USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Meriden > An historic record and pictorial description of the town of Meriden, Connecticut and men who have made it > Part 89
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At that time but thirty hands were employed and the plant was a dimin- utive affair compared to that of the present date, which comprises one of the largest and best of its kind in New England and gives employment to over 100 hands. The assets of the company, including the new plant, are
W. H. WAY.
in excess of $100,000 and the capital stock is $50,000.
The company has its own separate power house, and is equipped with a forty horse-power Twiss engine and a
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MANUFACTORIES.
sixty horse-power Bigelow steam boiler. The power plant is, therefore, of ample capacity for the machinery and heating, and is also sufficient for generating electricity for lighting, and the company will soon install machin- ery for the latter purpose. With the new three story brick addition to the factory, the company have buildings 90 feet long by 130 feet deep, all of which have been purchased by them through the legitimate profits of an honorably conducted business during the past six years. This success has been in a great measure due to the executive ability of Mr. Way, who by his indomitable energy and business acumen, has brought the business to its present happy state.
The Curtiss-Way Company employ eight to ten traveling men and have a show room at 335 Broadway, New York City, and another on East Main street, Waterbury, Conn. The work emanating from this complete printing plant, is shipped to every state east of the Mississippi river, and its reputa- tion for twentieth century work and ability to compete with the largest concerns in the country are well known to the trade. Not only has the Cur- tiss-Way Company a reputation for being a most successful competitor for large contracts in the printing and ad- vertising novelty line but they have the name of completing and shipping their orders when promised. This re- sponsibility rests largely upon the su- perintendent, F. Ad. Gehring, who as- sumed that position in 1902, having previously been associated with a large
printing concern in Holyoke, Mass. Mr. Gehring, like Mr. Way, is a thor- oughly practical printer and under- stands not only the handling of a large force of employees without friction, but has the faculty for making all things count for the good of the con- cern, which invariably reverts to the benefit of the customer.
The plant is kept scrupulously neat and clean at all times and a higher class of hands are there employed than in the ordinary printing office. There are also recognized heads of all of the several different departments and wasted time is an unknown quan- tity at this plant. The cylinder press room contains a large number of au- tomatic feed, perfecting and cylinder and job presses which never cease, only at the blowing of the whistle, and oftentimes different departments of the plant are obliged to run overtime. The composing room comprises an un- usually large, well ventilated and light- ed department and the number of com- positors alone there employed would make a most respectable payroll for a common printing establishment. In addition to the large number of hand compositors, they have a monotype plant which makes and sets its own type and is used largely in book and catalog contracts. The paper ruling room possesses a number of the Hickox Automatic Strike Ruling Ma- chines, which the Curtiss-Way Com- pany find especially useful in their or- ders of railroad and express company forms and blanks, of which they are extensive manufacturers.
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A CENTURY OF MERIDEN.
Included in the product of the com- pany are also a large and varied as- sortment of calendars and calendar pads, and in advertising novelties are, aluminum trays, mirrors, match safes, memorandum books, fancy blotters, paper weights, whiskbroom holders, fans, yard sticks, lead pencils, import- ed calendars, and a great variety of
Meriden, for they are most handsome- ly finished in natural color hard wood, and do credit to the good taste of the concern. The high studded ceiling is. supported by steel girders and there are no posts to obstruct the office force in their movements. New and hand- some furniture harmonizing perfectly with the woodwork gives a most
ELECTROTYPERS.
ADOKBINDERS
CURTISS-WAY Co.
PRINTERS
CALENDAR MANUFACTURERS.
ENGRAVERS
WER
ADVERTI!
NOVELTIES
CONSOLIDATED RAILWAY .CO.
PLANT OF THE CURTISS-WAY COMPANY.
other novelties used extensively by the trade for advertising purposes, of which space forbids only this partial enumeration.
The large offices of the Curtiss- Way Company, which are now con- tained in the new three story brick ad- dition, are a source of local pride to
pleasing impression to the visitor and every modern method for facilitating business is immediately at hand. A private telephone system connects. with every department of the busy plant, thus bringing the office in clos- est touch with every portion of its. working force. There are private of-
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MANUFACTORIES.
fices for the manager, stenographer and bookkeeper, and a most attractive show room exhibits the pleasing and satisfactory work executed.
