USA > Indiana > An illustrated history of the state of Indiana: being a full and authentic civil and political history of the state from its first exploration down to 1875 > Part 45
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CHAPTER LXXVIII.
THE GREAT WAGON AND CARRIAGE WORKS OF THE STUDEBAKER BROTHERS MANUFACTURING COMPANY AT SOUTH BEND, ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, INDIANA.
A STRANGER, visiting South Bend twenty years ago, must have admired the beauty of her location, and the air of thriftiness surrounding the embryo city. If critical in that direction, he would have looked with pleasure upon the budding industries born of the immense hydraulic power of the beautiful St. Joseph river, and prophesied of the wonder- ful results inevitable in the then future. Perhaps the rushing waters, tumbling over their pebbly bed, as they sought for rest in the tideless Michigan, would have suggested possibilities never to be realized. Visions of cotton and woolen factories, with the whirl of spindles, and the click of looms, or the noise and bustle of other industries intimately associated with hydraulic force, might have crept upon his brain. Had he, however, looked into a little wagon shop on Michigan street, he would scarcely have imagined that there was the nucleus of not only the largest industrial concern in northern Indiana, but of the most extensive establishment of its kind in the world, at the head of which would stand the young man then so lustily working at the forge, and singing his labor-refrain upon the anvil! Yet this last would have been a fact soon to be developed; for that work-shop was the starting point of the great Studebaker factories, and that young man to-day the able president of the Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company.
It would be both interesting and instructive, doubtless, to trace the history of this institution minntely, thus illustrating
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the great possibilities of small beginnings; the results of industry and enterprise, and fortifying the fact that maturity seldom springs from sudden effort, and that growth and per- manency have a singular co-relation. Such, however, is not the object of this article. Space, if not time, would fail us; so we shall present, as briefly as possible, such dry facts and figures as are at hand.
It was on the sixteenth day of February, 1852, that Henry and Clement Studebaker opened their shop in South Bend, by the firm name of H. & C. Studebaker. They meant business; they did business. They had capital enough, but it was chiefly invested in bone, muscle, and indomitable will. They were hopeful, cheerful, and, finally, prosperous. Changes were made in the firm name and in its personel. Slowly, but surely, the work went on, until finally, in 1864, three of the brothers, Clement, John M., and Peter E., became equal partners, and the great house was founded by the name of Studebaker Brothers. Henry had retired and settled upon a farm near the city, where he now resides, a well satisfied and very comfortable country gentleman. The works were en- larged, and soon after Peter E. established a branch at St. Joseph, Missouri, then a famous outfitting point, and where he did an enormous business. Thus the new firm progressed, gradually enlarging its borders and strengthening its stake, until 1869, when its interests were consolidated in a joint stock company, called, as at present, the Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company. But their course was not destined to be an uninterrupted one. In June, 1872, they were visited by a fire which involved a loss of nearly one hundred thousand dollars. Meantime, Jacob F., the youngest brother, had come in, making up the quartette, and William Mack had become a stockholder. A large tract of land had been purchased south of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern depot, and large improvements made. Immediately after the fire another gen- tleman joined the company. It was Mr. H. L. Hines, a former partner of John M. Studebaker, in California. Becoming superintendent of construction, Mr. Hines has done yeoman's service ever since. At once the work of enlargement on the
ITS TUDE BAKER BROTHERS MANUFACTURNIS CO
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HISTORY OF INDIANA.
new premises commenced, and was continued until in the spring of 1874, the noble works of the company, the largest of the kind in the world, were completed, or nearly so. Some- thing of their magnitude may be gathered from the following cut. which represents them at the period mentioned.
On the twenty-fourth of August, 1874, this noble pile, the beau ideal of its proprietors, the pride of the city, and the wonder of all, was nearly destroyed by fire, with a large por- tion of its contents, involving a loss of about three hundred and fifty thousand dollars, not far from one-third of which was covered by insurance. The average width of the main factory was sixty-two feet, the length aggregating eight hundred and sixty-eight feet. The outside linear measurement was about a half mile, and its floorage measuring over five acres! Forty forges, with blasts operated by machinery, were in the smith shop, and five large elevators brought all the floors into imme- diate connection. The capacity of the works was one com- pleted wagon each ten minutes. Of course the loss was a very severe one, and many men would have succumbed under the pressure of such a disaster. Not so the Studebaker Brothers and their associates. The fire was hardly quenched ere the work of rebuilding began, and before the cold days of winter, larger and more convenient works were completed, with an eastern frontage on Lafayette street of five hundred feet, and on the railroad five hundred and seventy-five feet. All are of brick, substantially built, and nearly all erected since the fire.
