The History of Peoria County, Illinois. Containing a history of the Northwest-history of Illinois-history of the county, its early settlement, growth, development, resources, etc., etc., Part 89

Author: Johnson & co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago : Johnson & Company
Number of Pages: 932

USA > Illinois > Peoria County > The History of Peoria County, Illinois. Containing a history of the Northwest-history of Illinois-history of the county, its early settlement, growth, development, resources, etc., etc. > Part 89

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The " Merchants' Hotel," on Washington Street, just below Main, was fitted up in 1874, by J. S. Clark & Son, from the upper rooms of a block of stores, making a very commodious hotel of about sixty rooms. Messrs. Clark & Sons having successfully conducted the house during a five years' lease, have quite recently taken a new lease for three years more.

" The Ingersoll," at the north corner of Court Square, is the latest candidate for public favor. It was built some years ago by Hon. Washington Cockle, for a private residence, at a cost of over $50,000, and is to-day the largest and finest residence in the city. Mr. Cockle sold the property to Colonel Robert G. Ingersoll, and Colonel Inger- soll, after removing to Washington, D. C., sold to Colonel Charles H. Deane, who, in November last, opened the house, and is now conducting it as a hotel for the better class of family trade and such transient business as may come to him.

In reviewing and closing this scrap of hotel history, which I give with but little com- ment, I am forced to the conclusion that as an article of barter the average hotel of Peo- ria largely discounts jack-knives or horses, and like the average horse-jockey, hotel propri- etors here all have large fortunes-to get. The life of a hotel keeper is one of great activity and excitement, a grand kaleidoscope, changing every hour. Each train bears away guests, that a few hours' intercourse with has drawn yon towards, as towards an old friend, and you are loth to part with them, not from a money consideration, but be- cause you have found them pleasant, affable, companionable. The returning train brings a new set of faces, but with the same general characteristics and wants, and you are again happy in catering, and being able to satisfy those wants.

Again, hotel men may be likened to an echo, or a mirror, giving smile for smile, returning good word for good, but my experience is that they rarely turn the left cheek, when smitten on the right, but are just as apt to resent churlish, ungentlemanly conduct as other men are. The hotel is the wayfarer's home, and shelters alike the highest in the land as well as the most humble - the good in heart, as well as the vile, the learned, and the simple. And a retrospective glance over fourteen years of hotel life brings to mind many reminiscences of persons, noted and obscure, which time and space will not allow me to mention.

THE CENTRAL CITY HORSE RAILWAY COMPANY.

This company was chartered by the Legislature in February, 1867, and authorized to construct and operate a single or double-track railway in the city of Peoria, over such streets as the City Council might designate. An organization was effected during the same year, and subscriptions procured, but at a meeting of the stockholders, of which John L. Griswold was chairman and Washington Cockle, secretary, held at the First

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HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY.

National Bank shortly thereafter. "it appearing to the stockholders that the project of building and operating a horse railway will not pay a sufficient return at present to justify the expenditure," it was resolved to release the subscribers from the payment of their subscriptions to stock, and the project for the time being was abandoned. On the 7th of August, 1868, the old Board of Directors, consisting of Messrs. D. C. Farrell, John C. Proctor, John L. Griswold, H. G. Anderson and Washington Cockle, resigned, and a new Board was elected, of which W. R. Bush was president, Nelson Burnham, secre- tary, and E. H. Jack, treasurer.

Nothing, however, was done towards giving the enterprise direction until the 4th day of October. 1869, when, pursuant to a call made by president Bush, a meeting of stockholders was held in the land office of Bryan & Co., and a new Board of Directors, consisting of Messrs. William Reynolds, John L. Griswold, Washington Cockle, Henry R. Woodward, J. W. Cochran, Joseph H. Wright and James T. Rogers, was elected, Mr. Reynolds being chosen president; J. W. Cochran, secretary; and James T. Rogers, treasurer.

On October 7, 1869, "it appearing to the Board that sufficient subscriptions had been made to the capital stock to justify the construction of two miles of steel railway, it was ordered that a line of the same be built, commencing at a point on Adams Street, on the easterly side of South Street and extending along Adams Street eastwardly a dis- tance of two miles, taking out the necessary switches.'

E. J. Cornell, formerly a resident of Peoria, but then of Erie, Pennsylvania, obtained the contract for the building of the road, and furnishing four ears, for the sum of $20,000. J. H. Wright, of the Board of Directors, proved very efficient in the securing of sub- scriptions, and the work went rapidly on until its completion on the 31st day of Decem- ber, 1869. Cars began to run on the 15th of January. 1870. the first day's receipts ag- gregating 840.48. The enterprise proving successful. on February 14, 1870, it was re- solved to extend the line from Main Street to the " hollow near the Pottery," which was completed shortly thereafter, and by the next Spring extended as far as Central Park.

