USA > Indiana > Lake County > A standard history of Lake County, Indiana, and the Calumet region, Volume II > Part 12
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Mr. Austgen affiliates with the Knights of Columbus and the Modern Woodmen of America, and worships in St. Joseph's Church. He mar- ried, in July, 1900, Miss Mattie Stockberger, of Rochester, Indiana, a daughter of George B. and Julia Stockberger. Her father was a farmer. The three children of Mr. Austgen and wife are Margaret Mary, Harold Peter, and Robert Peter.
HON. THOMAS HAMMOND. To say that "an institution is but the lengthened shadow of a man" is one way of defining the influences and splendid results which have flowed from the original enterprise and character of the men who created the industrial community of Ham- mond about forty years ago. It was on the solid foundation laid by the pioneers that the modern complexity of industries, commercial houses, the schools and churches and other institutions, and the thou-
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sands of homes, has been reared. No community can afford to ignore or forget to honor its founders, and it has been well said that those who care not for history of cities or of ancestry lack a great part of the foundation and the motives of right and worthy living. The growing prosperity of the present rests upon the solid foundation laid by those who have gone before.
An early associate with his brother, George H. Hammond, in the original industry of the city of that name, three times elected mayor. and at one time congressman from this district, for many years one of the leading bankers, the late Thomas Hammond deserves a record of memory in these pages, not only for these various activities, but also for the splendid quality of citizenship and manhood which he exem- plified during nearly thirty-five years of continuous residence. It has been well said that Hammond was fortunate in having such a man in both its early and later years of development. It often happens that a community is largely the result of the lives and activities of a small group of men, and among those who chiefly influenced the early history and the pioneer development of Hammond the name of Thomas Ham- mond must always have a prominent plaee. Hammond still bears in its commercial organization and energy the impress of the character and influence of Mr. Hammond, who will long be remembered as a business builder, a civic leader and a man of splendid personal char- acter.
Thomas Hammond was born February 27, 1843, in Ashburnham, Massachusetts, and died at his beautiful home in Hammond on Septem- ber 21, 1909. His early education was acquired in his native village. and the business experience of his youth brought him to the City of Detroit, Michigan, where for some time he conducted a retail meat market. He prospered in a steady and quiet way, but the successful achievement of his career was reserved for the pioneer eity of the Calumet region. He was thirty-two years of age when, in 1875, he came to the Town of Hammond and went into business in connection with the G. H. Hammond Packing Company. He came to the city when it was nothing more than a village and when no one dreamed that the desolate waste of sand would ever be a great city. His early business was in utilizing the by-products of the G. H. Hammond Com- pany, which was then a young but progressive industry, established as one of the pioneer plants at a time when the packing business was in its infancy. Mr. Hammond, from the major products of the plant, bought casings and tripe and manufactured them into salable pro- visions. The credit is given to Thomas Hammond for first demon- strating the fact that tripe is edible and that it has many ingredients which greatly aid digestion. Mr. Hammond became assistant superin- tendent of the Hammond Packing Company, but when George H. Ham- mond sold out his interests in the company, his brother followed his example.
The chief source of his fortune-and at one time he was reputed to be the wealthiest man in Hammond-came from real estate invest- ments. In 1888 he and S. F. Fogg bought a large acreage in the eastern portion of Hammond, along State Street and Plummer Avenue and Sibley Street, and opened it as the Fogg & Hammond's First and Second Addition to the city. This land was sold in the prosperous times that preceded the panic of 1893, and subsequently Mr. Hammond acquired all the remaining interests of Mr. Fogg in the property. He
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was one of the first stockholders of the Commercial Bank of Hammond, and for sixteen years served as its president. Under his management the bank grew until it was one of the powers in the financial affairs of the Calumet region. For a number of years it was the largest bank in the city, and its supremaey continued until the First National Bank was finally taken over by local capitalists, reorganized, and then on his sixty-sixth birthday, in 1909, a consolidation was effected by which the Commercial Bank was taken over by the First National, and at that date Thomas Hammond formally retired from business, though he con- tinned as vice president of the First National Bank until his death.
