Snapshots in Time: The story of a Hopkinsville glove factory and its employees

A large group of women — and a few men — pose outside a brick building with “OFFICE” painted boldly on its wall. The majority of those pictured are African American with the exception of three people standing on the far left. The women are all dressed in uniform: a knee-length white dress with dark lapels and short sleeves with dark cuffs. The crossed ankles of the ladies on the front row draw attention to their stylish shoes. Their hair is coiffed, but very few smile. The four men stand high on the back row. The photographer sets up for a wide shot and

CLICK!

An industrious moment is captured.

This month, I decided to take a deeper look at a historic photograph that has long fascinated me. I can’t tell you when I first saw this picture, but I can tell you that I have always, always wanted to know more about it. Here’s what I’ve learned.

The picture is of Baus Manufacturing Co. employees and it was taken at the company’s factory on East First Street. In operation for approximately 30 years, the factory almost exclusively employed African American women. They made work gloves. A keen eye on the picture will notice a sign hanging high above the three white people that says “Baus Mfg. Co./Jersey and Canvas Gloves.”

Those white people are Marvin and Arvilla Baus — and likely a young woman who worked as a secretary or bookkeeper in the factory’s office. Natives of Pennsylvania, the Bauses first show up in the 1928 Hopkinsville City Directory. At the time, Marvin worked as the manager at Cleaver Manufacturing Co. Located on Virginia Street at Fifth Street, this enterprise made … gloves! By 1930, the company had switched ownership and name became Baus Manufacturing. 

The glove factory operated from its location on Virginia Street until 1935, when it outgrew its space. With aid from the Hopkinsville Industrial Foundation, Baus Manufacturing purchased and moved into the building on East First Street where this picture was taken. Previously occupied by Cowherd & Altsheler, a livestock company, this new structure offered more than three times the space as the original site. 

The Kentucky New Era reported on Jan. 4, 1935, that the glove manufacturer was one of only two factories of its kind in the state. Under the leadership of Baus since 1929, the plant had increased from a one-room operation to a major enterprise. With the move to the First Street location, the factory was able to produce 450 dozen pairs of gloves a day. That’s 5,400 pairs — or 10,800 single gloves — every day!

And those gloves were made by a workforce composed primarily of African American women, many of whom lived in the surrounding neighborhood. Our picture shows 57 women and four men. I’m not sure what year the photograph was taken, but my best guess based on the styles of their shoes is the late 1930s, possibly into the early 1940s. 

I wanted to know who these women and men were, to be able to put names with faces, so that we can tell their stories. I still cannot identify specific individuals, but I have scoured city directories and created a list of those who worked at Baus Manufacturing Co. in 1935 and 1940. Unless specified otherwise, their job was listed as “seamstress.” I’m not sure what the abbreviation “mach hd” that shows up in the 1935 directory means.

If you recognize a name and can help connect it to a face, I will be forever grateful. 

Employees of the Baus Manufacturing Co., 1935 City Directory

• Hazel Armstrong
• Alice Barker
• Dimple Bradley
• Mattie Bradley
• Anna Briggs
• Ruth Buckner
• Mary N. Burke
• Quinetta Bussell
• Jennie Collier
• Mabel Cornell
• Jennie Dawson
• Maude Dunlap, bookkeeper
• Glodine Elliott
• Flossie Ellison
• Ohma Gardner
• Mary A. Gary
• Mary Hall
• Rena Harris
• Cora Jones, inspector
• Elsie Kelley
• Mattie Major
• Gabrella Malone
• Esther McAtee
• Ruby McGregory
• Casper Moore, mach hd
• Lavenia Moore
• Minnie Moore
• Sallie Moss
• Edith Mumford, inspector
• Theodosia Mumford
• Fannie L. Parker, inspector
• Annie Pendleton
• Willie M. Quarles
• Curtis Ratcliffe, mach hd
• Elizabeth Rogers
• Minnie Torian
• Frances Watkins
• Ella Wiley
• Martha Williams, inspector 
• Otho Willoughby, cutter

