USA > Illinois > Kane County > History of Kane County, Ill. Volume I > Part 65
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THE SEYBOLD PIANO AND ORGAN COMPANY.
With the progress of civilization from the primitive and crude forms into the complex and manifold phases found in enlightened society, there has been a like development of one of its most important elements-music. From the tom-tom of the savage to the symphony of the highest civilization, in all ages and among all races, music has had a great influence. Its forms of expression have been as various as the emotions of the human soul. It has stimulated to heroic deeds. It has inspired hardened hearts with ten- clerness and charity. Its tuneful cadences have lifted men and women into
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sympathetic touch with the sublime. Its harmonies speak of order, symmetry and beauty. No wonder that the painters have pictured the angels with harps and that the good have thought of heaven as resonant with delightful music. The Seybold Piano and Organ Company was founded in Chicago in 1902 by Mr. William Seybold. In 1903 the business was moved to Elgin and a corporation was formed taking over all the patents and other properties of the founder. The company's growth and success has been phenomenal. In 1903 they required and occupied only twelve thousand square feet of space ; today they utilize forty-eight thousand square feet and are now con- templating an addition to their present plant to gain extra space. Its capacity is five pianos and ten organs per day. The company employs fifty expert mechanics in their particular line.
The Seybold Piano and Organ Company, since coming to Elgin five years ago, has invariably been fair with its employes, and similar industries is what has made Elgin a great city.
The officers and directors of the company are as follows: William Grote, president ; John .A. Waterman, vice president; Fred H. Ackerman, secretary ; Alfred B. Church, treasurer ; W. E. Bultmann.
ELGIN PACKING COMPANY.
The Elgin Packing Company, whose extensive works are located in the western part of the city, began business in Geneva in 1867 as the Chicago Packing Company. In 1869 it moved to Elgin, incorporated and changed its name. At the start it had a capacity for canning five thousand cans of goods daily. It now puts up eighty thousand cans daily, during the summer season, by means of special machinery. It puts up fruit, corn, pumpkins, baked and lima beans, and employs several hundred people.
William Grote is president ; E. D. Waldron, treasurer; H. D. Barnes, secretary and manager.
The H. Kind Baking Company is a new institution that has done well since it located here some years ago. It makes bread, cakes, etc .. for the local and nearby trade.
Elgin Eagle Brewery is one of the older enterprises, having been or- ganized in 1849 by Charles Tazewell. In 1868 he sold to Caspar .Althen. who conducted the brewery until his death in 1896. In 1894 the sons were taken into the business and still continue the fine plant on the west bank of the river. Louis J. Althen is president ; Emil Althen, superintendent ; E. C. Althen, secretary. Its sales are mostly within twenty-five miles of the city.
THE ELGIN STEAM LAUNDRY.
The Elgin Steam Laundry on Division street is equipped with the best modern machinery and has in the past twenty-five years grown with the city's growth. It employs twenty-five people.
The Silver Plate Works, located on the west side, is one of the best of the later factories. It came to Elgin in 1892, having been induced to come
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from Chicago to Elgin by the West Side Improvement Club. The factory buildings cover an entire block, and the work is continuous, as it does not de- pend upon general conditions of trade, but only upon mortality among the people, coffin hardware and fixtures being the product. About one hundred and fifty are given employment. Joseph Shaw, of Zanesville, Ohio, is presi- dent : J. M. Blackburn, of Elgin, secretary-treasurer and manager. It is one of Elgin's steadiest and most reliable institutions.
The watch case factory was located here about the year 1892, and has con- tinued to prosper and grow under the efficient management of Mr. Eppenstein. It employs several hundred and pays good wages. Its trade covers the entire country.
.Among other institutions of merit which, owing to lack of space and time, can not be described in detail, are the Rineheimer Manufacturing Com- pany, screens, doors, etc .: Elgin Manufacturing Company, molders and machinists ; Woodruff & Edwards, foundry; the Elgin Box Company; the Rispin Electrical Company : Moody Brothers, etc., etc.
The shoe factory was located here about 1892 by William Grote and others, and a large bonus paid to secure it. It has continued to do business and employ workmen since that time and is one of the city's permanent in- dustries. It gives employment to several hundred at its fine building on Congdon avenue. Mr. Holmes is now superintendent.
THE MECHANICS OF ELGIN.
