When you visit a store today you can purchase almost any size, shape, and scent of soap you desire. This was not always the case, however. The early settlers in Cheshire County made their own soap at home, and it was many years before large scale factories were built to manufacture soap. One such factory was erected on Court Street in Keene in 1859.
The Keene Soap Manufacturing Co. was owned by Amos Pike and Samuel Lyman. The firm became quite well known for its "Triumph" and "Keene Laundry Soap" brand names.
By 1870, the Keene Soap Co. had become one of the most prosperous firms in the city. During that year the company produced nearly 150 tons of soap. This included 25 tons of scouring soap and 115 tons of family soap, which sold for $1,400 per ton. The plant also turned out 60 tons of candles. Sales for the year totaled almost $210,000.
Only two other Keene manufacturers took in more money. Those two companies, however, had dozens of employees and huge overheads. The Keene Soap Manufacturing Co. had only four employees and a small overhead. As a result, the company must have cleared nearly $150,000 per year after expenses, equivalent to about $3.5 million today.
The following year, the soap company acquired land at the corner of Armory and Spruce streets to build a larger factory. The 90- by 40-foot, two-story building allowed the firm to double its output.
The large kettles in the plant could turn out 40,000 pounds of soap per week. On the top floor the soap was cooled, cut into bars, stamped, wrapped and packed in boxes for shipping. The products were sold across New England and New York.
Despite this growth and financial success, the firm closed only four years later. It appears that the owners decided to take advantage of their earnings. Lyman went into semi-retirement and Pike opened the short-lived, but well-known, Pike's Eating House at the head of Central Square.
Both men soon left Keene to follow other pursuits. The soap factory was converted to a stave mill and the prosperous Keene Soap Manufacturing Co. disappeared from the scene forever.