Archive Record
Images
Metadata
Catalog Number |
2022.100.97 |
Collection |
A Window on the Past columns |
Object Name |
Clipping, Newspaper |
Reference code |
US SPHi 2022.100.97 |
Title |
Charles Forster and the Forster Manufacturing Co. |
Date |
2022 |
Scope & Content |
Feature story about Charles Forster and the Forster Manufacturing Company, which operated a clothespin assembly plant in Building 15 in the West Yard of the former South Portland shipyards. A Window on the Past history column by Kathryn Onos DiPhilippo, executive director of the South Portland Historical Society. Published in the South Portland Cape Elizabeth Sentry, December 9, 2022. The company was founded by Charles Forster in the 1850s, when he first started manufacturing machine-made toothpicks in Massachusetts. He later operated mills in numerous towns in Maine, the largest and most established being those at Strong and Dixfield. After his death in 1901, the company was referred to as the Estate of Charles Forster; the name was changed again to Forster Manufacturing Company, Inc. in 1936. In January, 1947, Forster leased space in Building 15 of the former South Portland, Maine, shipyards, where it manufactured clothespins, wooden ice cream spoons and salad forks. Forster operated here for nearly a decade, moving the operation to Thompson's Point in Portland in 1956. The Forster company was acquired by Diamond Brands (formerly Diamond Match) in 1995. |
Search Terms |
A Window on the Past (news columns) Forster Manufacturing Company West Yard (post-war) |
People |
DiPhilippo, Kathryn Onos |