Our special article in relation to the most numerous class of our popu- lation will be one of the briefest, partly from the difficulty of obtaining accurate information, and partly because, where there are so many, we can not even name all of them. But, although unnamed by us, the monuments of their industry and skill are seen on every street of the city. and to no class is Elgin more indebted for its growth and prosperity than to its mechanics. We can only allude to a few who were first on the ground and who aided in the erection of some of the first buildings, a part of which remain, while others have given place to more costly and imposing structures.
The first carpenter who wielded the hammer and shoved the plane in Elgin, so far as we are informed, was a man named Barnum, who, in 1836. built a store for Storrs & Bean-the first frame building in the city-on the premises now the Whitford flats, corner of Chicago and Center streets.
William S. Shaw came in the fall of 1836, and was the first carpenter who made Elgin his permanent residence. His first work was to build a store for Vincent Lovell. He also made the first coffin ever required in Elgin, being for the body of Mary Ann Kimball, sister of P. J. Kimball. Jr. In 1837 Mr. J. T. Gifford donated to Mr. Shaw a lot on the northeast corner of Chicago and Center streets, on condition that he would build a house thereon, and he soon after commenced the erection of the "Elgin House," which is still standing on that lot, though very much altered and improved. He also purchased the three lots next east of this, and on one of them erected the first framed barn on the Galena road, west of Chicago.
"OLD OCTAGON." FOR YEARS THE CHIEF BOARDING HOUSE OF ELGIN.
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In 1838 Mr. Shaw built for Jason House the dwelling on Center street. It was finished off for a store and occupied as such for a year or two by a Mr. Campbell, from Aurora.
In this year Abel Walker and Lewis Ray made their appearance here as carpenters, and L. C. Stiles in 1839. After a few years Mr. Walker changed his occupation to that of undertaker, and for some time was the principal, if not the only one, in the place. Mr. Stiles has probably spent more years in the business than any other person here. Some of his first work was on the house now occupied by George B. Raymond, which was built in 1839 for James T. Gifford, who, until that time, had occupied a log house, which stood in Prairie street, near the west end of the small triangular park, nearly opposite, and the cellar of which was visible until it was filled up in 1874.
Horace Benham and L. S. Eaton, carpenters, came about 1840 or 1841, but, although still residents of the place, neither of them have worked at the business for several years past.
Elgin's first mason was Benjamin Burritt, who arrived here February 12, 1838, and is still a resident of the place. vigorous and active in his eighti- eth year. One of his first jobs was to build for G. W. Renwick the brick blacksmith shop, which stood on the present site of the Universalist church, and said to be the first of its kind in the county. In 1839 he built a brick residence for Burgess Truesdell, which is still standing on the ground of Henry Sherman, and so propitious was the weather that he commenced on the Ioth of March, and did not lose but two or three days until it was finished. in July following. In 1844 he laid down the trowel and engaged in other business, and for nearly twenty years next previous to 1874 was an acting justice of the peace.
Other early masons were Ralph Grow, Artemas Hewitt. C. Stevens and Artemas Grow. But the man who has laid more bricks and stones in Elgin 'han any other is Thomas Martin. He came here in 1843, and with the exception of a year or two spent in Montana, has worked at his trade ever since.
Among the first blacksmiths in Elgin were Jason House, G. W. Ren- wick and Samuel Hunting. Mr. House is thought to have had the priority in point of time, though it is possible that one was employed for a short time by the late Samuel J. Kimball before he arrived. At first Mr. House worked in a log shop on the present site of Bank block, so low that he could not stand erect in it at the sides. Subsequently he built a small frame shop on or near the site of Bosworth & Pierce's block, which he occupied until it burned in 1840. and then erected a brick shop on the property now owned by B. W. Staniforth on Chicago street.
G. W. Renwick built, as early as 1838, the brick blacksmith shop on Center street, before alluded to, which he occupied until about 1843, when he removed to his new stone building on River street, in which the post- office is now located. For many years he carried on a very extensive business in blacksmithing, wagon and carriage making. etc.
Alfred Hadlock, the first millwright, came in 1839, and worked on some
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of the first mills erected in Elgin. Ile afterward engaged quite extensively in the manufacture of threshing machines.
Philo Sylla was not properly a mechanic, but an inventor. His inven- tions naturally connected him with the mechanical employments, and we notice him here. He invented an improvement in reaping and mowing ma- chines, by which they could be adapted to uneven ground, and by which the sickle-bar could be raised and lowered. It is said that the first reaping machine in the United States, on the platform of which grain could be bound, was built in Elgin by him. Mr. Sylla came to the vicinity in 1838. to the village in 1842, and died a few years ago respected by all.
