USA > Indiana > Lake County > A standard history of Lake County, Indiana, and the Calumet region, Volume II > Part 9
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The plant site contains 1,235 acres of land bordering on the shores of the lake. To the east of this site the Gary Land Company, another subsidiary of the Steel Corporation, owns sufficient land for duplicating the present plant under construction, and several mills now completed or under construction have been arranged with reference to the future enlargement of the plant. Adjoining the plant of the Indiana Steel
William A Gleason
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Company to the west is located the plant of the American Sheet and Tin Plate Company, containing 230 acres, on which have been erected mod- ern sheet and tin plate mills of large capacity. The steel slabs and sheet bars, which are worked up by this company, are furnished from the mills of the Indiana Steel Company. South of the American Sheet & Tin Plate Company's plant is the plant site of the American Bridge Company, containing 144 acres of land, on which have been erected large structural fabricating shops, with an annual capacity of from one hun- dred and fifty thousand to two hundred thousands tons of fabricated steel. Both the American Sheet & Tin Plate Company and the American Bridge Company are subsidiary companies of the United States Steel Corporation. Both of these plants were placed in operation during the year 1911, and are also operated by power furnished by the Indiana Steel Company.
Mention should also be made of the splendid facilities on the lake front, consisting of a harbor slip capable of accommodating the largest lake steamers, with ore handling machinery operated by electricity and able to unload a vessel containing 12,000 tons of ore in less than ten hours. The storage yard has a capacity of approximately 21/2 million tons of ore. The by-product coke oven plant produces the coke re- quired by the eight blast furnaces and also is able to supply a large part of the coke requirements at the Illinois Steel Company's plant in South Chicago. The power for operation of the plant furnaces is sup- plied by gas engines, with an auxiliary plant of steam engines for emer- geney. The gas for these engines and for the blowing engines is sup- plied from the blast furnaces as surplus gas. The plant is electrically equipped throughout and the power for operating the blast furnaces as well as the entire plant is developed by gas engines which are run by the waste gas from the blast furnaces. An excess of electric power is developed at the Gary works, and is transmitted a distance of five miles to the Universal Portland Cement Company's plant, where 27,000 bar- rels of Portland cement are manufactured daily. In addition the coke plant produces daily 50,000,000 cubic feet of gas for heating purposes throughout the mill.
The estimated annual production of Gary Works is as follows: Pig iron, 1,500,000 tons; open hearth ingots, 2,250,000 tons; standard steel rails. 1,200,000 tons; blooms and billets, 1,200,000 tons; merchant steel bars, 600,000 tons ; plates, 240,000 tons ; car axles, 120,000 tons ; plate steel slabs, 600,000 tons ; and coke, 3,000,000 tons; tar, 15,000,000 gallons per year ; ammonium sulphate, 26,000 tons per year.
The superintendent of the Gary Works of the Indiana Steel Com- pany, William P. Gleason, was born in Chicago February 12, 1865. His parents moved to Joliet during his childhood, and from the public schools of that city he started to work in the Joliet Rolling Mills. While there he became master mechanic, later went to Pueblo, Colorado, with the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company, and in 1900 moved to Pitts- burg as one of the executive officials of the Crucible Steel Company of America. He built the Clairton Steel Company's plant at Clairton, Pennsylvania, and was its assistant general manager until this plant was sold to the United States Steel Corporation in 1903. After that Mr. Gleason was with the Carnegie Steel Company until 1906. In that year the corporation sent him to Gary as superintendent, and he re- mained on the field individually superintending the construction of
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the great plant above sketched, and has since continued as superintendent of operations.
Mr. Gleason has a beautiful home in Gary, and is married and has two daughters. He is a member of the Chicago Athletic Club, the Chi- cago Hamilton Club, the Chicago Automobile Club, the Hammond Coun- try Club, the Gary Commercial Club and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and is first and foremost in all the industrial and civic affairs of this splendid city by the lake.
HERMAN E. GRANGER. Now one of the successful lawyers of Ham- mond, Mr. Granger was for a number of years prominent in labor councils, was at one time head of the Lake County Trades and Labor Council, and by his judicious and straightforward methods of handling the various responsibilities entrusted to his charge gained the complete confidence of his fellow craftsmen and at the present time has hundreds of warm friends in the labor unions and many of them are his clients. Mr. Granger prepared himself for the law by hard work in the intervals of his regular trade, attended night school for a number of years, and is a thoroughly equipped and able lawyer.
