USA > Indiana > Lake County > A standard history of Lake County, Indiana, and the Calumet region, Volume II > Part 7
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The culmination of his mercantile career came in the fall of 1913 with the opening of Hammond's newest department store, representing an investment of nearly half a million dollars, and a modern three-story building that in size only, and not in service nor in completeness of appointments, is inferior to any metropolitan department store. The formal opening of this handsome emporium on October 16, 1913, was a great event in Hammond and was appropriately celebrated. Music, speak- ing, and a great outpouring of popular appreciation and praise of the organization, and especially of the man who had been chiefly responsible for this enterprise, E. C. Minas, president and active head of the E. C. Minas Company.
A native of Lake County, and of an old family of this section, Edward C. Minas was born at Crown Point, October 6, 1863, a son of Michael and Margaret (Groh) Minas. His father was a shoe merchant and the son grew up in a mercantile atmosphere, but had only an ordinary educa- tion, and his success has been due to his individual talent and force of will and determination to rise superior to circumstances and establish a business better than those of his competitors. After attending the public schools he became clerk in a grocery store, and then became bookkeeper and cashier in M. M. Towle's store at Hammond.
In 1890 Mr. Minas opened a business of his own with a stock of hard- ware valued at less than twelve hundred dollars and in a small room at State Street and Oakley Avenue. His first day's sales were less than five dollars, but in a short time trade was attracted to his location and kept increasing at a more than normal rate. It is interesting to recall that the first delivery service was made in a wheelbarrow, while at the present time three automobile trucks and seven wagons deliver goods free within a radius of twenty miles about Hammond. The first chapter of the store's history was written in five years, and at the end of that time it had outgrown its quarters and was moved to a three-story building with fifty feet frontage on a portion of the ground occupied by the present building. Ten years later another three stories on fifty feet of frontage was added, and the E. C. Minas Company was incorporated as a general department store. The business had continued increase and prosperity and in 1912 preparations were made for the building of a store structure which in equipment and possibilities of service should represent the latest ideas in architecture and arrangement. A study was made of department stores in different sections of the country, and one of the best architects was engaged to draw the plans. The former build- ing had to be remodeled to conform to the new design and present one architectural harmony of an entire block, and, in spite of alterations, business went on uninterruptedly for fully a year. The result is a per-
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fectly fireproof building, equipped with automatic sprinkling system, with electric elevators, a modern system of heating, lighting and ventilating, and many provisions for the comfort and convenience of customers, and also for employees. While Mr. Minas has been the mainspring in the development of this concern from its infancy, he has also had the faculty of associating with him capable subordinates, and has developed a busi- ness organization which represents the acme of efficiency in its per- sonnel. The different departments of the E. C. Minas Company store are in charge of separate managers or departmental heads, and each is responsible for the success of his line the same as if it were a separate business. It has been the policy of the company from the beginning to handle nothing but reliable merchandise, never to allow a customer to depart dissatisfied, to give so far as possible personal and intimate service, and a store motto has been "the best of service, courtesy, treat- ment and loyalty to the store." Under its present organization more than two hundred employees give daily energies to making this a perfect service in merchandising and depend upon the institution for their own livelihood. The Minas store was the first in the Calumet district to intro- duce a profit-sharing plan whereby a portion of the profits are given to customers as premiums on their aggregate purchases.
Along with success in his private business ventures, Mr. E. C. Minas has combined a splendid public spirit which has made him a factor in much of the civic improvements and municipal betterment in his home city, where he is looked upon as a man of the finest character and most useful influence. Mr. Minas is an influential member of the Chamber of Commerce, belongs to the Hammond Country Club, has affiliations with the Lodge and Scottish Rite Consistory of the Masonic order, and with the Mystic Shrine, with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Knights of Pythias, and is interested in all the movements under- taken to increase and bring about a better and greater Hammond.
On December 27, 1893, Mr. Minas married Maude Kiefer, a daughter of Dr. F. P. Kiefer of Hammond. They are the parents of three children -Lucille, Edward Clarence and Carl Kiefer.
