USA > Indiana > Lake County > A standard history of Lake County, Indiana, and the Calumet region, Volume II > Part 40
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In 1908, having returned to Lowell, Mr. Taylor again engaged in the meat business until 1910. In that year he built the Taylor Theater, a concrete structure with a seating capacity of 900, and with such facili- ties as make it one of the best equipped theater buildings in Northern Indiana. He also erected another substantial brick structure in that city. On January 1, 1914, he sold his theater interests, and then ac- quired a cement tile factory at Shelby, and also rented the Shelby Hotel,
Hoy D. Davis
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which he has put in a first-class condition and of which he is now the land- lord. Besides his fine farm of 140 acres near Lowell, Mr. Taylor has acquired much other property, is the owner of a section of land in Dundy County, some town lots in Hastings, and while getting prosperity has also enjoyed life much more than the average man. Mr. Taylor is a republican, and one of the influential citizens in his local community.
WASHINGTON LUMBER & COAL COMPANY. This business enterprise of Indiana Harbor was established and incorporated in February, 1912. It handles a full line of lumber, coal and building material and it is the largest yard and has the best facilities in Indiana Harbor for prompt and satisfactory service to the trade. It handles goods both wholesale and retail, and employs from eighteen to twenty-five men in the business. The yards of the company occupy half a block of land on the Indiana HIarbor Belt Railway and 141st Street. The officers of the company are G. J. Bader, president ; Fred J. Smith, treasurer, and John Schaub, secretary.
J. C. Horn, who is manager of the business, and a progressive young business man of the Calumet region, was born in Valparaiso, Indiana, in 1886, a son of Peter J. and Sarah A. (Welsh) Horn. Mr. Horn was educated at Notre Dame and Valparaiso universities. He was employed with the Gary Lumber Company at Gary before coming to Indiana Harbor.
HOY D. DAVIS. A young lawyer and real estate man of Gary who has had a varied relationship with business affairs in that city during the past seven years is Hoy D. Davis, now in the active practice of law and associated with Mr. C. O. Holmes in real estate.
Hoy D. Davis was born in Pike County, Illinois, June 24, 1878, a son of W. H. and Alice A. Davis, his father a merchant. With a public school education Mr. Davis looked out for broader opportunities and prepared for a business career in the Gem City Business College at Quincy, Illinois, and his proficiency in the work caused him to be retained by the college management as an instructor for five years. In May, 1907, Mr. Davis came to Gary, and as a clerk in the office of A. F. Knotts pursued the study of law. For two years he served as cashier of the Gary Trust & Savings Bank, and on March 1, 1912, was admitted to the Indiana bar, and on January 14, 1913, was admitted to practice before the Supreme Court. Besides his law practice he is looking after a large business in real estate, and has already done enough to deserve consideration among the successful men of Gary.
Mr. Davis was married, November 10, 1909, to Jennie F. Brunswick, of Hammond. They have one son, Hoy D., Jr., aged about three years, and a daughter, Alice Jane, born in October, 1914. Mr. Davis is affil- iated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Gary Commercial Club, and in politics is a republican.
INGWALD MOE. Any history of Gary that would bring out the inter- esting facts of its remarkable development would necessarily refer to some of the enterprises and innovations effected by Ingwald Moe, who is not only one of the city's early residents, but since the beginning of Gary has made himself a factor for advancement and improvement. Mr. Moe in business is a general contractor and has made a reputation outside of his own locality, and besides his individual success has proved
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his ability to handle and direct other large interests in Gary and else- where, and belongs to a group of men who at Gary control and uphold the business prosperity of the community.
A native of Norway, where he was born in a small town a few miles from North Cape in 1871, at the age of eighteen he came to America and located in the City of Chicago in 1889, and was connected with the contracting firm of Ursin & Clabo until about 1897. He did business as an individual contractor in Chicago and came to Gary in June, 1906, establishing an office north of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern station on the river bank in September, 1906.
Outside of the seope of operations carried on by the Indiana Steel Company, Mr. Moe was from the first one of the most prominent in improving and developing the commercial city. The first structure which he contracted for was a tool shed for the use of the Indiana Steel Company when it first started the construction of its plant, and was followed by the erection of large boarding houses known as the "Red Onions, " located on the bank of the Calumet River, and were used by the steel corporation for their men until recently.
