USA > Indiana > Lake County > A standard history of Lake County, Indiana, and the Calumet region, Volume II > Part 21
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ing, the opportunities of a school of technology, and also those of a com- mercial school. There is a department of languages in which are afforded special advantages to foreigners who desire to perfeet their knowledge of English, and at the same time courses are offered in French, Ger- man. Spanish and other continental tongues. There are well-equipped laboratories for the study of physics, chemistry, applied electricity, engineering, architecture, and many other practical arts. The eommer- cial courses offer training in shorthand, typewriting, commercial Eng- lish and business forms, arithmetie, and commercial law. All the courses have been arranged and systematized, not for the purpose of copying some other similar institution in another city, nor on a theoretical plan, but to serve the practical requirements of Gary and those who come as students to the institute, and this educational feature alone is sufficient to justify the existence of the Gary association. The first classes were begun early in 1912, and by the elose of the first term, 275 persons had enrolled for courses of instruction.
C. M. MAYNE. The general secretary of the Young Men's Christian Association of Gary, who has been at the head of the association's work sinee it began, has had a long and active experience in this line, hav- ing served the Y. M. C. A. of Omaha and Lincoln, Nebraska, before coming to Gary. He is devoted to his work, and both by his own experi- enee and training and character has a deep insight and sympathetic appreciation of the needs of young men, so that his fitness for his heavy responsibilities is undisputed.
C. M. Mayne was born in Potosi, Wisconsin, in 1871, a son of Rev. Nicholas and Mary Mayne. His father was a Congregational minister. Mr. Mayne had a liberal education, was a student in the Platteville Nor- mal School of Wisconsin, and later in the Beloit College in the same state. After a brief experience in newspaper work, he went on the road and traveled for two years, representing a lyceum bureau and also a school text book publishing house. Mr. Mayne has been in Y. M. C. A. work for twenty years. On September 4, 1894, he became assistant in the Omaha association, where he remained six years, and in 1900 took charge of the association of Lincoln, Nebraska, as general secretary, and was there eleven years, coming to Gary in August, 1911.
On March 6, 1895, Mr. Mayne married Celia Booth, of Omaha. Their four children are Norman, Willis, Mary and Dorothy. Mr. Mayne has membership in the Gary Commercial Club and is independent in polities.
KONSTANTINE M. WOSZCZYNSKI. While America has been the land of opportunity for the millions of Europe for many years, it is a proof of unusual ability, exceptional business integrity, and leadership among men. when a young man can come across the seas and in a few years reach a successful place in business and besides his official relations with banks and business organizations be honored as mayor of a city and take a prominent part in public affairs. Such has been the distinction of Konstantine M. Woszezynski, now mayor of the City of West Hammond, and for many years identified with that community.
Konstantine M. Woszezynski was born in German Poland August 12. 1872, a son of Vincent and Theophilia Woszezynski. The father was a farmer. With an education acquired in the common schools of his native land, Mr. Woszczynski came to America in 1899, at the age of
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seventeen, and for the first six years was employed in a bicycle factory in Chicago. His residence at West Hammond dates from 1895, and he was first known in the community as a worker in the Simplex factory. He was a machine hand for three years, and then was made foreman in the polishing and plating department of the Tube Works, which place he held two years. For three years he was foreman in the Enterprise Bed Company, and then gave most of his attention to the operation of a moving picture house in East Chicago. In 1908 he established a saloon on State Line Street.
For three terms Mr. Woszczynski was trustee of the Village of West Hammond, and on the incorporation of the city was elected mayor in 1911 and in 1912 was chosen for a term of two years. He is a former president of the Board of Directors of the public schools of West Ham- mond, and had a very important part in the management of the school interests of that locality. It was due to the enterprise of Mr. Woszczyn- ski that the King John III Sobieski No. 1 Building and Loan Association of West Hammond was organized, and he has been secretary of that fine institution since the beginning. It was organized in 1901, and its present resources total $110,000. Mr. Woszczynski is also a director of the West Hammond Trust & Savings Bank.
In November, 1895, at Chicago, he married Mary Bizan, who was born in German Poland. Their four children are: Mieczyslaus, attend- ing high school; Alfons; Henry; and Alice. The family worship in St. Andrew's Church.