W. H. Way, secretary and manager, is a native of Ashfield, Mass. His pa- rents removed to Meriden with him when he was four years of age and he was educated in the Meriden public schools. From the age of twenty, he has been continuously engaged in the job printing and newspaper business. Previous to becoming associated with the company of which he is now man- ager, he was engaged in his present line of business in Massachusetts. Mr. Way is a man of rare executive abil- ity, and the growth of the Curtiss- Way Company is most substantial evi- dence of that necessary qualification to success.
HELMSCHMIED MFG. CO.
One of the industries of Meriden, the product of which adds fame to the town, is that carried on by the Helmschmied Mfg. Co., whose fac- tory is located on Réservoir avenue.
C. V. Helmschmied, the founder and president, was born October 30, 1863, in Steinschoenua, Bohemia, where a common school education was fol- lowed by a course at the Imperial Technical school of his native town. His marked tendency toward artistic work was fostered by his training and was a vital factor in its develop- ment and growth, but he felt that the field was too confined for a realiza- 48
tion of his struggling ideals. There was an America beyond the seas where ambitions were nourished and talent recognized. The price he set on his own ability stimulated him to leave Bohemia and seek the sea- coast where he embarked for the United States.
Mr. Helmschmied was employed in: several cities before coming to Meri- den. Directly after landing in New York he went to New Bedford, Mass.,. where he became a designer for Smith Bros., manufacturers of decorated opal ware; at the end of two years he went to Trenton, N. J., and worked for Jesse Dean at china painting ; two more years were spent in New Bedford with the Mount Washington Glass Company as de- signer.
Mr. Helmschmied's talents as a de- signer were recognized when he en- tered the employ of C. F. Monroe in 1886. He aimed at the best and con- stantly strove to live up to that aim. When the C. F. Monroe Company became incorporated he became a stockholder and was made superin- tendent of the plant and he was also the leading designer there for six- teen years. He withdrew from Mon- roe's in January, 1903, opened his own factory and began to manufac- ture for himself. The corporation known as the Helmschmied Mfg. Co., of which he is president and- treasur- er, was incorporated in the fall of 1904, the capital stock of which was increased to $10,000. in the spring of 1905. Colonial glass novelties and
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A CENTURY OF MERIDEN.
SHOW ROOM, HELMSCHMIED MFG. CO.
Photo by R. S. Godfrey.
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MANUFACTORIES.
metal ornaments comprising shades, CONN. BREWERIES COMPANY. vases, and other decorated ware from blank glass have since been added to the product.
The factory on Reservoir avenue is a busy center where the finest kind of decorated ware is turned out. The goods are sold direct from the fac- tory and the New York office is at
Photo by Akers & Pigeon. C. V. HELMSCHMIED.
253 Broadway. Owing to an in- creasing demand for the ware Mr. Helmschmeid now contemplates erect- ing a new factory, having interested local investors in the project.
Mr. Helmchmied is a member of the Colonial club of Meriden and in politics is a Republican.
A manufacturing plant that for many years has added to the volume of local business is that of the Meri-' den branch of the Connecticut Brew- eries Company and which was for some years, and until 1890, conducted by the Meriden Brewing Company. It was at that time that the business of the Meriden Brewing Company was consolidated with that of A. Wintter & Co., who conducted a sim- ilar plant at Bridgeport and the cor- poration was formed, known as the Connecticut Breweries Company. The company was organized with many of its employes as stockholders and with a paid in capital stock of $700,000 which amount is far less than the present value of its two large plants.
Since the formation of the present company the officers have changed somewhat owing to deaths which have occurred. The president, Peter W. Wren, of Bridgeport, has presid- ed over the deliberations of the board of directors, however, from the be- ginning to the present time and un- der his leadership the business has steadily increased yearly. Within re- cent years and owing to the deaths of J. H. McMahon, the former general manager, and A. Wintter, the latter who until his decease, held the office of secretary and treasurer, Mr. Wren has had added to his duties those of treasurer and general manager. The vice-president is John A. Hurley, who
Photo by R. S. Godfrey.
MOTIS
ROOM,
LLELMSCIIMIED MEG. CO.
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A CENTURY OF MERIDEN.
.
a
MERIDEN PLANT OF THE CONNECTICUT BREWERIES CO.
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MANUFACTORIES.
is especially well known in Meriden, having been formerly manager of the Meriden branch.
