USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Bridgeport > History of Bridgeport and vicinity > Part 9
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Mr. Knight turns from the pressure of strenuous business duties and responsibilities to the Algonquin Club and the Country Club for recreation. He is appreciative of the social amenities of life and his personal qualities have made him popular in those organizations.
WALTER SHERWOOD WILMOT.
Walter Sherwood Wilmot, treasurer of the Bridgeport Hydraulic Company, has spent his entire life in the city which is yet his home. His paternal grandfather built the first brick store in New Haven and put down the first brick paving in that city on Orange street. In 1840 he removed to Bridgeport and purchased what became known as the old Wilmot home- stead on Stratford avenne, where he continued to reside until his death. That property was also for a long period the home of Samuel Wilmot, father of Walter Sherwood Wilmot of this review, although for some years he was in business in Savannah, Georgia, where he remained until the outbreak of the Civil war. He had previously spent his summers in Bridgeport but continued his business connections at Savannah until hostilities were inaugurated, when he took up his permanent abode in this city. He was one of the early members of the board of directors of the Bridgeport Hydraulic Company, thus serving in the '60s and '70s, and was an active factor in developing and controlling the company's inter- ests. He was closely associated with Joseph S. Richardson, William D. Bishop and Amos S. Treat in the building of the old Island Brook reservoir. He also became a prominent factor in financial circles of the city and was a director of the Pequonnock National Bank, the City National Bank and the Connecticut National Bank. He took an active and helpful interest in all things that pertained to publie progress and improvement and for a time served as a member of the board of aldermen. His death occurred in the year 1894 and the city thereby lost one of its representative men-one whose work had been of worth in promoting the material development and public interests of Bridgeport. In early manhood he married Lucretia Sherwood, of Fairfield, Connecticut. a daughter of Walter Sherwood, who was owner of a wool carding business at Mill Plain and a representative of one of the old pioneer fami- lies of this state. To Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Wilmot were born five children: William F., who died in Utah several years ago; Fannie, who became the wife of Charles Y. Beach, son of Moses Beach, the owner of the New York Sun, her death occurring in 1890; Ilorace S., who married Alice Burlock, a daughter of W. E. Burlock of the Burlock Shirt Company, and
WALTER S. WILMOT
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passed away in 1910; W. S., of this review; and Mary DeForest Wilmot, who died at Savannah, Georgia, in 1866.
W. S. Wilmot has always remained a resident of Bridgeport and has seen it develop from a place of tbirteen thousand inhabitants to the present city that now ranks as the industrial center of Connecticut, with its important manufacturing and commercial interests reaching out along trade lines to every part not only of the country but of the world. In early man- hood Mr. Wilmot became identified with the Bridgeport Hydraulic Company, of which his father had been one of the founders and early owners. He became the secretary of the com- pany and so continued until the death of Mr. DeForest, when he was elected treasurer. His identification with the business dates from 1874 and for twenty years he has continued in his present connection, giving his undivided attention to the business.
On September 12, 1893, in New York, Mr. Wilmot was married to Miss Sarah Tower, of Cornwall on the Hudson, a daughter of Francis Marion Tower, who was secretary of the Howe Machine Company, of Bridgeport and later manager of the Howe Machine Company, of Glas- gow, Scotland. Mr. and Mrs. Wilmot became the parents of three children: Sarah, who is a graduate of Smith College; Walter S., Jr., who was born May 20, 1898, in Bridgeport, and is a student at the Choate School, preparing for Cornell; and Marion Tower, who was born September 5, 1902, and is attending the Bridgeport high school. The name of Wilmot has figured prominently in the business and social circles of Bridgeport through many decades and has ever heen a synonym of progressiveness in every relation.
MOSES W. MANWARING.