While his success as a business man is a primary consideration in his career, Mr. Hammond also had a prominent part in public affairs. He was three times elected mayor, in 1888, 1890 and 1892. While mayor of the city he realized the necessity of a better water supply than could be furnished from artesian wells then in use, and under his leadership Hammond established its present water system, which is in the nature of a monument to his public spirit. In 1892 Thomas Ham- mond was elected to Congress to represent the Tenth Indiana District, and retired from the office of mayor in order to go to Washington and represent his constituency, continuing one term. He was one of the few democratic Congressmen ever elected from that district. As a matter of civic duty, he afterwards accepted the nomination and was elected a councilman from the Second Ward of this city. He was president of the Hammond Land and Improvement Company, a con- cern which was the means of loeating the W. B. Conkey Company's plant in Hammond.
With this brief outline of his business and public activities, some- thing must be said concerning his individual character, and the follow- ing editorial appreciation written at the time of his death is only a just tribute to this pioneer Hammond citizen :
"We love to think of Mr. Hammond as a man. The business pur- suits of successful men are but incidental to the most important con- siderations in their lives. They would be the same men if circum- stances had opened different spheres. Mr. Hammond would have been the same kind of a man had he lived in any other city in the Union. Mr. Hammond was an honest man. When a man is named by some striking characteristic of his life, it is an evidence of the regard of the people, and unconsciously it is the highest tribute a man can receive from his friends and acquaintances. Mr. Hammond was called 'Honest Tom.' The men who sat with him in the city council, and have been the most closely associated with him in business relations, read into this 'new name' the deepest meaning. Mr. Hammond was a Christian gentleman. He was a gentleman naturally. Boorishness, snobbishness or aristocratic exclusiveness would have seemed the most out of place in his make-up of anything defective in human character that could he thought of. He was a Christian gentleman, not merely because he was affiliated with the Baptist Church, neither in spite of the fact, but because the church represented the higher motives which should govern the conduct of every man who performs his relationships on earth is related to every other man on earth, and holds kinship with God."
Another expressive estimate of the place Thomas Hammond held in his home city is contained in the following words: "Thomas Ham- mond has crossed 'that river from which no voyager ever returns,' but during his sojourn among us he has put down some markings that
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eternity alone can eradicate. These are his deeds, the things that never die. His first landmark was laid down when his intrinsie man- hood was brought to the public eye, winning the people's confidence until they chose him not only to represent this city but the state. The markings which he has left us might be summed up-the man of the people, the financier, the philanthropist and the man whose presence was in his home. In all of those he has distinguished himself as one of your foremost and greatest citizens. This day marks the close of an eventful and useful life, the last days of which were a revelation of the man's great heart and soul. His only thought seemed to be the best interests of his family. Never was more greatness of a father and companion expressed than that which he expressed. Ile was patient to the last degree, he believed in his family, his fellowmen and best in his God."
The cultivated tastes of the late Mr. Hammond were well shown in the architecture and furnishings of his beautiful home on South Hohman Street. He personally designed and drew the plans for that building, and it was for many years regarded as the finest residence in the city, and while some later ones may have cost more, none excelled it for beauty and the delightfulness of its home atmosphere. Thomas Hammond married Miss Helen Potter at Leominster, Massachusetts. Their children are: Lizzie E., who died in 1892; Mrs. W. A. Hill; Walter H. Hammond, who died on the 23d of May, 1914; Frank IIam- mond; and Mrs. G. L. Smith. Mrs. Hammond, who still has an active place in Hammond social circles, has long been prominent in the Baptist Church, is a generous giver to public charity, and since the death of her husband has continued to maintain the fine dignity and culture so long associated with the Hammond homestead in that city.
WILLIAM A. HILL. For many years actively identified with educa- tional work, and long connected with the Hammond public schools, William A. Hill transferred his abilities from education to business, and as secretary and treasurer of the United Boiler Heating and Foun- dry Company is a responsible executive in one of Hammond's well known and prosperous industries.
