USA > Georgia > Fulton County > Atlanta > History of Atlanta, Georgia : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 2
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So large has it become that it has been found necessary to erect an entire new plant, and for this purpose they purchased in 1888 twenty acres of land out- side the city limits, upon which it is their intention to erect the new buildings in 1889.
The Atlanta Bridge and Axle Company was organized April 15, 1887, and commenced business about June Ist of the same year. The paid in capital was $150,000. The company bought the property of the old "Atlanta Bridge Works," located at the corner of Marietta street and North avenue, which had suspended business some three years previously. New buildings and machinery were added until the works were fully equipped for the manufacture of iron and steel bridges, and other structural work in metal. They were also equipped for the manufacture of steel channel wagon axles. They now have a capacity of four thousand tons of bridges and five thousand sets of wagon axles. The bridge department of the works has been running to its full capacity ever since this company was organized, but the axle department has not yet been started. The company find a market for their work throughout the United States, but their special field for bridges is in the Southern States. The company employs about three hundred and twenty-five men on the average the year round. The officers of the company at the present time are, W. B. Miles, president; J. L. Creswell, vice-president; Grant Wilkins, secretary and engineer.
The Southern Agricultural Works was organized in 1882, with a paid up capital stock of $150,000. The line of manufacture consists of all kinds of cast and wrought iron plows, steel plows, steel blades, etc., together with all attachments; cotton-gins, feeders and condensers, and cotton warehouse and compress trucks of every description. The company makes a specialty of the Elias Haiman chilled plow. The plant of the works covers an area of 515 x 150 feet, fronting on Marietta street, and extending back to the Western and At- lantic Railroad. The main building is a four-story brick, 60 x 150 feet in size. The next building is the foundry, and then comes the grinding and polishing rooms, 40 x 110 feet. The blacksmith shop is 40 x 150 feet in size, in which are employed three large trip-hammers. There are also three drop- hammers, a large rolling machine and two bull-dozers. The engine-room is thirty feet square, and the engine is of one hundred and sixty horse power. The com- pany employs a force of two hundred hands, and the weekly pay roll amounts to $1,800. The trade is very large and extends all over the Southern States. The officers at this time are, Elias Haiman, president, and S. Landauer, secre- tary and treasurer. Under the management of these gentlemen this institu- tion has become one of the leading manufacturing enterprises in the Southern States.
The Atlanta Cotton Seed Oil-mills was founded in 1882, with a capital of $75,000. The factory is three miles out of the city, on the line of the Georgia Railroad. Here four buildings are occupied-press and boiler rooms, linter
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and huller rooms, engine-room and storage building, all of which cover an area of four acres. The machinery is of the latest and most approved designs, and is driven by an engine of one hundred and twenty-five horse power. Seventy- five hands are employed, and the transactions of the company amount to over $100,000. The products are crude cotton- seed oil, oil-cake and oil-meal. The officers of the company are, Albert E. Thornton, president; Paul Romare, vice-president ; and William J. Montgomery, secretary and treasurer.
The Exposition Cotton Mills Company was organized in 1882, the follow- ing gentlemen being the incorporators : Richard Peters, R. D. Spalding, D. N. Speer, W. B. Cox, W. R. Hill, Robert H. Richards, E. C. Peters, W. I. Gam- att, Benjamin E. Crane, John R. Gramling, Hugh T. Inman, S. M. Inman, W. S. Inman, John H. Inman, James Swann, R. M. Clarke, W. M. Dixon, L. P. Grant, John M. Hill, T. L. Langston, George W. Parrott, James English, J. D. Turner and E. P. Howell. The capital stock of the company, which is all paid in, is $500,000, and the surplus $150,000. The officers are as follows : Presi- dent, D. N. Speer; assistant, W. A. Speer ; secretary, C. D. Tuller ; superin- tendent, A. T. Smith, and special agent, W. C. Martin. Five hundred men are employed. The mills are located on the old Oglethorpe Park, and are in the form of a cross. There are five hundred looms in the mills, and sixteen thou- sand spindles. Nine thousand bales of cotton are converted annually into shirtings, sheetings and drillings, which find a market in all the Southern States, and in India and China.
