USA > Indiana > Cass County > History of Cass County, Indiana, from its earliest settlement to the present time; with Biographical Sketches and Reference to Biographies, Volume I > Part 44
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the first to engage in manufacturing wagons, although in the early settlement of the county nearly every blacksmith made wagons to order.
John Jackson came to Logansport in 1850, worked for McElheny until 1854, when he bought out "Black Ben" on the west side of Sixth street, north of High, and soon after purchased the Kreider shops at 112-14 Sixth street and built the large three-story brick building now occupied by him as a livery stable and engaged extensively in the manu- facture of wagons and buggies, but the large factory with labor-saving machines drove him out of business many years ago, but Mr. Jackson is still in our midst, an honored citizen, an octogenarian and a living witness to the changed conditions this industry has undergone since he opened a "smith shop" sixty-three years ago.
Fred Boerger in the later sixties and in 1872 A. Grusenmeyer and still later Joe Aman embarked in wagon and carriage making business, on Burlington avenue, south side.
In 1883 C. E. Holbruner and Miller Uhl opened quite an extensive wagon and carriage factory on Eel river at the foot of Market street. These and other wagon factories were conducted for many years, chiefly to accommodate the local trade, but all succumbed to improved methods and machinery.
PUMP FACTORIES
J. N. Heddens in the later sixties ran an agricultural implement store at the corner of Pearl and Wall street and manufactured wooden pumps quite extensively.
A. N. Parkhurst located in Logansport in 1871 and began the manu- facture of his stone cylinder pump, of which he was the patentee. Mr. Raymond of Galesburg, Illinois, was for a time associated with him. They at first occupied a portion of Knowlton and Dolan's shop on Berkley street and the railroad, later he moved to the Nash Lincoln foundry building on High street near Fifth, where he continued to do a big business, selling his pumps to all the surrounding country until failing health caused his retirement some years ago and he soon after passed to his reward.
GRANITE WORKS
About 1891 Schuyler Powell erected a large building on the south side of Toledo street near Eleventh and fitted it up with the latest machinery for cutting and polishing granite and marble monuments and did a wholesale monument business. He bought the rough stone from the quarry, cut and polished the same and supplied a large terri- tory surrounding Logansport with monuments and other ornamental stone. The business prospered until he left about 1902 for a larger field of action, having made a contract with the state to employ prison labor at the Michigan City prison, where he is still engaged in the monument business.
BREWERY INDUSTRY OF THE PAST
Probably the first brewery erected in Logansport was built in 1847-8 by Jacob Kline, near the northeast corner of Ninth and Erie avenue. This was only a small affair however, and a few years later he removed his establishment to the north bank of the Wabash river, between Second and Third streets, where he continued in business until about 1865, when he abandoned the old plant and erected a much larger
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brewery on the hill on Fifteenth street, north of the canal, now Erie avenue. This was successfully operated until in the seventies, when it was abandoned and later the building torn down.
Charles Luy, about 1855, started a brewery on Columbia street, west of North Sixth street. He also built a large brick residence just west of the brewery, now known as the Borges property. Mrs. Borges, being his only child, occupied this house for many years and until her death. Mr. Luy soon after sold out his brewery to Gotleib Schaefer and Fred- erick Markert, who soon found it was not a paying investment and it passed into "innocuous desuetude."
OLD MARKETS
Logansport in the early days had two markets. The first one stood near the middle of the square bounded by Fourth and Fifth, Broadway and North streets. It was simply a roof resting on brick pillars ten to
FIRST MARKET HOUSE, BLOWN DOWN 1845
twelve feet apart. A cyclone in 1845 carried the roof away and it was never rebuilt. This Broadway market stood just back of Wiler and Wise's dry goods store. The building was about 150 feet long and 25 feet wide with a shingle roof. It fronted on the canal, now Fifth street. This old market was a great resort, for people all over the county and often from surrounding counties. In that day money was scarce, and what there was in circulation was of uncertain value. It consisted mostly of scrip, known as "red dog" or "blue pup," and fluctuated in value, and the majority of the business transactions were effected by barter and trade. Farmers for miles around would con- gregate here on certain days to visit, gossip and trade. Not only the ordinary produce of a market was exchanged, but horses were traded, farms swapped. Busy candidates shook hands and sought votes and the fate of the country was decided every market day. The Lightning Express Packet on the old canal brought election or other important news of the outside world several weeks late and its arrival brought out crowds to this old market to get election returns. The market became a general resort for an exchange of news as well as goods, for
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be it remembered, there were no daily papers in that day and the telegraph and telephone were not even dreamed of.