Born in Lake County, Indiana, December 30, 1875, Mr. Granger is a son of William J. and Lucy M. (McCallister) Granger. His father was one of the substantial farmers of this section. His early education was received in the public schools, when a boy he began learning the trade of carpenter, and followed that as a journeyman for several years. In 1898, at the outbreak of the Spanish-American war, he enlisted in Company A of the One Hundred and Sixtieth Indiana Regiment, later being transferred to Company E of the same regiment, and remained in the service one year. His command was for 132 days on duty in Cuba. Later for five years Mr. Granger acted as business agent for Carpenters' Union No. 599, and during that time adjusted all the dif- ferences between his union and the employing contractors and never had to resort to a strike. He served once as delegate to the National Convention of Union Labor. He was also president of the Lake County Trade and Labor Council. For five years Mr. Granger was a student in night school, pursuing regular literary courses and also law studies, and was also a student in the Lincoln-Jefferson College of Law. Since being admitted to the bar in 1910 he has had all his time taken up with a growing general practice.
On July 25, 1900, Mr. Granger married Daisy M. Cross, of Lowell, Indiana. Their three children are: Ellis, Forest and Herman E., Jr. The family are members of the Christian Church.
GEORGE G. BLOCKIE. For a long number of years George G. Blockie has been a popular member of trade circles in the Calumet District, and at the present time is serving as deputy sheriff of Lake County. Until assuming the responsibilities of his present position, Mr. Blockie was employed in his trade of machinist at Hammond and elsewhere, and learned his business in Lake County a number of years ago.
George G. Blockie is a native of Chicago, born February 10, 1868. Ilis parents were August and Marie (Schultz) Blockie. His father was a blacksmith, and thus mechanical pursuits are apparently a regular vocation of the family. Ilis father in 1886 moved to Lake County, but George G. Blockie, after an education in the Chicago schools, went to Hammond in 1881, learned the tinner's trade, was for three years
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employed in farm work, and then joined his father for a year. At South Chicago he went through a course of training which fitted him for work as a machinist, and he was employed with different concerns in that line and has long been regarded as one of the most expert workmen in his trade. In February, 1909, Mr. Blockie accepted the appointment as deputy sheriff, beginning his duties April 1st of that year. He served two terms under Sheriff Thomas Grant and is now deputy for Henry Whitaker.
Mr. Blockie is affiliated with the Calumet Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. On January 6, 1891, he married Louise Heidel of New York City. They have one child, Alice Marie, who lives at home.
HENRY BIEKER. Behind every successful business enterprise will be found experience, an ability to furnish good service, integrity and industrious application, and those qualities are more important than capital. These qualities of business success have helped to make the Bieker Bros. Company one of the solid concerns of Hammond. This company, which is incorporated, and the senior member of which is Henry Bieker, has two plants, one at 144 Sibley Street and the other at 257 N. Hohman Street, and deals in building materials, coal, flour, feed, lime, cement, brick, etc.
An old resident of Lake County is Henry Bieker, who was born near Schererville in this county in November, 1867, a son of William and Theresa Bieker. His father was a farmer, and Henry Bieker spent the years until he was twenty-one in the country, with such education as was acquired by attendance at district school. Learning the carpenter's trade, he worked at that for five years, and about World's Fair time went to Chicago and was for two years connected with the police force. On May 4, 1896, Mr. Bieker established a small business at Hammond, dealing in flour and feed, under the name Bieker Bros., his brother William being his partner. The business grew from year to year, and in 1909 was incorporated as the Bieker Bros. Company. Mr. Henry Bieker was also elected a director of the American Trust & Savings Bank of Hammond at the time of its organization.
At St. John in Lake County Mr. Bieker married Mary Bohling, a daughter of substantial farming people in that vicinity, Andrew and Mary Bolling. To their marriage have been born eight children : Andrew F., Cecelia T., Wilhelmina Anna, Henry N., Ruth K., Daniel W., William J. and Marie J. The family are members of St. Joseph's Church, and Mr. Bieker is a trustee. He is affiliated with the Knights of Columbus, the Catholic Order of Foresters, the Catholic Benevolent League, and as a Hammond business man has his place on the roll of the Commercial Club.
