USA > Indiana > Lake County > A standard history of Lake County, Indiana, and the Calumet region, Volume II > Part 44
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Mr. Hess has a wife and resides in the Mishawaka Apartments, of which he is the owner. He is a director in the Gary Commercial Club, is a member of the Country Club and the Elks Club and is prominent in Masonry, having taken both the York and Scottish rites, including the Knights Templar degrees in the former and thirty-two degrees of the latter. He also belongs to the Mystic Shrine. Mr. Hess is one of the public spirited, vigorous citizens of Gary, and at the present time is president of the board of public works. Prior to January 1, 1914, he served the city for two years as councilman at large. Mr. Hess has had a great deal of experience in municipal affairs. Before locating in Gary he had served seven years as a councilman and two years as chair- man of the board of city commissioners in the City of Mishawaka, Indiana, where he had resided nineteen years before locating in Gary. He shares the acquaintance of a large circle of friends in Lake, Porter and St. Joseph counties. His business address is Gary Theater Building, Rooms 401-402, Gary, Indiana.
CHARLES JOHNS. While the Calumet region is now the center of diversified industry, and one of the greatest points of manufacturing in the entire United States, it is the iron and steel industry which con- stitutes the greatest fame of the region and that will doubtless con- tinue its present leadership for all time to come. This industry has brought to the Calumet district men of ability from all parts of the world, and in them are concentrated the expert skill and experience which guide and direct the vast technical operations and labor of this district. In this complex industrial organization one of the men who have reached official positions and are regarded as experts and among the most successful in the business is Charles Johns of East Chicago. In the development of the iron business in America, particularly dur- ing its formative period, no one country furnished a greater number of skilled operatives than Wales, a country which for centuries has been at the heart of the metal working activities of the British Empire. Mr. Johns is a native of Swansea, Wales, grew up in the famous iron and steel district of that country, was trained as a workman from an early age, and practically his whole life has been concentrated on this one line.
In 1880 Charles Johns emigrated to the United States, and was connected with the iron and steel industry at Pittsburg until moving to East Chicago in 1906. Since that year he has served as manager of the Interstate Iron & Steel Company. Before coming to America he had charge of a mill in Scotland, and in 1884 was offered the posi- tion of mill foreman at Braddock, Pennsylvania, by Captain Jones, but preferred to stay with the Carnegie mills at Thirty-third Street in Pittsburg. That decision Mr. Johns now regards as the greatest mis- take of his career. On July 6, 1892, Mr. Johns was one of four leaders who went to Homestead mills to pacify the strikers and get the Pinker- tons to leave. Toward the close of the same year he accepted a posi- tion as traveling representative for the Seaman-Sleeth Company, the largest roll manufacturers in the world, and continued with that firm for eleven years as traveling salesman. During more than thirty years of American residence, Mr. Johns has been identified with the iron and steel business in many capacities, and is an expert in technical branches of manufacture as well as in commercial distribution of the products.
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Charles Johns is an independent republican in politics, and has fra- ternal affiliations with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Loyal Order of Moose. While a resident he took quite an active part in politics. His home and family are now in East Chicago.
By his marriage to Annie Davis, of Pittsburg, Mr. Charles Johns has three sons, all of whom are prominent and well known in profes- sional circles in East Chicago. Charles Thomas Johns, who was born at Pittsburg April 11, 1885, finished his course at the Pittsburg High School, later in the Western University of Pennsylvania, and in the dental department of the same school, also took post-graduate work at the Indiana Dental College, and in 1908 was appointed dental sur- geon to the Indiana School for Feeble Minded and after one year moved to East Chicago, where he is now in practice. He is affiliated with the Lodge and Chapter of Masonry, with the Delta Sigma college fra- ternity, and is treasurer of Elks Lodge No. 981. The second son is Dr. D. R. Johns, who was born in Pittsburg November 11, 1887, gradu- ated from the Chicago Medical College in 1909, was chief surgeon to the United States Steel Company at Duluth, Minnesota, and at Joliet, Illinois, and since 1912 has practiced at East Chicago, where he is a member of the Board of Public Works. Llywolaf, the youngest of the three sons, was born in Pittsburg June 26, 1891, graduated from the East Chicago High School and also attended the Pittsburg High School of Pennsylvania, and since finishing his course in the Chicago Dental College in 1913 has been in practice at East Chicago.
