History of Santa Clara County, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present, Part 51

Author: Sawyer, Eugene Taylor, 1846-
Publication date: 1922
Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1928

USA > California > Santa Clara County > History of Santa Clara County, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present > Part 51

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Dr. Breyfogle, the founder, was a native of Columbus, Ohio, and a graduate of the Ohio Wesleyan University. The same year he left college he entered the U. S. Army, rose to the rank of captain and was compelled to resign on account of failing eyesight. After a par- tial recovery from his affliction he studied law until his eyes again failed. Homeopathic treat- ment cured him and then he resolved to be- come a homeopathic physician. Entering a medical college, he graduated in 1865 and in 1870 came to San Jose. In May, 1886, he was elected mayor of the city. In 1885 he organ- ized the San Jose Building and Loan Asso- ciation.

Security State and Savings Bank

The Security State Bank and Security Sav- ings Bank occupy cosy rooms in a concrete building on First Street, opposite Post Street. It was organized as a savings bank in July, 1891, with Frank Stock as president, L. G. Nesmith, vice-president, and Paul P. Austin, cashier and manager, in the rooms adjoining the First National Bank. In 1900 W. S. Rich- ards obtained control of the stock and moved the business to East Santa Clara Street. be- tween First and Second Streets. In 1902 the Security State Bank was organized as an ad- junct of the savings institution. In March, 1909, the business was removed to its pres- ent quarters. E. T. Sterling was cashier un- der Richards until his resignation in 1907. He was succeeded by Wilbur J. Edwards. Mr. Richards died in 1915 and Mr. Edwards suc- ceeded to the office of president, and George B. Campbell became cashier. The vice-presi- dents were C. M. Richards and W. A. John- ston. The combined statement of the condition of the two banks, issued June 20, 1920, shows the following: Resources, $4,687,924.59; cap- ital, $100,000; capital, surplus and profits, $492,646.81 ; combined deposits, $4.175,277.78.

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HISTORY OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY

First National Bank

The First National Bank of San Jose was organized July 11, 1874, with a paid up capi- tal of $500,000, with John W. Hinds as presi- dent ; W. L. Tisdale, vice-president, and G. P. Sparks, cashier. On July 6, 1875, the office of assistant cashier was created and L. G. Nes- mith elected to the position. In 1880 W. D. Tisdale became president and L. G. Nesmith cashier. Tisdale was succeeded by George M. Bowman, who held office until 1903. On his death the presidency fell to J. D. Radford. In 1907 he resigned and W. S. Clayton was his successor and is still in office. In 1910 a new. up-to-date finely appointed concrete building of nine stories, the tallest building in San Jose, was erected on the site of the old building on the southwest corner of First and Santa Clara Streets. The capital stock of the bank is $500,000; surplus, $200,000; deposits, $7,108,- 100.83; undivided profits, $171,742.62. The present officers are W. S. Clayton, president ; S. F. Leib, vice-president; Paul Rudolph, cashier.

The Growers' Bank

The Growers' Bank, a new institution, was organized in May, 1920, and opened for busi- ness in July of that year, in the Rea building, on the northwest corner of Santa Clara and Market Streets. It is purely a county bank. with its stock broadly owned within the dis- trict. The capital stock has been placed at $300,000; surplus. $60,000. The officers are : V. T. McCurdy, president ; S. E. Johnson, vice- president ; Fred W. Sinclair, cashier and manager.

The banks have a Clearing House Associa- tion and weekly reports are made. The offic- ers are WV. R. Beans, president ; Paul Rudolph, secretary.

The Leading Industries

Chief among the leading industries of San Jose are the canneries and packing houses. They cover thousands of acres of ground and are mainly in the suburbs. Mention of their importance and activities has been made in the chapter covering the fruit industries of the city and county.

San Jose Foundry

Of the other industries-and they are many and are well sustained-the San Jose Foundry is the pioneer. It was first established in 1852 by Pomeroy and Mackenzie on the cor- ner of First and San Antonio Streets, where it remained until 1871, when a larger building was erected by Donald Mackenzie, then the sole proprietor. Here, in addition to a general

moulding and casting business, machines of many kinds were made and repared, the fa- cilities for such work being complete. The iron work for the court house, county jail and other prominent buildings of San Jose was supplied by the San Jose Foundry. After the death of Donald Mackenzie the management passed into the hands of Andrew Mackenzie and was continued until his death in 1918. In 1905 the lot on which the foundry stood was sold and the plant was removed to Vine Street, near Santa Clara Street. The business is now in the hands of the Misses Mackenzie, Frank Cavallaro and Oscar Promis. Cavallaro is the superintendent and O. Promis is the secretary. The lot where the old foundry once stood is now occupied by the Montgomery Hotel and the building of the California Prune and Apri- cot Growers, incorporated.