GEORGE D. HELGEN. Probably none of the recent developments in the art of healing have been attended with more uniform success than the science of Chiropractic. This is a new science of adjusting the cause of disease without drugs, based on a thorough knowledge of the nervous system. Nerves which control the various functions of the body emerge from small openings between the bony segments of the spinal column. A slight variation of these bones will cause pressure on a nerve and cut off the flow of mental impulses, lowering the vitality and the power of resistance of the tissue, the result of which is disease. Thus the
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Chiropractic method has been developed to adjust the abnormality and remove the cause by removing the pressure and permitting normal size and function of the nerves with restoration of health of body and mind.
The chief representative of this school at Hammond is G. D. Helgen, whose office is at 93 State Street. Doctor Helgen was born in Roland, Iowa, October 30, 1880, a son of Ole and Belle Helgen. His father was a merchant. The son had a public school education, during his early youth was engaged in the real estate business at Emmettsburg, Iowa, and also served as county clerk for two years. Attracted by the science of Chiropractic, he took a course in the college at Davenport, Iowa, and later in the Schroth Institute, and in 1912 came to Hammond and suc- ceeded J. M. Jones who had previously had an office in that city as a chiropractor.
Mr. Helgen is vice president of the Hammond Finance & Develop- ment Company, which is captalized at $10,000. He is a member of the Hammond Country Club and the Chamber of Commerce, and is a member of the Lutheran Church. On April 7, 1908, at Colby, Wis- consin, he married Clara A. Haugner, daughter of Andrew and Marie Haugner. Mr. Helgen is a member of the Indiana State and the Inter- national Association of Chiropractors, and has recently taken the Illi- nois examination to qualify him for practice in that state.
PAUL B. LIPINSKI. During a residence at Hammond of twenty years Paul B. Lipinski has become one of the most influential citizens among his compatriots, the Polish people of the city, whom he has repre- sented in various official ways, and in whose welfare he has interested himself often without remuneration, and has merited the high regard and confidence which he has enjoyed. At the same time Mr. Lipinski while growing up with the city has developed a large business among all classes of people in real estate, insurance, and has acquired some important relations with the commercial community.
Born at Strassburg in West Prussia, October 2, 1868, Paul B. Lipinski is a son of Frank and Agnes Lipinski. His father, who was a cabinet maker by trade, brought his family to America in 1877, when Paul was nine years of age, and settled in New York City, where he remained a resident until his death at the age of sixty-five. Paul B. Lipinski was not reared in affluence, and from an early age had to battle for himself with the difficulties of the world. Most of his education he acquired by attending night school in New York City. He learned the trade of cabinet maker and was employed as a draftsman and foreman of a factory in New York and finally acquired a business of his own. In 1894 he sold out and came west and located at Hammond, which was then a young town. Here he met the panicky conditions which were gradually settling down over the entire country and the difficulties besetting his independent enterprise at Hammond were increased by the fact that he was unable to collect the money owing to him from the man to whom he had sold his business in New York City. Thus for a year or so he was put to hard straits and was willing to accept any employment which would enable him to make both ends meet. During one season he taught school out in South Dakota, but then returned to Hammond and with the brightening of financial prospects opened an office for real estate, insurance, and mortgage loans. He maintains his headquarters at 500 Hohman Street in Hammond, and has branches
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1.6. Avous
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in Hegewisch, East Chicago, Indiana Harbor and Gary, and does a large amount of work as an official notarius for the Polish citizens.
Mr. Lipinski was one of the charter organizers and is a director of the Lake County Title and Guarantee Company, was a former director of the American Trust & Savings Bank, and is secretary and treasurer of the Northern Trust & Savings Bank, located at 237 Hohman Street. He is secretary of the First Polish Building & Loan Association, is secretary of the Sobieski Building & Loan Association and is appraiser for the Home Building & Loan Association.
He is on the state committee for the Polish National Alliance, an organization of which he was president for several years. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Fraternal Order of Eagles and has membership in the Hammond Chamber of Commerce.
