USA > Washington DC > Washington DC > Centennial history of the city of Washington, D. C. With full outline of the natural advantages, accounts of the Indian tribes, selection of the site, founding of the city to the present time > Part 45
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79
In November, 1856, Messrs. Coltman & Duncanson, who were well known and highly esteemed by the citizens of Washington, erected what they named Metropolitan Mills, near the Twelfth Street Bridge. Their building was large and commodious, and their engine was a fine piece of machinery from the manufactory of Messrs. Ellis.
In 1860, Mr. Alexander Rutherford had an establishment called the Pioneer Steam Marble and Brown Stone Works, on the south side of Pennsylvania Avenue, between Thirteenth and Fourteenth
,
429
MANUFACTURING.
streets, which, as its name implies, was the first of its kind in Wash- ington, though Mr. Rutherford had himself been a long time in the business in the city.
During the War, there was, of course, but little, if anything, done in the way of establishing new manufactures in the District of Columbia. The War overshadowed everything. But in January, 1865, George Hill, Jr., began the manufacture of paper at the foot of Potomac Street, Georgetown, on an extensive scale. His building was at the northwest corner of Water and P streets, and it contained machinery worth about $20,000. The factory was a three-story brick structure, forty by ninety-five feet in size. Mr. Hill had previously been engaged in the manufacture of paper, having had mills at the Chain Bridge, at Paper Mill Bridge, and at Cabin John Branch.
In August, 1865, William Stickney began the manufacture of envelopes at 375 D Street, near Seventh Street. The machine selected by Mr. Stickney was that patented by Mr. Negbaum, of New York, August 25, 1863, which was then used in the largest envelope mann- factories in the United States. The process of making envelopes is extremely simple. Everything was done in Mr. Stickney's establish- ment by machinery, except gumming the flap. IIe had in his factory four folding machines, making four different sizes of envelopes on each machine, so that he manufactured sixteen different-sized envelopes in all. In September, 1865, he was employing twelve hands, seven females and five males. At this time, it was thought that Mr. Negbaum's machine was the best made. By its use Mr. Stickney was enabled to sell good envelopes at $2 per thousand, and official envelopes at $3.75 per thousand. However, the most wonderful machine for the manufacture of envelopes then known was that invented by James P. IIeron, of Ohio, which cut, gummed, folded, counted, and packed entirely, without the aid of hands, and made three hundred thousand per day.
It is a remarkable fact in the history of civilization, that up to about the beginning of the present century there was no good artificial light,-none better than candle light. Artificial light is obtained either as a result of combustion, or as the effect of chemical action, or of heat without chemical action. Those substances which give out flame are rich either in carbon or hydrogen, as wax, gas, and oils, which are consumed in the burning either of candles or lamps.
The phenomenon of the burning of natural gas is familiar to the citizens of most parts of this country, but it is altogether probable that few are familiar with the history of the origin of the use of
·
430
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
artificial gas for lighting purposes. By common consent the merit of the discovery and application of artificial gas for lighting purposes belongs to Great Britain. Sir James Lowther and Dr. James Clayton are believed to have been the first persons to collect and burn coal gas, the experiments of the latter being made in 1739. In 1767, the subject was pursued by Dr. Richard Watson, afterward Bishop of Landarff; by Robert Murdoch, of Scotland, in 1792, at Birmingham and Manchester, England; and by Mr. Winsor, in London, in 1803 and 1804. Mr. Murdoch did not succeed, however, in lighting up the workshop of Boulton & Watt, at Birmingham, until 1798. Dr. Henry, of Manchester, also assisted in the development of the infant art of gas lighting, as did also Mr. Clegg, who succeeded Mr. Murdoch at the works of Boulton & Watt.
Recurring to the dates given above, it may be said that the nineteenth century, in most respects the brightest and best in all history, was ushered in by the light of coal gas, the most pleasant. convenient, and safe, with the possible exception of the incandescent electric light, of all artificial lights yet discovered or invented.
