USA > Indiana > Lake County > A standard history of Lake County, Indiana, and the Calumet region, Volume II > Part 20
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On January 31, 1908, Doctor Weis married Jessie C. Fish, of Frank- fort, Michigan. Their two adopted sons, Edward and Robert, share their attractive country home in the center of a beautiful twenty acre tract of land located on the outskirts of the city, on the Indiana-Illinois State Line.
BANK OF WHITING. The first banking institution in Whiting, and now an institution with resources and responsibility of over a million dollars, the Bank of Whiting was established as a private bank in April. 1895, by the venerable Henry Schrage, who is now president of the bank and also has the distinction of being the oldest resident of Whiting. The first location of the bank was at 119th Street, 200 feet from the corner of Front Street. In 1911 the bank was moved to its present site at the corner of New York Avenue and 119th Street, and was housed in
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a new building erected especially for the bank, with offices overhead. The officers of the Bank of Whiting are Henry Schrage, president; H. C. Schrage, vice president; W. E. Schrage, cashier; and W. C. Schrage, assistant cashier. The Bank of Whiting is now operated under state supervision, with a capital of $50,000 and a surplus of $35,000. Its total resources in March, 1914, were reported as nearly nine hundred thousand dollars, and the deposits totaled almost eight hundred thou- sand dollars.
W. E. Schrage, cashier of this splendid institution, was born in Whiting, December 31, 1884, and is one of the sons of Mr. Henry Schrage, whose career as a Whiting pioneer is sketched elsewhere. His education came through the public schools and from the University of Wisconsin, and since beginning life for himself he has been identified with the bank of his father.
Mr. Schrage was married February 20, 1909, to Lois Coffin, of Crown Point. Their three children are Genevieve, Virginia and Walter M. Mr. Schrage affiliates with the Fraternal Order of Eagles, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Knights of Pythias and the Masonic Lodge, is exalted ruler of the Elks Lodge No. 1273, has passed the chairs in the Eagles and the Knights of Pythias, and in politics is a republican. His first public service was on the school board, beginning at the age of twenty-two and continuing for three years. He was a member of the board at the time the new high school building was erected. In November, 1913, Mr. Schrage was elected mayor of Whiting on the citizens ticket and began his official duties on January 5, 1914. He is treasurer of the Whiting Pure Ice Company. Other social connections are with the Owl Club of Whiting and the Ham- ilton Club of Chicago.
HENRY SCHRAGE. Every one in Whiting knows Henry Schrage not only as president of the Bank of Whiting, one of the largest and most substantial financial institutions in the Calumet region, but also as the oldest citizen of that industrial and population center. Henry Schrage has had a notable career, has been a soldier, merchant, banker, official, and in the early days knew what hard work meant, and through all his relations has maintained that strict integrity which is the basis of his prominence in affairs.
Henry Schrage is a native of Germany, born at Ambrodenberg, January 21, 1844. His parents, Christof and Frederica Schrage, brought him to Lake County in October, 1854. They settled at what is now the City of Whiting, and his father owned fifty acres now covered by the great plant of the Standard Oil Company. Later the family moved to Chicago and the father was a merchant there. There were two ehil- dren, and Henry Schrage's sister Dorothy is the wife of Chris Harnes, of Whiting.
Henry Schrage had a liberal training in hard work and some instruc- tion in the schools as preparation for life. When a youth in 1863 he enlisted in Company K of the Thirty-first Illinois Regiment, and then went South to battle for the union. He participated in the battles of Chattanooga and Lookout Mountain and other engagements leading up to the fall at Atlanta, and afterwards accompanied Sherman's army on its march to the sea. He was mustered out in 1865 at Louisville, Kentucky, and after the war earned his livelihood by work on a farm and on the railway. His home during these years was at that point
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in Lake County now covered by the City of Whiting, and in 1868 he opened a country store along the railroad, which had the distinction of being the first trading place in the now populous City of Whiting. While he continued his labors with the railway, his wife conducted the store and sold goods in limited quantities to the people of that locality. Later when the postoffice was established he was appointed postmaster and his store grew with the expanding town, and was a profitable enter- prise until he sold out in 1895. On retiring from the store, he estab- lished the bank in Whiting, and is now the honored president of that institution and the oldest of a group of capitalists who have been promi- nent for years in financial and industrial affairs. Henry Schrage also established a bank at East Chicago, and is still president of the State Bank there.