The second market was built in the early fifties. It was a brick structure about 150 feet long and 30 feet wide. It was located on Market street between Second and Third, where the street is still widened to form what was then known as market square. It served a useful purpose for some years, but as groceries became numerous and money plenty the market gradually ceased to be such a mart as in early days and was torn down in the sixties. Since then farmers with hay and other bulky goods congregate on certain streets designated by the city officers.
A brief review of some of the pioneer and past industries of the county only emphasizes the statement that we live in an age of great activity, constant change and rapid progress. The pioneer was con- tent with the old-fashioned water wheel and mill buhr which have been supplanted by the turbine wheel and roller mill, where water is yet available. The cabinetmaker had no machinery in his shop. unless it might be a turning lathe operated by his own right foot. All work was done by hand. The same conditions prevailed in the pioneer wagon or carriage shop. The wood work, including spokes, hubs and felloes, were all split or sawed out of the rough timber by the hand of the pioneer carriage maker. All the iron work being forged by the strong right arm of the smith, even the bolts, screws and nails were made in the shop. The pump maker bored out his pump stocks by the slow hand process. The stone cutter would work with hammer and chisel for days to face and polish a monument. The carpenter ripped and dressed his lumber all by hand, matched his flooring, made his window sash and doors. What a change has taken place in the past half century. Now every piece that goes to make a table, chair or cabinet is dressed, the mortises and tenons all cut by machinery run by steam, gasoline engine or electric motor, and all the cabinetmaker of today has to do is to tack the pieces together. The same conditions prevail in the wagon or carriage factory ; each part is wrought out by machinery all complete, ready to be bolted together by machine-made screws, nails and bolts. The stock of a pump is bored in a few minutes by a steam auger that would require hours for the pump maker of pioneer days to complete. The movable and machine-driven granite chisel faces up a stone and the machine-driven polisher smoothes the surface in a few minutes, where hours would be required to perform the same feat, fifty years ago. It requires capital to install all this machinery and it does not justify a small operator to put in such expensive machinery and only a large business will justify such expensive machinery, hence Logansport cabinetmakers, wagon and carriage manufacturers, pump makers, coopers, handle makers, joiners and granite cutters and other crafts have been compelled to close up their small shops as they cannot compete with modern machinery, which can be more economically managed when run on a large scale. New inventions and the improve- ment of labor-saving machines in the onward march of civilization will . thus account for the long list of shops and industries that have been closed and abandoned in our city, a few of which have been mentioned, to give an object lesson of the changed conditions and their causes.
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CHAPTER LOGANSPORT'S PRESENT BUSINESS FIRMS THEIR LOCATION-PUBLIC BUILDINGS, BLOCKS, ETC.
It may seem unnecessary and even foolish, in an historical work to write about present business conditions of our city, as some say that everybody knows that, but the "Rubbish of today becomes the priceless jewels of tomorrow." Trivial, passing events, may be of no conse- quence or of interest to us at this time, but twenty-five years hence we may read with pleasure and possibly profit, many common, passing events that are chronicled in our daily papers and we think them too trivial to preserve until it is too late. Even if we of today do not take interest in current events, our children and future generations will, and they will appreciate a write-up of Logansport's present business interests as we of today read with pleasure about trials and difficulties of the pioneer eighty-five years ago that were common-place events to them. It is said that history repeats itself. In early days our merchants carried all kinds of goods, but later business began to specialize, and we have stores carrying but one line of goods. Today we find there is a tendency to revert to the old method of handling many and diverse articles and we have the great department stores, where you can pur- chase almost any article needed in the household, under the same roof.
Wiler & Wise, in a large four-story brick building at 412-14 Broad- way, and Seybold Bros. in a similar building at 319-21 Market street, operate such department stores, where you can purchase silks for the parlor, books for the library, tinware for the kitchen, soothing syrup for the baby, curry combs for the stable; and these stores, with their 16-foot ceilings, large plate glass fronts, with elevators to carry goods and patrons to the different departments, compare favorably with similar stores in our metropolitan cities and is certainly a great change from the log store room of Cyrus Taber and Dr. H. Todd, Logansport's first merchants in 1828.