EDWIN H. FARR. The Whiting Call, one of the most widely read weekly papers in Lake County, was established June 16, 1906, by Edwin H. Farr, who has been identified with the printing and newspaper busi- ness nearly all his life, and has broad experience in Chicago and else- where. The Call has a weekly issue, an eight-page paper, and every- thing is home print.
Edwin H. Farr was born at Glens Falls, New York, November 16, 1873, a son of Reuben and Mary (Sinclair) Farr. His father was a contractor, and in 1882 the family moved out to Hinsdale, Illinois, where Edwin was reared and received a public school education. While at Hinsdale he entered the printing business, subsequently worked in Chicago at his trade, and in 1894 became editor of the Farmers Advo- cate at Malone, New York. After four months he again returned to Chicago, was employed in different offices, and in 1904 leased the Whit- ing News. Two years later he established the Whiting Call and has since been its proprietor and editor.
Mr. Farr was married October 30, 1898, to Anna Katherine Well- man, of Chicago. Their three children are Alice, Edwin and Estelle. Mr. Farr has fraternal relations with the Fraternal Order of Eagles and in politics is a progressive.
JOIIN A. BRENNAN. A man of affairs, whose investments, enterprises and influence have been important factors in the upbuilding of Gary almost from the establishment of that city, is John A. Brennan, who is one of the pioneers of Gary by reason of having come to the city in 1906, and who had previously been a successful contractor and in other lines of business in Pennsylvania and elsewhere.
Pennsylvania is Mr. Brennan's native state and he was born at Car- bondale, December 16, 1864. With a public school education, reenforced
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by attendance at St. Bonaventure's College of New York, he spent five of the earlier years of his career as a school teacher in Pennsylvania. Subsequently he engaged in contracting, and also did a large amount of prospecting in coal and mineral lines. On coming to Gary in 1906, Mr. Brennan built and completed, in the following year, the Brennan Block, one of the notable structures of the business district, at the south- west corner of Sixth and Broadway. For several years he was in the drug business with Harry Stringfellow, but has since retired from that line of merchandising. A number of buildings have been constructed with the capital of Mr. Brennan in Gary, including the Hotel Wash- ington, and he is one of the proprietors of the Victoria Hotel in this city. He has the distinction of having erected the first business build- ing in the Ambridge District.
Mr. Brennan has three children. He is a charter member of the Gary Lodge of Elks, and served as its second exalted ruler, and is a grand knight of the Knights of Columbus. His church is the Catholic. He is a republican in polities, and was the first candidate of that party for the office of mayor of the City of Gary, in 1909. His defeat was by the narrow margin of seventy-one votes.
AMERICAN BRIDGE COMPANY. In many ways the most advanced type of modern industrialism of Gary, is the American Bridge Company's plant. It is an immense factory, with efficiency and system in evidence down to the last detail, but at the same time has an environment and sanitary and comfort conveniences that are more suggestive of a college campus than a factory for strictly business purposes.
The general office and the works occupy a beautiful site on the grand Calumet, near Ambridge Street. Across the river from the works is the handsome suburb of workmen's modern homes. The site of the plant occupies about one hundred and forty acres, and in the first units of the plant are already employed about fifteen hundred men. On account of the distance from Gary the Gary Land Company erected some three hundred houses, all of modern design and with all the conveniences, to be used exclusively by the workmen.
The American Bridge Company was established at Gary, in 1909, in which year the grounds were surveyed and the first building con- struction was begun in 1910. The present units in operation have a capacity of 120,000 tons of finished product each year. The output is bridge and structural steel. The raw material is brought from the roll- ing mills at South Chicago and Gary. The rolled steel is brought into the bridge shops, and is rewrought and fitted together on order so that the material, when it goes out from the Gary works, is complete and ready for erection. Some of the largest modern skyscrapers in the country are built from structural steel furnished by the Gary plant.
A notable feature of the works is the handsome three-story general office building, which is regarded as the finest office building in Gary, built on a foundation 44x150 feet, fireproof, and of reinforced concrete construction. In the general office are employed at present a staff of about one hundred and fifty engineers and draftsmen, superintendents and general clerical force. On one floor is found a handsome recreation and lunchroom, where employes assemble at the lunch hour. Nearby is a splendid athletic field, and the welfare of the employes is carefully looked after. The Gary plant is located on the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway, having twelve side tracks and trackage of about five miles.