J. H. McMahon, son of the de- ceased general manager, is the sec- retary of the company. The present manager of the Meriden branch of the company, Michael F. Sullivan, suc- ceeded Robert J. Veit, the former
The Meriden plant is admirably sit- uated for the manufacture and distri- bution of its product, being located on South Colony street, the rear of the brewing buildings adjoining the main line of the N. Y., N. H. & H. R. R., and from which a side track brings excellent shipping facilities imme- diately at hand.
Photo by R. S. Godfrey.
KETTLE FLOOR, CONNECTICUT BREWERIES CO.
manager, in December, 1903. The present manager of the local plant is a resident of New Haven and previous to coming to Meriden was associated with the Yale Brewing Company. The board of directors of the Con- necticut Breweries Company are : Peter W. Wren, John H. McMahon, John A. Hurley, Robert J. Veit and William Hickey.
The plant is kept scrupulously clean and the capacity of the output is 100,- 000 barrels a year. The material used in the manufacture of the prod- uct is the best obtainable and the goods find a ready sale. There is frequently more than one brew a day at the plant which consists of the following buildings: Brewhouse, shipping and storage houses, cold
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CENTURY OF MERIDEN.
storage plant five stories in height, kept at the exact temperature of 35 degrees every day in the year; ale fermenting house; artificial ice-mak- ing plant, with a capacity of seventy- five tons of ice a day ; boiler house containing two 100 horse power
company to keep it in first class order.
In 1894 a new office building was added to the plant which comprises one of the handsomest in the city. The office building is entirely sepa- rate from the buildings where the manufacturing is carried on and con-
Photo by R. S. Godfrey. REFRIGERATING PLANT, CONNECTICUT BREWERIES CO.
boilers ; cooperage for the repair of barrels and casks; pitch yard; large and modern stable building laid with asphalt floorings and fitted with steam heat and every comfort for the large number of horses it accommo- dates and the men employed by the
tains a large counting room as well as a directors' room and manager's pri- vate office.
The product of the plant consists of lager beer, ale and porter, and also special brands which have become somewhat celebrated throughout the
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MANUFACTORIES.
FERMENTING ROOM, CONNECTICUT BREWERIES CO.
Photos by R. S. Godfrey.
RACKING ROOM, CONNECTICUT BREWERIES CO.
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A CENTURY OF MERIDEN.
country, notably "Golden Pale Ale" and "Pale Extra Lager." The com- pany has well established agencies in several leading cities of the country and naturally supplies a large portion of the lager beer and ale consumed within a radius of several miles of each of its plants. The company does a large bottling business and its goods in this department are not only shipped largely to New York, New Jersey and the national capitol but have also become known and popular with the trade in nearly every state in the union. The product of the company also finds its way at regular intervals to foreign climes and a spe- cial brand, rated among the choicest of foreign beverages, is exported to South America, Cuba and the Bahama Islands.
The company employs about sixty workmen at its Meriden plant and with its large pay roll adds many thousands to the amount distributed annually to the well paid employes of Meriden manufacturing plants.
FRITZ BROTHERS.
Fritz Brothers, composed of E. T. and W. F. Fritz, are the successors to the dog collar manufacturing busi- ness formerly carried on by the Con- necticut Saddlery & Bell Company, of whose factory they occupy a por- tion and whose reputation they have added to in marked degree. They purchased the business in May, 1903, and have every facility for turning out their goods in large quantities. The
members of the firm, who are both natives of Meriden, were no strangers to the business when they took pos- session of the factory ; for one of the brothers was the founder of the dog collar department of the concern they have succeeded and has had fifteen years' experience both as a maker of the goods and a traveling man. His brother, W. F. Fritz, also had a wide
W. F. FRITZ.
experience in the same line of manu- facturing, having been previously em- ployed at the Chapman Mfg. Co. They now hold the distinction of be- ing the only exclusive dog collar man- ufacturers in the state. Besides mak- ing over 400 different styles of dog collars, including the Boston bull col- lar which alone has made their name famous, they are makers of leather
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MANUFACTORIES.
muzzles, leads and harness for canines and are dealers in dog collar bells, locks, brushes, combs, whips and blankets. They also manufacture trout basket straps and skate straps
E. T. FRITZ.
for the trade and their goods are shipped to all parts of the country.