The Atlanta Cotton Mills was organized as a stock company in July, 1879, with a paid up capital of $300,000. Their factory is situated on Marietta street, and is 280 x 316 fect. The factory is six stories high. The engine rooms are three stories high and 40 x 90 feet in dimensions. The engine is of five hundred horse power. There are in operation in these mills 10,240 spindles, and 330 looms, and the capacity of the mills is 20,000 yards per day. The officers of the company at present are Rufus B. Bullock, president and treasurer, and J. Walter Kimball, cashier.
The Atlanta Steam Dye Works were founded in 1871 by James Lochrey. They began operations, however, in a very humble way, and under many dis- couragements. People at first were unwilling to entrust their fabrics in his hands. This is illustrated by an incident which occurred very soon after he had established the works. A lady brought to him some lace curtains which she wanted to have bleached, but would not leave them unless upon a guaran- tee that if the bleaching process should prove a failure no charge should be made, and also that if in the process they should be in any way damaged, Mr. Lochrey should pay the damage. Mr. Lochrey made a success of the bleach- ing process, and the news of this success soon spread far and wide. The result was that he soon had a greater amount of work than he could do with his lim- ited facilities. In 1872, therefore, he erected a three-story brick building on
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Pryor street between Loyd and Hunter streets, and to the new works custom came from every State south of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi River. This enterprise was looked upon as a valuable addition to the industries of Atlanta. This establishment is still in existence, the business being con- ducted by Mrs. Hattie Lochrey, widow of the former proprietor.
The Trowbridge Furniture Company was first started in 1874, as the firm of John Trowbridge & Son. In 1886 the company, as at present named, was incorporated with a capital of $20,000, and with privilege of increasing it to $100,000. The incorporators and the officers upon organization were as fol- lows : John Trowbridge, president ; Henry Trowbridge, manager; and G. C. Powers, secretary. The factory has always been where it is now, at Nos. 3 to It Fort street. All kinds of furniture are manufactured by this company. The number of hands employed varies from fifty to one hundred, and the an- nual value of the manufactured goods amounts to about $150,000.
The Fenley Furniture Company is the successor of the W. L. Fenley Fur- niture Company which was established in 1881 by Wilson L. Fenley, who had been engaged for some years previously in the manufacture of furniture in At- lanta. The company was composed of W. L. Fenley, John A. Donavan and Frank T. Gather. This company was succeeded about January 1, 1888, by the Fenley Furniture Company, which was then incorporated with a capital stock of $20,000. The principal incorporators of this company were W. L. Fenley and W. R. Ware. Some months after the incorporation Mr. Ware bought out the interests of all the other stockholders, and has since then been the sole proprietor. The factory is located on Fourth street, near Ponder street. The annual value of the manufactured product is from $60,000 to $75,- 000. It is the present design of Mr. Ware to erect a new two-story and base- ment brick factory early in 1889, and thus increase his facilities for the manu- facture of fine furniture, for which he finds a market in all of the Southern States.
The Boyd & Baxter Furniture Company was organized in 1884. Messrs. Boyd & Baxter at that time bought out the plant of Messrs. Hinman & Son and commenced the manufacture of furniture on a moderate scale. But with the large supply of excellent timber of all the varieties required in the manufacture of furniture, walnut, cherry, ash, etc., and the inexhaustible supply of fine marble in north Georgia, they found accessible to their hands the best material for the purposes for which their business had been established. They therefore erect- ed a large factory building 256 x 50 feet in size and five stories high, fronting on Marietta street, and extending back to the Western and Atlantic, the Geor- gia Pacific, and the East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia Railroads. The factory is supplied with the latest improved labor-saving machinery, which is propelled by a one hundred and twenty- five horse power Hamilton Corliss en- gine; about one hundred and fifty hands are employed ; two million feet of
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lumber are worked up into furniture annually, and the pay-roll foots up about $1,500 per week. Isaac S. Boyd is president of the company, T. W. Baxter, secretary and treasurer, and F. S. Burns, superintendent.
