Industries

American Circular Loom Co. (1901–1938)
S. 31st Street, Kenilworth. 

Manufacturer of conduits, loom flex, circular looms, etc.; inbound bar iron and coal.

As electricity came into vogue in the latter part of the nineteenth century, entire industries sprang up to support its adoption. The manufacture of electrical conduit became particularly lucrative, as many feet of conduit were required to wire homes, office buildings, and factories. In the 1890s, the American Circular Loom Co. was founded to produce these conduits, establishing its first plant in Chelsea, Massachusetts.

About 1901, the company—at the enticement of the New Orange Industrial Association—established a plant in New Orange. In 1905, it annexed the adjacent Monarch Roofing Co. plant into its facility. The Kenilworth works became the exclusive manufacturer of the company’s “Electroduct” brand conduit.

On May 12, 1908, an annex of the plant burned. A new 70' x 125' structure, consisting of a plating store, machine shop, and offices, was erected in its place. This addition functioned as a metal-molding facility and included a galvanizing plant. By 1918 the company employed forty workers and was manufacturing both conduit and gun barrels for the war effort.

The plant suffered additional fire damage in December 1921. The facility was served by four rail sidings and a coal trestle, receiving carloads of coal and bar iron. American Circular Loom was eventually acquired by National Electrical Products Co., which established other plants around the country. The Kenilworth plant, however, closed in or about 1938, becoming the last of the original “Big Four” New Orange plants to shut down. The facility was subsequently taken over by Carpenter Steel Co.

Carpenter Steel Co. (1938–1947)

S. 31st Street, Kenilworth. 

Manufacturer of alloy steel tubing and piping.

Carpenter Steel Co. was founded in 1889 by John Henry Carpenter in Reading, Pennsylvania, with backing from New York City investors. Around 1938 the company established an alloy-tube manufacturing plant in Kenilworth at the former American Circular Loom site. One of the old Circular Loom spurs was repaired at Carpenter’s request to serve the plant.

The facility employed forty-seven workers (likely by the late 1930s). During World War II the Kenilworth works was designated a war plant, and employment surged to approximately 300 following the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. The company relocated to a new plant in Union [3-M-UU-5] in 1946. Thereafter, the Kenilworth property was divided between Libbey-Owens-Ford Glass Co. and Reduction & Refining Co.

Libbey-Owens-Ford Glass Co. (1947–1952)

131 S. 31st Street, Kenilworth. 

Distribution warehouse; manufacturer of flat glass; inbound resins.

Libbey-Owens-Ford Glass Co. (LOF) was formed in 1930 through the merger of Libbey-Owens’s sheet-glass operations and Edward Ford Plate Glass Co. Headquartered in Toledo, Ohio, LOF produced flat glass for automotive and building-product manufacturers, serving both OEM and replacement markets.

In 1947 LOF occupied part of the former Carpenter Steel plant, fitting it for use as a distribution warehouse. The facility received inbound resins from Toledo. The Kenilworth site ultimately proved unsuitable for LOF’s needs, and the company vacated the property in 1952.

Jacobson Manufacturing Co., Inc. (c. 1952–1955)

131 S. 31st Street, Kenilworth (or 841 Clinton Ave.). 

Distribution warehouse; metal parts and fasteners, precision-engineered plastic components, conduit and machine-screw nuts.

Founded by Harvey Jacobson (president), the company occupied the site beginning in 1952. Morris Jacobson served as treasurer. The facility employed thirty-two men and fifteen women.

International Wines, Inc., division of Western Grape Products (1960–1968)

131 S. 31st Street, Kenilworth (or 841 Clinton Ave.). 

Distribution warehouse; liquor; inbound alcoholic beverages.

International Wines received tank cars and boxcars of alcoholic beverages for bottling and distribution. Typical shipments consisted of six-dome wine tank cars—usually from the Southern Pacific—originating at the Gallo Winery in Modesto, California. The wine was unloaded into the building and bottled on site. Traffic averaged one car every two or three weeks.

At times, cars arriving late from the Erie-Lackawanna would be held overnight by the Rahway Valley—either alongside the enginehouse or secured inside the M-of-W building—before being spotted the following morning. As was quietly rumored, sectionmen occasionally “sampled” the cargo by cracking a tank valve and drawing off a bucket of wine.

The building was vacant by 1969. Traffic records show one inbound car via CNJ at Aldene in 1968, the year the company went out of business.

Reduction & Refining Co. (1947–1963)

60 S. 31st Street, Kenilworth. 

Smelter and refiner of tungsten and molybdenum; inbound muriatic acid.

Reduction & Refining Co., headed by Philip S. Lasdon, was previously located at 96 Roanoke Ave., Newark. Although the company initially intended to relocate to South Hackensack in 1947, it instead occupied part of the former Carpenter Steel plant in Kenilworth. Lasdon’s sons, Lloyd I. and Stuart D., were also active in senior management.

The plant closed in 1963, when Lasdon sold the property to Essex Motel Corp., which constructed a Holiday Inn on the site. The location remains occupied by a motel today.