USA > Illinois > Macon County > Decatur > City of Decatur and Macon County, Illinois : a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, volume II > Part 68
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Mr. Barkman is a stanch supporter of the republican party but has never been a seeker for political honors. He has been identified with a number of fraternal organizations, among which may be named the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias and the Modern Woodmen of America, having filled the chairs in all the subordinate lodges named. He and his wife are members of Bay Leaf Camp No. 29, Royal Neighbors, of which she has served as oracle and past oracle, and both hold membership in the Pythian Sisters. Mr. Barkman has passed through many vicissitudes in his life and has seen a great deal of the world in its various phases. He has also experi- enced some of its joys and now in the enjoyment of the comforts of a quiet home and congenial companionship of a sympathetic wife he appreciates the advantages that the world seeks through the acquisition of financial compensa- tion. Mr. Barkman is a man of strong social characteristics and has many friends who admire him for his sturdy character and also for the sincere inter- est he takes in the welfare of those with whom he is associated.
CYRUS WILLIAM LINDSEY.
Cyrus William Lindsey, well known as a liveryman and veterinarian of De- catur, is a native of Illinois, born in Tamaroa, April 5, 1876. He is a son of Cyrus and Sarah Bell (Campbell) Lindsey, both of whom were natives of Tennessee and came to Illinois previous to the breaking out of the Civil war. The father enlisted in the Thirteenth Illinois Cavalry and served for three years and eight months, participating in many of the great battles of the rebellion. He was several times wounded but never seriously. He lost his health, how- ever, from exposure, although he continued until after the surrender of Gen-
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eral Lee and the great army of the north was disbanded. He died at Tamaroa in the spring of 1877, at the age of thirty-nine years. The beloved mother of our subject is living with him at his home in Decatur and is now sixty-four years of age.
There were seven children in the family, Cyrus W. Lindsey being the youngest. He was educated in the common schools of Illinois and having a natural liking for horses and other live stock he early secured employment on a farm and became identified with the race-horse business, driving and riding horses upon the track. He soon became quite proficient but in 1893, having decided to conduct an establishment on his own account, he began in the livery and baggage transfer business on Wood street in Decatur. Starting on a small scale, he gradually acquired a liberal patronage and at the present time is the owner of fifty-five horses and many vehicles including taxi-cabs, which he al- ways aims to keep in the best of order, thus meeting the requirements of the highest class of patrons. He is the only man in the city who has transferred baggage and passengers for all the hotels in Decatur, which line he makes a specialty, and he has met with most excellent success. He also does an ex- tensive business in buying and selling horses. In 1891-2 he took two courses of eight months each in veterinary surgery and became quite skilled in a line in which there is frequent demand for his services.
On March 2, 1898, Mr. Lindsey was united in marriage to Miss Josephine Dowling, a daughter of John and Mary Dowling, of Pana, Illinois. Mrs. Lind- sey was the seventh child in a family of nine and was born October 31, 1883. Two children have come to bless the union: Bonniline and Clarence.
In politics Mr. Lindsey supports the principles of the republican party. Al- though a young man he has gained an established reputation as being thor- oughly reliable in all business transactions and the result is that the field from which he secures his patronage is constantly widening. He has always been industrious and enterprising and no man in Macon county more worthily de- serves the success that has come to him.
THE H. MUELLER MANUFACTURING COMPANY.
Fifty-three years ago an industrious young German inserted a key in the door of a little frame building on West Main street, near Lincoln Square, and walked into a small room which was to be his gunsmith shop. Hieronymus Mueller was the young man. When he threw open his door that spring morn- ing in 1857 he took the first step toward the establishment of the H. Mueller Manufacturing Company, whose modern plant now faces Cerro Cordo street between North Edward and North Monroe streets, and whose warning whistle daily calls seven hundred and fifty Decatur citizens to their work. Briefly that recites the history of the H. Mueller Manufacturing Company. It is a bare statement of an unadorned fact. It is known personally to all the older resi- dents of Decatur whose intimate knowledge of the company's substantial prog- ress does not lessen their wonder at the results attained.
