By MERLIN LESSLER<\/p>\n
Gerald R. Smith, the former Broome County Historian and now Executive Director of the Tioga County Historical Society, had a column in the paper the other day. It included a picture of a group of Endicott Johnson Shoe Company workers, circa 1935. The picture captured the images of 15 workers and one foreman. The foreman was standing next to a rack of leather soles that the workers had carved out of thick, leather slabs. He wore a white shirt with rolled-up sleeves, a tie and suspenders. It kind of surprised me.<\/p>\n
Then, I looked at the workers; even more of a surprise. All 15 were in collared shirts, protected by work aprons; nine of them had on ties; two wore bow ties.<\/p>\n
One worker wore a derby hat, another wore an old fashioned golf cap, sometimes referred to as a news boy cap. This crew was better dressed than most people you see in church today. Even better than some people at wedding receptions who call their dress style, \u201ccasual chic.\u201d I\u2019m sure none of those guys took their shirts to the dry cleaners, nor were they made from permanent press material. You can be sure they were cleaned in a ringer washer, hung out on a clothesline to dry and as you probably
\nguessed, ironed by their wives. That\u2019s the way it was in circa 1935.<\/p>\n
My grandfather was a foreman at EJ\u2019s in the early 1900\u2019s. My mother worked in an EJ office in the 1930\u2019s and I worked there in my teens during summer break, pushing around those same racks the foreman in Gerald Smith\u2019s article was leaning on. Years later, I acquired three of those oak racks that became available after EJ went out of business. I removed the glue that had layered up over the years and refinished them. They were unique shelves for books, quilts and other vintage items that we collected. By MERLIN LESSLER Gerald R. Smith, the former Broome County Historian and now Executive Director of the Tioga County Historical Society, had a column in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[68],"class_list":["post-110841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editorial","tag-column"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nThe only one left is in my daughter, Amy\u2019s house, holding up quite well after 100 years of service. What\u2019s my point? People were better dressed 100 years ago.
\nComments, Complaints? \u2013 Send to mlessler7@gmail.com<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"