194 Main Street – Dunwoody Brothers Soap & Candle Factory

By Bill Kleppel

William Dunwoody and his brother George both immigrated to the United States from Ireland in the 1820s. In 1866, William purchased a soap and candle factory that was run out of an old schoolhouse at 194 Main Street.

Over the next 35 years, William, George, and William’s seven children, would expand the company from Poughkeepsie, beyond the Mississippi River, and into the western United States. Their story became known as one of the most successful business endeavors in the city’s history.

Charles Cable and Jacob deGroff originally began the factory in the 1840’s. Cable left in the mid-1850’s to pursue other business and political interests, leaving the company to DeGroff and his son Joel. DeGroff then sold to William in 1866. Sadly, Joel Degroff died in February of 1868 at the age of 39. His father Jacob died the next month. He was 69.

The two brothers, along with William’s namesake, William Jr., took the reins of the company and began to develop a system that increased the amount of product they could make. William’s eldest son, Robert, was in charge of the company’s bookkeeping.

After building another factory at 97 North Bridge Street in 1879, the Dunwoody’s were producing more than 18,000 pounds of soap per month.

Unfortunately, William the younger contracted tuberculosis in 1883. At 25, he found it necessary to look for a suitable climate out west for health reasons.

But William Jr. didn’t throw in the towel! He settled in Denver, Colorado, along with his wife, Mattie Styles, and his brother Foster. After a stint of working for the Geyserite Soap Company, they decided to go into business for themselves by building another Dunwoody Brothers Soap Factory out west.

It was located on 19^th Street in Denver, near the South Platte River. Dunwoody’s main product was called Water White Soap Flakes. Its marketing line was “soap flakes from the Missouri River to the Pacific Coast and from Montana to Texas.”

Their reputation was further enhanced by the American Journal of Health claiming the products to be of “…fine, pure, high quality soap.”

Within the two decades that the plant existed, the company achieved great accomplishments.  The Dunwoody Brothers Soap Company became one of the most successful businesses of its kind in the United States. Their products were sold on both coasts, which was an incredible feat for any business of the time.

Unfortunately, William Jr. couldn’t outrun his constant, debilitating health issues. He died in Banning, California, on April 24, 1901, while traveling to the Pacific Coast for a therapeutic rest with his brother Foster and his wife. He was 43.

In 1902, Foster sold the business in Denver to Procter and Gamble, an industry conglomerate that is still in existence today.

William Jr.’s brother Samuel oversaw the East Coast operation in Poughkeepsie until his death in 1888 at the age of 55. Samuel’s widow eventually sold this portion of the company in 1892. The building at 194 Main Street was sold to a carpentry business.

While living Denver, William Jr. built a house for himself and his wife in the city’s Highland District. Even after his death, members of the Dunwoody family lived in this home until 1960. It still exists and is on the National Registry of Historic Places.

References

Musso, Anthony. How Dunwoody Soap Factory Grew in Poughkeepsie and Shaped Local Business, 4 Jan. 2023, www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/story/news/local/2023/01/04/dateline-dunwoody-soap-factory-shaped-local-business-in-poughkeepsie/69775077007/.

Lent’s Poughkeepsie City Directory. J.H. Lent, 1867.

Beall, Jeffrey. William J. Dunwoody House - 2637 W. 26th Ave. 1 Aug. 2009. https://www.flickr.com/photos/denverjeffrey/3777165229/in/album-72157621982026263. Accessed 27 Dec. 2024.

“National Registry of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form.” National Parks Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, npgallery.nps.gov/. Accessed 27 Dec. 2024.