FACTORY HISTORY IN THE SPOTLIGHT
City architect places story of former Midtown shirt plant front and center of application for historic designation
Long gone is the rat-a-tat-tat of sewing machines.
Lost are the jobs filled by hundreds of women who stitched together shirt after shirt after shirt.
But the history of the former Fuller Shirt Factory is now at the heart of an application to designate the company’s mammoth Pine Grove Avenue building, mostly empty right now, as a bona fide Midtown historic landmark.
Kingston architect Scott Dutton, who recently bought the 67,000 square-foot edifice, is hoping that it does get listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
So much so, that he hired an expert — Philadelphia-based Heritage Consulting Group — to lay out the bygone particulars of the shirt factory history in an application to the U.S. Department of the Interior for its decision on granting the early 20th century building landmark status.
“The Fuller Shirt Company played a prominent role in the Kingston community and employed over 500 people at one point,” Dutton said in an email. “Almost daily, someone approaches the contractors working at the site to inquire or to share an anecdote about a relative that worked at the shirt factory.”
Dutton said a listing on the state and National Register of Historic Places “insures that the building will be forever protected against demolition or unsympathetic alteration.”
“Oftentimes clients of ours are reluctant to pursue listing buildings that might be deemed eligible,” Dutton added. “The most common concerns are that doing so will increase the costs, add delays and limit options for renovations.
“All of which are true, which is why a tax credit program was designed as an offset to encourage preservation.”
Dutton says he thinks the community, at large, is sympathetic to preservation.
“I personally believe that perhaps now, more than ever, our society craves “authenticity” and a connection to tangible evidence that we are more than the sum of our emails, tweets, Facebook and Instagram posts,” Dutton said.
“When you think about how much has changed in just recent years and how disposable most things in our lives, you start to understand the desire to connect with things that are more permanent”
According to the Heritage Consulting Group, the Fuller Shirt Factory was established by Isaiah Fuller in a building on Prince Street in 1892.
At the time, the company provided sewing services with six women employed.
Fuller, who died in 1912, was raised on a farm, but would become the head of one of the largest shirt factories in New York.
“Early in his career Isaiah was a prison warden, then served in the State Legislature, before founding the Fuller Shirt Company,” the historical account reads. “After two years at the Prince Street location, the Fuller Shirt Company expanded with a total of 155 sewing machines, employing 140 women.”
One year later, the Fuller Shirt Company hired an additional 60 employees, with a daily output of 2,100 shirts.
By 1906, the Fuller Shirt Company had outgrown its original headquarters on Prince Street, moving to a to the 45 Pine Grove Ave. building.
The new building was located adjacent to the West Shore Railroad in an industrial neighborhood.
“The location, adjacent to the railroad, was advantageous for shipping and receiving,” the account reads.
Fuller erected a threestory L-shaped brick building for the shirt manufacturing. At that time, Fuller’s son, James S. Fuller took a larger role in the company’s operations.
“During the early 20th century, under James S. Fuller’s leadership, the Fuller Shirt Company grew quickly, and continued to seek new employees,” the account says. “While the majority of the company’s workers were women, some ads began to call for men specifically.”
The account says that two years after Isaiah Fuller’s death, James, “at that point a long term invalid, died from a leg wound.”
After James’ death, Isaiah’s daughter Anna K. Fuller, also known as “Miss Annie,” rose to president of the company.
“She was noted for using human understanding and kindness to sympathize with employees and establishing close employee-employer relationships,” the historical account reads. “Annie was also involved in the church and volunteer charity events, as well as a group for employees in clothing manufacturing.”
The Fuller Shirt Company continued to do well throughout the 1920s. In 1928, The company added a steel-frame addition for warehousing and shipping to the building’s rear. An additional stock room was added in that year.
“During the Great Depression, the company continued to operate,” the account says. “However, the congenial relationship between employer and employee deteriorated as the company faced hard economic times.”
The Skyline Manufacturing Company, a producer of children’s clothing, started up in 1939. Skyline entered into a partnership with Fuller in which they shared the factory building at 45 Pine Grove Ave.
After World War II, the Fuller Shirt Company participated in two veteran training programs which trained them “in the use of high power machines and shirt pressers,” the account reads.
After Annie Fuller’s death in Jan. 1950, William “Bill” T. Fuller, who was a U.S. Navy veteran, headed up the Fuller Shirt Company.
“William Fuller vastly expanded the company’s operations, opening a new factory in Chester, South Carolina in 1955,” the account says. “While the company had expanded to South Carolina, following national textile industry expansion in the Sunbelt region, they maintained a presence in Kingston. “
Fuller hired an additional 100 workers in 1956.
The company’s success in the 1950s garnered the attention “from famous hat manufacturer, John B. Stetson Company,” the historical account says.
“Stetson approached William Fuller in 1956, at the height of the Fuller Shirt Company’s success, with an interest in manufacturing shirts,” the Heritage firm says. “As hats were beginning to go out of style, many hat companies were getting into the shirt business, which maintained a stronger market.”
By December, 1956, the Fuller Shirt Company was sold to Stetson, ending the tradition of the family-run company.
Still, employees were kept on.
“Despite the sale, the company continued to operate and produce shirts under the Fuller name and the 350 employees were retained,” the consulting account says.
But in 1965, the company left the Pine Grove Avenue site and stopped production.
The Fuller Shirt Factory, says Heritage Consulting, deserves a spot on the National Registry of Historic Places.
“The company is representative of a larger trend of clothing manufacturers located in Kingston in early 20th century which employed primarily women,” the consulting firm said in the application. “This led to a higher level of independence for Kingston female workers than their counterparts in larger cities.”