USA > Illinois > Stephenson County > History of Stephenson County, Illinois : a record of its settlement, organization, and three-quarters of a century of progress > Part 65
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THE WALLACE SEVERANCE GAS MACHINE COMPANY.
This company is the originator and manufacturer of the Wallace Severance Gas Machines, for lighting and cooking purposes. The company has been in business eight years, operating in the old Shrinkler building at first and then moving to present quarters at 43 South Galena avenue. This invention has made it possible for a man to have his own gas plant in his home or in his place of business. The company is doing an increasing business over the western states through traveling salesmen and local agents.
THE FREEPORT GAS MACHINE COMPANY.
The Freeport Gas Machine Company is located on Stephenson street, and manufactures and sells the Freeport Gas Machine, an automatic gas plant pro- ducing a gas suitable for cooking and illuminating purposes. The officials of the company are : President, Dr. D. C. L. Mease; Vice President, H. J. Johnson ; Manager, S. P. Wallace; Secretary and Treasurer, A. Stoller. The "Freeport" Gas Machine is sold in large numbers throughout the western states. The gas machine is in great demand in the rural communities and in small towns where
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there are no large gas plants. Many farmers light both house and barn. This company is doing a good business and has excellent prospects.
THE ILLINOIS CENTRAL SHOPS. .
One of Freeport's best industrial establishments is the Illinois Central Shops. The plant is a large one covering several acres of ground and employs about 300 men. It does an immense business in repairing and rebuilding Illinois Central rolling stock. The machine shops and the round house are equipped with the best and latest improved machinery.
The officials of the Illinois Central Shops are all practical men of the highest order of ability: Master Mechanic, Victor Powell; Train Master, Martin Flannigan; General Foreman, Edward Lawless; Floor Boss, Mr. Dick; Black- smith Foreman, Jack Sweeney.
FREEPORT FACTORIES.
The last five years have seen the most rapid growth of the manufacturing interests of Freeport that the city has ever known. The Henney Buggy Com- pany, now the Moline Plow Company, has more than doubled its buildings, its numbers of employees and its output. Besides large additions to the old plant two large new buildings have been on the site of the old Robinson plant. The Stover Engine Works, the Stover Manufacturing Company and Woodmansees, have made steady advances. The Organ factory, the Illinois Central Shops, the Shoe factory, Hoefer's and the Arcade are all doing an increasing business. The new Ziegler-Schryer Company is forging ahead with strides that warrant the belief that it will soon be one of Freeport's largest concerns.
Quality has always been the standard with Freeport manufacturers. Free- port goods have been shipped to all civilized countries of the world, and "Made in Freeport" is a stamp that sells. Besides encouraging established factories, Freeport offers excellent inducements to new concerns. Good factory sites are to be had and the Citizens Commercial Association is always ready to give sup- port to legitimate concerns. The railroad facilities are first class and no bet- ter banking houses are to be found in any city in the country. In fact, there is nothing wanting to make the city a big manufacturing center.
J. W. MILLER COMPANY. .
The Freeport Journal of January 11, 1909, gives the following as the annual output of the J. W. Miller Company: Annual business of the poultry farm $40,000 ; annual output of incubators and brooder, 30,000 ; fireless cookers, 7,000. The company employs about 100 people.
STORES.
The oldest business in Freeport run by one family is that of William O. Wright on Stephenson Street at the corner of Stehpenson and Chicago. This store occupies two rooms for the clothing and shoe departments. The business was founded by Orestus H. Wright, who came to Freeport in December, 1836. Early in 1737 he opened a store in a log building near the river. The same year he built a frame store and later built the first three-story building in Freeport,
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the building now occupied by the Cascade Laundry. He was largely instru- mental in building the first bridge across the river and exerted great influence in bringing the railroad to Freeport. He held the offices of Probate Judge and County- Clerk. He died in 1851. His son, William O. Wright, who now con- ducts the business, was born in Freeport in 1841, four years after the county was organized. It has fallen to the lot of but few men now living, to have lived in Freeport sixty-nine years ago. He has seen Freeport grow from a shack, frontier village of a few settlers, to a city of over twenty thousand people. He was educated at Beloit College. Learning the printer's trade in the office of the old Prairie Democrat, he started the "Northwest," a weekly newspaper. In the Civil War Mr. Wright served in the Adjutant General's office under General Hurlburt, in Colonel Putnam's regiment. He is a Mason, a member of the Freeport Club, was several years a member of the Board of Education, a direc- tor in the Gas Company and the First National Bank. For over twenty years Mr. Wright was a member of the Democratic State Central Committee. His life, almost contemporaneous with the history of Freeport, has been and is now one of wide influence in northern Illinois.
