In 1952, cameras visited the Horrocks-Ibbotson Company in Utica to see how fishing rods were made.

The footage was filmed for Industry on Parade, a television series that traveled around the country showing American factories and the people who worked in them. More than 70 years later, the film gives us a chance to walk into a Utica factory while it was still up and running.

And this wasn’t just a small local operation. Horrocks-Ibbotson was a well-known name in fishing equipment, and its Utica-made rods were sold to fishermen across the country.

The old film follows the process of making fiberglass fishing rods. You see the material being prepared, the rods coming out of their molds and employees doing the finishing work by hand. Guides and other hardware are added, finishing coats are applied and the completed rods are prepared for sale.

For us, some of the best parts are in the background. You’re watching Utica people at work in 1952, doing what was then just an ordinary day’s job. Nobody was thinking about preserving a piece of old Utica. They were there to show how fishing rods were made.

Horrocks-Ibbotson had a long history in the fishing tackle business and became especially well known for its fishing rods. For generations of fishermen, the H-I name was a familiar one. Bamboo rods were an important part of the company’s earlier years, and later fiberglass became an increasingly important part of the business. The 1952 film catches the company during that change.

It also captures a very different Utica.

Manufacturing was still a major part of everyday life in the city, and thousands of local families had some connection to one factory or another. People made textiles, tools, machinery, clothing and all kinds of other products here. Horrocks-Ibbotson fishing rods were another one of those products that carried the Utica name far beyond the Mohawk Valley. You can see even more of the region from that era in this 1951 film of Utica, Rome and the Mohawk Valley before the Thruway.

Old H-I rods are still around today. Some have been handed down through families, some are collected, and plenty are probably still tucked away in garages, basements and camps throughout Upstate New York.

This is why we like finding these old films. You can still come across an H-I rod, but here you can actually see the Utica factory running and the people who made them.

Take a look at Horrocks-Ibbotson at work in Utica in 1952.

And if you worked at Horrocks-Ibbotson, had a family member who did, or still have one of their fishing rods, we’d love to hear from you.