The Sanford Whip Company is a historic

factory A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. T ...

located at 330 Elm Street in Westfield,

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

. Built in 1883, it was owned and operated by one of the

whip A whip is a tool or weapon designed to strike humans or other animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain. They can also be used without inflicting pain, for audiovisual cues, such as in equestrianism. They are generally e ...

-making business that led Westfield to become widely known as "Whip City". The building for many years housed a novelty toy manufacturer after the market for whips declined in the early decades of the 20th century. The factory was listed individually on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 2008, and as part of an expanded

Westfield Center Historic District The Westfield Center Historic District is a historic district encompassing of the civic, commercial, and industrial heart of Westfield, Massachusetts. It represents a major expansion of the Westfield Center Commercial Historic District, which ...

in 2013. It has been converted into affordable housing space.

Description and history

The former Sanford Whip Company building is located at the northern end of Westfield's main business district, across from Kane Park on the west side of Elm Street near Cowles Court. It is a -story brick building, with a slate roof with the gable facing the street, and it has modest Italianate decorations. It is long, with 17 window bays, and is four window bays wide. Windows are set in segmented-arch openings, with slightly projecting brickwork lintels with shoulders. The main building entrance is in the rightmost bay on the front facade; it is sheltered by a simple portico with square posts. The Sanford Whip Company was started by brothers Edwin and Fred Sanford in 1880, after involvement in the manufacture and sale of whips with other manufacturers based in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. Originally located in a space on Mechanic Street, they purchased this parcel in 1882 (its previous buildings having been washed away in an 1878 flood) and had the factory built. The Sanfords operated independently until 1892, when they were consolidated into the United States Whip Company, who used the building primarily for storage. The building was eventually repurchased by a reconstituted Sanford Company in 1924 for the production of whips and novelty toys. That business operated until 2000, when the company folded.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Buildings and structures in Westfield, Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Hampden County, Massachusetts Historic district contributing properties in Massachusetts

Description and history

See also

References