A tale of economic change

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My Uncle Bufty (his real name was Leo Friesland, but for some reason never known to me, he went by Bufty) was brought up in an economically humble household. He developed a company, Sea Isle Sportswear, making girls clothing into quite a business. The State of Pennsylvania gave him a “fishing rod” (not free fish), and he passed it along.

I recall visiting his loft in the garment center here in New York City, when clothing was actually manufactured there. The streets in the garment center were full of racks and dollies whizzing to and fro filled with fabric and apparel in some stage or other of manufacture. His business had mushroomed, growing numbers with the then-greats of retailing like Sears and JCPenney,

The State of Pennsylvania made him a deal I guess he could not refuse.  He never told me the details, but if Uncle Bufty made the deal, I have no doubt it was a good one for him. The northeast corner of Pennsylvania was quite depressed in the mid-1950s and Sea Isle made garments that wholesaled for 3 and 4 dollars, and I mean a lot of garments. The state financed the building of a 250,000-square-foot cutting and shipping plant, with the garments to be sewn in the facilities of the sewing contractors that ringed the plant.

Uncle Bufty, who has long passed, did quite well selling his business to Manhattan Industries in 1968, retiring five years later. The people of northeast Pennsylvania also did quite well. The children of those garment workers went on to further their education and went out into the world. The wages those garment workers earned went back into the community in all sorts of ways and Wilkes College, in Wilkes Barre where the plant was located, is now Wilkes University and Scranton College has a fine reputation.

The plant no longer exists. I remembered the address, 120 Simpson St. in the suburb of Wilkes Barre called Kingston and got an aerial photo on Google. A vast number of single family homes now sit on the site of that 250,000-square-foot sewing and shipping plant that the State of Pennsylvania financed in the mid 50s. The sewing contractors are all gone. So, too, is the economic depression of northeast Pennsylvania. 

Howard Ring lives in Riverdale. Point of view is a column open to all.

Howard Ring

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