The story
Founded by Edwin Thanhouser in 1909, in New Rochelle.1
Edwin Thanhouser constructed a studio in New Rochelle, New York. The company thrived under his leadership and by the summer of 1910, it had established itself as the best of the independents in the industry. Frank E. Woods of the American Biograph Company would pen an editorial in The New York Dramatic Mirror as "The Spectator", praising the Thanhouser company to this effect.
It was sold to Mutual Film Corporation on April 15, 1912, for $250,000. Charles J. Hite took charge.
On January 13, 1913, a fire destroyed the main facility in New Rochelle; much equipment and many costumes and negatives of films in production were lost. However, subsidiary studios that had been set up were able to meet distributors' needs while it was being rebuilt.
After Hite's death in an automobile accident, the company continued for another five years. After a period of floundering under inexperienced leadership, Edwin Thanhouser was hired to take charge, but he could not recreate the success of his earlier years. The film industry had evolved and was more competitive by this time, and although films featuring star Florence La Badie were still successful, other ventures were not. La Badie left Thanhouser Corporation in 1917, only weeks before her own death on October 13, 1917, due to injuries sustained in an automobile accident in late August. In 1920, Thanhouser Corporation was liquidated.
From Wikipedia’s article on Thanhouser Company, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4