A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of Laporte County Indiana, Part 35

Author: Rev. E. D. Daniels
Publication date: 1904
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1273

USA > Indiana > LaPorte County > A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of Laporte County Indiana > Part 35

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

The LaPorte Herald, April 19, 1862, con- tained the following item : "We have seen a musi- cal novelty at the melodeon factory of Mr. Nichols in this city containing rare qualities. Mr.

Digitized by Google

206

HISTORY OF LAPORTE COUNTY.

N. has just completed an invention which will add well earned laurels to his reputation as a manufacturer, already as extensive as any man need desire. It is put up in a compact and neatly arranged case and affords greater extremes of power and qualifications than we ever heard be- fore in an instrument made with reeds." The factory alluded to was of short duration and of limited size, and is mentioned only by way of introduction to the account of LaPorte's latest manufacturing enterprise, the great piano works of the Hobart M. Cable Company. This indus- try was obtained in the latter part of 1903 by means of inducements extended through the La- Porte Land Company, formed for the purpose and handsomely backed by the business men and property owners of the city, and its plant was

spring on land donated for its use. The com- pany had been manufacturing the Hobart M. Cable pianos at 494-510 Clybourn avenue, Chi- cago, and the Burdette organs at Freeport, Illinois, and had its offices and sales rooms at Steinway Hall, Chicago. A rapidly growing trade compelled the company to enlarge its Chi- cago plant or relocate it at some other point, and the latter alternative was decided upon, LaPorte being selected in competition with several other cities. The new factory opened May 1, 1904, with 350 employees, and it is intended to increase this number by fifty per cent. as the works come into full operation. The officers of the company are Hobart M. Cable, Sr., president; Hobart M. Cable, Jr., vice president ; Howard B. Morenus, secretary and treasurer ; John L. Smith, mechani- cal superintendent of piano factory ; S. N. Swan, mechanical superintendent of organ factory. These gentlemen constitute the board of directors. The plant is one of the most complete of its kind in the world and has a capacity of forty finished instruments daily, as against fifteen at the abandoned Chicago works.

Under the heading of this section it is appro- priate to mention another recently acquired in- dustry in LaPorte, that of the Planett Manufac- turing Company, the largest exclusive picture frame and moulding factory in the United States. This plant was transferred from its previous location in Chicago early in 1903 as the result of negotiations with the La Porte Land and Improve-

ment Company whereby certain inducements were offered and accepted. Charles F. Planett is at the head of the concern and under his manage- ment, he being an expert operative in every branch of the work, it has grown from a one-man shop to a factory requiring ,150 hands. The re- moval to LaPorte was due to the fact that the business had outgrown its Chicago quarters. The output of this factory consists of every kind of finished moulding for frames and similar uses; in its operation lumber is consumed by the mil- lion feet, and the world is the market.

The Planett factory tends to draw to La- Porte other companies which take the mouldings of the Planett factory and work them up inte picture frames. Already two have come-the La- Porte Picture Frame Company, and the Mott

constructed during that winter and the following . Brothers. Each of these concerns employs a large number of hands, and several salesmen, and ships away stacks of picture frames.

PLANING MILLS AND SHINGLES.

The first sash made in LaPorte county were the product of John Garwood's handiwork. He came from Warren county, Ohio, in 1831, and for some time made the rude little one-light sash for the log schoolhouses in the community. It was not until railroads were well in operation that machinery was introduced into the county for making sash, doors, blinds, and other products of the planing mill. The early history of the busi- ness is not clearly traceable, but one of the earliest ventures in the line was undertaken about 1860 by Dille & Johnson at Westville. John Dille worked as a young man in a planing mill at Valparaiso. Together with Johnson he bought the machinery and transferred it to Westville, where it continued in operation nearly thirty years. The dressed and finished lumber, turned ox yokes, whiffletrees, cradles, etc., and drove a very successful business. William W. Clark was in possession in 1884.

Michigan City has for many years been pre- eminent among Hoosier cities in the production and distribution of planing mill commodities, lath, shingles, and the like products of the forest. Without pausing to record dates and particulars there may be mentioned such firms as Deming, Woods & Company (succeeded by Smith, Wells

Digitized by Google

207

HISTORY OF LAPORTE COUNTY.