The first briek building in the City of Gary was erected by Mr. Moe on Broadway between Ninth and Tenth avenues and was known by everybody as Della Cheisa's Buffet and Restaurant. This building was erected in 1907.
On February 12, 1907, Mr. Moe bought his first property in Gary, being the twenty-third sale made by the Gary Land Company for property handled by them in Gary. This property is located at No. 760 Broadway, where the Broadway Theater was erected, in which the Congregational, Presbyterian and Methodist churches, together with other denominations, held their first services, and continued to conduct their services there until they were able to build their own churches. Twenty-five feet adjoining this property was later purchased and built on, making a total investment of $16,000, which was sold to Pittman- Watson Company in 1913 for $45,000, considered at that time a bargain.
In 1912 Mr. Moe purchased three lots near the corner of Fifth Avenue and Broadway on which he started the erection of a five-story theater and office building known as the Gary Theater. After the work was under way he incorporated the Northern Indiana Investment Com- pany, of which he is the president, and completed the building in which William Hodge presented "The Road to Happiness" for the first time, August 29, 1913.
Mr. Moe has improved much of the residence property and was the builder of the Windsor Apartments, Heiny Apartments, Gary Presby- terian Neighborhood House, Boston Store and Linden Hotel. He also constructed seventy-two apartments for the American Bridge Company. Among the many handsome residences which he ereeted, it is not out of place to mention his own residence on the northeast corner of Seventh Avenue and Van Buren Street, which is considered one of the most artistie and attractive homes in Gary, designed by the famous Frank Lloyd Wright of Chicago. The trees and shrubbery around its residence were laid out and planted by Walter Burley Griffin, who was recently awarded the first prize for designing and laying out Canberra, the new capital city of Australia, and was later appointed superintendent of this work by Prime Minister Cook of Australia.
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It may be interesting to know that the first electric lights installed in Gary were at the Broadway Theater. Mr. Moe installed a small electric plant consisting of a gasolene engine and a small generator, which at that time was given a great deal of publicity by the newspapers.
Mr. Moe is still in the contracting business and is operating through- out the northern part of Indiana. One of the recent buildings he has erected is the five-story bank and office building for the First National Bank at Laporte, Indiana.
As one of the older residents of Gary, Mr. Moe has always been very much interested in the development of the new city and has collected and preserved articles and data of historical value regarding this industrial center.
Mr. Moe was married in the City of Chicago in 1895 to Miss Louisa Schaible of Ann Arbor, Michigan. Their children are Sherwood Ing- wald Moe, age eighteen, attending Howe Military School, Howe, Indiana ; Margaret Louisa Moe, age seventeen, attending the Kenwood Loring School, Chicago, Illinois; and Virginia Dorothy Moe, age seven, attend- ing the public school at Gary, Indiana. The family have been active members of the Presbyterian Church before coming to Gary and also for a number of years here, but have recently became interested in the Christian Science Church of Gary, which is holding services at the Gary Theater.
Before coming to Gary Mr. Moe was connected fraternally, in Chi- cago, with Windsor Park Lodge No. 836, A. F. & A. M .; Englewood Chapter, St. Bernard Commandery and Windsor Park Chapter of Eastern Star. These memberships he has now transferred to the Gary lodges, of which he is one of the charter members. He is also a member of Medinah Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of Chicago, and the Scottish Rite Fort Wayne Lodge of Perfection. Other affiliations are with the Elks, Royal League and National Union.
JUDGE ELISHA C. FIELD. Though his home for many years has been in Chicago, Judge Field's career has many points which identify it with Lake County and the Calumet District, since he began his practice as a struggling lawyer at Crown Point nearly fifty years ago, and his parents were among the pioneers in this section of the state. Judge Field, as vice president and general solicitor of the Chicago, Indianapolis & Louisville Railroad Company, the "Monon route," has for many years been one of the distinguished lawyers of the Middle West, and his record reflects honor on his native state of Indiana.
Elisha Chapman Field was born at Valparaiso, Indiana, April 9, 1842, a son of Thomas J. and Antoinette Louise (Chapman) Field. The parents were both born in New York, and the Field family is of colonial origin, Judge Field having membership in the Illinois Society of the Sons of New York. His parents were pioneers of Northern Indiana, having moved to the state in 1836. Judge Field graduated in 1862 from a school which by many subsequent additions and changes is the Valparaiso University, and subsequently studied law in the University of Michigan, where he was graduated LL. B. in 1865.