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Between the opening of the little gunsmith shop and the building of the Mueller business of today there is the detail of steady progression interwoven with every step of Decatur's forward movement. From a frame gunsmith shop to the biggest industrial enterprise in the city and the largest manufacturers in the line of water, plumbing and gas brass goods in the United States was a long journey and a hard one. It was not all along the primrose path. There were briar patches to pass which left their scars. There were obstacles that would have daunted a less persistent and determined man than Hieronymus Mueller. There were influences that would have turned many men aside. There were rebuffs and disappointments that would have disheartened them. But these were the fires which burned out the dross and left the pure metal of determination and aggressiveness in Mr. Mueller's character. They whetted his appetite to win the goal of success which he did before his death, March I, 1900, although denied the full enjoyment of the fruits of his labor. Mr. Muel- ler laid the foundation of the business of today. His sons have built the super- structure. When Mr. Mueller opened his little gunsmith shop in 1857 he had no idea of where that step was to lead to in the commercial world. His one pur- pose was to win a livelihood for himself and family through his efforts as an ex- pert gunsmith and mechanician. But he was not content to stand still or to fol- low a beaten path. He was an expansionist, who seized every opportunity to extend his business and earning capacity. The year 1858 found his shop in the 100 block on North Water street, a few doors north of the Millikin Bank, and in 1859 he moved to a frame building on East Main street which occupied the site of the Powers block. He remained there until 1872, his business gradually in- creasing with the growth of the town. Decatur at the time was beginning to merge from the chrysalis state of a country village to the more attractive form of a town. The building of the water-works plant at its present site in 1871 opened the door for substantial advancement. Prior to this there had been no plumbing shops in Decatur. The necessity created by the water-works for a business of this character was quickly grasped by Mr. Mueller. He added plumbing to his gunsmith trade and was appointed by Mayor Martin Ferstmeyer as city tapper. The work consisted of making all service connections to the city mains. A continual growth of the business enabled Mr. Mueller in 1872 to erect a two story brick building at the corner of East Main and State streets at the rear of the Millikin Bank. That was the first big step. The next was the invention that year of the Mueller water tapping machine, a device with which service cocks were inserted in water mains without shutting off the pressure and with- out the loss of water. These were manufactured in a small way but limitations of room, machinery and capital made profitable production extremely difficult.
The invention of the Mueller water pressure regulator followed, and looking ahead Mr. Mueller saw great possibilities as a manufacturer of water-works supplies. He began realizing his hopes in 1885 when he opened a small brass foundry and put Mueller corporation cocks on the market. The gun business was enlarged that year and established as a separate enterprise at 138 Merchant street, in 1892 removing to 134 East Prairie street. Henry, Philip, Fred and Robert Mueller were admitted to partnership in 1886 and a year later the plumb- ing branch was moved to 249 East Main street, in order to make more room
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for the manufacturing end of the business which was then beginning to show symptoms of future large development. In 1890 Adolph Mueller was taken into the partnership. The growth of the plumbing business resulted in the or- ganization of the Decatur Plumbing & Heating Company in 1891, and the erec- tion of the Mueller building at 257 North Main street. This company and the gun and sporting goods house developed successfully but the growth of the manufacturing business was slower. Fighting for a foothold, with limited capital and facilities, in a field already occupied by older and wealthier com- petitors, called for arduous work and tenacity of purpose. But Hieronymus Mueller was inured to the former and possessed the latter, and was strength- ened by the youth and ambition of his sons whose acquisition of and familiar- ity with modern business methods proved a tower of strength in winning financial and commercial success.
