Long workweek finished with a song at The Pad Factory in Loudonville

by Kenny Libben, Curator Cleo Redd Fisher Museum March 22, 2020April 27, 2023

The Pad Factory workers in Loudonville from the 1910s are pictured here:
First Row (L-R): Clara Young, Joy Baum, Pearl Kaylor, Anna Allerding, Beulah Halblaub, Grace Yates, May Hawkins.
Second Row (L-R): William Denny, the Foreman, Emma Smith, Helen Yuncker, Ann Yuncker, Maggie Waddel, Gertrude Baum, Helen Allerding.
Third Row (L-R): Katie Yarman, Cora Sellers, Joy Hamm, Minnie Witt, Dorothy Sellers, Charles Sellers.
Fourth Row (L-R): Joe Gilbert, Earl "Yippy" Simmons, Ben Critchfield, William Brock, Arch Jordan, Douglas "Duke" Baum, Orland Hayes, William Goon, Lewis "Lick" Sharp, Charles Waddel.
Fifth Row (L-R): Harry Derr, Dave Ernst, Thomas Reichert.

LOUDONVILLE — The Pad Factory was located on North Spring Street in Loudonville in the 1910s.

It’s unknown what type of pads they made, but likely a variety of buggy pads, mattresses, and more. The company hired a number of local women as seamstresses to sew the pads together, and notes indicate that most employees worked 50 to 60 hours per week.

Most notably, though, was every Saturday evening at 5 p.m. when Thomas Reichert, the engineer, would “toot” out the song “Home Sweet Home” on the factory’s steam whistle.

More information on the Cleo Redd Fisher Museum can be found at this link.