USA > Indiana > Lake County > A standard history of Lake County, Indiana, and the Calumet region, Volume II > Part 24
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DR. R. C. STAMPER. President of the Gary Dental Society, Doctor Stamper is one of the most skillful workers in his profession in the Cal- umet region, and at the same time a genial gentleman who has made hosts of friends in several communities.
He was born January 18, 1881, in Kentucky, a son of C. M. and Melissa (Martin) Stamper. His father was a teacher for many years. Doctor Stamper received a fair education in the public schools, and is a graduate of the Ohio College of Dental Surgery, having been gradu-
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ated in May, 1906. His practice was in the cities of Indianapolis and Paducah, Kentucky, until 1909, when he came to the City of Gary and has since successfully established himself. He is a member of the Gary, the Lake County, the Chicago Dental societies, and his professional asso- ciates at Gary have honored him with the office of president of the local society.
In May, 1911, Doctor Stamper married Ethel Webb, and they have one daughter, Mary Elizabeth. The family are Methodists and in polities the doctor is republican.
JOSEPH C. TRACEY who is in charge of the Postal Savings System of the Gary postoffice, and since 1913 assistant postmaster, has spent practically his entire active career in the postal service. It is unusual when a department of the Federal Government affords a field for a permanent career, and Mr. Tracey is one of the comparatively few men who have been identified with the postoffice department in different parts of the country through more than twenty years.
Born at Cleveland, Ohio, in 1868, a son of P. J. and Margaret Tracey, Joseph C. Tracey was educated in the parochial schools and in St. Mary's College at Dayton, Ohio. After some early experiences in different lines, in 1892 he was made an employe in the postal service at Cleve- land, and remained in that city until 1904. That year the postoffice department appointed him to the foreign service in the Philippine Islands, where he spent five years in the military branch of the post- office department at Manila and in the southern islands. On returning home Mr. Tracey came through the Suez Canal, through Europe, and by way of New York. His home has been in Gary since 1910, and he has been one of the efficient members of the local postoffice staff.
MARTIN JAMES SMITHI. Though one of the younger members of the Lake County bar, Martin James Smith has come in for a generous share of professional business and distinctions of the law and local business affairs. Ile has the honor of being the first city attorney when Crown Point passed from its town grade into its existence as a city on June 6th, 1911.
Born on a farm at Morrisville in Dane County, Wisconsin, December 9. 1878, Mr. Smith grew up in the rural district not far from the City of Madison, had an environment that was neither poverty nor affluence, and worked his way through college and has depended upon his own efforts for advancement in affairs. His parents were John and Mary (Butler) Smith, substantial farming people in Dane County. The dis- triet schools furnished him his first education, and after working to acquire the means he spent one year in the law department of the Univer- sity of Wisconsin, and then transferred to the Valparaiso University and was graduated LL.B. in 1907. His first practical experience as a lawyer was in Hammond, but after a short time he moved to Crown Point in 1908, and has since enjoyed a good general practice in the county seat. In 1914, after the organization of the second city administration he was again elected city attorney of Crown Point, having come to that office after four years of service from January 1, 1909 to 1913 as deputy prosecuting attorney of Lake County. He has framed the various fran- chises, ordinances, and contracts which have furnished the basis for public improvements and various public utilities of Crown Point. Mr.
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Martin J. Smith
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Smith is a member of the Crown Point Chamber of Commerce, the Lake County Bar Association, and is a director and attorney for the People's Fuel Gas Company of Crown Point.
On November 4, 1911, Mr. Smith married Julia Hughes of Chicago.
GUSTAVE S. WIDHOLM. A lawyer, one of the early members of his profession to locate at Gary, Gustave S. Widholm has practiced in that city for seven years, and though still in his early thirties, has estab- lished an excellent practice, and has a splendid future before him.