This beautiful property, comprising about eight acres, was purchased by the com- pany from John Burket, in the Summer of 1870. In 1875 the Artesian well was sunk upon it at a cost of 82,750.

The company two or three years since also purchased the Peoria Horse Railway, and operates that road in connection with its main line to the Union Depots. Altogether the company owns a very valuable property. Its total amount of stock is $73,500, and it has been enabled through careful management to declare handsome dividends every year. It employs about ninety-five horses and thirty-five cars. Its present officers are : H. R. Woodward, president ; E. Smith, Jr., secretary ; W. H. Davis, treasurer ; A. J. Cleveland, book-keeper; and John Strong, superintendent. The company's lines com- prise a total of seven miles of road which is kept in first-class repair and well managed. The citizens appreciate its benefits and give it a liberal patronage, making the property one of the best paying investments in Peoria.

Fort clark Horse Railroad. - This company was organized on the 17th of May, 1873, by electing John II. Hall, president - which position he still holds ; E. S. Bunn, secretary, and Samuel B. Hartz, treasurer. The capital stock of the company was originally $50,000, but was subsequently increased to 70,000, in shares of $50 caeh. Ground was first broken for the construction of the road on the 26th of May, and on the 4th of July following, cars were running on the greater portion of the line, and by August 1st the entire road from the cemetery gate to the intersection of Howett and Webster Streets, a little over five miles, was completed and in operation. The company encountered determined opposition in the prosecution of its work, as the records of the court for that year - the only relics now remaining - show a series of hotly contested suits, in which the Fort Clark Company, having right on its side, came out victorious.

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HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY.

The financial reverses which followed closely upon the completion of the road, fell upon it with almost crushing severity ; and but for the most indomitable courage and perseverance on the part of the managers, and especially of Captain Hall, who had em- barked his entire fortune in it, must have gone through the mills of the courts, which have ground to powder many heavier corporations. Added to its other misfortunes the company has experienced two disastrous fires by which it lost heavily. On the 31st of March, 1876, their barn, with their harness and twenty-four head of horses was burned, by which the loss exceeded the insurance some $1,500. On March 10, 1879, their car house, containing twenty cars and all the company's tools, went up in thin air, a prey to the hungry flames, losing the company about $4,500 above the insurance. A new barn, and new car house now occupy the places of the old ones, new and comfortable cars have been constructed to replace those burned, and the road, with a stock of twenty cars and thirty horses - to be increased in the Spring -is well equipped and ably managed. It has never paid any dividend, and those reverses created such a burden of debt that it is doubtful if the stockholders realize much income from their investment for some years. But under the active and efficient control of the invincible Captain Hall, who has never allowed a paper to go to protest. and whose creative resources for equipment and sup- plies have thus far proved inexhausible, the Fort Clark promises in the near future to become one of the prosperous public improvements which Peorians should fully appreci- ate, and honor the enterprise, persistent pluck which founded and sustains it.

PEORIA MANUFACTORIES.

With her superior facilities, of favorable location, upon a navigable stream, midway between Chicago and St. Louis, connected with both by water and rail 'transportation, as well as all the great centers of commerce east, west, north and south, through ten railroads, and another in prospect ; in the very heart of the richest agricultural country on the two continents, and a fuel supply for a thousand centuries cropping from the hill- sides at her very door. Peoria should speedily become one of the most important man- ufacturing cities in the United States. While Illinois has a productive capacity to almost fill the granaries of the world, and feed fifty millions of people, there is no reason why wares of consumption may not be manufactured within her own borders, and in- stead of transporting the products of a prolific soil across the continent to feed the manu- facturer in New England and send his fabrics back, let the ingenious Yankee be trans- ported to the " Sucker " State, and the producer and consumer live neighbors.

No city or locality in this great State offers such advantages for manufacture as Peoria, and now that the nucleus is planted here, by the power of attraction others will rapidly accumulate. In the following pages some of the more prominent are briefly sketched.

