USA > Illinois > Ogle County > Mount Morris > Mount Morris : past and present, an illustrated history of the village of Mount Morris, Ogle County, Illinois > Part 20
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CHARITY-TOWARD THE EDITOR.
VOL. II .- NO. 46 .- 81 Per Annum in Advance.
MT. MORRIS, ILLINOIS FRIDAY, JUNE 10, 1892.
CHAS. T. COGGINS, Editor and Proprietor.
IN 1887 there were +17 competitors entered in the Harvard athletic sports. Jm 1891 the Dombe. ... -messed to
Epitome of the Week.
INTERESTING NEWS COMPILATION.
TRE following congressional Domina- tions were made: Indiana, Ninth dis- trict, Danlel Waugh (rep.). renomlos- ted. Illinois, Ninth district, It. W . Towns Ninth district.
HUNDREDS PERISH.
Oll Tanks Re -- ~.
shef 100 feet into the ait aud the earth seemed to shake with su awful tremor. The engineer and firemen were seen .-- - Cloud- jura=> from the cab, and it is supposed -med to death or bis. .
PENNSYLVANIA'S WOE. Further Details of the Awful Dlessters st Oil City and Thusvitle-The Number of Dead Nearly 300. +Mt. CITY. Pa., Ju. sach bour Ps. Not
PASSED THE HOUSE.
A VACANT CHAIR
A Busy Day ta the Lower Brauch of Con- grese-The Hate& Anti-Optias Bill and Mensores Faveriog the Ad- ' "+% of New Mexica and A= Passed.
President Harrtoca Leves Il Bocretary € State, Mr. Blaise . - Resignation.
TBT.
CHAS. T. COGGINS established the Mount Morris Index in July, 1890, and continued for seven years when he left town, and his wife continued the paper for several months in partnership with H. C. Walrath. .
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MOUNT MORRIS: PAST AND PRESENT
CHAS. T. COGGINS established the Mount Morris Index in July, 1890, and continued as editor and publisher until 1897 when he mysteriously disappeared and was not heard from for a long time. He was the son of Thomas J. and Sarah J. Coggins and was born in Mount Morris, Dec. 14, 1849. He died in St. Louis in No- vember, 1927, at the age of 78 years. He learned the printer's trade at Rockport, Mo., and is said to have worked in nearly every state in the union. He married Carrie Clifford and she continued to pub- lish the Index for awhile after her hus- band left town. Geo. Stephens worked for Coggins for three years after the Index was established, followed by Fred Crosby, who worked about three years, and Hugh Stephens, a brother of George, followed Crosby.
MOUNT MORRIS INDEX
However, the presses, type and entire printing outfit were brought back to Mount Morris by Mr. Sharer, and in July, 1890, were sold to Charles T. Cog- gins, who established the Mount Morris Index. For six or seven years Mr. Cog- gins conducted the paper with consid- erable success but finally began to neglect the business, and in 1897 un- ceremoniously left town. His wife, Mrs. Carrie H. Coggins, edited the paper for a time and later took Harry C. Walrath as a partner.
In September, 1898, the Index was sold by Mrs. Coggins to Harvey J. and Harry G. Kable, and the first issue printed by the new publishers was dated Sept. 7, 1898. The first paragraph of the
"Salutatory" reads as follows: "We this week come before the public for the first time and meekly make our bow. To many, especially those of our im- mediate vicinity, it is unnecessary to state that the Mount Morris Index has passed into new hands. To those who have not been advised to that effect we would say that we have taken charge of the paper and that we intend to de- vote our time, energy and talent (if any) to the same. We shall endeavor to make the paper what it should be,-a newspaper in fact as well as in name."
The Kable brothers had finished the local public school in 1896, and while H. J. attended Mount Morris College, H. G. was learning to set type in the office of the Mount Morris News. After one year, he secured a job across the street with the Brethren Publishing House and in September, 1898, with very little experience and no capital, the Kable twins started on a career which developed into Mount Morris's chief in- . dustry. This is covered in the next
CHAS. H. CANODE, who was born and raised in Mount Morris, established the Mount Morris News in May, 1896, with his sister, M. Eliza Canode, as associate edi- tor. He was the son of Arnold E. and Amelia (Worley) Canode and was one of a family of nine children. He married Miss Eva Lutz and they reside in Oak Park. Mr. Canode is the head of the Bronson-Canode Printing Co. in Chicago.
Mount Morris News.
NUMBER I.
TO OUR PEOPLE.
BASE-BALL NEWS.
*. Morris has had a season of
POLO 12; MT. MORRIS 8.