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Throughout the works the motive power is electricity, and there is no subsidiary plant of the steel corporation equipped with more perfect and later machinery and appliances and efficiency methods than the Gary works.
Twenty-five years ago, George M. Hunter, manager of the Gary plant, was a boy worker in the ranks of one of the plants since merged with the larger corporation now known as the American Bridge Company. It was by a capacity and talent for hard work and skillful management of industrial details that brought him by successive stages to his present executive position.
George M. Hunter was born in Scotland, in 1875, a son of Robert and Helen Hunter. His father first came to the United States when a young man and was engaged in the coal business at Youngstown, Ohio, later returned to his native land, was married and brought his bride to his new home in the new world. Out of seven children, George M. Hunter was the only one born in Scotland, and his birth occurred there while his parents were on a visit. He grew up and received a public school education at Youngstown, and in 1889, when fourteen years of age, entered the employ of the Youngstown Bridge Company. That plant was merged with the American Bridge Company in 1900. In the mean- time, Mr. Hunter had been promoted again and again, finally went to Pittsburgh as assistant to the operating division manager, and in 1902 was made manager of the Youngstown plant, where he had received his first experience. In 1904 he was made assistant manager of the Ambridge plant near Pittsburgh and remained there until 1910, when he was assigned to the Gary works, which eventually will become the largest plant of its kind in the world.
In 1901 Mr. Hunter married Grace Brownlee of Youngstown. They are the parents of three children. Mr. Hunter has identified himself closely with Gary affairs since taking up his residence there, and was a member of the library board when the handsome Gary Public Library was built. He is a Royal Arch Mason, also belongs to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, has membership in the Gary Commercial Club, and in politics is a republican.
W. G. WRIGHT. The business men of Gary are to a remarkable de- gree characterized by public spirit and an energy in promoting the substantial welfare of the city, which is not less noteworthy in a survey of this remarkable industrial center, than the splendid material achieve- ments. They are men who, while looking after their private interests, are always willing to get out and work for some advantage only remotely connected with a selfish advantage, and it is a fine augury for the future that Gary contains so large a group of this class.
One of the Gary boosters who has made himself useful in many ways is W. G. Wright, who occupies a handsome office at the corner of Sixth avenue and Washington Street, and who owns and controls some eight hundred acres within the city limits of Gary. Mr. Wright recently published, at large expense, a handsome booklet entitled "Gary," which though filled with halftone illustrations depicting all the most conspicu- ous features of the city, and graphically showing the contrast between the modern city and the conditions there only a few years ago, is also supplied with a text story of Gary, which contains an excellent epitome of local history. Such a booklet is a splendid advertisement for the city as a whole, and serves better than any other medium to indicate what
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modern Gary stands for, not only as a center for the production of steel and other products, but also as a wonderful civic and social community.
W. G. Wright is a Canadian by birth, born in 1867, a son of George C. and Elizabeth (Goldsmith) Wright. The parents, in 1878, went to the far West, and in Manitoba homesteaded land, in what was then a frontier country. The Wright family were originally residents of the American Colonies, and at the time of the Revolution remained loyal to the mother country and emigrated north to Canada. There were four sons in the family, and the father became a large landowner in Manitoba. W. G. Wright was educated in the Western province in the public schools. and also attended the Wesleyan College at Winnipeg, Manitoba.
In 1896 he moved to Chicago, and for some years was engaged in the life insurance and in the stock and bond business. Coming to Gary in the fall of 1909, he established himself in the real-estate business, and has since acquired interests and conducted a business second to none in that line. Mr. Wright was married in 1901, to Miss Agnes White of Ontario, and they are the parents of one child. Fraternally Mr. Wright affiliates with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and belongs to the Hamilton Club of Chicago.
THE INDIANA AND ILLINOIS LAND COMPANY. This is one of the larg- est companies engaged in the sale and improvement of new subdivisions in and about the City of Gary. The company was incorporated in 1906, and while its operations are not confined to Gary, that city is its headquarters and for several years most of the business has been done in that locality. Charles A. Murphy is president of the company, and J. P. Tolliver is secretary and active manager.