Mr. L. Z. Farwell, one of the most prominent of Freeport's older business men, has been a resident of Stephenson County since coming here with his pa- rents in 1852. In 1860 he came to Freeport and in 1861 formed a partnership with Mr. O. B. Bidwell. The firm of Bidwell & Farwell conducted a wholesale notion business over Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa. In 1871 Mr. Farwell bought Mr. Bidwell's interest and conducted the bsuiness alone from 1871 to 1885, doing at times a half million dollar business annually. In 1877 Mr. Farwell bought a half interest in the Gas Company and bought Mr. Munn's interest in 1890 and conducted that alone till 1895 when he sold to a stock company. In 1879 he organized a telephone company in which he still holds a large interest and of which he is president. Besides other interests he is a director of the Second National Bank in which he is a heavy stockholder. For fifty years Mr. Farwell has been recognized as one of Freeport's most successful business men.
He has always taken a great interest in the Freeport Club, of which he has been president for years. His son, Mr. Roy K. Farwell, is secretary of the Freeport Telephone Exchange Company, and chairman of the Board of Edu- cation, and is prominent among the younger business men of Freeport.
William Koenig came to Freeport in 1856. He was an apprentice at the cabinet trade with Darius Kuehner. He then worked five years for J. B. Sny- der and entering business for himself, formed a partnership with David Hunt. In 1880 Mr. Koenig bought Mr. Hunt's interest and has since conducted the business alone. In 1895 he built the large four-story building now occupied by his furniture store at the corner of Stephenson and Mechanic streets. He has operated one of the most complete furniture stores in northern Illinois. He was a large stockholder in, and secretary of, the Robinson Manufacturing Com- pany. He is now assisted in the business by his son, Robert, a recent graduate of the University of Wisconsin.
Mr. Loyal L. Munn, Sr., came to Freeport from New York State in 1846, at the age of seventeen. He taught school one year and in 1850 went into the insurance business. In 1853 he organized the Stephenson Insurance Company
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and was secretary till 1865. He was in the dry goods business from 1866 to 1869, and in the Gas Company from 1871 to 1889. In 1862 he built the Munn Building. In 1893 he bought a large interest in the Arcade Manufacturing Company and was president of that concern. Mr. Munn died in 1908. He was a man of remarkable resources and energy. He was a thirty-third degree Mason.
Hon. August Bergman was one of Stephenson County's leading business men of the second generation. He came here in 1852. He was born in the village of Meinberg, Germany, in 1835. His first work in Freeport was in a brickyard, where he labored eight years. In 1864 he entered the livery business and began the agricultural implement business in 1867. The firm of Bergman & Dorman expanded rapidly till it was one of the largest in northern Illinois. The partnership being dissolved he conducted the implement business till his death early in 1910.
Mr. Bergman had held the following offices: Street commissioner, alderman, mayor three terms, president of the Board of Education, director of the Ger- man Insurance Company, etc. He was one of the most popular of Freeport's successful business men.
No one stands higher among the older business men and citizens of Free- port than Mr. William Wagner, the venerable editor and publisher of the An- zeiger. He came to Freeport with his father in 1852. From 1853 he was identified with his father in the publishing business. On the death of his father, Mr. W. H. Wagner took up the managing of the business for which he had ex- cellent training. The business prospered under his able management and in 1886 he built the Anzeiger Building, a large three-story brick structure at the corner of Chicago and Galena Streets, which houses one of the most complete and up- to-date printing plants in the state. Several of Mr. Wagner's sons have been associated with him in the business. Mr. Otto Wagner withdrew from the firm in 1905, and began a bindery and office supply business on Galena Street. Mr. A. F. Wagner withdrew in 1910. Messrs. Oscar and Frederick Wagner are now connected with the business. Mr. W. H. Wagner is a man of wide influence in Freeport, and is now president of the Board of Education.
The dry goods establishment of William Walton Nephews is one of the pioneer stores of the city, and is justly renowned throught this section of the state. So excellent a line of goods does it carry that it is patronized extensively by purchasers from neighboring cities, and the Rockfordites, whose city is nearly twice the size of Freeport, say that no Rockford store carries the same quality of dry goods.
