Thanks! I have updated the list again!
1856: New York Knife Co. in Matteawan moves to Walden. President and General Manager was Thomas J. Bradley. The company produced military mess tableware and various knives during the civil war.
Feb. 13,1860: George Schrade born in Williamsport, Pennsylvania
1870: A split in New York Knife leads to formation of Walden Knife Co., which opens up on a lot now home to the Thruway Market.
1871: The Ellenville Co-Operative Knife Co. sets up shop in the old Ellenville Iron Works, also known as the Bloomer Foundry on Canal Street. The cooperative association organized for the purpose of engaging in the
manufacture of pocket cutlery was formed in Naugatuck, Connecticut. It consisted of fifty members, all of whom were skilled workmen, and a majority of whom had been trained in the cutlery center of Sheffield, England.
1875: The company reorganized as the Ulster Knife Co. "The Ulster Knife Company" was incorporated by Jacob Hermance, John Lyon, Alfred Neafie, R. Harvey Brodhead and Dwight Divine.
1876: Predecessor to Camillus Knife Company founded by Adolph Kastor on Canal Street in New York City as Adolph Kastor & Bros. as an importer. The Dingly tariff act of 1879 made importing knives too evpensive.
1878 Dwight Divine took over the entire responsibility, and continued the business as an individual enterprise, although he retained the organization of the Ulster Knife Company. William Booth, one of the original group, was retained as foreman, and so continued until his death many years later. Mr. Divine proved to be a very efficient business man, and gradually straightened out the tangled financial situation and placed the business on a paying basis, in spite of a fire which destroyed the plant in 1880. The buildings were
soon replaced. About four hundred workmen were finally employed.
1879: Robeson cutlery founded .
1880: Thomas J. Bradley dies and his son, Thomas W. Bradley takes over management of New York Knife Company.
1889: Ontario Knife Company founded in Naples, New York.
1890: The Schatt-Morgan Knife Company was formed in 1890 in Gowanda, New York, and moved to Titusville, PA in 1895.
1890: Mr. John Champlin and his son Tint, along with W.R. Case purchased cutlery manufacturing equipment from a failed business called the Beaver Falls Cutlery factory, hired the best cutlers and provided them with the highest quality materials beginning Cattaraugus Knives.
1890s: Hundreds are employed in the knife-making business in Ellenville, 700 people alone at New York Knife. Payroll records show earnings of $4 to $6 a week.
March 8, 1892: Press buttom patent issued to George Schrade
1892: Walden Knife Company began by William Whitehead
1894 Camillus Cutlery Company started in Camillus, NY by Charles Sherwood
1895: Walden Shear Company, tool makers, was started by William Didsbury.
1896: Western begins manufacturing knives in Boulder, Colorado.
1898: Tidioute Cutlery Company begins producing knives in Pennsylvania, dissolving a few years later.
1899: The Ontario Knife Company was founded in Naples, New York.
1900 Case Brothers Cutlery formed by Jean, John, and Andrew Case
1902 Camillus Cutlery Company, owned by Charles Sherwood with 20 employees turning out 15 patterns of penknives, was bought by Adolph Kastor, a former importer of German knives. Eight years after Kastor took
the helm of the company, production numbers reached 902,976 knives.
1902: J. Russell Case formed W.R. Case and Son Cutlery Company in Little Valley, NY.
1902: Wallace R. Brown purchased the assets of Tidioute Cutlery Company to form Union Razor Company.
1903: Thomas W. Bradley sells his shares of NY Knife Co. to the Fuller brothers of New York in preperation of a congressional career.
1903: William Whitehead acquires George Schrade's press button patent
1903: Camillus adds the Clover brand.
1904: The name Of W.R. Case and Son Cutlery Company was changed to W.R. Case and Sons Cutlery Company.
1904: The Schrade brothers, George, Jacob Louis, and William bring a third knife-making company to Walden, founding Schrade Cutlery Company. The workers provide their own tools and are issued the materials for their knives each week.
1905: The W.R. Case and Sons Cutlery Company was moved to a new facility on Bank Street in Bradford, PA.
1906: Camillus adds the Sword brand.
1906: George Schrade obtains a patent on improvements to the original press button patent, and again in 1907.
1909: Union Razor becomes Union Cutlery Company. Trademarks later became Olcut, and Ka-Bar.
1910: George travels to Europe seeking buyers for his cutlery machinery. Some success was found in England.
1910: The Utica Cutlery Company is established by a group of Utica businessmen at 820 Noyes Street in Utica, NY. making pocketknives.
