In the early years of the Great Depression, workers who toiled under "sweatshop" conditions for next to nothing formed or joined unions to better their

During the New York garment blockade of 1932, the Pennsburg Clothing Company, located on Penn Street, was able to stay in business because a considerable amount of their shipments came from Philadelphia.

working conditions and wages.  As unions were signing up droves of members in New York City, manufacturers began to move out of the city.  As a result some of them found a home in our local communities.

            Factories cropped up throughout the regions of Upper Montgomery and Upper Bucks counties.  Buildings that once housed a thriving, but now dead, cigar industry were prime targets for clothing makers.

            To help combat this exodus, the United Protective Association of Clothing Workers instituted a "blockade" of textile shipments to areas outside of the city.  An order was issued to companies in Bucks and Montgomery counties that "unless the open shop was abandoned and the union recognized, no materials would be sent from

The Perkiomen Valley clothing plant in Red Hill also suffered from the Textile blockade causing it to cut the number of hours worked for their employees.

New York City."

            Many of the local manufacturers worked on a contract basis and a stoppage of all materials would have forced plants to close.  This blockade had a major impact on many workers right here in our region at a time when they needed it least.

            The group attempting to sign up garment workers at the time was the Amalgamated Garment Workers Clothing Workers Union.  At the time, they were viewed by many local residents as a "racketeering organization formed in New York."

            Hiram Wisner, of the Pennsburg Clothing Company, reported that his company's inability to receive shipments from New York reduced the workweek of his employees by two days.  Only shipments coming from Philadelphia were keeping his plant from closing completely.  Although he had experienced no threats, as a precaution, Wisner hired a uniformed security officer to accompany his delivery trucks to the City of Brotherly Love.

            The Pennsburg Vest Manufacturing Company saw its business reduced by 75 percent by the New York blockade.  The plant depended heavily on the New York

The Pennsburg Vest Manufacturing Company saw their business reduced by 75 percent by the New York blockade.  The plant depended heavily on the New York textile shipments, and only a small amount of the Big Apple's products could be smuggled to the corner of Pottstown Avenue and Dotts St. for further processing.

textile shipments, and only a small amount of the Big Apple's products could be smuggled to the corner of Pottstown Avenue and Dotts Street for further processing.  The Perkiomen Valley clothing plant in Red Hill and Tremblau Corp. in East Greenville suffered from the blockade as well.

            The clothing mill centers in Perkasie and Sellersville protected themselves with armed guards against threatened invasions by New York racketeers desiring to "muscle in" on Pennsylvania's textile industry.  This preventive measure was brought about, in part, by the bombing of a Philadelphia office of a Perkasie textile manufacturer, and the beating of one of its drivers on the New Jersey side of the Holland Tunnel.

            Sellersville officials authorized hiring six special police officers to protect their textile mills.  Many other factories in our region hired former Pennsylvania State Troopers to act as protectors of their plants.

            Many of the factories outside of the Upper Perkiomen Valley eventually succumbed to the pressure and recognized the Amalgamated Clothing Workers Union.  However, that created another problem for our neighbors.

            Fifty percent of the textile workers in Sellersville, Perkasie, Blooming Glen, Line Lexington and Doylestown were Mennonite.  If they joined the union and paid union dues, the church could censure them.

            A special meeting of Mennonite officials was called in early 1933 to review the dilemma.  At the Franconia home of Rev. Abram Clemmer, the officials approved a compromise with the union that would allow the workers to return to their jobs without having to join the union, but the workers would have to pay the weekly union dues.

            Many of the factories in our region eventually acquiesced and recognized the Amalgamated Clothing Workers union, and workers in the area's garment factories signed on with the union.

            A year later, a national strike of textile workers erupted, bringing fear and violence to our region.