As we approach our companies 150th anniversary in 2023, we are honored to share our history and progression as the global leader of security seal manufacturing. Today as TydenBrooks our journey started like many remarkable success stories with a young twenty-three-year-old entrepreneur who decided to take a risk.
Edward Brooks, fresh from his boyhood home in the Boston area set out to make his fortune in New York. In 1873, he became the successor to a small Pearl Street lead toy manufacturer and gave it a new name: E. J. Brooks and Company. Soon after opening, he moved the operation to 346 Broadway, where there was more room to begin the development of a new product line.
When Edward signed the lease on his first room in New York City, he didn’t use a ball-point or fountain pen as those writing instruments had not yet been invented. The rules for football were just being formulated, and cable cars were just starting to climb the San Francisco’s hills. Ulysses S. Grant was president, and the country was weathering a depression that rivaled the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Yet, in 1875, Edward and investor Lewis Pierce reorganized the company. Lead soldiers gave way to railway supplies as E.J. Brooks and Company replaced toy production with railroad car seals, while beginning to function as a distributor for everything from conductor’s punches to rail worker uniforms. The company prospered.
In 1879, E.J. Brooks and Company was incorporated with its 2,000 shares of stock valued at $200,000. Within two months, Brooks negotiated his first major contract with the United States Treasury Department to supply lead security seals for cording and sealing packages of dutiable (taxable) merchandise. With the company rapidly growing, Brooks decided to move to more spacious quarters in Newark, N.J. In 1883, Brooks purchased an “odd-shaped piece of land” at the intersection of Park Avenue and North 13th Street, where he built a three-story factory.
By now, E.J. Brooks was a major supplier of lead and metal seals in the eastern United States and had three primary focuses. Brooks purchased the exclusive license to manufacture and sell metallic seals and other goods covered by patents owned by the New York Cording and Sealing Company. The E.J. Brooks seal line at this time included the Horseshoe Seal, the Tin Shackle and seal, various Cording Seals, Seal Presses, Bottle Seals, Freight Car Seals, and the Bung Tins and Drivers used to seal the beer barrels. Brooks also distributed a wide variety of products through a catalog/mail order system. Of the catalogs that were produced from 1885 until after 1900, only the “Eighth Illustrated Catalog” of 1893 is still in the possession of the company.
Among the items listed for sale were: Brass Locks, Conductor’s Punches, Railroad Uniform Caps, Copying Presses and Stands, Cuspidors in red, black, green, and maroon for both home and office, and a complete line of Tents for photographers on field work, garden parties. There were Canvas and Leather Bags, Ink and Ink Stands, Shears and Scissors, Clocks and Stoves. Other items included a railway Velocipede (a two person “car” for railroad tracks), Forged Tools, Forges, Valves, Engines, Bells for schools and cars, Lawn Mowers, Anvils and Vises.
In a triangular building on the southern tip of the Roseville property, the third facet of E.J. Brooks and Company operated as a wholesaler and retailer of flour, feed, and grain. The company, known as Brooks, Hovey, & Gottlieb was an independent enterprise that from 1889 to 1893 serviced the horse-drawn trolley. After sales ceased in the 1890s, the building and land were purchased back by E. J. Brooks and Company.
As 1893 began, there was little indication of an interruption in the prosperity which had been growing steadily for nearly 20 years, but the panic of 1893 hit the company hard. The two important companies that failed and ignited the panic were the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad in February and the National Cordage Company in May. Both were Brooks customers and suppliers.
After the gold reserves fell below acceptable limits and the market panicked, six hundred banks and many businesses closed. E.J. Brooks and Company survived-but Brooks, Hovey & Gottlieb was one of the casualties. As Newark industry recovered and grew, Brooks was there to supply general merchandise and seals. The leather, carriage, hardware, jewelry, watch, drug and chemical, varnish and paint, and brewery industries all used Brooks products.
Car Seals protected incoming raw materials and outgoing goods. Bungs sealed kegs of beer and ale, and Coin Bag Seals protected everything from diamonds and platinum to payroll deposits and insurance premium payments. Wire was supplied for power companies and a variety of other uses, including electric trolleys, telephones, and telegraphs. Railroads were important Brooks customers; the catalog supplied everything except the engine, track, and car frames.
Still, the company faced financial challenges and in the early 1890s, Brooks borrowed $10,000 to keep operating. New officers were named: Edward Brooks became the Treasurer (he was also the President and General Manager), Ellen Brooks became Secretary of the Board. Artemas Smith returned to the Board (he had left in 1890) to replace Henry Wenk, and Wenk returned to the office as assistant Treasurer. While the company was growing, Edward Brooks and his wife, Ellen Josephine Mudge, raised two children: their son Winfred, born in 1884, and daughter Elinor in 1888. After studying civil engineering at Princeton, Winfred joined the company in the business office.
Business was booming. The Pennsylvania Railroad began digging its tunnels under the Hudson in 1902, with links from the Jersey City outlet to Newark. The Hudson Manhattan Railroad also began tunnels that connected Newark lo New York City. With the completion of “the Tubes” between 1907 and 1910, the rail companies needed more supplies than before for the instantly popular passenger and freight link between Newark and lower Manhattan Island.
Triggered by the advance of rail travel. The growth of Newark area banks and insurance companies that needed efficient ways to transport and protect money, and renewed government contracts, the company began an incredible expansion in 1902 and 1903. The factory complex grew as demand increased. An annex was added to the original factory in 1906, at a cost of $6,490. A boiler house, bridge to the annex, and an elevator were all added in 1907. In 1909. the important addition of “water closets” or lavatories to the factory cost $360.
Winfred Brooks became Assistant Secretary of the Board (his mother was Secretary) in 1912. In 1917, he was named Vice President. Brooks’ daughter Elinor had developed an interest in the family company. In 1915, she became Assistant to the President so that Brooks would not have to work as hard or travel as much. He was 65; she was 30. As he became increasingly troubled by illnesses of advancing age, Elinor became more and more important to the company.
The company was 40 years old in 1919, and ready to pass to the next generation.
