USA > Iowa > Wapello County > History of Wapello County, Iowa, Volume I > Part 16
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For the past twenty-one years the John Renz Wagon Shops have been in operation on the corner of Church and Myrtle streets. Renz is a pioneer in the industries at his place, having come to Ottumwa in 1868. He became one of the large force of men employed by W. C. Grimes, whose wagon shop and carriage factory stood on the corner of Third and Market streets, and part of which was the old courthouse, which burned down with the rest of the factory in 1872.
The Ottumwa Cigar Box Factory, August Diehn proprietor, gives employment to about fifteen persons of both sexes. The factory is located
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in a building on Church Street and has been in operation since 1892. The boxes are made by machinery, about 20,000 per month, and the work of labeling and finishing is skilfully accomplished by girl employes.
The making of paper boxes has been a thriving industry here for the past several years. In 1901 L. H. and Frank Niemeyer, under the firm name of Niemeyer Brothers, began the business in a small way in the lower room of a building at 222 South Market Street. They first began manufacturing paper bags and kindred articles, after which they branched out and added to the stock, tissue papers, cardboard, strawboard, paper bags of all kinds and other articles which they carried to supply the school trade. In the year 1910 this firm decided upon embarking in the manu- facture of paper boxes. To this end, a small shop was fitted up in a build- ing at 228 South Market Street. Here a few machines were installed and an expert box maker from Chicago was employed to start the business. The little shop soon became entirely too small for the growing trade and more commodious quarters became imperative. One of the rooms originally used at 224 South Market Street, was then converted into a box factory, in which several machines of modern type were placed, and about ten persons employed to operate them and attend to other duties in the factory. The product consists of boxes for cigars, dry-goods, suits and kindred articles, and the output of this busy factory finds an extensive market in the states of Iowa and Missouri. A small shop fitted up with machinery and types, where labels and other matter for the boxes are printed, is one of the departments of the paper box factory.
On West Second Street, along the Milwaukee tracks, is located the McCarroll Manufacturing Company, whose principal product is stoves of various types and sizes for both coal and wood. Here also is made metal tanks for stock, with a device for heating the water. This concern has been in operation for several years.
The Midland Metal Company's plant is located on the Burlington tracks near the Milwaukee crossing in cement block buildings. This con- cern manufactures corrugated iron culverts for roads, and other metal devices. This is a branch concern under the charge of E. W. Phillippe and W. A. Heinzman.
The manufacture of rugs here has become an industry which is growing in importance. Several years ago the Ottumwa Rug Works was established by C. Sigmund. A good local trade has been established and the Ottumwa rugs are becoming known throughout this section of the state.
The uses of cement have become so multifarious that it would be super- fluous to attempt to mention them in detail. The material enters into many classes of buildings and the demand for cement blocks is becoming more and more frequent and urgent. The Cement Structural Works of G. W. Caster is located on South McLean Street, between the Rock Island and Burlington tracks, in which are manufactured of the material, blocks,
DAN MIG CO ARE AT DANNUNE HAY MACHINERY
TK TOI
THE DAIN MANUFACTURING COMPANY'S PLANT. OTTUMWA
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porch pillars, chimney caps, and kindred things. The plant has been in operation for eight years and extends its energies toward the building of houses in connection with its block work.
Ottumwa has long been a manufacturing center for cigars, which is one of the oldest lines of industrial endeavor in this locality. It would be a difficult task to mention the many different firms who have engaged in making cigars in Ottumwa, but Julius Fecht may be classed as the leader and pioneer, beginning the business here in 1884. He is an importer of foreign and native tobaccos and has long operated a large factory on South Jefferson Street.
Another cigar manufacturing firm is that of the Pallister Brothers, Thomas A. and William H., who began making cigars many years ago. The factory is one of the largest in this section of the state and is located on Market Street, a short distance above Second, where about fifty per- sons of both sexes are employed.
The Union Cigar Company, of which F. H. Ehrmann, a veteran cigar maker, is the head, has been in operation for the past several years in its factory on East Second Street. P. D. Queeney and A. P. Canny have for years been engaged in the industry.
Mention should also be made of the firms of F. J. Graves & Son, the senior member having been in the business here over thirty years; McKaig & Potter; Stentz & Bohe-R. L. Stentz and J. T. Bohe; and McKee & Potter, the largest cigar manufacturers in the city.