Though a native of Sweden, where he was born in 1881, his home has been in America since childhood and he is a product of American schools and institutions. His parents, Gustave and Augusta Widholm, emigrated to the United States in 1865, and after two years' residence in Pennsylvania moved out to Illinois in 1887 where the father became a farmer in the vicinity of Kankakee. With his early boyhood spent in the country, Gustave S. Widholm made the best use of his opportu- nities, attended the public schools, later the Hoopeston Academy, and took the scientific course and studied law at Valparaiso University. Admitted to the bar in 1907, he began practice at Gary in September of the same year, and aside from two years as a member of the firm of Curtis, Widholm & Slick, has had an office to himself, and has done exceedingly well in his profession.
On February 4, 1911, Mr. Widholm married Ruth Wallenberg, of Chicago, and they are the parents of one son. Fraternally he affiliates with the Masonic order, is a member of the Gary Commercial Club, and in politics is a progressive republican.
SIMON BROS. The enterprise of the Simon Bros. has left its mark in a number of ways in the Calumet region during the past ten years. They have been well known in business since they opened a stock of jewelry at South Chicago on September 6, 1902, and on May 1, 1910, expanded their business scope by establishing a similar store in the City of Gary. The proprietors are Charles J. and Lewis Simon, and the elder brother is still active manager of the South Chicago branch of the business, while Lewis is one of the live and enterprising merchants and citizens of Gary. During 1911 a drug store was conducted in the same building with the jewelry establishment, but on August 1, 1912, they moved the stock of drugs to the corner of Eighth and Broadway, and there have one of the best drug stores in the city. The Simon Bros. re- modeled at an expense of $30,000 the Paine Building in Gary, which is one of the landmarks in the business district. Another enterprise con- ducted by them is the Grand Theater, which was started as a stock com- pany and vaudeville house, but is now exclusively devoted to moving pictures. Both the Simon Bros. are natives of Chicago, and sons of Joseph Simon, a retired contractor, who has at different times acquired interests in real estate. Lewis Simon was born in Chicago, November 22, 1885, and was trained both in school and by practical experience for a business career. When he was sixteen years old he joined his brother Charles in business, and his success has come from a steady concentra- tion of effort along one line. Mr. Lewis Simon affiliates with the Benev- olent and Protective Order of Elks and the Masonic order, the Knights of Pythias and the Loyal Order of Moose, and belongs to the Gary Com- mercial Club, and in politics maintains an independent attitude.
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INTERNATIONAL TRUST & SAVINGS BANK OF GARY. The International Trust & Savings Bank of Gary was granted a charter under the laws of Indiana in June. 1913, and its doors were opened for business on July 1 of that year, in the Servia Building at 800 Broadway. With a capital stock of $60,000, the International Trust & Savings Bank has excep- tional facilities for varied and important service to the community. Along with good service both to business and individuals, the company has emphasized the principle of "safety first," and every safeguard has been provided to insure absolute security of all funds entrusted to the keeping of this organization. Under its charter it is both a banking and trust company, and offers facilities for the execution of a wide variety of trusts, including powers as agent or attorney, as trustee, as treasurer, as custodian, as depositary, as assignee or receiver, as executor or ad- ministrator under wills, and in the management of estates. The com- pany also have a mortgage department, making first mortgage loans on real estate, and a considerable sum of money has already been placed through this company, on individual home buildings, and every conven- ience in this direction is afforded consistent with conservative and sound banking methods. The company also provides the facilities of general banking and a savings department, with interest at 3 per cent on savings deposits. The organizers of the International Trust & Sav- ings Bank are chiefly LaPorte men. The leader is John W. Albright. now president of the bank, who was formerly from LaPorte, but for a number of years had a broad and varied experience as a commercial salesman traveling for the wholesale dry goods houses, and later as a banker and business man in Illinois. Besides Mr. Albright, the other officers are: Gallus J. Bader, vice president ; Charles D. Davidson, secretary treasurer ; Joseph M. Stephenson, cashier; Edward F. Stock, manager of the foreign exchange department; John W. Niemiec, book- keeper; and John O. Bowers, attorney for the board. The directors are: Gallus J. Bader, Fred J. Smith, Rome C. Stephenson, John O. Bowers, Julins Szudzinski, Charles D. Davidson and John W. Albright. Mr. Bader and Fred J. Smith have long been identified with banking affairs in Northern Indiana and in the Calumet region. Mr. Bader is president of the First National Bank of East Chicago, and of the Indi- ana HIarbor National Bank, of the First State Bank of Tolleston, is inter- ested in several banks at LaPorte, and his home is in Whiting. Mr. Stephenson is vice president of the St. Joseph Loan & Trust Company of South Bend. Thus the character of the officials and directors is of itself a high guarantee of the company's management, and in the few months since it was established the business has grown beyond all expec- tation.