MRS. Wheeler moved her house- hold goods to Oregon Friday ... Y . Rover co-'
The Best .... The World Produr.
R. E. ARNOLD
THE MOUNT MORRIS NEWS was established in May, 1896, by Chas. H. Canode and continued until February, 1901, when it was consolidated with the Mount Morris Index.
MOUNT MORRIS INDEX.
VOLUME IX.
MOUNT MORRIS, ILLINOIS, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1898.
NUMBER 8.
C. B. & Q. R. R. AT MT. MORRIS.
for the independent exercise of Benj. Seibert left Thursday for a few davs stay in Chicago.
Harry Guyer of Polo was in town Saturday.
GOING EAST.
thought and the free use of the pen. m. the editorial fraternity
THE ABOVE issue of the Mount Morris Index, dated Sept. 7, 1898, was the first one printed by Kable Brothers, and marked the beginning of the large printing establishment which is now the principal industry in Mount Morris.
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VILLAGE NEWSPAPERS
VOLUME 1.
MOUNT MORRIS, ILLINOIS, TUESDAY, MAY 19, 1896.
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MOUNT MORRIS: PAST AND PRESENT
chapter on "The Printing Industry."
The plant was purchased for $800, of which $500 was borrowed from a local citizen and a note for $300 given for the balance.
The Index office was located over the Sharer grocery, now the sales room of the Illinois Northern Utilities Company. The equipment was antiquated, but in September, 1899, it was moved to the building on the northeastern corner of the college campus just vacated by the Brethren Publishing House, which had moved to Elgin. New equipment was added and the little plant started to grow. Kable Brothers continued to pub- lish the Index until 1930, a period of 32 years, when it was sold to Worthington Thomas, who has been the publisher since that time. During the long period that Kable Brothers published the In- dex, there were besides the Kables a number of editors, the most talented of which was Robert Toole, who was a very versatile and humorous writer. Other writers for various periods of time were Walter Basye, W. I. Prugh, A. S. Barre, A. H. Rittenhouse and Worthington Thomas.
MOUNT MORRIS NEWS
May 20, 1896, Mount Morris acquired a second newspaper-the Mount Morris News, edited and published by Charles H. Canode, with M. Eliza Canode as associate editor. The News was contin- ued under this management for four and one-half years. In October, 1900, Mr. Canode sold out to A. H. Ritten- house, who after a few months consoli- dated with the Index, in February, 1901. The plant was situated upstairs over the grocery store of the Newcomer Com- pany, now the Cratty clothing store.
THE CONSTITUTION-DEMO- CRAT
In October, 1902, Kable Brothers & Rittenhouse, publishers of the Mount Morris Index, acquired the Constitu- tion-Democrat, a Democratic paper pre- viously published at Oregon. It was brought to Mount Morris and Robert R. McClure installed as editor. The first issue printed in Mount Morris was dated Oct. 2, 1902, Vol. 37, No. 14. The only difference between the Constitu-
tion-Democrat and the Index was that the first page of the former was devoted to Democratic editorials. The first issue contained the following information in regard to the origin of the Constitution- Democrat: "Mount Morris people re-' member that the Democrat was origi- nally started in Mount Morris by Mr. John Sharer, under the caption of the Ogle County Democrat, of which Mr. Sharer was editor and Dr. B. G. Stevens, associate editor. It was formed from the ruin of the Mount Morris Independ-
WORTHINGTON H. THOMAS, editor and publisher of the Mount Morris Index, is the son of Noble F. and Susan (Young) Thomas and was born on the Thomas farm near Mount Morris, Aug. 16, 1898. He was born during the same month that H. J. and H. G. Kable purchased the Mount Morris Index, which he became editor of 25 years later. He graduated from the Mount Morris High School in 1917, attended the University of Illinois in 1918 and Mount Morris College in 1919 and 1920. He became assistant editor of the Index for Kable Brothers Company in 1922 and in 1930 purchased the property, since which time he has been the editor and publisher. While at the University of Illinois, he received three months train- ing in Co. B, S.A.T.C. He is a member of the American Legion, Moose, Business Men's League and Kiwanis. In 1928, he married Miss Lorraine Brown, former teacher of piano in Mount Morris College, and they have two children, Alan Keith and Nancy Adeline.
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VILLAGE NEWSPAPERS
THIS PICTURE shows the equipment and working force of the Index plant in 1898. Allie Kable sits at the case at the left, Harry Kable at the job press and Harvey Kable at the old cylinder press.
