A & M Karagheusian

A. & M. Karagheusian, Inc.
Industry	Rug manufacturing
Defunct	1964
Headquarters	295 Fifth Avenue, Manhattan

A. & M. Karagheusian, Inc. was a rug manufacturer headquartered at 295 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Manufacturing was located in Freehold Borough, New Jersey and operated for 60 years before closing in 1964. It employed 1,700 people at its peak operation in the 1930s. Bruce Springsteen wrote about the Karagheusian Rug Mill’s closing in his 1984 song "My Hometown".^[1]

History

Arshag Karagheusian (1872-1963) and Miran Karagheusian (1874-1948), were Armenians and fled Turkey in 1896 to go to England and then to the United States. The family had been in the rug trade in Turkey since 1818, and they began in the United States in 1897 as rug importers, and then expanded into manufacturing in 1903. By 1927 they had 15 broadlooms, weighing 15 tons each, and 196 single looms. They developed, and were the only manufacturers of "Gulistan Rug" carpets. They made the carpet for Radio City Music Hall in 1932 and for the United States Supreme Court building in 1933. They stopped manufacturing oriental carpets in 1953.

Miran Karagheusian

Miran Karagheusian (1874–1948) had attended Robert College in Constantinople (Istanbul). He married Zabelle and had two children: Howard Karagheusian, who died young and a scholarship was set up in his name, and a daughter, Leila Karagheusian (c. 1910-1999). Miran Karagheusian died on October 7, 1948, at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan, he lived in Oyster Bay, New York.^[2]

Arshag Karagheusian

Arshag Karagheusian (1872–1963) had the following children: Jean Karagheusian Hallaure (1898–2000) aka Alice Hallaure; Charles Karagheusian (1903–1977) who married Artemis Tavshanjian (1904–1990) on April 30, 1927,^[3] and Marguerite Karagheusian Agathon (husband Oshin Agathon) (1904–1986). Arshag served as the head of the Armenian General Benevolent Union from 1943 to 1952. Arshag died on September 24, 1963, in Larchmont, New York.^[4]

Renovation

In 2001, the mill reopened as a 202-unit affordable apartment complex, named The Continental at Freehold. The New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA) and its affiliated New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency (HMFA) were major financiers of the project. Community Affairs Commissioner Jane M. Kenny said: "Nearly forty years after the looms were packed up and hauled away, the rug mill is a working building once again."

Roselle Park factory

The company had a factory in Roselle Park, New Jersey, from May 19, 1923 to 1962.^[5]

References

^ Demasters, Karen (April 9, 2000). "A Factory That Wove Rugs and Bound a Town Together". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-08-21. History of old Karagheusian Rug Mill in Freehold Township, New Jersey, recalled by Bernadette Rogoff, curator at Monmouth County Historical Association; long-empty mill is being converted to housing, office and retail space. For more than half of the 20th century, life in Freehold, the county seat for Monmouth County, revolved around the Karagheusian Rug Mill, which employed 1,700 people at its peak operation in the 1930s. The mill was referred to in the Bruce Springsteen song My Hometown; Mr. Springsteen's father worked there for a time. The 15-ton looms have been removed, and the sole remaining building is being converted to apartments, office and retail space after sitting empty for several years. The Monmouth County Historical Association will mount an exhibition on the mill at the association headquarters in Freehold starting next fall. Bernadette Rogoff, the historical association curator, talked recently about why the association is doing the exhibition. ...
^ "Miran Karagheusian, A Rug Manufacturer". The New York Times. October 7, 1948.
^ "Miss Artemis Tavshanjian to Wed C. Karagheusian". The New York Times. April 5, 1927.
^ "Larchmont, New York, September 24, 1963 Arshag Karagheusian, a carpet manufacturer and a leader in Armenian philanthropic work, died here today in his home at 14 Pryor Lane. He was 92 years old". The New York Times. September 25, 1963.
^ Morgan, Audrey; Pagnetti, Patricia; Sokol, Barbara (2000). Roselle Park. Charleston, SC: Arcadia. pp. 97–98. ISBN 0-7385-0430-0. Retrieved 6 December 2017.

External links

[1] Demasters, Karen (April 9, 2000). "A Factory That Wove Rugs and Bound a Town Together". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-08-21. History of old Karagheusian Rug Mill in Freehold Township, New Jersey, recalled by Bernadette Rogoff, curator at Monmouth County Historical Association; long-empty mill is being converted to housing, office and retail space. For more than half of the 20th century, life in Freehold, the county seat for Monmouth County, revolved around the Karagheusian Rug Mill, which employed 1,700 people at its peak operation in the 1930s. The mill was referred to in the Bruce Springsteen song My Hometown; Mr. Springsteen's father worked there for a time. The 15-ton looms have been removed, and the sole remaining building is being converted to apartments, office and retail space after sitting empty for several years. The Monmouth County Historical Association will mount an exhibition on the mill at the association headquarters in Freehold starting next fall. Bernadette Rogoff, the historical association curator, talked recently about why the association is doing the exhibition. ...

[2] "Miran Karagheusian, A Rug Manufacturer". The New York Times. October 7, 1948.

[3] "Miss Artemis Tavshanjian to Wed C. Karagheusian". The New York Times. April 5, 1927.

