Red’s of Jaffrey / MDS

d. d. bean & sons

Founded in 1938, D. D. Bean & Sons Co. is a third-generation family business. D. D. Bean is not only the last remaining manufacturer of matches in the United States, but also the largest producer of book matches in the world. Before 1970 disposable lighters did not exist. In the mid-1970s—the match industry’s peak years—there were about a dozen independent match companies in the U.S. and Canada operating over 25 different factories. By 1985, lighters had taken 50% of the “lights” market from matches causing closures of about half the match factories. D. D. Bean used to operate three factories in the United States—Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Oxnard, California, and the home plant in Jaffrey.

In addition, Bean had two factories in Canada— St. Cesaire, Quebec and the Strike-Rite factory in London, Ontario. Bean also ran a wooden match factory in Kingston, Jamaica, for more than forty years. By the end of the century, disposable lighters had captured 95% of the market. Soon thereafter, D. D. Bean & Sons in Jaffrey, New Hampshire, and Atlas Match Corp. in Euless, Texas, were the only two remaining book match producers left in North America. In 2016 D. D. Bean & Sons purchased Atlas match and in 2018 brought them together under one roof here in the Jaffrey facility. A new era of match making has emerged. By combining the technologies of the Bean plant and the Atlas plant, all the different variations of match making methods are on display—in operating form—every day. This is a story of survival, commitment and an industry refusing to become obsolete. Today, we are deploying a new digital transformation strategy to help us be a better supplier to the matchbook, box match, and coaster market. We are partnering with Xerox and XMPie in a novel way to provide faster, consistent, high-quality match and beer coaster products to America. As we look towards the future, D. D. Bean & Sons will continue to transform the landscape of the match industry. Making improvements with the consumer experience, we have added a new online presence and will continue to develop our digital venue, merging state of the art technology with production equipment from decades past. We plan to strengthen and grow our promotional products and to remain America’s Match Company for this generation and the next. ❦

red’s of jaffrey / MDS

Red’S of Jaffrey, a downtown Jaffrey fixture since 1955, started in a rented Texaco station on River Street. Norman ‘Red’ Peard, originally from Wakefield, Massachusetts, spent time in Jaffrey as a young man working at the Jurva Farm, now known as Coll’s Farm. Later Red worked construction between Jaffrey and Gardner, Massachusetts, where he met and married Edith Adamson. Red and Edith moved back to Wakefield, working his dumptruck at the construction of Logan Airport. In 1950 Red and Edith came back to Jaffrey with their young family, Margaret and John. Daughter Robin would arrive a few years later and would often be seen working her summer job at the family gas station. Upon his return to town, Red was employed by the Belletete family in lumber

sales and Edith worked as a waitress and cook at Perry’s diner on Peterborough Street. The opportunity to operate a gas station presented itself in 1955 with the Texaco Station on the east side of River Street, now home to the Korea/ Vietnam Memorial Park. Red’s gas station and repair garage operated at that location until 1961 when a vacant gas station directly across the street became available. Red and Edith bought the property from the Atlantic Richfield Company where Red’s continues to operate to this day. At Red’s new Atlantic station, they sold everything from new and used cars, snowmobiles, mini-bikes, campers and, of course, gasoline for about 31 cents a gallon. Red’s even had the first coin-operated Auto Magic car wash. Always the entrepreneurs, and capitalizing on Red’s knowledge of trucking and construction, they started Forest Park Estates on Howard Hill Road in Jaffrey. It was Jaffrey’s first modern mobile home park and was well received as an affordable community. John entered the family business full time after graduating from Conant High School alongside his lifelong friend Steve ‘Bozo’ Christian. Red’s soon purchased its first oil delivery truck. Initially John and Bozo would pick up oil and kerosene from as far away as Greenfield, Massachusetts, and deliver to customers in Jaffrey. Before long, a bulk oil storage facility was constructed and with the addition of a tanker trailer, product could now be picked up from suppliers in Portsmouth or Boston seaport terminals. John would often transport the bulk oil at night, after working days in the repair garage. In 1963, local craftsman Clyde Felch was contracted to create a building on the south end of the Red’s driveway. This would become Red’s Hot Pizza & Dairy Bar, a very popular spot for townspeople, summer residents and the newly opened Franklin Pierce College. That continued in operation prior to Edith and Margaret starting Sentinel Real Estate on the first floor of one of the Peard’s rental properties on Main Street. The real estate company was a perfect addition to the mobile home sales and several rental properties the Peards had acquired. Edith was instrumental in convincing investors and developers to build in Jaffrey, including Eastpoint Properties apartments on Webster Street and the construction of Drumlin Industrial Park and bringing Good Shepherd Nursing Home to Jaffrey. The excavation division grew to include several dump trucks, backhoes, bulldozers and excavators. It eventually was sold to Margaret’s oldest son—Red and Edith’s oldest grandson— and would become Bradley Jackson Excavation. Sentinel Real Estate was acquired by The Monadnock Agency. In 1981 Red and John purchased Monadnock Disposal Service from Jaffrey native Roland Archambault. This was a small garbage collection company with a handful of dumpsters, several curbside stops and a couple of garbage packer trucks. The heating oil and garbage collection service worked well as their respective busy seasons were somewhat opposite with many employees working double duty. Collect garbage when it’s hot and deliver heating oil when it’s not. The entire operation was run out of the River Street location with a storage yard behind