The Glucose or Grape Sugar Works. - As the article of glucose in its various forms is wrapped in mystery in the minds of many, it will be justifiable to occupy a small space in explanation. Glucose is the Latin name for all saccharine solutions contained in the cereals, in fruits, peas, beans, etc. It differs from sucrose (cane sugar) in that it forms no crystals, and is identical with the sugar formed on dried fruits, especially raisins, from which the sugar thus formed derived the name grape sugar. The glucose manufactured from corn and other grains is the result of a chemical treatment, which changes the starch of the grain into saccharine matter. Kirchoff, a chemist of St. Petersburg, Russia, was the first to convert starch into sugar, in the year 1811. It created quite a sensation at the time, and several factories sprang up in France and Germany for the purpose of converting the starch of the potato into sugar ; but finding it inferior in sweetness and taste to cane sugar, the manufacture of it declined. In 1832 the eminent chemist Payen commenced to improve upon the first rude process of converting starch into sugar and sirup. Musculus and Dubrunfault followed him in their researches with astonishing suc-

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HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY.

cess, producing sirup even superior in color and taste to cane sirup, although it did not possess as great sweetening properties, requiring five pounds to be equal to three of cane sugar. This gave the manufacture a new impetus, and improved machinery was made and new factories were erected ; and the sugar, at first brown and bitterish, became pure, white and sweet. Extensive experimenting developed a number of forms of glucose, the principal of which are: Glucose as sugar, called " grape sugar; " glucose as a dense. gummy sirup, called " glucose ; " glucose as a table sirup, called "starch sirup." The starch is also transformed into dextrine in the form of gum-arabic and gum-senegal, and also as leigum, used in the cotton factories in England. The two first named articles are chiefly used for brewing, confectionery, vinegar, wine making, fruit preserving, honey cordials, tobacco manufacture, silk dyes, and paper hangings. The uses of glucose are, however, increasing. When properly made, the products are all pure and wholesome, containing the best part of the starch. So rapidly did the demand increase, that in 1878 there were eighty-four factories in operation in Europe.

The United States has the honor of discovering the process of making glucose from corn. In the year 1863 F. W. Gessling and Lyman Bradley, of the city of Buffalo, im- provised a small experimental factory on Green Street, to see if grape sugar, glucose, and sirup could be made from corn. They were called insane by their friends, but by per- sistence succeeded, and in 1864 obtained a patent for the process. In July of that year a committee of sugar refiners and chemists from New York went to Buffalo to investigate the invention. After spending some time they returned home and others followed. On November 10, 1864, a sale of the patent was effected for $600,000 to a stock company, with a capital of $1,000,000.

Messrs. A. W. Fox and Horace Williams established the first regular manufactory of glucose from corn in this country in 1867. Mr. Fox was accidentally killed soon after and the business passed into the hands of the Buffalo Grape Sugar Company, Mr. C. J. Hamlin, president. The experiment proved a very lucrative one, and the works have been enlarged from time to time, until they cover a whole block and employ millions of capital.

Dr. J. Frimenich, of that city, also embarked in the business a little later, and established his present extensive manufactory. In 1877 Dr. R. V. Pierce and F. A. Jeb built the American works, located also in Buffalo.

In January, 1879, Mr. E. C. Frost, of that city, conceived the idea that there must be some point in the West far superior to Buffalo for the manufacture of these goods. Accordingly, in company with Mr. William Allen, of Buffalo, one of the most. skillful experts in this country in the grape sugar business, he started West in quest of a location that offered the greatest number of advantages for this branch of manufacture, chief of which are an abundant supply of corn at a reasonable price ; an ample supply of pure water - which is a prime necessity for making the best class of goods - cheap fuel, and large shipping facilities. After a thorough tour of investigation, and visiting numerous points, they decided upon Peoria as the place in question. The erection of the Peoria Sugar Refinery Works was the direct result of their visit, though not built by them. About the middle of May, 1879, Messrs. F. A. and William T. Jeb, in cooperation with prominent capitalists of Peoria, formed a joint stock company with $150,000 stock, of which the Jebs took half and the resident citizens the remainder. Six acres of land was purchased on the river bank just below the I., B. & W. R. R. bridge, and the building at once began. The structure is an imposing one, of brick, six stories high, und covering an area of 101x196 feet. Its walls contain over three million bricks.

Peoria Distilleries - Their Number, Cost, Capacity, and Amount of Business. - Of the manufactures that have held an important place in the history of Peoria, that of distilling spirits or highwines has ranked among the first. Ten years before the advent of railroads this branch of industry was started, and it has since been the means of muak-

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HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY.

ing several large fortunes for those engaged in it. About the year 1843 Almiron S. Cole, a merchant doing business on Water Street, between Main and Fulton Streets, built the first distillery, a fifty bushel house. In 1850 there were 5,685 barrels of spirits exported. In 1856 there were four houses in operation, viz: A. S. Cole, on the lower extension of Grove Street ; Richard Gregg, at the foot of Oak Street ; Gregg & Nowland, lower exten- sion of Grove Street ; Moss, Bradley, & Co., lower extension of Grove Street. The house of Richard Gregg was built in 1856 by Mr. P. S. Howlett, who last year built the man- moth house of Kidd, Francis & Co. In 1857 another house was added, that of T. S. Dobbins, foot of Cass Street.

