Sanford Whip Factory

The former Sanford Whip Company building is located at the northern end of Westfield's main business district, across from Kane Park on the west side of Elm Street near Cowles Court. It is a 3+1⁄2-story brick building, with a slate roof with the gable facing the street, and it has modest Italianate decorations. It is 130 feet (40 m) long, with 17 window bays, and is four window bays wide. Windows are set in segmented-arch openings, with slightly projecting brickwork lintels with shoulders. The main building entrance is in the rightmost bay on the front facade; it is sheltered by a simple portico with square posts.^[3]

The Sanford Whip Company was started by brothers Edwin and Fred Sanford in 1880, after involvement in the manufacture and sale of whips with other manufacturers based in New York. Originally located in a space on Mechanic Street, they purchased this parcel in 1882 (its previous buildings having been washed away in an 1878 flood) and had the factory built. The Sanfords operated independently until 1892, when they were consolidated into the United States Whip Company, who used the building primarily for storage. The building was eventually repurchased by a reconstituted Sanford Company in 1924 for the production of whips and novelty toys. That business operated until 2000, when the company folded.^[3]

• United States Whip Company Complex
• Westfield Whip Manufacturing Company
• H. M. Van Deusen Whip Company
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Hampden County, Massachusetts