Frank Lamb and John Sanford on the Lloyd J. Harriss Pie Factory

Name/Title

Frank Lamb and John Sanford on the Lloyd J. Harriss Pie Factory

Entry/Object ID

2024.41.216

Scope and Content

In years past, the SCA building at 400 Culver St. in Saugatuck belonged to the Lloyd J. Harriss Pie Company, and hundreds of thousands of delicious frozen fruit pies were manufactured for national consumption. Frank Lamb, a lifelong resident of Saugatuck, joined the company in the 1960s after college and his Army Intelligence stint in Bankok, Thailand. John Sanford, a Chicago area boy who vacationed through his early life in Saugatuck, joined the company shortly after. Both were senior department managers and recall, in this video, the pie assembly process and the general operation of the frozen pie industry. Harriss Pie employees unionized in the early 1960s, moving Mr. Harriss to abandon his office in the building to never return. Management meetings were held in his estate on Cambell St. across the river. Subsequently he sold the business and it went through several owners before its economic death in the 1980s. Jim Schmiechen interviews Frank and John on historical details in preparation for a future program. The video is in three chapters. The first chapter documents and expands on the above information and is set in the SDHS Audio/Video Recording Room. The second chapter views Frank and John sitting with Jim in front of his computer viewing and identifying old photos of the Pie Factory employees and equipment. The third chapter, back in the Recording Room focuses on Frank and John's history before and after their pie factory experiences.

Collection

Industry and manufacturing

Cataloged By

Winthers, Sally

Acquisition

Accession

2024.41

Acquisition Method

Found in Collection

Credit Line

To view this recording, scroll down to the bottom of this entry and click the blue web link. This video was created by Saugatuck-Douglas History Center volunteers or was donated to the Center in a good faith effort to preserve local history. If you feel this content should not be available to the public — or have additional information that will add context to this interview — please contact the SDHC Archives at archives@mysdhistory.org.

Oral History Details

Interviewee

Lamb, Frank Ensfield 1940-, Sanford, John Coleman 1940-

Interviewer

Schmiechen, James A., Shack, John

Interview Date

Mar 18, 2011

Length of Interview

53 minutes

Location

Oral History DVD/CDs
Digital data in CatalogIt

Relationships

Related Person or Organization

Person or Organization

Lamb, Frank Ensfield 1940-, Sanford, John Coleman 1940-, Lloyd J. Harriss Pie Company/Rich Pie Company c1950s-1998, Saugatuck Center for the Arts SCA

Create Date

November 9, 2024

Update Date

March 19, 2025