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Shirt tales
Marie Ott was one of the first nine women to begin working for the Solomon brothers when they came to town to start a shirt factory back in 1947. She was 16 years old at the time. "We started out making 40 cents an hour," she said. "we worked for two months and they gave us a nickel raise, then another three months and another nickel." Over the next 35 years, the Solomon Brothers business grew to six production locations around the area and about 1,000 employees, most of them women. They came together under hard work and shared life like an extended family. "The Solomons were poor when they came here," said Sarah Peppenhorst. The brothers, Mr. Charlie, Mr. Mo and Mr. George, and their sons Morty and Stanley came to sleepy little Thomasville in 1947 from New York. They had immigrated there from Russia, the women said. The men are remembered as demanding hard work from their employees, but men who treated the women with kindness and respect. "I loved working for them," Ott said. "When Mr. Charles lost his temper, you knew it, but he didn't hold a grudge," Peppenhorst said.
JC Penny was the Solomon Brother's biggest customer. It was the first work that was readily available for the women of Thomasville after World War II. "We were grateful for the opportunity to have work here," Bobbie Ross said. "After just a little while, you could see the impact on the community." The building, now home to a storage unit business and laundry, slowly expanded over the years. But that first year, things were a little more primitive. "We didn't have running water in the building," Ott said. "We had to go outside. That first winter, you didn't stay long out there." Ott helped the Solomons start the other factories in Butler and Camden. "I would ride with Mr. Charlie over to Butler and teach the girls how to sew," she said. Ross shares Ott's affection for the Solomons. "They were dolls in my opinion," she said. She recalled Mr. Charlie's sense of humor. "Pauline Stephens, she was a character, one day I came to my machine and there was a piece of cardboard between mine and Pauline's with a note on it from Mr. Charlie, it said: "this is to keep the sun out of your eyes and Pauline out of your hair." "I remember Helen Boykin answering the phone, '4434!'" Peppenhorst said. When Peppenhorst's home burned, the Solomons sent a truck to help her move, and the women in the factory banded together to help her get back on her feet. "That's just how the people in Thomasville are, and that's how the Solomon brothers were," she said. During the height of the Solomon Brothers shirt factory, the company would ship a full 18-wheeler full of shirts each day, LaFlore said. And during the slow periods, the Solomons would buy up fabric so the women could make hats and other items to keep busy. The shop was unionized in 1972, and a few years later it was sold to the Eagle company. In 1982, the Solomon Brothers factory was closed. "It slowed down the economy here when it closed," LaFlore said. For all the women, the bonds of work and friendship drew everyone who worked for the Solomons close. "It was like a family," Peppenhorst said. "We all hurt for each other when there was bad news and we all celebrated when there was good news. It carries on now, I run into people all the time who worked there." When the plant closed, it felt a little like breaking up the family, Ross said. In 1982, she penned a letter and was encouraged to send it to the Times, but she never did. Below is an excerpt from that letter, printed 25 years later. "Over the years I have made some very dear friends. I will always remember them with fond memories. I believe I can say this and be truthful. I feel I have been blessed being able to work at the shirt factory these many years. "We shared each others joys and sorrows too. We were proud of our old employees and welcomed the new. We were really a fine bunch of workers. Our work we didn't dread. We believed in serving God and earning our daily bread." | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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