The Bean Spray Company

John Bean, the inventor of the Bean Spray Pump, began his work in the early '50s and enjoyed the distinction of being the inventor and patentee of the first double-acting force pump for well purposes. On account of ill health Mr. Bean moved to California in 1883. He bought an orchard and soon found that it was infested with scale. Only little squirt gun pumps were then on the market, so he put his ingenious mind at work and soon had built the first high-pressure spray pump with air pressure ever made. This pump was ex- hibited in the California fairs of 1884 and cre- ated such a demand that Mr. Bean formed a company and started a factory. D. C. Crum- mey, son-in-law of Mr. Bean, has been presi- dent of the company since 1888. Mr. Bean's fertile mind continued its work of inventing and perfecting spray pumps and spray noz- zles until his death in 1908. Members of the third generation of the family are now actively engaged in the business and they, together with several of the trained experts who now form a part of the larger organization, have actively continued the work. The first factory was located in Los Gatos. It was moved to San Jose in 1903 and in 1908 there was built on Julian Street the largest exclusive spray pump factory in the world. Since that year several important additions have been made. In 1909 the company established a factory in Berea, Ohio, with branch offices at Cleveland. The business grew rapidly and in 1914 the Berea factory was discontinued and a new and up-to-date factory was built at Lansing, Mich- igan. The outfits of the company can be pur- chased anywhere in America. In San Jose, where the largest plant is located, the com- pany not only makes everything for spraying. from hand spray pumps, power sprayer, light

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weight nozzles and accessories, high-pressure spray hose and spray guns, but also a deep well turbine pump for which the claim is made that there is an absence of all valve and priming troubles, that there are sanitary pre- cautions and that it is adaptable to direct con- nection with vertical motors. J. D. Crummey is general manager of the company.

The company started a new industry in 1922 in the manufacture of single cylinder en- gines, this representing an expenditure of $100,000. It is the first factory of its kind to be established west of the Mississippi.

Anderson-Barngrover Manufacturing Company

Twenty-five years ago W. C. Anderson started in business as a manufacturer of can- ning machinery. About the same time the Cunningham factory was established. A few years afterwards the Anderson Prune Dip- ping Company was organized. The Cunning- ham factory consolidated with Barngrover and the Enterprise Foundry under the firm name of Barngrover, Hull & Cunningham. An- derson and the B. H. & C. Company were riv- als for a few years and then came together as one company under the name of the Anderson- Barngrover Manufacturing Company. The first factory was on Santa Clara Street, but for over ten years it has been located on Jul- ian Street, near the Guadalupe River. The buildings cover five acres of ground close to the tracks of the Southern Pacific Railroad and with patented devices it turns out a line of high-grade automatic canning machinery which inclues exhaust boxes, graders, peelers, washers, slicers, canning tables, scalders, washers, blanchers, syrupers and fillers for fruit ; sorters, pan and bucket tables, peeling tables, pulpers, finishers and fillers for toma- toes, cap markers, fish canning machinery, green prune dipping and grading machinery, grape scalders and dippers, continuous agitat- ing cookers, and many other useful and labor- saving devices. The plant is one of the larg- est of the kind in the world. Most of the larg- er plants and practically all the smaller plants on the Pacific Coast have been equipped by the Anderson-Barngrover Company. The largest and finest fruit canning plant in Aus- tralia, owned and operated by the Govern- ment, is equipped throughout with the com- pany's line of machinery. The business has been developed solely by local men, and ship- ments to all parts of the world are made. Three plants in Australia were supplied dur- ing 1919. Three hundred men are employed and the sales for 1919-20 amounted to over $2,000,000. The officers are W. C. Anderson, president ; F. L. Burrell, vice-president and 18

manager ; 13. 1). Hull, secretary, E. B. Weaver, treasurer. Directors-W. C. Anderson, F. L. Burrell, F. E. Weaver, G. H. Lyle, H. C. Minker, T. C. Barnett.