WILLIAM JAMES MORAN. Conducting a popular garage and operat- ing a taxi service in Hammond, William J. Moran has been identified with that city for the past thirteen or fourteen years, and has a high standing among local business men.
William James Moran was born in Martinsburg, New York, August 26, 1871, a son of Peter and Anna (Callahan) Moran. His father was a stone contractor. The son grew up at Lowville, New York, attended the public schools there, and spent five years in learning and working at the trade of casket trimmer. After a short time spent in managing his father's farm, he went with the Western Steel Car and Foundry Company as general foreman, and subsequently became foreman in the Standard Steel Car Company's shops. Mr. Moran came to the Calumet region in 1900, and has lived in Hammond for seven years. On July 20, 1913, he bought a garage at 160 Fayette street, and besides a storage capacity for about thirty cars operates a repair shop and maintains an excellent taxi service.
Mr. Moran and wife are members of St. Joseph's church. He married Anna E. Ryan, of Lowville, New York, and they have one son, Leonard J., who is now a student in the Cincinnati Dental College.
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AMERICAN POTATO MACHINERY COMPANY. Of the numerous Ham- mond industries, one of the most important in the younger generation is the America Potato Machinery Company, which was organized in January, 1912, for the manufacture of a varied line of potato machinery, and now has a plant covering half a dozen acres of ground, with capital investment of fifty thousand dollars, some thirty employees, and a pay roll of about fifteen thousand dollars. The original machines which formed the nucleus of manufacture were devised and invented by James Cameron and Howard C. Long. On the death of Mr. Cameron, Mr. Long continued making the machines and finally perfected them in their pres- ent efficiency.
Since the organization and incorporation of the American company, its executive officers have been : George M. Eder, president; D. W. Krinbill, vice-president; Frank Hammond, secretary; Harry M. John- son, treasurer ; and George J. Eder, general manager. The capital stock of the company is fifty thousand dollars, and with six acres of ground, the manufacturing is carried on in a large brick building, 60x200 feet. The output of the plant is potato planters, diggers and sorters, and the sale of these implements is now extended to practically every state of the Union, and some are sent abroad. Nearly all the employees are skilled workmen.
GEORGE J. EDER. The general manager of the American Potato Machinery Company is a native of Lake county, a young business man with a broad experience in several different lines and recently admitted to the Indiana bar.
George J. Eder was born at Crown Point, September 30, 1879, a son of George M. and Frances (Scherer) Eder. His father has long been prominent in Lake county as a banker and county official. The son received his education in the public schools and completed it at St. Joseph's College in Rensselaer, Indiana, where he graduated in 1893. The next four years were spent in his father's office as deputy county clerk. Then for ten years he was in Chicago employed by the Pacific Express Company, and advanced from a wagon boy to the posi- tion of assistant superintendent. Returning to Hammond in 1911, he spent some time with the Champion Potato Machinery Company, and then became one of the organizers of his present concern. Mr. Eder was admitted to the Indiana bar in 1914. His study of law had begun while he was in his father's office as deputy clerk, and he improved his opportunities while in the legal and claim department of the express company at Chicago, and followed that with a course in the American Correspondence School of Law at Chicago.
Mr. Eder was married in 1907 to Anna M. Hilbrich, daughter of Peter and Barbara (Rascher) Hilbrich of Hammond. Her father is a merchant of that city. The three children of their marriage are Mary Lillian, Genevieve and A. George. The family are members of St. .Joseph's church.
ISIDORE I. MODJESKA. This well-known Hammond attorney has had a successful career, both in the law and in the newspaper field, and after being admitted to practice turned his attention to newspaper work and was identified with several large dailies in the middle west until coming to Hammond about seven years ago and taking up a prac-
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tice which has rapidly developed and given him a secure prestige as a member of the Lake county bar.
Isidore I. Modjeska was born in Chicago, June 29, 1876, a son of Israel I. and Elizabeth Modjeska. His life has been spent in different localities, and his early education was acquired in the public schools of Pratt Center, Kansas, in Chicago, two years at the Northwestern high school, followed by a college career in the Lake Forest University, and in 1899 he graduated from the Chicago College of Law. His first year as a lawyer was spent in St. Joseph, Missouri, but he gave up his profession and took a position on the staff of the Kansas City Record, later was with the Omaha World, and also with the Twin City Journal at St. Paul, and was reporter and correspondent for a number of other newspapers in the middle west. Coming to Hammond in July, 1908, he resumed practice as a lawyer, and since January, 1913, has served as deputy prosecuting attorney of Lake county.