The Atlanta Furniture Manufacturing Company was incorporated in 1888. Following are the officers of the company : C. P. Miller, president ; P. H. Mil- ler, vice-president ; H. J. Fear, general manager, and George B. Hinman, su- perintendent. This institution is the successor of the " Pioneer" Furniture Manufactory of Atlanta, first established by George Hinman in 1879. After- ward the firm became Hinman & Son, and the latter is now the superintendent of this company. The factory is situated on Marietta street just inside the city limits, and the lots numbered from 529 to 537 inclusive. It is equipped with the latest improved machinery. The company was incorporated with a capital of $10,000, with the privilege of increasing it to $100,000, and since the incorporation of the company business has so largely increased that the orig- inal stock of $10,000 has been largely increased. This company tolerates only first class workmanship, and with its advanced, chaste and original designs, and with prices even lower than were formerly charged for ordinary furniture, to- gether with the thorough business methods employed in this factory, there is no reason for wonder or surprise that this company occupies its present envi- able position among the many thoroughly reliable manufacturing firms of At- lanta.
Louis Gholstin & Co., manufacturers of woven wire springs, spring beds, cots, mattresses and bedding, commenced the manufacture of these goods Feb- ruary 1, 1888. Mr. Gholstin had been engaged since 1880 in the manufacture of flour, as one of the proprietors of the Arlington Flouring Mills. In these mills however, which he established, he was alone until 1882, when he took into partnership W. I. Zachry to whom he sold out in the fall of 1887. Dur- ing the height of the prosperity of these mills they made two hundred barrels of flour per day. They are now owned by Zachry Brothers & Co., and are the only mills left of five separate establishments of the same kind of a few years ago. The reason given for the closing of the other four mills is that the farm- ers of upper Georgia have for many years been raising less and less wheat, and consequently the wheat ground into flour in Atlanta has had to be purchased in Tennessee and other States, thus increasing the freight to such an extent that it has become cheaper to ship flour into the Atlanta market than to ship in the wheat. The firm of Louis Gholstin & Co., is composed of Louis Gholstin and E. C. Guthman, the latter having been engaged for several years in the manufacture of the same goods in the manufacture of which the firm is now en- gaged. They commenced in the building at the corner of South Forsyth street and the Western and Atlantic Railroad, Nos. 23 and 25. Their business soon required an enlargement of their quarters, and hence they erected a new build- ing north of the old one. They now occupy three buildings, Nos. 17 to 25,
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tusive, on South Forsyth street, where they employ somewhat more than Maty hands, and manufacture about $75,000 worth of goods per annum.
The Atlanta Glass Works Company was incorporated in 1887. the incor- porators being S. M. Inman, E. P. Howell, D. W. Curry, A. G. Candler, J. L. Pinson, Theodore Schuman, H. G. Hutchinson and J. W. Rankin. The offi- cers of the company are J. W. Rankin, president; H. G. Hutchinson, vice- president ; J. L. Pinson, secretary and treasurer, and A. E. Finkel, superin- tendent The capital stock of the company was authorized to be $50,000, with the privilege of increasing it to $100,000. Since the organization the capital has been increased to $60,000. The factory is outside the city limits on South Pryor street, where are employed one hundred and fifty hands, the weekly pay roll amounting to $1,500, and the weekly output of bottles and chimneys amounts to about $3,000.
The Atlanta Pianoforte Manufacturing Company was incorporated in 1887, with an authorized capital of $200,000, R. A. Halliday is president of the com- pany; G. II. Halliday, secretary; and J. W. Cooper, superintendent. The fac- tory of the company is at the intersection of Bourne street and the Georgia Railroad. It is in the form of a T, the main part being three stories high, and the other parts being two and one story. The building is of brick, and cost about $20,000. The machinery cost $7,000. When running at its full capa- city the factory is capable of turning out twenty pianos per week. The piano made is of the J. W. Cooper patent, for which is claimed several important im- provements, both in the construction of the frame and of the piano itself. The main improvement is what is called the tone governing pedal, by which the tone of the piano can be graduated at will from that of a full piano to one that is scarcely audible. In connection with the soft pedal this piano has a duplex touch by which the pupil is enabled to gain strength in the fingers and the muscles of the arm. The principal improvement in the case consists in supporting the wires on a heavy barred skeleton, which is hinged at one end of the instrument, and is thus easily opened and closed. The plate and skele- ton can be detached from the case, which renders the handling of the piano a matter of ease and convenience.
