Domestic Sewing Machine Company Headquarters and Factories

In case your head is spinning from all the company name changes and relocations, here is a summary. This information may help to date ads, manuals and other ephemera that have the location listed but no date.

Factory Locations

I veered off on a tangent searching for the Domestic factory locations. Here is what I found.

Norwalk

The Norwalk factory where W A Mack and N S Perkins manufactured machines starting in 1864 was "the Perkins Shop" at 99 Whittlesey Avenue. I did not find any images of the building, but I did find it on maps. Here it is on a Sanborn Fire Insurance Map in 1884 (Image source Library of Congress):

Note: After Domestic production moved out of the factory, they made the Dauntless Sewing Machine for a few years. Dauntless went out of business by around 1880, and the building remained vacant until the early 1890s when it was purchased, rebuilt and enlarged, and turned into a printing business. The building was torn down in the 1980s and is now a shopping plaza. Specifically, 99 Whittlesey is a Rite Aid.

This website shows a "bird's eye view" of Norwalk in 1870. Look just to the left of center, about 1/4 of the way down from the top, and you will see a huge railroad building. The shop was just across the street from that to the left.

Newark

The first Domestic factory in Newark was at 130 Orange street, at the corner of High St. I found that on an 1873 map listed as American Standard Tool Co. Image source: Newark Public Library

In 1880, the factory was moved to the corner of Warren and High Streets, where it remained until Domestic moved to Chicago. It is shown here on 1889 and 1901 maps. This site was previously the Newark India Rubber Works. This location is now part of the Rutgers University Newark Campus.

1873 Image source: Newark Public Library
1889 Image source: Newark Public Library
1901 Image source: Newark Public Library

The address in of the factory above was 98 Warren Street. It was located on the Morris Canal. Canal plane #12 was directly behind the factory. This undated photo shows Canal plane #12 right behind the factory. The Morris Canal was originally built primarily to haul coal, and largely fell out of use with the expansion of railroads after the Civil War and was obsolete by the early 1900s, so was possibly not used for shipping of sewing machines. However, the blue areas on the maps do look like water connecting to the canal and there are no railroad lines nearby, so maybe sewing machines were shipped on the canal.

Image source: Newark Public Library      Click here for larger image of the 1901 map.

Kankakee

I have not found an address for the Kankakee factory/factories.

Buffalo

The Buffalo factory is covered on the King page.

Return to the Domestic history page.