Mr. Modjeska is a member of the Hammond Chamber of Commerce and the Hammond Humane Society. He is dictator in the L. O. O. M., and was first trustee of Ezra Lodge, I. O. B. A., and is a member of the Bethel Congregation. At Kansas City, Missouri, January 22, 1901, he married Florence Pearl Shless. They have one daughter, Mildred Sylvia.
GOLDEN BROS. The Golden name and enterprise has signified a great deal in Hammond during the last twenty-five years. As mer- chants, in the transfer, storage and furniture trade, and allied lines, father and sons have built up a business which stands for service, and their own prosperity is merely a reflection of the adequate work they have done in the community.
The late Peter J. Golden, the father of the Golden Bros., was born in Oxford, Pennsylvania, and at his death on October 23, 1909, was sixty-four years of age. He came to Hammond in 1889, and at the time of his death was esteemed as one of the ablest citizens and business men. He was for a time engaged in the transfer and storage business, and at one time was proprietor of four grocery stores in the city. Subsequently he was employed in the G. H. Hammond Company's packing plant as a government meat inspector. His wife, Mrs. Emma Golden, who was born at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, is still living with her sons in Hammond.
Levi E. Golden, the older of the two sons, was born June 10, 1876, at Altoona, Pennsylvania. He was about thirteen years old when the family moved to Hammond, had a fair share of training in the public schools, and as a youth got experience under his father in the grocery trade. Subsequently he worked for a time in the nail mills and in the butterine factory, but in 1897 started a transfer dray. To this, as the scope extended and the opportunities inereased, was added a storage warehouse. The firm of Golden Bros. now has a large and prosperous business employing the services of seven or eight men. In connection with the storage warehouse they also do a furniture business. The firm for five years handled all the delivery work of the Sawyer-Mc- Mahon Biscuit Company.
Mr. Golden is almost as well known for his benevolent work in Hammond as for his business activity. He has been a leader in the movement for educating and uplifting the moral standard and fur- Vol. II-4
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nishing wholesome recreation for boys and young men. He is a mem- ber of the Christian church, and a great deal of his time is given to the work of the church and its affiliated branches. He took an active part in organizing in Hammond the Boy Scouts of America, and is a teacher of the Bible Class and has organized several clubs in connection with the church. Mr. Golden is an outdoor man, and in his earlier days played baseball.
Emory C. Golden, the junior of the firm of Golden Bros., was born at Amboy, Indiana, March 15, 1878. He was also educated in the public schools, received his first experience in the grocery store of his father, was a hardware clerk for a time, was an employe of the butterine factory, and subsequently with his brother engaged in the transfer business and together they have built up the fine concern now con- ducted under their name.
WILLIAM THOMAS. A man of superior business and financial ability and judgment, William Thomas, of Hammond, Indiana, has long been actively identified with the development and promotion of the industrial activities of Lake County, and is widely known throughout the com- munity. A native of England, he was born, December 18, 1863, at Albright, Shropshire, a son of James and Anna Maria (Harper) Thomas, his father having been a prominent contractor and builder in his native country.
Brought up and educated in Shropshire, Mr. Thomas determined while young to begin life for himself on this side of the broad Atlantic. Accordingly, in 1883, he came with his bride to Canada, settling first in Ontario, where for nine years he was connected with a supply house that dealt in iron, steel and provisions. He subsequently came to the United States and was associated with the Muskegon Foundry Company for a time, and then went to Chicago, where for a period of three years he was chief clerk with the National Bank of the Republic. He was subse- quently for four years with the Cudahy Packing Company, holding a position of responsibility. In 1900 Mr. Thomas accepted a position with the Simplex Railway Appliance Company, in IIammond, Indiana, and six years later was made its secretary. This company was purchased by the American Steel Foundries, and he is now auditor for the Simplex works of that concern. Mr. Thomas is also secretary of the Hammond Manufacturers' Association and is a member of the Hammond Country Club.
