Camillus Cutlery, a century-old manufacturer of knives for American soldiers and Boy Scouts, closed its doors for good this week, leaving its last few workers without jobs and a village without its identity.

"It's our image. It's what made Camillus famous," Mayor Ed Fletcher said Friday. "But even more, it was something that held our community together and connected every family living here."

Although a bitter strike last year reduced the company work force to less than 20 and its demise appeared inevitable, the cutlery's closing still came suddenly. Workers learned Tuesday that Wednesday would be their final day.

"We were expecting it, just not so soon or so quick," said Bill Slate, 35, a veteran of 15 years whose mother and grandfather also worked at the factory outside Syracuse.

"I began working here out of high school. Back then, I would never have thought it could come to this. No one would," said Slate, who is married with three children in school.

The privately owned company shut down without providing any severance pay to workers, no word on health insurance and with a cloud hanging over $5 million in pension fund payments. Managers and owners declined comment.

Camillus Cutlery was a victim of tough competition from foreign manufacturers, said David Barrack, executive director of the American Edged Products Manufacturers Association. Several companies have shut down or curtailed operations in recent years, including Imperial Schrade Corp., once the largest knife manufacturer in the world, which closed in 2004.

Because of the role played by foreign competition in Camillus' downfall, the federal government has made union employees of the company eligible for Trade Adjustment Assistance, giving them access to extended unemployment insurance, training and other benefits.

During World War II, Camillus Cutlery made more than 15 million knives for U.S. soldiers. The company's 700 employees toiled in three shifts. In peacetime, the company prospered making Boy Scout knives, hunting knives and a variety of other blades.

"The company even built several blocks of new homes for its workers. They are still there. There were some good times," the mayor said.

The company began when Adolph Kastor, a German immigrant, started a New York City business in 1876 to import German-made knives. Tariffs imposed in 1897 made the blades too expensive to import so Kastor looked for his own manufacturing operation. In 1902, he bought a 20-person cutlery in Camillus that had been founded eight years earlier, and renamed it after the town.

The factory sits in the heart of the village of 1,250 people, its buildings straddling fast-flowing Nine Mile Creek, a favorite with canoeists and kayakers. The mayor can see the factory through the front window of his office on Main Street. Each of the four main roads leading into the village has a road sign that reads, "Welcome to the village of Camillus, home of the world famous Camillus Cutlery."