Among the pioneers in the manufacture of concrete and cement products were the Keefe Brothers and John Fullmer & Sons, the first a building firm and the other a supply concern, which merged in the formation of the Ottumwa Concrete Block Company. The plant is situated on the Rock Island track, near the foot of Union Street.
The Ottumwa Supply & Construction Company has its factory and warehouses in the old Bridge Works at the foot of Vine Street, where employment is given to about seventy-five men. The original company was organized by George A. Zika, E. D. Fair and J. F. Colson, the latter two well known bridge men. Mr. Colson died December, 1911, and E. D. Fair had previously withdrawn from the concern. The present officials are : John Wormhoudt, president; William La Point, vice president ; G. A. Zika, secretary and treasurer. The company was organized in 1907.
The Ottumwa Mercantile Company, manufacturers of overalls, jackets, etc., began business in 1910, at 119-125 West Main Street. The officials were: C. L. Graham, president ; M. D. Grouchy, secretary.
In 1908 the Tower-Majors Candy Company commenced manufacturing candy in its factory on South Jefferson Street. The management of the enterprise consists of two well known business men-Charles R. Tower and James M. Majors. The business has become one of the large employ- ing concerns of Ottumwa.
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One of the most complete candy manufactories in this portion of Iowa is that of Walter T. Hall & Company, which was established over a quarter of a century ago. The factory was on East Third Street and in 19II they acquired title to the building and that of the Edgerly Building, on the corner of Third and Market, all of which is now occupied by the Walter T. Hall & Company, candy manufacturers. The plant is a big one and is con- ducted on modern lines which means a high degree of cleanliness in making the product and purity in selection of the ingredients. The employes num- ber about one hundred and fifty persons, among whom is a number of men on the road introducing its goods and selling large quantities of candies in various parts of the country. The members of the company are Walter T. Hall and William S. Vinson.
At the Ottumwa Stamp Works, A. G. Wallace, proprietor, are made sev- eral useful articles, among which are rubber and metal stamps; the Linsay Manufacturing Company makes a variety of wooden handles and the like ; Ottumwa-Moline Pump Manufacturing Company, engines and pumps ; Snook & Sons, sashes and doors; W. W. Cummings, artificial ice; and the Ottumwa Pure Ice Company.
COMMERCIAL
A great and growing influence in the business life of Ottumwa are its wholesale establishments and jobbing houses. The pioneer in the former category is the wholesale house of J. H. Merrill & Company, which began its existence in the spring of 1858. It was in the year just mentioned that J. H. Merrill and Charles W. Kittridge established the wholesale house of Merrill & Kittridge, the first enterprise of its kind in the then growing little city of Ottumwa. They created quite a furor among the inhabitants of the place when their stock of goods was brought here by water. An interesting account of that event was published by the Ottumwa Courier in 1858. which then was approaching the end of the first decade of its existence. That always reliable news gatherer, speaking of the unusual occurrence, had this to say :
"On Sunday morning in the spring of 1858, Ottumwa's 800 (the entire population at that time) were startled by the shrill whistle of the good steamboat, Clara Hines, which found a mooring on the river bank just in the rear of the present Courier office. The majority of the population were soon at the wharf, and great was the interest manifested when it was learned that two daring young men, named J. H. Merrill and Charles W. Kittridge, had brought a whole boat load of goods from St. Louis, and would open up a store in a few days. The oldest inhabitants vowed that it was 'mighty reesky business,' but the young men grasped, even then, some of Ottumwa's present and future greatness as a business center, and declared
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that they were willing to 'risk it.' Nor has their early judgment played them false.
"All day long on that eventful Sunday, the roustabouts worked unload- in the cargo, which consisted largely of salt, costing 90 cents a sack, and which was afterward sold readily at $2.25. Thus was established the mercantile house which afterwards became the first wholesale house and which is now known as J. H. Merrill & Company. Hon. J. H. Merrill was Ottumwa's first wholesaler, and many an interesting tale has he told of incident and adventure in the freighting of goods by wagon from Keokuk and Burlington, or of the difficulties and vexations incident to navigation on the raging Des Moines.
