How It Began Patsy Buttino began putting on fireworks shows in the early decades of the twentieth century. He founded the fireworks company in 1912. The business was located on Bartlett Street and began with only his name as its title. His business card described him as Manufacturer of Day and Night High Grade Fireworks for all Occasions.
From the earliest days he collaborated on creating fireworks shows, first with Patsy Christmas and beginning in 1921 with Giuseppe (Joe) Filaretti, also known by the nickname Boombardell. Filaretti owned their original fireworks factory, located behind Commando's Restaurant at 3 Commando Avenue. In 1935, Filaretti retired from the fireworks business after being severely burned on the abdomen and legs when a fireworks piece he was working on exploded in his lap.
While putting on fireworks shows, Buttino also held other jobs He was a fruit merchant, a grocer in a business at 102 Elm Street, and for many years the proprietor of the restaurant in the East Cortland House Hotel at 110 Elm Street, around the corner from his home. During Prohibition the establishment was a known speakeasy. Later it became the Alton Hotel.
The Business Grows But no one person could do it all. Some of his hires worked for free – his children and grandchildren. Below are sons John (far left) and Bob (far right), The fourth person in this photo is Frank Catalano of Auburn. Daughter Irene and daughter-in-law Lillian were also active in the fireworks business..
At the family’s large oak dining table, Patsy enlisted any available family member to roll heavy brown kraft paper around metal rods or wooden dowels to create tubes that were the basic element of his fireworks. Each tube was sealed shut with a brushing of homemade paste. The tubes of various lengths and widths were stored in the basement. Ultimately he would need thousands of tubes each year for the aerial bombs. [Photo: Marion Wesp]
Patsy’s granddaughter Joan remembers as a four-year-old child sitting on his lap at the table while he taught her to roll the paper tubes. Besides the family, Patsy would enlist visitors to the home in the tube making. Bette Alaura West was a teenager who lived down the street. She remembers that “we used to sit around the table and roll the heavy brown paper into casings to be used for the fireworks. We did this in the winter time. I remember getting paid a few pennies for the work.” The Company Worksite Tube making went on all through the fall and winter months in preparation for better weather and the next stage of production. That’s when work moved to a remote location in south Cortland on Pendleton Street. The site was on a hill overlooking the city. The tubes would be filled with various mixtures of gunpowder and colored chemicals to make aerial bombs and ground pieces. This was also where his famous ground set pieces were constructed and stored.
The site was down a long dirt road deep into a grassy area with a small creek. There were three buildings. One was an old shack, dark inside but with an extended roof that created a shady space where Patsy could work outside. “I remember going with my mother to a shack out in the country where the fireworks were made,” said Irene’s daughter Rikki. “I don’t think I realized that my mother worked on the fireworks, but I knew that people called grandpa a wizard.”
Bette Alaura West remembers continuing her work on Pendleton Hill. “In the summer I went to the shack and filled the casings with gunpowder. Mr. Buttino kept telling me to keep out of the sun and stay in the shade. I never thought much about it, but I guess he didn't want me to blow up.”
Even very young grandchildren, like his granddaughters Joan and Ann had jobs on the hill. Ann remembers: “We removed the ends of the burned casings from wooden frames of old set pieces so the frames could be used again. Sometimes we were sent to the creek to fill tin cans with water so my grandfather could make paste.”
As the business grew, Patsy’s sons took on larger roles. His eldest son John became the business manager as well as a fireworks maker. Another son, Bob, worked for many years both building fireworks and setting them off at shows. Each summer, other family members from Cortland and from as far away as Schenectady and Buffalo came to help out in the Buttino family business.
Two regulars were Patsy’s nephews Al and Tony Buttino who came from Schenectady every year to help out during the busy 4th of July holiday. Al’s daughter Marlene Buttino Osier said, “My father used his vacation time from his job at GE to go to Cortland and work on the fireworks. He loved it so much and always had a great time working for Uncle Patsy.”
George Peterson, writing in the Ithaca Journal in July 1961 described the extended family this way: “The Buttino family is a colorful and multitudinous array. Every year about this time they converge on Cortland from all over the Eastern United States. Included are priests, nuns, and administrators with two things in common: they’re related and they like fireworks.”
The Highest Compliment Every year Patsy received many letters of praise and thanks from the venues where he put on fireworks shows, from Cornell University to the Mecklenburg Fire Department. But one of his favorite letters is this one he saved from an Auburn boy in 1954.
The End of An Era After the 1961 season, illness forced Patsy to stop working. His sons were conflicted about continuing the business without their father and were concerned about the increasing costs of liability insurance. Then a tragic incident in early 1962, though not their fault, influenced their decision. Three teenagers broke into the company's Pendleton Street site and stole some aerial bombs. They drove around, lighting the fuses, and tossing the bombs from the car windows. Unfortunately one bomb went off while still inside the car. One teen died, the others were injured but survived only because they were thrown from the car. The explosion was such that there was nothing left of the car body to distinguish make or model. Patsy's sons liquidated The Cortland Fireworks Company later that year.
In July 1962, Patsy was healthy enough to attend the Cornell fireworks show with his son Bob and his grandchildren Ann and Betty. They sat in the stands with the rest of the crowd. As his son Bob criticized the presentation Patsy sat quietly. According to his granddaughter Ann, after its finale he was content to hear exiting audience members complain that "the bombs gave less of a bang and the show pieces were also shorter." The reaction was that the show was not the same as the years before. The beloved and renowned fireworks king of Central New York died seven months later in January 1963 at the age of 81.