When Judge Field began practice after being admitted to the bar in 1865 he selected Crown Point as his location, and it was in Lake County that his early successes and experiences were gained. In 1868 he was elected prosecuting attorney of what was then the Ninth Judicial
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District, and that office was followed by his election to a seat in the Indiana Legislature. With this public experience, and with his growing prominence as a lawyer, he was elected in 1879 as judge of the Thirty- first Judicial Circuit, and was reelected in 1884, serving as circuit judge from 1879 until 1889. He resigned from the bench to become general solicitor for the Louisville, New Albany & Chicago Railway, and continued in the same capacity when that road was reorganized as the Chicago, Indianapolis and Louisville Company, better known as the Monon. Since 1907 Judge Field has also been vice president of the company. He is vice president of the Indiana Stone Company, is a director of the Consolidated Stone Company.
On September 1, 1864, Judge Field married Miss Mary Jackman of Sycamore, Illinois. Their four children are: Charles E .; Cora Belle, Mrs. G. B. Crosby: Robert L .; and Bernice, Mrs. Kallman. Judge Field has always been an active republican, and in 1888 was a delegate to the national convention at Chicago which nominated Benjamin Har- rison, and in 1904 was a presidential elector, casting one of the votes which elected Theodore Roosevelt. On the organization of the Indiana Society of Chicago he was elected its first vice president, and also has membership in the Englewood Club.
WEST HAMMOND TRUST & SAVINGS BANK. This financial institu- tion, which has afforded its community a reliable and efficient service as a general banking house, with trust and savings departments, was organized August 16, 1910, and has a fine record of growth. Its original capital of $25,000 has been retained, but its surplus has grown to $3,000, while $100,000 represent its average deposits, and its loans aggregate about $110,000. Three per cent interest is paid on savings deposits and time certificates. The bank has excellent quarters in a one-story brick building, 24 by 60 feet, at Forsyth Avenue and State Street.
The original executive officers were: V. H. Messenger, president ; R. Zimmerman and A. J. Campbell, vice presidents; and Paul Mus- chelewicz, cashier. The present executive board are: A. J. Campbell, president ; Charles H. Mayers and R. Zimmerman, vice presidents; while Mr. Muschelewicz is still cashier.
The directors at the time of organization were: M. Rothschild, J. K. Stinson, R. Zimmerman, M. II. Finneran, A. J. Campbell, V. H. Mes- senger, Senator Curtis and Dr. William D. Weiss. The board of direc- tors in 1914 are : M. Rothschild, J. Stinson, R. Zimmerman, M. H. Fin- neran, Dr. William D. Weiss and August Mayers.
JOHN GRUEL. The opportunities of American citizenship and the possibilities of an industrious and honorable career are well measured in the life of John Gruel, who for forty years has lived in Lake County and is one of the foremost citizens of Hobart.
John Gruel was born in German Pomern, in 1855, on February 14th. His early environment was that of his native village, and his advantages were derived from the home schools. At the age of seventeen he accom- panied his parents to America, and after a year spent in Chicago they arrived in Lake County, where the father bought a small farm of thirty-five acres north of Hobart. John Gruel continued to assist his father for four years, and then began on his own account as a renter.
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His thrift and industry finally gave him the means to make his first purchase of 120 acres, and that represented only a beginning in the substantial prosperity which has rewarded his subsequent efforts. He bought another eighty acres, then thirty-one acres, and finally thirty acres, so that his landed ownership comprises 261 acres. Few farms in Lake County have such complete improvements and are managed so successfully as that of Mr. Gruel's. He employs modern machinery for his work, and there is business system in every detail. He has a fine two-story barn, on a foundation 36 by 90 feet, with cement floors on a portion and plank flooring for the stock. Mr. Gruel makes a specialty of dairying and has a herd of fifty-five cattle, employs several men and has eight horses for the work of the fields and the transporta- tion of the products to the shipping station. His home residence is a delightful place and modern in all its equipment, two stories and cement basement, and has all the conveniences.