Moses W. Manwaring, president of the American Bank & Trust Company, occupies a most creditable position in industrial and financial circles in Bridgeport, where he has long enjoyed the reputation of being a forceful, resourceful and capable man. He was born at East Lyme, Connectient, August 18, 1845, his parents being Allen W. and Lydia (Warren) Manwaring. Her father was Moses Warren, whose father and grandfather also bore the name of Moses Warren, and the grandfather surveyed a tract of land in Ohio which was granted to Connecticut for the participation of her sons in the Revolutionary war. He also laid out the city of Cleveland, Ohio, and named Euclid avenue, one of the most beautiful thoroughfares of all the country. He had rendered active aid to the colonies as an officer in the struggle for independence and he was connected with the Warren family of Boston, of which General Warren, the commander of Bunker Hill, was a representative. Allen W. Manwaring, a son of Isaac Manwaring, was a shipwright by trade and was employed in various shipyards.
Moses W. Manwaring pursued his education in the public schools of East Lyme and New London, Connecticut, and ultimately took up the business of contracting and building. In the spring of 1869 he came to Bridgeport, where he at once entered into active con- nections with building operations. Later he became associated with the Union Metallic Cartridge Company in the erection of the new buildings for that corporation -- a business which monopolized his time for eighteen years. In 1891 he bought out the Curtis Brothers phunhing business and is still engaged in that line. In November, 1912, he was one of those who organized the American Bank and Trust Company, of which he has since been the president. The other officers are: L. Kutscher, Jr., vice president ; Eugene L. Sullivan, vice president; R. J. Mackenzie, vice president; Albert W. Tremain, secretary-treasurer; A. J. S. Silliman, assistant treasurer: and F. J. Huda, Jr., assistant treasurer. In addition to these the directors are S. Loewith, F. J. Ostrofsky, J. B. Gregory, J. A. Spafford, F. M. West, J. P. Frisbie, Charles W. Pflomm, William M. Thomas, William H. Comley, Jr., D. H. Ferris, W. S. Woodruff, G. E. Scofield, R. E. Parsons, Stefan Buda, George C. Edwards, Patrick
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McGee, Gregory S. Bryan, J. D. Slady and Charles G. Schwarz. In the various lines to which he has directed his activity Mr. Manwaring has ever proved himself a forceful and resourceful man, accomplishing his purposes by sheer force of will, determination and a eapability that has led to the recognition and utilization of all opportunities.
In 1872 Mr. Manwaring was married to Miss E. Louise Comstock, a daughter of John J. Comstock, of East Lyme, Connecticut. They have one daughter, Bessie W., who is a grad- uate of Wellesley College and has taken a course at Yale and is now a teacher of English literature at Wellesley. The family are members of the Congregational church. Politically Mr. Manwaring is a republican and at various times has been called to public office. In the '70s he served as councilman from the fifth ward and afterward was alderman from that ward for two or three terms. He has served as city treasurer since 1913 and for one term he was a member of the state senate. He was one of the first members of the Bridgeport Business Men's Association, of which he has been the president for two terms. In establishing that organization and in furthering its work he has contributed in large measure to the upbuilding and improvement of the city along various lines. What he has attempted for the public good he has largely accomplished and his efforts have been farreaching in their scope and effective in their purpose. He is justly classed as one of the valued and repre- sentative citizens of Bridgeport.
WALDO CALVIN BRYANT.
Starting out in the business world when a youth of fourteen years to learn the machinist's trade, Waldo Calvin Bryant through the intervening period has displayed at all times close application and unfaltering enterprise and as the years have advanced his activi- ties have broadened in scope and importance until he is now one of the well known manu- facturers of Bridgeport, being president, treasurer and general manager of the Bryant Electric Company, also of the Perkins Electric Switch Manufacturing Company and an officer in various other business enterprises which have constituted elements in the continuous com- mercial progress and development of his city.