The turning point which led to the broad battlefield of national commercial- ism was reached in 1893, when the Mueller Manufacturing Company was or- ganized with a capital stock of sixty-eight thousand dollars. Two years later a two-story factory building was erected at the corner of College and Cerro Gordo streets. Oscar B. Mueller, the youngest of the sons, was admitted as a partner February 1, 1896, and from that time on Mr. Mueller and his sons concentrated their energies and abilities upon the development of the manu- facturing business. In order to do this the gun store and sporting goods house and the plumbing business were sold, the former in 1896 and the latter in 1897. Gas and plumbing goods were added to the line, salesmen were placed on the road and the company at once began doing a lucrative business. Additions and new buildings followed rapidly and in a little more than five years the plant was completed almost as it stands today. In 1905 Oscar B. Mueller went to New York city as manager of the eastern division located at 254 Canal street. A Chicago branch was opened at 48 Dearborn street in 1908 and removed to 37 Dearborn street in 1909. The company's plant now covers more than two city blocks. The original two-story structure is now three stories and is equipped with the latest types of machinery for the rapid production of goods. There is a large brass foundry, a three story warehouse and shipping department and a power plant for the development of electric light and power, a galvanizing department, enameling department and numerous lesser buildings necessary for the conduct of the business. An addition is being made at the present time to the power plant. The number of persons in the employ of the company and drawing wages in Decatur is now eight hundred and twenty and the weekly pay- roll is approximately ten thousand dollars. The total of employes in Decatur, New York and Chicago is nine hundred. The growth and progress of the com- pany is forcibly illustrated by the increase in the local payroll during the past ten years: 1901, $130,725.10; 1902, $199,202.14; 1903, $239,106.56; 1904, $256,441.65 ; 1905, $332,784.04; 1906, $342,784.94; 1907, $359,694.57; 1908, $411,000.00; 1909, $466,400.00; 1910, $520,000.00. Twenty-seven traveling salesmen are in the service of the company and regularly visit all the important cities and towns in the United States. A noteworthy feature of the policy of the H. Mueller Manufacturing Company is its attitude toward its employes. Faithful, continuous service is rewarded in addition to a regular annual increase
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in wages. At a picnic held at Mechanicsburg, Illinois, September 7, 1907, in celebration of the company's golden anniversary, seven employes who had been with the company twenty years or more were each presented with five hundred dollars as an appreciation of their faithfulness. Six of these men are still found at their daily tasks. The company does an annual business approximating two million dollars at the present time. There are no territorial restrictions-the world at large is its field. Traveling salesmen visit every important center in the United States and the export trade has reached very satisfactory proportions. Orders are received from nearly every country on the globe and the name Muel- ler is known wherever water, plumbing and gas goods are used.
The last fifteen years of the company's history, from 1895 to the present time, is the most fascinating because of the rapid development which has made it Decatur's largest industry. But the real story of success is found in the formative period from 1857 to 1895, the thirty-eight years in which Hieronymus Mueller slowly builded the foundation of a business, grappling and mastering every obstacle as it presented itself, meeting adversity with a stout heart and accepting each success as a just reward. He put more than mere material in his work. He put qualities there-qualities that made a firm foundation. Per- sistence, honesty in work and material and square dealing which was a tenet of his faith long before it became a popular political catch-phrase to arouse people from the lethargy of dishonest and tricky practices in daily life-these were qualities he infused in his business conduct. He won the confidence of his fellowmen and his workmen. This confidence was shown to a marked de- gree following the general business depression that engulfed the company upon the very heels of the erection of the new factory. It was the crucial period that threatened the demolition of a life's effort. Hampered for money which sought its hiding place during the panic, he called his workmen together and plainly told them the danger he faced. He asked them to draw temporarily as little wages as possible and to keep all departments employed would mean shorter hours of work. There was hearty acquiescence in the plan and the financial abyss was safely bridged.
The important position which the company has attained, both locally and in the ranks of American brass goods manufacturers has not, therefore, been a mere accident ; neither has it been the outcome of luck. It has been the logical result of opening the door when opportunity knocked, of taking advantage of the fortuitous circumstances that arose, of unremitting industry and close at- tention to business. All these coupled with an understanding of the require- ments of the trade and a policy closely adhered to, of making goods of unques- tioned quality, have been the predominating potent factors which have guided the company into channels of success.
