The Wawarsing Historical Society and Knife Museum

Keeping America's knife-making history alive since 2013. 

 

The Hudson Valley in the late 1800s and early 1900s produced 50 to 70 percent of all the knives sold in this country. The vast majority of those knives came from the village of Walden, NY. By 1910 there were three knife factories in that town; New York Knife Company, Walden Knife Company, and Schrade Cutlery Company. Combined they had a work force of almost a thousand people (20% of the village's population!) and produced in the vicinity of 3 million knives per year. Although these were the largest cutlery companies in the area they weren't the only ones by far. Right here in the Ellenville area we had Ulster knife Company, Napanoch Knife Company, and Grahamsville Cutlery Company. Then there was the Warwick Knife Company and across the river was Poughkeepsie Cutlery Company and Allen Knife Works. It's clear that the cutlery history in our area is rich and vast, and sadly much of it is unknown to many of our local citizens.

  We here at the Wawarsing Historical Society and Knife Museum strive to keep the knowledge of our local cutlery and everyday history alive with displays representing every local knife company in existence 100 years ago as well as knife companies from other regions and countries. We have an extensive collection of Napanoch axes as well as militaria from both World Wars and the Civil War. We also feature displays from other local businesses that flourished during those times and from more ancient history a large collection of locally sourced Indian arrow heads and tools. We offer personal tours to anyone who enters, or if you prefer feel free to browse the rooms at your own pace. We look forward to seeing each and every one of you and hopefully you'll walk out better enlightened about our incredible local heritage.