1910: Camillus Knife Company had 200 employees and was producing over 900,000 knives per year. Many German cutlers came to the company and Camillus built a dormitory for them and assisted them in bringing their families to the US if they proved to be good and productive workers.
1911: New York Knife produces the first official Boy Scout Knife.
1911: William Russell Case bought out the Crandall Cutlery Company of 125 Barbour Street, Bradford, PA., as well as Bradford Razor Strop CO., State Street, Bradford PA.
1912: The Aerial Cutlery Company founded by Fred Jaeger, Sr. in Deluth MN.
1913: Aerial Cutlery Company moved to Marinette, WI. specializing in knives with wildlife and nature scenes carved in the handles. They were a major supplier to Sears Roebuck And Company.
1913: George Schrade sets up a Push-Button knife factory in Solingen, Germany.
1916: George returns to the U.S. after having all of his knife making equipment confiscated by the German government at the beginning of WWI.
1916: Jacob Lewis Schrade obtains a patent on improvements to George's pressbutton knife.
1916: Camillus, during World War One supplied over 470,000 knives to the US, Canada, England and Holland. These included such diverse items as marlin spike knives, surgical scalpels, and a folding knife/spoon combination for the Red Cross to distribute to US troops.
1916: Imperial Knife Company is established in Providence, R.I.
1918: Queen Cutlery was founded.
March 5, 1918: George Schrade is issued a patent on his flylock knife.
1919: Antonio Paolantonio founds A. Paolantonio Cutlery Company at 9 Calendar Street in Providence, Rhode Island.
1919: George Schrade began working for Challenge Cutlery in Bridgeport, CT. He manufactured the fly-lock knife for Challenge at his plant at 46 Seymour Street in Bridgeport.
1921: W.T. Grant co. of Lynn Massachusetts begins selling Crucible Knife Co knives until 1932 (also seen as '26-'29)
1922: Albert M. Baer went to work for Adolph Kastor at Camillus Knife Company when he was 16.
1922 - Queen Cutlery became the Queen City Cutlery Company.
1925: George Schrade patents a bone jigging machine.
1926: George Schrade patents the Wire Jack.
1926, Mr. Divine organized as Dwight Divine & Sons, Inc., taking into partnership his two sons, C. Dwight and John H. Divine, who carried on the business of The Ulster Knife Company after the death of their father in 1932. John H. Divine died in November, 1943.
1926 Antonio Paolantonio changed the company name to Colonial Knife Company, Inc.
1927: Kinfolks Inc. begun in Little Valley, NY by J. Russell Case, Dean J. Case and Tint Champlin. Tint Champlin served as the first president of Kinfolks Inc.
1928: George Schrade patents an automatic knife handle routing machine.
1928: Challenge Cutlery goes out of business never making the wire jack George patented in 1926, but producing his flylock knife eventually buying the patent.
1929: George Schrade starts his own company to produce his wire jacks in Bridgeport using equipment acquired from Challenge Cutlery in lieu of payment for royalties owed him for their use of the flylock patent.
1929: W.R. Case And Sons Cutlery moves to a new factory on Russell Blvd. in Bradford, PA. the same day as the stock market crash beginning the Great Depression.
1930: Schatt-Morgan Knife Company filed for bankruptcy.
1930: Kinfolks, Inc. is bought by Dean J. Case and his father, Jean Case,
1931: New York Knife Company goes out of business.
1931: Pal Blade Company begins in Holyoke, MA. making kitchen cutlery.
1932: Queen purchased the assets of Schatt-Morgan and moved into the Titusville, PA facility.
1932: Schrade Cutlery Co, closed the Middletown branch.
1936: Imperial acquires the Hammer brand trademark.
1939: Pal Blade Company begins making razor blades under the trade name Personna Blade Company, making blades also for Gillette and Gem.
Sept. 9, 1940: George Schrade died. He had 35 employees at his factory then, and his heirs ran the business after his death.
1941: Ulster Knife is sold to a group headed by Albert and Henry Baer of New York City, the control of the Ulster Knife Company was transferred from the Divine family.
1941: Pal Blade Company purchased cutlery tooling from Remington and set up a new factory in Holyoke, continuing to make Remington patterns and also their own line of hunting knives and pocketknives.
1942: Antonio Paolantonio serves on the War Production Board in Washington, DC where he oversaw the allocation of steel to the cutlery industry and research that lead to the only combat knife to use polymers
(plastics) for knife handles that offered Navy corpsman and medics the ability to boil the knife to make it sterile.
1942: George M. Schrade (son of George Schrade) applied for new patents on improvements on the
wirejacks.