THIS old press was brought to Mount Morris at the time of the establishment of the Mount Morris Independent in 1876. It was known as a "Guernsey," and was manu- factured by L. T. Guernsey of Rutland, Vt., and it was probably built about the year 1852. It was operated by a crank which can be seen on the right side of the press. Note the large flywheel on the left side of the press. This press was used by John Sharer for nine years for printing the Ogle County Democrat, and then for eight years by Chas. T. Coggins to print the Mount Morris Index. Kable Brothers used the press for a year while located over the Sharer grocery. It was sold to a publisher at Chadwick. In the above picture, Harry Kable stands on the chair at the right of the press and Harvey Kable at the rear.
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MOUNT MORRIS: PAST AND PRESENT
ent. Mr. Sharer launched it forth in May, 1877, and continued to publish it in Mount Morris for twelve years, when it was moved to Oregon and changed to the Independent-Democrat. Mr. Sharer dropped out after a year and his part- ner, Mr. Wagner, continued running it. Later it was published in conjunction with the Ogle County Republican. In the fall of 1900, it was consolidated with the Ogle County Constitution, by Cal- vert and Locke, two young men from Rockford. Mr. Locke became discour- aged after the defeat of the Democratic Party in the subsequent presidential election, and Mr. Calvert continued the paper to the present." On Jan. 1, 1903, the name was changed back to the Ogle County Democrat, and after about a
year was consolidated with the Mount Morris Index.
MOUNT MORRIS MONITOR
The latest newspaper enterprise was started in a small way by G. C. Boswell in September, 1934, in connection with a small printing establishment. The Monitor was taken over in June, 1935, by F. G. Meeker who conducted it until July, 1936, when he sold out to John W. Tilton of Rochelle, who continued to publish the paper but changed the name to the Mount Morris Leader. It was printed in Rochelle and after being edited by several different employes was finally consolidated with the Mount Morris Index, which is now the only newspaper in Mount Morris.
Chapter 9
THE PRINTING INDUSTRY
(This chapter written by Milo D. Zimmerman)
M OUNT MORRIS has become known all over the United States as a printing community. The establishment of the little plant in 1842 for the printing of the Rock River Register was the beginning of the in- dustry and during the next forty years there were a number of small plants established to print the various news- papers as described in the preceding chapter.
BRETHREN PUBLISHING HOUSE
TN the year 1880, M. M. Eshelman moved a private printing outfit to Mount Morris from Lanark, where he had been publishing a Dunkard paper known as the Brethren at Work. He continued the same here with a circu- lation of about four thousand, occupy- ing, at that time, quarters in the Seibert block. In 1881, Mr. Eshelman failed and the business was purchased by Elders D. L. Miller and Joseph Amick. In 1884 these gentlemen consolidated with their plant that of the Primitive Christian, of Huntingdon, Pa., and changed the name to the Gospel Messenger. From that time until 1896 the company began the pub- lication of a large number of church papers, books and tracts, and built up a very profitable business. In 1896 the entire publishing business was turned over to the Brethren Church. In Sep- tember, 1899, the printing plant and publishing business was moved from Mount Morris to a new brick building at Elgin, Ill., taking along about fifty people, including the families of Joseph Amick, Eld. J. H. Moore, Grant Mahan, L. A. Plate, S. M. Eshelman, Chas. Eshelman, James Moore, Galen B. Royer and Daniel Beard. This move was made in order to secure better mailing and shipping facilities.
At about this time, however, began
the development of another printing in- dustry in Mount Morris, which has proven conclusively that this move on
JOSEPH AMICK died at Elgin, Ill., Jan. 4, 1915, aged 80 years. For many years Mr. Amick was business manager of the Brethren Publishing House in Mount Morris. He was born in Mifflin County, Pa., Oct. 28, 1834, and after a number of years spent in teaching and farming, he came to Mount Morris in 1881 and bought a half interest in the "Brethren at Work." He was associated with Elder D. L. Miller in developing the publishing business, which was eventually turned over to the Brethren Church. When the business was moved to Elgin in 1899, Mr. Amick went along and continued as business manager until ill health forced him to retire. He was married twice, first to Susan Mertz, to whom seven children were born, five of whom died in early life. The mother died in 1870. In 1871, he married Hannah Reiff, and to this union were born three daugh- ters: Almira, Irenea and Cora.
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MOUNT MORRIS: PAST AND PRESENT
the part of the Brethren was not nec- essary and perhaps they might have been better off had they remained in Mount Morris.