Mr. Thomas married, December 31, 1882, in England, Miss Alice Sheldon, a daughter of Henry and Emma Sheldon, and to them one child was born, namely, Beatrice Mignon Thomas.
FRANK D. PREST. When Hammond began growing as a manufac- turing center, and as one industry after another found location there, there were necessarily attracted a large number of men in executive and other positions who have since been permanently identified with Lake county, and have proved one of the best elements in its popu- lation. Among those who came at an early date, and are practically pioneers of the Calumet region, was Frank D. Prest, whose home has been in Hammond since 1880. Mr. Prest was for a number of years connected with the Tuthill Spring Company at Hammond, and came to the city along with the industry in the capacity of foreman. He
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remained there as general foreman with that industry until 1894, and then transferred his energies and has since been more or less closely identified with the insurance business. Mr. Prest served three years as deputy assessor for North township, and was then appointed justice of the peace and in 1910 elected to that office, his term expiring in November, 1913.
Frank D. Prest was born at Perrysburg, Ohio, July 16, 1859, a son of John and Susan Prest. His father was a merchant. Mr. Prest received a public school education, and early in his youth went to Chicago and found employment with the Spring Company, which in 1880 moved its plant to Hammond, and he went along to take the place of foreman. He remained with the concern until it quit business, and has since made himself a factor in other lines.
In 1884 he married Adelia F. Burroughs, of Rensselaer, Indiana. Mrs. Prest died in 1900, and their four children are: Edith A., wife of Carl P. Mier, of Oak Park, Illinois; Margaret E., a stenographer in the superior court of Lake county ; Blanche M., at home; and George B., a clerk at Buffington, Indiana. The family have membership in the Episcopal church, and Mr. Prest affiliates with Garfield Lodge No. 569, A. F. & A. M.
JOSEPH ALLEN GRAHAM, M. D. Among the active physicians and surgeons of Hammond probably no member of the fraternity has more expert qualifications, had a longer or better training both in this coun- try and abroad previous to beginning regular practice, and none has been more successful in his work than Dr. Graham of Hammond.
A native of Canada, born in Lenox-Addington, January 10, 1877, Joseph Allen Graham is a son of Robert and Mary (Wolf) Graham, his father a pharmacist. From the Kingston Collegiate Institute at Kingston, Ontario, Dr. Graham was graduated in 1894, and being then seventeen years of age introduced himself to a life somewhat adven- turous and followed the sea for three years. Much of his time was spent abroad and in Great Britain for a number of years, and after leaving the sea he was a student for two years in the University of Edinboro, and then returned to Canada and in 1904 was graduated M. D. and C. M. from Queen's University of Ontario. Besides the regular courses of school, clinic and hospital, Dr. Graham had some unusual opportunities. For a time he was connected with the staff of instruction in Queen's University, was one of the staff in London Hospital and the great Ormond street hospital, and took special courses in operative surgery in King's College.
Dr. Graham located at Hammond in 1907, and while building up a large private practice and a reputation of special skill in surgery, he has not neglected the relations and opportunities for service to be found in his home city and vicinity. He is a member of the British Medical Society, and the Lake County and Indiana State Medical So- cieties. He is surgeon to St. Margaret's Hospital in Hammond, and much of his time has been unselfishly devoted to the unremunerated service of his profession. He has membership in the Hamilton Club of Chicago, is a Royal Arch Mason, belongs to the English Order of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is also affiliated with the Knights of the Maccabees. On July 1, 1902, Dr. Graham was married to Amy Kathleen Marston of Canada. Their two children are Mary
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Gwendolyn and Constance Maud. The family are members of the Episcopal church.
J. WILLIAM BECKMAN. One of Hammond's business men whose career is a record of advancement steady and sure over all obstacles and with the best possible utilization of opportunities and resources is J. William Beckman, who is now best known to the business community as secretary and treasurer of the Beekman Supply Company at 265 Michigan avenue.