The coach and carriage factory of the company is situated some half mile from the wagon works, on the corner of Michi- gan and Jefferson streets. It embraces the old wagon shops with more recent additions. These buildings are of brick, elegantly built, ranging from two to five stories in height, and having a floorage of about two acres. They contain smith shops, with thirty-five forges, wood shops, painting, trimming and varnishing rooms, repository, offices, etc. The engraving on page 435 gives a better idea of the size and quality of these great carriage works than can be conveyed in words.
The summary of the combined establishments is as follows:
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STUDEBAKER BROTHERS CARRIAGE WORKS.
Ground occupied for manufacturing purposes. 17 acres. Aggregate length of buildings, about. 1,600 feet.
Average height of buildings 3 stories.
Ground area of buildings over. 22 acres.
Aggregate area of floors, nearly 8 acres.
Length of sheds, about. 4,000 feet.
Width of sheds, average 40 feet.
Area covered by timber sheds, nearly
7 acres.
The motive power of the factories consists of two engines, one of two hundred and the other forty horse power. Over one hundred and thirty labor-saving machines are in constant use.
Thus these immense works are re-built, and have a capacity for extraordinary usefulness. At the present writing, nearly six hundred hands are constantly employed, at remunerative wages; a support being thus given to over two thousand inhabitants.
As showing the gradual but sure growth of this industrial concern, the following table of productions is presented, which includes seven years:
Year.
No. of vehicles.
Value.
1868
3,955
$380,000
1869
5,115
412,000
1870
6,505
573,000
1871
6,835
625,000
1872
6,950
691,000
1873
10,280
896,000
1874
11,050
1,000,000
Total
53,690
$4,577,000
The year 1874, although marked by an extraordinary destruc- tion, is the heaviest of all.
At first glance it might be considered difficult to find a market for this immense production, and so it would, were business transacted now as it was a quarter of a century ago, or even nearer the present. Then wagons were hauled by
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HISTORY OF INDIANA.
teams to the most accessible points and left on commission, or peddled through the country from farm to farm, or from town to town. Cash sales were infrequent. Cattle, horses, hogs, grain, or other property, usually formed the consideration, or for good notes time was given. Now things are different. Wagons are shipped by the car, almost by the train load, and are sold for cash, or first class commercial paper on short time. There is no barter. The west, northwest and southwest, are tributary to the company. On the plains, and prairies, on the highest traversable points of the great rocky chain, on farms, plantations and ranches, in Mexico, South America, and even Europe, the handiwork of the Studebakers is to be met with, while orders far beyond the capacity of the works are constantly on hand. The trouble is less to sell than to make. It should be remarked that the fires alluded to consumed but a trifle of the seasoned material of the company, and that a reserve suffi- cient for the construction of thirty thousand vehicles is always on hand.
The Studebaker Brothers are now in the very zenith of vigor and usefulness, and the concern bids fair to grow to even more extraordinary proportions.
THE BASS FOUNDRY AND MACHINE WORKS OF FORT WAYNE, INDIANA.
The Bass Foundry and Machine Works at Fort Wayne is the largest establishment of the kind in the State, and, as a car wheel foundry, the largest in the United States. It con- stitutes a very prominent feature of the great industries of Indiana, and is one of the best evidences existing of the great enterprise which has placed Fort Wayne on the road to success as a manufacturing city. The works consist of eight build- ings, (an engraving of which is presented in connection with this sketch.) and cover ten acres of ground, located at the intersection of Hanna street and the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne and Chicago railroad. They were first established in a small way, in 1853, by Messrs. Cooper, Bass & Co., as a car wheel foundry, who continued the business till 1855, when Mr. Cooper retired, and the firm style was changed to Jones, Bass
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THE BASS FOUNDRY.