Employees of the Baus Manufacturing Co., 1940 City Directory

• Hazel Armstrong
• May Armstrong
• Thelma Blaine
• Dimple Bradley, bander
• Mattie Lou Bradley
• Anna L. Briggs
• Parmis Brooks
• Sallie Buckner
• Jennie Collier
• Harrison Cornell, laborer
• Addie Cornett
• Jennie Belle Dawson, bander
• Alice Fleming
• Margaret Gardener
• Oletta Gardener
• Dorothy Gee
• Cleta Glass
• Otis Glenn, cutter
• Georgia Green, inspector
• Esther Hale, bander
• Cleora Hargraves, foreman
• Cynthia Harriel
• Rena Harris
• Mary V. Irvin
• Glodine Johnson
• Liza Johnson
• Stella Johnson
• Major Jones, cutter
• Cynthia Knight
• Lilly Belle Knight
• Della Mae Knott
• Elizabeth Leavell
• Mattie Majors, inspector
• Gabreill Malone
• Walter McReynolds, operator
• Willa Mae McReynolds, operator
• Bertie Mitchell, Bertie, 2205 Starling
• Casper Moore, turner
• Minnie L. Moore
• Theodosia Mumford
• Minerva Norman
• Mary Norsingle, bander
• Fannie L. Parker, inspector
• Augusta Presling (Presley)
• Mary Nelson Quarles
• Willie Radcliffe, inspector
• Ella Rogers
• Cora Sharp, forewoman
• Emma Shaw
• Charity Shipp
• Kathryn Stewart, Secretary
• Fannie Torain
• McGloatham Trice
• Lillian Wagner
• Frances Watkins
• Quincetta Watkins, bander
• Edith White
• Mattie Lou White
• Ella Wiley
• Elizabeth Wood

I likely missed a name or two, but I think that this is a pretty comprehensive list of the people who were making gloves on First Street in 1935 and 1940. A total of 84 different names between the two lists.

I compared the names from each list and zeroed in on those who appeared in both years. There were at least 16 people who were employed at Baus Manufacturing in both 1935 and 1940. They were Hazel Armstrong, Dimple Bradley, Mattie Lou Bradley, Anna L. Briggs, Jennie Collier, Jennie Belle Dawson, Esther McAtee Hale, Rena Harris, Mattie Majors, Gabrella Malone, Casper Moore, Minnie L. Moore, Theodosia Mumford, Fannie L. Parker, Frances Watkins, and Ella Wiley.

I decided to take a little research dive into the lives of each of these folks, and I share with you a few of my favorites:

Dimple Bradley

Born in Hopkinsville in 1911, Dimple Bradley worked at the glove factory for 20 years. The daughter of Arthur and Lurue Collins-Fortson, Dimple graduated from Attucks High School in 1929 and married Edward Bradley. After the glove factory closed, she worked another 20 years in the laundry room at Western State Hospital, as a foster grandparent at Outwood Developmental Disabled Center, and owned the Community Laundry Mat. At the time of her death at age 93, Dimple was the oldest member of the Durrett Avenue Baptist Church where she served in just about every way that she could. She was the president of the Ladies Chorus for more than 60 years!

But what drew me most to her story was her work in the community — especially within the Durrett Avenue neighborhood. In the 1960s and ‘70s, she served as the representative of the Durrett Avenue Redevelopment Committee and was a key leader with the Neighborhood Task Force of the Hopkinsville Human Relations Commission Committee on Community Change. In 1969, she donated a house and land to create the Durrett Avenue Community Center. The center was described as “an effort to provide young people and adults a place to meet and study plans for improvement of community and its social life.” The neighbors were especially excited about the possibility of setting up playground equipment on the vacant lot she donated.