On June 6, 1868, Henry Schrage married Carolina Wistenfeldt, a native of Germany. To their marriage were born seven sons and two daughters, three of whom are deceased, and while the daughters are married the sons are all officials in the Bank of Whiting.
Mr. Schrage is a member of the Lutheran Church, is a republican in politics, served six years as a township trustee, and was a member of the council from the incorporation of Whiting up to 1910.
FRED J. SMITH. During the rise of Whiting from a town of one industry to a city of multiplied interests and population, no one individ- ual has kept closer faith with the development of his community and has been a larger and more successful factor in its affairs than Fred J. Smith, the mere mention of whose name calls up half a dozen or more large companies, banks and industrial concerns in which he is a chief factor.
His enterprise has been longest identified with what is known as the Smith, Bader & Davidson Company, which began as a real estate office, operating on a small scale in 1890 under the firm title of Smith & Bader. In 1908 Mr. C. D. Davidson was included in the firm. The company was incorporated as the Smith & Bader Company in 1907, and the capital stock was increased from $25,000 to $35,000 in 1909, and in 1913, to $100,000. This is the largest real estate and insurance concern in Whiting, with ample resources, with several of the leading business men of Lake County directing its operations, and they are giving par- ticular attention to the development of high-class residence sections, putting on the market tracts of city land and building for purchasers a large number of fine dwellings. The company has an office and does a large business in Gary. Among the most important transactions of the firm in Whiting has been the development of Sheridan Park, com- prising seventy-seven lots, and Central Park, 360 lots. At Indiana Harbor they developed Washington Park, 600 lots, and are now putting on the market South Park in Whiting. These parks have all been high grade residence districts, with restricted conditions as to cost and quality of improvements. It is the oldest firm operating in real estate in Whiting, with a successful record of twenty-three years.
Fred J. Smith is president of the company, Gallus J. Bader, long his business associate, is vice president, C. D. Davidson is secretary, and James A. Gill is treasurer. The company's offices are located at 501 119th Street. Other directors are Frank N. Gavit, Paul A. Scholz, Julius Szudinski and John Schaub.
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Fred J. Smith was not introduced to a business career by a wealthy father or through influential friends, but has carved out his destiny for himself. Born at LaPorte, Indiana, in 1862, a son of Louis and Sophia Smith, his father a tailor, his early training was in the public schools of LaPorte, and after leaving the high school he learned the trade of baker. Coming to Whiting in 1889, about the time the Stand- ard Oil Company began the construction of its plant, he opened the first bakery and restaurant in the town, his partner being Gallus Bader. Both interested themselves in real estate at the same time, and gradually the restaurant became a side issue, and was finally sold about 1898. Messrs. Smith & Bader were the organizers of the First National Bank of Whiting and are still the active head of that institution, a brief sketch of which is found on other pages. In 1905 they bought out the interests of Mr. Erskin in the Indiana Harbor National Bank and the First National Bank of East Chicago, and both Mr. Smith and Mr. Bader are directors in those institutions. In 1908 they organized the First State Bank of Tolleston, now in Gary. In 1913 the International Trust & Savings Bank was established by them at Gary. Besides these extensive financial interests Messrs. Smith & Bader are stockholders in several lumber yards conducted at different points in the Calumet district, assisted in the organization of the Petrolene Company of Whit- ing, and the Westrumite Company of Whiting.
Mr. Smith, though a busy man and with' the weight of large affairs on his shoulders, has manifested his public spirit through service to the community as mayor of Whiting from 1906 to 1910 and has the distinction of being elected the first trustee when Whiting was organized as a town.
Mr. Smith owns one of the fine homes in Whiting and is justly proud of his family. On April 11, 1888, he was married to Helen Maas, of La Porte. Their three sons are: Russell, who is manager of the Lake Sand Company of Chicago; Walter, a law student in the University of Chicago, and Lawrence, who is in the University of Illinois. Mr. Smith is a democrat in politics, though casting his vote independently and rather for the man than for the party, and in his religious affiliations is a member of the Lutheran Church.