John W. Albright was born in 1869, at LaPorte, Indiana, and grew up in that city and attended the public schools. In 1890, going to Chicago, he became an employe in the Marshall Field & Company wholesale dry goods department, and for eight years represented that house on the road. Seven years following were spent as commercial salesman for the Rice-Stix Dry Goods Company of St. Louis, and Mr. Albright then engaged in the retail dry goods business at Beardstown, Illinois. He was a director and the organizer of the Beardstown State Bank, and previously had assisted in the organization of the Alton Bank- ing and Trust Company at Alton. His interests in Southern Illinois were sold out in January, 1913, and he then came to Gary and perfected the organization of the International Trust & Savings Bank. Both Mr.
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Bader and Mr. Smith were boyhood friends of Mr. Albright in LaPorte.
In July, 1898, Mr. Albright married Elizabeth Louise Kuhl of Beardstown, a daughter of George S. Kuhl, a dry goods merchant of that city. They have two daughters: Catherine, aged twelve years, and Marjorie, aged five. Mr. Albright has taken thirty-two degrees in Scottish Rite Masonry, also the Knight Templar degrees, belongs to the Mystic Shrine, and also has membership with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He attends worship in the Congregational Church, and in politics is non-partisan.
O. S. McGINNITY. The president of the Condit & McGinnity Realty Company, a sketch of which organization and its chief activities is presented elsewhere in this work, has been longer in the real-estate business at Gary than any other independent operator, and his busi- ness activities have contributed in no small degree to the extension and upbuilding of this remarkable industrial city.
O. S. McGinnity was born in Mineral Point, Wisconsin, in 1875. His parents, James and Catherine (Carroll) McGinnity, are now liv- ing retired in Wisconsin. A public school education prepared Mr. McGinnity for his business career, and for three years he was a travel- ing salesman for a wholesale lumber firm. In 1903 he moved to Chi- cago and engaged in real-estate, and from there, in October 1906, came to Gary. He was one of the first independent operators at Gary, and his keen judgment of possibilities and future development, his enthusi- asm for the growing community, and his steady energy and resourceful- ness have been factors which have brought him more than ordinary success.
In October, 1908, Mr. McGinnity married Catherine E. Rogan of Chicago, and they are the parents of one daughter. The family are members of the Catholic Church, and in politics he is independent.
CONDIT & MCGINNITY. Probably no other real-estate firm of Gary has developed more property and contributed more to the upbuilding of the residence quarters of the city than that of Condit & McGinnity. They are likewise one of the oldest in their line at Gary, the business having been started in October, 1906, very shortly after population began to collect around the mills and other activities which constituted the original Gary. The business was a partnership from October, 1906, until January 14, 1909, and was then incorporated with the following officers : O. S. McGinnity, president; G. P. Condit, secretary and treas- urer; and E. S. Condit, vice president. Since then the only change in the personnel of the firm has been R. P. Condit who has become vice president.
The list of activities of the firm in the last eight years would be too long for complete description, but in that time it has opened up the following well known subdivisions : Grant Park Addition, Second Grant Park Addition, Third Grant Park Addition; South Park Addi- tion ; the Condit & McGinnity Subdivision; the Condit & McGinnity Sixth Addition ; the Condit & McGinnity Seventh Addition. In August, 1912, the Condit-MeGinnity Contracting Company was formed for the purpose of building homes on unimproved property. Since then a large number of houses, especially for workingmen, have been erected by this
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firm, and they have built and sold the homes on such terms that they cost to the purchasers less than the same houses could be rented.
G. P. Condit, the secretary of this firm, was born at Centralia, Illi- nois, and has been in active business since his early manhood. His early education was acquired in the public schools at Centralia and in the St. John's Military School. In 1904 he was engaged in the hard- ware business in Chicago, and remained in that line until 1908, since which year his home and business activities have been at Gary.
