USA > Indiana > Lake County > A standard history of Lake County, Indiana, and the Calumet region, Volume II > Part 53
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Mr. Melton in September, 1906, married Edith Quilling of Min- neapolis. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Masonic Lodge, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and the Knights of Pythias. Has membership in the American Society of Civil Engineers, is a director in the Commercial Club, and is one of the vigorous and public spirited citizens of Gary. In politics he is a democrat and is a junior warden in the Episcopal Church at Gary.
PETER W. SEYL. Assistant manager of the great American Bridge Company's works at Gary, Mr. Seyl began his career as a bookkeeper. A master of detail, thoroughly experienced in the bridge and structural steel business, he is one of the ablest men on the Ambridge official staff.
Born in Chicago in 1875, he is a son of Joseph and Catherine Seyl. His father was for many years in the hotel business. He started out in life with a public school education, beginning as a bookkeeper in a planing mill. From that he became a model maker, and from 1896 to 1903 was in the service of the American Bridge Company's plant. The following six years were spent with the Jackson & Corbett Bridge & Steel Company, and for a year and a half Mr. Seyl was engaged in independent contracting in Chicago. In 1910 he came to Gary to be- come superintendent of the American Bridge Company, and in the fall of 1913 was promoted to assistant manager.
In 1903 Mr. Seyl married Clara H. Zeiger of Chicago. They have one daughter, Clara E. Mr. Seyl is a well known citizen of Gary, and is interested in everything pertaining to the substantial welfare and improvement of his city. In January, 1914, he was elected alderman from the Eighth Ward. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Masonic
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Order, Gary Commercial Club, is a Presbyterian in religion, and sup- ports the political principles of the progressive republican party.
OTTO W. DALRYMPLE. In point of residence, beginning with the fall of 1906, Otto W. Dalrymple is one of the oldest business men of Gary, and few of the "pioneers" have been more actively identified with the practical upbuilding and extension of the city in the con- struction of its business and private architecture.
Born at the village of Mexico in Miami County, Indiana, October 22, 1871, a son of Edward and Jennie Dalrymple, his father a carpenter by trade, Otto W. Dalrymple from early boyhood lived in Laporte, where he attended public school and later was in the high school in Chicago. He studied civil engineering and architecture, received a thorough training in those lines in Chicago, and began business as an architect in Mishawaka, Indiana, where he 'remained five years. The following four years were spent in business association with W. J. McAlpin at Dixon, Illinois.
Mr. Dalrymple came to Gary October 2, 1906, and as civil en- gineer represented the Schmidt Bros., and in that capacity helped to stake out the corner for the Kirk Hotel, and then surveyed the sites for the buildings on the Kirk Addition. Later he became superintend- ent of building construction for the firm of Hess & Heiner. In August, 1910, was organized the Dalrymple Contracting Company, of which Mr. Dalrymple is president and active manager. This company has a notable record of building construction in Gary. Its work includes several blocks on Broadway; several buildings constructed for the Brennan interests; the nut and bolt works at East Chicago; Downing flats; the General Electric Hotel; Schafer Building; Tollman Flats; Simons Block ; City Stables; L. A. Bryan's office building; and a num- ber of the best residences in the city.
In February, 1913, Mr. Dalrymple branched out in a different direc- tion and opened at Gary what is known as the Overland Garage and Sales Company at 117 W. Sixth Street. Besides operating a general garage and supply shop he handles the sale in this city of the Over- land and the Hudson cars and the Chase & Garford trucks and the Willis utility trucks, also the Flagner cyclecar.
On July 2, 1893, Mr. Dalrymple married Maude Lenhart of Elk- hart, Indiana, a daughter of Charles and Elizabeth Lenhart. Mrs. Dalrymple has the distinction of having been one of the first wives of business men to establish a home in Gary. Mr. Dalrymple affiliates with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and in politics is independent.
H. A. DALBY. A member of the official staff assembled at Gary by the establishment of the American Sheet & Tin Plate Works, Mr. Dalby has been identified with the company in different localities for twelve years, and is thoroughly familiar with both the shop and office details of tin plate manufacturing.