"Ottumwa's present wholesale interests were originated and chiefly fos- tered by the fact that for six years Ottumwa was the terminus of the rail- road, and this was a fitting-out point for the great tide of immigration that pushed on over the rich prairies of Southern Iowa. During the war, North- ern Missouri trade came here on account of the bushwhackers. This was a great cash trade, which came in the wagons and camped in the grove that stretched along the river bank west from the present Courier office. This trade was eagerly sought by the merchants and many were the sharp tilts which they had in the competition to secure the same." [Courier office then corner Court and Main. Ed.]
From a small concern, the house of J. H. Merrill & Company has grown to a large establishment. At the outbreak of the Civil war Charles W. Kittridge went into the army as captain and in 1862 received his com- mission as colonel of the Thirty-sixth Iowa Infantry. He became acquainted with Samuel Mahon, who was major of the famous Seventh Iowa. A friendship sprung up between the two veterans and in January, 1866, Major Mahon became a member of the firm of J. H. Merrill & Company, the name of the firm then organized. In 1875 the wholesale house moved into a new building, corner of Market and Third streets, which later was considerably enlarged, and in 1884 branch houses were opened at Creston and Red Oak. The house steadily grew in importance and its business so expanded that more space became imperative for its stock. This resulted in a building being erected by Major Mahon in 1906 at 126-132 West Main Street, which was given an addition of thirty-two feet in 1909. The struc- ture is of brick, four stories in height, with a high basement, and is com- plete in every detail as a wholesale grocery establishment. Here are given employment to fifty persons and from its counting rooms go forth a small army of salesmen who cover a wide territory. The members of this firm are: Samuel Mahon, president ; J. K. Mahon, vice president ; J. T. Rowe, secretary ; and J. E. Hinsey, treasurer. J. H. Merrill retired from busi- ness a few years before his death, which occurred after the new home was built.
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The wholesale dry-goods house of Lawrence & Chambers was estab- lished in the early '6os. Joseph Chambers retired from the firm in 1869, when John Wesley Garner acquired his interest and the firm name then became Lawrence & Garner. Previous to this Mr. Garner had been for sev- eral years with the T. Devin & Sons establishment. In 1879 J. W. Garner sold his interest in the Lawrence & Garner firm and embarked in the whole- sale business on his own account, in a building erected for him on North Market Street, by T. J. Potter. Mr. Garner remained in this locality until 19II, when he bought the Ransier property on East Second Street, on which he built that year. This building is a three-story brick structure. which replaced a building used by the Ransiers in early years as a livery stable and undertaking establishment. The Garner wholesale house has men on the road introducing its goods to the trade.
One of the oldest and largest wholesale houses in Ottumwa is that of the Harper & McIntire Company, which dates back for its origin to the year 1856, when the business was established by William Daggett. In 1860 J. W. Edgerly became associated in the business with Mr. Daggett and the firm name then became Daggett & Edgerly. The interests of the last men- tioned concern came into the possession of Timothy Eagan and Samuel H. Harper in 1866, and the firm remained as Eagan & Harper until 1877, when it was changed to Harper, Chambers & Company. Eagan settled in Salt Lake City and Samuel H. Harper died December 11, 1911, while mayor of Ottumwa. The present firm name was adopted in 1890 and the manage- ment of this wholesale house is largely in the hands of Frank McIntire and Clarence S. Harper. The territory covered is chiefly Southern Iowa and Northern Missouri. Its headquarters are in a splendid modern four- story brick structure on Commercial Street, which extends back to the rail- road tracks. Employment is given to a large force of men, about a dozen of whom are its outside representatives. The Harper & McIntire Company has a retail branch on East Main Street, which is one of the largest retail hardware stores in this part of the state.