Other large dry-goods stores are as follows: John M. Waters, at No. 323-25 Fourth street; Schmitt-Kloepfer Co., 329-31 Market street; Stewart Dry Goods Co., 313-15 Fourth street; M. R. Frazee, 418 Broad- way. In addition to these large dry goods firms a number of smaller stores may be found in the east end, west, north and south sides to accommodate the local trade in these sections. Rothchilds Bros. operate a large clothing store at 320-22 Market street; Wm. Grace & Co., clothing, at 316 Market street; Helvie & Sellers, clothing, at 424 Broad- way; Eli Greensfielder, clothing, at 315 Market street; Otto Kraus, clothing and shoes, at 409-11 Broadway; The A. Grube Co., Ready-to- wear store, at 425-27 Broadway; Dewenter & Co., men's furnishing goods, at 303 Fourth street; Murdock & Wise, men's furnishing goods, at 404 Broadway ; J. W. Rogers, men's and ladies' ready-to-wear gar- . ments and shoes, No. 500-2 Broadway.
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In the grocery line may be found: J. H. Foley & Co., at 426-28 Broadway, carrying a very extensive stock; Clancy Bros., 510 Broad- way; Frank Hall, 608 Broadway ; Boerger Bros., 415 Broadway; E. L. Ray, 402 Market; Stuart & Bury, 309 Market; Chas. Castle, Sixth and North; McCaffrey Bros., Sixth and Broadway and 410 Market streets. All carry an equally good stock of standard groceries with about sixty other groceries operating in every part of the city to accommodate the local trade.
Hardware stores are conducted by I. N. Crawford, 430 Broadway ; Flanegin Hardware Co., 310 Market street; Rice Hardware Co., 415 Market Street; S. W. Ulery & Son, 323 Market street, besides numerous other firms handling special lines of hardware.
W. B. Schwalm, dealer in farm implements and hardware, 212-14 Fifth street and McDowell Bros., 216-20 Fifth street.
FURNITURE DEALERS
Cummings & Viney, 318-20 Broadway; J. M. Etnire, 511-13 Broad-
REPORTER
BROADWAY LOOKING WEST FROM SIXTH STREET-1911
street.
way ; H. Wiler & Co., 328-30 Broadway; Geo. Hadley, 418 Market . UNDERTAKING ESTABLISHMENTS
Chas. D. Chase, 615 Broadway ; Kroeger & Winquist, 510 Broadway ; Henry Tucker, 417 Market street; Killian & McCloskey, 216 Market street.
DRUGGISTS
Harry Tritt, 431 Broadway; Homer Closson, 506 Broadway; Red Cross Pharmacy, 408 Broadway; Lee Turman, 528 Broadway; W. H. Porter, 330 Market street; Geo. Hoffman, 321 Fourth street; Busjahn & Schneider, 308 Fourth street. In addition to these there are six other drug stores in the outskirts of the city for local accommodations.
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AUTOMOBILE DEALERS
Within the past ten years automobiles have come into general use and we have several dealers with large garages to accommodate the rapidly increasing traffic, to wit :
Arthur E. Dunn, garage, 617-23 Broadway ; Pope, garage, 126 Sixth street; Ireland & Metzger, garage, 107-15 Sixth street; Fisher Garage, Market and Sixth streets. Garages are also operated at 116 and 124 Sixth street, and on Sycamore street.
BICYCLE DEALERS
The Arnold Motor Co. occupy a double room at 211-13 Sixth street; Walter Lewis, 523 Broadway ; and numerous other houses handle bicycles and motor goods.
LIVERY AND FEED STABLES
J. M. Elliott, west side of Third street on Eel river; Daniel Gillispie, 209-13 Market street; John Jackson, 112-14 Sixth street; W. Kendall
MARKET STREET, LOOKING WEST
& Co., 420 Fourth street; O'Donnell Bros., 419-23 Third street; Mur- dock Feed Barns, 517-21 North street; Dykeman Feed Barns, 217-21 Broadway, with several smaller establishments in different localities.
BOOT AND SHOE DEALERS
Chas. F. Ranch, 420 Broadway, is the oldest shoe dealer in the city, being successor to Walker & T. S. Mitchell, who opened a shoe store in this same room nearly sixty years ago. There are ten other shoe stores in the city.
JEWELERS
In point of service, B. Z. Lewis is the oldest jeweler now engaged in the business. He is located at 523 Broadway; J. D. Taylor is located at 304 Fourth street; Ben Martin, 310 Fourth street; and Hal B. Smith & Co., at 416 Broadway, with four others not here enumerated.
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Geo. W. Cann keeps all kinds of electrical lamps, fixtures and machinery at 312-14 Broadway.
