Bohemia Historical Society
Button Making
From Žirovnice to Long Island
1920s
The Knoflíkářství Trade
During the 1920s, the village of Bohemia, New York, hummed with the sound of industry, solidifying its reputation as a hub of skilled Old World craftsmanship. While cigar rolling was a prominent local trade, the village became equally famous for another highly specialized craft: the manufacture of pearl buttons.
This distinctly Czech industry—known as knoflíkářství—was brought to the United States by immigrants from Žirovnice, a town in the south-central part of the Czech Republic. Historically renowned for its glasswork and mother-of-pearl production, Žirovnice remains a center for the trade today, with its historic 13th-century castle now serving as a museum dedicated to the button industry.
Manufacturing
The Shell Piles and Process
When Czech immigrants settled on Long Island, it was only natural that they brought this specialized trade with them. Spurred in part by the protective McKinley Tariff of 1890, which made domestic button making highly profitable, Czech immigrants established booming businesses. In the early 1900s, New York State was home to roughly 40 button factories, with the Town of Islip (specifically the hamlet of Bohemia) standing out as a vital manufacturing outpost.
Despite being called “pearl” buttons, these high-fashion fasteners were actually carved from the iridescent inner linings of oyster shells, marine shells imported from Australia, and freshwater mussel shells harvested from the Mississippi River.
In Bohemia, pearl button factories were instantly recognizable by their “shell piles”—massive, blindingly white mountains of imported shells stacked outside, waiting to be processed. Transforming these rough shells into delicate, high-fashion fasteners for New York City’s bustling garment district was a labor-intensive, dusty, and loud process:
- Preparation: Industrial machines first stripped the rough, bark-like exterior from the shells and ground them down to a smooth, flat surface.
- Cutting: Skilled cutters used specialized hollow drills to punch out raw circular blanks from the shells, maximizing the number of buttons yielded from a single shell.
- Finishing: The rough blanks were tumbled and polished. Craftsmen then used machinery to engrave intricate patterns on the edges, drill the thread holes, and dye the buttons in vibrant colors ranging from amber and pink to rose and red.
- Carding: The final step was a community effort. The finished buttons were sewn onto display cards—a task frequently performed by the women and children of the village working from home. While tedious, piece-work carding provided a steady, reliable supplementary income for dozens of local families.
1867–1954
A Pioneer’s Legacy: Joseph Hrouda
At the turn of the 20th century, clothing adorned with genuine pearl buttons was considered a high-fashion status symbol, driving tremendous demand. Among the pioneers who capitalized on this boom was Joseph Hrouda, a man who carried his heritage across the ocean to leave a permanent mark on Long Island.
Born in 1867 in Bohemia (in the present-day Czech Republic), Hrouda grew up in a region famous for its fine glasswork. In his homeland, buttons were frequently made of glass, giving him foundational skills he would later adapt. He immigrated to America in 1891 and married his wife, Frances, the following year. Together, they raised two daughters, Jennie and Mary. Shifting his expertise from glass to oyster shells, Joseph established his first New York factory.
1914–1922
The Karshick Street Factory
By 1914, Hrouda operated a highly successful pearl button factory on East 59th Street in Manhattan—an area known today as Sutton Place. At the time, his business was valued at more than $100,000 (equivalent to over $3 million today).
In 1922, Hrouda expanded his operations eastward to Long Island, a fitting move for a man from “Old Bohemia.” The following year, he partnered with George Math to establish the firm Math & Hrouda, building a successful pearl button factory on Karshick Street in Bohemia, NY. Hrouda moved his family to Lakeland Avenue, where they resided for over thirty years. Joseph eventually retired from manufacturing around 1936 and lived in the Sayville-Bohemia area until his death in 1954.
Post-WWII
The End of an Era
Firms like Math & Hrouda and B. Schwanda & Sons kept the local economy thriving for decades, supplying millions of buttons to the fashion capital of the world just 50 miles to the west.
However, the industry could not hold out against modernization forever. Following World War II, changes in fashion (such as the zipper) and the rise of cheap, mass-produced plastics devastated the demand for genuine shell buttons. The Long Island pearl button boom slowly faded, with the final Bohemia factory closing its doors in 1969. Today, the legacy of Joseph Hrouda and the hardworking immigrant families of Bohemia remains a proud chapter of Long Island’s industrial history.