The Pemberton Medicine Company was established as the J. S. Pemberton Medicine Company. It was at first a copartnership, and consisted of Dr. J. S. l'emberton and Ed. Holland. It was established for the purpose of manufac- turing Pemberton's French Wine of Coca, Pemberton's Indian Queen Hair Dye, and Pemberton's Globe Flower Cough Syrup. In 1884 the copartner- ship was changed to a stock company, and the name was at the same time changed to the Pemberton Chemical Company. The president of this com- Priny was D. D. Doe; the vice-president, Ed. Holland ; the secretary, F. M. Robinson ; and the superintendent, Dr. J. S. Pemberton .. Their manufactory Way at No. 107 Marietta street. This company continued three years, and was 39
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succeeded by the Pemberton Medicine Company. This was a copartnership, the parties interested being A. O. Murphy. E. H. Bloodworth, J. C. Mayfield and Dr. J. S. Pemberton. This copartnership lasted until October, 1888, when a charter was obtained for the company, which had an authorized capital of $50,000. An organization of the corporation was effected about January 15, 1889. They have added to the articles manufactured as enumerated above, Pemberton's Orange and Lemon Elixir, and now manufacture all four of the articles named.
The Swift Specific Company was incorporated June 13, 1879, with the fol- lowing incorporators : H. J. Lamar, president ; C. T. Swift, vice-president; L. W. Hunt, treasurer ; and J. W. Rankin, secretary. The capital stock was $10,000, which has not been increased, though the privilege was granted in the charter of increasing it to $100,000. The surplus is now, however, $90,- ooo, thus making the capital and surplus together equal to $100,000. The only medicine manufactured by this company is the famous S. S. S. remedy, or Swift's Specific for the blood. In 1883 the present laboratory at the corner of Hunter and Butler streets was erected. It is a three-story brick structure, and in this building all the manufacturing is carried on. About forty-five hands are employed, ten of whom are females. A depot has recently been established in London, England, and a manager placed in charge. The Spe- cific finds a large sale both in the United States and in foreign countries.
The Walter A. Taylor Company was organized June 23, 1888, with a paid up capital of $15,000. The present officers are F. B. Palmer, president ; H. A. Gregory, secretary ; and Walter A. Taylor, manager. The business con- sists of the manufacture of chemists' supplies and perfumery. The articles manufactured are Taylor's Premium Cologne; Taylor's Cherokee Remedy of Sweet Gum and Mullein for coughs, croup and consumption ; Dr. Biggers's Huckleberry Cordial, the great Southern remedy for bowel complaints, and children teething. The business of the company amounts to about $6o,cco per annum, and extends throughout the Southern States. From twenty to twenty-five girls are employed in the manufacture of the goods, and several salesmen besides. Mckesson & Robbins, of New York, are general agents for the United States.
The Gate City Coffin Company was organized and chartered in the spring of 1887, the corporators being E. E. Rawson, C. E. Boynton, and W. C. Raw- son. The organization was effected by the election of E. E. Rawson, presi- dent ; C. E. Boynton, vice-president, and W. C. Rawson, secretary, treasurer, and manager. The authorized capital of the company is $100,000. During the same year a three-story brick building, 100 x 135 feet, was erected at a cost of $20,000, and the company commenced business in January; 1888. They have in their employ sixty-five men, and have a capacity of three hun- dred coffins per week.
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The Atlanta Coffin Factory (L. H. Hall & Co.) was established in 1876, at which time a building was erected on Marietta street, near the present loca- tion of E. Van Winkle & Co.'s Works, the office and finishing shop being at No. 36 Decatur street. The present buildings, at the corner of Elliott and Newton streets, were erected in 1879. One building is 60 x 140 feet in size, and three stories high, and another is 50 x 80 feet, and three stories high like- wise. Besides these there are boiler rooms, bending rooms and dry kilns. The entire plant occupies three acres of ground, and the number of hands en- ployed varies between fifty and seventy-five. The company is composed of 1 .. H. Hall and J. H. Ellsworth, and transacts a large amount of business, their coffins finding a market in all of the Southern States.
The George W. Scott Manufacturing Company .- This company was estab- lished in 1868 by George W. Scott, the present president of the company. The business of the company is the manufacture of gossypium phospho, cotton and corn fertilizer, which has acquired a reputation second to no other fertilizer known to planters throughout the Southern States. The works are situated at Edgewood on the Georgia Railroad. They have a capacity of eight thousand tons per annum, and furnish employment to forty hands in the different de- partments. George B. Scott is the vice-president of the company, and Thomas L. Cooper, secretary and treasurer. The capital stock of the company is $250,000.