While the greater part of Mr. Johns' experience has been in con- nection with the practical phases of the iron and steel industry and in commercial and responsible official positions, he has likewise con- tributed some original devices and methods, and his name is readily recognized by many men in the business as an inventor. He has been granted a few patents on improved processes, and in the making of refined iron and steel there is probably no more expert authority in the Calumet district.
ARTHUR D. SCHAEFFER. During a residence at Gary since 1908 Mr. Schaeffer has become one of the best known citizens. He has for several years served as secretary of the Gary Commercial Club, is a business man, and has had a long experience as a traveling salesman and in other lines of commercial work, so that he is the right man for the place in his relations with the commercial organization of citizens who are cooperating to promote the continued growth and development of Gary as one of the most notable industrial centers in America.
Arthur D. Schaeffer was born at Dayton, Ohio, in 1858. With a public school education, he then worked in a paper mill, and learned the trade of paper making in all its details. His home and business were at Dayton until 1891, when he moved to Hartford City, Indiana, and became manager of the Hartford City Paper Mills. From factory manager, he eventually got out on the road as salesman of paper products, and in 1906 went to Pittsburgh to represent the Union Bag & Paper Company. For a number of years his work has been largely that of traveling salesman, and in 1908 he moved to Gary and went into busi- ness by establishing the Gary Building Association. In September, 1910, Mr. Schaeffer was elected secretary of the Gary Commercial Club, having acted in the same capacity for several months previously, and he
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has since looked after the office management and much of the executive detail of the club's activities.
Mr. Schaeffer was married in Dayton, Ohio, to Miss Lucy R. Mesler. Their only daughter is now deceased. A son, Pierce M., is general sales manager for the Dayton Blank Book & Printing Company in Dayton, Ohio. Mr. Schaeffer affiliates with the Masonic Order and is a charter member and secretary of the Gary Lodge No. 1152, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. In politics he is a republican and his church is the Episcopal.
JAMES E. BURKE. It is in the transfer and storage business that James E. Burke has worked out a successful career during his residence at Gary. The Burke Transfer and Storage Company is one of the largest and best handled concerns of its kind in the city, has grown from a modest beginning, and the business is now one to do credit to its originator and its moving spirit since its establishment.
Coming to Gary during its first year in 1907, a young man with little capital but much enterprise, James E. Burke started a service for the transfer of local merchandise and his first office was at 548 Broadway. In six years the business has naturally seen a remarkable development in proportion to the growth of the city, and its facilities are many times now what they were at the beginning. The present warehouse and office are located at Washington Street and the Wabash Railway tracks. The warehouse, which is 125 by 40 feet, a fireproof building, was erected in August, 1912. The business is one of general transfer and storage, and operates two motor trucks and five teams.
James E. Burke was born in Chicago, Illinois, in June, 1871, a son of Thomas and Mary Burke. He received a fair education while grow- ing up, has been a hard worker both for himself and others, and his independent business career practically dates from the time he came to Gary. On December 15, 1907, Mr. Burke married Mary E. Hurley of Milwaukee. They are the parents of three children. Mr. Burke affiliates with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Knights of Columbus, the Ancient Order of Hibernians, and is a member of the Catholic Church. In politics he maintains an independent attitude.
W. D. HUNTER. Cashier of the Northern State Bank of Gary, Mr. Hunter is also one of Gary's early settlers, having been identified with the new industrial center since 1907, and having been connected with banking affairs here ever since.
W. D. Hunter was born at Elkhart, Indiana, in 1881. With a public school education, he started out on his own account when eighteen years of age, and his first employment was in a railway office. At the age of twenty-one he went on the road as a traveling salesman, and sold goods in different territories for five years. With the establishment of Gary by the steel corporation in 1907, he was one of the young men who determined to cast in their lot with the new community, and for the first three years he served as teller in the First National Bank of Gary. In 1910 he took the post of cashier of the Northern State Bank, and has contributed his share toward the popularity and business prosperity of that institution.