Smith Manufacturing Company

The Smith Manufacturing Company, con- sisting of father and son-J. S. Smith and Chas. O. Smith-the former the president, the latter the manager, was formed in 1902 and has a large plant on Stockton Avenue, near the Alameda. The company makes exclusive- ly fruit machinery for the fruit grower, canner and dried fruit packer. The implements turn- ed out are a combined dipper, grader and auto- matic spreader ; a power cylinder spreader ; a combined dipper and spreader ; a combined dip- per, rinser and spreader ; steel tanks, dipper basket, field car, transfer car, turn table, dried fruit grader, dried fruit receiving car, stan- dard fruit barrow and box truck. The com- pany does not claim any special dexterity or secret methods, but it does claim that its ma- chinery is made with that care and honesty of purpose which produces a uniform quality un- excelled by other makers.

Sperry Flour Company

The first flour mill in San Jose was erected by R. G. Moody in 1854 on the banks of Coy- ote Creek about the spot where Empire Street ends. Here the propelling power was water, procured from an artesian well. The business was transferred to Third Street, near the cor- ner of Santa Clara Street, in 1858, where steam instead of water was used to drive the machin- ery. The improvements consisted of a mill and warehouse, the latter with a capacity for the storage of 40,000 sacks of flour. The mill fronted on Third Street, the warehouse on Fourth Street. Mr. Moody put in porcelain rollers soon after their introduction to this Coast and manufactured the once celebrated "Lily White Flour." He retired from busi- ness in the early '60s, and was succeeded by his sons, Charles, Volney and David B. Moody. After a few years Volney Moody sold out his interest, removed to Oakland and became a banker.

In 1887 the Moody brothers sold out to the Central Milling Company, which soon took in all the mills in Central California. C. L. Ding- ley was president, and D. B. Moody secretary. For a number of years the company used for manufacturing purposes the mill in San Jose, but the time came when the Santa Clara Val- ley ceased to be the grain center of the state. Grain fields everywhere had been converted into fruit orchards, and fruit culture became the great industry of the valley. In 1892 the Sperry Flour Company absorbed the Cen-

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HISTORY OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY

tral Milling Company and W. G. Alexander was appointed manager. Through his activ- ity and sound business sense the company ex- tended its operations until it had practically covered the entire state. Now its tentacles have reached out to include Oregon, Washing- ton, Nevada and Utah. Mr. Alexander con- tinued in office for twenty-three years -- until he went into business for himself. He was succeeded by his brother, Howard Alexander, who died in 1912. E. B. Devine is the present manager. The main office of the com- pany is in San Francisco. David B. Moody retired from the secretaryship many years ago. He is now one of the directors of the San Jose Keystone Company, of which W. G. Alex- ander is president.

The Globe Mills

The Globe Mills opened in June, 1920, a branch office and warehouse in San Jose to care for their rapidly growing business in San- ta Clara County. The opening of this enter- prise indicates the belief on the part of one of the largest manufacturers on the coast that San Jose is destined to become an important factor in the commercial and industrial devel- opment of California. The Globe Mills is an old California concern with mills and ware- houses in many cities on the coast and in Nevada and Utah. The local branch is under the management of J. W. Hollister, for- mierly of San Francisco. A complete line of the Globe Mills products is carried, and sales in San Jose, on the peninsula and on the coast north of and including Santa Cruz, are handled by this officer. A delivery system will be inaugurated operating as far north as Palo Alto.

The American Can Company

The American Can Company, a branch of the great New Jersey Company, has a plant on Martha Street, which takes in an entire block. This company is now employing 450 men and women. Foreseeing difficulty in ob- taining the amount of help they needed should other industries locate in San Jose and give regular employment throughout the year, and also anticipating the continued growth of the canning industry in this section of the state, the company early in 1919 completed plans for enlarging its business.

These plans have been developed so far that warehouse facilities to store 32,000,000 cans and track facilities for loading and unloading 50 freight cars at a time are the result. This storage capacity is now being added to the present plant in a warehouse 200 by 600 feet being built adjoining their original plant of 225 by 500 feet, making a plant covering an en-

tire city black bounded by Martha, Keyes and Fifth Streets, with the Southern Pacific rail- road on the Fourth Street side.

