Matchett Candy Factory

Plan #2469 - South 4th st, s w cor Wythe av, one six-story brk factory, 105x90, gravel roof, brk cornice; cost, $30,000; Albert Green, Duane st, New York, b’r, not selected; ar’t, W. H. Biers [sic] 1

Building appears to have been constructed for A. Greenleaf & Co., confectioners. The firm also operated as Green & Blackwell at 167-169 Duane Street in New York City. In 1897 a catastrophic fire in May 1897 gutted Green’s factory.  2

Matchett Candy incorporated in 1897: James J. Matchett Company of Brooklyn – incorporated July, 1897.  James J. Matchett, Samuel H. Britton, William H. Tappan and Samuel W. Tetlew, directors. 3. However, a 1902 Eagle article notes that the firm had been in operation for 25 years. 4 According to records at the time of the 1902 fire the firm employed 300 people, mostly "girls". 5

• 1Real Estate Record & Builders Guide, 1890
• 2BDE 6 May 1897
• 3BDE 23 June 1897
• 46-story factory gutted by fire.  Matchett in business about 25 years.  Factory formerly home to A. Greenleaf & Co. (BDE 28 May 1902)
• 5Ibid. See also Report of the Fire Department of the City of New York for the Year 1902. New York: Mail and Express Company (1903)