Mr. Gruel married Louisa Nickel of Ross Township. Mrs. Gruel was educated in Chicago and has an active part in church affairs. To their marriage have been born twelve children, six boys and six girls, and all have finished school except two, now in high school at Hobart, while the oldest is married and has one child. Mrs. Gruel is the owner of four lots in Hobart, while the daughter Annie has two lots, Otto also has two, and John, Jr., has one lot. Mr. Gruel is vice president and is one of the organizers of the American Trust & Savings Bank at Hobart. In politics he is a republican, and is a trustee of the German Lutheran Church. For diversion he and his family spend much time in motoring, and he is also fond of an occasional fishing excursion.
PEARLE A. PARKS. As one of the ablest members of the Indiana Harbor bar, Mr. Parks has a name which is already honored and recog- nized in the Calumet region for distinctive qualities as a lawyer and public leader, and he has recently come into the circles of public life through appointment to the office of city comptroller of the City of East Chicago, the duties of which position began January 5, 1914.
Pearle A. Parks is a native of Ohio, born in Hillsboro on September 16, 1880. His parents were Christopher and Sarah Parks, and his father, who is now deceased, was for some years a merchant and later in the real estate business. It was in Hillsboro that Mr. Parks spent his youth, was a student in the Hillsboro College, and did special work in Valparaiso University. After a thorough course of preparation which embraced private study and collegiate work, Mr. Parks was admitted to the Indiana bar in 1904, and after six months of practice at Linton moved to Indiana Harbor in 1905, and has been identified in an increasingly successful manner with the bar of the Calumet region for nearly ten years.
Mr. Parks was married, October 1, 1913, to Martha Finney of Valparaiso. He is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and in politics a democrat, owing his appointment as city comptroller to his influential relationship with that party and to his well known ability as a lawyer.
W. B. OWEN. For about thirty years the name Owen has been iden- tified with the manufacture of clay products in Lake County. It was through the enterprise and as a result of hard work and many difficulties Vol. II-19
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that the late W. B. Owen, Sr., established on a firm basis at Hobart first a brick yard and later a plant for the manufacture of terra cotta. Some years ago that plant, then a flourishing local industry, was consoli- dated under the corporate control of the National Fireproofing Company, one of the largest concerns in the country making this special line of building material. W. B. Owen grew up in the business, and now has the management not only of the Hobart plant, but of two other plants in Illinois. Mr. Owen is one of the young business executives of Lake County, and likewise one of the leading citizens of Hobart.
W. B. Owen was born at Porter, Indiana, in October, 1881. His early education was acquired in the Hobart schools until he was fifteen, after which he spent three years taking special mechanical courses in a manual training school at Chicago. Returning to Hobart he began the practice of theory in the terra cotta works established and built by his father. The beginning of his career was in 1899, and for fifteen years he has been closely identified with all details of the business.
W. B. Owen, Sr., founded the terra cotta works at Hobart in 1885, beginning with a common brick yard, and taking up the manufacture of terra cotta in 1887. His was one of the first plants of its kind in Northern Indiana. He continued as sole owner of the Hobart industry until his death on January 19, 1901. His sons, W. L. and W. B., then operated the plant until March, 1902, at which time it was consolidated with the National Fireproofing Company. That company now has twenty-six plants in as many different sections of the United States. At the time of the consolidation W. B. Owen was continued as manager of the Hobart plant, and was also given the superintendence of two Illi- nois factories at Twin Bluffs and Ottawa. While a resident of Hobart, Mr. Owen now divides his attention among these three towns. The product of the various plants is distributed to all states, into Canada, and some is shipped to foreign countries.
It is a matter of note that W. B. Owen, Sr., supplied the terra cotta for the postoffice at Chicago and the Great Northern Hotel, and at the present time practically all the terra cotta used in the late buildings in the Chicago loop district comes from the three plants under Mr. Owen's supervision. In the early days of the Hobart factory the senior Owen had a hard struggle, and besides the difficulties involved in establishing a profitable and permanent industry, also had to contend with several law suits brought by larger and well-established concerns.
The Hobart plant of the National Fireproofing Company now has a capacity of 5,000 tons per month, while the aggregate product of the three plants under Mr. Owen's supervision is about twelve thousand tons a month. Three hundred employes work in the three factories.
On December 7, 1901, Mr. Owen married Eva May Kitchen, of Hobart. Mrs. Owen, who was educated in the Hobart High School, is one of the active leaders of Hobart society, a member of the Woman's Reading Club, the Ideal Book Club, and interested in the various activi- ties of her sex in this city. They are the parents of three children, two daughters and one son. Jessie is eleven ; Boyd, or W. B., Jr., is six, while Ruth is three years old. The two oldest are now in school.