The most valuable asset of Hieronymus Mueller was his six loyal sons who, one by one, joined their father as they came of age and supported his efforts to reach a profitable eminence in the business world. First of these was Henry Mueller, who died August 13, 1910. As a boy he entered the shop and under the guidance of his father acquired the machinist's trade and became an expert in his line and an inventor whose devices have proved of inestimable value to the company in later years. Henry Mueller proved an exceptional man in the
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brass goods industry. He was a pioneer in changing from ungainly and un- sightly shapes to forms possessing harmonious proportions. His instincts were artistic and found expression in patterns of goods having graceful and pleas- ing lines, and no man did more than he in revolutionizing this phase of the business. The genius of his inventive skill and artistic conception are found in many goods made by the company. Philip Mueller was the second son to join his father in business and gave his attention largely to plumbing, acquiring a practical knowledge of the trade by actual service and a fine theoretical knowl- edge by studious application to the principles of hydraulics and sanitation. The other sons as they finished their schooling came in on the business and office side, so that within the family there was an excellent and effective organization for the upbuilding of a permanent and large enterprise. All of the sons se- cured a more or less practical knowledge of the mechanical necessities of the business, a thorough familiarity with the goods and understanding of the needs of the trade. The present officers of the company are: President and treasurer, Adolph Mueller; secretary and assistant treasurer, Robert Mueller; vice presi- dent and assistant secretary, Fred B. Mueller; assistant treasurer and general manager of eastern division, O. B. Mueller ; and superintendent, Philip Mueller.
The Mueller Company is purely a Decatur institution in every fiber. Its members are Decatur born and bred. We do not believe the history of Decatur offers a parallel case of a company that has reached a similar importance whose entire membership is native born. In another particular the Muller Company enjoys a distinctly individual characteristic. It has never received a subsidy of any kind from Decatur or Decatur citizens. Its success therefore has been wholly due to the efforts of Hieronymus Mueller and his sons and is a splendid example of possible attainment in the industrial world through united effort di- rected to the accomplishment of a certain purpose.
ADOLPH MUELLER.
Adolph Mueller, president and treasurer of the H. Mueller Manufacturing Company, was born in Decatur on the 8th of May, 1866, a son of Hieronymus and Anna Fredericka Mueller. He was a pupil in the Decatur high school and afterward attended the University of Illinois, where he studied mechanical en- gineering. Subsequently he pursued a thorough course in a business college and was thus well qualified to enter upon the tasks which have constituted his life work. He became connected with mechanical lines, especially gunsmithing and plumbing, of which he acquired comprehensive practical knowledge. Later he took up bookkeeping and clerical work in connection with his father's busi- ness and his advancement in the H. Mueller Manufacturing Company has at length brought him to the position of president and treasurer. In this enter- prise he is associated with his brothers, the firm constituting one of the strong- est business combinations of central Illinois. Moreover, he is a director of the Millikin National Bank of Decatur. His discrimination is keen, his judgment sound and his deductions practical as manifest in the results which follow plans of his making.
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On the 14th of June, 1893, Mr. Mueller was married in Decatur to Miss Minnie Bachman and to them have been born three children: William Everett and Charlotte A., who are still living; and Charles Phillip, who died at the age of three years. The family attend the Christian Science church and Mr. Muel- ler is a Mason and a member of the Decatur and Country Clubs. He is serving as a member of the board of the James Millikin University and is a member of the University Club and is deeply interested in all measures and movements for the educational, material, social and moral progress of the community. His po- litical indorsement is given to the republican party but the honors and emolu- ments of office have never had attraction for him. One of his strong personal characteristics is his fairness in dealing with men and his policy of a square deal in all manufacturing and business transactions. He never deviates from that which his judgment sanctions as right between man and his fellowmen and he has thereby gained an unsullied reputation for commercial integrity.
HENRY MUELLER.
