INDUSTRIAL POWERHOUSE
Cortland was an industrial powerhouse. Well trained and motivated workers stamped and bent out metalworks, shoveled coal, harvested ice, strung tennis rackets, varnished boats, assembled typewriters, built machine tools, drew wire, made filters, made fish line, tended dairy farms, pasteurized milk, and, in healthcare, tended to our illnesses, while our civil servants in police and fire made our neighborhoods safe at night. They worked at SCM, Brockway, BTC, Wilson’s, Durkee’s, Champion, Pall Trinity, Edlunds Machine Tools, Monarch Machines, Cortland Line, on scores of dairy farms, and for local gov’t. Pay was good. Workers could afford houses, and VA loans helped build them.. Many were vets of WWII, Korea, Vietnam. Factory and farm work is tiring, but Cortlanders had energy left to make rewarding social lives out of their work, with bowling leagues, birthday celebrations at the coffee break, quick lunches together at diners like T&M, Stevens, Firpo’s, Imperial, and more. We played cards together at lunch breaks. Schools made us ready for this industrial life; all kids, including college bound, took shop classes or home economy. The workweek started with horns at 7:00 AM on Monday morning, and ended with a buzzer at 3:25pm on Friday, payday, and from there to cash the pay check at a grocery store or a beer garden with your comrades. Blue Collar labor made Cortland great.