& Co. This firm struggled along until 1857, when another change was made. At this date the works were removed to the present location, and a joint stock company was organized under the title of the Fort Wayne Machine Works. Under this arrangement, Messrs. Hanna & Bass were the principal proprietors, and continued the business until 1858, at which time Mr. J. H. Bass, the present proprietor, assumed charge. He first leased the works for one year, but through a careful and successful management, he soon became proprietor of the whole concern. Mr. Hanna was associated with him until 1869, when he died, leaving Mr. Bass the sole proprietor. This gentleman continued the business alone until 1873, during which time he enlarged the works, erected new build- ings, and more than quadrupled the business of the establish- ment. In the latter year a stock company was again organ- . ized, with a paid up capital stock of five hundred thousand dollars, under the title of the "Bass Foundry and Machine Works," which it still holds. Mr. J. H. Bass was elected president of the company, which position he still holds.
He has been the chief proprietor and manager of the estab- lishment since 1858, and the success of the works during these years has been unparalleled. In 1858, the first year in which he controlled the business, it did not probably exceed fifteen thousand dollars, but it has been steadily and rapidly increas- ing. In 1873, the business transacted by this company exceeded one million eight hundred thousand dollars, and, as already mentioned, the works have grown to be the largest of the kind in the United States. This is certainly an evidence of the great business enterprise of Indiana, and not less so of the high business talents of Mr. J. H. Bass.
One of the compilers of this work visited the establishment in October last, and found, even in the dull times, every build- ing a scene of activity. The car-wheel shop, which is perhaps the very centre of life of the works, is a brick structure sixty- five by four hundred feet, having a capacity of turning out two hundred and fifty wheels a day. This is the largest foundry of the kind in the United States. From it car wheels are sent to Pittsburg, and throughout the whole west and
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HISTORY OF INDIANA.
northwest, every where attesting their superior quality. The general foundry is a brick building, seventy-five by one hundred · and fifty feet. This, however, during the present year, will be converted into a machine shop, and a new building, sixty-five by three hundred feet, will be erected for the general foundry. Adjoining the present general foundry, is the machine shop, fifty by one hundred and thirty feet. This will be enlarged with the completion of the building referred to, by the addi- tion of the present general foundry, seventy-five by one hundred feet. Just west of the machine shop is the wood working shop, fifty by one hundred feet, and west of this is the boiler shop, forty by one hundred and forty feet. North of this is the blacksmith shop and forge room, seventy by one hundred and twenty feet. The offices of the concern are in a · two story handsome brick structure, located on Hanna street, close to the railroad crossing, and nearly in the center of the works. This building is thirty by sixty feet, and is elegantly furnished. The offices are furnished with all the modern improvements, and are tastefully appointed, and supplied with many conveniences. In the upper story of this building are the drafting rooms.
Mr. Bass has always made a specialty of car wheels, in the production of which his immense foundry has made an envi- able reputation throughout the whole nation. The wheels produced at his works are sought after by nearly every road within reach of them, and the demand upon his facilities for producing them is increasing quite as fast as he is increasing the capacity of the establishment.
Besides car wheels, Mr. Bass is producing steam engines of an approved make and quality, boilers, mill, and heavy machinery of all kinds. The melting capacity of his works is equal to one hundred tons of pig iron per day.
But Mr. Bass has not devoted his whole attention to this one enterprise, although the results he has produced during the last ten years in connection with it seem to be very large for the work of so short a period. He has also an extensive car wheel foundry in St. Louis, Mo., or rather he is the princi- pal owner of it. This is located on Sixteenth street and the
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BAKER
THE BASS FOUNDRY AND MACHINE WORKS, FORT WAYNE.
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HISTORY OF INDIANA.
Pacific railroad, and consists of two large brick buildings, with a capacity of over twenty-five tons a day. This institu- tion has been in operation over five years, and has already proved a success financially, and promises a brilliant future.
Mr. Bass has also a car wheel foundry in Chicago, of which he is sole proprietor. It is located on Forty-seventh street, near the Rock Island shops, and consists of two spacious brick buildings. This establishment has the exclusive patronage of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific railroad, and is increas- ing its business rapidly by receiving the business of other roads in the northwest.
