Kirby Information Wanted

[BellToyBoy]

I'm looking for information on Samuel Kirby, president of Kirby Manufacturing Co., Middletown, Connecticut where he was President in 1915.  According to a Playthings ad they made baby reins, rattles, jump ropes, carnival hats and shakers, horns, chimes, swinging clowns, wheelbarrows, wagons, etc..

The company made steel and cast iron bell toys which were similar to those made in East Hampton, Connecticut around the same time by Watrous Manufacturing Co. In a 1924 Kirby ad there is a toy that uses the same "Rough Rider" cast iron figure used by Watrous Manufacturing many years earlier.

In 1924 they were at 53 Hubbard Street, Middletown, CT. In 1927 they acquired the former plant of the Elam Strong Paper Box Co. The Company was located in 1929 at 61-65 Hubbard St., Middletown, CT, with a Branch office at 366 Fifth Ave, New York. They were in business till 1932, though I don't know whether Samuel was still there then. In 1920 J. M. Davis was president of the company. The company went bankrupt and the assets, including the four story building, were sold by the receiver in January 1932.

I'm looking to find any information on Samuel Kirby, this company, and the management of it. I have some copies of early ads for the company that were published in Playthings Magazine.

In a book about bells, L. Elsinore Springer mentioned a Kirby 1903 catalog of bell toys had 26 styles of reins. She did not mention where she had found that catalog. I’ve searched and have yet to find a single Kirby Manufacturing Co. catalog, or letterhead. Information about the company is scarce.

The 1926 site of Kirby Mfg. Co. at 53 Hubbard Street, is now a parking lot for the “Water’s Edge, Center for Health and Rehabilitation.” It is unclear whether the floods of 1955 hurricanes Connie and Diane, called Black Friday, hit this area of town on Aug 11-19 1955. I tried to see the flood map in the planning department of Middletown, Ct., but the pdf never loaded.

Thanks,
La vie est belle,
Belltoyboy