Gas is obtained from petroleum, from oil, from resin, from wood, and from peat. Oil gas was manufactured in New York from 1824 to 1828, and sold at $10 per one thousand cubic feet; resin gas was supplied in New York from 1828 to 1848, at $7 per one thousand cubic feet most of the time. Oil gas, under the name of "solar gas," was introduced into Washington in the latter part of 1846; and in January, 1847, Mr. Crutchett, the inventor of what was called here and in Dayton, Ohio, a little later, "Crutchett's Solar Gas," lighted with this gas Capitol Hill and North Capitol Avenue, having nine "solar gas lamps" burning between the Capitol gate and his residence, at the corner of First and C streets. The light emitted by this gas was said at the time, by a newspaper, to be so strong and brilliant that a person could read fine print by it in the streets without the least difficulty. Mr. Crutchett kept on experimenting as well as he could with his gas for a year or two. The east room of the President's House was lighted for the first time with this gas on December 29, 1848, to the satisfaction of the President and others. Mr. Crutchett was then engaged in erecting his gas works in Washington. During this year, the Washington Gas Light Company was organized for the purpose of supplying the citizens of Washington with "solar gas," it appearing that this gas could be successfully manufactured from oil. On January 14, 1850, this company published an address to the public, in which they said that they were able to furnish light equal
431
MANUFACTURING.
to that from seventy-five thousand cubic feet of coal gas per day, and that in a short time they should increase their capacity by thirty thousand feet per day. They claimed they could manufacture gas from oil cheaper than it could be manufactured from coal anywhere in the United States, and that they sold it cheaper than coal was sold for anywhere in the country, except in Pittsburgh and Phila- delphia. One foot of solar gas, they said, was equal to two and a half feet of coal gas, and while they were selling solar gas for $8 per one thousand cubic feet, coal gas was being sold for $3.50 per one thousand cubic feet. Thus coal gas light equal in quality to $8 worth of solar gas light would cost $8.75.
.
From further experience, however, it was found that the manu- facture of solar gas could not be made a success, and the company erected coal gas works east of Four and a Half Street, between Maryland Avenue and the City Canal, on Square C. The main build- ings were eight in number. The smoke stack or tower was 70 feet high, and the excavation for the gasometer was 90 feet in diameter and 20 feet deep. The walls were 3} feet thick, and required 400,000 brick. The mast in the center of the gasometer was 50 feet long, and projected into the air 20 feet. The old gas works were south of Tenth Street, and cost $100,000, and the new works cost $150,000, making the cost of the new establishment $250,000. In December, 1851, the new establishment commenced furnishing to the inhabitants of Washington gas from coal. Pipes were laid from the works on Square C up Four and a Half Street to Pennsylvania Avenue, and then both ways on Pennsylvania Avenue toward the Capitol and the President's House.
In a circular published by the company March 14, 1856, over the signature of Mr. Silas II. Hill, then president, he says:
"On account of the widely scattered population of Washington, and the apparent impracticability of uniting governmental and indi- vidual effort in the establishment and maintenance of a company for the supply of gas light, even in the more important parts of the city, several years passed away before any organized effort was made to accomplish this desirable object. It was not regarded by our citizens as a business promising a fair remuneration, and consequently this city, with all its apparent advantages, and with a fixed population of forty thousand inhabitants, was among the last in the Union to enjoy this almost indispensable means of illumination."
The capital is stated as "$424,000, every dollar of which has been judiciousły and economically expended."
28
432
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
A retort house containing 28 benches of 3 retorts cach, in all 84 retorts, had been erected; this was capable of producing 280,000 cubic feet of gas every twenty-four hours. Also, two gas holders, respec- tively 120,000 feet and 280,000 feet. The number of consumers had reached 1,681.
"A line of six-inch pipe, over a mile in length, was laid from the vicinity of the Capitol to the Navy Yard, with only one widely scattered row of street lamps, passing many squares with scarcely a dwelling house on each, and double lines of pipe are in that part of Pennsylvania Avenue near Georgetown, with quite as uninviting a prospect of private consumption."
The amount paid to their numerous employees exceeded an aver- age of $2,000 per month, and their city taxes amounted to over $1,000 per annum.
"For four out of the eight years of the company's existence, nothing was realized but actual expenses, and since that period the board have been enabled to declare dividends semi-annually of profits of three, three and a half, and, latterly, five per cent. on the capital stock; not at any time more than the last-mentioned rate."