In 1908 Mr. Hunter married Bertha Newman of Oakland, California. Mr. Hunter affiliates with the Masonic Order through the Blue Lodge, the Royal Arch Chapter, the Knights Templar Commandery and Shrine,
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and also with the Knights of Pythias and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
A. M. ROBERTS. It was Mr. Roberts who, as assistant auditor, opened the entire set of books at Gary in 1906 to cover the business record of the Steel Corporation in that city. He has since been one of the trusted and efficient men who represent the Steel Corporation at that city, and has been a vigorous booster of community affairs throughout his residence.
A. M. Roberts was born in Paris, Ontario, October 22, 1875. His parents were Thomas and Selina S. Roberts, now deceased. His father, by profession, was a civil engineer, and A. M. Roberts spent his early years in England and attended schools in that country. Coming to the United States in 1892, he was employed in the offices of the Chicago and Alton Railroad at Joliet, Illinois, for seven years. His services were next transferred to the Illinois Steel Company at Joliet, and at the end of four years he was sent to Clairton, near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and was connected with the Crucible Steel Company in its works at that point. Coming to Gary in July, 1906, Mr. Roberts was assistant auditor for the Steel Company, and has since held that important place of responsibility.
He was married, December 30, 1903, to Mertie McDonald of Joliet. He has taken the Knight Templar degrees in the Masonic Order, belongs to the Gary Commercial Club, is a republican, and worships in the Episcopal faith.
PONTUS HEINTZ. In the appointment of Pontus Heintz as chief of the Gary police on January 5, 1914, no better selection could have been made with regard to experience and demonstrated efficiency, and this important branch of municipal service could not be in better hands than those of Chief Heintz.
Pontus Heintz was born in Sweden, April 11, 1865. When he was nineteen years old, in 1884, he emigrated to the United States, spent four months at Streeter, Illinois, and from there went to Chicago and enlisted in the United States Army in the Sixth Cavalry in Troop K, commanded by Captain Kerr. At that time practically the last of the great Indian campaigns were being fought in the Southwest, and the noted Chief Geronimo was still at large with his blood thirsty Apaches, and it required all the vigilance of the army and many bloody campaigns to finally conquer that great warrior. Mr. Heintz was sent with his command of the Southwest, and served through the campaign which finally brought Geronimo into subjection. In 1880 he received an honorable discharge through disability and returned to Streeter, Illinois, but soon after moved to Joliet. While in that city he enlisted in the Fourth Illinois National Guards. and was promoted to chief trumpeter. At, Joliet he was employed by the American Steel and Wire Company for some time, served on the police force, was appointed to patrol sergeant and acting captain. Later he took charge of the police depart- ment maintained by the Illinois Steel Company at Joliet, and continued in that service until 1902. He then went East and took a similar position with the Lackawana Steel Company at Buffalo, New York. Resigning from the police service in 1907, he was employed for a time by W. J. Connors and had charge of the freight house on the docks at Buffalo. Mr. Heintz came to Gary in 1908, and was employed by the
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Gary Land Company as chief inspector up to January 1, 1913. Since then he has been engaged in business as local representative of the Home Life Insurance Company of New York. Since taking up his duties as chief of the police department he was compelled to discontinue the insurance business. His service as a regular soldier of the United States Army, his employment in various responsible capacities as a police officer for a number of years, and his thorough integrity as a man and public spirit as a citizen has given Chief Heintz an unusual equip- ment for his present duties, and the city may congratulate itself on this appointment.
In 1892, at Chicago, Mr. Heintz married Amanda Johnson, who is also a native of Sweden. They are the parents of three children, namely : Roy, born in 1894: Marie, born in 1896; and Alice, born in 1900. Mr. Heintz affiliates with the Masonic Order, the Benevolent Order of Elks, the Knights of Pythias and the Scandinavian Brother- hood of America.
LOUIS I. GOTTLIEB. In the cosmopolitan region of the Calumet men of foreign birth and training are found in the responsible positions in practically every department of activity, in the professions and in civic and business affairs. A lawyer who has already gained substan- tial honors and has a broad field of usefulness before him is Louis I. Gottlieb, who came to the United States soon after reaching manhood, by hard work qualified himself for the law, and has enjoyed a grow- ing practice in real estate law for six years.
