The small Hudson River Valley city of Middletown, New York had a succession of file, saw, steel, and hardware manufacturing businesses with some continuity of ownership from the 1850s through the late 20th century. The family who was most involved with the file business was that of Edward M. Madden (1818-1885), who was followed by his nephew Isaac P. Madden (1836-1888), and Isaac's son Franklin M. Madden (1866-1915).
The saw business was established first, as Wheeler, Madden & Bakewell in 1853, changing to Wheeler, Madden & Clemson in 1860, to National Saw Works in 1890, and closure by Henry Disston in the early 1900s. The saw factory was called Monhagen Saw Works, and was then occupied by Schrade Cutlery Co. Clemson's sons had another business in Middletown,
Clemson Brothers, Inc., which made Star hacksaw blades until the 21st century. This occupies the original file works site.
The various file-making business names, in approximate date order are:
King, Cockayne & Co., or Madden & Cockayne File Works (1857)
Madden & Cockayne File Co. (1877)
Eagle File Co. (before 1900)
Madden & Morrison File Co. (1905)
R. H. Madden Co., Inc. (1922)
The file factory was called both Madden File Works and Eagle File Works*, and located on Railroad Ave. (Erie Railroad tracks) at Montgomery Ave., directly across from the saw works. The files themselves were stamped Wheeler, Madden & Clemson, Eagle Middletown, Eagle, Madden, and Madden USA.
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| Wheeler, Madden & Clemson taper saw file |
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| Warranted Eagle Files, Wheeler, Madden & Clemson |
At an unknown date before 1900, the file factory changed its name to Eagle File Co., or this may have been a labeling change.
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| Eagle File Co., Middletown, by Gary S. |
On 18 January 1900, Nicholson File Co. purchased Eagle File Co., formerly Madden & Cockayne File Co., with plans to continue operating the Middletown plant. Apparently this did not last long, and Clemson Brothers occupied the file works site for the next 100 years. On Google Street View below, the Wheeler, Madden & Clemson saw works is on the right and the first file works was on the left, where a faded sign reads "VICTOR SAW WORKS".
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| Madden File Works, Railroad Ave. & Montgomery Ave. |
A 1905 announcement said that Madden & Morrison File Co., had just incorporated to manufacture files and rasps, and did not mention Nicholson File Co.
Another article in 1906 said, "This is the business which was originally established by King, Cockayne & Co. in 1857, whose successors were consecutively Wheeler, Clemson & Co., Madden & Cockayne File Co., Eagle File Co., and Madden File Co." This article also did not mention Nicholson File Co. It's unknown whether Nicholson had closed its Middletown operation, retaining the old names for products made elsewhere. Madden & Morrison occupied 76-78 Dolson Ave., on the edge of town.
This photograph from local historical society shows one of the buildings. Madden & Morrison copyrighted "Madden" as their file brand in 1921.
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| Madden file, picture from Gary S. |
A 1922 announcement stated:
Will Operate File Works. Effective Dec. 1 the management of the Madden File Works which has been operated at Middletown, N. Y., since 1857 will be taken over by the R. H. Madden Co., Inc., succeeding the Madden & Morrison File Co.
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| 1922, located at 76-78 Dolson Avenue. |
By 1947, Nicholson File Co. had acquired the rights to use 3 variations of "Eagle" as trademarks for files. Nicholson made 2 grades of files labeled as Eagle File Company, with one being a close copy of the Wheeler, Madden & Clemson "Warranted Eagle Files" label.
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| Eagle File Company by Nicholson |
*There were 2 earlier and unrelated Eagle File Works, in northern New Jersey and in Pittsburgh, PA, founded 1840.
While sorting my file collection, I found one made by Banner File Works, of Almonte, Ontario. Banner occupied part of a stone building built in 1857, originally James Rosamond's No. 2 textile mill.
American Swiss File & Tool Co was located at 410-416 Trumbull St., Elizabeth, New Jersey. They were bought in 1944 by Heller Brothers.
Save Edge, 360 West Church St., Xenia, Ohio offers file resharpening and makes files for laminate, chain saws, and farriers. Thank you to reader Gary for bringing this company to my attention, and for the photo.