The store was established by William Walton in 1858. Mr. Walton was a native of England, having been born in County Dunn, and raised in Birmingham. In England he took up the dry goods business and was a clerk for many years. In 1855 he came to the United States. He was located for a brief season in New York, then in Chicago, where he was connected with the dry goods house of J. B. Shay, and finally in Amboy, Illinois, where he embarked in business for himself. After a short stay in Amboy he became satisfied that the town was not large enough to support the store he was anxious to establish, and accord- ingly he pulled up stakes and came to Freeport. Since his removal to this city,
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the business has steadily prospered. Mr. Walton soon gained the confidence of the public and built up a reputation for honesty and fair dealing which has survived unblemished up to the present time.
Mr. Walton also invested heavily in real estate in and about the city of Freeport, and, as his cares began to grow numerous and arduous, he looked about him for help. This he found in the persons of his three nephews, Wil- liam, Joseph and Edwin Hall, who came over from England at his request and took charge of his business. At his death in 1898 they assumed control under the firm name of William Walton Nephews. William Hall took charge of the clothing and men's furnishing department, while Edwin Hall became manager of the dry goods department. Thus the business is still conducted.
At'first the store at 104 Stephenson Street was the one occupied. Later the next store building west was rented and occupied for the clothing store, and finally the next store building east was secured and added to the dry goods department. The upper floors of the buildings are also occupied at present by the carpet and curtain departments, and the establishment as a whole is one of the most progressive and up-to-date of the city.
The dry goods establishment of F. A. Read, which occupies the first and second floors of the Weishar Block, is one of the substantial and well estab- lished business firms of the city. It was established in the spring of 1877 by C. H. Seeley, who opened a small store on upper Stephenson Street, and thus formed the nucleus about which the present business has grown up. In the fall of the same year F. A. Read became associated with Mr. Seeley and the firm name became Seeley & Read. The place of business was transferred and the new firm opened in the store now occupied by Huss & Kinley in the Wilcoxin Block. It was not long before. these quarters became far too crowded, and a new building was erected for the store by C. H. Rosenstiel, on the opposite side of Stephenson Street from their present location. These quarters were also far too small, and presently it became imperative that a change be made if the extensive trade which the founders had built up was to be retained. Henry Weishar, seizing the opportunity as a good business venture, built the Weishar Block especially for Seeley & Read, and fitted up the first and second floors of the building with the necessary appurtenances for the stores. A large increase in business followed and the firm began to handle a more extensive class of goods. A millinery department was added, and opened to the public, with an exceptionally fine line of goods. In time a carpet department was also added.
In 1893 the concern met with a great disaster. The place was visited by a ravaging fire which consumed the entire interior of the Weishar Block and left 'only the walls standing. The whole stock was lost, and hardly a vestige of the once elegantly modelled store was discernible. The three men most con- cerned in the loss were not discouraged, however, and the building was imme- diately reconstructed. Another fire has occurred since that time, but with no such serious results. In February, 1899, Mr. Seeley withdrew from the firm to engage in the mining business, and the firm has since been F. A. Read alone. The store carries a line of dry goods, millinery and carpets which is unexcelled by any in the northern part of the state. Recently the store front was remodelled and new entrances built. It is one of the handsomest stores in the city at pres-
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BREWSTER HOLSE
BREWSTER HOUSE, FREEPORT
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W.H.WAGNER & SONS. PRINTERS AND PUBLISHERS
W. H. WAGNER AND SONS' PRINTING AND PUBLISHING PLANT. FREEPORT
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ent. Mr. Joseph Johnson, Mr. Read's son-in-law, is now connected with the business.
At the sign of the only plated tower in existence in the world, the crockery establishment of C. H. Little & Co. has continued to do a flourishing business for over half a century. It is one of the oldest business firms of the city, and has always held an unequalled reputation throughout the city and surrounding country.
In 1859, Mr. Little established the business which bears his name, at 71 Stephenson street, across the street from its present location. Here it remained for eight years, and then, in 1867, Mr. Little moved across the street to 74 Ste- phenson street, which place the firm still occupies. At that time, he took in with as partners Mr. F. J. Kunz, and Mr. C. H. Becker. A new building was built for the accommodation of the firm, which, with certain alterations and addition has been in the possession of C. H. Little & Co. ever since its erection. Some time ago the business had so thoroughly outgrown its original quarters that additional floor space became an imperative necessity. A store in the next building was secured and made a part of the original store. This arrangement has continued in effect for a number of years.
The original building of the C. H. Little & Co. is one of the finest in the city, and the plated tower which scales its front is one of the most unique ad- vertisements in the world. All three floors of the buildings are occupied by the store, together with the basement, which is used as store room. The line of goods carried by C. H. Little & Co. is not surpassed in nothern Illinois. In addition to the crockery department, a line of beautiful and choice cut glass is carried. The toy department is par excellence. As a whole, the firm enjoys exclusive patronage to a degree unknown by most of the business houses of the city, and retains its ancient reputation as the leading crockery establishment of Freeport.