Louis I. Gottlieb was born in Austria, Hungary, July 4, 1879, a son of Acher and Gittel Gottlieb. His youth was spent in his native land, where he received his early education, and on May 16, 1901, he landed in New York City, spent a month there and one year in Pitts- burg, and on January 3, 1903, located in Chicago. The first three years were spent in the study of law in the office of Morris Loeff, fol- lowed by two and a half years in the office of V. R. O'Shea. Mr. Gott- lieb was admitted to the bar May 17, 1907, and established himself at Gary January 5, 1908. In May of the same year he went West, but after a brief trip in California returned to Gary in the fall of the same year, and has since been steadily at work in his profession. His first year was spent in partnership with Judge Dunn, and since then he has practiced alone. His specialty is real estate law and he has handled no criminal practice at all. In 1909 he was appointed the first city judge of Gary, after the incorporation of the city, and in 1913 was a candidate for the city court at the primaries.
On January 9, 1910, he married Jeanette Mollner, a daughter of Samuel Mollner, formerly of Chicago, but now of Gary. Mr. Gottlieb and wife have one son, Edwin, aged three years. Mr. Gottlieb is well known in fraternal circles, having membership in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, is deputy grand master of the Court of Honor, and belongs to the Independent Western Star Temple. In politics he is a democrat.
WILLIAM LENNERTZ. Hobart Township has no more public spirited citizen than William Lennertz, who represents one of the old families of Lake County, is himself a native son of the county, and while most of his active career has been given to farming, he is best known through his official services, and whether as an official or an individual, Mr.
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Lennertz has always stood on the side of progress and helped to promote growth and development in his community.
William Lennertz was born in Lake County, Indiana, November 1, 1859, a son of Nicholas and Elizabeth (Paul) Lennertz. His father died at the age of seventy-one and his mother at the age of eighty-five. The father was born in Germany in 1815 and the mother in 1818. Of the other children Mathias lives at Merrillville, Indiana, while Jacob is a farmer in Iowa.
William Lennertz was educated in the common schools of Ross Town- ship, was trained on a farm, and made farming his regular vocation after reaching his majority. Aside from his agricultural interests, he had one year of experience with a packing house in Chicago. For the past ten years Mr. Lennertz has had charge of the transportation of public school pupils from the country to the consolidated school at Hobart. In 1912 he was elected a member of the town board for four years, and for twelve years has served as supervisor.
On February 1, 1883, Mr. Lennertz married Helen Schillo of Ross Township. They are the parents of six children, two sons and four daughters, all of whom have finished school except one, being graduates of the Hobart High School. The oldest child, Gertrude, is now the wife of Charles Kraft, of Crown Point, and the mother of three children.
Mr. Lennertz affiliates with the Independent Order of Foresters and the Knights of the Maccabees, is a member of the Catholic Church, belongs to the Commercial Club, and in politics is a democrat. In civic matters he took a prominent part in the local campaign for construction of an adequate sewerage system in Hobart, and aligned himself with those who advocated the expenditure of sufficient money to obtain the best boulevard lighting system, and in all his civic work he stands for the best, believing that the public interests demand permanent and good service rather than wasteful economy. He has also done all he could to promote the building of good roads, was one of the movers for the establishment of a public library at Hobart, and has promoted the elec- tric line from Gary to Hobart.
J. J. VERPLANK. By reason of his residence and business activity in Gary of seven years, J. J. Verplank is one of the oldest established architects in the Calumet region. Mr. Verplank maintains an office and staff and handles a great amount of architectural design work, and besides the drawing of plans for a great deal of the more important building construction in this part of the Calumet district, also furnishes supervision of construction and financial management of all the details of building work.
In Grand Haven, Michigan, J. J. Verplank was born, January 23, 1875, a son of Joseph and Gertrude (Bromer) Verplank. His father was a farmer, a man of considerable prominence, and for two terms held the office of sheriff of Ottawa County in Michigan. J. J. Verplank grew up on a farm, had the ordinary advantages of the public schools, and having some talent and ambition for architecture studied and pre- pared for practical work through a course with the International Cor- respondence School in Architecture. In 1903 Mr. Verplank removed to Chicago, spent four years in his profession there, and on October 19, 1907, arrived in Gary and opened his office in March, 1908. During his first year in Gary he built four houses, and since then has confined his practice largely to architectural designing, and has a staff of from one
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to three men in his office. Mr. Verplank has furnished the designs and specifications for the Gary Theater, the First Presbyterian Church, the Gary Commercial Club Building, the Savage Building, the addition to Alschuler Store, and more than two hundred smaller building enterprises.
