herrman, Aukam era. When, in the early days of the Great Depression, 100 workers were recalled in March 1931, which additional 150 to return in coming weeks, the capacity was stated to be 350 "hands".
On Sanborn maps in the mid-20s and early 30s, the building was still listed as the
"South River Spinning Co. - Spinners and weavers of silk".
From 1919 through to the early 1930s, the former Herrmann, Aukam plant was operated by Sidney Blumenthal & Co. aka "The Shelton Looms" as a silk mill - Blumenthal would call the wholly-owned subsidiary facility The South River Spinning Co., (later simply known as:
Sidney Blumenthal & Co., Inc., South River Division).
Blumenthal claimed when purchased that it would be "one of the largest velvet mills in the East". (It is as the "Old Silk Mill" that most local residents know the remains of the building). Industry sources in the 1920s listed it as 9.5 acre site with 130,000 square feet of space.
According to a short piece in an industry publication in July, 1919, Blumenthal's purchase included "25 dwelling houses".
Blumenthal also owned the Uncasville-Shelton Company at Uncasville, Conn., and the Shelton Home Building Association. The main plant at Shelton, Conn., employed 2,500 workers in 1920s.
[ABOVE] Small drawing of plant in Blumenthal promotional booklet TALES OF TUFTS, publication date unknown.
Besides womens fashions, Blumenthal also manufactured "automobile robes" of artificial fur fabrics.
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