J. T. ELLIOTT COMPANY, WHOLESALE GROCERS
This company had its beginning in 1865, when Shroyer & Hicks bought out W. H. Murphy. In 1866-7, D. C. Elliott became a member of the firm and in 1871 A. L. Pogue bought out Hicks and the firm was known as Elliott, Pogue & Shroyer. In 1875 J. T. Elliott bought out Pogue and the title of the firm was Elliott, Shroyer & Co. At the death of D. C. Elliott in 1889, A. R. Shroyer sold out to Mrs. D. C. Elliott and the following year she purchased J. T. Elliott's interest and the latter bought the wholesale business of John Lux at 310-14 Broadway, but a year later the two firms were consolidated and run under the name of J. T. Elliott Co., which operated until 1908, when the firm was reorganized under the present name of J. T. Elliott Grocery Co., with J. T. Elliott as president and manager. The company is incorporated with $100,000 paid up capital and is doing a prosperous business, second to none in northern Indiana. The firm is located at 310-12-14 Broadway.
Byer Bros. & Co. operate a large wholesale establishment, corner of Elm and Canal streets and ship butter, eggs and poultry to the eastern markets.
G. Carusa in 1910 erected a large brick building on the corner of Fifth and Railroad streets and has an extensive wholesale trade in fruits and vegetables and D. A. Elder carries on a similar business at 514 North street.
GRAIN DEALERS-ELEVATORS
Bishop Elevator Co. operate a large grain elevator located on North Sixth street and Vandalia railroad; Dennis Uhl & Co.'s mill and elevator at the mouth of Eel river on the west side; Chas. L. Richardson buys grain at the old Israel Johnson warehouse on the east side of Fifth street, south of High and C. W. McCormick runs an elevator at the south end of the Eighteenth street bridge. Joseph Taylor & Sons, the oldest wholesale leather, harness, saddlery and hardware supply house in this section of the state, are patronized by all northern Indiana and adjoining states. They occupy a large three-story building at 521-22 Market street and extending south to Erie avenue. There are two large 5 & 10 cent stores operated by Woolworth & Co., 422 Broadway and Jacob Reed, 317 Market street.
Other business houses are: C. W. Graves, books, stationery and music, 417 Broadway; E. Neff & Co., books, stationery and music, 410 Broadway; John Alber, queensware, 414 Market street; Isaac Oppen- heimer, china, toys and millinery, 307 Fourth street; F. Kinney, fish, poultry and meat market, Sixth and North; Young & Custer, dealers in buggies and harness, 318 Market street. Only a few of the principal business houses are enumerated here, in order to mark or locate promi- nent business blocks for future reference. There are, however, hun- dreds of other business firms, many of which are equally meritorious, but for obvious reasons impossible of individual enumeration.
We might say, however, that every possible and useful business or industry is represented in Logansport and some that are not very useful or desirable. We have a hospital and two sanitariums, where people may be brought into the world and with our Home for the Friendless, Orphanage and Asylum, they can be humanely and kindly cared for and finally painlessly piloted over the dark river by the forty "Esculapians" that reside in our city. During their sojourn in our
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fair city, they can take their meals at our thirteen restaurants, put up at any one of our hotels of which the "Barnett," northeast corner of Second and Market, the "Murdock" at 417-19 Broadway, are as fine hostleries as any in the state and the "Dunn" and Johnson hotels are close seconds. Our citizens can purchase fuel of fourteen coal dealers; confections from any of the 15 candy stores; supply their tables from 64 groceries; secure their meats from 25 butcher shops. They can be supplied with evening suits at 16 tailor shops and female head-gear from any of our 10 millinery parlors; have their photos taken at four picture galleries; purchase a home of our 27 real estate agents; acknowl- edge the deed before 73 notaries and have the deed examined by any one of our 40 lawyers. They can get a plan of their house sketched by our three architects; the house constructed by scores of contractors and builders; the plumbing let to any one of our nine shops and "Billy Greenwood" or "Geo. Turner" will clean up the premises ready for occupancy.
FOURTH STREET, LOOKING SOUTH
They can spend the evening at the Nelson Theatre, adjoining the Barnett hotel or at the Broadway Theatre, corner of Third street, which have some high class entertainments or attend our four moving picture shows, which are open afternoon and evening. On the way home they can get a cigar at 15 cigar stores and take a "nip" at any one of the 63 saloons and finally on Sunday they can get forgiveness at any one of our 22 churches and if all this causes them to wail and gnash their teeth they can wind up at any of our 15 dentists and have their fangs extracted; stop at any one of our 40 barber shops and get a shave and be taken in ease and comfort to their home in an auto- mobile from any one of our 6 garages.