Born at Mt. Clemens, Michigan, in 1881, H. A. Dalby is a son of George A. and Hannah Y. Dalby. His father for many years has fol- lowed the profession of accountant. Mr. Dalby in addition to an edu- cation in the public schools had two years of study in electrical engi- neering in the University of Michigan. He had considerable practical experience in machine shops, and in 1902 began work for the American
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Tin Plate Company of Canal Dover, Ohio, spent six months in the plant there and two years in New York, and from 1904 to 1910 was chief clerk of the cost department in the parent corporation at Pitts- burgh. In 1910 he was sent to Gary as chief clerk in the general offices of the local plant.
Mr. Dalby was married October 15, 1908, to Mabel Gordon of Mckeesport, Pennsylvania. They have two children. Mr. Dalby is a member of the University Club at Gary, belongs to the Episcopal Church and in politics is independent.
S. A. SMITH. One of the best known citizens of East Gary is S. A. Smith, whose home has been in this vicinity of Northern Indiana nearly all his career, and after a long service in railroading has retired to his home in East Gary to look after his private affairs and in per- forming his public duties.
Born in Porter County, Indiana, January 17, 1861, S. A. Smith is a son of Alex Smith, who died in 1861, after a brief service in Company I of the Twenty-third Indiana Infantry. He was taken prisoner and contracted a disease which resulted fatally. Mr. Smith has one living sister, Mrs. Peter Hill of Valparaiso.
The early schooling and boyhood of S. A. Smith had the chief associations with Jackson Center, near Valparaiso. At the age of twelve he left school and began working on a farm until he was eighteen. The Pennsylvania Railway gave him his first opportunity for railroading, and after three years with that company he was for five years with the Grand Trunk as a brakeman. Mr. Smith was engaged in the teaming and transfer business at Valparaiso four years, and from there went to Hinckley, Illinois, and was in the service of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy road for six years. Finally returning to Val- paraiso, he lived there until he came to East Gary nine years ago.
In 1880 Mr. Smith married Anna Ferguson of Valparaiso. She died March 30, 1891. On March .22, 1900, he married Mary Moffett. There are six living children, two by the first wife and four by the second. Of the older children one is married, and the four younger children are now attending school at East Gary. Mr. Smith affiliates with the Independent Order of Foresters, is a republican in politics, and a member of the Christian Church. In 1907 he was elected to the office of town marshal, and served two terms. During that service he proved his efficiency and vigilance by capturing three horse thieves, making a number of important arrests, particularly of car breakers, and was always ready to take a risk in the performance of his official duties. Mr. Smith owns a comfortable home in East Gary, also a house and four lots on the Ridge Road and a lot on Seventeenth Street in the City of Gary. He bought the Gary property when the town was first started, and its increase in value under his ownership has been about four hundred per cent. He was one of the first to buy real estate in Gary, and at one time was offered ten acres near the present intersection of Fourteenth Street and Broadway for a cow and six dollars.
ROBERT MCGHEE. Chief accountant for the American Bridge Com- pany at Gary, Mr. McGhee has had an unusually broad experience and training in the accounting profession with several branches of manu- facturing, and before coming to Gary to open the books of the Bridge Company was for several years an independent manufacturer.
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Born in Audenried, Pennsylvania, in 1878, Robert McGhee is a son of John E. and Hannah McGhee. His father was for many years master mechanic for the Lehigh and Wilkesbarre Coal Company. Mr. McGhee after his education in the public schools learned stenog- raphy, and for five years worked in the general offices of the Janesville Iron Works Company. He has a special genius for the accounting side of business, and his next experience was as bookkeeper for a lumber firm at Pittsburgh. In 1901 Mr. McGhee became assistant division paymaster for the American Bridge Company, but after a few years retired from that position and from 1907 to 1910 was engaged as an independent manufacturer of asbestos pipe covering at Pittsburgh. On March 2, 1910, he came to Gary as chief accountant for the American Bridge Company, and has been in charge of the books of the local indus- try since they were opened.
Mr. McGhee is a republican in politics, his church is the Presby- terian, and during the past four years he has gained a broad acquaint- ance with the leading men in this city.