Born in the Township of Bruce, McComb County, Michigan, in 1863, a son of substantial farming people, Jacob and Fannie (Diekin- son) Hill, William A. Hill received his early training in the public schools at Morrice, Michigan, and subsequently was a student of the Valparaiso University in Indiana and of the University of Chicago. His career as an educator covered nineteen years, fifteen years of which were spent in the Hammond schools. In 1913 Mr. Hill became secre- tary and treasurer of the United Boiler Heating and Foundry Com- pany. For a number of years he served as a director of the Lake County Title and Guaranty Company. He has also had an active part in republican politics, was secretary of the Hammond Republican Cen- tral Committee two years, and was his party's candidate for the office of county treasurer.
Mr. Hill is a member of the Hammond Chamber of Commerce, affiliates with the Masons through the lodge and chapter degrees, and also belongs to the Royal League. He and his family belongs to the Baptist Church, and he is a treasurer of the Hammond church of that denomination.
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In 1898 Mr. Hill married Carrie Hammond, a daughter of Thomas and Helen (Potter ) Hammond. Their three children are Irving H., Pauline E., and Adelaide H.
UNITED BOILER HEATING AND FOUNDRY COMPANY. This Hammond industry, manufacturing gray iron castings, boilers, tanks, plate and sheet iron construction, and dealers in complete house heating equip- ment, was incorporated in 1909 with a capital stock of $20,000. The present organization is an outgrowth of the original Hammond Boiler Works and North Star Foundry. The Hammond Boiler Works was established in 1899 at Blue Island, Illinois, but was removed to Ham- mond in 1902. The North Star Foundry has a history of ten years, having been established in 1904, and both enterprises have been greatly expanded since the consolidation under the present company.
The present executive officials of the United Boiler Heating and Foundry Company are: W. C. McEwen, president; George B. Shearer, vice president; and W. A. Hill, secretary and treasurer. The company employs an average of twenty-five workmen and occupies a factory building with 250 feet of frontage by 100 feet in depth. Have a com- plete equipment of machinery and other facilities for their manufac- turing, and their goods are now distributed over a large territory about Hammond.
J. E. METCALF, M. D. Both in the broad field of citizenship and in devotion to the interests of his profession, Doctor Metcalf has had a useful and successful career since beginning practice fifteen years ago, and is regarded as one of the ablest physicians and surgeons of the City of Gary, which has been his home for six years. Doctor Metcalf is serving as president of the Board of Health, and his interests and efforts have been given at the expense of his private practice to promoting public health and educating the people of his community to better standards of sanitation and correct living.
Doctor Metcalf was born at Anderson, Indiana, a son of Stephen and Carrie M. Metcalf. His father has for many years been a news- paper man of Anderson. After his public school training, J. E. Metcalf entered the University of Indiana, was graduated A. B. in 1893, and was prepared for his profession in the College of Physicians and Sur- geons at Chicago, which gave him the degree M. D. in 1899. This was followed by two years of interne experience in the West Side Hospital, and he first opened an office for independent practice at Fenimore, Wisconsin, four years later moved out to Kansas and was in practice at Salina two years, and on January 6, 1908, arrived at Gary. He has given his time and energy to a general practice and is the regular phy- sician for many of the best families in the city.
In 1901 Doctor Metcalf married Lura G. Kightlinger of Yates City, Illinois. Their one son is Stephen. Doctor Metcalf is a charter mem- ber of both the Masonic Lodge and the Elks Club at Gary, and also belongs to the Gary Commercial Club. His popularity among members of his profession is indicated by his present office as president of the Gary Medical Society, as vice president of the Lake County Medical Society, as president of the Tenth District Medical Society, and he also has membership in the Indiana State Medical Association and the American Medical Association. Doctor Metcalf has been a member of the vestry of Christ's Episcopal Church at Gary since it was estab- lished.
X. Smetralf
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MILO M. BRUCE was born February 10, 1873, in Winamac, Indiana, a son of Daniel and Sarah E. (Hizer) Bruce. His parents were farm- ing people, and the son grew up in the country, attended public school and had ambition for larger things. He took a teacher's course at the Ladoga Normal School, Ladoga, Indiana, attended the National Normal University at Lebanon, Ohio, entered the law department of the Uni- versity of Michigan and graduated in 1894.