The Indiana and Illinois Land Company in 1907 offered to the public the Highland Park Addition of twenty acres, which was subdivided and sold in building lots, lying between Forty-first and Forty-third avenues and Jackson and Harrison streets. In the same year was put on the second Highland Park Addition of forty-three acres, lying between Delaware and Georgia streets and 37th and 39th avenues. The com- pany still has six acres undivided, besides a great deal of property scattered in small blocks in and about the city. An important feature of the company's work has been the building of homes either by private contract with purchasers, or in advance of sale, and these homes are sold on advantageous terms to the people of Gary who want homes of their own, but have only moderate means and income to pay for them. The company since its organization has sold, and in many cases improved, 583 lots to date. Among other properties controlled by the company is a two-story brick block, at 3958 Broadway.
Mr. J. P. Tolliver, who since 1911 has been the active manager of the company at Gary, is a Tennessee man, born in that state in 1875, a son of J. B. and Caroline Tolliver. During his young manhood Mr. Tolli- ver attended the Cumberland University at Lebanon, Tennessee, and his first active experience in business affairs was in the general offices of the Illinois Central Railway at Chicago. He first became interested in Gary in a business way in 1908, and has had his home in the city since 1911. In the latter year he became identified with the Indiana and Illinois Land Company, and has been its secretary and active manager since that day. Mr. Tolliver is also secretary and treasurer of the Port Huron Packing Company, and which bids fair to become one of the mainstays of commercial prosperity in that locality. The company invested $50,000
Por. Benedict Papcamy
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in buildings in 1913, and during that year the payroll of the company amounted to $18,000, so that it is already a valuable asset to the com- munity. Mr. Tolliver is a democrat in politics, and a member of the Gary Commercial Club.
REV. BENEDICT RAJCANY. One of the most vigorous church organiza- tions in Whiting is St. John the Baptist Church, established in 1897 as a religious center for the Slavish people of Whiting and vicinity. It has now a church membership of about two thousand souls, whose spiritual leader and adviser is known both within and without the parish as "Little Father Benedict," a priest whose zeal for religion, whose ardent Amer- ican patriotism, and whose charity and public spirit are not to be meas- ured by the physical stature which nature has given him.
Owing to the fact that the Sacred Heart Church was becoming inade- quate to meet the needs of the growing foreign population, Bishop Rade- macher sent to Hungary for a priest who could speak the Slavish tongue and could administer to the needs of that people. In 1897 Father Bene- dict came and organized the parish, put up a church, rectory and secured accommodations for teachers and pupils. His organization progressed in spite of hardships and misfortunes, and the material development of the parish was crowned with the erection of a handsome new church in 1912 at a cost of $18,000. The people of the parish credit Father Benedict with practically all the honors of this achievement. At the present time the school has 436 students with eight teachers and the church grounds have been improved both in appearance and in value, and the priest's residence is in the midst of flowers and shrubbery, indicative of the faith of this devoted Slavish priest. Father Rajcany also looks after the interests of his people in East Chicago and Indiana Harbor.
Father Benedict was born February 2, 1869, at Galgocz, Hungary, was trained for the priesthood in the Franciscan Order, and was ordained January 23, 1892, and did his work in his native land until called to America by Bishop Rademacher in 1897.
HARRY STRINGFELLOW. When Gary has attained the dignity of long years, such as is enjoyed by many lesser cities of the Middle West, the perspective of history will single out and give prominence to those who were pioneers in the different branches of trade and industry and in citizenship. The honor of being the proprietor of the first exclusive drug store in the city will belong to Harry Stringfellow, whose mer- cantile activities in that line began soon after the establishment of the industrial city, and who is still in business, and has two large and finely equipped stores.