We are not sure whether Hon. Augustus Adams was a regular mechanic, but he engaged in mechanical pursuits, and with Hadlock, Sylla and others. mnade the west side of Fountain Square, where now are some of our best business blocks, a busy place. In their foundries and shops, the hunt of in- dustry was heard all day long, and the water of the race, which then passed through their ground, propelled a great amount of labor-saving machinery. For years Mr. Adams has been at the head of a large manufacturing estab- lishment at Sandwich, Illinois, and has probably been of greater value to the business interests of that place than any other man.
P. J. Kimball, Jr., the first tailor of Elgin, was here as early as 1837, and worked in a log house near his present residence. This residence, a store on Chicago street, and the Kimball House, are mementoes of his labor and enterprise.
Edgar Wait, the first cabinet maker, came about 1838, and built a shop on River street, nearly opposite the woolen factory. In 1840 he removed to Waukegan.
G. W. Kimball came to this place in 1840, and opened on the west side. With the exception of a short time, he has made or sold furniture ever since.
William Barker was not only the first silversmith, but has continued in the business almost uninterruptedly until the present time.
We state elsewhere that B. Healy was the first harness maker and that he has been longer in business than any other man here.
It has already been intimated that many of the first buildings in Elgin were of brick, and, of course, there must have been a brick maker. The honor of being the first manufacturer of these useful materials belongs to a man named E. A. Miltimore, whose yard was near the corner of River and Fulton streets. The gold of California attracted him thither at an early day, but he was killed by the Indians before reaching Eldorado.
We should be glad to notice scores of other mechanics and the mon11- ments of their skill, but want of space forbids. "Their works do praise them."
Since the above was noted mechanics and workmen of all classes have come and gone. Few cities have a more shifting population than Elgin. owing, chiefly, to the watch factory, to which strangers come continuously and from which others go.
Since 1875 the modern trade-union movement has arisen until now few. if any, employments are without their union. Every employe in the trades belongs to some union. It is the nineteenth century development, due to the
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efforts of laboring men to sustain wages, and has, in the main. succeeded in bringing to the workman more substantial reward and more respect than he would have had if he had not organized. Strikes have resulted from the contest of the employer and the union, but none of serious consequence in Elgin. A carpenters' strike in 1905 interfered with building during the summer, and a strike of watch-factory employes in the 'gos are the only open combats that have arisen. As a rule the two sides agree on a scale of wages and general conditions to be observed. The mechanics and laboring people of Elgin are of an exceptionally high type; one watching them enter the watch factory or publishing house at noon noting no difference between their appearance and a crowd out for a day's shopping. The unions in Elgin are organized under a general assembly known as the Trades Council. Each union elects delegates to this council, which comprises delegates from all the unions, and meets each week in its capacious hall in the Scheele block, north- west corner of Douglas avenue and Division street. Lectures and discussions are here had. and social gatherings enjoyed. The unions now existing are :
Barbers No. 47. C. S. Mote, president ; Philip Schlager, secretary. Meets at Scheele block third Monday of each month.
Brewery Workers No. 235. Henry Marquardt. president ; Charles Jahn, secretary. Meets fourth Monday each month.
Bricklayers and Stone Masons No. 27. Ernest Zanberg. president ; R. H. Marckhoff. secretary. Meets first and third Tuesday.
Building Trades Council. F. A. Pennoyer, president : Henry Stover. secretary.
Carpenters No. 363. Phil Ultes, president ; E. U. Kiltz. secretary.
Cigarmakers No. 71. W. E. Sayles, president : Fred W. Seybold. secretary.
Electrical Workers No. 117. A. B. Adams, president ; W. A. Stevenson, secretary. There are thirty members.
Federal Labor Union No. 11.377. C. Young. president ; L. Patterson, secretary.
Hod Carriers and Building Laborers. August Wetmeyer, president ; Charles Shei, secretary.
Horseshoe Workers. William Lade, president ; James McEwen, secretary.
Hospital Attendants and Nurses No. 10.903. P. Ferron, president ; S. Redeker. secretary.
Leather Workers. Fred Lehmann, secretary.
Machinists No. 295. B. J. Randall, president : Ed. Kohn, secretary.
Musicians No. 48. Fred Walter, president; W. B. Morton, secretary.
Painters and Paper Hangers No. 154. T. Ronan, president: A. B. Winne, secretary.
Plumbers and Gas Fitters No. 108. W. J. King. president.
Printing Pressmen No. 128. Ed. Grant, president: John Connor. secretary.
