The Eberle Tanning Company and the Westan Tanning Company
The Tannery was the place to work either as a job during the summer or for a lifetime in the years prior to 1995 in Westfield. It was a good place to work, and many people worked there their whole lives. In the 1990s the Eberle's sold the Tannery and it went through different hands until Westan bought it and ran it for a few years. About 2004 Westan closed the Tannery, and it now stands empty waiting for someone else to buy it.
This information was also found at http://www.joycetice.com/articles/1976west.htm
After 1810, when Ayers Tuttle built a grist mill east of the present
borough limits, and soon after established the Wayside Inn in his home,
many industries, shops and stores sprang up in Westfield, only to fold
after a few years. The most notable were Hollister Baker's Foundry, Van
Dusen's Marble Works, Tremaine's Flour Mill, Rood's Carriage and Wagon
Shop, the Westfield Planing Mill, Kelts and Gilbert Tannery, H.H. Crary
and Company Tannery, Phillips Foundry on the corner of Mill and Lincoln
Streets, two cigar making establishments, hotels, and innumerable
mercantile concerns that lined both sides of Main Street.
However one business that refused to fold was the Eberle Tannery,
established here in 1867.
Legend has it that Frank Eberle, a Bavarian native, began tanning hides
in a hollowed-out log vat at the end of an old Indian trail in the
Cowanesque Valley. It is a fact, however, that throughout the years,
despite severe reverses, nothing could destroy the Eberle spirit.
In 1889 the Mill Creek flood washed away all the tannery's vats, barns and storehouses, but Mr. Eberle picked up the pieces and rebuilt. He was in charge until his death in 1895. His son, Joseph F. Eberle Senior, then continued the business and initiated the changeover to mechanization. Production soon increased, and so did demands for Tioga Oak. Disaster struck for the second time in 1919, when fire destroyed most of the buildings. But Joseph had inherited his father's determination, and rebuilding began at once. The Eberle Tannery survived when other tanneries were discontinuing operation, maintaining a program of regular improvement and modernization, resulting in greater efficiency and a better product. It is notable that during the depression years Eberle continued full employment. Being the main industry for this area, Westfield didn't suffer from the effects of unemployment, bread lines, or loss of business by the merchants. Today the Eberle Tanning Company is operated by Joseph F. Eberle Junior, assisted by his son, Mark. Present goals are maintaining today's pollution standards, along with steady improvement in both product and efficiency. The tannery enjoys the distinction of being the world's most modern tannery, and the largest producing sole leather. (as of 1976)