Herman Behr arrived from Hamburg, Germany in Brooklyn, New York at the age of three in company with his family. He eventually became involved with his father's hardware company and then became interested in "pouncing paper" involved in the finishing of hats. He established his own firm, Herman Behr & Company, in 1872. Several of his brothers joined him and the firm prospered, being incorporated in 1911. By 1922, the company occupied four and a half acres and employed nearly 300 people. Below, an ad from 1923:
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| http://www.waltergrutchfield.net/images/behr-1923.jpg |
As an interesting aside, one of Herman Behr's sons, Karl, was a survivor of the Titanic disaster. The Behr mansion in Brooklyn also has an interesting story. After the family sold it in 1919, it became the Palm Hotel, which devolved into a brothel in its declining years. In 1961, it was re-purposed as a home for Franciscan brothers. There's irony for you.
"How to Sharpen" is one of many guides that Behr-Manning offered in the 1950's. I've scanned and uploaded the entire 20-page document here.
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| Popular Mechanics, April 1957 |
5 comments:
We just found a small Arkansas Pocket Stone in a box marked "Norton Abrasives" and Behr-Manning, Troy Ny USA (Division of Norton Company). The end of the box is marked "NO. AP 12". Based on reading your great write-up, that probably dates the stone and package to the early 1950's or earlier.
The stone itself has a partially missing decal label that says "Pike" and "Norton Abrasives," with a picture of a fish swimming through the P in Pike. Pike was apparently a company that made Arkansas stones that was purchased by Behr-Manning before Behr-Manning was taken over by Norton -- reminds me of the carton of a series of fish in ever increasing sized chasing each other. We think the stone may have been used by my wife's grandmother to sharpen sewing machine needles.
It is nice to know the story behind some of the old things we still have around... Thanks!
Norton Behr-Manning wB5. Pike quality ??? Needs cleaning,verry slight cup. How should I treat this? I am not a collector,just found in a box of chisels at auction.
Although their address was Troy NY the plant was actually in Watervliet NY
My father worked for Behr-Manning/Norton for 30 years as a salesman (1950's-80's). Our family moved about every 2 years as he would establish customer bases in MN, IL, OH, AL, FL & CA. When I was a teenager, he gave me a large Arkansas sharpening stone and told me to "hang on" to this one. He said this stone was considered the best and that the region where it was mined was exhausted and was no longer available to consumers. I still have it. Never seen another like it, almost a translucent off-white color. Smooth as glass. As a child in the 60's, I would sometimes go to trade shows with him. They had hired the midget twins (Stanley & ?) to dress in the blue bear costume (Behr-Manning Co.) for photo ops at the show. Our family became friends with the twins who previously worked with the circus and were both featured on an early Door's album. Lots of memories!
Great story! I found my first good sharpening stone at the Carlyle swa meet. The guy had a milkcrate of irregularly cut stones. i still have it. I tried to buy the whole milkcrate but we did not agree on a price. Good memories.
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