THE KABLE PLANT
THE beginning, development and present position of Kable Brothers Company is typical of the rise of Amer- ican business. In the minds of the twin eighteen-year-old brothers, who took over the abandoned country print shop of Chas. T. Coggins in the summer of 1898, there could hardly have been the faintest premonition of what that step was to result in forty years later. Be- fore the turn of the century Mount Morris was a typical mid-western coun- try town. Today it is a city in minia- ture. While almost every town in Ogle County records a static, if not a falling, population in this period, Mount Morris has more than doubled the number of its inhabitants. This growth and the present prosperous condition of our cit-
THE KABLE TWINS as they appeared several years after the family moved to Mount Morris from Lanark in 1882.
izens has come entirely from the devel- opment of the printing plant. Mount Morris College contributed for awhile, but there has been a steady population increase even since its doors closed in 1932.
In the fall of 1896, Harry Kable, six- teen and just out of school, got a job with Charles H. Canode, publisher of the Mount Morris News, as printer's devil. The Sept. 16, 1896, issue of that paper records the event with these few words: "Harry Kable is 'holding a case' in the News office." The Brethren Pub- lishing House, now located at Elgin, was also operating in Mount Morris, and Harry went to work for them the fol- lowing year. (At this point it is inter- esting to note that the Brethren con- cern, feeling that Mount Morris was not large enough to support their grow- ing official printery, decided to move to Elgin. Today it is doing only one- seventh as much business as Kable Brothers Company, and employs only about a hundred people.) When the aforementioned Coggins disappeared from the scene, Harry persuaded his brother Harvey, who had just completed two years in Mount Morris College, to join with him in taking over the shop. A deal was made with the wife of the missing publisher and the boys started off on their career. Coggins published the Mount Morris Index, the other local weekly, and did the usual class of printing that was to be found in such a shop in those days. The young brothers decided to operate as a partnership. An older sister, Allie, went to work for them, and soon learned to set type. An- other early associate was A. H. Ritten- house, who became a partner several years later, when the Mount Morris News, which he had purchased from Chas. H. Canode, was consolidated with the Index.
The Coggins print shop was located on the second floor of what is now the local office of the Illinois Northern Util- ities Company. In 1899, when the Brethren Publishing House moved away and left their building on the north- east corner of the campus standing vacant, the twin brothers decided it was time, in view of their expanding business, to seek more commodious
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THE PRINTING INDUSTRY
THIS frame building was the home of the Index from 1900 to 1906 and was located just west of the present Wishard Building. This is a part of the Brethren Publishing House building which was moved to this location from the corner of the college campus.
quarters. They bought the abandoned Brethren building and later moved part of it across the street to the site now occupied by the Granada Theatre. The remainder of the Brethren building was torn down.
The most ambitious venture under- taken at that time was the publication of the first volume of "Mount Morris: Past and Present." Most of this was written by the more scholarly inclined of the twins, Harvey, who shouldered the laborious task of interviewing old- timers and leading citizens for material. The type was set by hand, and the book printed two pages at a time. There are no records to show whether the venture was a financial success, but it kept them busy for many months. The work was completed in 1900.
The September 28, 1904, issue of the Index contains an account of the first serious step to build up a printing in- dustry in Mount Morris, as follows: "On the evening of August 12, a meet- ing of representative men of Mount Morris was held in the Citizens Bank, at which the publishers of this paper attempted to show to those assembled that the most rapidly growing enter-
prise in the town and the one capable of the greatest amount of future expan- sion is the printing business of which the home paper, the Index, is the nucleus. Figures of the past six years' business were given, showing an in- crease of more than 50 per cent for each year. Printing contracts providing ad- ditional business for the coming year 100 per cent greater than the last year were shown and served to convince those present that the enterprise is a good thing to take hold of. It was de- cided to incorporate the business with $15,000 capital stock. Kable Bros. & Rittenhouse agreed to turn over the building, lot and entire business to the stock company for eight-fifteenths of the stock, which was agreed upon. It was further planned to sell the remain- ing stock to cover some outstanding in- debtedness on new machinery and pro- vide some working capital. All of those present at the meeting subscribed for stock and a meeting of stockholders was called to be held at the Index of- fice Aug. 21, for the purpose of elect- ing directors. The following were se- lected: H. E. Newcomer, J. L. Rice, J. H. Rice, A. W. Brayton, A. H. Ritten-
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MOUNT MORRIS: PAST AND PRESENT
house, H. J. Kable and H. G. Kable. The charter from the Secretary of State was received early in September. The meeting of the directors for the purpose of organizing was held in the Citizens Bank last Friday evening. The follow- ing officers were elected: Joseph L. Rice, president; H. E. Newcomer, vice- president; Harvey J. Kable, secretary and treasurer. A complete set of by- laws was adopted at the same time and the future of the business was dis- cussed. All were well pleased with the prospects for the success of the com- pany. The business will be turned over to the new company October 1. The corporate name is Kable Bros. & Rit- tenhouse Co."