& Company), Coburn, Jones & Company, J. S. Hopper & Son, Scott, Hauser & Company, Sny- der & Berryhill, among the pioneers, and the A. R. Colborn Company, now in operation. This large planing mill was destroyed by fire in the fall of 1903, but was immediately rebuilt. La- Porte has had but one establishment of this kind that attained to any importance, that founded by the late August Backhaus, who died in 1903. Mr. Backhaus was a native of Germany. He made his home in LaPorte at an early day and at the time of his death was president of the La- Porte Sash and Blind Company, successor to the firm of A. Backhaus & Company, and also of the J Street Milling Company. L. Schumm was asso- ciated with him for a long time. The Loomis Manufacturing Company was in the business at LaPorte for a few years between 1874 and 1882.

IRON FURNACES, FOUNDRIES AND MACHINE SHOPS.

Indiana's first great geologist, David Dale Owen, called the public attention to the existence in nearly all regions of the state of extensive fields of bog iron ore and predicted that it would be- come a great source of wealth. In 1837 he was gratified to say in his report as state geologist that a company had been formed to erect a furn- ace at the Eel river falls, and within the ten years ensuing the matter was taken up with consider- able enthusiasm and much capital was invested in the business in more than half the counties in the state. The Indiana Gazetteer for 1849 spoke of the inexhaustible beds of such ore and sug- gested that when labor for agricultural purposes should cease to be in demand it would be em- ployed in manufactures. As late as 1873 State Geologist E. T. Cox thought the much-abused Kankakee marshes would be brought into more favorable notice through its iron ore when some plan should be devised for converting the marsh plat into fuel. Packard left the inference and Chapman said that no considerable attempt had been made in that direction in this county. Such an enterprise was inaugurated, however, and large hopes were indulged that it would rival the similar venture that met with much success dur- ing some years at Mishawaka and at Sligo (the latter being where Charles Crocker, the Cali- fornia railroad magnate, founded his fortune, in

Marshall county). August 21, 1847, the La- Porte Whig announced that a blast furnace would within a year be erected in LaPorte, to be run by steam and to employ a large number of hands. Three months later C. W. Pomeroy ad- vertised in the same paper that laborers and 250,- 000 bushels of charcoal were wanted for the new blast furnace, and the paper, with manifest ela- tion, called editorial attention to the announce- ment. February 19, 1848, the editor of the Whig described a visit he had made to the furnace and told of the great stores of ore that had been found, large quantities of which had already been hauled to the ground, with much stone and other material. The plant being com- pleted, machinery installed and heaps of ore ac- cumulated, the proprietor of the establishment, C. W. Pomeroy, set the works in motion, July 4, 1848, amid very general rejoicing. In the fol- lowing March Mr. Pomeroy lacking capital to pursue the business properly, the LaPorte Iron Manufacturing Company was incorporated, stock subscriptions were opened and the Whig urged the people to invest liberally, pointing out the abundance of ore and the cheapness of coal. But the business languished and in a few years died as did all the other like enterprises in the state when the railroads made better iron more cheaply accessible, and the furnace building was converted into a machine shop, which burned as described elsewhere. The Clear lake mills of King & Fildes now occupy the site. E. M. Bryson, whose sawmill in New Durham township has been men- tioned, came to LaPorte in 1856 and worked in that shop until he entered the army in 186i. In the following decade William and N. Wandel had a foundry near the wheel works for a few years, and J. N. Brooks opened a machine shop at the corner of Indiana avenue and Washington street. A little later this shop was moved to Clay and Washington, and William M. Chap- man became a partner, the firm style being J. N. Brooks & Company, while Edgar B. Brooks, who had been a workman in the original shop, opened for himself at Monroe and Washington. Sey- mour's foundry (Ira and Grant, as I. Semour & Son), Washington street, near Indiana avenue, was in operation at about the same time and made chilled plows. John W. Ridgway's foundry was burned in 1875 and rebuilt. The first

Digitized by Google

208

HISTORY OF LAPORTE COUNTY.

foundry and machine shop in the county was opened at Door Village in 1840 by Chester Heald, who also made threshing machines. Thomas C. Reynolds was a watchmaker and machinist at Westville later and made a self-propeller attach- ment for steam engines. In 1864 Charles W. Carter had a shop at Westville.

Under this head should be mentioned the Automobile Company, for the manufacture and repair of automobiles, and the General Chande- lier Company, both of which are recent institu- tions ; but one of them, the automobile company, is already doing considerable work.

RAILROAD SHOPS AND CAR FACTORIES.

