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Rahway Valley Railroad The Kroydon Company Burnett Avenue
c.1919-c.1950's
Manufacture of golf clubs. Signal antennas during
WWII. Lumber,
inbound A subsidiary of Kraeuter & Company, Kroydon for many years was a premier manufacturer of golf clubs. The parent company, Kraueter & Company, Inc., was founded in 1860 by August Kraueter, an experienced toolmaker. The company grew to be a manufacturer of tools of all shapes and sizes. Shortly after the end of World War I, the forging division of Kraeuter began forging heads for golf irons. They became so popular that Kraueter began manufacturing a complete line of golf clubs, under the name of Kroydon. Not long after, an "up-to-date" plant was erected in Maplewood on a siding of the Rahway Valley Railroad. Kroydon became a premier manufacturer of golf clubs, due to its adopting formed steel shafts in their clubs, instead of hickory shafts. Kroydon drew its own steel shafts on special machinery, designed by themselves. During World War II, Kroydon converted its manufacturing plant to produce signal antennas for the Army Signal Corps. and for the British and Canadian governments. While it is unknown for how long Kroydon remained a customer of the RVRR, we do know that the company continued to manufacture golf clubs into at least the early 1950s. Who knows, perhaps Louis Keller, and his buddies, preferred Kroydon clubs and had a carload or two shipped to Baltusrol via the RVRR!
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