In 1859 distilling was the heaviest manufacturing interest in Peoria, there being about two-thirds of a million of dollars invested in the business. There was six distilleries in operation, besides two alcohol works. Moss, Bradley & Co., were among the heaviest distillers. They had $144,000 invested. For the year ending April 30th, 1859, their statement of business shows a consumption 294,623 bushels of grains, 815,984 pounds of middlings, 102,330 bushels of coal : and a product of 71,561 barrels of highwines, and 2,000 barrels of flour. Thirty-eight men were employed.

They also had a cooper shop connected with their distillery, which employed thirty- three men and turned out 21,490 barrels, tierces and kegs. They used up $13,353 worth of stock in cooperage alone. The alcohol works manufactured alcohol, pure spirits, cam- phene and burning fluid. One of these made 7,500 barrels of alcohol, and the other forty-eight barrels per day. In 1860 there were seven houses in operation, run by the following firms: Chas. R. Carroll, Thomas S. Dobbins, Gregg, Lyon & Co., Lightner, Schimpferman & Co., Moss, Bradley & Co., Sweeney, Littleton & Co. and Almiron S. Cole.

Several of the distilleries have been burned during the past twenty years, and some have never been rebuilt. Firms who did rebuild generally erected more commodious houses with the latest improvements. The Zell & Francis distillery was erected in 1877, on the site of their old one which was burned Dec. 4th, 1876. The main building is of brick, 140 feet square and three stories high. The machinery building is forty by one hundred feet. At the time it was built it was the largest distillery in the district, its capacity being 3,000 bushels per day. It cost $60,000. Zell, Schwabacher & Co., now operate it. They have just built a new purifying house 34 x 44 feet and fifty-four feet high, at a cost of $5,000. This house has also been refitted for continuous distillation, at a cost of about $25,000.

During the year 1878 the manufacture of highwines and spirits was the largest in the history of Peoria. There were 11,520,360 proof gallons made from 3,001,308 bushels of grain. The Government tax was $6,884,304.31, which added to the cost of manufac- ture amounts to $8,439,612.91 as the value of spirits produced. The Fifth Internal Revenve District collected and paid over to the Government the tax upon the above production, 86,769,664. The Peoria district stands at the head of the list in the United States in the amount of highwines manufactured.

The following is the daily capacity in bushels of the several distilleries in the city, as surveyed by the Government officer :

C. S. Clark & Co.

1,057.50

Spurck & Francis

1,412.28

G. T. Barker.

2.010.95

Zell, Schwabacher & Co

3,123.00

Bush & Brown

776.10

Barton & Babcock

460.12

Woolner Brothers

1,443.90

A. & S. Woolner. 1,925.07

Kilduff & Hogue. 1,826.88

Jacob Woolner & Co 500.70

To which may be added the new distillery of Kidd, Francis & Co., which went into

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HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY.

operation the 10th of July with a capacity of 5,000 bushels. This makes a grand total of 19,537.10 bushels as the daily capacity of the Peoria distilleries. Or, estimating the average crop at 45 bushels per acre, they would consume the product of 434 acres daily, and 135,842 acres annually.

The Largest Distillery in the World .- The mammoth distillery of Kidd, Francis & Co., erected last season on the banks of the river below the I., B. & W. R. R. bridge, is the largest in the world. It was commenced on the 20th of March and went into opera- tion on the 10th of July. The main building is 131x209 feet. A portion of it is five stories high. The malt house is three stories, and the fermenting room two stories high. The mash and yeast rooms are four stories high, and the mill five stories. The latter includes a grain room, 20x40 feet and 64 feet high. The alcohol room occupies an L of the main building and is 40x60 feet, five stories high. There are eighteen fermenting tubs, twenty feet in diameter at the bottom and sixty feet high, with a capacity of $34 bushels each. The mash tub is thirty feet in diameter and seven feet high. The beer still's capacity is sixty bushels per charge, or 240 bushels per hour. There is a cistern room 61x88 feet, containing five tubs, sixteen feet in diameter and fourteen feet high,