The Burrell grocery business was established by L. F. Burrell in 1854. Henry. Daniel and John Burrell came to Freeport from Pennsylvania in 1850. Mr. John Burrell was associated with Mr. Emmert in the drug business until -?-. They are all men distinguished for a high order of business ability and integrity and are numbered among Freeport's most substantial citizens.
In his seventy-ninth year Joseph Emmert is yet one of the active business men of Freeport. He has been in the drug business since arriving in Freeport in 1855. fifty-five years. The business was established by John S. Emmert in 1846. Mr. Emmert has occupied the same premises for the fifty-five years. He is one of the pioneer druggists of northern Illinois, and the oldest merchant in Free- port. Mr. Emmert takes great pride in the fact that he has trained a num- ber of boys in business and they have been remarkably successful. .
The B. P. Hill Grain Company began business in 1882. The company does a big business in grain, coal, salt, coke and wood. Besides the elevator in Free- port with a capacity of 40,000 bushels, the company has elevators at Evarts, Lena, McConnell, Baileyville, Steward, Red Oak, Woosung and Haldane. Mr. B. P. Hill is president and treasurer of the company.
The H. A. Hillner Company does an extensive business in coal, wood, feed and grain. Besides a big new elevator in Freeport, Mr. Hillner has elevators
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at Ridott, German Valley, Dakota, Davis, Waddams and Florence. The company was organized in 1903, but Mr. Hillner had been in the business as an employe of H. J. Porter since 1884.
The Armour Packing Company has a branch office in Freeport that does a large business in this section.
The Standard Oil Co. maintains a large local plant. Besides supplying the Freeport trade the company makes large shipments by; means of two wagons and the railroads to points in northwestern Illinois. The company's local man- ager, Mr. A. H. Stephenson, has been with the company for 18 years and is one of the most competent and reliable business men of the county.
The business of Kuehner Brothers was established at the present location on the site of the Howe Hotel by Darius Kuehner in 1857. He was a successful business man and built the business block in 1869. The business is carried on by his sons, Fred and Robert, who are among the county's most progressive business men. The store was remodelled and extended in 1906, and is one of the finest and most elaborate furniture stores in Illinois.
Mr. Frederick Dorman came to Freeport in 1874 and for thirty-five years was identified with many of Freeport's large business interests. He was president of the Shoe Manufacturing Co .; president of the Howe Gas Machine Co .; vice presi- dent of Guyer & Calkins; a director in Woodmansees Mfg. Co., one of the principal stockholders of Dorman & Co., dealers in agricultural implements, and president of the State Bank.
Ezrom Mayer, the secretary of the Union Building and Loan Association, has been a resident of Freeport since 1847. He entered Oscar Taylor's Bank in 1855; held a position in the bank of De Forest & Co. several years and was the first cashier of First National Bank. For many years he was in the bank of Het- tinger, Collman Brothers & Co. Besides his active management of the Union Loan Company's business he has many other financial holdings. At the age of 73 he is an active business man with a wonderfully cheerful disposition.
One of the prominent attorney's of the early days was A. T. Green who came to Freeport in 1839, walking from Rockford. He was a native of New York. He was a postmaster from 1843 to 1849. Besides being a prominent attorney he was one of the men who stood with L. W. Guiteau in the agitation for free public schools. His son, Charles T. Green, was also a lawyer and served in the Civil war. His grandson, Charles H. Green, is now one of the county's suc- cessful attorneys.
Mr. J. M. Galloway has been in business in Freeport since 1858. With Mr. W. H. Snooks he conducted a bottling works for years in the old "Mansion House," the hotel built by Benjamin Goddard in 1837. It stood diagonally across the present Y. M. C. A. tennis courts on Walnut street. They now conduct the business on Galena street.
C. O. Collmann came from Hanover, Germany, in 1850. He farmed in. Ridott township till 1866 when he entered the mercantile business in Freeport. In 1876 he was one of the organizers of the bank of Hettinger, Collmann Brothers & Co., now the German Bank. He was a high official in the German Insurance . Company. At the age of 78 he is still president of the German Bank.
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Hon. E. P. Barton was one of the talented members of the Stephenson County bar after 1855. He was a graduate of Hamilton College, New York, and was admitted to the bar in Brooklyn in 1852, where he practiced law till 1855. He was associated with the following firms; Turner, Burchard & Barton; Burchard & Barton; Burchard, Barton & Barnum and Barton & Barnum, leading law firms of the county. He was elected County Judge of Stephenson' County, a position he filled with distinction.
