USA > Indiana > Lake County > A standard history of Lake County, Indiana, and the Calumet region, Volume II > Part 29
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Allen P. Twyman grew up in Louisville, was educated in the public schools, and early in life found a position as deputy circuit clerk in the Jefferson County courthouse at Louisville. His six years' service in that office gave him a wide knowledge of public affairs, and prefaced his study of law. Mr. Twyman graduated from the Jefferson School of Law at Louisville in 1910, and the following year was spent in the Louisville Title Company. On May 1, 1911, he arrived in East Chicago, and has since been associated in practice with Mr. Ottenheimer. For five months of 1912 he served as city judge. He has membership in the Lake County Bar Association, is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, belongs to the Commercial Club and in politics is a democrat.
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Mr. Twyman on May 21, 1912, married Agnes F. Meihle, of Ham- mond. They have two sons, Buford M. and Hugh Allen.
GOLDSCHMIDT DETINNING COMPANY. A business that is considered one of East Chicago's growing and prosperous firms and supplies an important industry to the city is the Goldschmidt Detinning Company. Its business is based upon the chemical process of separating the tin and steel contained in the waste of can factories, and manufacturing the separate metals into pig tin and scrap steel. It is an industry that has grown up through the utilization of formerly waste products, and the East Chicago plant is one of three operated by the Goldschmidt Detin- ning Company, which has its head offices on Wall Street in New York. The discoverer of the process of detinning was Dr. Hans Goldschmidt, a German scientist of Essen, Germany, who secured patents on various processes for detinning. The Goldschmidt Detinning Company now operates under his patents. The president of the company is William Graham, formerly president of the American Can Company. Besides the East Chicago plant there are two others at Detroit, Michigan, and Chrome, New Jersey. The company in its present form was organized in 1908.
The business at East Chicago was started in 1911. The plant has a site of fifteen acres, and operations were begun in 1912. About one hundred and fifty men are employed, and 30 per cent of them are skilled labor, the most important department of the plant being a large chemical laboratory. The company uses electric power, and it is claimed that the equipment for power distribution is the best found in any factory in the state.
The local officers are Charles Lindmueller, superintendent; J. Gens- heimer, assistant superintendent; C. A. Anderson, chief clerk; and H. E. Biedinger, mechanical engineer. Mr. Lindmueller is a graduate of the Case School of Applied Science at Cleveland, is an expert chemist, and is largely responsible for the successful operation of the local busi- ness. On February 22, 1910, he married Miss Catherine Johnstone, a native of Warsaw, Illinois, and they have one child, Elizabeth, now four years of age. He has membership in the Commercial Club, the Ham- mond Country Club, the American Chemical Society and is one of the leading men in industrial affairs at East Chicago.
THE E. B. LANMAN COMPANY. The products that are shipped out from the East Chicago plant of this concern comprise wrought washers, special steel stampings and a number of specialties in carriage hard- ware. The business is a large one, employs about one hundred persons, and the factory is a two-story building 80x200 feet. Its mechanical equipment is of the very best, and electric power is employed.
The industry was started in 1880 at Columbus, Ohio, by the late E. B. Lanman, after whose death in 1897 the company was incorporated under its present title. E. B. Lanman is president and C. B. Lanman, secre- tary and treasurer. In April, 1912, the company acquired 31/3 acres of factory grounds in East Chicago, and the plant was put up during 1912-13. It has unusual shipping facilities, with ready access to the Pennsylvania, the Indiana Harbor Belt, the Wabash, the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern and the Baltimore & Ohio tracks. The products go all over the United States, and the plant has a capacity of 200 tons of washers per month, besides its other products.
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E. B. and C. B. Lanman were both born in Columbus, Ohio, and C. B. Lanman is a graduate of Harvard University. E. B. lives at Indiana Harbor. He married Ethel Weyant, and they have two children, Georgiana B. and E. B., Jr. Mr. E. B. Lanman is a member of the Hammond Country Club.
WILLIAM E. WARWICK. The Standard Oil Company at Whiting as the nucleus of that city's power and influence as an industrial center, has always furnished the city some of its most progressive and public- spirited citizens. Among these are Mr. William E. Warwick, who has been connected with the refining plant since its establishment, and has rendered important public service as mayor and in many other ways to the growing community.