"Since the completion of the new works, in 1851, the board have constantly acted on the design of supplying all the habitable parts of the city with gas, having laid in this period nearly twenty miles of street mains."
"The average annual consumption of gas is less here, in pro- portion to the length of street mains, than in any other city. This company have thirty miles of street mains, and an annual average consumption of 944,000 cubic feet of gas per mile. In Baltimore the average is 1,648,000 cubic feet per each mile of pipe; in Philadelphia it is 2,083,000; in New York, 1,765,000; in Boston, 2,700,000; in Albany, 2,000,000; in Brooklyn, 1,330,000; in St. Louis, 1,318,000; and in Charleston, 1,546,000. In most of these cities, also, the average number of consumers of gas on every hundred feet of street mains is five, while in Washington the number is not quite one."
"The gas is manufactured, condensed, and purified in the most approved manner, and the intention always has been to produce the very best quality. Superior bituminous coals suitable for this purpose, and at high prices, have been procured with this view, and the board are confident that, with rare exceptions, the gas here has been equal to that used in any city throughout the entire Union. Careful exam- ination and measurement with the photometer have placed this matter beyond cavil. It is true that sometimes coals from the same mines
433
MANUFACTURING.
are found, on trial, to be of unequal strength, though perfectly uniform in appearance, and the purifying process may be deficient from a similar invisible cause, but these defects are immediately corrected as soon as discovered. Extraordinary severity of weather, prolonged for months, as during this season, may interrupt the flow of gas, and thus incommode so many consumers at the same time as to render prompt relief impossible. These are contingencies against which no foresight can effectually guard, and, during the past winter, they have operated as seriously against other gas companies, and thereby caused as much annoyance to the public, as they have done in Washington."
" With a capital of $424,000, actually and economically expended in the business, and unincumbered by debt, with works of acknowl- edged excellence, and capable of producing a supply of superior gas equal to any demand; with thirty miles of street mains, covering, as with a network, almost all the populous parts of the city, and so laid as to admit of any future extension; with one thousand six hundred and eighty-one consumers, and this number daily augmenting, our busi- ness systematized and now generally understood, the company have every motive for not only accommodating the public to their utmost requirement, but also for reducing the price of gas, from time to time, as the adoption of every valuable improvement and the increased consumption may justify."
At the present time, the company has two hundred and forty miles of street mains, nearly twenty-three thousand consumers, and an annual sale of gas of about eight hundred million cubic feet. It supplies gas to nearly five thousand publie lamps, and pays forty thousand dollars for taxes and license per annum.
The officers of this company have been as follows: Presidents- John H. Callan, July 14, 1848, to April 14, 1849; Ulysses Ward, April 14, 1849, to January 2, 1851; Silas HI. Hill, January 2, 1851, to June 1, 1856; George W. Riggs, June 1, 1856, to November 11, 1864; Barnabas H. Bartol, November 11, 1864, to November 15, 1883; George A. Mellhenny,1 November 15, 1883, to the present time. Secretaries
1 George Alexander Mellhenny was born in the north of Ireland in 1835. At the age of eight, he came to the United States. He was educated at the public schools of Philadelphia, and learned the engineer's and machinist's profession in the same city. After quitting the public schools, he paid particular attention to gas engineering, and at the age of twenty-two he took charge of the gas works at Macon, Georgia. He came to Washington and took charge of the Washington Gas Company's works on the 7th of March, 1865, and has had charge of them every since. He was one of the or- ganizers and the first president of the Belt Line Railroad Company, and is the author
434
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
- Jacob Bigelow, July 14, 1848, to April 16, 1849; E. Lindsley, April 16, 1849, to January 8, 1851; Joseph F. Brown, January 8, 1851, to January 24, 1866; Charles B. Bailey, January 24, 1866, to the present time. Treasurers - Until the accession of Joseph F. Brown, the duties of treasurer were performed by the president; then Whitman C. Bestor, January 24, 1866, to November 13, 1873; Charles B. Bailey, pro tempore, November 13, 1873, to January 3, 1874; Charles C. Glover, January 3, 1874, to October 26, 1881; John C. Poor, October 26, 1881, to the present time. Assistant Secretaries - James D. Clay, February 26, 1884, to March 12, 1885; William B. Orme, March 12, 1885, to the present time. Engineers -The office of engineer was created March 20, 1865, and has been continuously filled by Mr. George A. Mellhenny, the present president and engineer.
