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Ulster Knife Works

Ellenville, NY

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The Ulster Knife Works, Ellenville -- In 1870 a cooperative association organized for the purpose of engaging in the manufacture of pocket cutlery was formed in Naugatuck, Connecticut. It consisted of fifty members, all of whom were skilled workmen, and a majority of whom had been trained in the cutlery center of Sheffield, England. Capital stock was $25,000, with shares of $25 each.

In 1871 they heard that Ellenville, Ulster County, New York, was interested in having such a business located there. A local committee headed by Eli D. Terwilliger and William H. Otis had already operated in an effort to secure such an industry for Ellenville. Arrangements were made with the Naugatuck group to come to Ellenville for a conference. Negotiations finally led to the formation of the Ellenville Knife Building Company, which purchased the foundry property of John L. Bloomer & Sons on the Beer Kill in August, 1871.

The company succeeded in making a fine grade of cutlery, but its finances were not sufficiently strong to enable it to continue long as a cooperative company. It could not meet its obligations, and by 1875 was practically bankrupt. At this time "The Ulster Knife Company" was incorporated by Jacob Hermance, John Lyon, Alfred Neafie, R. Harvey Brodhead and Dwight Divine. This group assumed all the obligations of the company and proceeded with the manufacture of knives. The name Ulster was then adopted as the trade mark for its cutlery, and has since been used to designate one of the most popular and dependable lines of cutlery ever made in this country.

In 1878 Dwight Divine took over the entire responsibility, and continued the business as an individual enterprise, although he retained the organization of the Ulster Knife Company. William Booth, one of the original group, was retained as foreman, and so continued until his death many years later. Mr. Divine proved to be a very efficient business man, and gradually straightened out the tangled financial situation and placed the business on a paying basis, in spite of a fire which destroyed the plant in 1880. The buildings were soon replaced. About four hundred workmen were finally employed.

In 1926, Mr. Divine organized as Dwight Divine & Sons, Inc., taking into partnership his two sons, C. Dwight and John H. Divine, who carried on the business after the death of their father in 1932. John H. Divine died in November, 1943. In 1941, the control of the Ulster Knife Company was transferred from the Divine family to a group of capitalists, with Albert M. Baer president.

It is claimed that the Ulster Knife Works is the oldest shop of its kind now in existence in this country.

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