George Fowler built the Hampden Glaze Paper and Card Company in 1880 between the Second Level Canal and the river. It has been in the family for all these many years – that is, five generations of Fowlers. George Fowler made his home in Springfield.
Sanborn map analysis:
Sanborn 1884 map – just off the map
Sanborn 1889 map – just off the map
Sanborn 1895 map – just off the map
My Dad, Howard Smith, was a salesman at Hampden Glaze. Discontinued paper samples he would bring home. I made beautiful clothes for my paper dolls.
Thanks for the nice comments on a company that not many people hear of. The company lasted 141 years with the same family.
I remember going there with my grandfather Howard Smith when I was a child in the 1960’s. He would let me look at all the different patterns, and color while he worked. What special times those were!