Archived Digital Text

who operated the Orange County Carriage & Sleigh Company. In late 1852, the structure was sold by Kain & Co. to Matthews & Hunt, Jonathan M. Matthews and Hiland H. Hunt, "inventors and pioneers in the manufacture of Ladies' Satchels," began business at Windham Center, Greene County, in 1843. By 1851, sales reached $100,000. Having purchased the building here, they remodeled it as needed for their business, and began production in 1853. Also that year, the first street signs in the village were put on the corner of the carpet bag factory, as it was called.
By 1857, they employed about 175 people with sales of nearly $200,000 per year. Except for the locks, the bags were completely made in their factory. A 12 horse power steam engine, inade at the Orange County Furnace, was used for "Warming, hoisting, and other labor-saving purposes." There was a variety of carpet bags made, "from a child's satchel, to the largest kind of gentleman's traveling bag." Belts were also manufactured. Matthews, Hunt & Co., as they were then called, also sold mats, rugs, stair rods, hassocks, and so on. In early 1858, construction of Mr. Hunt's fine mansion, perhaps the most beautiful in Middletown, was completed. Designed by Gervase Wheeler, it was built by local craftsmen, and still stands at 26 Courtland Street.
On October 31, 1859, the factory was lit by gas, the first in Middletown. After the retirement of Mr. Hunt, and death of the senior Matthews in 1874, the firm continued as Matthews & Co. In August 1908, the structure was sold to Ayres & Galloway Hardware, who have occupied it since.
Another partnership from Greene County, as Matthews and Hunt were, also came here and began operations in 1853. Horatio R. Wilcox and Joshua Draper built a wooden factory on Railroad Avenue, at the corner of Grove Street for the production of wool hats. By 1857, about 40 people were employed by Wilcox & Draper. In 1873 - 1874, the wooden factory was replaced by a massive six-story brick building, then known as the Draper Hat Factory. The last owners were Charles Hagen and John Ruefer, doing business as New York Piano Key Co." manufacturers of strictly high grade pianos and piano cases." This building was destroyed by a spectacular blaze April 26, 1911. The fire was captured on film by Charles A. Ketcham who sold the photos as post cards. A Complete loss, an estimate of the damage was about $150,000. Approximately 70 people were put out of work. Fortunately, there were no serious injuries. For many years, a coal yard stood on the site of the old factory; today it is a parking lot for the bowling alley.
The large brick building at 7 - 29 Canal Street began as the creamery of the Orange County Milk Association in the 1860's. This was purchased by the Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Co. in 1882. Anglo-Swiss was founded in 1866 in Cham, Switzerland by C.A. Page who had gone there as the United States Consul. With six large