Each of the two cities in LaPorte county has enjoyed the benefits of railroad repair shops and factories for building cars. Michigan City now has both while LaPorte has neither. In 1853, on the completion of the railroad now called the Lake Shore, repair and machine shops were lo- cated in LaPorte by the company and a large round house was established. This industry con- tributed very materially to the growth and pros- perity of the town and its removal to Elkhart in 1870 was the severest blow to business that the county seat ever suffered. Years were re- quired to repair the damage occasioned by this loss, now happily overcome and forgotten. Among the efforts put forth to supply the place of the departed shops was the formation in 1872 of the LaPorte Car Manufacturing Company, with B. B. Arnold as president, Lafayette Crane secretary and D. B. Howe superintendent, to oc- cupy the buildings vacated by the railroad shops. Mr. Arnold was proprietor of the eating house at the railroad depot, Mr. Crane was, and is yet, a dealer in hardware, and Mr. Howe was brought to LaPorte to devote his entire attention to the factory. Mr. Arnold died in 1876 and the busi- ness was soon after wound up.

. The Michigan Central repair shops at Michi- gan City were established at about the same time as those at LaPorte and are still maintained, in- creased in capacity. They are favorably re- ferred to in the report of State Geologist Cox for 1873, at page 470.

The largest manufacturing enterprise in La- Porte county is that of the Haskell & Barker Car

Company at Michigan City, founded in 1853 by Mason G. Sherman, M. D. Dr. Sherman was born in Barre, Vermont, January 15, 1805, and twenty-one years later located in St. Lawrence county, New York. Three years he spent in South America, then, in 1832, went to New York and studied medicine, practicing there after grad- uation until 1844, when he went to Canada, then to California, and in 1852, back to New York, at Ogdensburg. In 1853 he came to this state and contracted with the New Albany & Salem Rail- road to furnish it with cars. For this purpose he induced Messrs. Haskell and Aldridge, Ogdens- burg gentlemen, to join him and they built a factory at Michigan City, doing business as Sher- man, Haskell & Company. In 1855 Dr. Sherman sold his interest, one-third, to John Barker and resumed the practice of his profession, remaining at Michigan City. He defeated John H. Bradley for the legislature and served two terms, became an army surgeon during the war, was afterward defeated for the state senate by John H. Winter- botham, and died in 1881 while still in the prac- tice. His wife was killed by a skyrocket July 4, 1858. John Barker settled in Michigan City in 1833, the year its first buildings were erected, and engaged in merchandising in the firm of Carter & Barker. In 1842 he married Miss Cor- delia E. Collamer of Sandy Hill, New York, whom he had met while she was visiting her brother, Danvers G. Collamer, then cashier of the bank at Michigan City, and in 1844 their son John H. Barker was born. The father engaged in several successful enterprises and was one of the foremost business men of the town when he bought Dr. Sherman's interest in the car factory in 1855, and the firm became Haskell, Barker & Aldridge, later Haskell & Barker. John H. Barker, when of sufficient age, took a clerkship in a wholesale shipping house in Chicago, then en- gaged in mercantile pursuits in Springfield, Illinois, three years, after which he returned to Chicago and entered the wholesale grocery trade. In 1868 he came back to the city of his birth and was in the grocery business until 1877, when John Barker died and was buried in Greenwood cemetery in a beautiful spot where Mrs. Barker reposes by his side. By that death John H. Barker was brought into the car factory and the business was reorganized, having been incorpo-

Digitized by Google

209

HISTORY OF LAPORTE COUNTY.

rated as the Haskell & Barker Car Company in 1871. John H. Barker became the president and general manager, Nathaniel P. Rogers secretary and John W. Ogden treasurer. The Barkers, father and son, have contributed liberally of their time and means to the welfare of Michigan City in every way that has been opened to them, especially through the churches and charities of the city. The magnificent hospital now nearing completion at Michigan City was made possible by the public-spirited beneficence of John H. Barker. The car works experienced a healthy and prosperous growth from the outset and pro- vides the means of support for a very large pro- portion of the city's population. During the war it built cars for the government and employed at times as many as 400 men. By 1876 the regular: payroll contained more than 600 names and by 1880 the annual business was in excess of a million dollars. The splendid supply of hard- wood timber in the immediate vicinity, the facilities for transportation by rail and water, the close proximity to Chicago, and other considera- tions made the location peculiarly advantageous. The company has always kept even pace with the progress of improvement in its line of work and is now preparing to install a new plant for the manufacture of steel cars on an extensive scale, which additional department amounts to the in- troduction of a new industry to the city and will require several hundred additional operatives.

