Near the end of the Civil War, Plymouth Hollow, Connecticut started being referred to as "Thomaston" in honor of the Thomas family. Thomas died 6 years later, on January 29, 1859, in Plymouth Hollow, the company passing to the control of his sons. In 1853 the Seth Thomas Clock Company was formally incorporated. Seth Thomas set up his clock making enterprise in Plymouth, Connecticut in a section of town known as Plymouth Hollow. These early wooden clocks often made their way across America on horse drawn wagons of the Yankee peddlers - the door to door salesman of the day. This is where the new American Clock Makers left their mark - they brought time keeping to rural and small town America, helping to set the stage for the Industrial Revolution in the United States. Yet, those clocks were essentially reserved for the wealthy and royalty. These clocks, undoubtedly would have been laughed at by the Europeans, who at the time, were producing clocks that were beautiful, ornate masterpieces of clock-making craftsmanship. That's why the first Seth Thomas clocks had wooden clock works. While the French and Germans had long been using brass for their clock mechanisms, the Americans sought to produce a clock that the average American could afford. In the early 1800s American clock making was revolutionized by Eli Terry and his associates Seth Thomas and Silas Hoadley when they pioneered mass production manufacturing of clocks for homes - first tall case clocks and later, the very popular shelf or mantel clocks. But I'd like to hit some highlights to help you appreciate the magnitude of this company's influence in the United States. The history of the Seth Thomas Clock Company - which can be traced back to 1813 encompasses too much information for this article. The Seth Thomas Clock Company - Great American Success Story or Great American Tragedy. You may think I'm being dramatic, but the title of this article could have been I don't know why, but this really stuck with me - to the point that I bought that model clock. ![]() Modern Clocks labeled Seth Thomas have nothing to do with the Seth Thomas Clock Company.Īnd finally, I bet you never knew that a new, Seth Thomas Mantel clock was burned in public during that mock funeral I mentioned. The Seth Thomas Clock Company was eventually "bought back" from Talley Industries by stockholders in 1988, but ultimately went bankrupt and ceased to exist as a company in 2001. The hostility, anger and sadness was so great in Thomaston that a mock funeral for The Seth Thomas Company was held in the early 1980s - which foreshadowed the company's eventual doom. The Seth Thomas Clock Company was forced out of it's New England home town of Thomaston (named after Seth Thomas) and sent south - leaving most of it's loyal workers and upsetting the local community. The Seth Thomas Clock Company experienced a hostile take over. A catastrophic flood in the northeastern United Stated in 1955 essentially ended production of clock mechanisms by the company. The Seth Thomas Clock Company was never bought by General Time Corporation. However, to some, the truth is a big deal. ![]() When I've brought up these errors in the past, some have said, "oh, you know what is meant," or "it's no big deal." The Seth Thomas Clock Company continues under different ownership to this day. Talley Industries bought Seth Thomas in 1968. General Times bought the Seth Thomas Clock Company in 1930. Here are of the common threads of thought that are erroneous, but taken as fact by many clock collectors: NOTE: Throughout this discussion, references to images of actual newspaper articles will be provided as supporting information. Even what could be considered modern history (from 1950 to current day) becomes obscure, especially online, as people start copying and pasting errors and taking these errors as facts. ![]() It amazes me how history becomes obscure and even lost, gradually falling into misunderstandings and half-truths. I may be able to help answer some of these questions here.īut more than this, the hope is to try to enhance the online history of Seth Thomas. ![]() There are numerous questions asked online about the Seth Thomas Clock Company and their clocks:Ģ) Where is the Seth Thomas Clock Company? Seth Thomas - a huge name in American Clocks and to this day multitudes of clocks can be found branded Seth Thomas.
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