Elisha Niles Welch (1809-1887) and Thomas Barnes, Jr. began selling shelf clocks with wooden movements in Forestville, Connecticut in 1831 as the Barns and Welch Company. They did this until 1834. Welch later joined forces with Jonathan C. Brown’s business to create The Forestville Manufacturing Company in 1835. The corporation filed for bankruptcy just two years later, in 1837, and operations ceased in 1840.
J. C. Brown continued to sell his clocks between 1840 and 1856 while working with several different partners and using various names on the labels. The Forestville Manufacturing Company was still visible on certain labels at this time. J.C. Brown or Forestville Hardware and Clock Company were read by others. Elisha Welch had financial stakes in each of these businesses during these difficult times.
J.C. on January 12, 1856 Brown filed for bankruptcy once more, and Elisha Niles Welch bought the company. Welch also acquired the F.S. Case Company and The Forestville Hardware and Clock Company. Otis. Over the ensuing years, he effectively combined these three businesses into a thriving clock company.
He established the E.N. on July 6, 1864, as a joint stock company. Clocks and clock cases are produced and sold by Welch Manufacturing Company.
The E.N. Welch Company
The majority shareholder at the company’s founding, Elisha Welch, owned 2,800 shares of stock. James H. Welch, his son, and two of his sons-in-law, George Mitchell and Andrew Atkins, each held 400 shares. Elisha also paid the company $29,700 for the equipment from his two clock companies. As the turn of the century drew closer, the business grew to be the biggest clock manufacturer in the Bristol, Connecticut region.
Welch joined forces with Spring and Company, a brand-new company endeavor, in 1868 as a partner. Although it was a very good clock, this business manufactured a higher-grade clock that did not sell well. The firm was thus incorporated into the E.N. Welch Company in 1884.
On August 2, 1887, Elisha Welch passed away in Forestville. The company’s president is James, his son. The company’s financial situation deteriorated to the point of entering receivership by 1893 as a result of poor economic conditions and James’ less-than-stellar management. Clock manufacture was suspended until all lawsuits brought against the corporation were settled. Finally, the business started up again in 1897.
The business appeared to have resolved all of its issues at this point and was relieved to have stability again. However, many of their customers were purchasing their clocks elsewhere during the years the company was not in operation. In order to continue operating, the corporation once more needed to borrow money in 1898.
On March 17, 1899, a fire that originated in the lacquer room of the movement factory destroyed that building and several others nearby, causing yet another significant setback. Even though the insurance did not cover much of this loss, a replacement structure was rapidly constructed and inhabited by October of that same year. The William L. Gilbert Clock Company was hired to produce movements while we waited for this structure.
It could have been feasible for The Sessions Clock Company to once again operate, but on December 14, 1899, two months later, the case factory was completely destroyed by fire. By April 1900, a contemporary brick case factory was up and running. The building’s construction loan added to an already dire financial predicament.
James Welch passed away in January of 1902, and William E. Sessions and Albert L. Sessions were chosen to lead the business as president and treasurer, respectively, later that year. They acquired Welch shares and took out loans to revive the company before taking control on January 9, 1903. The Sessions Clock Company was the new name of the company.
In the 20th century, The Sessions Clock Company
The same E.N. Welch line of clocks was still being produced in the early 1900s, when the Sessions family had nearly all of the company’s shares. Early Sessions clocks may be dated by looking at the label; if it says E.N. Welch, it was manufactured before 1903; if it says both E.N. Welch and Sessions Clock Company, it was created after 1903. As Sessions began producing their own line of clocks, the Welch brand was progressively phased out. By 1920, Sessions had begun producing higher quality clocks like regulators and had begun to do away with the outdated pressed-oak kitchen clocks and black mantel clocks.
In the 1930s, problems returned for the Sessions Clock Company. The Great Depression undoubtedly caused a significant slowdown in sales, but Sessions also had a considerable supply of spring-driven clocks due to the popularity of the “new” synchronous electric clocks. By 1936, Sessions only produced electric clocks and stopped making spring-driven models.
The next break occurred during World War II. Early in 1943, all Sessions clock operations were ceased to allow the company to produce war goods. Clock operations were restarted in September 1945.
The Sessions Clock Company was once more making money by producing shoddy electric clocks as the 1950s got under way. The majority of these were kitchen wall clocks or unattractive, plastic alarm clocks. Their “The Lady,” the “world’s first (and final) family planning clock, was the lone exception to this dearth of invention. It might display the days with the most or least fertility based on a woman’s menstrual cycle. The Lady was abandoned because it failed to appeal to the general audience. Years later, in the late 1960s, when it was believed that public opinion on birth control had changed, it was reintroduced, but it once more failed to pique the public’s attention. However, if you are fortunate enough to discover one now, they are very collectable.
The Sessions Company became the official name of the Sessions Clock Company in 1956. Sales were falling down, and by 1958 the business had lost over a million dollars. Consolidated Electronics Industries Corporation of New York purchased the business in 1958. The factory in Forestville, Connecticut kept producing low-cost electric clocks. Due to a nine-week employee strike, the business was sold to the Brooklyn, New York-based United Metal Goods Company in 1968. After more than 137 years of uninterrupted operation, the new firm closed the Forestville facility and auctioned off the structures.
In 1969, what was left of Sessions was combined with the Wilmington, Delaware-based North American Phillips Corporation (Norelco). They changed their name to The Session Company because they intended to produce electric control devices. Due to a lack of orders, the new business never got off the ground.
The Sessions family continued to manufacture clocks for a while. Former Sessions Company board member W. Kenneth Sessions, Jr., saw the writing on the wall and left the organization to start a new one. In Bristol, Connecticut, The New England Clock Company first put clocks into production in 1958. Kenneth Sessions developed this new company as an assembly and sales firm, purchasing the movements from abroad where they could be produced at a lesser cost, while manufacturing and labor expenses were growing dramatically. The other components of the clock, including the dials, hands, casings, and chimes, were produced on demand at other facilities and shipped to Bristol for assembly.