Athol Vise Co.

[robs400]

I am primarily a lurker on here, but over the years I have seen the name Athol Vise come up quite often, seems like they have quite the following.

I am not from Athol Mass, but I have now lived here for 11 years. A few years back I took a little walk and snapped a few pictures of what I have been told by the locals was the original Athol Vise Manufacturing Location. The original Starret tool location is also here in town and I believe there was some type of merger or buyout between the two companies somewhere along the way. But I thought some of you guys might be interested in seeing the possible location of where all these vises were manufactured way back when.

 

[pault28]

Love seeing this stuff! Thank you for posting these pics.

 

[Garageguy54]

Thanks for sharing, nice pics too. GG54

 

[ganymede]

Thanks for this! Beautiful and sad too.
If you have any of the inside feel free to post them.

 

[balane]

Cool photos, I love the hint of sepia in them. Nice touch. Can people get inside?

 

[robs400]

Thanks! The property itself is easy to walk on, no fences or anything and right along an accessible road. The building itself is locked up/sealed pretty good though on the first floor. You can see in the pictures that there are sections of wall missing though so I'm sure with a ladder and some creativity one could get in there. Not sure how structurally sound the remaining structure is though either. Maybe I'll take a trip back over there and see if any new openings have opened up....

 

[oldtimehockey]

Thank you very much for sharing these photos. My younger brother lives close to Athol in Royalston, MA...Whenever I visit him we always take a drive by the Starrett factory and grab some breakfast at a small local diner that serves many Starrett craftsmen. Sad to see these factories in ruin. I would love to own an Athol vise. My late mom was from Worcester, MA and many of the old factories in Worcester are gone too. Massachusetts was once a power player in the Industrial Revolution. I am always on the lookout to buy and collect old tools from Athol, Worcester, Springfield and Greenfield, Massachusetts