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| photo by Mike Groll, The Associated Press |
A century ago, there were a couple ways to get a library in your town: a Carnegie grant, a society of thinkers or do-gooders or a Captain of Industry looking for a legacy project. Some of my favorite library stories come from the last group; exquisite library ‘monuments’ built by men who made their fortune when America’s economy and population were exploding.
As they aged, many freshly minted industrialists looked around their town for ways to leave a meaningful and important personal or family legacy. A library was a perfect combination of community philanthropy and ego boost. Unraveling the name of a library to discover the man and industry that led to it’s birth makes for some interesting reading.
And so it went in Canajoharie, NY (exit 29 on the N.Y. Thruway, smack dab in the middle of the state). The library is public but it’s also a joint venture with the Askell Museum (a small museum that features a well regarded collection of American artists and Mohawk Valley landscapes). The museum and the library were built by Bartlett Askell, who is responsible for another famous thruway landmark, the Beechnut Packing Company.
Arkell’s story starts with his father, James Arkell, who might as well be called Mr. Canajohaire. James moved to Canajoharie from England at the age of 12 and was instrumental in building the thriving community that still exists today. After dabbling in the newspaper business, James Arkell partnered with Benjamin Smith to begin Arkell & Smith Company, a food stuffs paper sack company for sugar, flour and the like.
As they aged, many freshly minted industrialists looked around their town for ways to leave a meaningful and important personal or family legacy. A library was a perfect combination of community philanthropy and ego boost. Unraveling the name of a library to discover the man and industry that led to it’s birth makes for some interesting reading.
And so it went in Canajoharie, NY (exit 29 on the N.Y. Thruway, smack dab in the middle of the state). The library is public but it’s also a joint venture with the Askell Museum (a small museum that features a well regarded collection of American artists and Mohawk Valley landscapes). The museum and the library were built by Bartlett Askell, who is responsible for another famous thruway landmark, the Beechnut Packing Company.
Arkell’s story starts with his father, James Arkell, who might as well be called Mr. Canajohaire. James moved to Canajoharie from England at the age of 12 and was instrumental in building the thriving community that still exists today. After dabbling in the newspaper business, James Arkell partnered with Benjamin Smith to begin Arkell & Smith Company, a food stuffs paper sack company for sugar, flour and the like.
Arkell’s innovation was making the bags from paper, instead of cotton, and developing the folded flat bottom. Then he came up with a ‘printing press’ to print company logos on the bags. Arkell & Smith became the main industry in the town and employed generations of citizens.
In his spare time, James Arkell served as a state Senator and had a great interest in Art and Mohawk Valley artists.
James Arkell’s son, Bartlett, had a tough act to follow. Instead of riding on his father’s coat tails, he decided, in 1891, to go into business with a few friends selling ham and bacon. First called the Imperial Packing Company, Beech Nut grew quickly and added on an amazing diversity of products. Arkell believed that they should expand into any market that could use improvement, and they found a lot. Over the years they made jam, peanut butter, catsup, caramels, gum and coffee.
Bartlett Askell believed that “perfect flavor in food will find it’s customer”. Beech-nut has grown, morphed and been purchased countless time since Lifesavers first bought the company in 1931 but, until this year, the factory has remained in Canojoharie. I was crushed to learn that Beech-Nut closed it’s factory doors, after 118 years, in March 2011 and moved the operations to a new plant in Florida. The Beech-Nut headquarters remain in Albany, but the company is now owned by the Hero Group, a international corporation based in Switzerland.
Fortunately, Bartlett was planning ahead and preserved the memory of his family’s influence on the city of Canojarharie with the Askell Library and Museum which I will visit tomorrow.
Fortunately, Bartlett was planning ahead and preserved the memory of his family’s influence on the city of Canojarharie with the Askell Library and Museum which I will visit tomorrow.
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