Since the house lots in my Buffalo neighborhood were very narrow and not very deep, we kids were more likely to be playing in the street, bouncing a ball off a garage door that faced our street from the more elegant homes on the next block. Any activity on the street was greeted with a great deal of interest. One such happening was the occasional coming of a weathered man on a horse-drawn wagon, shouting “rags, rags,” It didn’t seem odd then, but looking back, a horse-drawn wagon looks like something you might see in a Wild West movie. The horse and wagon visit was only one of a couple of such conveyances that came along our street in the 1930s and early 1940s; the horse-drawn bakery wagon was another example. (See note about bakery wagon in the Credit blog.) Today we would call the ragman a recycler.Clop, clopping along, we kids often would harass him by imitating his calls or hitching a ride on the back of his wagon. My mom would collect faded or out-of-style clothing, out-grown boy’s clothing, or frayed men’s shirts and await the ragman. Signaling the raggie, as he was called, he tethered his horse to a tree or telephone pole, or if none were convenient, he would tether his horse to a heavy weight he would bring down from his wagon. He used a hand-held scale to weigh the collection, and paid my mom a few coins for the load.
In those days, cotton and wool were the most common fibers, but silk and linen were also found in women’s and men’s clothing. The only man-made fiber then was rayon made out of regenerated cellulose. While nylon was invented in 1935, its first use in clothing was in women’s stockings in 1940 (“nylons”). Nylon didn’t reach wide spread use until after WW II. Other synthetic fibers such as polyester, polypropylene and Lycra didn’t become common until the 1960’s.
I asked my parents how they used the collected rags. I never received an answer that fully satisfied me as I did not know what rag paper was.
On the East Buffalo list serve, the ragman has been the subject of recollections by old-time residents, or others visiting their relatives in Buffalo. Here is a sampling of some of their writings:
| Linda: I'm so glad someone brought up this topic of the Rag Man. I've long thought I'd been imagining it, because I never could find anyone else who remembers the man coming through shouting out 'Rags' - I can't recall the street; it was whenever I happened to be visiting at my grandparents' home that I heard/saw him, early '50s. |
| Susan: I remember a ragman coming down Kehr Street in the 1930s. His call sounded like Raaaaaa to me. I never heard the "g" at the end. I mention this in my book, *Fruit Belt Beginnings. *I believe he also took discarded clothing. |
| Kathy Johnson I remember a rag man coming down the street with a horse drawn wagon about1945-1949. That was on Shirley Ave. near Eggert. Actually, he must have been still around in at least 1953 or 1954, because I can remember him, and I was born in '50. |
| Sara Burkholder I remember a fella who came down High St. in the '40s calling Rags, Papers, Iron, Bones. He had a horse and wagon. I always wondered how he lived with what seemed to be a meager offering from the folks on the street. |
| Jack Volk I remember the "ragman" coming down Rich street (late 40s, early 50s)as well. I always thought he was saying "rix". |
| sgtnysp Must have been the same guy that came by horse and wagon down Loxley Rd. (Pine Hill section of Cheektowaga) because all us kids thought he was saying "RIX" |
| Kevin: The rag man would get off his wagon and had a brick shaped metal weight that he would clip a strap to from his horse’s halter, so the horse wouldn't walk away, and then he would go into the invited house and down into the basement and take your collected newspapers etc. He had a scale on the back of the wagon that he weighed the paper bundles on and paid the housewife accordingly. He also had a metal vendor's plate on the side of the wagon, showing he was licensed to do biz in the community. |
| Terrie & Gary Fox My old dog Spike got himself in the dog pound for chasing the ragman's horse. |
There several other blogs and websites that have recollections of ragmen in other cities. They make interesting reading. Here are the links:
http://phillymemories.blogspot.com/2006/05/rag-man.html
http://www.oldnewark.com/memories/vailsburg/mcgrathragman.htm
http://www.oldnewark.com/memories/vailsburg/mcgrathragman.htm
Photo courtesy of Rich Schwegler.
This was a wonderful post, and I referred to it (and linked to your pic, with credit) from my blog post today at http://myqualityday.blogspot.com/2012/05/ragman-cometh.html
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