Mr. Bryant was born in Winchendon, Massachusetts, December 17, 1863, and after acquiring a public school education began learning the machinist's trade during vacation periods when a youth of fourteen years. This dominated his further educational training. At sixteen years of age he entered Cushing Academy at Ashburnham, Massachusetts, therein preparing for a course in the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, from which he was graduated in 1884, with the degree of Bachelor of Science, when a youth of twenty years. He then entered the employ of the Thomson-Houston Electric Company at Lynn, Massachusetts, in the expert department and after one month was transferred to Bridgeport as assistant to George Cutter in the operation of the city electric light plant. He was thus engaged until the spring of 1885, when a local company took charge of the plant and Mr. Bryant went to Waterbury as a representative of the Waterbury Electric Light Company. There he con- tinued until October, 1888. His attention was not only concentrated upon his duties in that connection but his thought was also constantly busy with the solution of electric problems and his mechanical genius was brought into play in the invention of the Bryant push and pull switch during the summer of 1888. He then came to Bridgeport and established the business of making electric light supplies under the name of the Bryant Electric Com- pany. He started with a very small capital, but the business gradually grew, and as he continued his experimental work he took out several patents on electric light supplies, which he continued to manufacture until July, 1889. He then incorporated the Bryant Electric Company with a capital stock of five thousand dollars, of which three thousand dollars was paid in. The business has grown almost by leaps and bounds. The value of its product
He Bryant
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was at once recognized and the patronage increased rapidly, demanding enlarged facilities for production and greater capital. Something of the extent of this mammoth undertaking is indicated in the fact that the capitalization has been increased to two and one-half million dollars. Mr. Bryant remaining as the president, treasurer and general manager of the busi- ness. He is also president, treasurer and general manager of the Perkins Electric Switch Manufacturing Company, is vice president of the Siemon Hard Rubber Corporation and a director of the Bridgeport Hydraulic Company and the Bridgeport Brass Company. Not alone upon manufacturing and industrial lines has his interest and activity centered, for in financial circles he is also known as a director of the First Bridgeport National Bank and a trustee of the People's Savings Bank. His broad experience and recognized sagacity have made his opinions accepted as authority along certain lines of business, where in fact his name has become one to conjure with.
In April, 1887, Mr. Bryant was united in marriage to Miss Ida Gerald, of New London, Connecticut. and they have two children, Waldo Gerald and Doris. Mr. Bryant holds mem- bership with the Union League Club of New York, with the Lawyers and Engineers Clubs and the American Institute of Electrical Engineers of New York. He has membership in the Brooklawn Country, Bridgeport Yacht, University and Algonquin Clubs and he is a director of the Bridgeport Hospital. He is interested in, and keeps informed as to the problems of the present time affecting political and economic conditions. His education in the school of experience he considers one of his most valuable assets, and he is universally recognized as a man of broad gauge and large capacity for the successful conducting of big and important enterprises.
WILLIAM H. FARRELL.
William H. Farrell, the executive head of the Bridgeport Screw Company, who as president of the business is controlling a mammoth industrial concern, stands as a splendid type of the modern captain of industry-a man who studies not only production in the line in which he is directing his activities but also gives equally thorough and earnest study to every question of plant building as regards the comfort and well being of employes. He has embodied in his Bridgeport plant many most progressive ideas which make the institu- tion one well worthy of close study.
Connecticut proudly claims Mr. Farrell as a native son. He was born in New Haven in 1864 and in early manhood he wedded Miss Emma Ollie Leach, of Salem, Ohio. They became the parents of two children, but one has passed away, the surviving sou being Ralph G. Farrell, who is the vice president of the Bridgeport Screw Company and thus the active associate of his father in business. Of his business activity The Iron Age says: "A wire man from young manhood, the greater part of his life has been devoted to tonnage products, but circumstances of his advancement as an organizer and manager have led to his gradual entrance into the manufacture of a highly specialized wire product which is widely separated from that of the tonnage mills. Commencing as a young man with the New Haven Wire Company in his native city of New Haven, he went to the Oliver Roberts Company, Pittsburgh, and thence to the Salem Wire Nail Company, Salem, Ohio, as journeyman wire drawer. From Salem he was engaged as superintendent of the wire drawing department of the Kilmer Manufacturing Company, then located at Newburgh, New York. Advancing to the position of general foreman of the Pittsburgh Wire Company, Braddock, Pennsylvania, he was pro- moted to superintendent in 1898. In addition to the duties of this office, he acted as superintendent of the Continental Wire Company, Granite City, Illinois, near St. Louis. When the Pittsburgh Wire Company was absorbed by the American Steel & Wire Company he was retained as superintendent. In 1899 he was engaged by the Union Steel Company to
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erect and operate the finishing mill at Donora, Pennsylvania, afterward the property of the United States Steel Corporation, and constituting one of the largest, most modern and cheapest producing mills owned by the company. While the Union Steel Company was under con- struction the Page Woven Wire Fence Company, Monessen, Pennsylvania, operating open hearth, blooming and rod mills, in addition to the finishing department, went into the hands of the Union Trust Company, Pittsburgh, as receiver, which appointed Mr. Farrell manager for the receiver, and he operated the works, in addition to his duties with the United States Steel Company. By important savings in the operating and administrative departments a large increase in earning power was shown, owing to which a reorganization was effected, with consequent success. In 1906 he accepted the presidency of the Dominion Wire Mann- facturing Company, Montreal, and, wood screws being an important product, had the experi- ence which resulted in the establishment of the Bridgeport industry. In three and a half years at Montreal, he remodeled the plant and by improved methods increased the output from twelve thousand to forty thousand tons. The company was absorbed by the Steel Com- pany of Canada in 1910, and Mr. Farrell remained as manager until March, 1911, when he resigned to undertake the construction of his new factory."
