Sweeping Industry
Sweeping Industry John D. Blood and Ebenezer Howard owned the first broom factory in Fort Hunter. It opened on the eve of the Civil War in 1859 and produced mostly deck brooms for the canal boats. Being located on the corner of East Church Street and Main Street, it was directly on the Enlarged Erie Canal, in an area where boats may have stopped and waited for Lock 30. Due to some other investments, Blood sold his interest in the company in 1869. This broom factory was successful; producing 12,000 dozen brooms in 1870, valued at $45,000. Sadly, a fire in 1873 destroyed the building. A New Venture Ebenezer Howard and his son Charles rebuilt the factory in 1876 at a new location, on the corner of Main Street and Maple Avenue. They renamed it Howard and Sons. Then in 1894, Howard and Sons merged with four other broom factories ( two were local, one was in Pennsylvania and one in Virginia ) to create the American Broom and Brush C...