On June 13, 1894, he married Lottie Hojnacki. Their three chil- dren are: Frank, born 1896, and now attending school; Edwin and George, twins, born 1899, and both in school.
HON. THOMAS E. KNOTTS. The first and only mayor of Gary, Thomas E. Knotts has been so closely identified with that city that to many people mention of Gary suggests Mayor Knotts, and it would be impossi- ble to consider the history of Gary either as a municipality or as a busi- ness center without reference to this enterprising and farsighted citizen, who about eight years ago stood in the midst of the sand barrens and the scrub oaks and helped plan and plot the lines along which the city has since grown.
Thomas E. Knotts was born May 4, 1861, in Highland County, Ohio, a son of F. D. and Margaret Knotts, who in 1866, by team and wagon, left Ohio and established a new home first on a farm four miles from Lafayette and then in Medaryville, Indiana. The father was a farmer and a carpenter. Thomas E. Knotts received a common school educa- tion in Indiana, and then taught school eight terms in this state, and for four years was engaged as superintendent of the Indian school of Dakota Territory. For a time he was superintendent of the high schools at DeSmet in Dakota Territory. From 1879 to 1884 Mr. Knotts was a stu- dent in Valparaiso University, and completed work in the commercial, the teachers and scientific courses. He was a successful teacher, and that work as everything else he has ever undertaken was pursued with a thorough energy and an ability to get results which has been char- acteristic of him in every subsequent endeavor.
In 1891 Mr. Knotts first became identified with Northern Lake County when he moved to Hammond, and there engaged in the real estate and fire insurance business. While there he was also for a time on the police force and was police commissioner of the city. Mr. Knotts was one of the first on the ground after the plans had been formulated for the estab- lishment of a great industrial center at Gary. Resigning his place as police commissioner at Hammond, he established his home in Gary on May 4, 1906, his brother A. F. Knotts, who was connected with the steel corporation, opened the first real estate office, and bought the first land outside the tracts acquired by the steel company. In July, 1906, Mr. Knotts was appointed the first postmaster at Gary, which at that time had a fourth class office, serving only a few dozen patrons. He held that position 31/2 years, and in the meantime had been otherwise honored officially. He was elected a member of the first town board in July, 1906, was made president of the board, and served as such until Novem- Vol. II-5
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ber 5, 1909, when he was elected mayor of the new city corporation. With that office he has been repeatedly honored down to the present time, having been elected on the democratic ticket. Mayor Knotts has many interests in his home city, and is at the head of Knotts-McRoberts Real Estate and Insurance, the first and the oldest firm of its kind in Gary, and in many respects the largest operators in that field.
On August 12, 1888, Mayor Knotts married Ella E. Long of Medary- ville, Indiana. To their marriage were born eight children, two of whom are deceased. Mr. Knotts is well known in fraternal circles, having membership in the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Knights of Pythias, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Loyal Order of Moose, the Fraternal Order of Eagles and the Modern Woodmen of America.
JOHN FREDERICK KROST. One of the oldest and most prominent families of Lake County is that of Krost, which has represented the sterling qualities of German-American citizenship, was established in Lake County sixty years ago, and which has been represented by several prominent men.
Concerning John Krost, the founder of the family name in this county, the Rev. T. H. Ball, in writing of some of the notable German pioneers in Lake County in 1904, said: "One more of many citizens have favored Lake County who by means of talent and intelligent effort became prominent was John Krost. Born in Germany in 1828 he became a resident in Hobart in 1853, where for one year he was clerk in a store, then for about six years was clerk at Merrillville, and a farmer for two years ; and then he made his final home in Crown Point. He was elected county treasurer in 1862 and continued in office until 1867. In 1868 he was elected county auditor and held that office for eight years. He was accommodating and very courteous, he was kind and generous to the poor, the needy and the unfortunate or the unsuccessful. He was an exemplary member of the Roman Catholic Church. He accumulated quite an amount of property, and his home on Main Street was one of comforts, of social advantages, of cultivation and refinement. His children have been educated. He died on March 28, 1890, not only one of the wealthy, but one of the most kindly and gentlemanly of Crown Point's many courteous citizens."