His father, E. S. Condit, was born at Centralia, Illinois, in 1858. For a number of years he was prominent in that city as a banker, hav- ing founded the Merchants State Bank and was prominent in its man- agement until 1904, when he moved to Chicago and engaged in the real- estate business. He was one of the first men on the ground at Gary in 1906, and has since continued the management of interests, both in Gary and in Chicago. E. S. Condit married Rena P. Pullen of Cen- tralia, who still lives in Chicago.
Mr. G. P. Condit was married in 1912, to Alice Worden of Fort Wayne, Indiana. He is a member of the University Club of Gary. In all the years of the corporation at Gary, and in the many hundred contractions negotiated through its offices, the firm has never been obliged to resort to a law suit, and has made only one foreclosure, a record which is the highest evidence of its fairness and liberality and one of the chief reasons for its continued success.
F. W. CLINTON. Lake County's citizenship contains few members whose careers have illustrated so well the varied battle which fortune and with circumstances as that of F. W. Clinton, mention of whose name at once suggests prosperous business and civic relations with the community at East Chicago. Mr. Clinton has well earned all that he has ever ac- quired, and though twice compelled to start at the foot of the ladder, he has now climbed apparently beyond the reach of misfortune.
F. W. Clinton was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, May 9, 1855. His parents were Eli and Katherine Clinton, his father a pioneer farmer of Michigan, who in 1864 moved to Lake County, Indiana, settling near Hobart, where the remainder of his years were spent. He was one of the active members of the Republican party.
F. W. Clinton had a public school education, and between the age of seventeen and twenty learned the carpenter's trade. Moving to Crown Point in 1875, he engaged in the contracting business for nine years, and then was employed three years in a wood-working mill at South Chicago. His next location was at Ainsworth, Indiana, where he bought a general store but sold out in 1888 and opened one of the early grocery stores in East Chicago. It was in fact the first grocery store that supplied comestibles to the inhabitants of that community. Its location was at 4808 Olcott Avenue. He was gaining steadily in prosperity, when as one of the incidents of the hard times of 1893 he suffered bankruptcy in 1894. He had erected a large building, and on account of hard times was unable to secure the money needed for deferred payments, and in the end both the building and his business had to be sacrificed. It is an interesting fact that Mr. Clinton now owns the building which involved him so heavily twenty years ago.
After varied experiences in providing for his family, Mr. Clinton in 1902 borrowed $57 in order to start a second-hand store, and in 1903 took in a partner who brought $1,500 capital, and together they opened a
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stock of hardware. In 1904 Mr. Clinton was able to buy out his partner, paying $3,200 for an interest which the preceding year was capitalized at $1,500. Since that time Mr. Clinton has continued in the hardware business with the assistance of his son. In 1908 he established a ten cent store in East Chicago, and opened a plumbing shop in 1909. In 1912 his son, Royal, who had been associated with him in business, took over the plumbing shop and ten cent store at a valuation of $6,000, and now con- ducts them independently. Earl Clinton, another son, is now associated with his father in the hardware business. This stock runs at a value of about twelve thousand dollars, and Mr. Clinton also has valuable hold- ings in local real estate.
In 1875 Mr. Clinton married Elizabeth Hutton, daughter of Levi Hutton, one of the old settlers of Lake County. Their six children are: George, a resident of East Chicago; William; Alice, deceased; Earl, his father's associate; Royal, whose place as a business man has already been indicated; and Grace, deceased wife of Clarence Eder of Hammond.
Mr. Clinton has been active in fraternal and political affairs, was city treasurer of East Chicago in 1894, is an active progressive in politics, and his name appeared on the first ticket of that party in 1912 for the office of county treasurer, and in 1914 was again a candidate for the same office and on the same party ticket. Mr. Clinton has the Lodge and Chapter degrees in Masonry, is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is a member of the East Chicago Club.
DR. J. H. LONG. The first dentist to open an office at Gary was Dr. J. H. Long, who is dean of the profession and has prospered in pro- portion to the length of his service in that city.
