Businesses Past...
by Richard D. L. Fulton
Claire Frock Company
The Thurmont Claire Frock Company was established in 1936, and incorporated on December 23, 1947, by Abraham Jules Bernstein of York, Pennsylvania, in a vacant high school on East Main Street, according to an article published on July 30, 1977, in The (Frederick) News.
The News further noted that, upon commencing operations, the Claire Frock Company had employed 30 individuals for producing inexpensive house dresses.
The News also included an interview with then-company president Calvin E. Saylor (who grew up on a Rocky Ridge dairy farm, graduating from Thurmont High School) as part of a feature spread on the company, in which Bernstein told the newspaper, “Visions of turn-off-the-century sweat shop in my head contrasting with this factory’s reputation as one of the most modern and efficiently managed sewing factories around.”
The News stated further in their July 30, 1977, article, that by 1950, the company had employed 125 individuals, producing 1,000 dresses per week, with some employees earning as much as $100 a day.
In addition, the company enhanced its facility by adding sewing, packaging, and shipping sections, according to Heritage Frederick’s website. (frederickhistory.org).
In 1950, the company was the subject of an employee strike, according to Heritage Frederick’s website, which stated, “A picket line formed along East Main Street in front of the original Claire Frock factory building. After a week of picketing, attorneys for the Claire Frock Company and the ILGWU reached an agreement and work resumed.”
In the early 1950s, the company expanded its operations to include facilities in York, Littlestown, Gettysburg, York Springs, Dillsburg, Duncannon, Mt. Wolf, Stroudsburg, and Reading, according to an article in the July 1, 1975, edition of The News. The Claire Frock Company also became exclusive contractors for Loralyn Cottons, which resulted in the company attaining buyers with W.T. Grant; J. C. Penney; Wards; Sears, Roebuck & Co.; among others.
However, in spite of that, around the same time, it appeared the company was on the brink of bankruptcy, with Saylor telling The News that, when the owner, Bernstein, became ill, Bernstein’s brother asked Saylor to take over the operation, and Saylor stated, “I threw myself into it and found the business was up to its ears in unpaid bills. Virtually bankrupt… All I could think was, ‘Christ, I’m out of a job.’”
However, by 1958, business turned around for the company, he told The News, and was showing a profit.
During the 1960s, the Claire Frock Company added an additional manufacturing facility on the northeast side of Thurmont (Poplar Street), according to Heritage Frederick’s website (frederickhistory.org). The company purchased an eight-and-a-half-acre tract of land on Poplar Street, upon which to build the second facility, which opened in 1961, according to the July 1, 1975, issue of The News.
Also, on January 1, 1965, all the Thurmont employees were moved into the Poplar Street site (which became fully air-conditioned in 1968), and the East Main Street building was then used solely for storage until 1971, at which time it was then re-used for “cut work,” according to The News.
Also, as per The News, by the mid-1970s, the Claire Frock Company had expanded its operations on Poplar Street in Thurmont to 115,000 square feet and employed 550 individuals (including 92 employees who had been with the company for over 20 years), thereby generating a $4 million annual payroll payout.
In 1974, Bernstein resigned as president of the company, at which point Saylor then ascended to the presidency of the Claire Frock Company.
The Claire Frock Company became instrumental in supporting the activities of the Thurmont community; for example, providing the Thurmont senior citizens’ group with their first “home” on East Main Street, and sponsoring girls and boys little league baseball teams and midget football teams, according to the July 1, 1975, edition of The News, as well as supporting the local scholar-athlete football award, Lions Club projects, and the Guardian Hose and Thurmont Ambulance companies.
The Claire Frock Company’s history came to a conclusion in December 1986, when Saylor sold the company to the I.A. Appel Company of New York, according to Heritage Frederick’s website.
Claire Frock Company, East Main Street Factory. Source: thurmontimages.com