Henry Mueller, vice president of the H. Mueller Manufacturing Company, occupied a prominent position in Decatur not alone by reason of his active connection with one of the most important industrial interests of the city but also by reason of the social nature that endeared him to many friends. He was born at Freeport, Illinois, March 31, 1858, and was but a child when his par- ents removed to Decatur, where he pursued his education in the public schools. His father established a gunsmith shop here and as the boy grew in years and experience his ability was forcibly felt in this industry and still later more strongly in the Decatur. Plumbing & Heating Company, the first of the Mueller enterprises to be of interstate importance. At the time when the Mueller Man- ufacturing Company was organized Henry Mueller, partly because of the fact that he was the eldest child and also on account of his ability, acted as counsellor to his father and from that day was given charge of the designing of the various supplies made by the company. The masterly hand of the mechanical genius controlled by a seemingly untiring brain added to the merit of the firm's products which were thus kept at the front of the plumbing trade. Henry Mueller was the inventor of various new sundries for the plumbing trade and for the improvement of old patterns. One who knew him said: "Not only was he a great mechanic, he was an artist. He was perhaps the first man in this country to give beauty to design and pleasing effect to his particular line of manufactured articles. Anything out of harmony to the eye grated upon his sensitive nature. He was most at home when with pencil in hand he was giving beauty and harmony of effect to his design. The one ambition of his business life was to bring the products of his factory as nearly as possible to perfection. To this end he spared neither time nor labor. It was not a matter of making money with him; indeed, he often sacrificed money for the accom- plishment of character ; with him a careless, slip-shod piece of work, an ugly design, were impossible to his nature." In the plumbing world the word
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"Mueller" means perfection and completeness and to the knowing the name of "Henry Mueller" appeared behind the success that attended the marketing of the Mueller products.
The Decatur Herald said of Henry Mueller; "With all his mechanical ability and his untiring efforts to produce new ideas he was a 'big' man-he had big ideas of life and of people. As he was a kind father and affectionate hus- band, so was he a staunch friend and companion. Notwithstanding the fact that he indirectly governed the mechancial efforts of seven hundred men of all nationalities and temperament, he controlled them with kindness and yet firm- ness. He had the happy faculty of administering a rebuke or criticism in a way in which the sting of error was removed and in its stead an element of interest in the recipent of such correction was constantly evidenced. For this reason more than any other those under him knew him and liked him and with him a trip through the immense factory was a pleasure. He liked to mingle with the men. From them he secured helpful hints in the design of goods and to them he always gave credit for their suggestions. Outside the factory he appeared in another light, and seemingly another man. Naturally a lover of life and nature, he spent all of his available time in the open, either touring the country in his automobile or camping with a small party of friends in the north. He fitted into such camping parties as the finest finished keystone to the arch. Because of his versatility his companionship was constantly sought by business men of the city who were wont to lose themselves in the northern summer resorts for recreation. His rare judgment gave him the position of counsellor to his associates in business and also to his most intimate business friends. He exhibited a keen interest in municipal affairs and was always found in the front ranks of public-spirited citizens seeking to better the welfare of Decatur's people and to expand the commercial importance of the city. Despite his many business connections he found ample time to read and he was considered one of the best read men in the city. His craving for literature was directed more to things mechanical and scientific than to history and fiction, although he accumulated much of both."
Mr. Mueller was married and left a wife and one daughter, and a little daughter two years of age passed away a short time before the death of the father. He was most devoted to his family and his thought always seemed to be for the care and comfort of those of his own household. He gave careful personal supervision to the beautifying of his dwelling place which was dear to him because it sheltered those he loved. The most fraternal relations also existed between himself and his brothers and he was largely an ideal employer, taking a personal interest in the men who served him and ready at all times to aid them with suggestions of worth or word of encouragement. Death came to him suddenly and one of his last acts was the expression of love for his wife. It was her birthday anniversary and, rising early, he went out to purchase a bouquet that the flowers might adorn the table when she arose. One who knew him long said of him: "Henry Mueller was one of the most quiet and unassum- ing prominent business men in Decatur. With the consciousness of a man of extraordinary skill and ability in mechanics, he went forward in his onward progress and prosperity. Mr. Mueller was exceedingly careful of the feelings
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