Forster Manufacturing Company, Inc. operated a clothespin assembly plant in South Portland from 1947 to 1956. Let’s take a look at this old Maine company and its founder who appears to have had a habit of spreading misinformation in an attempt to protect his trade secrets.

The Outfitting Building, known as Building 15, was built during World War II at the South Portland shipyards. The site would later be home to the clothespin assembly plant of Forster Manufacturing from 1947 to 1956. South Portland Historical Society photo

Charles Forster is credited with creating the manufactured toothpick industry in the United States in the 1860s. Of course, the toothpick has been around in some form since the beginning of man; if a piece of food gets stuck in the teeth, people might resort to anything, even a quill or an animal whisker. But in the early 1800s, although wooden toothpicks were commonly used in Europe, their use in the United States was less common.

How Forster jump-started the industry in the United States is quite the tale. Forster’s ingenuity, to make the use of a toothpick commonplace (thus ensuring the demand for his product), has been much repeated over the years, although as with any oral history, variations on the story abound.

While working for his uncle’s commission house in Brazil in the late 1850s, Forster encountered the orangewood toothpicks that were handmade by the locals. In an interview in 1887, Forster recounted this story: “I got a South American to whittle me out a dozen or so, and sent them to my wife in this country. Somehow Paran Stevens, the great hotel man of Washington, D.C., got hold of one of those toothpicks, and he immediately sent to me for a sample box. I whittled out another box full, and sent them to him. In less than a month he had ordered a gross, and before I knew it, many of the leading hotels in the country were using South American whittled toothpicks … it wasn’t many months before my South American toothpick began to get a national reputation. I migrated to this country and established a toothpick agency here … when South America began to send me poor toothpicks and charge me enormous prices, I began to scratch my head and whittle. In 1860, or thereabouts, I made my first toothpicks by machinery.”

In this late-1945, post-war aerial view of the West Yard of the shipyard, the building identified as No. 3 was the portion of the former Outfitting Building that was soon to become home to the clothespin assembly plant of Forster Manufacturing Company. South Portland Historical Society photo

Another story that has proliferated, especially after Forster’s death, was how he used a bit of deceit to first grow the demand for his toothpicks.

In a story in the Ellsworth American in 1904, this variation of the story was put forth: “[In South America], he bought 75 cases of orangewood toothpicks and shipped them to Boston … they were very expensive, costing something like $50 per case. He thought it possible to introduce the pick into hotels and restaurants and other public places … he was doomed to disappointment, however, but with true Yankee ingenuity he hit upon a novel plan at that time to inaugurate this demand … he hired a man who was working for B.F. Sturtevant, ‘the peg man’, and dressing him up in faultless style with tall hat and cane he would go to a café for a meal of vituals [sic], after which he would enquire for an orangewood toothpick, which of course the proprietor did not have. The gentleman would next inform them that no well regulated hotel or restaurant would be without them. In the course of an hour or two another man in the employ of Mr. Forster would come along with samples of orangewood toothpicks and in many cases would succeed in selling a bill of them.”

Many other variations of the story have been told, including how he hired “Harvard scholars” to go into hotels and restaurants. He also supposedly had them go into stationery and other retail stores, asking for toothpicks and, after the store would purchase toothpicks from Forster, he would send these men back in to buy them, thus Forster would buy back his own toothpicks so that he could sell to them again, which he considered a marketing expense.

In 1861, Forster’s wife acquired, from Benjamin Sturtevant, a machine he had originally invented for cutting veneers for shoe pegs, which he adapted for use in making toothpicks. More importantly (especially since the machine would later break down and need improvements), she also purchased the rights to Sturtevant’s patent for the manufacture of machine-made toothpicks in the U.S.

This exclusive right to make toothpicks by machine lasted for 17 years, and led to Forster reportedly spending $50,000 in legal fees during that time period, to protect his patent rights and fight off potential competitors.

Forster’s experience with competition, litigation and protecting his patent rights might explain the secrecy and conflicting information surrounding him and his toothpick manufacturing company. Even after his exclusive rights expired, the machine-made toothpick industry was small and had tight margins. Someone desiring to enter the market could not purchase a machine to make toothpicks because there wasn’t enough demand for those machines; if you wanted to be in the business, you had to have the mechanical know-how, and money, to build your own machinery.

