Pennant Fever
EXAMINING 20th CENTURY FELT NOVELTY COMPANIES AND THEIR PRODUCTS
Locations: Massasoit/Spinney Bldgs., corner of Spinney Ave./Main St., Plaistow, NH (ca. 1930-48); 200 Chadwick Ave., Plaistow, NH, (1948-85) Founded: 1928 Closed: 1985 Maker’s marks: various labels bearing “Felt Crafters” name (ca. 1930s); aqua “Felt Crafters” stamp on reverse (ca. 1940s); red “Keezer Mfg. Co.” stamp on reverse (ca. 1948-85); aqua "American Knitwear and Emblem Mfrs." stamp on the reverse (ca. 1960s); occasional sewn labels bearing “Keezer” name (ca. 1950s) COMPANY HISTORYThey weren’t the most original pennant maker. Nor were they the most innovative. But, for nearly 60 years their pennants were consistently among some of the best made. Additionally, in an industry where product identification was generally an afterthought, their pennants are some of the most recognizable today—a characteristic that has distinguished Keezer Mfg. Co. of Plaistow, New Hampshire as a favorite among pennant collectors. I must confess: I haven’t always appreciated Keezer pennants as much as others. In my opinion, their artwork was okay. Not the best; but, certainly not the worst. And although their pennants were always made with 100% wool and two sets of tassels; they never once offered multi-colored graphics. They were, to me, a very middle-of-the-road pennant. But I’ve since come to realize that Keezer has a very loyal following among collectors today. Many appreciate their pennants so much they’ve collected every pennant made for all 16+ baseball teams produced in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. And since I launched Pennant Fever more than two years ago, I’ve received more requests to cover the New England-based felt novelty maker than any other company, hands down. Why? It’s hard to put a finger on what makes their pennants so special. But here goes. Keezer’s pennants were never the most widely circulated. Although they made baseball pennants for every team, they never made enough to flood the market like other makers did. Additionally, their pennants were generally labeled with their maker’s mark, identifying their name and place of manufacture on the reverse side. These marks leave no doubt today as to which manufacturer made them. Finally, the simplicity of their designs up through the late 1960s always made their pennants appear older than perhaps they really were. In sum, I think the answer is this: Keezer’s pennants stand out because they're scarce, recognizable, and convincingly vintage in appearance. Without further delay, here’s their story. C.D. Keezer Carter Dimond Keezer, a.k.a., C.D. Keezer, was born in 1909. He grew up in Danville, a New Hampshire town situated about 40 miles north of Boston, MA. C.D. was the son of Sadie Carter and George Burton Keezer, a New Hampshire real estate developer. The Keezer family has called New Hampshire home for the past five centuries. According to the family, the first Keezers came over from England aboard the Mayflower in 1621. They’ve been in New England ever since. As the son of a prominent land developer, C.D. did not have to look far to learn how to run a business. In his youth, C.D. actively helped his father run the family real estate business. In the late 1920s C.D. enrolled at Northeastern University in Boston. There he served as a manager for the school’s hockey team. By the time he graduated, he had an appreciation for collegiate sports; and, a thirst to launch a business of his own. By the 1920s the felt pennant had solidified its place as America’s leading novelty item. Since the turn of the century, pennants had been especially popular with college students. As a recent college graduate, C.D. appreciated this. He also knew that New England had one of the highest concentrations of colleges and universities. To the young entrepreneur, this meant there was money to be made selling pennants in New England. Inception According to company records, the business that would eventually become Keezer Mfg. Co. officially began operations in 1928. But it was then located in Danville—not Plaistow. To be more specific: it was located in the basement of George and Sadie’s home. It was there that their son and only child likely made his first batch of pennants; where he learned how to sew them together; and perhaps where he honed his screen printing skills. In 1928, C.D. was just 19 years old. He was just a sophomore in college. If his business really began that year, it means C.D. launched his pennant making enterprise as a Northeastern student, prior to graduation. Which actually makes perfect sense. Most likely, C.D.’s first pennants were Northeastern pennants; and his first customers were his fellow students living within his dorm. Hey, every college kid needs a little beer money…. (Even during Prohibition!) By the early 1930s, after graduating from college, C.D. got serious about his emerging pennant business. He moved his operation out of his family’s home to a proper building in nearby Plaistow, NH. That building stood at the corner of Main St. and Spinney Ave. Next, he named his company, “The Felt Crafters” and began branding his products accordingly. For the next two decades, this location would serve as Felt Crafters’ new home. Early pennants offered by Felt Crafters were a combination of sewn letter and screen printed pennants. C.D. was not only making collegiate pennants for schools across the country; but also summer camps and fraternal orders situated throughout New England. Family matters Around this time C.D. married Dorothy May Patriquin. Dorothy grew up in Harrington, ME. The couple lived together in Plaistow until C.D.’s death. Dorothy entered the marriage with a son: Richard F. Keezer (1927- ). C.D. and Dorothy had two more children together: D. Joan Keezer (1938-2022 ); and Carter Dimond Keezer II (1944-69). Dorothy served as an Administrative Assistant at Felt Crafters / Keezer until the time of her retirement in the 1960s. All three children were involved in the management of the company at different times. Eventually, even his grand children were put to work there. C.D.’s entrepreneurial interests were not limited to felt novelties. Like his father, he continued investing in real estate located throughout New Hampshire. He also ran a funeral home in nearby Haverhill, NH known as the Keezer-Webster Funeral Home. “Pennants, real estate … embalming … he was always looking for something that would make money,” recalled C.D.’s grandson, Burton Pecukonis. Real estate acquisitions By 1946 the Keezers were a growing family. After baby Carter was born the family of five needed a bigger place to call home. In 1946 C.D. purchased a charming New Englander-style home located at 114 Main St. in Plaistow, near the center of town. The home was built in the 1870s and was used as a commercial storefront by previous owners for many years. For the Keezers, however, this would be their home for the next 40 years. By the late 1940s Felt Crafters was poised for a massive expansion. The company had done well making mostly collegiate pennants during the previous two decades. But, expanding their production lines would require bigger premises; and their humble building on Main St. was holding them back. In 1948, C.D. purchased land containing the old Dobbins-Colcord shoe factory located at 200 Lasknit Ave. in Plaistow, just north of their current location. As an added bonus, the property sat a few hundred feet from the home he had just purchased two years prior.
Big league products By the late 1940s Keezer Mfg. Co. was ready for the big leagues. Literally. By this time Keezer had begun making felt pennants, patches and emblems for American and National League baseball teams. It should be noted that they made these products for all 16 teams then in existence. Other felt novelty makers had been making baseball pennants ahead of Keezer; however, many only made pennants for local teams in their immediate market. By thinking big, Keezer was able to tap into new markets and establish its reputation as a national brand. As this excerpt from a ca. 1950 Keezer sales catalogue indicates, the company offered baseball pennants for every team in two sizes: 4” x 9” (“Baseball Pennants”); and 12” x 30” (“Stadium Pennants”). Further, note that these were all screen printed in a “Kemco finish,” which I am told referred to the type of ink used: Extra-curricular activities In 1949 C.D. founded The Deodorized Order of the Skunk, a social service organization based in Plaistow. Apparently C.D. had a thing for skunks; and, contrary to one’s expectations, they make for decent pets—after removing their stink glands, of course. C.D. not only knew how to remove the stink glands; he kept a pair of these odor-less creatures as household pets. Together, C.D., Dorothy and the Deodorized Order of the Skunk raised money for a variety of philanthropic causes, including Polio research. Membership cost $1 per year. By the 1960s the order was comprised of more than 300,000 “stinkers” (members) from chapters then located all over the world. Continued expansion In the 1950s and 60s Keezer Mfg. Co.’s growth continued. The company was now involved in much more than felt pennants and patches; they were now heavily involved in apparel. To aid in the production of this clothing Keezer acquired a mill in nearby Newton, NH known as the Huskee Knitwear Mill. Here, raw materials were sewn into tee-shirts, sweatshirts, caps, etc. If the item required customization, the garment was screened back in Plaistow at their Chadwick Ave. headquarters. Huskee Knitwear operated as a subsidiary of Keezer Mfg. Co., which by the late 1960s was alternatively known as American Knitwear and Emblem Mfrs., perhaps to underscore the company’s new focus on apparel. Glory days? The 1960s marked the heyday of Keezer Mfg. Co. Thanks to the company’s expanding product lines, more than 120 people worked there, making Keezer the biggest employer in Plaistow. “It was a very busy place,” remembers Burton Pecukonis. Keezer’s business was so robust the local post office was not able to handle the volume of mail being generated by the company. But being the town’s largest employer comes with certain perks: in 1961, thanks to C.D.’s lobbying, a new class one post office was constructed at Main St./Pollard Rd. that no doubt benefited Keezer, which relied heavily on bulk mailing to promote its product lines. Here are some photos of Keezer employees taken during the past century at their Plaistown plant:
Despite suffering two devastating fires in the span of seven years, the company kept growing. Throughout these highs and lows, Keezer Mfg. Co. was at all times a family owned, family run business. Burton Pecukonis was one of C.D.’s many grandsons. He began working for his grandfather in the late 1960s at the age of nine. Burton and his four brothers all grew up working for their grandfather. The kids were all required to be proficient with every step of the manufacturing process: from silk screening, to cutting, even sewing. C.D. insisted on this versatility. Burton fondly recalled his grandfather’s sense of tough-love growing up: “‘If you want it, you’re going to have to work for it,’ he would tell us.” Licensing, and the beginning of the end As productive as the three previous decades were for Keezer, the 1970s would present them with serious challenges. I have documented this in each of my previous posts, so I won’t belabor the point; but, by 1970, making professional sports novelty products and apparel required a license. Prior to this, anybody could make a New York Yankees felt pennant or sweatshirt. What’s more, this maker was not obligated to pay the Yankees a dime for making use of their name on said products. By the 1970s, however, things were different. You simply could not (legally) do this without a license. In the 1970s only two pennant makers enjoyed this privilege: Trench Mfg. Co. of Buffalo, NY; and ASCO of Winona, MN (now WinCraft). Keezer was the odd man out, along with WGN and ADFLAG of Chicago, IL. These companies would never make a professional sports pennant again. In 1975 C.D. Keezer, President and Founder of the company, passed away at the age of 66. He ran Keezer up to the day he died. His youngest son and namesake, Carter Dimond Keezer II, had served as Vice President of the company; however, he died of a long illness six years earlier at the young age of 24. C.D.’s daughter, Joan Keezer, stepped up and ran the company in her father’s absence. Keezer Mfg. Co.’s final decade of existence was spent making custom tee-shirts and sweatshirts; and the occasional high school pennant or emblem. As CEO, Joan Keezer inherited a much different company than the one she had grown up with. By the 1980s demand for felt pennants had hit rock bottom. Additionally, licensing restrictions prevented the company from making professional sports apparel. Business opportunities were diminishing as their national market share receded to a regional presence. By 1980 Keezer was a mere fraction of the great manufacturing company it had once been. In 1985 Joan Keezer dissolved Keezer Mfg. Co. The company’s headquarters on Chadwick Ave. were sold. According to her son, Burton Pecukonis, the manufacturing sector had changed significantly. More and more companies were either making their goods overseas, or investing in automated manufacturing processes. Keezer never adapted to these changing times. After 57 years in business, Keezer Mfg. Co., the town's biggest employer, was no more. |
Mark #7 (ca. 1950s); 200 Chadwick Ave., Plaistow, NH This is identical to mark #6 above except they added “Inc.” to the company name--even though the company did not legally incorporate with the state of New Hampshire until 1965 (more than seven years after this New York Giants cap was made). [Photo credit: Rob G.] |
Mark #10 (ca. 1950s, 60s, 70s, 80s); 200 Chadwick Ave., Plaistow, NH If you’re holding a pennant by Keezer, chances are it bears this mark. They pretty much used it throughout the last four decades of the company’s existence; and, they used it on full size as well as mini pennants; and even on felt emblems and felt caps. |
Mark #11 (ca. 1960s); 200 Chadwick Ave., Plaistow, NH For a brief period of time in the late 1960s, Keezer rebranded some of its products under the name "American Knitwear and Emblem Mfrs." This apparently included some felt pennants. Much like their traditional Keezer Mfg. Co. mark, this one was stamped on the pennant's reverse using the relief/letterpress method. By the 1960s Keezer had opened a retail store in Plaistow. I suspect the store's name may have been "American Knitwear," as seen in the below photos of the store's interior. It's likely that products sold here bore this unique mark. Note the collegiate pennants hanging vertically from the store's ceiling. |
I collect vintage pennants and banners. Soon after getting into this hobby, I became curious about the companies responsible for their production. I had to look hard, but eventually found a lot of interesting information on many of them, and their products. This site is my repository for that research. Periodically, I will dedicate a post to one of these featured manufacturers. I hope other collectors will find this information useful.
-KRB
All
Advertising Flag Co.
ASCO Inc.
Chicago Pennant Co.
Collegiate Mfg. Co.
Historical Background
Jim Goke Interview
Keezer Mfg. Co.
PENNANT FACTORY
Reproduction Co.
Salem Screen Printers
Tom Storm Interview
Trench Mfg. Co.
WGN Flag Co.
November 2023
August 2022
November 2020
September 2020
June 2020
July 2019
February 2019
January 2019
October 2018
June 2018
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February 2018