The few hints we have given of the successful enterprise of Mr. J. H. Bass, will show that he is reaching out widely in his commercial operations, and as we shall see, is meeting with constant gain. Besides his general foundry and machine works, he has in Fort Wayne, St. Louis, and Chicago, facilities for turning out three hundred and fifty car wheels per day.
PART THIRD.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
INTRODUCTORY.
In conclusion, we present brief sketches of a number of the citizens of Indiana who have become prominent in the several pursuits and professions of life. The usual alphabetical order is not observed here, but an index of names, arranged alpha- betically, will be found on page 21. In these personal sketches we have endeavored to present the deeds in the lives of the persons represented rather than to praise them. In fact we have avoided the very appearance of laudation. It is generally known that the data from which biographies are written is obtained from the persons themselves; hence the impropriety of praising the deeds of living men. To be sure, there are a few heroes of Indiana who have gone to their rest and reward, such as Generals Harrison, Tipton, and Evans, and Colonels Daviess, Vigo, and others, as well as those brave men who fell in defense of the Union -those are properly the subjects of our highest admiration ; but there is something incon- sistent, something from which a conscientious writer turns away in disgust, in " writing up " the good deeds of men still active among us. Already authors and biographers have manifested too much zeal in this department of literature-a
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HISTORY OF INDIANA.
zeal. we fear, that has too often been actuated by other than the most legitimate of objects; and a zeal also that has, we are glad to observe, been condemned most thoroughly by those very persons in whose behalf it has been exerted. We are glad to believe that we could not injure the reception of this volume in greater measure than by filling it with encomi- ums of prominent men, still active in the various pursuits in the State. Such is the dislike for biographical fame among the solid men of Indiana, that the compilers of this work have found it very difficult to obtain the information necessary for the following very brief sketches. And, if any persons are not represented whose life's work has been such as to entitle them to a place in this department, we have only to say, in justification of our position in consequence, that such persons positively refused to furnish us with the data required. No other consideration than that of the public estimation has prompted us in the selection and preparation of the following statistics. This assertion is fully borne out by the character of that which follows.
CONRAD BAKER.
He was born in Franklin county, Pa., February twelfth, 1817. His father was a farmer, and he re- mained on the farm until he was about fifteen years of age. He went to school, (a classical academy,) in Chambersburgh, the county seat of his native county, some two years, and then went to Pennsylvania Col- lege, at Gettysburgh, Pa., where he remained about two years, but did not graduate. Studied law at Get- tysburgh, in the office of Messrs. Stevens & Smyser, the firm being composed of the late Thaddeus Stevens and the late Daniel M. Smyser; was admitted to the bar at Gettysburgh in 1839, and practiced there two years. Came to Indiana in 1841, and settled at Evansville,
where he practiced his profession until after the commencement of the rebellion. He was elected to the lower house of the general assembly of Indiana in 1845, and served one session. Elected judge of the courts of common pleas for the district composing the counties of Vanderburgh and Warrick, in 1852, and served about one year and resigned. He was nominated in his absence, and without his knowl- edge, for Lieutenant-Governor on the Republican ticket in 1856, sen- ator Morton being the candidate for Governor on the same ticket. The Democratic ticket, headed by Wil- lard for Governor, and Hammond for Lieutenant-Governor, was, how- ever, elected.