Though born in Germany, September 11, 1869, Mr. Beekman has lived practically all his life in America, since in 1871 his parents, Peter and Matilda (Weinroth) Beckman emigrated to America and first set- tled in Cook county, Illinois. His father was a farmer and in 1875 transferred his home to Lake county, Indiana, and took up farming in the vicinity of Cedar Lake. He is now living retired at Hammond.
J. William Beckman attended the public schools for his education, and began his eareer at Hammond as clerk in the postoffice for four years. This was followed by two years with the Griffin drug store, then as shipping clerk for seven years with the Tuthill Spring Com- pany, and after that six years as eashier with the same concern at Chicago; then as cashier and bookkeeper four years with Sturges & Burn Manufacturing Company.
In the meantime, in 1904, Mr. Beckman had been one of the prin- cipal organizers and owned half the original eapital stock of seven thousand five hundred dollars in the Beckman Supply Company. He was secretary and treasurer of the organization, but kept at his other work for several years until the company was on a fair way to pros- perity and required his entire attention, and then in 1909 he returned to Hammond and has since been closely identified with the manage- ment of this suceessful corporation. In 1911 its capital stock was inereased to fifty thousand dollars. The Beckman Supply Company deals in hay, grain, flour, mill feed, briek, stone, sand, lime and cement, plastering materials and interior and other building specialties, handles coal, and its trade is one of constantly growing and profitable scope.
Mr. Beckman stands high in the business community, is a member of the Hammond Chamber of Commerce and the Hammond Country Club, and affiliates with the Knights of the Maccabees. In 1902 he was married at Chieago Heights to Mary Rabe. They have one ehild, Helen Rabe Beekman, who is six years of age.
PHILIPP BUETTNER. A business which supplies a valued and im- portant service to the people of Hammond is the East Lawn Green- houses, Philipp Buettner, proprietor, located at 508 Michigan avenue. Mr. Buettner has more than thirty years of practical experience as a gardener and florist, has been in the business in both the east and the west, and there is probably not a detail of the art which has escaped him.
Philipp Buettner is a native of Germany, born in Bavaria, May 11, 1859. Reared and educated in his native land, he was an emigrant to America in Mareh, 1879, and the first three years were spent in work as a gardener on Long Island, New York. This was followed by four years of praetieal experience in the same line at Chicago, and his home has been in Hammond sinee 1885, so that he may well elaim the dis- tinction of being an old settler. For a time Mr. Buettner was em-
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ployed in the Old Spring factory at Hammond, and then for twenty years was connected with M. M. Towle's floral establishment in that city. In 1907 Mr. Buettner established business on his own account, and now has three lots, each 25x100 feet, with several thousand square feet under glass, and devoted to a culture of the choicest varieties of flowers, and carries on an extensive business both in cut flowers and shrubs, bulbs, plants and trees.
Mr. Buettner was married at Chicago, April 2, 1885, to Katie Bieser. Their five children are: George B., associated with his father as a florist; Katie; John F .; William F .; and Edith. Mr. Buettner belongs to the Baptist church, and fraternally is affiliated with the Knights of the Maccabees and the Royal League.
FRED GRANGER. A business which has been conducted so success- fully as to become a familiar institution in Hammond is the Granger- Whitaker Company, operating a general livery and sales stables, en- gaged in teaming and transfer work, and employing automobiles in the business and handling the sale of several cars. The company is incor- porated with a capital stock of ten thousand dollars, and its officers are Fred Granger, Henry Whitaker and Giles T. Warner.
Fred Granger, who has been identified with the citizenship of Ham- mond since 1906 and in his present line of business, was born in Jasper county, Indiana, November 14, 1876, a son of William J. and Lucy (McCallister) Granger. His father was a well-known lawyer of Jack- son county. Fred Granger had a public school education, and early became identified with teaming and the buying of stock, and is an expert judge of horses in particular. Mr. Granger is a member of the Hammond Commercial Club, affiliates with the Fraternal Order of Eagles and the Knights of Pythias and his church is the Christian.
In June, 1902, he married Bessie Curtin, of Jasper county, daughter of Timothy and Kate Curtin. IIer father was engaged in railway construction work for many years. They are the parents of five chil- dren : Ola, Hazel, Lee, Tony and Pauline.
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