USA > Illinois > Stephenson County > History of Stephenson County, Illinois : a record of its settlement, organization, and three-quarters of a century of progress > Part 63
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THE HOEFER MANUFACTURING COMPANY.
The Hoefer Manufacturing Company had its origin in a small buggy fac- tory at Centennial, a few miles west of Freeport. The Hoefers were men of an inventive turn of mind, and F. W. Hoefer moved to Freeport and began work-
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ing out some inventions in a room in the old Courthouse building. Later, he set up a shop in what is now the Kinne Hotel, which was then a manufacturing building.
In the summer of 1892, Mr. F. W. Hoefer and D. C. Stover formed a co- partnership and started the Stover Novelty Works, in the building now used by the Armour Packing Company. Mr. F. W. Hoefer was the active head of the concern. The company's first product was power metal saws, and only a few men were employed. During the second year, 1893, the panic struck the county but the firm came through and increased the output. The firm supplied the government with saws and drilling machinery at this time. In 1896, Mr. Stover sold his interest and A. G. Hoefer bought an interest in the company. The business developed rapidly and various sizes of drilling machines were put on the market. A full line of bed-spring machinery was manufactured. The company held the basic patents on this machinery and was enabled to control the market in this country and abroad. Many attempts were made to infringe on these patents but the company invariably won out.
In September, 1899, the old name was abandoned and the Hoefer Manufac- turing Company was incorporated, and E. A. Hoefer joined his brothers in the concern. The officials were: President and treasurer, F. W. Hoefer; vice president, E. A. Hoefer ; secretary, A. G. Hoefer.
The business of the company prospered and the factory was removed to the Tuckett building in 1901. The demand for the Hoefer products was so great that the company decided to build a building at the corner of Chicago and Jackson streets. The building is 60x120, three-stories, with a wing 60x40 one story. The new building gave the company room for expansion which it needed and new lines of goods were put on the market.
In 1905, A. G. Hoefer withdrew from the company on account of illness, and Chester A. Hoefer, son of Fred W. Hoefer, bought an interest in the company and was elected secretary.
In July, 1908, E. A. Hoefer withdrew from the company, C. A. Hoefer purchasing the additional interest.
In 1908, exclusive agencies were established in the important cities of the United States and Canada and in many foreign countries including England, Sweden, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Italy, Spain, France, India, China, Japan, Russia and some of the South American countries. Through these agencies, Hoefer products go into all corners of the world.
Since 1908, the company has added to its equipment, has proceeded with the standardization of its products and the manufacturing methods have been thor- oughly revised and brought up to date. The company has increased its line and broadened its market. The product at present consists of metal saws, upright drills, horizontal drills, horizontal and vertical boring machinery. When running at full capacity, the company employs about sixty-five men.
The present officials of the company are: President and treasurer, Fred W. Hoefer ; vice president, P. E. Hoefer ; secretary, C. A. Hoefer.
THE ZIEGLER-SCHRYER MANUFACTURING COMPANY
One of Freeport's newest manufacturing establishments is the Ziegler-Schryer Manufacturing Company, in East Freeport. No new company ever began under
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favorable auspices. Owing to the successful experience of the men back of it, the new company was successful from the beginning.
The Ziegler-Schryer Company was incorporated in June, 1909. The officials of the company are: President, Mr. Oscar J. Ziegler; vice president, P. L. Schryer ; treasurer, Roy M. Bennethum; secretary, Lewis Hughes.
The present output of the company consists of gas, gasoline and distillate engines. The Z-S Engines are of the horizontal type. In addition to the engine business the company does a general machine shop work and makes high grade gray iron castings. The company puts out an attractive line of goods and is meeting with such success that it has already become necessary to enlarge the plant and increase the output. Eighty men are employed at present and the number is constantly increased.
Mr. Oscar Ziegler was connected with one of the largest manufacturing companies of the west for over twenty years, as designer and superintendent of construction of a line of feed grinders and wind mills. Mr. Paul Schryer is an expert gas-engine man, having served for years as designer and superintendent " of construction, in a large engine works of Freeport. Mr. Hughes and Mr. Bennethum have had years of experience in the business and in some of the largest concerns in the west.
DIRKSEN & TOWSLEE.