J. W. Edgerly & Company established a wholesale drug house in Ottumwa many years ago. It grew out of the drug store, opened by Dr. J. L. Taylor in 1858. In the early '6os Dr. Taylor admitted Charles F. Blake as a partner, also W. T. Harper, and the style name of the firm became Tay- lor, Blake & Company. A change took place when W. T. Harper and Charles F. Blake retired from the business, at which time Dr. Taylor assumed sole ownership. For many years this drug house was quartered in a building on East Main Street adjoining the First National Bank. In 1880 the business went into the hands of the firm of Blake, Bruce & Com- pany, just subsequent to the destruction by fire of the building and stock. For a time the business was conducted on South Market Street, and in 1881 moved to the corner of Third and Market. In 1888 the firm name was changed to J. W. Edgerly & Company and for many years continued in
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the large, three-story, brick building on Third and Market, so often referred to in this work as the site of Wapello County's first courthouse. J. W. Edgerly died in Paris, in August, 1894. Dr. Edward T. Edgerly was in active management from 1895 until 1908, when he retired and was suc- ceeded by W. T. Harper, who has been a member of the firm since 1894. In the fall of 1912 all the stock was removed to a splendid new building on West Main Street, where the company is installed in one of the finest and most modernly equipped structures of its character to be found any- where. In the employ of this large concern are about fifty people. Eight traveling men represent J. W. Edgerly & Company on the road, who cover a large territory and keep the house busy filling their orders.
The Haw Hardware Company, until recently the Haw & Simmons Company, wholesale hardware, is the outgrowth of a firm comprising G. W. Henry and George Haw, organized in 1864. In 1868 the stock of goods was destroyed by fire and the business was suspended until in 1870, when George Haw, with his brother, Chris Haw, and B. F. Henry, conducted the business for a number of years under the firm name of George Haw & Company. In 1878 B. F. Henry retired and Frank W. Simmons entered the firm, which operated a wholesale hardware business on East Main Street. The building occupied, although a three-story structure, soon became inadequate and was abandoned for a larger one at the corner of Market and Second streets, erected by T. J. Potter, a prominent railroad man. This building, now business headquarters of the Ottumwa Railway & Light Company, also became too small as the years passed by, so, during the year 1895, a large four-story brick building on West Main Street, was erected and in January, 1896, occupied. The building and stock were destroyed by fire, October 19, 1913. The business is being carried on tem- porarily, in the old J. W. Edgerly Building, corner of Market and Third. The firm contemplate building on the corner of College and Samantha, where they have a warehouse 90x150 feet. Southern Iowa and Northern Missouri are covered for this house by a number of salesmen.
The wholesale grocery house of J. G. Hutchison & Company was organ- ized in April, 1890, by J. G. Hutchison, E. M. Majors and O. D. Tisdale. Hon. J. G. Hutchison, head of the concern, was one of Iowa's prominent men, who died some time since, leaving his interests in the capable hands of his widow. The growth of the business of this concern has been most gratifying to its members and it is now firmly entrenched in the trade. It has handsome quarters in a brick structure on West Main Street, in the wholesale district, built in 1902. The house gives employment to a large force of men, including a number of traveling salesmen, who cover large parts of Iowa and Missouri. Since the death of Mr. Hutchison in 1909. Mrs. Hutchison has taken an active part in the management. The officials are as follows: Mrs. J. G. Hutchison, president and treasurer; W. C. Overman, vice president ; and A. J. McBurney, secretary.
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Ottumwa has a number of large fruit houses, among which is that of E. H. Emery & Company, which began operations in 1896, on Main Street, just east of Jefferson. Two years later a move was made to the Baker Building, on South Green Street, which was occupied seven years, when the floors collapsed and Mr. Emery bought the present site, on Commercial Street. The Emery Company not only does a large wholesale and job- bing trade, but also has an ice cream plant in connection, having a capacity of 1,500 gallons per day.
There are a number of jobbing houses, department and other retail establishments worthy of note in Ottumwa, among which may be men- tioned the Claude Myers confectionery and ice cream house on East Second Street ; Celania Brothers' establishment on East Main Street ; the creamery, poultry and egg concern of S. P. Pond & Company; the John B. Dennis butter and egg firm, on Tisdale Street; W. E. Jones & Company, wholesale and retail hay, grain, feed and seed house, on West Main, established in 1871, which has a large warehouse and elevator on Tisdale and Main streets ; the Ottumwa Queensware Company, jobbers, South Market Street ; Baker Brothers, butter and egg company, at the foot of College Street; the Penn Oil & Supply Company, at the foot of Cass Street ; the Lagomarcino- Grupe Company, wholesale fruits, Commercial Street ; the Buxton Creamery, on Green, between Second and Fourth; the Ottumwa Seed Company, on South Court, wholesale and retail grain, feed and seed.
