Central Shippee Story

At the height of the great depression, Louis Lichtenberger began his rag business in New York City.  Eventually the business expanded into selling FELT.  In 1917, Uncle Louie’s nephew, Cornie Hubner came to live with him in the city while attending Manhattan College. Cornelius “Cornie” Hubner went on to become a land surveyor in North Jersey but eventually settled down as the Production Manager of the American Hard Rubber Company in Butler, NJ.  At the time hard rubber was the precursor to plastic and everything from bowling balls, battery casings and even hair combs. During WWII the mill had nearly 2000 employees supporting the war efforts.  In 1945, Uncle Louie passed away and he had designated his “smart” nephew as his executor.  Looking over the books, Cornie saw the profitability and asked his Aunt where the money was. She proceeded to open the cupboards and reveal the coffee cans with the cash.

Cornie decided on a career change and proceeded to buy out other relatives who were stockholders in the Central FELT Company.  Bringing both sons, Bud and Don, into the company after their service in the Pacific Theatre and college, the company took off.  First with poodle skirts.  A designer had bought FELT and made multicolor skirt samples and displayed them in the store windows of Bloomingdales or Macy’s in the city. The next day, folks were sketching those designs, stealing them for mass production.  Then came Disney with Mickey Mouse FELT caps.

In the 60’s FELT kits with puppets, bean bags and Christmas tree skirts, socking and ornaments. FELT was sold to local Fabric shops across the county and by the 70’s Central Shippee was a big provider for FELT for store windows.  Downtown Main street stores would decorate them seasonally with FELT being the big background color. At one point, 80 colors of FELT, more than some paint stores.

With the advent of malls and big box stores, Central Shippee moved inside these retail spaces with tables and tablecloths.   Local fabrics stores gave way to the big box stores and more of our FELT was sold for interior designers, taxidermists, and manufacturers.   Dealing with the interiors market, Central FELT company decided it should become the Shippee (family name) FELT company, but in the transition it would be called Central / Shippee. With such a unique name, the transition continued….

In the late 1970’s, The FELT mill supplying the company was put up for sale by GAF company. After 2 years, there were no takers. Since Central Shippee was the mill’s largest customer, Bud Hubner lead a group of investors to buy the American FELT and Filter Company.  Bud took the helm at American for some 20 years. Bud’s son, Eric took his place and worked alongside his uncle Don for the next 45 years

Today, after some 95 years, Central Shippee is proud to announce it is rejoining the American FELT group headed by the Pryne family.