Doctor Long is a native of Canada, born in 1882, a son of Henry M. and Anna Long. His father was a lumberman, and in 1887 moved his family to Menominee on the northern peninsula of Michigan. It was in that part of the country that Doctor Long grew up, received his early training, and after he had reached manhood worked to secure the means to enable him to take a course in dentistry. His three years as a student in the Northwestern University School of Dentistry were concluded with his graduation in 1907. Doctor Long almost at once came to Gary, and opened his office in that city on August 25, 1907. The prestige which came to him as the first dentist has been maintained in the city of 40,000 people, and his practice long since reached a volume which has absorbed all his professional time and energy.
Doctor Long is a member of the Indiana State Dental Society, the Northern Indiana Dental Society, the Chicago Dental Society, the Lake County Dental Society and the Gary Dental Society. He was president of the county society for two years ending in July, 1913, and was the first president of the Gary Society which was organized in November, 1907, with only four members, and he held the office for one year.
Dr. Long was married January 1, 1912, to Edna Johnson, of Toma- hawk, Wisconsin. Fraternally the doctor is affiliated with the Masonic order, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Gary Com- mercial Club, the University Club, is a republican in politics, but has allied himself with the citizens party in the fight for good local govern- ment, and in religion is a Presbyterian.
C. KELLER WALLACE. A valued and ambitious citizen of East Chi- cago, who has won a high place in his profession as civil engineer, C.
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Keller Wallace has been concerned with much important work and his services are especially appreciated as city engineer of East Chicago during the last five years, and had active management of the epoch- making improvements taken and carried to a successful conclusion dur- ing the administration of Mayor Schlicker.
Kansas is the native state of C. Keller Wallace, where he was born July 25, 1882, a son of T. M. and Eleonora (Keller) Wallace. His father was for many years a merchant and engaged in the hardware business in Ohio. The father took up his residence in Ohio when his son was a small boy, and it was in Hardin County of that state that C. Keller Wallace spent his youth and after the public schools attended the Ohio Mechanic Institute at Cincinnati. His technical training in civil and mechanical engineering was received at Cincinnati, and his first important experience was as deputy county surveyor of Hardin County during 1905 and up to August, 1907. At the latter date, Mr. Wallace established his home in East Chicago, where the Chicago, Lake Shore & South Bend Railway employed his services up to April, 1909. At that date began his public relations with the city as city engineer, and the record of his activities since that time can be read in the miles of street paving, sidewalk construction, sewer improvement, and the many other directions in which municipal growth and enterprise have mani- fested themselves. Mr. Wallace is an expert in his particular profes- sion, a man of absolute integrity, and enjoys a high place in the com- munity.
On August 17, 1907, Mr. Wallace married Rose E. Simpson of Mount Victory, Ohio. Mr. Wallace in politics is a republican.
EDWIN NELSON CANINE. The schools of the Calumet region are a source of pride to every citizen. This region has not progressed more rapidly industrially than in educational facilities, and the field has attracted some of the ablest men now to be found anywhere in school management. The East Chicago school system, since 1905, has been under the executive direction of Edwin N. Canine, and the remarkable extension of the school service in that city in the last ten years is largely a monument to his energy and ability. School work has been his pro- fession since he paid his tuition through normal school by teaching a roomful of country boys and girls, and he has kept his own proficiency up to the increasing demands of his growing responsibilities.
Edwin Nelson Canine was born at Waveland, Indiana, in 1868, a son of William R. and Margaret (McCord) Canine. His father was a farm- er, and the son spent his early years in a rural atmosphere until called to a more important work as a teacher. After his early training, he was granted a certificate and taught district schools several terms in order to pay his way through the Indiana State Normal School, from which he graduated in 1894. After that for four years he was princi- pal of the schools at Flora, Indiana, for three years he was at Green- wood in the same state, and in 1901 graduated from the University of Indiana with the degree A. B., and had also done some work towards his degree of Master of Arts. The several years following his gradua- tion from the state university were spent as principal of the high school at Gas City until 1904, when he came to East Chicago to become prin- cipal of the high school in that city. In 1905 the school board made him superintendent of the entire city system:
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