A. J. LAUER, M. D. In active practice as a physician and surgeon at Whiting for more than twenty years, Doctor Lauer came to that city well equipped for his work, and has enjoyed the confidence and patronage of the best classes, and has high standing in the medical fraternity of Lake County.
Dr. A. J. Lauer was born at Rochester, Indiana, December 14, 1871, a son of Joseph and Mary Lauer, his father a merchant. With a public school education ending with the high school, Doctor Lauer equipped himself for his life work at the Bennett Medical College in Chicago, grad- uating M. D. in 1893, and after six months of practice at Monterey, Indiana, established an office in Whiting in 1893. His practice is of a general nature and he is one of the oldest physicians in the city. He has membership in all the medical societies and fraternally is identified with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Doctor Lauer is married and has one child, Gertrude.
GEORGE H. HOSKINS, M. D. Both in the character of his practice and the value of his service to the community, Doctor Hoskins is recognized
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as one of the leading physicians and surgeons at Whiting, where his home and professional work. have been for more than fifteen years. Doctor Hoskins had to depend upon himself during his youth, did hard manual and clerical labor for several years in order to pay his way through medical college, and both for that reason and on account of his skillful services since beginning practice his accomplishments are in the highest degree creditable.
Dr. George H. Hoskins was born at Essex, New York, October 18, 1872, a son of Henry E. and Mary E. (Mather) Hoskins. After the death of his father in 1876, his mother moved out to Grant Park, Illi- nois, and it was in that town that Doctor Hoskins grew up and received his early schooling. Subsequently he graduated in the Normal Depart- ment from Valparaiso University, and for several years was employed by the Esch Bros. & Rabe Ice Company of Chicago. In 1894 he entered Northwestern University Medical Department, and was graduated M. D. in June, 1898. His practice began at Whiting on July 5 of the same year, and he has been continuously identified with that city and has a large general practice. Doctor Hoskins has served as vice president of the Lake County Medical Society and has membership in both the State and American Medical Associations. From 1904 to 1908 he served as county coroner of Lake County.
On October 24, 1900, Doctor Hoskins married Bertha E. Dewey, of Grant Park, Illinois. Their three children are George H., Harley D., and Bertha E. Doctor Hoskins has affiliations with the Masonic Order through the Lodge, Royal Arch Chapter, Knights Templar Command- ery and the Mystic Shrine, and also with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. In politics he is republican.
WILLIAM H. WOLTER. As a practical business man and progressive citizen Hammond has none better than William H. Wolter, whose enter- prise as a hardware dealer is known as one of the landmarks of the trad- ing district, and who recently retired from long service as city treasurer. Experience, industry, concentration and good judgment have been respon- sible for the rise of Mr. Wolter from a position of clerk to an independ- ent business man.
William H. Wolter was born in Chicago on July 6, 1872, a son of William and Augusta Wolter. Educated in private schools, he early began making his own way by clerking in grocery and clothing stores. From Chicago he came to Hammond, and after fourteen years of experi- ence in the employ of others in 1901 established a hardware business of his own, and the Wolter store at 480-482 Hohman Street has a reputa- tion for reliable goods and the best ideals of mercantile enterprise, and a large proportion of its customers have been patronizing it steadily year after year.
In 1906 Mr. Wolter was elected city treasurer of Hammond, and his service was continuous until 1914. Besides his hardware business he is a director in the Hammond Brass Works, is a director in the Riverview Land and Investment Company of Gary, and is vice president of the La Vendor Cigar Company. He belongs to the Chamber of Commerce and the Country Club, is affiliated with the Masonic Order and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and Hammond people in gen- cral estimate him as a broad gange and liberal business man and enter- prising citizen.
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William 26. Holter
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On May 6, 1894, Mr. Wolter married Elizabeth Pleitner of Crown Point. Their three children are Lydia, a high school student, and Wil- fred and Arthur, twins.
ROY E. GREEN. A member of the Whiting bar for the past four years, Mr. Green is the present incumbent of the responsible office of city judge, and is one of the most popular of the municipal officers and his accomplishments promise an exceedingly successful career in the law and in public affairs.
