Call Number:

03

Repository:

Historical Society of Fort Washington

Extent:

1.25 linear feet

Language:

English

Date:

1974-1981 (bulk) and 1960-1981 bulk, 1974-1981 (inclusive)

Creator:

Plumley, Edmund E.

Abstract:

The Keasbey and Mattison Company was a manufacturing company based in Ambler Borough, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. At one point the world's leader in asbestos manufacturing, the company became Nicolet Industries in the 1960s and was shut down in 1987. The bulk of the Edmund E. Plumley scrapbooks, 1960-1981, cover his time as an employee of Keasbey-Madison and Nicolet, with photographs and newspaper clippings depicting the factory and his coworkers.

The Keasbey-Mattison Company was founded by wealthy financier Henry G. Keasbey and chemist Dr. Richard V. Mattison in 1873. The company originally focused on pharmaceuticals, and found success with products including their best-seller Bromo Caffeine. After discovering the potential for asbestos insulation, the company shifted their focus to asbestos product development and manufacturing, and moved their factory from Philadelphia to Ambler (Pennsylvania) in 1882.

The company spurred development of the Ambler community in many ways. They built affordable housing for their workers, and helped support a library and opera house in the center of town. In the process of bringing electricity and water to their factory, the company also built up infrastructure for the town to use these utilities. Dr. Keasbey built a palatial estate, Lindenwold, which today is used as a Catholic orphanage, St. Mary's Villa.

K-M helped with war production during World War I, and through some changes in ownership, continued to produce asbestos and related products as Nicolet Industries until 1987. By that point, the health risks surrounding asbestos had hit the news, and asbestos factories were being shut down across the county.

Edmund Plumley (1913-1987) was an amateur photographer and a production supervisor for Keasbey-Mattison in Ambler. This collection is comprised of photograph scrapbooks compiled by Edmund E. Plumley. The scrapbooks cover multiple topics, but the bulk are focused around his time as an employee of the Keasbey and Mattison Company. These scrapbooks are full of photographs of fellow employees as well as the factory, many of which are captioned by Plumley. There are also a few newspaper clippings dealing with Keasbey and Madison. The other topics covered in these scrapbooks are local snowstorms, Ambler, and antique cars with postcards and photographs.