History
Frank, Clem & the Great Depression
Frank's little machine shop always got him thru even the toughest times. While he was busy inventing new useful tools, Clem like many in Brooklyn during the Great Depression was simply looking for a job to survive.
During his entire life Clem lived for two things, boxing and making anything with his hands and some machinery.
In his younger years to get him thru the Great Depression he landed a Truck driving route for Hamsley Steel.
From there Frank & Clem's paths would cross later on in life and as they say it, " The rest is history".
The Steel Route
On Clem's route was a customer in Baldwin, NY on Grand Avenue.
Baldwin Machine Works was his Stop and Frank was his customer.
During the late 1940's Baldwin Machine was busy producing The Original Glass Drill Press and many other well known Glass Working Tools & Equipment.
For years Clem admired the tools and ideals that were Baldwin Machine Works. Around the late 1940's Frank was serious about selling and retiring to Florida. Clem's Steel Route was a solid job but not something he wanted to still be doing into his elder years. He wanted a better life for his family so home he went to talk it over with the Wife.
Clem and Emma we are sure had some long discussions about which was the correct path to follow. In the end they rolled the dice and bought "The Shop" from Frank in 1958.
Three Generations
From the start and like a lot of early American Small Businesses it was a combined Family operation. While Clem kept the machines running at Baldwin, Emma made sure all the bills were paid all while keeping Kenneth out of trouble.
While Kenny was growing up he too even helped out, making parts in the basement of their house during his time off from school, pressing BM#3 feet into rubber molds to keep the machinery production moving along.
While off at college Clem unexpectedly passed away doing what he loved, so Kenny returned home to help keep things on track. From here though Emma stepped in and for a long time took Baldwin into the next generation, an early woman owned business wasn't easy in the 60s & 70s. However, Emma consistently taught us all along of what had to be done to keep a business running.
As production and popularity grew thru out the 1970s & 1980s, Kenny found a new much larger Machine Shop conveniently located near one his favorite fishing marinas in Copiague, NY.
The "New Shop" is our current location on 20 Grant Ave. in Copiague, NY. We still produce all of our World Renowned Machinery as well as most of our tools in house, right here in Copiague NY.
Now that a Third Generation of the family has arrived at Baldwin we look forward to continuing on with the original Baldwin Machine core values.
Producing & delivering quality products to our customers for fair prices.