GARY AND ITS HOME DISTRICTS. Almost from the inception of Gary with its magic growth, developing into a city of 40,000 population within a few short years, and attracting, as it has, men and women of progressive minds and progressive tendencies, which characteristic is first reflected in the home and its surroundings, has developed what has become the eternal question in Gary: "Where is the location that possesses all the requirements for an ideal home site, or in other words, what part of the city will attract the better class of residents ?"
It is true that in all sections of this rapidly growing city, there is on the average a better class of construction for residence purposes than is the custom in most manufacturing cities. This is due perhaps to the restrictions adhered to by the Gary Land Company in the development of the First Subdivision, and partly because of the high class of the people associating themselves with the development of the city and making it their home, who were themselves accustomed to up to date environment in the place of their former residence.
Be that as it may, the ideal home section is now being sought and its location can easily be determined by a visit to the highest point within the city limits located south of the Little Calumet River and familiarly known as Glen Park. This Glen Park district, which is reached by Broadway, the main business thoroughfare of the City of Gary, and is served, from a standpoint of transportation, by three street car lines and unquestionably will, as time goes on, have other interurban lines passing through it to the main business section of the city, possesses natural distinctive features which do and will continue to attract the fine home builder, among these features being natural landscaping, elevation above the entire city, scenic drives, natural terraced properties, beautiful trees and being far enough removed from the manufacturing plants to escape the smoke and dirt which pollute the atmosphere in other near by sections.
Some far sighted people have given this Glen Park district consider- able attention and, in many cases, have been ridiculed for their ideas on the subject, but when one stops to view the experience of the Glen Park Lumber Company, who owned an up to date lumber yard, carry- ing an extensive line of general builders' supplies in the midst of this section, it would seem that the promoters of this enterprise had some
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advanced information on the tendency of the home builder to recognize this section, for it is the general opinion that this Glen Park Lumber Company has transacted a greater volume of business in the past year or two than any other concern engaged in like business, it having the advantage of being in close proximity to the site selected for the erec- tion of a fine home, and, in addition, attracting business from the agricultural district which lies immediately south of Gary's city limits. The progress made in a business way by this lumber company will clearly indicate that the Glen Park district must be reckoned with in determining what is Gary's most logical home section, and, in addition to this, the existence of restricted subdivisions laid out in park-like effects with circular drives subdivided in large lots, restricted only to fine homes. It may be reasonable to reach the conclusion that in this elevated spot so easily accessible from the manufacturing and business centers of the city with its elevation, its sunshine and fresh air and its attractiveness, which is attributive to the natural trees and shrubbery, that this eternal ques- tion of Gary's future exclusive district of homes might be solved.
HAMMOND MACHINE AND FORGE WORKS. This industry, which was founded in 1905 and incorporated in 1908, has a fine reputation for its products all over the Calumet district. The company has large shop and foundry equipment, and furnishes expert services as engi- neers and machinists and manufacturers of all kinds of structural steel.
The inception of the business was due to the enterprise of Daniel Bruhn, who is now president of the company. Other officials are Albert Rentner, secretary, and E. R. Jacobson, treasurer. The capital stock is $25,000, the shops are located in a building 100x100 feet, and about fifteen expert machinists are employed inside and outside.
Daniel Bruhn is not only an expert machinist but a thorough- going business executive. He came to Hammond in 1899 as a machinist, and in 1905 bought a shop and set up in business for himself. Mr. Bruhn was born in Sweden December 11, 1879, and came to America in 1899. He had a thorough schooling and passed through an appren- ticeship in the ironworker's trade in Sweden. Mr. Bruhn was married at Indiana Harbor in 1909 to Selma Roos. Their two children are Eugene Daniel and Florence. The family are members of the Lutheran Church. Mr. Bruhn besides his private business affairs has found time to serve the county as inspector of bridges.
The secretary of the Hammond Machine & Forge Works is Albert Rentner, who in addition to a broad experience in structural steel in- dustry has a splendid equipment in the technical branches of his pro- fession. Albert Rentner was born in Chicago June 1, 1876, a son of Charles and Henrietta Rentner, who were of German nativity, and his father a carpenter by trade. Mr. Rentner was educated in the public schools of Chicago and was prepared by courses in a Chicago technical school. Since early youth he has been identified with all lines of architectural iron construction work, was employed for a time with the Union Foundry as a draftsman, was for two years secretary and treasurer of the Illinois Architectural Iron Works at Chicago, and in 1900 moved to Hammond. In 1913 he bought an interest in the Ham- mond Machine and Forge Works, and has since been secretary of the company.
