1865: Doxsee Clam &
Seafood Canning Co. Founded

In the summer of 1865, two men from eastern Long Island rented land at the Maple Street Dock in Islip, near Montauk Highway, and began canning clams. That autumn, their landlord, Islip native James Harvey Doxsee, and his brother-in-law purchased their plant. They created the Doxsee Clam & Seafood Canning Company – the first Long Island firm to can hard shell clams. An innovator, Doxsee hired experts to solve the problem of spoilage in the developing industry. Business boomed, and in 1873, Doxsee’s plant canned 6,000 bushels of clams. According to Doxsee Sea Clam Co. president Bob Doxsee, the Islip facility closed around 1905, shortly after opening a North Carolina branch. The operation later moved to Florida, continuing as a family-run business until 1947. Today, the Doxsee Sea Clam Company harvests, processes and ships frozen surf clams nationwide. The Doxsee factory in Islip is shown here in a photo taken around 1900.