WOOLEN FABRICS AND KNIT GOODS.

The first weaver's loom in LaPorte county was made in 1834 by N. W. Closser at Door Village and his wife did the first weaving. Some years later the old Vail mill in section 36, Union township, was converted into a woolen mill and it was operated as such for a time with indifferent success and discontinued. Perhaps two or three other slight efforts were put forth in the same direction about that time, but the facts are not clearly ascertainable and it is certain that the in- dustry was not represented in the county in 1848. April 22 of that year the editor of the LaPorte Il'hig expressed surprise that some one had not undertaken the manufacture of woolen goods at the county seat and suggested the banks of Clear

lake as an ideal spot for such a venture, water transportation, local demands and the proximity of many flocks of sheep being considered. The subject was mentioned several times in subse- quent issues of the Whig and Mishawaka's woolen factory then in operation was mentioned. The editor's wish remained ungratified until the close of the rebellion, when two woolen factories were established in LaPorte and are still in active and successful operation. John Fildes, Sr., a native of England, came to LaPorte in 1864 from Pennsylvania and purchased the old Pomeroy furnace property, above mentioned, which he transformed into a woolen mill. In the follow- ing year Frederick C. King, a brother of Polaski King, purchased an interest and the firm of Fildes & King was formed with sufficient capital to enlarge and improve the mill and extend the business. The establishment was called the Clear Lake Woolen mills. Mr. King was a New York man by birth and was a merchant at LaGrange, Indiana, when he embarked in the enterprise named and removed to LaPorte. John Fildes, Jr., bought his father's interest in the business in 1871, and the firm continued under the same style, subsequently reversing the names. The younger Fildes was born in Delaware county, Pennsylvania, in 1837, and came to LaPorte with his parents in 1864 to assist in the business from its inception. The establishment is now owned by a corporation and is managed by Edgar D. Barrows, whose first connection with it was as bookkeeper more than twenty years ago.

At about the close of the war Samuel and Leo Fox located in LaPorte and inaugurated the busi- ness, now known as the LaPorte Woolens mills, under the name of Fox Brothers. Samuel suc- ceeded to the business at Leo's death and con- ducted it successfully until he died in 1901, when it was reorganized under the name of Samuel Fox's Sons, with the widow and three sons as. owners. The young men gave the concern an impetus that has doubled its business and com- pelled a large accession to the plant under their management. It is one of the most prosperous industries in the city.

William Mellor & Son and Nourse & Allen were pioneer manufacturers of hosiery at Michi- gan City and led the way for several extensive

Digitized by Google

210

HISTORY OF LAPORTE COUNTY.

'concerns in that line, among which is the Lake- side Knitting Company.

It is apparent, upon a review of the industrial history of LaPorte county, that manufacturing has from the first been an important and increas- ing factor in the county's growth and prosperity. The prolific products of a rich farming country formed the basis of one group of enterprises be- ginning with gristmills and including foodstuffs, whiskey, leather, woolen fabrics, etc .; the great ranges of hardwood timber gave rise to another group, comprising all the extensive wood indus- tries; the multiplicity of available waterpowers furnished by nearly a dozen streams and branches in the several townships invited the establishment 'of plants in the first instance, and the develop- :ment of rail and lake transportation has con- tributed to their growth and brought others. Of disappointments and failures there have been few in proportion to the whole number of ventures undertaken. Gradually the cities of LaPorte and Michigan City have become the manufacturing centers of the county, and the progressive people at both places are wide awake to the opportunities afforded by a central location and excellent trans- portation, combined with all the elements that constitute desirability for residence. The county has enjoyed immunity from labor troubles, prob- ably for the reason that its workingmen are of superior average intelligence, comfortably situ- ated, fed and clothed, and largely own their own homes and have fixed local interests. During the summer of 1903 a storm cloud arose above the Haskell & Barker car works at Michigan City and trouble among the employees was threatened, but the management met the situation boldly and the operatives kept cool heads, with the result that the difficulties soon subsided. That factory employs about 2,200 men and its payroll aggre- gates about $100,000 monthly, from which it is seen that its relations with the men are of great local concern. The liberality of John H. Barker, the controlling officer, in his treatment of the men, his loyalty to their interests and to the city at large, and his never failing impluse to do the best thing for the largest number have always been marked and in the crisis referred to served to suppress the efforts to produce discontent in the shops.

