Amsterdam: Carpet City (nickname)

Amsterdam, New York, had a carpet manufacturing business that was started by John Stanford in the 1840s; the firm of Bigelow-Sanford left the city in 1955. Amsterdam was called the “Carpet City” by at least 1899, but the name is mostly historical today.
 
   
Wikipedia: Amsterdam (city), New York
Amsterdam is a city located in Montgomery County, New York, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 18,620. The name is derived from the city of Amsterdam in the Netherlands.
 
The city of Amsterdam is surrounded on the north, east, and west sides by the town of Amsterdam. The city developed on both sides of the Mohawk River, with the majority located on the north bank. The Port Jackson area on the south side is also part of the city.
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The completion of the Erie Canal in 1825 was an economic boom to the city, which became an important manufacturing center. It was known for its carpets. In 1865, the population of Amsterdam was 5,135. By 1920, it was 33,524. Through the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it was a destination for immigrants from southern and eastern Europe, who initially worked in the factories.
 
Chronicling America
5 December 1899, Wheeling (WV) Daily Intelligencer, “Cities and Their Nicknames,” pg. 4, col. 4:
... Amsterdam, N. Y., the carpet city; ...
     
Google Books
April 1900, The West Virginia School Journal, “Nicknames of Cities,” pg. 12, col. 2:
... Amsterdam, N. Y., the carpet city; ...
 
Google Books
The National Geographic Magazine
Volume 92
1947
Pg. 105:
Carpet City Notes Craving for Colo
Neighboring Amsterdam’s livelihood rests largely on rugs and carpets, first made there by John Sanford 109 years ago.
   
Google Books
July 1955, The Rotarian, “Amsterdam Means Business,” pg. 61, col. 2:
ON THE Mohawk River, about 25 miles northwest of Albany, capital of New York, is Amsterdam, widely known as the “Carpet City of the World.” Fabric gloves, men’s shirts, dresses, pearl buttons, are other products that keep employment up, but rugs and carpets form Amsterdam’s industrial backbone. Not long ago some of the textile companies moved southward into the U. S. cotton-growing region, leaving hundreds of workers without jobs.
   
Google Books
The Encyclopedia of New York State
Edited by Peter R. Eisenstadt and Laura-Eve Moss
Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press
2005
Pg. 268:
By 1929 Amsterdam’s two carpet mills, Bigelow-Sanford and Mohawk, employed about 9,300 workers in a city whose population was just 35,000. Amsterdam became known as Carpet City, the carpet capital of the world.
 
The Daily Gazette (Schenectady, NY)
Amsterdam and the Sanfords
By Bob Cudmore
Monday, August 23, 2010
The Sanford family was instrumental in making Amsterdam the Carpet City. The first family member to move to Amsterdam was John Sanford, born in Roxbury, Conn., in 1803. He migrated to the Mohawk Valley as a young man and became a teacher and merchant. He served in Congress from 1841 to 1843.
 
After Sanford came home from Washington, he went into the carpet manufacturing business, bringing his son Stephen into the firm.
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Former Sanford employees William McCleary, Samuel Wallin and David Crouse founded their own carpet mill in the 1880s.
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Bigelow-Sanford Carpet left Amsterdam for Thompsonville, Conn., in 1955.
 
Google Books
Stories from the Mohawk Valley:
The Painted Rocks, the Good Benedict Arnold & More
By Bob Cudmore
Charleston, SC: History Press
2011
Pg. 41:
The Sanfords of Amsterdam
The Sanford family was instrumental in making Amsterdam the “Carpet City.” However, the abrupt departure of Bigelow-Sanford in 1955 was the starting point of an era of economic decline.
 
Google Books
Diary of a Replacement Soldier
By George A. Tralka
Xlibris Corporation (Xlibris.com)
2011
Pg. 19:
The city of Amsterdam has been variously referred to as ‘Carpet City, and ‘Rug City’, and by the respected local historian, the late Hugh P. Donlon, as ‘Mill Town’.
 
OCLC WorldCat record
Historic views of the Carpet City, Amsterdam, New York
Author: Bob Cudmore; Steve Dunn; WMHT (Television station : Schenectady, N.Y.); WMHT Educational Telecommunications.
Publisher: Schenectady, NY : WMHT, ©2004.
Series: Historic views
Edition/Format:   DVD video : English
Database: WorldCat
Summary:
Tour of the town of Amsterdam, N.Y., accompanied by views of historic places and people.