Besides this company there are several other companies engaged in the manufacture of fertilizers, among them the Atlanta Guano Company, with a capital and surplus of $46,000. Of this company John M. Green is the pres- ident, and Clifton F. Mansfield, secretary and treasurer. This company man- ufactures high grade guanos and acid phosphates. They also import materials for fertilizers. The Pendleton Guano Company has a capital of $105,000, William M. Pendleton is the president and manager of the company, and Edward A. Werner, treasurer. They manufacture several kinds of fertilizers, the works being located at Kirkwood. The Southern Phosphate Works are located on Houston street at the northeast corner of the R. & D. Railroad. Robert F. Maddox is president of this company, William L. Peel, secretary and treasurer, and John C. Clarke, general manager. Besides these there are several other manufacturers and dealers.
O. A. Smith's Chemical Works were erected in 1882, and were located just outside the city limits on the Western and Atlantic Railroad. They were destroyed by fire on the morning of July 14, 1888. Since that time Mr. Smith and Mr. A. Leyden have formed a partnership and have erected supe- rior chemical works about four miles from the center of the city on the line of the Western and Atlantic Railroad. The Georgia Pacific, and the East Ten- nessee, Virginia and Georgia Railroads also run past the property. They have purchased twenty five acres of land at this point, upon which they have erected
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the following buildings: A chamber house, 144x 34 feet in size, and three stories high ; a burner house, 28 x 34 feet ; a nitric acid house, 50 x 50 feet ; a platinum house, 25 x 40 feet ; a boiler house, 16 x 30 feet; a steam pump house, 10 X 12 ; a niter storage house, 20 x 30 ; an acid storage house, 16x 16; a water tower, 20 x 20, and 50 feet high ; an office, 16 x 30 ; eight family cot- tages, and a foreman's house. Besides these buildings they have a water stor- age pond with a capacity of 1,500,000 gallons. The capital invested is $25,- 000. The works will go into operation about February 1, 1889.
The Atlanta Manufacturers' Association .- Toward the latter part of 1872 it was thought that the interests of manufacturers would be enhanced by the formation of an association whose special duty it should be to look after these interests. Accordingly about January 10, 1873, a committee was appointed to consider the question of organizing such an association. A majority of the committee held a meeting on the 17th of January, which majority reported in favor of the proposed organization. In order to effect this organization, a large meeting was held in Manufacturers' Hall on the 22nd of the month. J. J. Toon, from the committee on organization, reported in favor of there being the following officers : A president, two vice-presidents, a recording secretary, a corresponding secretary, and a treasurer ; and also that there be appropriate standing committees. The organization of the association was effected Janu- ary 28, 1873, by the election of the following officers : J. C. Peck, president ; S. C. Hitchcock and James Ormond, vice-presidents ; G. W. D. Cook, record- ing secretary ; J. S. Peterson, corresponding secretary, and J. M. Willis, treas- urer. The executive committee was composed of B. F. Longley, R. Winship, Jacob Elsas, A. T. Finney, and G. W. Hall. A committee on constitution was appointed, consisting of W. Goodnow, J. J. Toon, J. J. Ford, H. Lewis, and J. S. Peterson. All manufacturers and all persons interested or engaged in manufactures or in the mechanic arts, and all interested directly or indi- rectly in the promotion of these interests were invited to join the association.
At the same meeting at which the organization was effected, the following remarks in substance were made by one of the progressive spirits present : Manufactures are not established in any city merely to benefit that city. The city of Atlanta was not offering sufficient inducements to manufacturers to influence them to come here. Without water power, and with coal at the price it was then commanding, from twenty-five to thirty-five cents per bushel, it was impossible for Atlanta to become a manufacturing city. Water power could not be had; that was out of the question. It would cost more than it would be worth. The only hope for Atlanta to become a manufacturing city, therefore, was the securing of cheap coal. Without cheap coal the idea of making Atlanta a manufacturing city might as well be abandoned. The first and greatest effort, therefore, of Atlanta, should be to obtain cheap coal. This could be done by building the Georgia Western Railroad to the coal fields of
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Alabama, and the speaker urged upon Atlanta the importance of seeing that this enterprise was carried to a successful conclusion. It was estimated that with this railroad completed, coal could be brought to Atlanta and sold at from twelve and a half cents to fifteen cents per bushel. And at these prices for coal, and with exemption from taxation for a term of years, manufacturing in Atlanta was possible.
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