Up until this time A. H. Rittenhouse had been only a part-time employee. He was an older and more experienced printer, and he now assumed the major part of the mechanical supervision of the plant until he severed his active connection with the Company in 1906. In that year he followed the Brethren concern to Elgin, and was employed there until 1917. He then returned to Mount Morris to assume various execu- tive positions with the Company, in- cluding plant superintendent, until 1932, when he resigned on account of ill health. He died February 4, 1935.
In the summer of 1904, a bid was sub- mitted for printing The Mystic Worker, official monthly publication of the Mys- tic Workers of the World, Fulton, Ill. When the contract was awarded to the young printers, they realized for the first time that they had bitten off almost more than they could chew. Meeting the situation with typical resourceful- ness, they borrowed money to buy a bigger gasoline engine and a new press, and when the issues came around each month, worked without regard for the clock or the weather until the 40,000 eight-page papers were in the mails. This printing contract proved to be the acorn from which the mighty oak has grown, because it opened up a field of printing that no one, up until then, had exploited.
The following year a contract was made with The Columbian Knights, Chicago, for printing their official paper, and each year thereafter saw the ac-
quisition of more business of this char- acter. Special services of various kinds were developed to attract fraternal so- ciety editors, and within a period of ten years Kable Brothers Company was known the length and breadth of the land as specialists in the printing of fraternal society publications. Other printing was done, including catalogs, occasionally a book, circulars, leaflets, pamphlets and booklets, but the back- bone of the business up until about 1925
ABRAM H. RITTENHOUSE, son of Jo- seph and Anna Haldeman Rittenhouse, was born Feb. 13, 1879, at Myerstown, Pa., and died in Mount Morris, Feb. 4, 1935, aged 56 years. At an early age, his family moved to Norristown, Pa., where he was educated. He learned the printing trade at Norristown and Philadelphia. In 1898, he came to Mount Morris to enter the employ of the Brethren Publishing House, where he stayed until the Breth- ren plant was moved to Elgin. He then became associated with Kable Brothers and during that period did most of the mechanical work on the first edition of "Mount Morris: Past and Present." Later he followed the Brethren Publishing House to Elgin, where he remained for a number of years, finally returning to Mount Morris in 1917, and took a position with Kable Brothers Company, eventually becoming superintendent of the plant. Ill health forced him to retire in 1931. Dur- ing a considerable period, he was editor of the Mount Morris Index. He served a term as president of the Village Board of Trustees and also on the school board. In 1900, he was married to Etta M. Shirk, and two sons were born to them: Nelson H. and Leland S.
THE PRINTING INDUSTRY
ITL
-
THE printing plant working force in August, 1905. From left to right, Conrad A. Sitz, Sidney J. Hess, Frank Shiley, Jesse Allen, Clyde Davis, Bessie Fisher, Allie Kable, Grace Palmer, Silas S. Goughnour, Anna Trostle, C. G. Gloss, Burton C. Wheeler, John Sharer, Earl Allen (in front), in doorway, H. J. and H. G. Kable.
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KABLE BROTHERS COMPANY PRINTERSAND PUBLISHERS
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THIS building was erected in 1906 but was used only three years until the new plant was built at the north end of town. The working force of approximately 50 are shown in front of the building. It is now being used as a central heating plant for the Kable Inn and all the buildings on the campus.
MOUNT MORRIS: PAST AND PRESENT
227
THE PRINTING INDUSTRY
THOMPSON TAURI
DU DAILY MAIL
ONE OF the reasons for locating the Kable plant at the depot was the rapidly increas- ing volume of mail which had to be hauled to the train as shown above. Now the mail is trucked direct into mail cars which are switched into the building. Lew Lizer is the driver of the dray shown above.
was fraternal society publication print- ing. Only twice during that time was an excursion made into other fields. In 1909, the Company acquired the Mount Morris Electric Light Company, and sold current to the villagers. This ar- rangement was discontinued in 1912. In 1913, equipment was installed for printing and waxing bread wrappers, but this work proved unprofitable and
was discontinued in 1916, the machinery being sold to a concern in Wisconsin specializing in bread-wrapper printing.
From 1904 to 1906, business continued to come in so rapidly that it was nec- essary to plan for even larger space. In the latter year there was erected the structure that is now used as a central heating plant for all of the buildings on the campus, but these quarters were
THIS picture shows the Kable plant in course of construction in the summer of 1909. It was built by N. E. Buser.
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