Embedded Files
Herrmann, Aukam & Company would remain in business in South River for more than a year after the shootings. This is contrary to the impression given by Selover-"...After the strike...the company closed down..." and Barber "As soon as the strike became apparent, the factory was closed." This has resulted in erroneous reports that the strike itself occurred in 1918 since that is the year of Herrmann, Aukam & Co.'s closing in South River.
Help Wanted ads for embroiders and stitchers
nearly a year after the end of the strike.
In October, 1918, (21 months after the start of the strike) the Herrmann, Aukam Company announced it was closing "in order to consolidate their work, carrying out the government’s suggestion in conserving material, labor, freight and coal." Incredibly, no mention is even made of the strike in the October 15, 1918 Home News article about the closing and the company. "When conditions become normal again it is quite likely the company will resume operations." The May 23rd article below claims the plant had shut down "on account of lack of help".
An April 13th,1919 Sunday Times article, on the contrary, notes that "it has been said the owners closed down the factory because of labor interference, and not because of war conditions", claiming that the strike cost the company several thousand dollars "...to provide guards to protect their property".
Five years later, an August,1923 article in the Lebanon Evening Report about the potential sale of the company, it was noted by H-A officials that "...South River, Staten Island and Mt. Joy...were money losers during the past several years".
By December, 1918, however, an article on South River's new Chamber of Commerce states that "It is a well known fact that the Herrmann, Aukam handkerchief factory has been permanently closed down..."
Town Historian Jesse Selover wrote in his history of South River:
"This was a great blow to South River, and temporarily caused much economic distress. This was no reflection on the company as they were the backbone of living in South River for nearly forty years."
Confusingly, this notice [LEFT] appeared in the local New Brunswick paper in late spring '19. It is not known if this attempted reopening ever occurred, or if, perhaps, this article is confusing H-A with the Herrmann Embroidery business operated by Charles Herrmann (last paragraph).
Only five months later, it would be announced that Sidney Blumenthal had bought the building for his South River Spinning Company. The Real Estate ad for the factory was being run in The New York Sun and The New York Times was early as March and April, 1919.An October 26th article in the New York Tribune about the sale to Blumenthal - called a velvet manufacturer - would mention that Herrmann, Aukam & Co. was still in "partial operation" at the time of the sale. Herrmann, Aukam and Company would be listed in the City Directory from 1921-1924 at 40 Ferry Street, with John Breitenmoser as manager.
When, in the spring of 1920, the South River Chamber of Commerce was announced in a half-page Daily Home News ad, "Herrman Aukum Co." and "Charles Herriman" [sic] were both listed as two of the only seventeen manufacturer members [LEFT]. Ironically, the first item on their platform was "More Factories employing men".
The Ferry Street facility, opened in fall of 1920, in the Klauser Building was on the first floor. "Unfinished goods" were shipped to South River and distributed to the company's local network of private home workers. This South River "Finishing Department" would finally be closed in the fall of 1923. Perhaps not unconcidentally, the NJ State Department of Labor had been enforcing a law to inspect and otherwise regulate Home Work that summer.
A Sunday Times (October 14, 1923) article announcing the change (likely written by Jesse Selover) ended with the claim:
"South River regrets exceedingly that the Herman-Aukman [sic] Company decided to sever its last connection with South River ."
Charles Herrmann* would remain in South River after the Herrmann, Aukam Company left and, as noted, open his own Herrmann Embroidery Works at 21 Gordon Street (later moving to Tanner's Corners). He would later serve as South River's postmaster.
John Breitenmoser* would join that firm and later take it over. Another former Herrmann, Aukam & Co. plant superintendent, Joseph Hirschman, would also later operate his own embroidery firm.
Milton Herrmann*, owner of Herrmann, Aukam & Co., died in 1950 at his home in Dobbs Ferry. His New York Times obituary calls him the retired president of the Herrmann Handkerchief Company, located in the heart of New York City's garment center.
* See also Herrmann family and H-A official bios
NEXT PAGES >>> HERRMANN, AUKAM AFTER LEAVING SOUTH RIVER
After Herrmann, Aukam - Blumenthal's South River Spinning Co
The Factory after the strike and SRSC
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