The United States Electric Lighting Company had its origin in a novel manner. In the fall of 1881, the survivors of the Army of the Cumberland gathered together in Washington to dedicate their statue of General Thomas, in the Thomas Cirele. The people of Washington contributed to the success of that occasion, and committees were appointed to carry out various plans for the entertainment of the visitors. One of the new ideas proposed was to illuminate Pennsyl- vania Avenue from the Peace Monument to the Treasury Department with the electric light, at that time beginning to be used in a few cities, but entirely unknown in Washington. Guys were stretched at intervals from housetop to housetop, and are lamps suspended there- from over the middle of the street. A dynamo was connected with the engine of a sawmill on Thirteenth Street, and at the appointed time thousands of citizens and visitors thronged the avenues to witness the novel display and to behold night transformed into day.
Strange to relate, however, the attempt to light the avenue in this way was a melancholy failure; but the interest awakened in the subject was not permitted to die out. Messrs. Stilson Hutchins, D. B. Ainger, William Dickson, Moses Kelly, and George A. Kelly organized a company, named the Heisler Electric Light Company. A
of the ticket system in the street railroad service. He is at present a director and vice-president of the West End National Bank; a director in the Washington and Georgetown Railroad Company; he is one of the executive committee having in charge the construction of the cable railroad; is a director in the Corcoran Insurance Com- pany, and is president and engineer of the Washington Gas Light Company. He is president of the board of trustees of the West End Presbyterian Church. He is an inventor of several gas appliances, and a writer on subjects connected with the use of gas. He has had several patents issued to him, and his articles have been published in the proceedings of the American Gas Light Association.
435
MANUFACTURING.
small experimental plant was established in the Washington Post building, with a circuit of a few lights in the vicinity of Tenth Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. These ran most of the time during the winter, and in the meantime a small station was commenced in the rear of the Post building, under the supervision of George A. Kelly. Mr. Kelly resigned in the spring of 1882, and Mr. Seymour W. Tulloch was requested to act in his stead.
The company experienced considerable difficulty in maintaining its service, and in November transferred all its property to the United States Electric Lighting Company, a company organized under the laws of West Virginia, October 14, 1882, with a capital of $300,000, by Stilson Hutchins, William Dickson, Robert Boyd, James L. Barbour, and A. W. Fletcher. This company was organized November 9, 1882, by the election of the following officers: "James L. Barbour, presi- dent; Robert Boyd, vice-president; Martin Maloney, treasurer; Wil- liam Dickson, secretary, and N. W. Ellis, superintendent. An entire new set of dynamos and lamps was ordered from the United States Electric Light Company, of New York, and the first large contract made to supply light was with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Com- pany, for eleven lights about their station. February 14, 1883, the present efficient general manager and superintendent, A. M. Renshaw, was elected, and the entire business placed in his charge. May 1, 1883, the first dynamo for incandescent lighting was ordered, with a capacity of one hundred lights. At the first annual meeting, held November 9, 1883, there were reported ninety-one are lights and one hundred incandescent lights in operation.
On January 8, 1884, the company resolved to apply for a permit to lay an underground conduit along Pennsylvania Avenue and other streets where circuits extended. This conduit was laid at great expense, under the supervision of an expert from Europe. From this time on, in deference to the wishes of the citizens, and in harmony with the legislation of Congress, the company took front rank in underground construction, and through its experiments suc- ceeded in perfecting its present system, which is considered the best all-round system in existence, and has to-day over thirty-five miles of conduits through the principal streets of the city.
The company lighted Pennsylvania Avenue without any return for two years or more, but during the fall of 1884, at the request and by the subscriptions of property holders and merchants along F Street, preparations were made to light the same by means of under- ground conduits, and this bit of enterprise was the beginning of a
436
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
movement which resulted in F Street becoming the business street of the city, and in the greatly enhanced value of its real estate.
