The name Spirella refers to the Spirella Stay which was invented by Marcus Merritt Beeman in the US in 1904 and made from tightly twisted and flattened coils of wire. The founders were Beeman, William Wallace Kincaid and Jesse Homan Pardee. [1]
The name Spirella refers to the Spirella Stay which was invented by Marcus Merritt Beeman in the US in 1904 and made from tightly twisted and flattened coils of wire. The founders were Beeman, William Wallace Kincaid and Jesse Homan Pardee. [1]
The Spirella name was used by the Spirella Corset Company Inc that was founded in 1904 [2] in Meadville, Pennsylvania, USA. It was founded on a patent of dressbone, [3] for bustles, but started corset manufacture in 1904. The company manufactured made-to-measure corsets. Benefits for the company's employees included travel, education and health care. [4]
The UK subsidiary was The Spirella Company of Great Britain. Spirella co-founder and entrepreneur William Wallace Kincaid commissioned the architect Cecil Hignett to design a state-of-the art factory of architectural beauty. The design included embellishments in Arts & Crafts styling. This factory, the Spirella Building, was built and expanded in stages between 1912 and 1920. During World War II, the Irvin Airchute Company expanded its production of parachutes into the Spirella Building and women working for the British Tabulating Machine Company secretly produced components for the decoding machines called Bombes. [5] In September 1957, the company ceased to be under the control of the US firm. [6]
The company's most popular corset was the Model 305. Spirella products were not sold in shops. Instead, female staff called corsetiers (or corsetières) were sent to customers' homes. [7] After an ill-fated attempt to market garments of "Stub-tex", a form of Gore-Tex being used under licence from W. L. Gore & Associates, the company was sold in 1985 to the rival Spencers of Banbury and finally closed in July 1989.
The Spirella Building was designed to provide workers with a highly productive and pleasant environment that focused on the comfort of factory employees. Referred to as the "factory of beauty", it offered a wide array of employee amenities including "baths, showers, gymnastics classes, a library, free eye tests and bicycle repairs". [8] In 1979 it was Grade II* listed. [9] The Letchworth Garden City Foundation bought the neglected building in 1995, restored the interior and re-opened it for leased office accommodation. [10] It currently houses over twenty businesses. [11]
At its height the company had factories in the USA (Meadville, Pennsylvania, New Haven, Connecticut, and Lincoln Nebraska [12] ), in Canada (in 1910), in the UK (in 1910; from 1912 in the Spirella Building in Letchworth) and in Sweden (Malmö) in 1920 and Niagara Falls NY (in 1917). Their flagship location was Spirella House on Oxford Circus, London. [13] A factory built in 1910 in Niagara falls, Ontario, eventually became the premises of the Bird Kingdom Tropical Adventure. [14]
A number of organisations have collected archival examples of documents and objects related to the Spirella Factory. The Garden City Collection in Letchworth includes over forty objects and documents in its collection. [15] Additionally, collections are maintained by Hertfordshire's Community Archives Network. [16] Archival examples include: the Castle Corset cartoon and an advertisement for the Spirella War Savings Association. [17] [18]
The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, informally known as the St. Louis World's Fair, was an international exposition held in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, from April 30 to December 1, 1904. Local, state, and federal funds totaling $15 million were used to finance the event. More than 60 countries and 43 of the then-45 American states maintained exhibition spaces at the fair, which was attended by nearly 19.7 million people.
Sir Ebenezer Howard was an English urban planner and founder of the garden city movement, known for his publication To-Morrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform (1898), the description of a utopian city in which people live harmoniously together with nature. The publication resulted in the founding of the garden city movement, and the building of the first garden city, Letchworth Garden City, commenced in 1903.
A corsetmaker is a specialist tailor who makes corsets. Corsetmakers are frequently known by the French equivalent terms corsetier (male) and corsetière (female). Staymaker is an obsolete name for a corsetmaker.
The garden city movement was a 20th century urban planning movement promoting satellite communities surrounding the central city and separated with greenbelts. These Garden Cities would contain proportionate areas of residences, industry, and agriculture. Ebenezer Howard first posited the idea in 1898 as a way to capture the primary benefits of the countryside and the city while avoiding the disadvantages presented by both. In the early 20th century, Letchworth, Brentham Garden Suburb, and Welwyn Garden City were built in or near London according to Howard's concept and many other garden cities inspired by his model have since been built all over the world.
Henry Drushel Perky was a lawyer, businessman, promoter and inventor. Perky is the inventor of shredded wheat.
