A well-known company in Jamestown will celebrate its 145th anniversary this year.

Blackstone was founded by Dr. Theodore Horton in Bluffton, Indiana, and manufactured hand corn planters. Within a couple of years, Rachel (Vandergrift) Blackstone and William Knowles Vandergrift became co-partners with Horton. Other implements were manufactured, including washing machines. In 1880, the company was moved to Jamestown and in 1881, it was incorporated as Vandergrift Manufacturing Company.

Rachel’s brothers, Jacob, William and Theophilus, were all involved in the company as was her husband, George V. Blackstone. It was Blackstone who became interested in and developed the washing machines that the company produced. The washer became the main item manufactured, and in 1901, Blackstone purchased the Vandergrift’s stock and the company became known as Blackstone Manufacturing Company by 1903.

Meanwhile in Jamestown, the Gabrielson Car Parts Company started operating around 1914. Through many fits and starts, this company became the Jamestown Car Parts Company and in 1925 the name was changed to Jamestown Metal Equipment Company. During this time the main car part manufactured was a radiator. Oscar Lenna was involved in the company from the beginning. By the 1920s the company had decided to diversify and tried metal office furniture. By 1934 they purchased the Blackstone Manufacturing Company. They also had started the Jamestown Malleable Iron Company and in 1947 the three companies joined under the name of the Blackstone Manufacturing Company. Washing machines continued to be a large part of the business, as did radiators.

Electrification was becoming more available in larger communities by the 1890s so washing machines were developed that could operate with a small motor. That small motor often powered the agitator that moved the clothes around in the water but wash water and rinse water had to be filled and emptied by hand and the clothes were fed by hand through a wringer to remove some of the water after washing and rinsing. It was during World War II that automatic washing machines started to appear. A number of scrapbooks and photographs from Blackstone are in the collection of the Fenton History Center. A quick look through some of them produced magazine ads from 1944 featuring automatic washers.

A recent addition to the collection included not only the Installation and Service Instructions booklets for Blackstone automatic washers, models 250 and 350 and for the automatic dryers, models 191 and 192 but an additional publication that is “A manual for teachers and home service demonstrators.” There are no dates on the publications but they are probably from the first few years that automatic washers and dryers were available. The manual is entitled “How to Demonstrate the Blackstone Automatic Washer.” The company or the dealer that sold the washer had home demonstrators who would arrive at the home within the first 48 hours after installation to teach the housewife how to use the new washer. This manual even includes a script for the demonstrator to use to explain each step in using the automatic washer. One was cautioned to respect the housewife’s way of doing laundry but to show the features of the machine and how to use them. We have to remember that before the automatic washer, laundry day was a long day spent with, probably by then, a wringer washer that may or may not have been powered by electricity and may or may not have had running water.

This type of item in the collection reminds us that with each new advancement, whether it be a washing machine, a voting machine, or a smartphone, there is a learning curve and hopefully the company has foreseen the need for some instruction to be included, either written or in person.