The Dirksen and Towslee Planing Mill is one of the newest institutions of Freeport. It was founded in 1902 by R. D. Dirksen and F. H. Towslee, and first began doing business in a small way in a factory on State street near South Galena avenue. When these lodgings became too small to house the growing concern, as they eventually did, the proprietors bought the factory formerly used by the Burrell Brothers Vinegar Works, and there established their new plant. The factory is a three-story brick structure 40x100 feet, with adjoining lumber sheds which have a capacity of three hundred thousand feet of lumber, and two large moulding sheds, each 20x60 feet in floor area. The yards and mill cover two acres of ground, and the tracks of the Illinois Central pass the mill making excellent transportation facilities. The Dirksen and Towslee property is situated in the northern end of the town, near the river, just west of the Freeport Water Company buildings, and a short distance east of the D. E. Swan Organ Factory.
. Fifteen hands are employed steadily. The business done by the Dirksen and Towslee mill is mostly local although considerable shipping is done to the small towns within a radius of fifteen or twenty miles. The outside business is con- stantly increasing, and while the concern is still young, it has a most promising future and has already done much to gain the confidence of the buying world.
W. T. RAWLEIGH MEDICAL COMPANY.
The Rawleigh Medical Company, although only a little over twenty years old, has, in the short time of its existence, built up a business which extends over the whole of the United States, and has made its president and incorporator a
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millionaire. Mr. Rawleigh's clearheaded business ability is responsible for the firm's progress during the last twenty years of its existence. It was he who be- gan the process of manufacturing medical preparations-it is said by preparing them on the cook stove of his own kitchen. As he succeeded in a small way, he began to think of branching out, and founding a bigger concern. He es- tablished a system of wagons which cover the whole of the surrounding coun- try with a network of routes, and thus sold his products chiefly to the farmers.
In 1895, he formed the Rawleigh Medical Company, and incorporated the concern of which he has since been president. The first factory was located on the corner of Douglas avenue and Powell street. A large business was done in this place, and it was here that Mr. Rawleigh got his start and made sufficient capital to enable him to build his new factory. The disadvantage of the Douglas avenue site lay in its distance from the railroad and its consequent lack of transportation facilities. Accordingly a strip of land bordering on the Illinois Central tracks near the foot of Galena street was purchased and the present modern and up-to-date factory erected. The plant has a large capacity, and the yearly output is enormous. The company deals in the various branches of goods which are usually handled by such medical companies : Salves, ointments, liniments, toilet preparations, patent medicines, stock dips and remedies, spices, extracts, baking powders, etc.
In addition to the large local business done in Freeport and the surrounding country, the Rawleigh Medical Company has a large foreign trade, all of which has been developed within the past three of four years. The company now maintains at its establishment a private printing plant where all the literature and labels of the company are printed. The pile of buildings also includes a power house, where the company's own four hundred and fifty horse power generator furnishes power for turning all the machinery of the factory. Two hundred hands are employed in and about the factory, and over a thousand salesmen are on the road distributing Rawleigh's remedies and extracts. A southern ware-house at Memphis, Tennessee, was added to the company's real estate in 1907, and the concern is doing a business unequalled by any other con- cern in Freeport. The officers are: President, W. T. Rawleigh; vice president, W. J. Trevillian ; secretary, J. R. Jackson.
NATURAL CARBON PAINT COMPANY.
The Natural Carbon Paint Company was organized a few years ago by the late Albert Baumgarten and F. W. Siecke, who is still connected with the con- cern. The cause of the founding was the discovery, made by the gentlemen in- terested in the project, of a natural carbon substance, which was superior to lampblack in the manufacture of paint. This substance was found in large quantities in the vicinity of Eleroy, in Erin Township, also in Mt. Carroll in. Carroll county. The carbon substance, which was named "mindura" from its enduring qualities, when mixed with a quantity of linseed oil, made as desirable a pigment as can be imagined, and was especially valuable for painting surfaces which are ordinarily subjected to great wear and tear, such as railrod rolling stock, and articles subjected to great heat, such as steam pipes, boiler heads ;. steel chimneys, etc., which are painted not only for protection's sake, but for
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appearances, metals which are subjected to the action of acid fumes, generated in train sheds, under viaducts, in chemical works, creameries, tanneries, etc., are rendered impervious to the action of the destructive elements when coated over with an application of the "Mindura" paints.