Mr. Rentner was married September 20, 1900, to Clara Edgars of Hammond. He is a member and financial secretary of the German Lutheran Church at Hammond.
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THOMAS G. HAMILTON. The vice president of the Co-operative Con- struction Company and the chief engineer of the Gary and Interurban Railway Company, Thomas G. Hamilton has been engaged in electrical engineering for the past twenty years. He entered upon his profession at the particularly opportune time, when the old systems of motor trac- tion were giving way before the advance of the new power, electricity. His services as an electrical engineer have brought him into various fields and in connection with many important enterprises, and he is one of the leading experts in his line in the country.
Thomas G. Hamilton was born in Ireland at Belfast, December 21, 1872, a son of John and Sarah J. Hamilton. In 1874, when he was two years old, the family came to the United States and located at Pitts- burgh, Pennsylvania. His father was a merchant, is now deceased, and his family for the most part still live at Pittsburgh. Thomas G. Hamil- ton was liberally educated, first in the public schools of Pittsburgh, and in 1895 graduated from the electrical engineering department of Lehigh University. On his return to Pittsburgh his services were particularly in demand, since the street and interurban transportation companies at and about Pittsburgh were about that time engaged in removing the old cable method of traction and substituting the new and more efficient electric power. He was employed in this work in and about Pitts- burgh, and in 1899, following the close of the Spanish-American war, was sent to Havana, Cuba, as engineer in charge of the construction of the Havana Electric Railway. That, it should be noted, was the first electric railway line in Cuba. He was employed in a similar capacity by the Insular Railway Company and later by the Havana Central Railway Company. His service in Cuba kept him employed some half dozen years, and on returning to Pittsburgh in 1905 he was made assist- ant chief engineer of the Pittsburgh, Harmony, Butler & Newcastle Railway Company.
In 1907 Mr. Hamilton came west and made his headquarters at Laporte, Indiana, as chief engineer of the Co-operative Construction Company. This was the company which was then engaged in building the "Air Line," a proposed electric railway to connect Chicago with New York, and Mr. Hamilton had charge of all the construction work, and after the reorganization of the company became chief engineer of the Gary and Interurban Railway Company. Since December, 1913, Mr. Hamilton has been vice-president of the Co-operative Construction Company.
On January 28, 1901, occurred his marriage with Mildred L. Davis, of Waynesburg, Pennsylvania. They have one son, John. Mr. Hamil- ton affiliates with the Masonic Order, the Sigma Nu college fraternity, is a republican in politics and his church is the Presbyterian. His residence is at Laporte, but his offices are in Gary.
J. C. MILLIGAN. From the commencement of his business career twenty years ago until the present time Mr. Milligan has been identified either with the lumber trade or the contracting business, and during his residence at Gary has done a great deal to add to the material devel- opment of that community, and is one of the leading contractors of the city.
J. C. Milligan was born at Terre Haute, Indiana, in 1874. His father, William R. Milligan, was a farmer, and the maiden name of his mother was Matilda Hollet. Reared in the vicinity of Terre Haute, J. C. Milligan attended the public schools until he was ready to begin Vol. II-25
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earning his own way, and then found employment in a minor capacity in a lumber concern at Terre Haute. He remained in that city until he had acquired a thorough knowledge of the lumber business in all its details, and was already in a fair way to prosperity when he left Terre Haute in 1903 and went to Chicago. There he continued in the lumber trade until he moved to Gary in 1906. He was thus identified with Gary at the very beginning of its material development as a city, and was employed by the Calumet Lumber Company until 1909. During the next two years he was in business as an independent contractor, and since 1911 has had charge of the building operations conducted by the Indiana and Illinois Land Company, a company which has handled a number of important subdivisions in and about Gary, and which has erected a large number of homes and business blocks in the city.
Mr. Milligan was married in 1892 to Mary E. Morgan of Terre Haute. In politics he is independent.