The Bridgeport Screw Company is a close corporation, the officers being: W. H. Farrell, president; Ralph G. Farrell, vice president; and J. W. Seekings, secretary and treasurer. The business was established in 1911, the original location being at Union, Central and Williston avenues. The plant covers an entire block. There is one two-story building one hundred and fifty by three hundred feet, with a two-story addition one hundred and fifty by one hundred feet. The structure is of brick with concrete and steel reinforcement. The production of the plant is thousands of serews per day, including wood screws of all descriptions and also screw machine products. Their plant, according to The Iron Age, "affords an exceptional opportunity for the study of the progress that has been made in recent years in factory design and equipment. In the manufacture and the handling of the product, from the receipt of the raw material to the shipment of finished screws; in the elements of lighting, ventilation, heating and fire protection, the factory represents the latest word in efficiency and in the safeguarding of the health and comfort of employes. President W. H. Farrell, the founder and executive head of the business, has given to the design and erection of the factory the benefit of a long and successful manufacturing experience, which includes the erection of great works and the conversion of old into modern plants. The business is not based upon an established industry; it is entirely new. The equipment is strikingly homogenous, consisting of the latest types of open and solid die headers and of a multitude of shavers and threaders of latest models, in the design of which are embodied modifications, specified by the purchaser. based upon experience in the works of the Dominion Wire Manufacturing Company, Montreal, Canada, of which Mr. Farrell was the head in the period of its quick development to its present high production basis. From it were recruited to a large extent the administrative and mechanical heads of the Bridgeport factory. As the manufacturing plans of the company include a full time run of three hundred days the yearly product figures at more than four million gross. A spur track enters. the yard, allowing cars to pass to a long exterior loading platform, from which three broad doorways afford entrance to the store room and shipping room. There is land for ample enlargement in the future and the property is enclosed by a woven wire fence surmounted by barb wire. It is absolutely unscalable and with the locking of the gates at the factory entrance and at the spur track completely excludes outsiders." Around the building are well kept lawns and the interior of the factory shows equal orderliness, with corresponding efficiency. The exceedingly high rooms are a marked characteristic of the plant. The first story is seventeen feet from floor to ceiling, while the second floor has the same height in the wings and is twenty-four feet to the roof of the monitor, which covers sixteen feet of the width of the building. The window spaee is extraordinary, made possible by the use of steel sashes. The standard width of the windows is seventeen feet, with three foot pilasters
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separating them. The effect is of continuous tiers of windows encircling the building, so that the factory is flooded with sunlight and fresh air. In fact, the many windows presented an important problem, for the windows must be curtained. As the ordinary spring shade was entirely out of the question on a window seventeen feet in width, the portière principle was applied and enrtains made of unbleached cotton cloth, attached top and bottom to rods. This white cloth shuts out the direct sunlight, filtering the rays but not greatly reducing the illumination. Mr. Farrell and his associates in business have done much in developing special machinery for the work and they employ four hundred people, mostly skilled workmen. Their prodnet is sold to the hardware trade and to manufacturers.
