Untitled (3)A newspaper
for the home
Member: Gannett group
•
193rd Year, No. 155
• • • • • .I
!–Vid DutChess weacnery aciaptinIrmr
By Dan Gordon
Journal staff writer
WAPPINGERS FALLS — In a
hollow below the Village of Wap-
pingers Falls, the former Dut-
chess Bleachery buildings ap-
pear to be just reminders of a
bygone era.
Straddling the Wappingers
Creek, the buildings typify the
time when factories were depen-
dent on water for power.
Now, transportation prevails
as the key, and factories are
located near major highways.
Without any neon signs to pro-
claim their presence and lacking
a fresh modern appearance, the
buildings look like they have
outlived their purpose.
But these are durable buildinggs
which are hard to put down. In
fact, they appear to be adapting
to the modern era very well.
Almost all of the space in the
approximately 15 buildings
which make up the complex are
rented out.
The buildings have not been
able to recapture the bustle when
Garner & Company was printing
fabrics during the 1800's, nor
when textile giant Deering
Milliken company was
manufacturing linen and cloth
during the present century until
the 1950's.
Yet, j10 companies now operate
in the complex empploying about
200 workers,�according to Samuel
Iannone, owner of half of the
praperty.
Most of the space is used for
warehousing goods. But one of
the companies in the complex,
Kemp & Beatley Inc., is keeping
the tradition of textiles aiive.
The company is occupying
more than two floors of the major
bleachery building to cut, sew,
and package linen such as table
cloth and napkins.
There are some inconve-
niences to the building, such as
no suitable elevator for the
employees and relatively poor
insulation, according to Kemp &
Beatley president Lee
Greenbaum.
But the sturdiness of the
building and the low rental fees
more than offset these disad-
vantages, Greenbaum said.
Kemp & Beatley is now con-
sidering purchasing the building.
The other major firm occupy-
ing space in the complex is the
Three Star Corp. which produces
grounding rods.
Among the firms storing goods
in the former bleachery complex
are a firm which supplies bank
stationery, a Christmas tree
company, and a stage lighting
producer.
The situation was much
gloomier in the 1950's when the
bleachery buildings went silent
after Deering Milliken moved its
manufacturing facilities to South
Carolina.
In 1958. Norman Kanor, who
now lives in New Jersey, pur-
chased the buildings on the
Poughkeepsie side of
Wappingers Creek and Samuel
lannone bought the buildings on
_the Town of Wappinger side.
"At that time the buildings
were only a home for pigeons and
raccoons," Iannone said. "There
was also a lot of broken glass.
"Everyone in Wappinger
thought I was a little crazy
because they thought the factory
was dead."
But because of the low pur-
chase price for the buildings, in-
expensive rents could be offered,
and Kanor and lannone had little
trouble finding tenants.
During the early 60's, space
was rented out for as low as 35
cents per square foot whiie newer
facilities were charging $1.25, ac-
cording to Iannone.
Because most of the structures
on the Wappinger side of the
creek are one story, Iannone was
able to adapt them to
warehousing without great
difficulty.
The three-story central
bleachery building was a more
(See bleachery, page 20)
The weather:
Mostly sunny
20 Gents Details on page 2
o mocern era
Journal photo by Robert V. Niles
Sam lannone ... owner of former Wappingers Pleachery
...leathery
From page 11
challenging prospect for Kanor
because it could not be used as a
warehouse. Kanor had to make
numerous improvements so that
the building could be divided to
accommodate a number of firms.
"It took hard work," Kanor
said. "It was not easy to get the
building into shape. I had to pro-
vide separate water and elec-
tricity for the tenants.
"It took half my life."
Industry arrived alone the
banks of Wappingers Creek in
1831 when Garner and Co. opened
a factory to print calico and
linen, according to Edgar Pop-
per, a former employee in the
complex and local historian.
The Garner factory complex
became the focal point of Wapp-
ingers Falls because most of the
residents worked there, Popper
said. Many of the buildings in the
village were owned by Garner
and Co. and rented out to the
workers.
Garner and Co. closed down its
operations in Wappingers Falls
shortly after the turn of the cen-
tury. But Deering Milliken
brought life back to the industrial
complex by purchasing the
buildings in 1908, according to
Popper.
Shortly afterwards, Deering
Milliken constructed the main
bleachery building.
The company was moving at
full throttle during World War I
and employed about 800 persons,
Popper said. The factory con-
tinued to flourish until after WW
II when activity began to taper
off, Popper added. Finally in the
early 1950's, the factory closed.
Kanor and Iannone do not seem
worried that the complex will be
empty in the future.
In December, one of Iannone's
tenants moved out. Only a month
later a construction supplier
rented out that space.
Exemplifying the fact that
some of the old buildings refuse
to die is the power plant at the
bleachery complex. The plant
which had produced hydroelec-
tric power with the waters from
Wappingers Creek has been
abandoned for a number of
years.
However, the operation of the
plant has suddenly become more
economically feasible as energy
costs continue to soar. A group of
engineers from metropolitan
New York are presently propos-
ing to bring the plant back into
operation.
As for the durability of these
buildings, some over a century
old, "they will last for another
1M vaarc " cam Kannr
®Id bleacher
adapting weir
In a hollow below the Village
of Wappingers Falls, the
former Dutchess Bleachery
buildings appear to be just re-
minders of a bygone era ... but
they are adapting to the
modern era very well. Page
11.
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