Henry Baier, of Baier & Ohlandorf, is one of the oldest citizens and busi- ness men of Freeport. He came to this county from Bavaria in 1843. His business ability has made him one of Freeport's wealthy men, and at the age of 74 he is still a leader in some of the city's largest enterprises.
Mr. Orlando B. Bidwell was born in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, July 28, 1829. He came to Freeport in 1856, and was one of Stephenson County's most prominent citizens till his death January 14, 1909. . In 1861 he formed a partnership with Mr. L. Z. Farwell in the wholesale notion business. He was a stockholder and director in the Freeport Gas Light & Coke Co. and a heavy stockholder and treasurer of the Freeport Water Company. In religious, edu- cational and philanthropic work Mr. Bidwell was a leader. He was a stanch supporter of the First Presbyterian church, a Trustee of Beloit College and gave time and money to Y. M. C. A. Mr. Bidwell was President of the First National Bank from 1870 to 1909.
For fifty-five years A. W. Ford has conducted a jewelry store in Freeport, on Stephenson street. He is one of the oldest, best known and reliable merchants of the city. He was one of the founders of the Y. M. C. A., and has been a leader in church affairs.
Hon. John H. Adams was one of the early settlers whose character made a deep and lasting impress upon the history of this county. Born in Pennsylvania in 1822 and educated in an academy at Trappe, Pennsylvania, he learned the milling business as an apprentice and came to Stephenson County in 1844. He located in the north end of Cedarville and bought the mill. In 1844 he planted Norway pine seeds on the hill across the creek and those pine trees may be seen there today as a monument to the memory of one of the county's greatest men. He was foremost in the campaign to secure the first railroad into the county and was always a champion of the church and of free public schools. With his money and by public addresses he encouraged enlistments for the war in 1861. In 1864 he was one of the organizers of the Second National Bank of Freeport of which he was president. Aside from being a business man of more than ordinary ability and political leader, he was a man of wide reading, in sympathetic touch with the great world struggles of his time, a gentleman of profound sincerity and of marked culture. Such a man was the father of America's greatest woman, Jane Adams of Hull House, Chicago.
Judge Mathew Marvin for almost forty years has been a prominent figure in Freeport. Before coming here he lived in Warren and Galena. He was appointed postmaster at Warren and later was elected Judge in Jo Daviess County. He has twice served as city attorney here and has been Justice of the Peace since 1895. His son, Mathew Marvin, is one of the prominent real estate and insurance men of Freeport.
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General Smith D. Atkins was state's attorney for this district at the breaking out of the Civil war in 1861. He was born June 9, 1835, in New York, and came to Stephenson County with his father's family in 1848. He lived on the farm for two years, and then came to Freeport and entered the office of the Prairie Democrat. He was educated in the Mount Morris College where he was foreman on the Mount Morris Gazette while a college student. In 1853 he was associated with the Savannah Register. He studied law in the office of Hiram Bright in Freeport and was admitted to the bar and began practice in 1850, after further study of law in Chicago. In 1860 he stumped northern Illinois urging the election of Lincoln. At Lincoln's first call for troops, Mr. Atkins was the first man to enlist in this county and organized the first company and went to the front as captain of Company A, Eleventh Illinois. For gallant service at Fort Donelson he was promoted to the rank of major in the Eleventh Illinois. At the battle of Pittsburg Landing he won special mention for bravery and conspicuous service, as Acting Assistant Adjutant General on General Hulburt's staff. In the summer of 1862 he recruited the Ninety-Second Illinois and went to the front as its Colonel. He commanded the First Brigade, Granger's Corps, till July Ist, 1863, when the Ninety-Second was attached to Wilder's Bri- gade. The Ninety-Second was now a calvary regiment and with it General Atkins served in the campaign against Chattanooga; entered Chattanooga Sep- tember 9th, 1863, driving out Bragg's Cavalry at 10:00 a. m. and at 3:00 p. m. was on the battlefield of Chickamauga. He served with Wilder's Brigade till April 4, 1864, when his regiment was attached to Kilpatrick's Cavalry. In Kilpatrick's division he commanded the Second Brigade, marched with Sherman to Savannah, Georgia, where on January 12, 1865, he was promoted Brevet Brigadier Gen- eral, and commanded that Brigade of Cavalry through the Carolinas to the close of the war. He was under fire in more than 100 minor battles and skir- mishes, was twice wounded, and had one horse shot under him. He was ap- pointed Major General of Volunteers, March 13, 1865, for gallant and meri- torious service.
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