1942: Ulster Knife and Imperial Knife join to become Imperial Knife Associated Companies. The company commits itself to producing knives for the military throughout World War II.
1942: Albert Baer is joined in the business by brother Henry Baer
1946: Albert M. Baer buys Schrade Cutlery Company and renames it the Schrade Walden Cutlery Corp. It becomes a division of Imperial Knife Associated Companies Group.
1947: Camillus began to manufacture a full line of official folding knives for the Boy Scouts of America.
1948: Cutco Cutlery introduced as a new product for Wear-Ever Aluminum, a subsidiary of Alcoa
1952: Union Cutlery becomes Ka-bar Cutlery Inc.
1952: Fred (Fritz) Jaeger, Jr. joins Aerial Cutlery Company and designs bayonets for NATO.
1953: J. Russell Case, founder of W.R. Case And Sons Cutlery died.
1953: Pal Blade Company of Plattsburgh, MA. is purchased by American Safety Razor. They continue to make Bic and Personna razors today under the ASR name.
1956: The Schrade family sells Schrade Cutlery to Boker. There were 100 employees at the time.
1957: Kinfolks Inc. officially ceased production.
1958: Boker closes the Schrade plant after Congress bans switchblades.
1958: The Schrade Walden Cutlery division moves from Walden, NY to Ellenville, NY.
1959: Schrade's Old Timer brand introduced.
1960: Aerial Cutlery Company becomes a distributor of beauty and barber supplies.
1967: Schrade's Uncle Henry brand introduced.
1971: Robeson cutlery, founded in 1879 was purchased by the Ontario Knife Company, the sister company of Queen Cutlery.
1972: Alcoa Aluminum bought out W.R. Case and Sons forming Alcas Knife Company.
1977: Schrade IXL products produced at Morse Street factory until 1982.
1982: Alcas becomes a privately held corporation, owning also the Ka-Bar Knives Inc.
1983: Albert M. Baer buys the stock of all shareholders in Imperial Knife and becomes the sole owner of the privately held company.
1985: Moore Maker established in Matador, Texas.
1985: The name of the company is changed from Imperial Knife Associated Companies to Imperial Schrade Corp. and the company's U.S. operations are combined under one roof in Ellenville. At that time, there were 236 employees. By 1992, there were nearly 600.
1989 the ownership of W. R. Case & Sons Cutlery changed to James F. Parker.
1990 Case Cutlery entered Chapter 11 involuntary bankruptcy. By November 1990 sale to River Associates was approved.
May 1993 sale of W. R. Case & Sons to Zippo Manufacturing was officially approved. The joining of two historic Bradford companies provided stability for Case Cutlery.
1991: Camillus acquires Western Boulder of Boulder, Colorado, Western had been manufacturing knives since 1896.
1993: Schrade sales and administrative offices moved from New York City to Ellensville.
1995: Steve Paolantonio, grandson of the founder became president of Colonial Knife Company.
1995: The first Zippo-Case Swap Meet was held in Bradford, Pennsylvania.
1997: Karla B. Baer, widow of Albert M. Baer, becomes chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Imperial Schrade.
July 2003: Schrade has lost some 200 jobs since 2001.
December 2003: Another layoff means just over 100 people lose their jobs six days before Christmas.
2004 : Ken Griffey, one of the original owners of Bear MGC, and his son Matt bought the company. They introduced a new tang stamp, "Bear & Son J'ville AL USA".
March 18, 2004:Imperial Stag/Imperial Schrade Europe, a subsidiary of US-based Imperial Schrade Corp. laid off the last 13 workers of the 70, and closed the Listowel, County Kerry Ireland factory after 43 years.
July 29, 2004: Imperial Schrade announces it is shutting down its Ellenville plant. 260 workers are fired without notice. "Your last day of employment will commence on July 30, 2004" read the pinkslip letter.
October, 2004: All assets of Imperial Schrade are sold at auction including the machinery, materials, finished product, and the trademarks, patents and copyrights.
2005: Product contracted in China by Taylor Brands LLC. began coming ashore in the U.S. and into the market bearing Schrade names and packed in boxes bearing the American Flag.
2005: The Schrade Manufacturer's Forum becomes the Schrade Knives Collectors Forum. A first anual limited edition forum knife is issued bearing the forum motto "Uncle Henry's Lost Souls" and the year date 2005.
2005: Schrade Collectors Forum raises thousands of dollars of donation pledges for assistance to the victims of Hurricane Katrina along the Southern Gulf Coast of the U.S.