In 1893 he and his brother, Otto J. Bruce, formed the law firm of Bruce & Bruce for the general practice of law, opening an office at Crown Point, and the following year the firm established another law office at Hammond, with Milo M. Bruce in charge. This partnership became one of the best known legal firms in Lake County and existed for sixteen years, when it was dissolved by mutual agreement, he con- tinuing in charge of the Hammond office to the present time.
Mr. Bruce married Agnes M. Terry of Winamac, Indiana. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and belongs to a num- ber of local orders.
ELMER D. BRANDENBURG. At Hammond, where he located in 1903, Mr. Brandenburg has for the past eleven years conducted a successful law practice, has also engaged in real estate and insurance as an impor- tant department of his business, and is one of the men of high standing in the Lake County bar, and his substantial attainments, creditable work and influence deserves recognition among the representative citi- zens.
Elmer D. Brandenburg was born at Harrisburg, Ohio, October 13, 1871. His parents were John W. and Eliza J. (England) Branden- burg. His father, who was born in Kentucky, was a son of Patterson C. Brandenburg, a Kentucky farmer who lived to be ninety-eight years of age. John W. Brandenburg, in Ohio, had a sawmill and operated a threshing outfit, came to Indiana in 1881, lived at Winamac until 1898, and then located in Hammond. During the Civil war he saw three years' service in Company F of the Thirteenth Indiana Infantry. He and his wife were the parents of four children.
The public schools of Columbus, Ohio, and of Winamac, Indiana, gave Elmer D. Brandenburg his early education, and in 1898 he grad- uated in law from the University of Indianapolis, being admitted to the bar the same year. His first practice was in Gas City, Grant County, Indiana, and for two years he was deputy prosecuting attorney of that county. On moving to Hammond, in February, 1903, he engaged in a successful business in the law, and has made his position secure as a lawyer and citizen.
For a number of years Mr. Brandenburg regularly supported the republican party, but in 1912 became one of the enthusiastic leaders of the new political organization, the progressive party, and is now secretary of the Lake County progressive party. He affiliates with the Knights of Pythias, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Tribe of Ben Hur. Belongs to the Chamber of Commerce and the Lake County Bar Association. On December 24, 1912, he married Adeline Miller of Hammond.
ANDREW WILLIAM SMITH, M. D. While Doctor Smith has been identified with the Hammond medical fraternity less than a year, his previous experience and associations and his thorough equipment for
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his work have enabled him quickly to gain a foothold, and he is already launched on his professional career.
Andrew William Smith was born in Fredonia, Kansas, December 9, 1886, a son of Samuel M. and Evelyn (Taylor) Smith. His father was a stock farmer and the son grew up in the country, attended the common schools, and later earned his way by work in the oil fields and also in a glass factory. From his own earnings he paid the tuition of his higher education, and finally entered the University of Michigan, where he continued his studies in the literary and medical department until graduating M. D. in 1912. For some months following his grad- nation he remained to assist in the department of athletics, especially with the football team, and in 1913 went to Buffalo, New York, as house surgeon for the Buffalo Hospital. Doctor Smith located in Hammond in September, 1913, and does a general practice. He was recently appointed medical examiner and physical director for the Hammond public schools. Doctor Smith has membership in the Country Club, and is a Phi Alpha Gamma of the University of Michigan.
WALLACE J. O'KEEFE. Since 1912 engaged in the practice of den- tistry at Hammond, Doctor O'Keefe is a native of this part of Indiana, was for a number of years engaged in educational work, and has already become well established in his profession at Hammond.
Wallace J. O'Keefe was born in Michigan City, Indiana, July 11. 1884, a son of substantial farming people, Peter and Mary O'Keefe. With a public school education and a course in the Valparaiso Univer- sity, from which he graduated in 1902, Doctor O'Keefe began his career as a teacher, and was employed in the schoolroom for five years, from 1902 to 1907. Then entering the Chicago Dental College, he con- tinned his work until graduating D. D. S. in 1911. His first practice in his profession was in Chicago, but in 1912 he came to Hammond and has since built up a good practice and has a well appointed office and has all the equipment which the modern dentist requires for successful and skillful work.
