Curious SouthCoast: How a New Bedford soap manufacturer expanded to sell fertilizer

It was a combination soap company and fertilizer store where the trademarked Sàpone brand of granulated soap was manufactured by the T. Hersom Co, in New Bedford.

Thomas Hersom registered the soap under the brand name Thos. Hersom & Co.’s Sàpone on Oct. 1, 1889, according to Library of Congress records.

Advertisements regularly referred to T. Hersom & Co.'s soap and Italian Sapone, including one identifying Borax as an ingredient. Why Sàpone? Sapone is an Italian word that means soap. It also refers to a maker or seller of soap.

The T. Hersom Co. opened in 1876 when Thomas Hersom Sr. bought the soap manufacturing plant of Otis A. Sisson located at Middle and Water streets, according to Massachusetts Historical Commission records from the Massachusetts Cultural Resource Information System database.

MACRIS collected the information from the Standard-Times and building records from the New Bedford assessor's office and the Water Department.

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New Bedford soap manufacturer made several moves

While it was the first of four locations for the company, from 1882 until 1890 he operated his soap company on leased property on Fish Island.

When his lease expired, his next move was to purchase a paper mill on Acushnet Avenue, north of Lunds Corner.

A fire in 1909 destroyed the plant, and that same year he built a new complex at the foot of Howard Avenue. That would later become the site of an industrial laundry owned by Coyne International Enterprises.

The main structure was three stories with several smaller storage sheds, all made of wood. There was also a water tower with a capacity of 30,000 gallons.

Hersom reportedly maintained an active interest in the enterprise he founded up to the time of his death in 1926 at the age of 90.

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Fertilizer was a change in scent

While soapmaking was the company’s stock and trade, the company started selling fertilizers and stock feed as well. He sold sperm, neatsfoot, castor and palm oils as well as tallow, grease and caustic soda along with pure bone meal and meat for hen foot, according to a photo from the Spinner Publication archives.

Based on records from that time, the T. Hersom Co. was the only firm in New Bedford to produce fertilizer.

In 1938, New England Overall Dry Cleaning & Supply Co. out of Westport, owned and operated by Alexander Montminy, bought the T. Hersom Co. and worked there until his semi-retirement in 1960. That’s when Coyne Enterprises took over and for a time operated out of the soap factory.

Standard-Times staff writer Kathryn Gallerani can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter: @kgallreporter. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Standard-Times today.

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: Curious SouthCoast: History of New Bedford soap maker Thomas Hersom