The Button Industry

The manufacture of buttons from vegetable ivory was begun here in 1886 by Henry and Walter Bostwick under the firm name of Bostwick Brothers.  The ivory nuts were brought to this country as ballast for ships and were sold at a price which made the making of buttons a profitable venture.

They had a profitable business until 1884 when the plant was badly damaged by fire.

Buttons were made at the old hat shop on the corner of Bridge and Railroad streets about 1878 by Noble Brothers.  Prior to that, Isaac B. Bristol, Robert H. Isbell, William Schoverling, Rufus Leavitt, and others.  A button shop was erected in which buttons were manufactured by William Schoverling, George W. Anthony and David E. Soule until 1889 when it, too, was burned.