William E. Warwick was born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, January 13, 1862. After his graduation at the Iowa State College in 1888 with the degree Mechanical Engineer, he soon came to Whiting, and in the fall of 1889 became a draftsman in the office of the Standard Oil Company, which was then beginning construction work for the great refinery. For ten years Mr. Warwick was head of the paraffine department, was ad- vanced to the position of assistant superintendent of the plant in 1903, and is now active superintendent. Mr. Warwick is also one of the officials of the First National Bank of Whiting.
In 1893 he married Ella Fredenberg, of Evanston, Illinois. Frater- nally he is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Masonic lodge, belongs to the Hammond Country Club and in politics is a democrat. A distinction that will always attach to his name in the annals of Whiting as a municipality is the fact that he was chosen the first mayor after the incorporation of the city. As mayor Mr. Warwick served from 1903 until 1907 and under his supervision many of the important improvements were inaugurated and completed.
HARRY W. SOMMERS. To the local and traveling public at Gary, Harry Sommers has for the past four years been known as the popular and able landlord of the Gary Hotel, the best place of accommodation and entertainment of its kind in the city. Mr. Sommers has had a long and thorough experience in all the departments of hotel management, and his experience has enabled him to meet the wants of the traveling public so successfully that the Gary Hotel has few equals in the Calumet region.
Born at Germantown, a suburb of Philadelphia, November 11, 1872, Mr. Sommers is a son of Harry W. and Angeline Sommers, and his father was also a popular hotel man. In 1892 Harry Sommers, after a public school education and considerable training in hotel work, went to Chicago and was employed as assistant steward in the Virginia Hotel, and later became steward of the Metropole in the same city. For two years Mr. Sommers was superintendent of the dining car system on the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railway. This was followed by nine years as assistant manager of the Kimball House at Davenport, Iowa, a hotel of which his father at that time was manager. From 1899 to 1902 he was in charge of the Hotel Sommers at Moline, Illinois, and next became superintendent and manager of the Anthony Wayne Club at Fort Wayne, Indiana. When Mr. Sommers left the Anthony Wayne Club its members, in token of his efficient services, presented him with a beau- tiful loving cup. He came to Gary in 1910, and has since been proprie-
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tor of the Gary Hotel, a well built and equipped hostelry with fifty rooms, and maintained with the best of facilities and service for its guests.
Mr. Sommers on April 19, 1897, married Clara Kehoe, of Davenport, Iowa. Their two children are Claire and Harry W., Jr. Mr. Sommers is a popular member of the Gary Lodge of Elks, is a member of the house committee in the Commercial Club and in politics is independent.
J. KALMAN REPPA engaged in the practice of law and in real-estate and insurance business, is also secretary of the Twin City Savings and Loan Association, an institution organized September 2, 1914, with a capital of $500,000. Mr. Reppa is one of the younger business men of East Chicago. He has had a successful experience in banking, and his general business qualifications are unmistakable and have brought him to a substantial position when most men are struggling for an open- ing in the world of affairs.
J. Kalman Reppa was born in Austria, February 1, 1886, a son of John and Anna Reppa. His father was a school teacher by profession, and brought the family to Whiting, Indiana, in 1903, but now lives retired in East Chicago.
J. Kalman Reppa received a very high education; he finished pub- lic school under his father, and at the age of ten, started the gymnasium (college) in Budapest, where he took a five-year course. At the age of fifteen he was admitted to the State Preparandium of Znio, Austria, and before leaving Europe, graduated from same. He was eighteen when he took up his new home in America, and in 1904 received a diploma as a professor of mathematics in the public schools of Austria. After coming to this country he took a commercial course in St. Joseph's Col- lege, at Rensselaer, Indiana, and from the age of twenty-one his expe- rience was exclusively identified with banking, until March, 1914, when he started in the real-estate and insurance business. In 1907 Mr. Reppa began work for the First National Bank of East Chicago, and in 1908 came to Indiana Harbor and was taken on the staff of the Citizens Trust and Savings Bank. In 1910 he became cashier of the First Calumet Trust and Savings Bank of East Chicago, and resigned that office to devote himself to the increasing responsibilities of an independent career in other lines. In the meantime he took up the study of law, being ad- mitted to the bar in November, 1914.
