Emmett, Tim, Brian, and Mark; 1950s in Copenhagen. 

Emmett, Jack of All Trades

Taking what they're giving 'cause I'm workin' for a livin'. 

Teaching is a noble profession, but the pay could be better. My grandfather Emmett Fenlon worked a wide variety of jobs to supplement his teaching income to make ends meet. In this blog post I will provide a list of these summer and moonlighting jobs and share some stories his children told me about them. I would like to thank Brian for providing the idea for this post and everyone for all of their help in composing it. The jobs are listed below in somewhat chronological order, but exact dates are not know for many of them. 

Crouse-Hinds in Syracuse

In the war years the family would spend the summers in Syracuse at 123 Woodland Ave., with my great-grandparents John and Janet Treacy. (Previous posts about the Woodland Ave home can be found here and here.) During these summers Emmett worked at the Crouse-Hinds facility that was about six miles north of the Woodland home. The factory was famous for manufacturing traffic lights, and presumably that is what Emmett worked on. Janet remembers riding to Crouse-Hinds in the back on the Ford coupe and sitting on the back shelf and seeing the giant smokestack. My dad remembers a story Emmett told about an unscrupulous coworker asking him if he wanted one of the large table-mounted vices that they used.  The man said that he steals them by smuggling them out under his overcoat at the end of his shift, even in the heat of the summer.  Emmett told him he was not interested and it's a good thing, because shortly thereafter they arrested and fired the man when they caught him stealing another vice. 

Historical photograph of the Crouse-Hinds factory on Wolf St. in Syracuse (credit OHA).

Photographs of Eaton-Crouse-Hinds today (credit Google maps).

Bagley & Sewall 

Another summer job for Emmett was working at the Bagley-Sewall factory (1853-1998) located on Sewall Island on Pearl Street in Watertown. This company manufactured paper mill machinery. According to newruins.com, during WWII they also made Betts Boring Mills which were used to make tanks and in 1944 they had a contract with the Army to make a million 105 mm shells. During the war years there were over 1200 employees at the plant. I believe Emmett worked here in the 1940s, but in 1954 Black-Clawson purchased Bagley & Sewall. Today all of these building no longer exist. 

Photograph of Bagley & Sewall ca. 1940s (credit unknown)

Black-Clawson bought Bagley & Sewall in 1954 (photo credit: Watertown Daily Times)

Lee Lumber (aka Tiger Lee Construction)

My dad remembers that Emmett worked several summers for Lee Lumber out of Lowville.  This firm was run by Raymond "Tiger" Lee (1913-2004) who got his nickname as a boxer at the Opera House (now Town Hall Theater on Shady Ave. in Lowville) in the late 1920s and early1930s. Tiger Lee was well known for building barns and houses in Lewis County. Emmett worked on several barn building jobs, including the addition to the Reed barn on Route 194 outside Copenhagen.  Dave Reed told my dad that Tiger put Emmett in charge of all the cement work for the barn addition. 

Newspaper ads for Lee Lumber from 1952(L) and 1969(R).

1956 photograph featured in a 1993 "Remember When" article in the Journal & Republican.

Bernard E. Carter

My Aunt Janet remembers Emmett working for Bernard Carter (1920-1994), a plumber and electrician in Copenhagen:

"At times he and Bernard would drive to Syracuse in Bernard’s truck to pick up supplies for jobs. One of us kids would get to go along with them, only one at a time, since there was limited space.  We went down Route 11 with all the little towns along the way, and when we arrived in North Syracuse we would stop at Meakers’ Diner for a great lunch. It was the standard 50’s silver diner with small jukeboxes at each table, so you could select your favorite song (on a record). We loved the hamburgers there. It was a real treat to be chosen to make the trip!" 

Newspaper ads for Bernard Carter. 