Sheet Metal Workers No. 151. John Shales, president : William Shales, secretary.
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Shirt and Laundry Workers No. 52. Mrs. D. Hyde, president; F. Horton, secretary.
Shoe Workers No. 124. J. O'Leary. president : Miss Ida Morey. secretary.
Tailors No. 223. Albert Klages, president : Frank Lethin, secretary.
Team Drivers No. 239. Chas. Wright. president ; William Weightman, secretary.
Typographical No. 171. T. P. Sheehan. president ; Charles S. Pease. secretary. Meets first Wednesday in each month.
Watch Workers No. 6961. John Gaylord, president: James LeGate, secretary.
An attempt has been made in the past few years to establish unions along the lines of the factory-all employes of a common employer forming a union, but as yet has not largely succeeded.
THE SCHOOLS OF ELGIN.
"Miss Harriet E. Gifford taught the first school ever kept in this city. Mr. James T. Gifford lived in a little log house, which stood near the corner of Prairie and Villa streets, and here. in 1837. Miss Gifford gathered a few chil- dren of those early settlers for instruction in the necessary branches of an education. In the following year she taught in the Union church, a small building which had been erected by the Baptists. Congregationalists and Metho- dists ; where the old cobble-stone church or schoolhouse later stood at Geneva and DuPage streets. Miss Gifford was followed. in 1841 or 1842. by Adin Mann and wife. School was continued in this church several years. Just before this time, the Methodists had withdrawn from the union congregation and put up a small house of worship at Center and Division streets. In this house Mr. Mann taught in 1840. Subsequently, Mr. Bolles, the pastor, and others, taught in the same place.
"About 1844. the first regular schoolhouse was built. It was erected by private subscription, and stood on the ground now occupied by the postoffice. Miss Harvey, afterward Mrs. Paul R. Wright, taught in this building two or three years, and then was succeeded by others. But the rapid growth of the town made additional school accommodations necessary. and in 1845 Mr. R. W. Padelford circulated a subscription paper to raise funds for the erection of a new schoolhouse. As a result, the old brick was commenced soon after. although it was not completed until 1847, nor formally dedicated until January. 1848. The building was opened January 3. 1848, with Mr. Ballard, principal of high school, salary $400 per year. and Mrs. Ballard and Miss Esther M. Graves, afterward Mrs. Jay J. Town, of Des Moines, Iowa, assistants. At that time it was the finest school building in this part of the state, and, far and near, there was no little talk about the 'big schoolhouse at Elgin.' Before the building was fully completed. Mrs. Lucy Lovell taught a select school in one of the lower rooms, being the first school taught in the building. From this time educational matters progressed. marked by nothing of special interest till 1851. It should be noted. that up to this time all the schools had been sustained by
M
HIGH SCHOOL, ELGIN.
OLD HIGH SCHOOL, ELGIN, BUILT IN 1857.
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the payment of rate bills. No tax for educational purposes had been levied : no public revenue had been received; no 'free schools' had been known in the state. A radical change was now inaugurated. The legislature passed an act authorizing the levy of a tax for the support of free schools, and the next year, at a school meeting held in the old brick, the first tax levied in the state of Illinois for free schools, was voted in this city, and the tax afterward collected.
"The Elgin Seminary was established in the spring of 1851, by the Misses E. and E. E. Lord, now of Chicago. It was designed. principally, for the education of young ladies, though, during part of the time. several young gentlemen were admitted. The school was first taught in the basement of the Congregational church, and a house on DuPage street. In January, 1852, the 'Elgin house,' which stood where the Congregational church now stands, was purchased, and soon after fitted up for the purposes of the seminary. It then embraced not only the most of what was known as the 'Elgin Boarding house,' corner of Chicago and Center streets, but the house next east of it. and afforded ample accommodations for a large number of pupils. In its new quarters the school was well patronized, and hundreds shared its benefits. Among its principals were Rev. Daniel S. Dickinson, and A. R. Wright, Esq. Among its teachers were Miss Emily Lord ( who was also the business man- ager ), Miss Ellen E. Lord, Miss A. Town, Miss Towner, Miss Ballard. Miss L. Graves, Mrs. Mary L. Dickinson, Mrs. Martha A. Lord, Miss Mary Blair, Miss Clara Edgecomb, Miss Irene Perine and others. The school was con- tinued until the summer of 1856, when it was decided to use the building for other purposes.