Mr. Owen is one of the influential members of the Hobart Commer- cial Club, and his church is the Methodist. Besides other interests he is well known in this part of Lake County as a successful stock breeder and horseman. His 200-acre farm is close to Hobart, and affords a fine place for conducting his hobby of high-grade cattle and horse raising
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on a profitable scale. Mr. Owen has twenty-five head of registered Jersey cows, and owns some of the best blooded horses in the county. One of them is a full sister to Joe Patton and one of her colts was sired by Sidney Dillon. Mr. Owen owns the only fireproof apartment build- ing in this part of the county, and it is constructed with all the modern improvements.
NUPPNAN & COMPANY. There are a number of prosperous business concerns in Gary whose history is typical of the growth of the city itself, having started in the pioneer days of about eight years ago and developing with population and industry they have become large and profitable concerns. One of these is the Nuppnan & Company Grocery House, established in April, 1907, by Charles P. and Paul Nuppnan and H. L. Sievers of Valparaiso. C. P. Nuppnan was the manager from the beginning, and the first store was at the corner of Sixth and Massachusetts streets in a frame building. In 1910 they erected their present two-story brick structure, and though at first they displayed a stock of general merchandise the business has since been limited to a fine stock of high class family groceries. Their store was the first to be located in what is known as the first Gary subdivision.
Charles P. Nuppnan, the senior member of the firm, and who has been identified with it from the beginning, was born in 1884, a son of Paul and Charlotte Nuppnan. He was educated in the public schools and by a commercial course at the Valparaiso University, and was twenty-three years of age when he came to Gary and entered the mer- cantile business. He is a successful merchant, and at the same time a public spirited citizen and a ready worker in behalf of the continued growth and prosperity of this industrial city.
On Christmas day of 1906 he married Emma Ruge of Valparaiso. They have one son, William. Mr. Nuppnan affiliates with the Masonic order, with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, is a member of the German Lutheran Church and in politics maintains an inde- pendent course.
W. H. Nuppnan, his brother, was born at Valparaiso, December 17, 1886, was for several years a student in the local university, developed much talent in mechanical trades, and before coming to Gary was employed for three years by the Westinghouse Company at Pittsburgh and also in Canada, spent three years with the Allis-Chalmers Company in charge of the insulating department of their plant at Cincinnati, was in the same line of work at St. Louis for a time, and in 1908 came to Gary to join his brother in the grocery business, buying out Paul R. Nuppnan.
On June 23, 1908, he married Grace Wilson, of Valparaiso, and they have one daughter, Marion, aged four. Mr. Nuppnan is independent in politics, belongs to the Gary Commercial Club and is a Mason.
HARRY W. GUIPE. With the rapid development of the Calumet region in the last ten or twenty years, the center of professional ability, as well as population and industry, has shifted from the southern half of Lake County to the northern lake shore region, and there is probably no similar area in the entire state which has a finer membership of able lawyers than the Calumet district. Most of them are young men in the profession, but in qualifications and practical ability are in no way
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behind the seniors of the bar. One of the ablest of these is Harry W. Guipe, who has practiced law at Gary for the past seven years.
Born in Fostoria, Ohio, December 28, 1880, Mr. Guipe is a son of Henry L. and Addie ( Williamson) Guipe, now living in Chicago, Illinois. Mr. Guipe's grandfather, Henry Guipe, was one of the early settlers of Elkhart. Mr. Guipe's father went to Ohio and lived at Fostoria at the time of the birth of Harry W. Guipe. His early train- ing was acquired in the public schools of Chicago, and his first taste of the law was gained by a summer of work in E. T. Noonan's office at Chicago in 1899. Mr. Guipe graduated from the University of Wiscon- sin in 1903, and took a post-graduate course in the law department of the University of Michigan, from which he received the degree of LL. B. in 1905. Two years of his principal legal experience were acquired in Senator LaFollette's office in Madison, Wisconsin, and in 1905 he went into the Southwest, spending a brief time at Albuquerque and other cities of New Mexico, and thence touring through Old Mexico and Texas. In 1907 he came to Gary and has since built up a large clientele as a lawyer
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