Doctor O'Keefe and family are members of the All Saints Church, and he has membership in the Knights of Columbus. On January 29. 1913, he married Claire Hannon, a daughter of John and Johanna Hannon, farming people of Kouts, Indiana.
JOHN EDWARD MCGARRY. The phrase "McGarry jeweler" is one that all Hammond recognizes, and is significant of everything reliable and satisfactory in the way of jewelry and expert optical service in testing eyes and making glasses to order, and there is hardly a com- munity in Lake County where articles from this establishment are not to be found. Mr. McGarry is an expert in his line, is a trade builder on the basis of square dealing and satisfactory service, and is one of the most popular merchants and citizens of Hammond.
John Edward McGarry is a native of Chicago, born June 3, 1878, a son of John A. and Martha (Meinhardt) McGarry. His father was an inventor, and no doubt the son has inherited some of the fine skill exhibited in the business which has taken his time for so many years. Mr. McGarry attended both public and private schools in Chicago, and since boyhood has depended on his own resources and has built his career with his own efforts and ambition. For some time he was connected with the Adams Express Company and was the company's agent in
Scott Manlove
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the stock yards district at Chicago. One year was spent in the broker- age business, but in the meantime his determination was set upon the jeweler's trade, and he was studying along that line in all his spare hours. For a time he was a student of medicine, but gave up that profession for one more in harmony with his tastes. Mr. McGarry, though still a young man, has had an exceedingly wide experience throughout the United States, and for seven years was a traveling sales- man and carried goods and made records of sales in almost every state and territory of the Union. In 1905 he came to Hammond and opened his present jewelry business, at first in a partnership, but later acquired the entire stock. Mr. McGarry has been so long identified with the jewelry trade, and has an acquaintance so extended over the various states that he could hardly have failed to succeed in almost any locality chosen for setting up a business, but has peculiar reasons for satisfac- tion with Hammond as a business center. A number of years ago he acquired practically all the local work of inspection of railway watches, and that is now an important branch of his business.
For three years Mr. McGarry was chairman of the Business Men's Association of Hammond, and has membership in the Chamber of Com- merce, the Hammond Country Club, the Catholic Order of Foresters, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, is a charter member of the L. O. O. M., a charter member of Shields Council of the Knights of Columbus in Chicago, and belongs to the Hammond Saengerbund. His church is All Saints.
Mr. McGarry was married June 1, 1904, in Chicago to Catherine Farrell, and their family of four children are Mary Catherine, John Thomas, Edward Vincent, and Eunice Elizabeth.
GEORGE HI. MANLOVE. While Gary is typically an industrial city, it also has its full quota of professional men, and some of the ablest rep- resentatives of the bar and medicine and other vocations have located here and gained success. One of the oldest lawyers, considered with respect to the age of Gary itself, is George H. Manlove, whose practice at Gary extends over a period of seven years, practically the entire life of the city, and who has won many of the better distinctions and rewards in the legal field. Like many of his associates in professional affairs, Mr. Manlove never allows himself to be behindhand in public spirit, and is a constant booster and upholder of Gary's progress and pros- perity.
Born in Chicago, Illinois, June 3, 1870, George H. Manlove has spent most of his career in Indiana, having moved to Richmond in 1882 and in 1892 to Alexandria in Madison County, Indiana. Mr. Manlove grad- uated from the public schools of Richmond, and later was a student in Earlham College in that city. Admitted to the bar in 1898, he did some professional work in Illinois, but lived and practiced at Alexandria the greater part of the time until January 2, 1908, when he arrived at Gary and established himself as a lawyer of the growing city.
Mr. Manlove is a director in the Northern State Bank of Gary, and has been one of the active leaders in local republican politics. He served as chairman of the township committee in 1908 and as chairman of the city committee in 1909. While living in Madison County, Indiana, he held the office of deputy prosecuting attorney. In 1909 Mr. Manlove was elected the first city attorney of Gary, serving a short time in that
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office. He was appointed city comptroller in January, 1914, and is still acting in that capacity in the present city administration.
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