The Natural Carbon Paint Company has a retorting capacity of about six- teen tons of Mindura pigment per day of twenty-four hours, and a grinding capacity of oil of eighteen barrels of semi-paste, or ten barrels of semi-paste, and ten barrels of liquid goods per day of ten hours. The company caters primarily to large consumers of paint, such as railroads, manufacturers of structural steel and iron, and builders of steel cars.
The process by which the paint is manufactured is exceedingly interesting. The raw material is shipped from Eleroy and Mt. Carroll to the Freeport fac- tory, where it is washed, crushed, refined, and roasted at a temperature of about nine hundred and fifty degrees Fahrenheit in specially constructed and patented retort ovens. Then it is hydrated, and finally pulverized and air-separated to a fineness of two hundred mesh. When metal surfaces are perfectly clean, a proper application of "Mindura" mixed with pure linseed oil will preserve them at a moderate cost better than any paint before the public.
The officers of the Natural Carbon Paint Company, which is an Illinois cor- poration, are: President, M. Schauer; vice president, Rudolph Stadermann ; secretary and treasurer, F. W. Siecke.
FREEPORT WATER COMPANY.
The business of furnishing so large a community as Freeport with water is one of huge magnitude, and, since 1882, the Freeport Water Company has given the city of Freeport an excellent water supply, pure and wholesome for domestic purposes, and of ample quantity. When the company was first organized in 1886, eight miles of mains, from four to sixteen inches in diameter were laid, while now there are thirty-four miles of mains covering the city and its sub- urbs, so that scarcely a house within the limits is not within reach of an adequate supply of city water. In 1902 and 1903 a complete new pumping equipment, also a filter plant was put in, so that for the last eight years, the city. water supply has been filtered, this providing for as fine a supply of water as can be found in this vicinity. "Freeport water" has been even more famous than Free- port beer, and for many years, the Illinois Central Railroad Company has used Freeport artesian well water in the reservoirs of its passenger cars and in all the dining cars used by the company. The latest report of the health officer on city water states that the city water is pure and wholesome for drink- ing and cooking purposes, and recommends the extension of the city mains and the use of city water wherever possible instead of well water, as the latter is apt to become infected with germs from cesspools, sewers, etc.
The officers of the Freeport Water Company are: President, Michael Stos- kopf ; vice president, J. H. Snyder ; treasurer, Addison Bidwell; secretary and superintendent, Owen T. Smith.
The pumping station and wells are located near the Cedarville bridge on the river banks. The standpipe is located on Whistler street, near Stephenson, in West Freeport.
WATER COMPANY'S PUMPING STATION
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STEPHENSON COUNTY TELEPHONE COMPANY.
While it has only been in operation 'for eight years, the Stephenson County Telephone Company already has a list of subscribers quite as large as that of the Freeport Telephone Company, and lines extending throughout Stephenson County, and into the neighboring counties of Winnebago, Carroll, Ogle, Jo Daviess, Whiteside, etc. By an arrangement recently completed by the directors of the Stephenson Telephone Company, the Freeport subscribers are able to get telephone connection with Chicago. The wires pretty thoroughly cover the country within a radius of fifty miles of Freeport. The subscribers number about two thousand five hundred, and the company employs twenty-three lady operators in its office on the third floor of the Rice building. Exchanges are maintained at all the village of Stephenson County.
The company was organized in 1902, by a company of Freeport financiers, who elected Charles D. Knowlton president of the corporation. He served for a number of years and was succeeded by Dr. D. C. L. Mease, the present official. The other officers of the company are: Vice president, W. A. Hance; treasurer, Ezra T. Morse; secretary, L. A. Herrick; directors, T. K. Best, Charles D. Knowlton, William O. Wright, F. A. Read, and Douglas Pattison.
The company is now capitalized at $150,000, all of which is Freeport capital, and is doing a business which is rapidly increasing. The service is excellent, and the instruments in use of the most modern type.
FREEPORT TELEPHONE COMPANY.
