Westfield Mfg. History

Albert Augustus Pope was born on May 20, 1843 in Boston, Massachusetts. Veteran of American Civil War, in 1871 married to Abbie Linder; they had four sons and one daughter. During the 1876 Philadelphia Exposition Pope became enthusiastic about bicycles. He began importing penny farthings from Europe and taking out US patents on these models. By the early 1890s, he had established a bicycle trust which controlled the central bicycle patents in the US. Nearly every US bicycle manufacturer paid Pope around $10 per bicycle. His bicycle brand was known as the Columbia. By the mid-1890s, at the height of the bicycle craze, Pope was manufacturing about a quarter million bicycles annually.

The major problem for bicycles at this time was the lack of suitable roads on which to ride them. Pope being not only a bicycle manufacturer but a bicycle-riding enthusiast, was particularly troubled by this problem. He formed the League of American Wheelmen to agitate for and petition governments for improved roads.

From 1896, he began to diversify into automobile production. In 1897, Pope Manufacturing began production of an electric automobile in Hartford, Connecticut. By 1899, the company had produced over 500 vehicles. At the break of the century Pope was actually the biggest car manufactureer in the world, and his position in the bicycle market was so high that he was of few industralists able to face the market crash in the end of 19th century: in 1899 he founded American Bicycle Company, when buying over 40 smaller manufactures together with their brands.

One of companies Pope had bought was Lozier & Co. in Westfield Mass. Total number of brands Pope had acquired was over 75. American Bicycle Company lasted only for a few years, but Pope reorganized and renamed his business, moving first production, and then company's headquarters to Westfield Mass. This is how Westfield Mfg. Co. was created. Pope died in 1909, but bicycle production in Westfield was continued for many decades.

These are most important dates from the company's history, according to www.vintagecolumbiabikes.com:

1877. Pope Manufacturing Co. founded. Offices in Boston Mass.

1878. January. Pope starts importing bicycles from England. The first sign of advertising is in March.

1878 September. Col. Pope approaches the Weed Sewing Machine Co. in Hartford about building bicycles.

1878 November. The first bicycles are manufactured in Hartford. These are copies of an English bicycle, the Bayliss Thomas Duplex Excelsior.

1894. Main offices start to be consolidated in Hartford Ct.

1896. March 12th. A huge fire destroys the old offices, warehouses and riding school of Pope Mfg. Co. in Boston Mass. Most records and many bikes are lost. The following year new and bigger facillities are built in Boston.

1897. H.A. Lozier & Co. of Cleveland Ohio builds a new bicycle plant in Westfield Mass.

1900. Pope Manufacturing, Lozier and a host of other bicycle company’s join to form the American Bicycle Company.

1901. The American Bicycle Company fails.

1902. The American Bicycle Company is reorganized into the American Cycle Company.

1903. The American Cycle Company fails.

1904. The Pope Manufacturing Co. is reorganized and ends up owning many of the bicycle manufacturers in the previous consortiums.

1905-1913. Pope gradually consolidates manufacturing to the Westfield Mass plant. The main offices remain in Hartford Ct.

1909. Col. Albert Augustus Pope, the founder of Pope Mfg dies at the age of 66 years old.

1914. The main offices of Pope are moved to Westfield Mass.

1915. The Pope Manufacturing Company files for bankruptcy.

1916. The company is reorganized and renamed The Westfield Manufacturing Company. The catalogs stating that they are “successors to The Pope Manufacturing Company”.

1933. Westfield Manufacturing becomes a subsidiary of The Torrington Company of Torrington Ct.

1952. Westfield Mfg. Co. starts production of a line of tubular steel school furniture in order to augment sales during the bicycle "off season".

1960. In December and independent corporation is formed.

1961. The company is renamed Columbia Manufacturing Company.

1967. Columbia Mfg. Co. merges with MTD.

1988. Columbia is purchased from MTD by some of the local management and reorganized as Columbia Manufacturing Company.

1991. Columbia Mfg. Co. is forced into bankruptcy.

1993. Columbia Mfg. Co. emerges from bankruptcy. Bicycle production is limited after the bankruptcy. A reproduction of the 1941 Columbia Superb is made at the Westfield plant. Columbia badged imported bikes are also sold. A complete line of School and Institutional furniture is now the main business focus for Columbia Mfg.