HISTORY OF OHA: The History of Henry Loftie – A Man of Many Talents

Henry Loftie was born in Auburn, on Feb. 28, 1839, and moved with his family to Syracuse in 1855. That year, Henry’s father, William, opened a hair-goods business in Syracuse, which he operated until his death in 1875. Henry became a clerk and later a partner in his father’s business, known as William E. Loftie & Son. He married Frances Eliza Wisner of Elmira, in 1861 and they had two children: Harry (1865-1918) and Marian — called Mamie (1876-1894). Henry sold wigs and toupees for his father until 1868, when he established Loftie’s Human Hair Emporium, a “hair store and ladies hair dressing rooms,” at 41 S. Salina St. in Syracuse. The store was located above E.F. Rice’s Dry Goods Store and across the street from the Globe Hotel. No expense was spared in the shop’s design. Fitted in Asian splendor, the walls were covered in gilt-panel paper and floor-length mirrors. Chandeliers hung from the ceiling and elegant black walnut and chestnut furniture and showcases displaying the merchandise were placed throughout the showroom. In the rear of the business, a hair salon was installed with top-of-the-line salon equipment. Loftie employed one of the best female hairdressers from New York City to oversee the needs and desires of his female customers. Loftie quickly became known for the quality of his merchandise, as well as his careful craftsmanship, directly supervising all of the manufacturing process. He used only human hair (much of it imported either from Paris, France, or Leipzig, Germany) when making his wigs, switches (today known as extensions), braids, and curls. He publicized in the Syracuse Herald newspaper that white and gray wigs were his specialty. Loftie later expanded his business to sell hair combs, perfumery, lotions, and jewelry. After Henry Loftie opened his hair emporium in May 1868, his father William continued to operate his own hair goods business at 26 E. Genesee St. in Syracuse, competing with his own son for a share of the trade. That June, William Loftie advertised in the Syracuse Journal newspaper that he was the “original Loftie,” being at his present location for 18 years with hopes of being there for another 18 years. Unfortunately, William Loftie did not last another 18 years, but only seven more; he died on Sept. 12, 1875, and is buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Syracuse. By 1872, Henry had developed a wholesale and retail business with 32 employees, and sold products to hair dealers from Maine to California. That same year, Loftie opened a satellite hair-goods store at 397 Main St. in Buffalo. Despite being extremely profitable, Henry Loftie chose to follow his real passion —making and selling bamboo fishing rods, fishing lures, and other equipment — beginning his new endeavor, the Syracuse Split Bamboo Fish Rod Company, in 1887. When a journalist with the Sporting Goods Gazette asked Loftie why he decided to make and sell bamboo fishing rods, he replied, “I have a natural love for fishing and have used a rod from childhood, fly fishing being my favorite style. Having a little mechanical skill, I tried making a rod for myself and had better results from using it than any I had ever bought. As there was no fishing during the winter, I busied myself in making a number of rods which were presented to friends. These proved so satisfactory that a demand was created and I opened a shop in one room and commenced the manufacture of Split Bamboo Rods in a small way, which were sold to the trade from Maine to California. This shows what hard work and love for the business will do.” Dwight H. Bruce, a 19th century Syracuse history chronicler and author of the book “Onondaga’s Centennial,” credited Loftie with “originat[ing] the bamboo business in Syracuse.” For the first few years, Loftie managed both his hair-goods business and his fledgling fishing-supplies business at 45-47 S. Salina St. in Syracuse. In 1888, Loftie renamed the Syracuse Split Bamboo Fish Rod Company the Syracuse Fish Rod Company and moved his office to 213 S. Salina St. He also hired his son, Harry, as a clerk and took on Michael W. Mullin as a business partner and financial backer. As president and manager of the Syracuse Fish Rod Company, Loftie patented several fishing lures, including patent no. 390,028 for Spoon Bait in 1888 and a patent for Gang Spoon Bait in 1889. Loftie also patented a cork and celluloid fishing rod handle, advertised as “the only perfect hand-grasp. Will not blister the hands. Soft as velvet. Will not sink if dropped in the water.” Along with these items, Loftie sold a patented paper waterproof fish-rod case to protect anglers’ fishing rods. Each fishing-rod joint was stored in a separate tube within the case. In a product catalog, Loftie claimed, “all tubes are made water-proof; the outer tube is made heavy and resupported so never can jam or crush (even should a wagon run over it) ….” Loftie soon discovered two-thirds of the bamboo stalk was not applicable for making bamboo fishing rods and equipment, so he began to make other products with the bamboo waste. Being practical in many ways, it did not take long for Henry Loftie to establish a bamboo-furniture manufacturing