The Topping Ladder Company
The Topping Ladder Company was established by Howell Topping in 1860. Howell Topping came from the Hudson River Valley in a place called Chatham. He stayed in Newark for two years and then came to Marion where the company was first started.
Topping Ladder Company was located on the back of the lot of 76 South Main Street. The first factory was just a barn which was converted into a shop.
Charles Topping worked with his father, Howell, until his father died in 1884. Charles moved the business in 1904 to where it is located today at 105 South Main Street.
Charles invented the casting washing machine in 1889. It was well known in this part of the country. Charles' son, George, worked with him until Charles died in 1912. George then took over the company.
In 1927, Clifford Topping started working with his father George. They formed a partnership in 1929, which was known as the "George C. Topping Ladder Company." Clifford managed the company after George's death until his mother died in 1958. Then he reorganized it and it became known as the "Topping Ladder Company," with Clifford Topping as the owner.
While Clifford owned the company, the lumber was purchased in log form. There was a saw mill behind the factory. They would saw the lumber themselves. Because the business was expanding, in 1940 Clifford decided he would buy the lumber already sawed. The saw mill was sold to Elery Smith.
Topping Ladder Company uses basswood for the side rails of their ladders because it is thirty percent lighter and has a greater tension strength than any other wood used for ladders. The rungs of the ladders are made of white ash. The lumber is chosen when green for clearness, toughness and straight grain. It is then allowed to air dry.
The factory in which the ladders are made is not only the most important, but also the most interesting part of the company. Originally the machines there were powered by steam. The boiler powered a large main wheel which, in turn, was connected to many other belts and shafts. These belts and shafts were connected to individual machines. This method of power was sometimes very dangerous. Workers had to be careful not to get in the way of the large belts hanging overhead, which were constantly flapping. The good point of this method was it was an excellent way to use up waste wood. Both waste wood and soft coal were used to fire the boiler. Clifford changed the power to gasoline.
This system still uses the belts and shafts. The old boiler was used for heat at this time. The gasoline engines were only used for a short period in the 1940's. Sometime around 1950, Clifford changed all the power to electrical motors. This eliminated the belts and shafts.
Transportation of the ladders was first done on the Erie Canal. In the 1870's they were shipped on the Canal to Rochester. Shortly after the 1930's, the ladders became much more widely distributed and the railroad became the major means of transportation. The railroad is still used today, however, trucks are being used much more.
In the early days, all the lumber came from New York State. But in recent years it has been necessary to find new sources of lumber because Bass-wood is becoming scarce in New York.
The company manufactures many sizes of ladders. Step ladders, three legged ladders, extension ladders, fruit ladders and single ladders. The most outstanding feature of the ladder is the balance obtained by a gradual taper from the bottom to the top.
The most unsusal ladder manufactured by the company is the chimney ladder. This ladder is made for the International Chimney Company, the world's largest builder of chimneys. The ladder is made in sections and fits together inside the chimney as it is being built. These ladders have been shipped as far as Bolivia.
Topping Ladder Company also manufactures, (besides) ladders, gates and crates. In the 1950's the company made a, "take down," picnic table. The reason for this was, for two years there was a slight decrease in the sale of ladders. Instead of laying off any workers, the company began the manufacturing of picnic tables. Once the sale of ladders increased, the company discontinued the manufacturing of the picnic tables.
In 1870, portable dry houses, which were shipped to the Russian Government, were made by the Topping Ladder Company.
Another product which Topping Ladder Company manufactured in its earlier days was apple bleachers. The popularity of the apple bleachers was mainly the result of the advantages that they held for farmers. The apple bleachers could be easily moved from one farm to another by wagon. This method saved the farmer a lot of money, since it eliminated the need for each farmer to own his own equipment in dry houses.
The company also manufactures reels which they sell to the Garlock Packing Company. The lumber, which was too good to be burned but not good enough for making ladders out of, was used for the reels. The company hired a man to make the reels out of the waste lumber. That way, Topping Ladder Company is able to salvage a lot of lumber. The company still manufactures reels for Garlock Packing Company.
Little by little, the company dropped all other products and basically, nothing but ladders have been made in the past fifty or sixty years.
Clifford Topping probably did more than all the other Toppings put together. Before 1930, Topping ladders were not sold much beyond a fifty mile radius of Marion. Before 1940, all the ladders were sold in New York State. Now, the ladders are sold as far west as Missouri and in all the eastern states from Maine to Florida, and Michigan and Ohio.
Howell made the original patterns. The general style is very much the same as it was when Howell Topping ran the company.
In 1965 Clifford retired and sold the business to John Connor of Rochester. It has since been known as, "Topping Ladder Company Incorporated." Clifford served as an advisor to Mr. Connor until his death in 1970.
Today, Topping Ladder Company enjoys a nationwide reputation as one of the largest manufacturers of basswood ladders in the country. Even though it is not a huge business, it is still one of the largest.
The company's traditional motto is, "There's hardly anything in this world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper and people who consider price only are this man's prey."
(Editor's note: The Topping Ladder Company closed in 1997.)
top of page
return to history index
Copyright © 1997
Newark Courier-Gazette
All Rights Reserved