Mr. Reppa was married on September 5, 1910, to Verna B. Benyo- vitz, of Houtzdale, Pennsylvania. They are the parents of two children : Kalman and Vernon. Mr. Reppa is a member of the Foresters, the Knights of Columbus, the Catholic Church, and is one of the most promi- nent leaders in local politics.
ANDREW VOLCSKO. Seventeen years ago Andrew Volesko came to America, a new immigrant, with practically no knowledge of the English language and American customs, and started work as a common laborer in the steel mills at Braddock, Pennsylvania. He is one of the men of fine birth and training who in the melting pot of America have devel- oped as successful men in the new world, and he has for several years been one of the successful prosperous business men of Gary.
Born in Hungary, February 22, 1877, he came to the United States in 1896, and spent the first ten years employed in the steel mills and machine shops at Braddock, Pennsylvania. For several years he was
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with the Westinghouse Company. For a short time he was in the ma- chine shops of the B. & O. Railway Company, and finally returned to Braddock and engaged in the grocery business. Mr. Volesko has been a resident of Gary since 1907, and was one of the early real estate deal- ers to locate in the new city. He has bought and sold large quantities of local property, enjoys the thorough confidence of all classes of citizens, and his success has been well won.
In November, 1899, he married Barbara Hugyak. They are the parents of four children, three sons and one daughter. Mr. Volcsko votes independently in politics and is one of the live members of the Gary Commercial Club.
THE PETROLENE COMPANY. A somewhat unique industry in the Calumet region is the Petrolene Company of Whiting. Its chief product is oil cloth, and the factory in Whiting is said to be the only one west of the Allegheny Mountains. It was established in 1902 and the busi- ness was incorporated under its present title in 1903. The partners in the original enterprise were J. E. Wadsworth and Starr Stowell. Its first title was Elarite Paint Company, but on February 27, 1903, the present corporate title was adopted. The company has a group of well constructed and thoroughly equipped factories, warehouses, power plants and offices, and though early in its career the company lost heav- ily by fire, its flourishing business transactions have given it class among the most substantial industries of the Whiting district. The company began in 1903 with only 284 feet of floor space, and at the end of seven years the area devoted to the various departments had increased more than eighty times over the original. In the past four years the output has more than doubled, and the buildings have been increased by the erection of a warehouse, two machine rooms and a storeroom.
In 1905 the company began the manufacture of floor cloth, and this is now the distinctive product of the company, and the demand for the output is such that it is shipped to all parts of the United States and also to Canada. The trade mark Petrolene now has a standard signifi- cance among all dealers in oil cloth. The process of manufacture simply stated begins with burlap, specially imported from Scotland, which serves as the base upon which paints and varnishes and other filling are applied. through a long process of machinery drying, baking and print- ing until the finished product is ready for shipment in bolts or rolls, each containing fifty lineal yards of cloth. Most of the output is now in printed floor cloth, and the most popular brand is that in which a natural wood design is printed, giving an excellent imitation of oak wood.
The officers of the company are F. N. Gavit, president ; L. H. Mattern, vice president ; Starr Stowell, secretary ; and F. J. Smith, treasurer.
Starr Stowell, who was one of the originators of this important in- dustry, like many successful men, was born on a farm. His birth oc- curred in 1868 at Coldwater, Michigan, and when he was twelve years of age his parents moved to a farm near Valparaiso, Indiana. He received a public school training, had more than a satisfying share of hard labor, and finally left the farm and came to Whiting in 1898. He was engaged in the grocery business there under the firm name of Stowell & Shafering for three years, but ill health compelled him to re- turn to the old homestead, and he lived there until the death of his father. In 1903, returning to Whiting, he gave all his energy to the Vol. II-14
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business which has been above described. He now stands as one of the leaders in the Whiting business community.
Mr. Stowell in 1901 married Mabel Lee, and they are the parents of two children. Mr. Stowell is affiliated with Whiting Lodge No. 613, A. F. & A. M., with the Elks No. 1273, and also has other relations with social and fraternal orders.