The bonded warehouse is erected just below the main building, and is 110x-8 feet, three stories high. An office has been built on the upper side of the main building, 22x36 feet, and one story in height. The wagon scale is on one side of the office, and wagon jump and track scale on the other next to the distillery. Grain is dumped into a sink which runs to the foot of the elevator and is then carried up into the bin. The weighing or scale room is 40x64 feet. All the yeast meal is weighed in this room before entering the mash tub. The bins are overhead and the meal is let down directly into the hoppers. In this room are six pairs of Howe Scales. Four of them are 500 bushel scales, and two pairs are 100 bushels. The corn is ground and conveyed immediately into the scales. This has never been done before, but it saves an extra handling of the meal. The engine room is 37x100 feet, and contains two large and powerful engines. The pumping arrange- ment consists of five Dean pumps. Two are water pumps of a capacity of 800 gallons per minute. One a beer pump with a capacity of 410 gallons per minute, and the other two are high-wines and low-wines pumps. There are eight double-flue boilers twenty- eight feet in length and forty-four inches in diameter, and three boilers six feet in diam- eter, sixteen feet length, with sixty-four four-inch flues. There are two wells, seven feet in diameter and thirty feet deep, to furnish a supply of water. The smoke stack is eighteen feet square at the base, with twenty feet of stone masonry below the surface. The brick stack towers 130 feet above this. It has a flue seven feet in diameter. The capacity of the malt-house is 400 bushels per day and the distillery is 5,000 bushels per day. Fifty-eight acres of ground were purchased for the distillery, but twenty acres were sold to the Sugar Refinery Company. On the bottom land, between the distillery and the river, stables are built for feeding 3,500 cattle.

The distillery buildings are all built of brick, and 2,700,000 have been used in its construction. The entire buildings cover an area of about five neres. The daily product is equal to 275 barrels of high-wines, consuming about eighty acres of good corn, and forty acres of small grain, and 1,600 bushels of coal per day. They employ ninety men on the premises, and about 125 to prepare their cooperage. The shops are sufficient to feed over 5,000 head of cattle. This one distillery pays the government $1,800 per day revenue.

Peoria Starch Manufactory .- This institution, which is quite an important feature of the manufacturing interests of the city, went into active operation in the Fall of 1865, with George F. Harding us president, nud Mr. E. S. Wilcox superintendent and general manager. The buildings were located near the river, about two miles south of the Court- house. The factory started with a enpacity of 150 bushels of corn per day. January 1, 1878, Mr. Wilcox retired from the management, and Mr. C. A. Harding succeeded him.

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HISTORY OF PEORIA COUNTY.

He increased the capacity to 600 bushels of corn per day, and at the time of the burning of the factory, November 14, 1879, it was turning out 16,000 pounds of starch daily. Although losing very heavily by the fire, a new building, on a much larger scale, is arising out of the ashes of the old one, and is far advanced in course of construction. When completed it will be a fine brick structure covering an area of more than 30,000 square feet of ground, and will have a capacity of 1,500 bushels of corn per day. Machinery will also be put in for making the boxes used for packing their goods. The factory, when ready for operation, will give employment to 100 hands. The Peoria starch is well known throughout the United States and parts of Europe, and compares favorably with the best starches made in the world.

Agricultural Implements .- The Peoria Plow Works are on the corner of Water and Walnut Streets, and here are manufactured plows, harrows, hay rakes, cultivators, etc. This business was established by Toby & Anderson, in 1843, and has been carried on under the name of the Peoria Plow Company for the last five years. The present officers are, president, Moses Pettengill ; secretary, E. B. Pierce ; superintendent, Barnhart Meals. Mr. Meals has been connected with the works for twenty-six years, and Mr. Pierce seventeen years. The plant is worth about $100,000, and the controlling interest in the company is held in Peoria. The business is a very extensive one, and extends from Ohio westward to the Pacific. Outside of Illinois, the States of Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska take the largest quantity of its goods. Five traveling men are constantly on the road, and stocks of implements are kept at St. Louis, and Topeka, Kansas, One hundred hands are steadily employed, and the average turn out of plows is 10,000 per annum. The sum paid out yearly for labor, averages $35,000, and from 600 to 800 tons of iron and steel, and 1,000,000 feet of lumber are annually used in the manufacture of its productions.

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The History of Peoria County, Illinois. Containing a history of the Northwest-history of Illinois-history of the county, its early settlement, growth, development, resources, etc., etc., Part 89

Author: Johnson & co., Chicago, pub Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Chicago : Johnson & Company Number of Pages: 932

Author: Johnson & co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago : Johnson & Company
Number of Pages: 932