This section of our history may be appro- priately closed with some industrial statistics of the United States census for 1900 pertaining to LaPorte county.

TABLE,

LaPorte

Michigan City

Other Places

Total County

Number of establishments.

241

Total capital.

$2,849,165: $4,242,355

$122.123 | $7.213.643

Number of proprietors and firm members.

106

257

Salaried othcials, clerks, etc

115

906

Total salaries.

$117,289

$104,119

$221.408

Number of wage earners, average.

989

2,930

Total wages .

$379,097

$1,045.245

Value of annual product.

$2.247,659

$6.129,001

$11.975 $252.822

3.956 $1,436,317 $8.028,982

Rank in products, State. Rank in population, State.

The following details extracted from the latest report of the State Bureau of Factory In- spection exhibit the industriest of LaPorte at the close of 1902, with the number of employees in each : Robert Buck & Son, furniture, 36: Great Western Manufacturing Company, bicycles, 77; Guenther Brothers, brewery, 6; H. J. Heinz Com- pany, pickles, 45; King & Fildes Company, woolens, 140; LaPorte Carriage Company, car- riages and buggies, 220; LaPorte Sash & Door Company, 25; LaPorte Woolen Mills (Samuel Fox's Sons), 60; John Lonn Sons Company, harness, 40; Lorig & Weber, flour mill, 6; C. H. Michael, fanning mills, lawn swings, etc., 18; Niles & Scott Company, wheels, 100; Quisisana, art furniture. 21 : Reliance Manfacturing Com- pany, pants, 90: M. Rumely Company, threshers and engines, 218; Spring Wagon Company, wagons, 10. Michigan City had the following: A. R. Colborn & Company, planing mill. 20: C. L. Fethke & Sons, cigars, 20; J. S. Ford, John- son & Company, chairs, 590; Greer-Wilkinson Lumber Company, planing mill, 72: Haskell & Barker Car Company, 2,000; Henry Lumber Company, planing mill, 50; Lakeside Knitting Company, wool gloves and mittens, 305; Michi- gan Central railroad shops, locomotive repairs. 46: Ohlemacher Brick Company, sand brick, 25: Reliance Manfacturing Company, shirts, 265: Root Manfacturing Company, planing mill. 75: Tecumseh Facing Mills, gloves and mittens, 240: Western Caneseating Company, cane seats. 170;

Digitized by Google

2II

HISTORY OF LAPORTE COUNTY.

J. H. Winterbotham & Son, cooperage, 100; Ph. Zorn Brewing Company, 14.

It is worthy of note that the three largest factories of the state, as shown by the report

quoted above, are the Studebaker wagon works at South Bend, with 2,250 hands, Standard Oil works, Whiting, 2,025, and Haskell & Barker Car works, Michigan City, 2,000.

Digitized by Google

CHAPTER XXI

BUSINESS AND COMMERCE.

"For I dipt into the future, far as human eye could see, Saw the Vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be; "Saw the heavens fill with commerce, argosies of magic sails, Pilots of the purple twilight, dropping down with costly bales." -TENNYSON.

To find the beginning of trade in which white men participated in northwestern Indiana, it is necessary to go back to LaSalle's magnificent dream of colonizing the Mississippi valley; for it was in pursuit of that golden scheme that he sent French traders to the region about the southern end of Lake Michigan for the purpose of exchanging blankets and trinkets with the Indians for furs and skins. The region of the Calumet, Kankakee, Galien, and St. Joseph rivers was a hunter's paradise, and the fur trade was very active until after the land was well settled by farmers, and the towns began to grow up. LaSalle's woodmen and canoemen wandered everywhere through the valley, following the streams, establishing posts, and gathering furs to be sold at Green Bay, Detroit, and lake ports further east. The names of these men cannot now be recovered except in a few instances. Pierre Moreau, alias La Tauprine, with several French companions traded with the Indians in the vicinity of LaPorte county and around the shores of Lake Michigan in 1673, but he neglected to obtain the necessary royal license for .his business, and was arrested and sent back to France, René le Gardeur, Sieur de Beauvais, and thirteen others traded for furs in the valley of the Kankakee as far up as the headwaters of that stream, and gathered seven bateaux of merchandise with which, in March, 1684, they started for Green Bay. Before arriving at their destination they

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of Laporte County Indiana, Part 35

Author: Rev. E. D. Daniels Publication date: 1904 Publisher: Number of Pages: 1273

Author: Rev. E. D. Daniels
Publication date: 1904
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1273