Bab-O
It was one of those things that happens sometimes, a random comment that, when thought through, makes me realize how little I know about something. Some local urban explorers have gone through the Central Warehouse, a hulking old cold storage facility and urban eyesore anchoring the north end of the waterfront district at Colonie and Montgomery streets. I had always wanted to see what was inside this old mess and of course had been afraid to find out, but a building that has a rail line directly into it – and not on the ground floor – is inherently interesting to me. Their efforts were noted over at the All Over Albany site, and I suggested, not entirely in jest, that they should put the old Bab-O factory next on their list. This instigated a little bit of back and forth, as the younger generation apparently has no idea what Bab-O is (and reaching for a similar product, I could only come up with just-as-antiquated Ajax, Comet or Old Dutch. I guess they still make Cameo because that’s the brand at my sink). Bab-O was a nationally known brand of kitchen cleanser, an abrasive scrubbing powder. Still not a surprise that folks don’t remember it, as I was recently shocked to learn that you can’t find Spic ‘n’ Span anymore – at least not in the powder form that actually cleaned things. Listen, Swiffers are convenient, but they don’t clean much.
Then I had to ask, how did I know that old hulk was the Bab-O factory? It wasn’t a memory from my youth; I didn’t grow up in Albany, and there was no signage that I could see anywhere (unlike the effusive, and mislocated, Greenbush Tape & Label building next door). Did some digging through the hard drive and found a reference to a plan for a living history site in that section of Albany, which I vaguely remembered as having some industrial history of the building. Unfortunately, the link is broken, and the report gone, as far as I can tell. But I specifically remember that it identified the building as the former Bab-O factory. That alone should have been enough to set off a firestorm of Googling that will unlock the history of the building in about five minutes. But it didn’t. There’s a lot of interesting history associated with Bab-O, but little of it to do with the building on Broadway.
Bab-O was one of many products of B.T. (Benjamin Talbot) Babbitt, a soap manufacturer who established his company in New York City in 1836 (after a previous stint as a engine and pump manufacturer in Little Falls). A quick run through the New York Times archives shows a run of articles involving a major embezzlement from his company around 1877, and a further swindle at the hands of a “lady detective” a short time later.
Because I love nothing more than 19th century industrial boosterism, I have to quote from Bishop’s “A History of American Manufactures, from 1608 to 1860,” p. 615, in the chapter titled “Remarkable Manufactories of New York”:
“The Soap and Candle Makers of New York are among the most enterprising of her manufacturers. Believing, as Leibig asserts, that the quantity of Soap consumed by a nation is no inaccurate measure whereby to estimate its wealth and civilization, the firms of J. C. Hull’s Sons, Colgate, Enoch Morgan’s Sons, Babbitt, Hay, Pyle, Brown, and Fay, are doing their utmost to place America in the first rank of the wealthy and highly civilized nations of the globe. One of these houses (B. T. Babbitt) has a gigantic Soap Kettle 63 feet in circumference and 15 feet deep (said to be the largest in the world), which has a capacity to make 250 tons of curd soap at one time. The cost of the grease alone for a single charge is about $20,000.”
Alas, I know that Babbitt himself died in 1889, that he left his wife and daughter quite well off, and that the company was sold to the Mendleson Corporation in 1918. I know that their New York property, 46-50 West Street and running through to 76 to 82 Washington Street, was made available for “modern skyscrapers” in 1910; the corporate headquarters moved uptown and the factory to, of course, New Jersey. Indications of the Albany factory are scant – an officer who was a president of the Albany chapter of the National Assn. of Cost Accountants in 1927, a Times headline from 1964: “B.T. Babbitt Set to Move Business Unit to Albany.” Not much else. Babbitt himself is buried in scenic Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx. His Albany factory, most likely built long after his death, still stands. Anybody else know anything about it?
In the late ’90s, I used to work at the AIDS Council of NENY back when it was down at 88 Fourth Avenue (a repurposed old fire house, next to a bath house), and used to walk at lunch time all around the area around this building and the Greenbush Tape one. There was a brief flurry of cultural activity down there when The Loft was presenting shows in Greenbush Tape. I ventured into Bab-O (didn’t know it was called that) a couple of times but never got further than eye-balling or shouting distance from the door I entered. Also shot a spot for Time Warner’s “Sounding Board” down there on that block. It’s a great place to explore, with great structures and visuals.
I’ll confess that I had never heard of Bab-o until my brother went to Pitt while I was at Syracuse. Evidently there are three dorm towers there called Ajax, Comet, and Babo by the students. Hence, I surmised that Bab-o must be another scouring powder.
Also, speaking of Babbitts: That’s the name of a retailer in Flagstaff Arizona that has been in business more than 100 years. They sell T-shirts with historical ads of the soap and lard they used to sell. Wonder if there’s any connection?
I’m going to assume that’s coincidence, since it looks like the Flagstaff Babbitts got their start in the blanket business, but you never know.
As of today, 2013/8/16, you can get Bab-O Gel Cleaner with Bleach in bulk from Dollar Tree. Nostalgia isn’t cheap: you’d have to get 12 bottles, but hey, the lettering on the bottles is like old times.
Amazon.com: Bab-o Cleanser 14oz 6pk : Cell Phones & Accessories https://www.amazon.com/Bab-o-Cleanser-14oz-6pk/dp/B00PBL7D7G
Cool. Of course, by any name, most of these old cleansers are not the same. Bab-O, Ajax, Old Dutch and all the others were abrasive scouring powders.
Interesting info. My mother is 87 and I just came across about 50 containers of the original Bab-o. I am sure it will work better than anything I can buy now.
My late aunt worked at the Albany Babo factory. She told me more than once how her supervisor complimented her on how fast she was on the machine that put the lids on the containers.