Mr. Farrell finds time for needed interests outside of business. He belongs to the Algonquin Club, the Seaside Club, and the Bridgeport Yacht Club and the last named indicates his chief source of recreation. He is the possessor of a fine racing sailboat and his chief interest ontside of business is in yachting.
RALPH G. FARRELL.
Ralph G. Farrell, vice president of the Bridgeport Screw Company and thus a factor in that intense industrial activity which has carried Bridgeport forward by leaps and bounds within the last few years, came to the city in October, 1916. He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1891 and is a Yale man, having been graduated from the Sheffield Scientific School with the class of 1914. He made his initial step in the business world in connection with the United States Steel Corporation, with which he was associated until October. 1916, when he came to Bridgeport and entered into his present relations in the development and control of the Bridgeport Serew Company. Theirs is one of the finest industrial plants of the city, in which not only the question of efficiency has been thoroughly studied but also that of hygienic surroundings for the employes. In the building and equipment of the plant the company has solved many of the complex problems of the industrial world of today.
Mr. Farrell was united in marriage to Miss Helen Smith, of New York, a daughter of W. C. Smith. He belongs to Phi Sigma Kappa, a college fraternity, and is also well known as a member of the Algonquin Club of Bridgeport.
HENRY N. McCATHRON.
Henry N. MeCathron, president of the Bridgeport Boiler Works and thus numbered among the captains of industry in Connecticut, was born in Oswego, New York, in October, 1871, a son of George and Harriett (Barlow) MeCathron. The father, a millwright by trade, died in Oswego, New York, but the mother still survives. Henry N. MeCathron largely acquired his education by attending night school, for from the age of nine years he earned his own living, and when fourteen years of age began working at the boiler maker's trade. When a youth of sixteen he had five boys working under him, and since that time he has been in control of the labors of others. Eventually he took charge of the boiler shop of the Ridgeway Manufacturing Company of Ridgeway, Pennsylvania. His identification with Bridgeport dates from 1900 in which year he became foreman for the Bridgeport Boiler Works Company. Each change marks a forward step in his career, bringing a wider outlook and broader opportunities.
After a brief period spent in Bridgeport he entered business on his own account under the name of the MeCathron Boiler Works, and from the beginning success attended the new venture so that with the growth of his trade he was afterward enabled to purchase the
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business of the Bridgeport Boiler Works, under which name his business is now conducted. This enterprise had its inception in the early '50s under the firm name of Humphrey & Watson, at the foot of Golden Hill street in the rear of the depot. Later the business was conducted under the name of Lowe & Watson, and afterward under the name of William Lowe. In 1899 the business was reorganized under the style of the Bridgeport Boiler Works Company, and the first annual meeting was held in January, 1900. The first directors were: Harris P. Smith, chairman and president; Edward J. Morgan, vice president and treasurer; and Edwin C. Spargo, secretary. The plant was removed to 202 Housatonic avenue many years ago. At length Mr. Spargo, the secretary and treasurer, and Henry H. MeCathron, the presi- dent, took over the business. The former retired in 1914 and was succeeded by John McCath- ron, who became secretary. The plant covers a space one hundred and nine feet front by two hundred and twenty-five feet in depth, and the shop is one hundred and nine by one hundred and seventy-five feet. Employment is furnished to sixty people engaged in the manufacture of all kinds of plate iron work. The output includes a special boiler for heating known as the Bridgeport Boiler, which was designed specially for heating and manufacturing purposes and is notable for its saving of coal. The plant is equipped with the latest modern improvements and accessories for work of that character and the shop is never idle. This is one of the oldest, most reliable and most successful concerns of its kind in Bridgeport, and under the control of Mr. McCathron the business is steadily and satisfactorily growing.
In October, 1903, Mr. McCathron was married to Miss Josie C. Laubscher of Bridgeport, and they have two sons, Earl H. and Wesley F. In politics Mr. MeCathron follows an inde- pendent course, preferring to concentrate his efforts and attention upon his business affairs. Ilis thorough knowledge of the trade, gained from long years of experience, has enabled him to most widely direct the efforts of those in his employ, and the business has become a con- tributing factor in the material prosperity of the city as well as a source of gratifying individual income.
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