1960 Post Standard article about Meaker's Diner.

Law Brothers Contracting Corporation

My dad remembers that Emmett also worked for Law Brothers, a contracting company based in Lyons Falls, NY.  They did road and bridge construction as well as buildings. Below is an 1990 Law Brothers ad.

1990 Law Brothers newspaper ad from the J&R.

Friederich & Sons Construction

A new wing was added to the Copenhagen school in 1954 and 1955. The construction was done by Friederich & Sons, a firm based in Watertown. Emmett worked on the construction project in the summers of '54 and '55.  But, there is another even more interesting story associated with this job.  My dad told me that one night when he was about 10 years old he was outside their home on Mechanic Street and he looked down toward the school and saw a fire. He quickly called Emmett and pointed it out to him and Emmett took off running toward the school to put the fire out.  A J&R newspaper article from 24 Feb 1955 fills in the rest of the amazing details:

1955 newspaper story about how Emmett was also a firefighter!

Queens Farms cheese plant

Everyone remembers Emmett working at the cheese plant on Maple Ave. in town. This was not a summer job, but rather a moonlighting gig in the spring when the rush of new milk came in.  My dad said Emmett would finish his teaching at around 3:30 pm and then head over to the cheese plant and work there until 11 pm.  Janet remembers the cheese curd he would bring home. I learned more about the history of the cheese plant in this wonderful YouTube video on the history of Copenhagen made by local historian Peg Nevills. Brian and Kate knew Peg as a neighbor and served with her on the Copenhagen Civic Corporation. I highly recommend the video to everyone. Peg notes that the plant employed about 7 year-round employees, but from February to July each year they employed about 25 people. According to Brian, the building that housed the plant is now owned by T. F. Wright company of Carthage, which manufactures stone monuments and countertops, and is used mostly for storage. 

Queens Farms (note name on truck) cheese plant (photo credit Peg Nevills' video)

Wing being added to cheese plant (photo credit Peg Nevills' video)

The former cheese plant building today (photo credit Google maps).

Coca-Cola bottling company

Uncle Tim remember's Emmett working at the Coca-Cola bottling facility at 1304 Washington St. in Watertown, across the street from the junior high school. He loaded trucks in the evenings. The bottling facility has moved to a different location in Watertown and the former building is now a Kinney Drugs.

The Coca-Cola bottling facility at 1304 Washington St. in Watertown is now a Kinney Drugs (Google maps)

Summer Recreation Head

Tim remembers another summer job Emmett held:

"Dad was the village Summer Recreation head for several years.  This would involve baseball teams, busses to Thompson Park pool for recreational swimming and instruction, arts and craft projects and basketball at the Town Hall.  On summer Friday evenings after the baseball games all us kids would go home and grab some snacks, then sit on the front lawn area of the school and Dad would set up and show a movie outside.  That was always fun!"

Summer School

In later years Emmett taught summer school. For example, in the summer of 1964 he taught summer school math 8-B and 9 at Lowville Academy and Central School. 

Barber?

I don't think Emmett cut the hair of people not related to him, but below is one of my favorite photographs -- it shows him cutting my hair.  Dad tells me that he would sometimes cut his hair too. This is did not generate income, but it did save some money!

Emmett cutting my hair ca. 1971 in the basement of 422 Seeley Road.

Closing Thoughts

Yet another source of income was driving a station wagon (dubbed the "banana" wagon) that acted as school transportation for some children in more remote areas.  I will save a discussion of this for another post because dad and Tim have more stories about this and I would love to find a photo of this car or at least a photo of the same make and model year.  

Looking at this list of jobs so many decades later is a wonderful way to remember Emmett and all he did to provide for his family. I get tired just thinking about all of them!  

Thank you to everyone who provided me stories and sparked this latest post. I really appreciate it. The final word goes to Tim:

"He did find a truly amazing number of ways to supplement his teacher’s salary.  Most of them were when Mom wasn’t teaching yet, since she was working very hard at home caring for a growing family of five."