It should also be added that John Krost came to America in 1848, and during his residence at Crown Point was engaged in business as a grain merchant. He married Katherine Horst, and they became the parents of six children, namely : Clara B .; John F .; Joseph, a physician ; John G .; Caroline; and Edward A. His wife dying in 1876, John Krost married, second, Mary Ludwig, and they had three children : Robert A., Emma K. and Gerard N.
John Frederick Krost, who represents the family name at Hammond, and at one time filled with credit the office of county recorder, was born in Lake County March 28, 1858. His early education was acquired in the public schools, and later he attended the Notre Dame University at South Bend. His business career began at Hammond as superintendent of a lumber yard for five years, and he then was connected with the drug business. After the first election of Grover Cleveland in 1884, Mr. Krost was appointed postmaster at Hammond, and has the distinction of having been the second to fill that office. He served four years, and on leaving the office was engaged in the flour and feed business for three
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years. In 1892 Mr. Krost was elected county recorder of Lake County, and filled the office until 1897. His record of official performance was marked by the genial courtesy which is characteristic of the man, and by an unwavering honesty and fidelity to every trust reposed in him. After leaving the office of recorder Mr. Krost was engaged in the under- taking business as senior member of the firm of Krost and Emmerling. Ill health compelled him to retire from this work, and he then opened a real estate and insurance office at Hammond, and for many years has had a successful business in that line.
In more recent years he has taken an active part in the publie af- fairs of his home city. For two years he was a member of the board of publie works, and for three years has been treasurer of the board of education and has two years yet to serve in that office. In 1883 Mr. Krost married Miss Emma K. Kaufer of Mankato, Minnesota. Their three children are: John G. Krost, who is a Jesuit priest at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin; Mary, wife of John F. Beekman, a prominent Hammond business man and manager of the Home Lumber Company ; and Monica, wife of Roy Garceau, a merchant of Tacoma, Washington. The family are members of the Catholic Church, and Mr. Krost is a trustee of St. Joseph's Church, and he belongs to the Catholic Order of Foresters, and to the Knights of Columbus.
JOHN M. STINSON. Locating at Hammond in 1897, John M. Stinson has won success both in law and business. It has been characteristic of members of the modern American bar to extend their activities to execu- tive relations as well as advisory counsel with large business enterprises, and Mr. Stinson is one who has proved his usefulness in both fields. His position is due to his own attainments, since he was a poor boy who worked his way through college, and has won success on the merit of practical achievement.
John Marion Stinson was graduated from the Valparaiso College of Indiana in 1897, was admitted to the bar in the same year, and located at Hammond to begin general practice. His career as a lawyer has been continuous in that city since that time, and he was admitted to practice in the Federal Court on June 5, 1901. Mr. Stinson represents several banks and other large business concerns as attorney, and is president of the Gary Granite Briek and Stone Company, which was organized in 1908 and has a capital of $75,000; is president of the Clarence I. Hoff- man Construction Company, capitalized at $100,000; is president of the Employees Real Estate and Investment Company at Indiana Harbor.
Mr. Stinson has membership in the Hammond Country Club, the Gar- field Club, an organization under the auspices of the Christian Church of which he is a member; belongs to the Chamber of Commerce, the Hammond Motor Boat Club, and stands high both in social and civic affairs.
Mr. Stinson's parents were Kentuckians of Simpson County, and after the birth of J. M. Stinson on March 27, 1875, they moved from Missouri, where they had resided two years, to Kentucky, where Mr. Stinson grew up. At the age of twelve years he was elerking in a coun- try store at $1.20 a week, and for several years spent his winters in that fashion while he assisted his father on the farm during the other months of the year. At the age of eighteen he borrowed $12 to pay his fare from Kentucky to Valparaiso, Indiana, and entered the college there with no funds, working his way to pay for tuition and board and living
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expenses, and graduated in the law at the end of four years. Mr. Stinson is prominent in Masonic circles, having taken the Knights Templar degree, and belongs to the Mystic Shrine. He also affiliates with the Knights of Pythias, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Modern Woodmen of America, and the Royal League. On August 11, 1897, he married Florence Anna Wolcott, of Glidden, Iowa, a daughter of Elton R. and Emily Wolcott, the former being an Iowa banker. They are the parents of two children: Elton Wolcott Stinson, born January 27, 1902; and Retta Margaret, born October 2, 1904.
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