Who would think to standardize the way a nation manufactures brooms?  Someone from Red Hill named Irwin H. Richard that's who.

In 1920 Irwin Richard purchased the Red Hill Hotel property from Adam Scheidt of Norristown.  The three-story shed on the property was altered for use as a broom factory to take care of the rapidly increasing business.  Red Hill Broom Works was sold to a Hamburg company in 1974.  The building was razed in 1983.

            Irwin Richard was born in New Hanover Township.  After his education in the local schools of that area, he took a job as a salesman for the International Harvester Company.  In 1902 he went to work as a packer at the Miller and Kline Cigar Co. in Red Hill. 

            By 1907, he had accumulated some capital and in that year he established a broom manufacturing business, as a sideline, on lower Main Street in Red Hill.  Using his own broom corn, he began manufacturing brooms in an eight by ten-foot room, turning out about six brooms a day.  It wasn't long before local farmers started bringing their own broom corn to Richard's home in the 300 block of Main St., to make brooms for them.

            As his business increased he hired his first employee, Otto Warkagen, who lived in Zionsville.  The native German would travel by train to Red Hill and live with the Richards during the week.

            By 1912 Richard owned two broom-making machines and constructed a building in the back yard for his growing business.  He also hired a second employee.

            In 1920 he purchased the Red Hill Hotel property from Adam Scheidt of Norristown.  According to a news item in the October 1, 1920 edition of the Town and

A broom-sleeve covered the broom head of those manufactured in Red Hill.  This one carries the grade of "Fancy."  Irwin Richard was a member of the group res- ponsible for standardizing the national grading of brooms to include: Super, Fancy, Service, and Utility.

Country, Richard "'took immediate possession and will proceed to alter the shed and hall building for use of his broom factory to take care of the rapidly increasing business."

            The three-story building destined to be the broom factory was about 110 by 60 feet.  The article went on to state that Richard had "contemplated adding a building to his present factory on lower Main Street, but deemed this process too slow to accommodate the business.  He recently received an especially large order that rendered his present factory building utterly inadequate." 

Customers included the Reading Railroad, Pennsylvania Railroad and Bethlehem Steel.  Industrial brooms became the mainstay of the company.

            By 1923, the Red Hill Broom Factory was churning out 4,000 brooms each day.

            The basement of the building was used to store broom corn (which was being shipped in from Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas); the first floor was used to manufacture brooms; the second floor contained a 300-seat auditorium and was used as Red Hill's entertainment center; and the third floor was the home of the fraternal organization, the Order of the Knights of Friendship.

            In 1927 the factory had 20 employees.  Industrial brooms accounted for about 80% of the sales.

            Irwin Richard operated the Red Hill Broom Works from 1906 until 1960.  During that time it was a flourishing and widely heralded manufacturer of the best and medium quality brooms.  Irwin was more than a successful local businessman.  He was a sincere and efficient community leader who took an active part in the affairs of the Red Hill. 

Broom factory employees line up in Washington D.C. in this 1930's photo showing their locally made product.  Congress assigned the Red Hill Broom Works the first certifica- tion for the production of standardized brooms.  An original, standardized broom was given by Irwin Richard (front row, third from left) to Eleanor Roosevelt on July 31, 1931 and was placed in the Smithsonian Museum.

            He served as the Borough's Burgess from 1922 through 1926 and was chairman of the Red Hill Water Commission.  He was a trustee of the Perkiomen School and a board member of the Red Hill Board of Trade and Schwenksville National Bank.

            Richard served as President of the Eastern Broom Manufacturers and Supply Dealers and was instrumental in the organization of the Broom Institute in 1920.  The association was founded for the express purpose of standardizing brooms throughout the country.  His work in connection with the incorporation of the institute and the standardization of brooms brought him in contact with broom manufacturers from all of the country as well as distinguished legislators and leading government officials.

            In honor of Richard's work, Congress assigned the Red Hill Broom Works the first certification for the production of standardized brooms.  An original, standardized broom was given by Irwin Richard to Eleanor Roosevelt on July 31, 1931 and was placed in the Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C.

            It also brought him recognition in the 1932 issue of Who's Who in America.  At that time the national publication of achievement and unusual merit was published every two years to recognize outstanding people in the United States and their achievements.  After Richard's death in 1960, his sons Clarence, Claude, and Nelson operated the broom works until it was sold to the Hamburg Broom Works in 1974.

            The building was razed in 1983.

            A note of acknowledgment and thanks to Alice Beltz, John F. Henry, and Sidney Richard for information obtained from their biography of Irwin Richard, Broom Maker.