On the first of April of the present year, the Freeport Telephone Company observed the thirtieth anniversary of its birth. It was established on the first day of April, 1880, by E. T. Keim of Dubuque, acting on behalf of the National Telephone Company, with a capital of $10,000, and the following officers: Presi- dent, L. Z. Farwell, vice president, W. G. Barnes; treasurer, F. Gund; secretary, C. H. Little; directors, O. B. Sanford, James I. Neff, L. Z. Farwell, E. B Winger, F. Gund, and C. H. Little.
On the Ioth of June of the same year work was commenced, poles erected, lines placed, etc., and the line went into operation the first of July. For some years the list of subscribers grew slowly. The conservative Freeporters did not take readily to the telephone idea. As late as fifteen years ago, the telephone di- rectories consisted of a single folded sheet of cardboard, with the names of the subscribers finding ample space on the two inside pages. But progress has come, and the subscription list of the Freeport Telephone Company has increased accordingly. The subscribers now number about two thousand two hundred, with telephone exchanges in the villages of Rock Grove, Orangeville, Pearl City, Lena, etc. In 1880, and for some time thereafter one telephone operator was sufficient to attend to all the business, but at the present time the force number nearer two dozen. The officers of the present year are: President, L. Z. Farwell; vice president, -; secretary, ; treasurer,
superintendent, George H. Green; directors, L. Z. Farwell, Roy K. Farwell.
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THE FUERST-M'NESS COMPANY.
The Fuerst-McNess Company was organized February 1, 1908, by Mr. Frank E. Fuerst and Mr. F. W. McNess. Mr. Fuerst is president and treasurer ; Mr. F. G. Thomas, vice president; Mr. F. W. McNess, chemist and secretary. Mr. Fuerst is a graduate of the Freeport High School and of the University of Mich- igan School of Law. Mr. McNess is a doctor of pharmacy, a graduate of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, graduating with honors. He came to Free- port several years ago from Cleveland, Ohio.
The offices and ware-rooms of the company are in the large three-story build- ing at the corner of Spring and Liberty streets. The company manufactures and sells proprietary medicines, flavoring extracts, spices, perfumes and stock and poultry remedies.
The company was organized February 1, 1908, began work in March and started the first wagon on the road, April 10th. At the end of the first year the company had twenty-five wagons out and now have over one hundred wagons operating in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Ken- tucky, Missouri, North and South Dakota, Nebraska and Pennsylvania. The company is the originator of the free sanitary trial bottle system. For a new company, the Fuerst-McNess organization is making remarkable progress and the general public has confidence in Mr. Fuerst as business manager and in Mr. McNess as chemist.
BAIER & OHLENDORF.
The Baier and Ohlendorf brewing establishment is the oldest in the city. It was established sixty-one years ago, in 1849, as a supply depot for malt liquors by Calvin McGee, and had a capacity of about two hundred barrels per annum. Mr. McGee did not find the business either pleasant or profitable according to the tradition, and sold it a year later to a Mr. Wade, who ran it until 1852. In that year the brewery buildings were rebuilt and sold to E. Hetrich, who carried on a prosperous business until his death, which occurred about twelve years later. His widow married William Beck, who took charge of the business, made some valuable improvements, and conducted the business until his death four years later. Mrs. Beck attempted to act as proprietor for a short time, but did not succeed in the undertaking very well, and sold out to Baier and Seyfarth in 1869.
These gentlemen took charge of the Beck Brewery, and continued the manu- facture of beers for a while with the amount of machinery possessed by the old brewery. Then they laid foundations for one of the finest plants in the coun- try, and soon completed the building which is still standing on the corner of Adams and Jackson streets.
In 1891, Mr. Ohlendorf succeeded Mr. Seyfarth, deceased, and the business has since been conducted under the firm name of Baier and Ohlendorf. The concern takes great pride in the quality of its product, and spares no effort to make it perfect. The main brand of beer manufactured at the Freeport Brew- ery is "Pilsener," which is put up both in kegs and in bottles. The capacity of the plant is about thirty thousand barrels of the liquid substance annually.
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SCHMICH BROTHERS.
The Schmich Brothers Brewing Company is the brewery of latest growth in Freeport. It occupies a large and up-to-date plant in East Freeport, on East Stephenson street and the Pecatonica River, and employs a large force of work- men in its various departments.