Harry Stringfellow was born at Findlay, Ohio, in 1873, a son of Benjamin and Catherine Stringfellow. His father was a farmer; he grew up in the country, and had the advantages of the public schools, while later he entered the Ohio State University, and in 1890 finished a course in pharmacy. In 1891 he opened a store at Elwood, Indiana, and remained in that city until 1895. Elwood was at that time prac- tically a new community, a center of great industrial development follow- ing the development of the natural gas field in that section of Indiana, and thus Mr. Stringfellow has been an early merchant in two Indiana cities. From Elwood he moved to Akron, Ohio, where he remained until 1904, and then returned to Elwood and bought another store. Early in 1907 Mr. Stringfellow came to Gary, and opened the first drug store
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in a building at the corner of Sixth and Broadway. Subsequently he sold out at that location, and established his place of business at Fifth Avenue and Ambridge. In April, 1913 he extended his business by open- ing up a store at Fifth and Broadway. IIe is a live and enterprising merchant, thoroughly familiar with the drug trade, and has enjoyed a share of the large prosperity which has characterized Gary since its establishment.
On September 23, 1896, Mr. Stringfellow married Mary Carlton, of Elwood, Indiana. They have one son, Carlton. Mr. Stringfellow affiliates with the Masonic order, the Benevolent and Portective Order of Elks, and the Gary Commercial Club. A republican in politics, he is now serving as a member of the board of public works.
J. L. PYLE. The career of Mr. Pyle as a building contractor covers nearly twenty-five years. His experience has been in various parts of the country, both East and West, and he arrived at Gary in May of 1906, at a time when practically nothing had been done towards the development of the site except the drawing of plans and the inception of some of the great work undertaken by the steel corporation. Mr. Pyle's services and organization has been employed in the construction of a large number of the more important business and private build- ings at Gary. He has taken pains to furnish adequate service, provides for reliable fulfillment of all contractual promises, and a financially responsible management, so that any business entrusted to his charge is practically assured of satisfactory performance.
Mr. Pyle has built the Reynolds Building, the Brant flat building, the Massachusetts flats, the Salinger apartments, the Iowa flats, the John Kirk flats and also his private residence, the Harries Building, the North- ern State Bank Building, the Tin Plate office building, the office build- ing at Gibson of the C. I. & S. Railway Company, besides many smaller structures of various types.
J. L. Pyle is a native of Pennsylvania, where he was born in 1860, a son of William and Sarah Pyle. His father was a Pennsylvania farmer, and the son grew up in the country, attended school during his boy- hood, and after a variety of experience, engaged in the contracting busi- ness in Pennsylvania when he was thirty years of age. From 1905, for about sixteen months, Mr. Pyle was in business at Los Angeles, Cali- fornia, moved to Chicago in 1905, and from there to Gary in 1907. Mr. Pyle in 1905 married Rose O'Brien of Newcastle, Pennsylvania. His fraternal affiliations are with the Masonic order, his name is on the list of membership in the Gary Commercial Club, and in politics he classifies as a progressive republican.
JOSEPH FROST. The business record of Joseph Frost in Gary, as a contractor and builder, covers a period since the beginning of the city, in the year 1906, and has resulted in a large amount of construction work, much of it during the first years, in the building of homes for the steel company, and later his independent enterprise has extended to the buying of property and the building of homes and other structures, which he has subsequently sold to private investors and home owners.
Joseph Frost is a native of England, born in 1878, at Lydney in Gloucester, a son of George and Eliza (Anthony) Frost. His father was a blacksmith by trade. The son obtained a public school education, and early in life entered upon a somewhat varied and interesting career
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as a contractor and builder. For five years he operated along those lines in South Africa, and after coming to the United States, in 1906, prepared himself for greater usefulness in his profession by taking a course of study in the Valparaiso University. In November, 1906, he located at Gary, and was employed by the Falkeneau Construction Com- pany, a concern which erected about four hundred and fifty houses for the steel corporation. Since 1908 Mr. Frost has been in business on his own account, and only a few of the more notable features of his work can be noticed. He built the Sydney Hotel, the Lyndon apart- ments, besides several other apartment buildings, the Majestic Theatre, and a large number of residences. His work on an independent scale has comprised the purchase of about sixty lots from the Gary Land Company, all of which have been improved with buildings, and much of this property sold and the rest now being rented. Mr. Frost is affili- ated with the Masonic order and the Knights of Pythias, is an active member of the Gary Commercial Club, the Gary Y. M. C. A., is a Con- gregationalist in religion, and in politics a progressive.
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