They have a branch office in Chica- go at 1228 George street and employ three traveling salesmen. The manu- facture of their goods gives the Fritz Brothers an opportunity to display much judgment and good taste and their success is attested by the demand for their output. While both are practical manufacturers of dog collars and furnishings and are well known to the large trade they supply, E. T. Fritz, as a rule, devotes his time to the factory and W. F. Fritz to call-
ing upon the trade. The industry car- ried on by them furnishes employ- ment to several hands during the busy season and the goods made add no little to the reputation of Meriden as a manufacturing town.
SILVER CITY CUT GLASS CO.
One of the newest manufacturing concerns of Meriden is the Silver City Cut Glass Company, who since June I, 1905, have conducted a busy plant on Hicks street. Their factory, which is a two-story wooden structure, is
PERCY PHOENIX.
that formerly occupied by the Hicks Novelty Company. Articles of cut glass of nearly every form and de- scription comprise the product and the concern has already earned a reputa-
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CENTURY OF MERIDEN.
tion from the high character of the work emanating from their factory.
The officers of the company are as follows: President, Percy Phoenix ; vice-president, A. Abecurnos ; secre- tary and treasurer, Joseph Schnick. They are all young men and the en- terprise in which they are engaged is their first start in business for them- selves.
All the principals and employes are residents of Meriden. The president is an expert cutter and designer, for- merly employed by the Meriden Cut
A. ABECURNOS.
Glass Company and the C. F. Monroe Company. The vice president, and secretary and treasurer are likewise young men of talent and ability and secured a wide experience in practical
glass cutting at the factory of the Meriden Cut Glass Company.
The factory is equipped with the most modern machinery from their earnings as employes for others. The
JOSEPH SCHNICK.
frames are the new adjustable style and the power is electric motor with a capacity for thirty frames. The show room is on the second floor and is well worth a visit by strangers to Meriden during the Centennial week.
THE MERIDEN GRAVURE CO.
In the above named company, Mer- iden possesses the only plant in the state given up to the exclusive produc- tion of photo-gelatine prints ; and the business, which was established in
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MANUFACTORIES.
1888, has now become one of the larg- est in its exclusive product in the United States. The business has grown steadily from the start and the character of the work has established the standard of the trade. Illustra- tions for catalogues, books, magazine inserts and a general line of reproduc- tions comprise the output which is creditable both to the city and the state.
business has grown till now the com- pany supplies a trade extending to nearly every state in the Union. The Gravure Company was the first in its line to produce practical illustrations for commercial purposes, and being the first in the field has held the lead to the present time. The company has a plant remarkably well fitted for the extensive and economical prosecu-
PLANT OF THE MERIDEN GRAVURE CO.
The business of the company has al- ways been conducted in the same loca- tion ; but in recent years several new buildings have been constructed to meet increasing requirements, the plant now extending through to Bil- lard street, where since 1905, the com- pany's office has been located. Begin- ning with a few local customers the
tion of the work which they produce.
The officers of the company, both of whom are well known residents of Meriden and interested in its growth and prosperity, are: J. F. Allen, pres- ident and treasurer, and O. W. Bas- sett, secretary. A New York office is maintained at the American Tract So- ciety Building, 150 Nassau street.
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CENTURY OF MERIDEN.
A. H. JONES.
Augustus Howard Jones, manufac- turer of Meriden, is the son of Joseph and Martha (Jackson) Jones, both natives of Wales. He was born in New York City, December 21, 1851. His father died when he was nine
Photo by Akers & Pigeon. AUGUSTUS H. JONES.
years of age and at twelve he began to earn his livelihood, after which he attended the night school until the age of fifteen, when he returned to day school for a year and finished his education.
In 1866 he began his apprentice- ship in a brass foundry where he
served four years and a half learning his trade. He became an expert core- maker and a contractor in the manu- facture of locks. In 1867 he came to Meriden where he has since remained. After serving two years as foreman in the brass foundry at the Bradley & Hubbard factory, he started a brass foundry of his own which, however, he gave up in two weeks and returned as foreman for the B. & H. Mfg. Co., who had made it an object for him to do so.
In 1882, he was one of the organ- izers of the Foster Hardware Co., which in 1885 was reorganized under the name of the Meriden Bronze Co., and of which large concern, Mr. Jones became president in 1891. That con- cern for many years furnished em- ployment to a large number of hands and added materially to the business prosperity of the town. Financial de- pression forced the Bronze Company out of business and Mr. Jones' per- sonal loss was $100,000.