The history of Schmich Brothers plant may be traced back to 1880, although the present concern was organized much later. In 1880, Matthias Schmich purchased an interest in the old Western Brewery, now occupied by Franz Brothers Brewing Company. For seven years the business was conducted by Messrs. Schmich and Huber and in 1887 George Schmich, a brother of Matthias, purchased the interest of Mr. Huber, and the firm became Schmich Brothers, which it has remained to this day.
The members of the firm were young and enterprising men, and they soon found that, in order to compete with the other breweries of Freeport as well as their rivals of Milwaukee, their plant must necessarily undergo an enlargement. For a while, the remodelling of the old Western Brewery was contemplated, but finally the firm secured a building site in East Freeport, and erected their present commodious and well appointed quarters. The plant was begun in 1896, and finished during the early part of 1897, at a cost of $75,000.
Various necessary improvements and additions have been made in the last decade which raise the efficiency of the plant to a high figure. The capacity is about twenty thousand barrels of beer per annum. The factories contain two splendid engines, one eighty horse power and the other thirty. The company also conducts its own artificial ice plant, and uses nothing else. A specialty is made of the celebrated Schmich Brothers Rochester and Export bottled beer, and the product is shipped to all parts of the United States. The company is capitalized at $100,000 under the Illinois state laws. The officers are: Presi- dent, Matthias Schmich ; secretary, W. N. Cronkrite; treasurer, George Schmich.
WESTERN BREWERY.
The Western Brewery is very old, having been in existence since the year 1864. During that year Michael and Mathias Steffen erected two large stone buildings, each 100 x 40 and two stories high, which they proposed to devote exclusively to the manufacture of a superior quality of lager beer. Their plant, which was located on the Lena Road, was then far outside of the city limits, but is now inside of the line. In 1879 Michael Huber bought the plant, and in 1880 Matthias Schmich became a partner in the venture. Huber and Schmich remained the proprietors of the Western Brewery until 1887, when George Schmich, a brother of Matthias, bought out Mr. Huber's interest and the firm became Schmich Brothers. About ten years later, in 1897, the Schmich plant was transferred to its present site in East Freeport, and the Western Brewery passed into the hands of the Franz Brothers, who have made a great success of the venture.
An entirely new and up-to-date plant has been erected, with a capacity of about fifteen thousand barrels of beer per annum. A new addition to the brew-
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ery has been an artificial ice plant which was built about two years ago. The artificial ice plant is conducted by A. F. Balles, who utilizes the product in his wagon trade, and supports the plant in connection with Franz Brothers.
The Western Brewery manufactures a high quality of beer, and is doing a lively and encouraging business. The trade is mostly local but has become larger of late years, and includes a large outside circuit. Splendid transportation facil- ities are offered, as the tracks of the Illinois Central Railroad pass only a few hundred feet distant from the buildings of the brewery, and it is altogether prob- able that advantage of this fact will be taken to build up an extensive outside trade. Franz Brothers have been in business but a short time, but already their business is established on a sound basis, and their product is known far and wide.
YELLOW CREEK BREWERY.
The Yellow Creek Brewery deserves mention, as it is the oldest brewing estab- lishment of the city of Freeport. It was founded in 1845 by Mathias Hettinger, who, with John Hettinger, began in a small way, and laid the foundation for a business which afterward assumed large proportions.
In 1852 Mr. Kachelhoffer became a partner in the business but sold out in 1856, and retired from the firm. Adam Aiker bought Mr. Kachelhoffer's in- terest and took part in the business for four years, his death occurring in 1860. Under the firm of Hettinger & Aiker large beer cellars were built, and the equipment of the plant much improved. The Aiker interest was purchased by Jacob Haegle for $4,000, and the firm became Hettinger & Haegle. In 1869 Michael Roth purchased the Hettinger interest for $7,500, and the firm be- came Haegle & Roth.
Mr. Haegle withdrew from the business after many years of connection, and Michael Roth was succeeded by his son, L. J. Roth, who still conducts the business. The buildings of the Yellow Creek brewery are situated on the State Road, about a mile and a half east of town. These comprise the brew house, ice house, warehouse, and the attached buildings, and are commodious and thrifty in appearance. The capacity of the brewery is about two thousand bar- rels of beer annually. The business done by the Yellow Creek brewery is al- most altogether local. Mr. Roth has built up a reputation for himself among the German citizens of Freeport, and the Yellow Creek brewery beer is well known as lager beer of a high quality.
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