The amount of misinformation that was published in news reports throughout Forster’s lifetime, and beyond, is surprising. Virtually every aspect of Forster’s life and business has contradictory reports out there – from where he was born (he was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts, but there are reports of him being born in Maine, or even in England or Australia), how long he lived in South America, when he started his business, or any other detail about the toothpick business.

What is very clear is that when Forster moved his operation from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Maine, he would locate his mill on a stream or river (for power) and as close as possible to wherever he could find a supply of wood; once that source was gone and he found another, he would move his equipment to the next spot.

At one time or another, he had mills located in East Sumner, Canton, Buckfield, Hanover, and Andover. His first “permanent” mill location was in Dixfield. He first began operating there in 1874 and that mill stayed in operation through Charles’ death in 1901 and beyond. He had been operating a second mill in Andover, but moved the equipment from that mill to a new building in Strong in 1883. In 1887, he decided to move the headquarters of his business to Strong. The operation at Strong thrived and Forster opened another mill there when he purchased the J.W. Porter Mill.

Charles Forster’s son Maurice grew up in the business. After Charles Forster’s death in 1901, per his will, the business was put into a trust with his attorney, Oscar Hersey, as the trustee. Hersey had Maurice manage the operation in Strong; Maurice earned a salary and also received an annual distribution from the estate. Unfortunately, this arrangement was not to Maurice’s liking. When the Dixfield mill was destroyed by fire in January, 1904, Maurice left the company and struck out on his own with new partners, competing with his father’s company (now known as the “Estate of Charles Forster” mill).

While the original Forster company did rebuild the mill in Dixfield, Maurice’s new company, Forster Manufacturing Company (founded March 30, 1904), built their own separate toothpick mill in Dixfield. To further complicate the scene in Dixfield, in 1909, one of Maurice Forster’s partners opened a third mill, known as the Dixfield Toothpick Company. Both Maurice’s company and the Dixfield Toothpick Company would merge with Berst Manufacturing Company in 1920, becoming the Berst-Forster-Dixfield Company; that company was acquired by Diamond Match Company in June, 1946, becoming its B-F-D division.

In 1936, the original Forster company, which had been operating as the Estate of Charles Forster since his death, changed its name to Forster Manufacturing Company, Inc.

During World War II, Forster Manufacturing focused most of its production efforts on products for the military, like tongue depressors and applicators. After the war, as the economy had really started to pick up, Forster continued expanding into different product lines. It was wooden clothespins that led to South Portland’s connection to Forster.

In January, 1947, Forster leased space in South Portland, in the former Building 15, known as the Outfitting Building in the WWII shipyard. After quickly remodeling the interior, Forster opened with 150 local women working in two shifts in the 12,000-square-foot space. The primary product line was clothespins, with workers forming wire into springs and then assembling the wood parts and springs into clothespins. By summer 1947, the company reportedly had increased its staffing to 240, and was also producing birch and maple ice cream spoons and salad forks.

Forster operated its plant here in South Portland for nearly a decade. In 1956, they moved the operation to Thompson’s Point in Portland. The Forster company was acquired by Diamond Brands (formerly Diamond Match) in 1995.

If you are interested in further reading about the toothpick industry, Henry Petroski wrote a fascinating and well-researched book on the subject, titled “The Toothpick: Technology and Culture.”

Note: South Portland Historical Society offers a free Online Museum with over 16,000 images available for viewing with a keyword search. You can find it at https://sphistory.pastperfectonline.com and, if you appreciate what we do, feel free to make a donation by using the donation button on the home page. If you have photographs or other information to share about South Portland’s past, we would love to hear from you. South Portland Historical Society can be reached at 207-767-7299, by email at sphistory04106@gmail.com, or by mail at 55 Bug Light Park, South Portland, ME 04106.

Kathryn Onos DiPhilippo is executive director for South Portland Historical Society. She can be reached at sphistory04106@gmail.com.