[4] "Larchmont, New York, September 24, 1963 Arshag Karagheusian, a carpet manufacturer and a leader in Armenian philanthropic work, died here today in his home at 14 Pryor Lane. He was 92 years old". The New York Times. September 25, 1963.

[5] Morgan, Audrey; Pagnetti, Patricia; Sokol, Barbara (2000). Roselle Park. Charleston, SC: Arcadia. pp. 97–98. ISBN 0-7385-0430-0. Retrieved 6 December 2017.

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v t e Freehold Borough / Freehold Township
Municipalities	Freehold Borough Freehold Township
Neighborhoods	East Freehold Burlington Heights West Freehold Stonehurst EastбНХз Stonehurst West Raintree Adelphia Georgia Smithburg
Schools	Freehold Borough Schools Freehold Township Schools Freehold Regional High School District Freehold Borough High School Freehold Township High School Monmouth County Vocational School District Biotechnology High School
Colleges and universities	Brookdale Community College Freehold Campus Rutgers University Brookdale's Freehold Campus Seton Hall University College of Nursing at Brookdale's Freehold Campus
Economy	CentraState Medical Center Downtown Freehold Freehold Raceway Freehold Raceway Mall Manalapan EpiCentre Tomasello Winery
Parks and recreation	Henry Hudson Trail Lake Topanemus Monmouth Battlefield State Park Turkey Swamp Park
NRHP sites	Monmouth Battlefield Historic District Craig House Court Street School George Taylor House Hankinson–Moreau–Covenhoven House Walker-Combs-Hartshorne Farmstead St. Peter's Episcopal Church
History	Monmouth Tract Village of West Freehold Battle of Monmouth Legend of Molly Pitcher Bruce Springsteen "My Hometown"
Museums	Jewish Heritage Museum of Monmouth County Monmouth County Historical Association
Houses of Worship	Co-Cathedral of St. Robert Bellarmine Freehold Jewish Center Old Tennent Church
Other points of interest	Freehold Public Library Karagheusian Rug Mill Maplewood Cemetery Monmouth County Courthouse
This list is incomplete.

v t e Rugs and carpets
Rugs	Arabian Afghan Alcaraz Azerbaijani Absheron Aghajly Arraiolos Arran Borchaly Caucasian Chul Demirchilar Ganja Gasimushaghi Jek Karabakh Kilim Quba Shabalyt-Buta Shedde Bessarabian Braided Catalogne Chobi Dhurrie Flokati Kashmiri Lilihan Mughal Navajo Oriental Pakistani Petate Persian Abadeh Ahar Arak Ardabil Bakhtiari Bakshaish Bidjar Borujerd Gabbeh Heriz Isfahan Jozan Karadagh Kashan Kashmar Kerman Kilim Kurdish Mashhad Nain Qom Sarouk Seraband Shahsevan rug Shiraz Tabriz Varamin Zanjan Rya Scandinavian Seychour Tibetan Turkmen Uzbek Uzbek Julkhyr Uzbek Napramach Yürük
Carpets	Arabian Armenian Axminster Bellini Berber Bergama Bessarabian Bradford Caucasian Chiprovtsi Crivelli Ersari Fitted Gabbeh Hereke Karabakh Konya Holbein Lilihan Lotto Memling Milas Persian Pirot Quba Sarouk Swedish Turkish Ushak Yomut
People	James F. Ballard Sir Francis Crossley Kurt Erdmann Arthur T. Gregorian Arshag Karagheusian Latif Karimov Julius Lessing William Morris George H. Myers Arthur Upham Pope Alois Riegl Friedrich Sarre Wilhelm von Bode Thomas Whitty Charles T. Yerkes
Places	Azerbaijan Carpet Museum Carpet Museum of Iran Dar al Athar al Islamiyyah Brukenthal National Museum Kidderminster Louvre Mevlana Museum Metropolitan Museum of Art Miho Museum Museum of Applied Arts (Budapest) Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna Museum of Islamic Art, Doha Museo Poldi Pezzoli Museum of Textiles (Lyon) Museum of Islamic Art, Berlin Saint Louis Art Museum Textile Museum (George Washington University) Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum Turkmen Carpet Museum Victoria and Albert Museum Wilton
Cleaning	Carpet cleaning Dry carpet cleaning Floorcloth Hot water extraction Truckmount carpet cleaner Vacuum cleaner
Fabrics	Frieze Jajim Shag Soumak
Manufacture and installation	Ghiordes and Senneh knots Knot density Pile Rubia Rug hooking Rug making Tack strip Underlay Warp and weft
Dyes	Natural dye Synthetic dye Madder (Rubia tinctorum) Indigofera tinctoria Carmine Cochineal Armenian cochineal Polish cochineal Dyes in Uzbekistan
Manufacturers	Axminster Carpets Brintons Cormar Carpets Dilmaghani DOBAG Carpet Initiative A & M Karagheusian Savonnerie manufactory Ziegler & Co.
Carpets in culture	Eagle rug Early Anatolian animal carpets Gul Kilim motifs Elibelinde Evil eye Tree of life Magic carpet Oriental carpets in Renaissance painting Pictorial carpet Prayer rug Red carpet Transylvanian rugs War rugs
Notable individual carpets	Ardabil Carpet Armenian Orphan Rug Badding Rug Bahar-e Kasra Coronation Carpet