In 1899 the American Hide and Leather Company purchased the Ballston Spa tannery from Hall, Haight & Co. At its height, the plant at Ballston Spa could store 125 carloads of hides in cooling plants. During processing they were washed, fleshed, unhaired, and soaked in various chemicals in preparation of tanning. After tanning, the hides still had to be split, shaved, colored, set out, pasted, dried, and finished.
In 1899 most of the tanning process was done by hand, but fifty years later the process was largely mechanized, cutting down tanning time from several weeks to only a day. In 1949 the tannery produced 22,000 sides of leather weekly, mostly for shoe uppers and pocketbooks. It employed 325 people.
Long-time residents of Ballston Spa still remember between the world wars when the prevalent odor of the village varied widely. Either it smelled terrible from the tanning or wonderful from Bishcoff’s Chocolate Factory, depending on which you were downwind from.
Today, the tannery buildings are largely abandoned.
Below is a snapshot of loading dock of Building 20 of the American Hide and Leather Company, on Bath Street. Two men are standing by pile of hides.
