This advertisement for William Dimond appeared in Trow's New York City Directory for 1858. William Dimond was in business as a blacksmith / iron founder with James G. Dimond from as early as 1858 until the early 1870s. The shop was located at 70 W. 33rd St. from around 1856 until 1867, then moved to 209 and 211 W. 33rd St., where it stayed until the late 1890s. This advertisement from 1891 shows this address. By this time they were J. G. & T. Dimond - i.e., James G. Dimond (ca.1828-1891) and Thomas Dimond (1854-1918). William Dimond drops out of directory listings around 1872.

William Dimond and James G. Dimond are both listed in the 1860 U. S. Census as iron railing manufacturers, but it is not clear how they are related. James G. Dimond was an immigrant from Ireland, age 35, and William Dimond, age 37, was born in New York state.

The business was listed as J. G. & T. Dimond in city directories from 1882 to 1893. In 1894 the business name became Thomas Dimond. This advertisement for Thomas Dimond appeared in Trow's New York City Directory for 1894.

This ad for Thomas Dimond appeared in the exhibition catalog of The Architectural League of New York, 1896. This ad for Thomas Dimond was included in The Seminarian: [Andrew] Oliver Memorial Number, 1898. This one appeared in the exhibition catalog of The Architectural League of New York, 1900. The "Established" date (1852) seems to refer to William Dimond, who may have been in business this early.

This ad appeared in Trow's New York City Business Directory, 1906, and lists a multitude of Dimond products.

Thomas Dimond was the son of William Dimond. Thomas Dimond's obituary in The New York Times, 24 April 1918, read, "Thomas Dimond, Colonel of the Seventh Regiment Veterans' Association and President of the Dimond-Apperson Automobile Company, died on Monday at his home, 20 West Seventy-third Street, in his sixty-fourth year. Colonel Dimond was a member of the boards of several financial and insurance corporations, and before he went into the automobile business was the head of the Thomas Dimond Iron Works, which retired from business when the property it occupied in Seventh Avenue, between Thirty-second and Thirty-third Streets, was sold, in part to the Pennsylvania Hotel Company. Colonel Dimond was born in Garrisons, N. Y., Sept. 1, 1854, and was educated at Packard's Business College, later studying architecture with James Renwick." The property referred to at 7th Ave. was 128 W. 33rd St. and 137 W. 32nd St., which adjoin 7th Ave. The foundry was located here from 1894 to 1910. The Pennsylvania Hotel opened on this site in 1919. Plans were filed for its construction in 1916. After 1910 Thomas Dimond survied a few more years at 137-139 W. 32nd St., where the actual iron works were located from much earlier.

A portrait photograph of Thomas Dimond appeared in Moses King's Notable New Yorkers, 1899.

Thomas Dimond's son, James Renwick Dimond (1880-1930), was also involved in the Dimond Architectural Iron Works as well as the Dimond-Apperson Motor Co. He registered for the World War I draft in 1918, where he described the Dimond-Apperson Motor Co., at 411 W 55th St., as engaged in automobile manufacture and repair. His obituary in The New York Times, 18 Feb. 1930, read in part, "James Renwick Dimond, retired engineer and financier, died yesterday at his home, 580 Park Avenue, of pneumonia after an illness of three days. He was 50 years old... Mr. Dimond was born in this city on Feb. 9, 1880, son of the late Colonel Thomas Dimond and the former Jennie Kelly. After graduating from Stevens Institute in Hoboken, he joined his father in the structural iron business. He retired several years ago and had spent a great deal of his time since on his farm near Jefferson, N. H."

In addition to architectural iron, Thomas Dimond also manufactured coal chute covers. An example is found in the Manholes Section at T. Dimond.

Copyright (c) 2010 Walter Grutchfield