With characteristic courage and grit, in 1901, he organized the com- pany and started the factory since lo- cated o: Miller street, which now bears his name and where he has since, from a small beginning, been engaged in the manufacture of white metal novelties.
Mr. Jones is a thirty-second degree Mason, has served in the city govern- ment four years as councilman and two years as alderman, is a member of the Home Club and of genial and companionable nature. He was mar- ried in 1870 to Jennie E. Logan,
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MANUFACTORIES.
daughter of Thomas and Marguerite Logan. They attend the First Con- gregational church.
BAILEY'S STEAM LAUNDRY.
Numerically, this was the tenth laundry established in Meriden, and was the first to be continued success- fully ; and at this writing it is the larg-
THEODORE F. BAILEY.
est and finest equipped establishment of the kind in the city.
The nucleus of the present busi- ness was formed by Theodore F. Bai- ley, an old and respected resident of Meriden, and his first operations were small. In 1895 his daughter, Mrs. Hattie L. Aubrey, became the head, and since that time the growth of the
business has been somewhat remark- able. In May, 1896, the present laundry building in the rear of Mr. Bailey's residence on Crown street, was erected, and the introduction of machinery transformed the industry from a hand to a steam laundry. Since that time machinery for steam carpet cleaning has also been put in, and a large business in that line is now carried on. In 1905 a large barn was erected and added to the plant, the upper portion of which now con- tains the carpet cleaning machinery, and this work is, therefore, now car- ried on in a separate building. The power used comes from the laundry's own boiler house, which in 1905 was installed with a new $1,000 boiler. Another advantage the laundry enjoys is an artesian well, sunk on the prem- ises, which supplies an abundance of water for all purposes outside the en- gine room. Both floors of the main building, which is 60 by 40 feet, are now used for the purposes of the laun- dry ; the sorting, washing, starching, mangling and delivering being done on the first floor, and the ironing, since 1905, on the second floor.
Among the commendable character- istics of this laundry are promptness in the delivery of work. The fact that a woman's eye supervises the work also adds to the reputation of the laun- dry for careful work.
Mrs. Aubrey has proven herself a most capable manager of the now suc- cessful business, and is assisted by her youngest son, William R. Aubrey, and a force of twenty-five employes.
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A CENTURY OF MERIDEN.
BEAVER LAKE ICE CO.
The Beaver Lake Ice Company, wholesale and retail dealers in ice, of Meriden, came under its present man- agement early in June, 1905, when the corporation was formed with the capi- tal stock of $15,500.
The origin of the business, under its present name, dates back to 1894, when the late William Garlick, of South Meriden, withdrew from the Meriden Ice Company, after having been for five years its president and having many years previous to that bought out his father's ice business. The company as now organized, was formed through the efforts of Benj. F. Milner, the present secretary and treasurer, a native of Meriden, who attended the local public schools and has ever been a promoter of local in- terests. Through his instrumentality the corporation purchased from his estate the business so successfully car- ried on by Mr. Garlick, including the ice houses, harvesting privileges, horses, wagons, custom and good will.
Since the business came into the present hands many improvements have been made to the equipment and new office headquarters, stables and central ice depot have been estab- lished, all of which are located at 100 State street, where there are excellent railroad facilities and ample accommo- dations for a larger business.
Beaver Lake, the principal source of supply and from which the company derives its name, is one of the many healthful bodies of water in the vi-
cinity of Meriden entirely fed with springs and which the company keep well freed from vegetable growth. As a result the ice harvested in their large ice houses, of 10,000 tons capacity, is of the most healthful character. The full ice harvesting capacity of the lake is much greater than that required by the company.
While the quality and service of the Beaver Lake Ice Company have ever been commended by the people of Meriden, whom they supply, the new company has always strived to excel in this regard the good name es- tablished by Mr. Garlick, and this, with added capital and increased force, they have been enabled to do in no small measure.
The red teams of the company are familiar sights on the numerous streets and avenues of this vicinity ; and courtesy, good weight and honest treatment, those qualifications which have ever characterized the business of the concern through its several changes in management, are ever ap- parent. The management also is not only progressive but liberal and being familiar with the needs of the public from previous connection with the ice business, fully realize the meeting of competition. The officers of the com- pany are Charles E. Curtis, president, and Benjamin F. Milner, secretary and treasurer; the former being also a well known financier and a vice-pres- ident of the City Bank of New Haven and the latter from his birth a Meriden "boy" but now and for the past six years also cashier and office manager
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