Factory That Once Made Baseballs Now In Ruins After Fire In Vernon

VERNON, CT — A fire that broke out early Monday morning in a factory building that once made baseballs, housed furniture and was part of an infamous crime scene was still burning hours after it began.

Fire officials said they would be at the scene "all day" investigating the cause.

The blaze broke out at 1:56 a.m. at 114 Brooklyn St. The entire red brick structure was quickly engulfed in flames and firefighters from Vernon and several area towns began an attack that turned out to be, as one police spokesman termed it, "a very long night." At about 9 a.m. the north side of the structure had collapsed and the fire was still burning on the south side.

Debris was strewn all over Brooklyn Street.

The heat from the flames was so intense that siding on several homes across the street melted. No injuries were reported, however.

The outside temperatures were in the 20s and snow was falling during the overnight period. Vernon Town Administrator and Emergency Management Director Michael Purcaro said town officials teamed up with the American Red Cross and Rockville General Hospital to offer a warming center for residents affected by the fire.

The building had been mostly vacant or about two years, ever since the Ladd & Hall furniture store went out of business. It had been using some of the building as storage until 2020. It had also housed a machine shop.

The building was also once home to the Tober Baseball Manufacturing Co. after it had moved to the Rockville section of Vernon from Manchester in about 1954. Tober made baseballs and softballs, according to historical records.

The photo below was in taken in June 1964.

Tober was also part of an incident years ago that reads like a crime novel. The incident occurred on June 16, 1964, according to police records. An employee, Carmelo Reyes, 36 of Hartford, arrived at the workplace armed with a handgun and shot company president Meyer Tober twice, according to police records.

A 21-year-old female employee, diving for cover when the shooting began, also received a minor gunshot wound, according to police records. The shooter was disarmed and restrained by male employees until the arrival of Rockville Officer Jack Reichenbach, according to a police account of the case.

Tober died two days later of a heart attack, according to police records. Reyes was subsequently convicted of manslaughter and assault, and sentenced to 18 years.