The American Silver Co. Bristol, Conn. 93.

The American Silver Co. Bristol, Conn. 93.

Image of an industrial building complex. The front, a mid-19th century structure, is wood frame with a gable roof, while the rear sections are brick and other masonry. This image is part of a series made by one of the three Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Company photographers assigned to cover New England or upstate New York. The quest for images that would be saleable as postcards resulted in the documentation of small towns and small town life at the turn of the 20th century. As the photos were shot, the glass plates were promptly sent back to Belfast, Maine, and processed into postcards at the printing plant on High Street. The facade of the wooden building bears a large, faded sign identifying the company as The American Silver Company, and a smaller plaque reading: "Organized 1857/ Incorporated 1901". Despite its relatively modern looking roof ventilation apparatus, the front part of the complex appears to have been abandoned by the time the picture was taken. At the time, the silver works may have been for sale, soon to be purchased by the International Silver Company of nearby Meriden, CT. According to the website artdesign cafe.com, the silver manufacturer was an outgrowth of the long-established clock and brass industry in Bristol. "The antecedents of the [American Silver Co.] were the Holmes and Tuttle Manufacturing Company, founded in 1851. They were taken over by the Bristol Brass and Clock Company in 1857, and operated as their silverware department until 1901. In that year, the spoon business was separated from the brass and clock business, and organized under the name of the American Silver [Co.]. They were bought by [the] International Silver Company [headquartered in Meriden] in 1935."