Roy E. Green was born in Chicago, July 17, 1887. His parents, Edwin and Minnie E. Green, moved to Whiting in 1891. Roy E. Green is a graduate of the Whiting High School, was a student for a time in the University of Chicago, but in 1911 took his law degree at the Uni- versity of Michigan, and was admitted to the bar in the same year. For a year and a half his practice was in association with Frank Gavit at Whiting, but on March 4, 1913, he became junior member of the law firm of Fetterhoff & Green, his partner being Mr. J. H. Fetterhoff. Mr. Green was elected city judge of Whiting in the fall of 1913 and is now serving on a four year term.
On February 29, 1912, he married Ella Klose of Whiting, a daugh- ter of Robert and Augusta Klose. They are the parents of one daughter, Doris Jane. Mr. Green has affiliations with the Masonic Lodge, the Owl Club, is a progressive in politics, and with his family worships in the Congregational faith.
L. J. SCRITCHFIELD. One of the native sons of Lowell who grew up here and has been known to the community practically all his life is L. J. Scritchfield, who after some years of experience in other towns and cities returned to his native city and is now proprietor of a flour- ishing business as druggist.
L. J. Scritchfield was born at Lowell December 18, 1885, attended the public schools, graduating from the high school in 1905, and then took a course in pharmacy in Purdue University at Lafayette, finishing in 1907. In the same year he went to Detroit, and was employed with the great drug manufacturing house of Parke, Davis & Company until 1909. Then followed a year of employment with the Lowell druggist, D. C. Driscoll, but in 1910 Mr. Scritchfield became a chemist in the coke laboratory at the Indiana Steel Company's plant in Gary. On August 1, 1913, Mr. Seritchfield returned to Lowell and bought out the business of Mr. D. C. Driscoll, and has since been one of the independent merchants of this beautiful residence town of Lake County. His store occupies space 25x75 feet, and the equipment comprises a full line of drugs, wall paper, paints, and it is one of the chain of Rexall stores.
Mr. Seritchfield was married July 14, 1912, to Hazel E. Smith, a graduate of the Crown Point High School and a resident of that city before her marriage. They have one child, Virginia, born in 1913. Mr. Seritchfield is a member of Colfax Lodge, No. 387, A. F. & A. M., and also of the Order of Eastern Star. In politics he is independent, and his church is the Methodist.
.GEORGE W. DAVIS. The recent retirement of George W. Davis was justified by the accomplishment of success in its most desirable form, by years of devotion to the various enterprises with which he was con- Tol. II-10
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nected, by faithfulness to trust in war and in peace, and by honorable service in public office. Although many years of his life have been passed outside the limits of his native state, he has always been true to its best interests, and now, in the evening of life, he is passing the years in comfort, surrounded by the luxuries which his former industry brought to him.
Mr. Davis was born at Orchard Grove, Lake County, Indiana, April 23, 1847, and secured his education in the country schools. His boy- hood was passed amid pioneer surroundings, and his memory takes him back to the days when deer, wild geese and wild ducks were plentiful in this region, and when there was not a building standing between Orchard Grove and Crown Point. An industrious and enterprising lad, he was twelve years of age when he laid aside his school books and began to devote all his energies to assisting his father in the work of the home farm, and was thus engaged when the Civil war broke out and called the youth of the land for the defense of the flag. At that time he was too young to be accepted as a soldier, but in 1863, when only sixteen years old, was successful in enlisting in an Indiana regiment of volunteers, and subsequently participated in the great Georgia cam- paign under General Stoneman. Following Sherman's famous march to the sea, his command was sent back to Tennessee, where he saw service until the fall of 1865 and was then granted his honorable dis- charge, at Murfreesboro. Although little more than a child, he played a man's part in the engagements in which he participated, and his company had no more brave or faithful soldier. On the completion of his service, he returned to Orchard Lake and resumed farming, in which he continued to be engaged until 1870, in which year he moved to Kan- sas. There he was engaged in a variety of pursuits, principally farm- ing and hardware merchandising, and while a resident of Woodson County, Kansas, served in the capacity of sheriff for two years. Later he embarked in the retail hardware business in Kiowa County, Kansas, and while there was elected county treasurer for one term. In 1892 Mr. Davis returned to Lake County, where he has since resided, and now owns his own home and other town property, as well as a tract of timber land and much pasture land outside of town. Mr. Davis has led a career that is unblemished by selfishness, for at all times he has been ready to assist others to the success that he himself has so worthily attained. He is able to rest content in the knowledge of his steadfast fidelity to the obligations of duty, and of the high regard and estcem in which he is held by those who know him best.
