Binghamton Flashback: The Cream Dove Company Satisfied Palates for Five Decades

At one time, Binghamton was bustling with factories and manufacturing plants including one that managed to survive the Great Depression and WWII. If you've not heard the story of the Cream Dove Manufacturing Company, settle in for an interesting story!

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In the early 1900s, the E.D. Cook and Co. opened on Morgan Street in Binghamton where it processed tins of shortening. The product was so well received that the Cook family decided a name change was in order and so was born the Cream Dove Manufacturing Co.

Cream Dove Manufacturing Co. took off at a sprint and just a few years after its creation, the Cook family was able to move their company into a bigger, three-story factory which they built for the sum of $10,000 on Alice Street. The new factory (which would later become the Binghamton Knitting Co.) was closer to the railroad which made shipping products much easier. Charles Cook took the role of company president while his son Clarence filled the role of vice president.

In the 1920s. Cream Dove Manufacturing Co. began packaging its products in multi-colored measuring cups which could be cleaned and re-used and additional products were offered by the company including things like peanut butter, salted peanuts, and even mayonnaise.

Cream Dove Co. vice president Clarence Cook decide to run for mayor of Binghamton in 1925 as a republican and he won the election. Clarence served as mayor of Binghamton in 1926 and again in 1927 but he lost the next election and decided to focus on his business as the United States stepped into the Great Depression.

By the time 1949 rolled around, both the Great Depression and World War II were finally over and Clarence Cook decided to once again try to run for mayor of Binghamton. Clarence won the Republican primary but ultimately lost to Democrat Donald Kramer. Following his loss, Clarence and his decided to leave Binghamton and headed to Morningside Heights, a neighborhood on the West Side of Upper Manhattan.

In 1958, ten years after Clarence lost the mayoral race for the second time, he and his family decided to completely shut the doors of the Cream Dove Manufacturing Co. and so came the end of an era for a well known Binghamton manufacturing company which people near and far had come to love over the five decades it was part of their lives.

To this day, Cream Dove tins and glassware are coveted items and sell for a pretty penny. Who knows? Perhaps your parents or grandparents still have something with the Cream Dove name on it. It might be worth your time to dig around in the attic, garage, or basement and find out!