company in 1890, the Syracuse Bamboo Furniture Company, located at 243 & 245 W. Onondaga St. in Syracuse. The company stayed on West Onondaga Street until it moved to the village of Baldwinsville in 1892. During the previous August, a Baldwinsville Gazette & Farmers’ Journal reporter announced village residents and officials were excited about the company transferring to Baldwinsville. Financial backers in Syracuse and Baldwinsville raised $80,000 in capital to construct a 40,000-square-foot building that would receive electrical power from a nearby paper mill. Company products could be shipped via the railroad and the Erie Canal system. The Syracuse location employed 75 men who were paid “good wages.” Village officials counted on Syracuse residents moving to Baldwinsville, where they would live closer to the new factory and experience a less-expensive lifestyle. On June 9, 1892, the Baldwinsville Gazette & Farmers’ Journal stated that one of its journalists had toured the new bamboo-furniture factory. The journalist saw that the raw bamboo imported from India and Japan was stored and cut to desired lengths on the third floor. On the second floor, workers assembled the bamboo furniture and also stored the finished products. The first floor included a fishing-tackle department, where bamboo fishing rods were assembled from six individual pieces. That floor also contained the packing and shipping area and administrative offices. Along with continuing to make fishing tackle and fishing rods at the furniture company, employees also made art frames and easels, cabinets, bedsteads, baby carriages, chairs, tables, foot rests, shaving stands, and lamps. By this time, business sales had expanded to Canada, England, and throughout the U.S. An article published in the Baldwinsville Era newspaper on July 15, 1893, noted that Henry Loftie sold his interest in the company to Bruce S. Aldrich, another financial backer, appointing him as the sole company owner. However, soon after Aldrich owned the entire company, the Syracuse Bamboo Furniture Company closed in Baldwinsville, displacing more than 50 employees. It is unclear why a thriving bamboo manufacturer in the early 1890s went out of business relatively quickly. One can only speculate about its hastened demise. One possibility was the devastating effects of the Panic of 1893, an economic depression that negatively impacted every sector of the American financial system, which lasted until 1897. In June 1896, the First National Bank of Baldwinsville obtained a judgment against Bruce Aldrich and Lansing W. Connell (another investor), holding them personally liable for debts of the now-defunct Syracuse Bamboo Furniture Company, due to failure to properly file signed annual reports that were required by law. Other creditors, such as the Bank of Syracuse and the Adams Furniture Manufacturing Company, tried to regain some of their business investments after the company went bankrupt in 1893. The unfortunate end had come for the Syracuse Bamboo Furniture Company. Henry and Frances Loftie also declared bankruptcy in January 1900. Their combined assets totaled $32,075.25 (valued at about $1.2 million today), almost all of which consisted of encumbered real-estate holdings. The bankruptcy attorney representing the two defendants declared it was likely that little would be left for creditors to recover after the expenses of the bankruptcy proceedings were paid. The negative impact of bankruptcy on Henry Loftie appears to have been minimal; he returned to making and selling hair products in Syracuse in the early 20th century. In February 1904, the Syracuse Herald newspaper stated Henry Loftie, “a dealer in hair goods,” suffered smoke damage from a fire at his store located on the second floor of 215 S. Salina St., but the monetary estimation of damaged inventory was unknown at the time of the fire. In several Syracuse Herald advertisements purchased by Loftie throughout 1911, he promoted Salvatorium, “instantaneous hair color renewer that will restore gray or faded hair to the color of youth,” now sold by the Henry Loftie Company, at 239 & 241 W. Onondaga St. in Syracuse. In these advertisements, Loftie claimed that local physicians and chemists endorsed Salvatorium. Potential customers could send a lock of their hair to the company, and Loftie would dye it and send it back to them to prove the product’s efficacy. Sometime after 1912, Henry Loftie retired from the business arena. He had spent most of his life making and selling hair goods products and spent only six years making and selling fishing rods, lures, and furniture. He died on May 23, 1917, at age 78 and is buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Syracuse. Henry Loftie was indeed a man of many talents and took advantage of most of them throughout his life. From fashioning hair, to making fishing rods and lures, to making bamboo furniture, and even inventing a tile sewer line, Henry Loftie’s impact on his times is undeniable. Today, his rare fishing rods and tackle are highly sought after by antique fishing-equipment enthusiasts. Thomas Hunter is curator of collections at the Onondaga Historical Association (OHA) (www.cnyhistory.org), located at 321 Montgomery St. in Syracuse.