Jennie Belle Dawson

I didn’t actually find anything specific about Jennie Belle Dawson — except the name of her husband. Jennie was married to Frederick Dawson, and his occupation was listed as “editor” in the 1940 Census. At the time and until his death in 1947, Frederick Dawson served as the editor of The Globe Journal, an African American newspaper printed in Hopkinsville. Founded in 1932 by Alonzo Glass, the weekly publication was the final — and likely most financially successful — of about a dozen Black newspapers printed here from the late 19th to the middle of 20th century. The newspaper had approximately 2,000 subscribers and was part of a larger Atlanta-based syndicate of Black newspapers. *******

Rena Harris

Rena Harris’s story takes a dramatically tragic turn. Every reference that I found to Harris had her living at the same address on Canton Street — making her one of the few people employed at the glove factory who did not live in the surrounding neighborhood. In 1983 at the age of 93, Rena Harris McGarrett was found deceased in her home. Responding to a house fire, firefighters found the elderly woman had been brutally beaten. Authorities reported that she had been strangled or suffocated to death and that the fire was started deliberately to conceal the murder. The crime remained unsolved and, in 1985, the Crimestoppers Program offered a $1,000 reward for information that might lead to an arrest. I hope that there was a conclusion to this story, but I wasn’t able to find one in my newspaper searches.

Casper Moore

Casper Moore was one of five men who I found listed as working at Baus Manufacturing in the 1940 City Directory —and the only one who had also worked there in 1935. And he certainly proved to be an interesting man!

Born in Chattanooga in 1909, Moore was the son of George and Idella Moore, a CME preacher and a teacher, respectively. By 1920, the family lived in Hickman in far Western Kentucky and had made their way to Hopkinsville by 1930. In addition to Casper, the household included his father, listed now as a widower, a sister who worked as a teacher, and a brother and his wife and children. At first glance, I was surprised that Casper did not have an occupation listed until I noticed that he was in school. He completed two years of college.

Sometime between 1930 and 1940, Casper married Anna Whitaker, a teacher at Attucks High School. The couple had two daughters — Idella (his mother’s name) and Nelda. And it seems that he worked at the glove factory, off and on, at least, into the 1950s. By 1957, he opened a barber shop with James Young. The shop was located on Virginia Street.

But it was a search of his name in the newspapers that painted a more colorful picture of this man. In 1949, he and his wife opened West End Market, a grocery store on West First Street at Cleveland Avenue. He was a member of the Frazier Lodge No. 1223 of the Elks and of the VFW and the American Legion (although I was unable to find any details of military service for him). He served as the president of the PTA at Attucks for a number of years in the late 1950s, as well. 

His wife Anna passed away in 1961 at the age of 49. At the time, she taught 7th and 8th grade science and managed the cafeteria at Attucks. According to her obituary, she had taught at the school for 25 years, was a lifelong member of Main Street Baptist Church, and a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. Their daughters were young teenagers at the time of their mother’s passing.

In 1962, Moore attended a mass meeting at Freeman Chapel CME Church. Approximately 1,000 members of the African American community gathered to organize efforts to create a human rights commission in Hopkinsville. The group nominated 10 people to present to the mayor as recommended members to the commission if created, and Casper Moore made that short list. 

Casper Moore passed away in 1990 at the age of 80. He lived in Canton, Ohio, at the time of his death, but he was brought back home to be laid to rest in Cave Springs Cemetery with his wife.

Frances Watkins

Born Frances Wagoner, this Christian County native was listed in the 1940 Census as a divorced mother of two children. Her sister Lillian, also employed at the glove factory, and three nieces lived with them. Both Frances and Lillian attended college. By 1950, Frances made a career change and was employed as a teacher in the county schools. She married George Knight and passed away in 1984. Her obituary indicated that she was still employed in the Christian County school system at the time. 

These five people are just a small peek into the lives of those who worked at Baus Manufacturing. After World War II, the company decreased its workforce and even closed for periods of time. Loss of accounts and increased competition were cited as the reason for the cutbacks in operations. The factory closed permanently around 1958.

But the building still stands on First Street at Douglas Street as a reminder of industrial development in the heart of a vibrant neighborhood. A neighborhood and its nearby enclaves that were home to an even more vibrant population of families, activists, and community builders.

And they made gloves, too.