"In 1854 the schools, by special charter from the legislature, were brought under the control of the city. and Edmund Gifford was elected superintendent. The schools opened with Mr. Curtiss principal in district No. I. and Mr. Cole in No. 2. Mr. Curtiss was succeeded by Mr. Bicknell. October 18. Mr. F. S. Heywood became his successor, January 21, 1856. November 10, 1855, the new schoolhouse in district No. 3 was dedicated, and Mr. Dagget employed as principal of the school. October 26. February 28. 1856. Mr. Dagget was discharged and Miss Jenques employed to take his place. July 3. 1856, Paul R. Wright entered on the duties of superintendent. The schools opened Sep- tember I, with F. S. Heywood principal of grammar school in Second ward, and Harry Cole principal of south school. Mr. Wright resigned the super- intendency November 18. 1856. No successor was appointed until December IO. when Dr. Thomas Kerr filed the necessary bond, and entered upon the duties of the office. The winter term opened January 10, with an enrollment of four hundred and fifty pupils. To curtail expenses, the services of Mr. Cole were dispensed with at the close of the spring term of 1857. Dr. Kerr resigned the superintendency August 4, 1857, and Mr. Edmund Gifford was elected his successor. September 1. 1857.
"The schools opened September 7. with the following board of education : Rev. A. J. Joslyn, Jerome J. Smith, Charles Morgan and H. Hamilton. There were five schools on the east side of the river and two on the west side. Mr. Canfield was principal at the old brick until September 20, and F. S. Heywood,
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the former teacher, was employed to fill the vacancy, at a salary of $1,000 per year. During this year, 1857, the new brick was erected, on Kimball street, and, November 14. the high school moved in procession from the old brick to their new quarters. November 18. the building was dedicated with a good deal of eclat. Addresses were made by several gentlemen and a good time was had. On the whole it was a prosperous year for the schools. In June, 1859, Robert Blenkiron was elected superintendent, but kept no records of the schools. He resigned April 10, 1860, and Mr. J. B. Newcomb was elected his successor. Mr. Newcomb served as superintendent till July 3. 1866. Dur- ing a portion of this time the schools were conducted with a view to the strictest economy. Mr. Heywood taught during the spring term of 1860 as principal of the high school, at a salary of $1,000, and from the fall of 1860 to the spring of 1861, at the rate of $900 a year. Mr. E. C. Lovell became principal of the high school in the spring of 1862. During that term the principal of the grammar school received $1.25 per day and the assistants $1.00 per day. Mr. Lovell was continued in 1862-3 at a salary of $475, and the female teach- ers at $200. In 1863-4. Mr. Lovell was paid $600: his assistants $250, and the other teachers $212.50. In the spring of 1865, Mr. Lovell laid aside the 'birch' and took the sword in defense of his country. He was succeeded by Mrs. Wing ( wife of W. H. Wing, who presented Wing park to the city). a teacher long and favorably known to this community. Mr. Burr Lewis succeeded Mrs. Wing in the fall of 1865. but remained only two terms, when in turn Mrs. Wing was appointed his successor. The number of public schools taught during the successive years, from 1859 to 1866, was nine: number of teachers employed, ten ; the average attendance during those years was, respec- tively, 427. 420, 410, 420. 474. 440 and 468. In 1860 there were 754 children in the city between five and twenty-one years of age; in 1862, 1,096, and a total population of 3,012: in 1864. 1.221. and a population of 3.201. In 1866 Rev. N. C. Clark became superintendent. A. S. Barry was appointed principal of the high school and N. E. Leach principal of the North school. west side. Mr. Barry failing to accept the appointment. J. Thorp became principal. with Mrs. Wing as assistant. January 7. 1867. James Sly succeeded Mr. Thorp, and Mary E. Raymond. Mrs. Wing. The next term. April 15. W. H. Brydges. an accomplished scholar and a thorough teacher, became principal at a salary of $1.000. He remained the following year at $1.200. C. E. Lee took charge of the grammar school in the old brick, and Miss S. F. Lawrence began her labors in the primary department. North school. east side, at a salary of $300. She became principal of the grammar school in the old Baptist church. Jennie C. Cox ( Jennings ) began her labors in 1862. In 1864 Helen M. Keogh ( O'Neil) was employed. In 1865 Nellie Lynd engaged in the work of the teacher, but retired in 1873. Cecil C. Harvey, who is still remembered among our teachers. began in 1866, during Mr. Clark's superintendency. About 1867 two new schoolhouses were built, one in the First ward and the other in what is now the Sixth ward. The two would accommodate ninety-six pupils.
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