TITTLE BROS. PACKING COMPANY. It is in the handling of the neces- sities of common life that Tittle Bros. Packing Company of Gary has developed a business second to none of its kind in the Calumet region, Nothing is more important than the feeding of the people, and to supply good food to a community is a more important service than can be ren- dered through any of the professions, and is deserving of the very best efforts and enterprise of which men are capable. The Tittle Bros. Pack- ing Company has its headquarters at 624 Broadway. The company was founded in 1907 by Joseph and Frank Tittle, who were the first meat and grocery dealers on Broadway. The record of the company is one of progressive growth from small beginnings, though their first store was fully in keeping with the City of Gary as it existed seven years ago. They first sold goods from a small building at 640 Broadway, but their trade in a short time had outgrown the capacity of their quarters, and they moved into a larger place, and nearly every year has seen some important extension or new branches established. The main store now occupies space 50x100 feet, and they also own and operate a store at 528 Broadway, in a building 25x100 feet, another at Fifth Avenue and Harrison Street, 50x80 feet, and the company own the meat and grocery department in the Boston Department Store. The firm is incorporated at a capital stock of $30,000, all paid up, and do an extensive wholesale and retail business, employing thirty-six clerks and managers, besides a number of delivery wagons in its service. The officers of this company are: Joseph Tittle, president; Fred Tittle, vice president ; James A. Tittle, secretary ; and Frank Tittle, treasurer. Be- sides the local trade in Gary and immediate vicinity, their service is extended to Michigan City, Indiana Harbor, and other communities in the Calumet region. The firm own considerable property in the City of Gary.
A little more than twenty years ago Joseph Tittle came, a poor boy from a foreign land, to try his fortunes in the new world. The brief outline of the Tittle Bros. Packing Company shows how well he has realized his ambition. He was born in Bohemia in 1877, came to the United States in 1891, had already acquired such training in books as he needed for a business career, and after spending several years in Chicago, he made his first independent venture as a farmer out in Min- nesota. Two years of that experience was apparently enough to satisfy him, since he returned to Chicago and went into the meat business. Mr. Tittle has had experience in practically every department of the meat and grocery trade, and has filled all the positions from a cutter at the retail block to president of a concern which supplies goods to thousands of people. Selling out his interests in Chicago, Mr. Tittle came to Gary in 1907, and has since been at the head of the enterprise above sketched.
Mr. Tittle married Bertha Tagl, who was also a native of Bohemia. Their four children range in ages from fourteen to about two years. Mr. Tittle affiliates with the Masonic Order, the Benevolent and Protec- tive Order of Elks, belongs to the Gary Commercial Club, is a republican
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in politics, and served on the advisory board during the construction of the Mercy Hospital in Gary.
CHARLES T. BAILEY. Here is a name that has been identified with Lake County and northern Indiana for three-quarters of a century. It has become honored and respected through long years of successive in- dustry, business integrity and Christian and moral character. Few fam- ilies have been longer established and none have borne their part in community affairs with greater credit to themselves and with more prac- tical usefulness to the community than the Baileys.
The first and chief representative of the name in Lake County was the late Josiah B. Bailey, who was for many years one of the most reliable and substantial citizens of West Creek Township, and who passed away November 25, 1902. He was born at Door Village in LaPorte County, Indiana, October 23, 1835. He lost his father in childhood, and then made his home with his grandfather, who finally settled in Lake County, and they all had a share in the early development of this wilderness. Josiah B. Bailey during his lifetime was regarded as one of the largest hand holders in Lake County, and while this indicates his thrift and business foresight, it was also the consensus of opinion in his community that few men better deserved success, since he was eminently public spirited, charitable, and a helpful eooperator in every community enter- prise. Josiah B. Bailey was married in March, 1857, to Nancy Kile, who was born February 22, 1838, and died April 18, 1876. Their children were Levi E., Charles T., Grace and George B. Josiah B. Bailey in 1877 married Mrs. Amelia Sanger.
