Carey-McFall

Carey-McFall
Montoursville, PA
2156 E Dauphin ST
PHILADELPHIA PA

What do Venetian blinds have in common with aluminum Christmas trees? The Carey-McFall Company of Montoursville, PA!

By 1966 The Carey-McFall Company had been in business 102 years. For such a diverse and long-established company, not much aluminum tree history has been found on Carey-McFall. The advantage of a Sears distributorship solidified this manufacturer in the pantheon of aluminum Christmas tree greats.

For their aluminum trees, the Carey-McFall Company held patents 3,133,851 and 3,140,970. Car-Mac registered many other patents over the course of the company’s history.

The Company

Former Civil War surgeon, Dr. Elias R. Carey partnered with William F. McFall to design fancy lamps for horse-drawn carriages. The company grew and diversified from the horse and buggy age to the space age and beyond.

In the dawn of the auto age, Carey McFall moved on to manufacturing curtains and curtain rollers for autos and trains. As the demand waned in the automotive industry, Carey-McFall continued to prosper with the changing times.

Venetian blinds were the next main product line for Carey-McFall. In the 1940’s, Car-Mac’s wooden Betsey Ross Venetian Blinds were a mainstay in their market.

In the WWII era, The Carey-McFall Company used their factories to support the war effort.

As the Space Age dawned in the 1950’s, Carey McFall shifted from making wooden blinds to using light and modern aluminum! More aluminum products were continually being added. Offerings included advertising novelties, lawn and garden products and mobile home products. Carey-McFall also had an expansion into engineering and tool design.

Getting in the feverish aluminum Christmas tree craze was a natural progression for this innovative company. In 1956, company president William B. Reukauf led the firm into the aluminum Christmas tree era.

In 1969, Carey-McFall was purchased by Marathon Manufacturing of Houston, TX.

The legacy of Carey McFall in today’s world are the The Bali Blinds that pervade the window blinds market.

Hallmarks of Carey-McFall

Car-Mac is best known for their tapered product line. The models with optional pom-pon or colorful reflector disks are especially sought-after in today’s collector market. The boxes for full-size trees are huge, and Car-Mac employed the dreaded honeycomb system for storage. Carey McFall rods are hollow, and the aluminum is secured with a little metal ring guard.

Car-Mac had the prescience to color-code their taper trees directly on the rods. They also provided a legend of the incremental codes in the instruction materials.