Sargent and Company.
Biographical notes:
Sargent and Company was a manufacturer of locks and hardware, with headquarters in New Haven, Connecticut . It was founded by Joseph B. Sargent, who was born in Leicester, Massachusetts, in 1822. He began his career as a clerk in a Boston dry goods store, where he rose to the position of manager. Upon the death of his employer in 1842, Joseph and his brother, Edward, moved to Griffin, Georgia, and established a successful mercantile business. After a few years, the brothers moved to New York City, where they started a commission business called Sargent and Company . The Company acted as sales agent for Peck and Walter Manufacturing Company . When Peck and Walter closed, Joseph Sargent moved to New Britain, Connecticut, and created the J.B. Sargent & Company . Unable to expand the company at this location, Sargent purchased land in New Haven, Connecticut, and moved the company there on 1 May 1865, along with one hundred employees and their families. The company continued to manufacture small hardware items, and added a coffin hardware department. The following year, the company was incorporated, with capital of $300,000.
The Sargent and Company commission house in New York continued to sell hardware items, along with the goods produced in New Haven, to other manufacturers, reaching a sales volume of $1,738,000 in 1869.
Sargent and Company acted as sole agent for Mallory, Wheeler & Company, a manufacturer of locks and builders' hardware. After losing this lucrative account, Joseph Sargent began manufacturing his own locks and builders' hardware, hiring William E. Sparks, a leading expert, to run the department. The company produced a line of locks with standardized parts and simplified inner mechanisms.
By 1887, the plant had expanded to sixteen acres of floor space and employed almost 1,7000 people. The yearly payroll was $1,000,000 or about $600 per employee per year. The pay rate was $1.50 per ten hour day with a six day work week. Immigrants filled lower employee ranks, with Italians the largest single group. Employees were well treated for the times, but J.B. Sargent refused to tolerate unions. An employee strike occurred in 1902 over employee demands for a union shop and a 15% wage increase. The strike lasted for three weeks until Sargent threatened to replace all striking workers.
Joseph B. Sargent was prominent in the New Haven political scene, and was elected mayor of the city in 1890. In 1892, he was nominated as the Democratic candidate for governor, but was defeated. Upon his death in 1907, his brother, George Stewart Sargent, became president of Sargent and Company .
By 1900, Sargent and Company was one of the preeminent companies in the lock and builders' hardware field, employing 2,000 workers. From 1900 to 1923, the company pioneered several new patents and processes, guaranteeing itself advantage over competitors. In 1928, however, rising manufacturing costs and a decline in profits forced the Board of Directors to elect an outsider, B.W. Burtsell, as president and general manager. Despite the fact the new management reduced costs and eliminated many unprofitable items, profits continued to decline steeply throughout the depression years, making it impossible for the company to pay a dividend to stockholders until 1938, when it sold off its New York sales office to the City of New York.
In 1972, Sargent and Company became a division of Walter Kidde & Company of Belleville, New Jersey, a manufacturer of safety, security and protection products.
From the guide to the Sargent and Company Records, undated, 1720-1955., (Archives & Special Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, University of Connecticut Libraries)
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Subjects:
- Clothing trade
Occupations:
- Manufacturer