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
Appointed by Governor Morton Colonel of 1st Indiana Cavalry, it being 28th Regiment Indiana Vol- unteers, in July, 1861; organized the regiment, and was mustered into the service in August, 1861; remained in the service until Sep- tember, 1864; served in the field in the southwest under Generals J. C. Fremont, Frederick Steel, S. R. Cur- tis, A. P. Hovey, and others, until April, 1863, when he was ordered by the War Department to Indiana- polis to organize the Provost Mar- shal General Bureau for the State of Indiana. Still retaining the place and rank of Colonel of the 1st In- diana Cavalry, he performed the duties of acting assistant provost marshal general for Indiana, from April, 1863, to the latter part of August, 1864, and as such, having the supervision of the enrollment and draft. He was at the same time, by virtue of this position, superintendent of volunteer recruit- ing, and had charge of all the mus- tering officers on duty in this State. In June or July, 1864, the Republi- can State Central Committee unani- mously tendered him the candidacy for the office of Lieutenant-Gov- ernor, to fill a vacancy caused by the declension of General Nathan
Kimball, who had been nominated for that office by the convention. He was elected, senator Morton be- ing elected at the same time, on the same ticket. He presided over the Senate during the session commenc- ing in January, 1865. In November, 1865, Governor Morton convened the legislature in extra session, and immediately thereafter went to Europe in quest of his health, and was gone five months. During this absence of the governor Mr. Baker acted as governor. In January, 1867, Governor Morton was elected to the United States Senate, and immediately resigned his office, whereupon the duties of the office of governor devolved upon the lieutenant-governor, and, Mr. Baker, as such, performed them during the residue of Governor Morton's term. Mr. Baker was elected governor of Indiana in October, 1868, and served as such until succeeded by Governor Hendricks, in January, 1873. He acted as governor, (including the five months of Governor Morton's absence in Europe,) for about six years and five months. Since the termination of his official life he has been actively engaged in the practice of his profession at Indi- anapolis.
CYRUS NUTT, D. D., LL. D.
He was born in Trumbull county, Ohio, September fourth, 1814. His educational opportunities were nec- essarily limited in so new a country. His parents were well versed in the common branches of education, and he was taught reading, writing, arithmetic, geography and gram- mar at home during such leisure hours as could be redeemed from
manual labor. He however at- tended the country school in his neighborhood, when in session, which was about three months in the year. Such was young Nutt's desire for a liberal education that he improved every opportunity for the acquisition of learning; and when at the age of eighteen, his father proposed to deed him a piece
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HISTORY OF INDIANA.
of land in consideration of his faithful labors on the farm, he told him he would rather have a good education than any property. His father first spoke discouragingly, but finally agreed to give him his time and let him get an education by working his own way. He im- mediately went to an academy to prepare himself for college, and in four years from that time he gradu- ated at Alleghany College, Mead- ville, Pa., having supported him- self by teaching during the winters, and at the same time keeping up his studies. He graduated in 1836, and was immediately appointed pre- ceptor of the preparatory depart- ment in the same institution; which position he filled for six months, when he was elected to the charge of the preparatory department of Indiana Asbury University, which had just been chartered by the leg- islature of Indiana. Mr. Nutt was converted at a campmeeting when in his nineteenth year. He was appointed to the charge of a class of young men as class-leader while in college. He was licensed to exhort, and then to preach ; and he preached his first sermon at Green- castle soon after his arrival.
The first meeting of the trustees of indiana Asbury University was held in March, 1837, at which time Dr. Nutt was elected preceptor of the preparatory department, and arrangements were made to have that department opened at an early day. It required seven or eight days at that time to make the trip from Meadville, where Mr. Nutt then resided, to Greencastle, by the most speedy mode of travel, which was stage and steamboat. Dr. Nutt left Meadville about the seventh of
May, and traveled by stage to Pitts- burg, and thence by steamboat to Cincinnati, and thence by stage to Greencastle, where he arrived on the sixteenth of the same month - having walked, however, from Put- namville to Greencastle, as there . was, at that day, no public convey- ance from the outside world to Greencastle.
Dr. Nutt entered upon his duties at Greencastle on the fifth of June, 1837, commencing the preparatory department in a small, one-story brick building, with only two rooms; the larger of which was occupied by the town school. The smaller room was then the only place available; and there Dr. Nutt began the literary instruction of this since renowned university of the West. At the meeting of the board of trustees, in September of the same year, he was elected pro- fessor of languages. In 1841 he was elected professor of the Greek language and literature, and He- brew, which position he held until 1843, when he resigned and took pastoral work in Indiana Confer- ence, and was appointed to Bloom- ington station. He had been admit- ted into the Conference at its session in Rockville, in 1838, and ordained deacon by Bishop Soule, at Indian- apolis in 1840, and elder by Bishop Morris, at the conference in Center- ville, in 1842. He remained in charge of Bloomington station two years, and the year following was at Salem. His ministry was emi- nently successful in both of these charges. In the fall of 1846, he returned to the university, having been elected to the chair of Greek language and literature, made va- cant by the resignation of Prof. B.
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