In May, 1867, Mr. Davis was married to Miss Alverdia M. Handley, of Orchard Grove, Indiana, who was educated in the country schools, and still survives in a hale and hearty old age. She has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church since her twelfth year, and is still active in church and Sunday school work. Mr. and Mrs. Davis have an adopted son, Ernest M., whom they took to their home and hearts when he was an infant, and who for fifteen years has been a traveling salesman for a hardware concern. He is a resident of Chanute, Kansas, is married and has three children. . Politically Mr. Davis was for many years identified with the republican party, but since 1912 has given his allegiance to the progressives. He has, however, retired from public life, and takes only that interest in political matters that is taken by every good citizen.
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YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF GARY. To those who are moderately familiar with the scope of the work of the Y. M. C. A. else- where, the Gary association will be noteworthy chiefly because so much has been accomplished in a short time, and because the institution has adapted itself so splendidly to the varied and complicated demands put upon it in its efforts to serve that industrial center, with its thousands of inhabitants, speaking polyglot languages, representing all creeds and practically all nations and of all types of intellectuality and culture. Those who are not so familiar with Y. M. C. A. work would be astonished at the breadth and completeness of its system and organization and the numerous departments of its work. The Gary association is more than a home for Christian young men; it is a university, a club, a place for physical, moral and intellectual pleasure, a social center, and more than any other one institution in the city, satisfies the natural desires of wholesome young manhood for intellectual and social diversions, physical training, and moral and religious growth.
The Gary association building in its size, its architectural simplicity and beauty, is on a par with the splendid school and other public and semi-public buildings, which are the source of such pride to all Gary citizens. The building was dedicated on February 4, 1912, and its total cost was $274,000. The construction of this handsome home for young men in Gary was made possible through the generosity of Judge E. H. Gary. A tablet in the lobby of the building, containing a medallion portrait of Judge Gary, recites the fact that "this building and site are the gift of Elbert II. Gary, 1910." Also, occupying the main por- tion of the tablet, is the following inscription: "In appreciation of his friendship and of his generous gift which have made the erection of this building possible, the Young Men's Christian Association of Gary has raised this tablet, that all may know him as a benefactor of the whole community through this Christian institution."
The association of Gary was incorporated February 10, 1910. Some of the leading men of the city were its first trustees, and all the original trustees are still in active service, named as follows: William P. Glea- son, chairman ; Horace S. Norton, Samuel Miller, A. R. McArthur and John Kirk.
The first directors of the association were: W. H. Kliver, W. A. Wirt, C. A. DeLong, H. G. Hay, Jr., A. B. Keller, Frank Traver, Charles W. Hawthorne, M. N. Goodnow, C. V. Ridgeley, T. H. Cutler, L. W. McNamee, C. O. Holmes. Mr. Wirt was the first president of the board of directors, and was succeeded by the present incumbent of that office, on March 4, 1911, Mr. A. B. Keller. L. W. McNamee, vice president, C. A. DeLong, recording secretary, and Thos. H. Cutler, treasurer, have all held office from the first. Mr. C. M. Mayne was elected general secre- tary in June, 1911, and has been in active charge of the work of the association since August, of that year.
Judge Gary contributed $234,000 for the erection of the association building, while the steel corporation put in all the equipment. While the spacious reception room, the assembly room, the dining rooms and dormitories, the gymnasium, the quarters set aside for games, the read- ing room and other special facilities, all worthy of note, measure up to the high standard set by the best Y. M. C. A. associations in the coun- try, it is probable that the most conspicuous feature of the Gary in- stitution is what is known as the Association Institute. This is in prac- tical operation a university, affording a comprehensive literary train-
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