McDonald-Wilker and Globe of Woburn, MA.

[mikesglove]

It is not a coincidence that McDonald-Wilker Co. was a leather manufacturer in Woburn, MA. By the early 1900's, Woburn was the most important leather producing area in New England with at least 26 leather tanneries. Woburn was incorporated in 1642 and slowly changed from agrarian to heavy industry with the plentiful hides available and the development of the tanning process. Some of the town taxes to King Philip of England before the Revolutionary War were paid in the form of finished leather hides for shoes. The opening of the Middlesex Canal to Boston in 1803 and the Boston & Lowell Railroad in 1835 spurred on the growth of the leather industry. Shoe leather from Woburn was used predominately by the Union Army in the Civil War.

Woburn in the 1800's

A bridge over the Middlesex Canal

A typical Tannery in Woburn


John McDonald of McDonald-Wilker invented and patented 2 machines in the processing on animal hides in the 1880's. Their main business was in the processing of hides into finished leather. McDonald-Wilker was incorporated in 1919, but very little is known of them after that point. Their foray into the baseball glove market was brief with the only examples being full and partial web models.

Two nice "Wilco" models



The Great Depression forced many of the Tanneries to close and only a few leather producers remained in Woburn. Globe Sporting Goods Mfg. was headquartered in Boston but had at least some of their production facilities in Woburn in the 1940's-1950's. There was an article stating that Globe Sporting Goods was in receivership in 1961 to pay off creditors.

A nice Globe bat with the Woburn, Mass. stamping


Two interesting 1950's Globe gloves



Woburn in a way became a victim of its ideal location. It was settled very early in the nations history and was rural, thus providing an area for industry to develop away from big city restrictions for a long time. Its proximity to Boston and ease of transportation made for a thriving commerce. The waste products of the tanneries and ancillary industries of Woburn such as chemical works and degreasing companies that helped in the processing of leather hides went unregulated for well over 100 years. In the 1970's, after the tanneries were gone, the local government was left with redevelopment of the historic industrial sites along the Aberjona River and to their dismay found toxic soil contamination from the tanneries waste product disposal. Unfortunately, contaminated areas of Woburn are now federal Super Fund sites.

A Tannery in the background with acres of waste disposal in the foreground

[vintagebrett]

Thanks for the write up Mike. I have 6 different McDonald Wilkerson gloves - two of them were made in Everett, MA and I think one was made in another location that was not Woburn but I'll have to check when I get home from vacation. I also have a football box in my collection so they did make other sporting goods as well.

[Number9]

For the non-New Englanders among us, Woburn is one of many towns on the Crazy Massachusetts Town Name List. The only qualification for entry onto The List is to have the pronunciation sound nothing like the spelling would suggest (go ahead, try to pronounce Scituate correctly). Any potential field trippers should know that Woburn is correctly pronounced Woo-bin. The faster you say it, the more likely you will say it correctly. The English must be proud.

By the way, Scituate is Sih-chew-it. No known glove makers there.

[mikesglove]

That is interesting about some of your McDonald-Wilker gloves being made in Everett, MA. M.J. Wilker, the co-founder of the company resided in Chelsea, which bordered the town of Everett.

[Kenny Wel]

Did any gloves come out of Woostah? (Worchester for the non-natives)

Ken

[Number9]

Nokona was in Worcester for the blink of an eye a few years ago. I'm sure there was a small company making gloves there at one point but none come to mind. Spalding and company were a bit farther west in Chicopee and Springfield until about a decade or so ago.

[vintagebrett]

I looked at my Wilker gloves - two are made in Woburn, two in Everett and the other two the stampings are gone. I just picked up a catchers mitt on Monday and it was made in Woburn. Was excited to find it as I was beginning to think they only made fielder gloves! Now I need a 1B mitt....

[mikesglove]

An interesting McDonald-Wilker glove popped up on ebay. This one was a Wilco model circa 1910-20's and featured a rare buckle web. Seems to be well made.

[vintagebrett]

Finally got my McDonald Wilker catchers mitt photographed - the usual simplicity of lacing a catchers mitt was not the case with this one. It frustrated me to no end because it just wouldn't work so I gave it to William. He gave it back to me the other day and said he never wanted to see this mitt again. Avert your eyes.

[Number9]

I've cooled off since then. Great mitt!