JEANETTE FLECK
WSU Intern
It’s unclear whether anyone can attend elementary school in Westfield without learning of the city’s once-dominant whip industry. In 1892, there were 41 different companies manufacturing whips in the city – not counting companies that made parts of whips or the equipment used in their mass-production. Then, one more – the United States Whip Company – was formed, through either a merger or an agreement between 13 of these companies. Foremost among these original companies was the American Whip Company, partially founded by a man named Hiram Hull.
Hull, a gentleman, was born in Connecticut, around the year 1796. His obituary mentions he was the first manufacturer of whips in Westfield, and he is known as the “father of Westfield whip-making.” Hull’s own company pre-dated the American Whip Company, but was part of the merger that would create it, around the year 1855. Hull died in 1861, at age 65, but the company, of course, lived on, housed in a building at 24 Main Street. Around 1878, the factory was described as “five bays (wall segments featuring a window) wide, 21 bays long, and three and a half stories tall.” When the U.S. Whip Co. was established, around 1892, its headquarters moved into the premises of the American Whip Co, and no fewer than 6 wings and out-buildings were added to the premises.
At its highest point, Westfield produced 90 percent of all whips made in the United States. Unfortunately, shortly after the formation of the U.S. Whip Co., two brothers named J. Frank and Charles E. Duryea, Illinois natives living in Springfield, built the first “successful” gas-powered automobile in the United States. Their automobile drove for the first time on Springfield Streets on September 22, 1893.
At first, the very-expensive automobiles’ existence was not enough to threaten Westfield’s whip industry, but then Henry Ford began mass-producing his Model-T. By 1920, Americans collectively owned 8 million cars. By 1925, only 15 of Westfield’s 42 whip companies were still in business.
The U.S. Whip Company branched out and formed the U.S. Line Company, which manufactured fishing equipment. As a result, the company managed to survive longer than any other whip manufacturer. In 1935, U.S. Whip was one of the only such companies remaining in Westfield. By 1940, they had changed over to fishing tackle as well.
By 1970, the U.S. Whip Co. had either folded or been subsumed by the Line Co., and by 1984, the remaining company had moved to different premises (specifically, to the building profiled last week, at 16 Union Avenue). The historic factory at 24 Main is still there, but has been renovated for a modern appearance and new uses: the Park Square apartments, Liberty Tax services, Domino’s Pizza and Subway, among the most well-known. The far left of the building (when facing it), is still recognizable by the arrangement of its windows.