In making these additions to its plant the company intends to start year-round work for its employees. None but adult help will be employed and except in case of emergency all night and overtime work will be done away with. With the greatly increased storage ca- pacity there will be enough room to care for the needs of the company's customers with the constant shipment of those concerns operating throughout the greater portion of the year. The plant was located in San Jose in 1912. In 1919 the company's output was over 10,000,000 cans. John S. Reed is the superintendent.

Security Warehouse and Cold Storage Company

The spacious mansion occupied first by Mrs. Sarah L. Knox-Goodrich and afterwards by Capt. C. H. Maddox and family on First Street, opposite the Southern Pacific depot, has been removed and now the grounds cover- ing nearly an acre and extending from First to Second Streets, holds the large and costly concrete buildings of the Security Warehouse and Cold Storage Company. The improve- ments were started in the spring of 1920.

The enterprise is the result of a determin- ation on the part of local business men who decided that the time had come when the San- ta Clara Valley would support such a plant. They organized a $500,000 corporation, all local capital, secured the desired site and started operation. The building is of con- crete, except a small portion of the roof over some dry storage rooms, and is the most mod- ern in every particular that the directors could find in visits to like plants throughout the country. There are in reality four distinct buildings, each accessible to the other and sep- arated by double fireproof doors. Floors are all of concrete as are the supports in all the main parts.

The location of the plant is ideal, facing both First and Second Streets, and adjoining the main line of the Southern Pacific. There are two side tracks at the railroad site with a storage capacity of twelve cars for either load- ing or unloading. The fourth side is a very wide drive for the use of teams and unloading anto trucks.

The building is 145x275 feet, of two-story and basement design, and is equipped with an elevator of great capacity for the purpose of getting goods to the upper story and to the basement, all goods being unloaded on the main floor, to which the platform from either drive or railroad give direct access. Also there is a driveway for trucks or teams leading

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onto this floor that full loads intended for storage above or below may be placed directly on the elevator without trucking.

There are three distin storage system be- ing installed to care for the different classes of goods expected to be handled: Direct cool air for the care of fresh fruit; a brine storage system for egg-keeping; and a direct expan- sion of ammonia system for the freezing of fresh fruits and meats. By the latter means it is said fruit may be frozen and kept for a period of several years, coming out with all the appearance and taste as if freshly picked.

The fresh fruit storage will be invaluable to growers and canners of this valley in case of an abundance of fruit ripening at once or in case of railroad trouble in shipping, as it can be placed here and kept until conditions for its use are right.

The company is also installing an ice-mak- ing plant and already has contracted for a part of the capacity of the plant to local con- cerns. This plant will be equipped with the latest apparatus for purifying the water be- fore it is frozen and for the sanitary handling of the product.

The whole plant has a capacity of about 10.000 tons of storage besides the room being given up to storage of heavy vehicles, such as autos, tractors, and the like, of which there are many already in the building. This latter space is easily convertible into the other var- ieties if it is found there is demand enough to warrant such an alteration. E. E. Chase is president of the company, and J. Q. Patton is secretary.

Garden City Manufactory

This concern, started in 1919 at the corner of Willard and San Carlos Streets, specializes in women's and children's garments. Thirty competent women are employed and great bolts of muslin, percale, gingham, crepe, flan- nellette, satin and silk dominate the shop, housed in a large, modern cement building. The electric cutting machcine cuts 600 gar- ments at once and there has been a rush of orders ever since the opening. S. C. Kimball is the proprietor.

Tile Company

The S. & S. Tile Company, located at Fourth and Lewis Streets, began operations in 1920. The claim is made that it is the only place in the United States where tiles are made by hand. The company's specialty is the manufacture of mosaics and the tiles of the ancient Moors, reproduction of the work done by the hands of skillful potters. A. L. Solon is the president of the company.

Spray Manufacturing Company

A new enterprise entailing the investment of $50,000 in perfecting the fruit spray was removed to San Jose from Hood River, and started in 1921 with a fine factory at Stockton and Emery Streets. The name is the San Jose Spray Manufacturing Company. J. C. But- cher, head of the firm known as the Butcher Company of Hood River, is the director of the research department, and D. L. Currier, entomologist, is the director of field work. At all times throughout the year the service de- partment will be open for advice and consul- tation.