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CHAPTER XV
TRANSPORTATION
Ottumwa is a railroad center of no mean proportions. It has four sep- arate and distinct roads, radiating out of Ottumwa in various directions, which bring the place in close and direct touch with Chicago and the East ; St. Paul and Minneapolis in the North; St. Louis, Kansas City and the great Southwest; and Omaha, Denver and the West and Northwest. The traveler may leave Ottumwa on either one of two main lines and reach Chicago in from seven to nine hours. These roads furnish direct routes to Kansas City and St. Louis, St. Paul and Minneapolis, Omaha and Denver. On these four roads centering here, Ottumwa ships to all parts of the world of her products.
The railroad history of Ottumwa is interesting and instructive. Her means of transportation may be said to have begun soon after the organiza- tion of Wapello County, when work was immediately commenced on the laying out and building of roads. These were utilized for teams and wagons, by which freight was transported into and from towns of the county. Later they were traversed by the stage coach, which was the com- mon carrier of the day for passengers and the mails. A step further was attempted in 1850, when a meeting was called in Ottumwa for the discus- sion of a plank road movement. The object was to build a thoroughfare of this description to connect with a similar highway between Burlington and Mount Pleasant. The project was accepted with general favor in this section, and a committee of prominent citizens was designated to represent the county at a plank road convention, to be held at Mount Pleasant, on the 27th of February, 1850, consisting of J. W. Norris, J. D. Devin, H. B. Hendershott, J. C. Ramsey, Thomas Ping, F. Newell, J. H. D. Street, S. M. Wright, Judge Baker, Dr. Flint, Gideon Myers, B. Boyston, B. Jones, Joseph Hayne, J. M. Peck, Doctor Yeomans, Uriah Biggs, G. B. Savery, Doctor Wood and W. S. Carter. When subscription books were opened Ottumwa raised $8,700; Agency City, $5,000; and Ashland, one of the extinct towns of the county, $4,500. For some reason the scheme fell through and then the attention of the people was directed to the movement for a railroad. A great deal of agitation and the subscription of $100,000 of stock of the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad, now the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, was the result. The Burlington Road was obtained, although its completion into Ottumwa was not realized until October 13,
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1859. Some time before this, the road had reached Agency and that point was the terminus until the extension into Ottumwa. The road was for- mally opened to public use in Ottumwa, September 1, 1859. Work from Ottumwa west was begun in 1865, and the road was finished to Albia No- vember 1, 1866, and to Pacific Junction in 1869.
The day that the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad entered Ottumwa was made memorable by a great gathering of people in the county, speeches, toasts and responses. Tables had been provided, on which was spread a free dinner, beneath shade trees, but before an orderly serving of the eatables was attained, a rush and a grasp was made by the undisciplined gathering, and everything was swept off the tables and much of it destroyed. As far as the dinner was concerned, that part of the entertainment was a failure.
The Keokuk & Fort Des Moines, known as the Des Moines Valley Railroad, now incorporated in the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Rail- road system, followed the Burlington & Missouri River into Ottumwa within a few months. This road was extended to Eddyville, where it had its terminus until 1866. After the close of the Civil war, a period of railroad construction began and it is not surprising that a craze obtained here for railroad building, as elsewhere. Among those projected was the St. Louis, Ottumwa & Cedar Rapids Railroad. To this end a company was organized, which gave way to the St. Louis, Kansas City & Northern Railway Com- pany. This line was built to Ottumwa in 1869 and eventually passed into the hands of the Wabash. Private subscriptions of $125,000 by citizens of the county was no small factor in securing this utility.
As the financial panic of 1873 cleared away the clouds of fears and doubts, railroad building took on new impetus and the Cedar Rapids, Sigourney & Ottumwa Railroad was built, having been graded to Sigour- ney in 1871. Nothing further was done until 1883, when the Chicago. Mil- waukee & St. Paul occupied the grade and built from Cedar Rapids to Ottumwa, the first train of cars reaching that point from the north, Decem- ber 31, 1883. It is known as the Marion-Ottumwa branch, which was continued south in 1887, and the main line from Ottumwa to Kansas City was constructed. In 1893 another branch was built to Davenport. leaving the Marion-Ottumwa line at Rutledge, just north of the city. Another road came to Ottumwa-the Chicago, Fort Madison & Des Moines-a Santa Fe line between Ottumwa and Fort Madison, which was later absorbed by the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy.
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