I have a stock certificate of hers from the company.
In 1952 I went to catholic school in NJ. On St. Patricks day a few of us put green food coloring in our hair. One particularly nasty one washed our hair with Babo in the girls bathroom.
I know someone who worked at Babbitt when she was 19. She is now 97. She has many stories about growing up in the south end and about working there. She worked on the production line and said what great people the Mendelsons were to work for.
I have a large metal cutting lathe manufactured around 1870 that was purportedly removed from this Bab-O factory in the 1950s. Any chances anyone has any photos of the interior of this place back when it was an active concern? Any shots of the interior would surely be interesting. I would be especially tickled to see my lathe in a corner. It would likely have been used in a maintenance function. A stretch I know, but it can’t hurt to ask.
It’s extremely rare to find interior photos of any manufacturing facilities, and I haven’t seen any. They were very hard to photograph (lack of available light), and of course people didn’t just have cameras on them at all times either. But you never know. I should put this post up over on Hoxsie.org, where it would get more attention.
I work as a custodian in Lansing Michigan. Last week I was looking for some cleanser and found a can of Babo in an old storage room. It’s the powder and it works great. Ironically the expiration date is 2008.
My family used Bab-O when I was a kid in NY State.
I was surprised to see what looks like the original cleanser for sale at Ocean State Job Lot here in CT.
I bought a couple of containers – manufactured by Fitzpatrick Brothers -Quincy, IL 62305 (see website below)
BabO just found about 20 rusty bottom cans in our storage cab. In Grand Junction Co.
What a marviously curiously fascinating tbfeax this is.
I am an Albany resident and knew of the BT Babbitt co. Being Jewish my mother knew the Mendelsohn family, also my father owned an electrical supply company not to far from the factory. If you would like to contact me about the history of some albany companies, call me at 518-441-4668.
I was an Albany resident back in the 1960’s. My Grandfather worked at Babbit’s until they close. He was a foreman in the canning department. I also had two uncles that worked there until they moved on and found other employment. I have a sign on my wall that is labeled B.T. Babbit’s best soap. My father also has a wooden crate with that name on it. If there are any other memorabilia or pictures, I would like to know. Oh by the way. are you father time? If you are . I know you real real.
My mother lived in the south end of Albany and worked at BT Babbitt In the 40’s. She said it was a great place to work and made friends there. In cleaning out her stuff after she passed away, I found a panoramic photo of a BT Babbitt company picnic. I donated it to the Albany Library, the one on Washington ave near the old NYS museum.
I grew up in the South – Tennessee, and Bab-o was a fixture in our bathroom. Even if my mother bought another brand, my father always called it Bab-o. It absolutely took the porcelain finish off our bathtub! Can you say ABRASIVE!?
Hadn’t heard the name in years until tonight. I was on a virtual baby shower wish list and there’s a new baby wash called Babbo – organic and no relation. But I had to look it up.
That’d be Babo Botanicals, and when I saw it I cracked up, thinking surely they’d made a mistake in picking that name. According to their Web site it was a sentimental choice — the name their child gave his bunny toy — but I think an association like that is quite a sacrifice to make for sentiment. Surely Ms. Solomon would’ve known of Bab-O, if not from memory then from a trademark search. Probably counting on few people remembering the cleanser, which is ostensibly still available, expensively, on Amazon. They probably cater to a few customers who remember having gotten good results from it and therefore trust it over the many other brands of cleansers formulated just like it; businesses run on suckers like that forever. And yes, it was rather generic in people’s minds like your father’s; listen to Bill Cosby’s recorded bit where he counsels people not to buy illegal drugs because for all you know they could be selling you [pauses slightly as if to fish for a name of a common powdered product] Bab-O
My grandmother lived in Philadelphia back in the 1930’s until the early 1950’s. She always scrubbed her front steps with Bab-o cleanser every week. I can still envision the green can sitting next to her metal scrub bucket and her scrub brush with fiber type bristles. The wet Bab-o kind of smelled a little like bleach.
I just came across a bab-o can opener. Was trying to do some research and came across this site. I have lived about 30 minutes from Albany my whole life and had never heard of bab-o cleaner. My mom always used comet. I love hearing about local history. I can’t find a single thing about the can opener, not even a picture. It’s got a green painted wood handle that says “BAB-O for opening bab-o cans”. The metal part is a flat square with four prongs bent over on each corner. If anyone has any info please let me know.
Bab-o! The other go-to scrubbing powder in the 50’s was Bon Ami, which is still sold in supermarkets. I like it cuz it’s in a cardboard container with metal lid (no plastic) and seems finely ground, so only mildly abrasive. My family used both brand names generically to mean sink cleanser. I’m weirdly sad that Spic’n’Span is no more.
Hilarious that there’s now a brand, Babo Botanicals, “Gentle, natural hair, skin and suncare for baby, kids or sensitive skin. Made with organic plant based ingredients.” They say it’s named for their baby’s bunny doll. Guess they’re counting on people not to know Bab-O!
For a 79 year old senior the mind’s long term memory pulls up some strange memories. As I took a can of Comet out of a cabinet to do the weekly toilet cleaning, out of nowhere, Bab-O came to mind. Where did it go? I spent the better part of the morning wondering and reminding myself to research it on the net. Long before Comet came along Bab-O and Ajax were the go-to abrasive cleansers. I remember it well from when I was a kid so many years ago.
Bab-O is currently available in NYC at Jack’s stores (a discount markdown chain) for $1.39 for a 14 ounce can. As noted above, it’s now made by Fitzpatrick Brothers in Quincy, Illinois. It’s made with calcium carbonate and bleach and works great on our 1916 claw-foot tub, which came with our Harlem apartment!