One third of North Hertfordshire District Council in England is elected each year, followed by one year without election. A boundary review is underway to allow the council to instead be elected all at once every four years from 2024 onwards.
Chater-Lea was a British bicycle, car and motorcycle maker with a purpose-built five-storey factory in Banner Street, EC1, in the City of London and, from 1928, premises at Letchworth, Hertfordshire. It was founded by William Chater-Lea in 1890 to make bicycle frames and components. It made cars between 1907 and 1922 and motorcycles from 1903 to 1935. William died in 1927 and the business was taken over by his sons John and Bernard. After vehicle production finished, the company remained trading as a bicycle component maker and contract manufacturer until 1987. The company relaunched in 2017 as a maker of high-end British manufactured bicycle components and launched its first new products in the summer of 2019.
The Highfield School is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form located in Letchworth, Hertfordshire. The Highfield School teaches from Year 7 through to Year 13. The school is part of the Letchworth Sixth Form Consortium with Fearnhill School. It received a with outstanding features OFSTED grade.
St. Francis' College is an independent day and boarding school for children aged 3–18 in Letchworth, Hertfordshire. The site is within the Letchworth Conservation Area, management of which is the responsibility of the Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation. The College occupies a single campus of 3.1 hectares comprising a number of buildings, playing fields, gardens and other facilities. The College achieves outstanding academic results, alongside expert pastoral care and individual support.
Gossard is a Nottingham-based brand and manufacturer of women's undergarments and hosiery. Founded in the early 20th century in Chicago as H. W. Gossard Co., it expanded quickly, flourishing in the 1920s. As Associated Apparel Industries, Inc. it held a central position in its market in the 1930s. Amalgamated eventually succumbed to the poor economy in the United States during the Great Depression, but Gossard continues as a division of Courtaulds in Great Britain.
Letchworth Garden City, commonly known as Letchworth, is a town in the North Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England. It is noted for being the first garden city. The population at the time of the 2021 census was 33,990.
Bird Kingdom is an aviary in the tourist district of Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Opened in May 2003, it is the largest free flying indoor aviary in the world. The attraction encompasses approximately 45,000 square feet (4,200 m2), and houses over 350 birds, the majority of which come from Australia, South America, and Africa. It is also home to mammals, reptiles and amphibians which are part of educational programs. Bird Kingdom has been voted a top family attraction in Niagara Falls and was inducted into the Trip Advisor Hall of Fame in 2016.
Channellock is an American company that produces hand tools. It is best known for its pliers—the company manufactures more than 75 types and sizes of pliers—particularly its eponymous style of tongue-and-groove, slip-joint pliers. Its pliers have distinctive sky-blue handle grips; the company has been using the same trademarked shade of blue since 1956.
Letchworth Museum and Art Gallery was a museum in Letchworth, Hertfordshire, England. It had permanent displays dedicated to the natural history of North Hertfordshire, including the famous black squirrel, as well as its archaeology from remote prehistory to the turn of the twentieth century.
Mr. Pearl is a noted corsetmaker of the late 20th and early 21st century. Pearl is known for his work with designers such as Vivienne Westwood, and has designed corsets for celebrities such as Kylie Minogue and Dita Von Teese.
The Church of St Mary the Virgin is the Church of England parish church of Letchworth in Hertfordshire. A church appears to have been on the site since before the Norman Conquest. The current church was built in the late 12th century and is Grade II listed. It comes under the Diocese of St Albans. The original dedication of the church is unknown; it was rededicated to St Mary during the First World War.
The Royal Worcester Corset Company, was founded as The Worcester Skirt Company by David Hale Fanning in 1861 in Worcester, MA, and first specialized in making hoop skirts. In 1872 the company changed its name to the Worcester Corset Co., to reflect its change of direction from hoop skirts to torso shaping. The company changed its name again in 1901, to the Royal Worcester Corset Company. In 1949 the company dropped the word 'corset' from its name and became known as the Royal Worcester Company, in response to falling interest in corsets. The company had by then switched production away from corsets to girdles.
William Wallace Kincaid was an American entrepreneur, businessman, executive, and inventor. He was founder of the Spirella Co., manufacturer of Spirella corsets, and served as president of the National Personnel Association and as president of the American Management Association.
Letchworth Town Hall is a municipal building in Broadway, Letchworth, Hertfordshire, England. The town hall, which was the headquarters of Letchworth Urban District Council, is a Grade II listed building.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)In 1959 a Spirella shop assistant is reported to have described three brassiere sizes "The Totalitarian – designed for suppression of the masses; the Salvation Army – to uplift the fallen; and the Political Agitator – to make mountains out of molehills".
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
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