PROMINENT BUILDINGS, BLOCKS AND THEIR LOCATIONS
Aldine flats, 218-20 Broadway; Barnes flats, 516-18 Market street : Beaumont flats, southwest corner of Second and Market streets; Bell block, 313-15 Pearl street; Ben Hur hall, third floor, northeast corner Fourth and Broadway; City offices, northwest corner Third and Broad- way; City National Bank building, southwest corner Fourth and Broad-
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way; Crawford block, northwest corner Fifth and Broadway; Douglass block, northeast corner Fifth and Broadway; D. D. Pratt building, 206 Fourth Street; Eagles' hall, 209-11 Sixth street; Elks' hall, northwest corner Fifth and North streets; Elliott block, southwest corner Pearl and Broadway; Ferguson building, 320-22 Market street; G. A. R. hall, 3241/2-3261/2 Market street; Haney block, Pearl street and 409-11 Broad- way; High School building, northwest corner Seventh and Broadway; I. O. O. F. hall, southeast corner Fifth and North; Red Men's hall, 3101/2-3141/2 Broadway; Keystone block, northwest corner Sixth and Broadway; Knights of Columbus club room, 607 Market street; Kreuz- berger hall, southwest corner Third and Market streets; K. of P. Castle hall, southeast corner Fifth and Market streets; Magee block, 317-25 Fourth street; Masonic Temple, northeast corner Fourth and North; McCaffrey block, northeast corner Sixth and Broadway; Opera House block, southwest corner Third and Broadway; Postoffice, Market and Sixth; Public Library, 616 Broadway; Reporter building, 525-27 Broad- way; St. Bridget's hall, southeast corner Linden and Wilkinson; St. Jacob's hall, northwest corner Sixth and Market; St. Joseph's hall, northwest corner Second and Market; St. Vincent hall, southeast cor- ner Eighth and Spencer; Smith block, 310-14 Broadway; Stettinger building and hall, 509-15 Broadway; Winfield block, northeast corner Fourth and Broadway; Bee Hive building, 412-14 Broadway; Nelson Theatre, 212-14 Market.
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CHAPTER XXXI LOGANSPORT'S PRESENT INDUSTRIES
RAILROAD SHOPS-FOUNDRIES-FIRE ENGINE WORKS-PACKING HOUSES- MILLS AND SHOPS-SOAP FACTORY-PRINTING AND BINDING-FISHING TACKLE-KNITTING FACTORY-HEATING CO .- BASKET FACTORY- HANDLE FACTORY-GAS WORKS-NATURAL GAS-CHEMICAL CO .- CANDY CO .- OVERALL FACTORY-CREAMERY - MONUMENTS -LAUN- DRIES-PLANING MILLS-FURNITURE CO .- STONE CO .- TELEPHONES -ROBE, CEMENT, ICE FACTORIES.
PANHANDLE RAILROAD SHOPS
The original shops of the Chicago & Great Eastern Railroad were moved from Richmond to Logansport in 1863. Six years later the road was leased by the Panhandle Company, and still later they became absolute owners and steps were at once taken to enlarge the old shops. There was talk of building the new shops at Richmond, but the city of Logansport made a donation of $50,000 and the company located their shops permanently in Logansport and erected a roundhouse and other shop buildings, which were completed and occupied in May, 1870, which have been added to and enlarged until the present shops, roundhouse and yards occupy over twenty acres of ground, lying west of Seven- teenth street and north of the Wabash river. The shops are large and substantially built and fitted up with the latest machinery and they are capable of building new engines or cars, but the principal work is rebuilding and repairing the company's engines and cars. The build- ings and grounds are lighted by an electrical plant owned by the com- pany, enabling them to work day and night in times of rush or in emergencies. In December, 1912, there were 1,100 men employed in all departments under the direction of the master mechanic and his aids and this is undoubtedly Logansport's largest industrial institution.
VANDALIA RAILROAD SHOPS
The Logansport, Crawfordsville & Southwestern Railroad, the Logansport & St. Joe Railroad and the old Detroit & Eel River Rail- road were all completed and running into Logansport in the early seventies. It became necessary to have a roundhouse and some repair shops to care for the engines and cars of these roads and the companies took steps at once to erect such buildings on ground located on Water street, West Side. Later, when the Vandalia gained control of these roads, larger buildings became necessary and now the company has commodious shops and roundhouse where they overhaul and repair their engines and cars and about two hundred men are employed in the yards and shops.
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LOGANSPORT FOUNDRY COMPANY AND WESTERN MOTOR WORKS
In the year 1900 the citizens of Logansport in order to encourage factories to locate here, purchased a tract of land of John R. Kennedy adjoining on the north the state line division of the Panhandle Rail- road, laid it out into a factory site and 111 building lots, the latter were sold to as many citizens for $250.00 each, and the surplus proceeds, together with the factory site, was donated to the Logansport Foundry Company on condition that it would at once locate their shops thereon.
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