In August, 1900, Mr. Verplank married Grace M. Gordon, who, like him, is a native of Michigan. Their four children are Dorothy, Wilbur, Cornelia and Boyd. Mr. Verplank is independent in his political rela- tions, has membership in the Masonic Lodge, is a member of the Com- mercial Club and chairman of the board of trustees of the Presbyterian Church.
GARY BOND AND MORTGAGE COMPANY. This company is the out- growth of the large private business developed and conducted by Mr. F. P. Rundell in the platting and subdivision of residential and business real estate in and about Gary. The company was organized in 1910 by Mr. Rundell, and besides its extensive holdings and development of city property, it deals in mortgages and loans, and has handled a large sum of money used in the improvement of this city. The company offices are at 101 West Fifth Avenue.
Since the organization of the company its principal work in develop- ing new additions to the city is noted as follows: The Gary Bond and Mortgage Company's First Addition, of forty-eight lots in the Tolleston district at the corner of Nineteenth Avenue and Taft Street; the second addition, in 1911, of forty-eight lots in the Tolleston district at the corner of Roosevelt Street and Nineteenth Avenue; a third addition, also in 1911, of forty-seven lots, at the corner of Harrison and Thirty-first Avenue ; the fourth addition, in 1912, a small subdivision at the corner of Taft Street and Nineteenth Avenue; the fifth addition, laid in 1913, comprising 192 lots on the south side at Forty-seventh Avenue, fronting on the Gary and Southern Railway; the sixth addition, in 1913, also 192 lots, at the corner of Fifteenth Avenue and Grand Avenue, west of city limits; the seventh addition, in 1913, at the intersection of the Gary and Southern and the Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway, com- prising 192 lots; the Nickel Plate Addition, in 1913, is twenty-four lots at the corner of Harrison and extending along the Nickel Plate Railway.
Before the organization of the Gary Bond and Mortgage Company, Mr. Rundell had platted and sold the following additions: Orchard Park Addition in 1907, forty-nine lots on Fifteenth Avenue and Center Street in Tolleston; the Boulevard Addition in 1907, ninety-six lots at the corner of Taft Street and Seventeenth Avenue ; Rundell's Addition, 1908, forty-eight lots at the corner of Taft Street and Seventeenth Avenue; Rundell's Fourth Addition, in 1909, forty-six lots at the corner of Roosevelt and Seventeenth Avenue; Rundell's Fifth Addition of ninety- six lots at the corner of Fifteenth Avenue and Chicago Avenue, opened in 1910. Nearly all of these additions have been developed as high class residence property, though some portion of it is improved with business houses.
F. P. Rundell is a native of New York State, born in 1855, a son of George and Abbie (Lawrence) Rundell. He was well educated, gradu- ated from the Normal School at Pottsdam, New York, and later took a special course in Cornell University. In 1881 Mr. Rundell was ad- mitted to the bar, and practiced for two years in the State of New York. He has been in the law and in real estate for many years. In 1904
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he moved to Chicago, and his home has been in Gary since 1912. Hle became identihed with real estate operations at Gary at the beginning of that city, and as the above paragraph indicates has done a great deal to build and improve the city.
On January 11, 1888, Mr. Rundell married Kate Stoneman, of Minne- sota. They have a son, Forrest, who is now in business with his father. Mr. Rundell has membership in the Gary Commercial Club, the Univer- sity Club, the Hamilton Club of Chicago, and in the Young Men's Christian Association at Gary. He is a republican in politics, and is a member of the Congregational Church.
JOHN B. BURKE. Among the public officials of Gary who are in the performance of their duties at the time of this publication, John B. Burke has a place of large responsibility as plumbing inspector, to which position he was appointed on January 5, 1914. Mr. Burke is a practical man in his line, has been in the plumbing business at Gary for several years, and is one of the well known citizens.
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