ALBERT MAACK. Cashier of the First National Bank of Crown Point, Albert Maack has been identified both in business and official capacities with this section of Indiana for the past thirty years, and represents one of the older families of Lake County.
Albert Maack was born September 24, 1862, at Brunswick, Lake County, and his father, Peter H. Maack, who was born in Germany, came to America in 1851. While in the old country he served as a cavalry officer in the Schleswig-Holstein army during the war against Denmark in 1849-50. He was a member of the Lutheran Church. Peter Maack married Catherine Schmal, who was born in Lake County, In- diana, in 1842. Her father, Joseph Schmal, was one of the earliest set- tlers in Hanover Township of Lake County.
Albert Maack received a high school education, and early pointed his career toward business. From 1884 to 1889 he was engaged in the mer- chandise business at Lowell, and in the same line at North Judson from 1890 to 1895. In 1896 Mr. Maack became a resident of Hammond, and served as assistant postmaster in the Hammond postoffice from 1898 to 1907. His name is especially well known over Lake County through his service as county treasurer, an office which he held at Crown Point from 1908 to the close of 1911, four years. Since January 1, 1914, he has been cashier of the First National Bank of the county seat.
Mr. Maack is a republican and was elected on that ticket to the office of county treasurer. He is also affiliated with the Masonic order and the Knights of Pythias. At Lowell September 10, 1889, he married Helen Kobelin. Mrs. Maack was educated in the high school and for six years prior to her marriage was a teacher in Lake County schools. Her parents were William and Margaret Kobelin, Lake County farmers. Mr. and Mrs. Maack have two daughters: Marguerite Maack, born at North Judson October 19, 1891, and a graduate with the degree A. B. in the class of 1913 from Rockford College at Rockford, Illinois: Sarah Maack, born at Hammond February 13, 1903.
WILLIAM AIILBORN. As an organization with ample capital, large experience, exceptional equipment of men and mechanical facilities. and on the basis of its actual work, the William Ahlborn Construction Company ranks as one of the largest and best organized companies in its special field in the State of Indiana. General street building and street paving, sewer construction, and similar lines of work, have fur-
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nished the great bulk of the business done by this company, and in recent years practically all the street construction done in Hammond, where the company has its business headquarters, has been performed by this organization.
William Ahlborn, who is president of the company, and whose experience and executive genius have built it up, was born in Germany, March 25, 1870, a son of Carl and Catherine Ahlborn. His father was a farmer who came to America in 1893 and lived retired in Hammond up to 1903. The son William, after his education and early training in his native land, emigrated to America and has lived in Hammond since 1890. Four years were spent as a worker in factories, after which he used his trade as a brick mason to engage in the building and contract- ing business. In 1908 he turned his attention almost entirely to street contracting and sewer construction and similar lines. For the past ten years he has had practically every important contract in this line in Lake County, and has done a great deal of work in Porter County. The William Ahlborn Construction Company was incorporated March 15, 1909, with a capital stock of $50,000, and $15,000 was added to the capitalization on May 4, 1910. During the season from spring to fall a force of about two hundred and fifty men are employed by this com- pany, and about fifty men find regular employment the year around. In addition to this Mr. Ahlborn also has a coal yard in Hammond.
He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, the Hammond Country Club, belongs to the Bricklayers' Union, in Masonry has taken thirty- two degrees of the Scottish Rite and belongs to the Mystic Shrine, and also has affiliations with the Knights and Ladies of Honor and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His church home is the Friedens Evangelical Church. A democrat, he belongs to both the Jefferson and Wilson clubs in Hammond.
In 1891 Mr. Ahlborn married Anna Offerman, who was born in Germany. Their four children are : Kate, wife of Mr. Lewke, a mechani- cal engineer at Hammond; Anna, who lives at home; William, Jr .; Rudolph. The family home is at 109 Webb Street.
Mr. Ahlborn has also taken an active part in real estate affairs. He is president of the Home & Investment Company, and has laid out and developed several subdivisions. He bought the Pachmann Subdivision and is a part owner of the Fairview Subdivision. He is one of the directors of the Fidelia Saengerbund, the German singing society of Hammond.
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