Artificial Leather Factory

In the winter of 1921-22 a company, con- sisting of local men, was organized to take up the manufacture of certain chemical products, the principal one to be that of artificial leather, of which the coast uses upwards of 200,000 lineal yards per month for automobile tops and upholstery, furniture upholstery, book binding and novelties. This product will be followed by an exceptionally beautiful silk manufactured under a patented process owned by the company. Other products will include non-inflammable moving picture films, lac- quers, enamels and celluloid materials. An ideal factory site has already been secured just north of San Jose. The officers are: Pre- sident, D. J. Conant; Zeno Ostenberg, vice- president and chief chemist: secretary-treas- urer, J. A. Naismith ; auditor, J. G. Shaw.

Manufactured Products

Figures received from the bureau of census by the local Chamber of Commerce in 1921 show San Jose to have produced in 1920 manu- factured products valued at $25,000.000. nearly a five-fold increase over the 1910 total. The average number of wage earners employed is shhown by the new census at 3,100. while in 1910 only about 1,340 were employed. The margin between raw material and finished products is placed at $10,628,000 over a total of $2,368,000 in 1910.

The canners do an annual business of $49,236,750; gross annual payroll. $4.837,102. In San Jose there are 73 purely industrial concerns.

Wholesale Grocers

The Walsh-Col Company is the pioneer wholesale grocery firm in San Jose. In 1898 P. M. Walsh and P. E. Col formed a co- partnership and started the business in a small store at 20 North Market Street. Business rapidly increased, and in 1901 the Walsh-Col Company was incorporated. In 1906 the pre- sent large and commodious building on North Market Street, near the Southern Pacific de-

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pot, was erected. It covers 400,000 square feet of ground. The building is of brick and concrete with entrances on Market and San Pedro Streets. The company deals in staple groceries, spices, extracts, and tea and coffee and the business extends from South San Francisco on the north to Paso Robles on the south. Forty persons are on the pay roll in San Jose and eight traveling salesmen are em- ployed every month in the year. The capital stock is $100,000. P. M. Walsh died in 1912. The present officers of the company are P. J. Foley, president ; P. E. Col, vice-president ; J. J. Shaw, secretary.

The Keystone Company of San Jose was or- ganized by E. H. Renzel in September, 1905. It occupied a small building and did a small business until August 19, 1909, when it was reorganized by W. G. Alexander. Today the buildings occupy 178 feet on North Market Street, running back to San Pedro Street. They are of concrete with all the modern ap- pliances and equipment. The company keeps on hand as assorted stock of staple groceries, teas, spices, and extracts, and has recently added a coffee roasting apparatus for the pre- paration of the popular Keystone Coffee. The business extends from San Jose to Los An- geles on the south and to Portland, Oregon, on the north. W. G. Alexander is president, E. H. Renzel is vice-president, and P. D. Dur- ling is secretary. The other directors are D. B. Moody, S. M. Vandervoort, W. H. Ledyard, Mrs. W. G. Alexander, J. E. Alexander and Merle Elliott. Proof that San Jose is the natural distributing center of Central Califor- nia is given in the rapid growth and large volume of business of the Keystone Company. Pride is taken in the organization; there is cheerful cooperation and good fellowship among employes and officers, and every one labors heartily and efficiently for the success of the organization. The business done in 1919 approximated $2,000,000.

The Oliver Company

One of the comparatively new interests of San Jose and one which gives great promise of becoming a large factor in the fruit in- dustry is that of oil burning equipment for heating of houses and for prune dipping and evaporating of other fruits. The Oliver Oil Gas Burning & Machine Company has located its western branch in San Jose, the work being carried on from the plant of the State Foun- dry & Pattern Works on the Alameda where patterns are made and the castings for the burners turned out. An oil-burning prune dip- per has been on the market for some time, but in 1919 the Oliver Company placed a number of these machines throughout the val-

ley, all giving satisfaction. While the com- pany is at present installing the prune dippers, the evaporating business is receiving a large share of attention. These evaporators have burners which are claimed to be superior to those burning either coal or wood. The com- pany is also making a variety of cook stoves, heating stoves and other house heating burn- ers. They have burners in this line up to a capacity of a fifteen horsepower boiler. The main factory is located in St. Louis, Mo., and the San Jose factory is expected to develop into a large concern.

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History of Santa Clara County, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present, Part 51

Author: Sawyer, Eugene Taylor, 1846- Publication date: 1922 Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co. Number of Pages: 1928

Author: Sawyer, Eugene Taylor, 1846-
Publication date: 1922
Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1928