Any mention of the Bailey family would be incomplete without ref- erence to Reuben Chapman, who was one of the earliest pioneers of Lake County, having come from Connecticut by eanal and lake and on foot in 1836. His first shanty was located on an Indian trail, and it is said that he rafted the timber for the erection of the first sawmill at Momence on the Kankakee River, and also the first grist mill. Reuben Chapman married the widowed mother of Josiah B. Bailey, and was in the truest sense a grandfather to the Bailey children. IIe had an honored and use- ful place in Lake County while he lived, and his memory is revered by those still living. He was generous, high-minded and industrious, and it was through his efforts that Josiah B. Bailey got his start in life. At the age of eighty Grandfather Chapman was killed by the fall of a tree he had cut with his own hands.
Charles T. Bailey, who now continues the honored name of his fam- ily, was born during a brief residence of his parents in Kankakee County, Illinois, April 12, 1862. Soon after his birth the family returned to Lake County, where he was reared and educated in the schools of West Creek Township. His father owned over a thousand aeres and gave to Charles 260 acres as his start in life, and he subsequently added 233 aeres and for many years has been regarded as one of the most successful stock raisers in Lake County. He has made a specialty of Hereford cattle and Shropshire sheep. He also bred coach horses for a number of years.
On April 23, 1888, Mr. Bailey married Tillie E. Grimes, of Kankakee County, Illinois, who died January 3, 1898, leaving two sons and two daughters. These children are Barbara May, W. Ray, Earl .J. and Hilda Grace, the oldest twenty-five and the youngest twenty. All have finished the courses of the high school and May is a graduate of the University of Indiana and now one of the instructors in the Crown Point High School.
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Hilda holds a teacher's certifieate as an instructor in music, and is now a student at Northwestern University. The boys are active assistants of their father on the farm. On September 4, 1899, Mr. Bailey married for his second wife Miss Esther Starkweather of Michigan, in which state she finished her education in Romeo public schools.
At one time the postoffice was located on Mr. Bailey's land and was known as Lanthus, and that name is now retained as the title of Mr. Bailey's homestead, which is called the Lanthus Stoek Farm, C. T. Bailey & Sons, proprietors. The farm is noted among raisers of Hereford cattle and Shropshire sheep. Mr. Bailey has been active in local affairs, and at the election just held was elected to the county office of councilman- at-large. He is a republican, has served as road commissioner and is now on the township advisory board and one of the men most active in the erection of the Lowell High School. He is a member of the West Creek Methodist Church. This was the first organized church in Lake County, and in early days its building was used as a schoolhouse, where Josiah B. Bailey and his sister Mary were both scholars. Mr. Bailey is one of the prosperous farmers of Lake County who enjoys automobiling and through his enterprise is able to maintain a first-class car. The family take a number of trips during the summer season in the car, and enjoys hundreds of comforts and luxuries which were undreamed of by their forefathers when they settled in this section of northern Indiana.
THE GARY EVENING POST. J. RALPH SNYDER. Now commanding one of the influential places among the newspapers of the Calumet region, the Gary Evening Post was established in 1909, and owes its origin to Mayor Thomas E. Knotts. It was started as a stock company, and in February, 1910, J. R. and HI. B. Snyder bought the controlling in- terest. Mr. J. Ralph Snyder is business manager, and H. B. Snyder is managing editor. They are not only live and capable newspaper men, but are two of Gary's progressive younger citizens. The Post has a circulation of more than four thousand, is issued in form from eight to sixteen pages, and besides a thorough organization to cover the local news department, has the International News dispatches. the Hearst service. The Post Building, completed in October, 1913, is one especially designed for a home to a newspaper and publishing plant and the Post now has the largest and best equipped newspaper and job printing plant in Northwestern Indiana. The press of the Post has a capacity of 25,000 two to sixteen-page newspapers each hour. J. Ralph Snyder and II. B. Snyder were born at Waverly, Ohio. sons of H. R. and Minerva (Burgess) Snyder, who now live in Gary. Their father is a veteran newspaper man, and for years was identified with various papers in the state of Ohio. He was whole or part owner of the Dayton Journal, the Piqua Call, the Marion Mirror, the Urbana Citizen, and various other publications in Ohio, and for a time was proprietor of the Springfield Republican of Springfield, Missouri. There were four children in the family, as follows: H. R., Jr., who is advertising manager of the Gary Evening Post; Mrs. Oliver Starr, of Gary, HI. B. and J. R.
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