The discussion of the question of an enlarged plant was brought to a speedy determination on the night of July 16, 1885, the entire station being that night consumed by fire. While the fire was blazing, arrangements were made to lease the original Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Depot, then lately occupied by the Brush Electric Light Company, and on the 18th of the month a new equipment was ordered from the United States Electric Light Company, of New York. Within two weeks, the principal lights were again in operation from a Brush dynamo. On the 20th of August, the Thomson-Houston system was adopted as the standard are light of the company. During September, the stockholders of the Brush Electric Light Company became iden- tified with this company, and on December 1, 1885, there were two hundred and thirteen are, and two hundred and sixty incandescent, lamps in operation.
At the annual meeting held November 9, 1886, the stockholders voted to purchase the lot, one hundred by one hundred and twenty feet, at the corner of Thirteen and a Half and B streets, on which a portion of the present station is located, and the officers were author- ized to build and equip a permanent station. The Edison system of central station lighting was adopted by the company, and at the annual meeting held November 8, 1887, the president reported the station nearly completed. To meet the cost of the station and its par- tial equipment, and the construction of the incandescent circuits, the capital stock was increased, September 4, 1888, from $300,000 to $500,000, and an issue of convertible debenture certificates authorized, the first of their kind in the city. At the annual meeting in November, 334 arc and 4,236 incandescent lights were in operation. April 19, 1890, the prop- erty of Mr. George Bogus, adjoining the station, and containing 22,000 square feet, was purchased, and on April 14, 1891, the charter of the company was amended, authorizing an ultimate capitalization of $2,000,- 000; and steps were taken to extend the station to an ultimate capacity of 1,000 arc and 40,000 incandescent lamps, of which at the present time 542 are and 16,829 incandescent lamps are in operation.
The officers and directors of the company are as follows: A. A. Thomas,1 president; William E. Clark, first vice-president; Robert
1 Ammi Amery Thomas was born in Genesee County, New York, in 1847. He received a common-school and academic education in Wisconsin, in which State he en- listed as a soldier at the breaking out of the War of the Rebellion in 1861. He was taken prisoner by the Confederates, and detained in the prisons at Cahawba, Alabama,
a. a. Hurmax
437
MANUFACTURING.
Boyd, second vice-president; Seymour W. Tullock, secretary and treasurer; A. M. Renshaw, general manager; George W. Pearson, C. C. Duncanson, Daniel B. Clarke, John Paul Jones, Emmons S. Smith, and Peter H. Hill.
Having thus presented brief references to some of the institutions devoted to manufactures, the following summary, as given in the late Census Bulletin No. 158, it is believed will fittingly close this chapter, showing as it does, as nearly as may be, the condition of these industries in the District of Columbia at the present time. It is also believed that the purposes of this work will be subserved as well by combining in one summary the statistics for 1880 and 1890, as they would be by presenting the two summaries sepa- rately, and, besides this, the comparison between the two can be most readily made if they are together. The general statistical table is as follows:
GENERAL SUBJECTS.
1880.
1890.
Number of establishments reported.
970
2,300
Capital invested.
$5,527,526
$28,876,258
Number of hands employed
7,146
23,477
Amount of wages paid ..
$3,924,612
$14,638,790
Cost of material used.
5,365,400
17,187,752
Miscellaneous expenses.
1,603,548
Value of manufactured goods.
11,882,316
39,296,259
It is necessary to explain, however, that while the census report of 1890 is as full and complete as it was possible to make it, that for 1880 omitted several classes of industries included in that for 1890, and hence the increase as shown by the above table is apparently
and Columbia, South Carolina, for upward of six months, during which period he experienced more than the usual amount of privation, suffering, and humiliation, together with no small amount of romance. After an honorable discharge from the army, he entered upon the study of law at Milwaukee, was admitted to practice, and in 1870 was appointed United States Deputy Marshal for the State for the purpose of taking the census. He afterward removed to Kansas, where he received the appoint- ment of register of the United States Land Office at Kirwia, holding that position there and at Cawka City more than four years. At the expiration of this service, he removed to the city of Washington to engage in the practice of law, naturally drifting into the prosecution of claims before the several departments. In 1881, he commenced publish- ing a periodical named The Reporter, with the determination of securing reforms in
438
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
greater than it really was. The industries included in the table for 1890 that were not in the report for 1880 were, china and pottery; decorating; women's clothing; druggists' preparations, except prescrip- tions; the manufacture of heating and illuminating gas; and slaughter- ing and meat packing, except retail butchering.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.