History of Indianapolis and Marion County, Indiana, Part 85

Author: Sulgrove, Berry R. (Berry Robinson), 1828-1890
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 942

USA > Indiana > Marion County > Indianapolis > History of Indianapolis and Marion County, Indiana > Part 85

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

477 .

MANUFACTURING INTERESTS OF THE CITY OF INDIANAPOLIS.

busy in arranging the forms and combinations for mosaic floors, vestibules, chimney-pieces, walls, and other uses, and drawing working plans for the layers."

Leather Products .- Mention has already been made of the tanneries of the city, early and late, but the products of leather in their different forms re- main to be noticed briefly. First of these is boot- and shoe-making.

BOOTS AND SHOES .- The first shoemaker in In- dianapolis was Isaac Lynch, who came in the fall of 1821. He was soon followed by others, but their work was all for customers and immediate use. Nonc was made for stock or general sale. There has never been any extensive manufacture of foot-gear in the city that continued long. About ten years ago a company built a large three-story brick on Brookside Avenue, near its crossing of Pogue's Creek, northcast of the city, and shoes and boots were made there by machinery for a short time, but the enterprise was not profitable and was soon abandoned. Then John Fishback made it a tannery. There are three manufac- turers of boot and shoe " uppers" in the city, Thomas D. Chautter, corner of Meridian and Washington Streets ; Jacob Fox, West Maryland; Vincent Straub, South Illinois. There are 170 boot- and shoe-makers and dealers in the city, but the makers all work for customers directly. Besides these are 9 wholesale dealers. There is no practicable way of arriving at the aggregate value of all the work and sales of these 182 establishments, but it runs well up in the millions, no doubt.

HARNESS AND SADDLES .- The first saddler in the city, so far as any mention or memory can de- termine, was Christopher Kellum, who came in 1822 or 1823. The late James Sulgrove learned the trade with him, and when Mr. Kellum left the town, Mr. Sulgrove, then just out of his time, in 1826 took the business and carried it on, first with his brother and later with William S. Witbank, and in the days since the advent of railroads with Silas Shoemaker and Augustus Smith, and finally with some of his sons, till his death in November, 1875. At that tinie and for several years before his was the oldest business house in Indianapolis.

He was born in Montgomery County, Ohio, and came here with his father in 1823. He had never any regular schooling but for a few months, and. taught himself about all he ever learncd. He married in 1826 and raised a family of ten children, all of whom survived him, and but one has died since. His wife died in 1865, more than ten years before him. He afterwards married a Mrs. Johnson, and for a few years left the city and lived on a farm on the Bluff road about a mile below the farm of his younger brother, Joseph, his former business partner,. who died the year before him. He returned to the city a few years before his death, but never discon- tinued his attention to his business till forced to do so by ill health. He had been continuously in the saddle and harness business there forty-nine years, and was a few days over seventy at his death. Heat- tached himself to the Christian Church in 1836, the year after its organization, and remained a member and an officer all his life. He was for many years one of the directors of the branch here of the old State Bank, with the late Calvin Fletcher, with whom he was always on terms of warm friendship, and with Mr. Thomas H. Sharpe and others. He served one term in the city council, and was also the last trustee of the old County Seminary except Mr. Simon Yandes, and was one of the trustees of the city schools. He was a prominent Republican and a member of the county and State central committees, but was never a poli- tician, and never held or sought any office of emolu- ment. He was noted among his business associates for his integrity and faithful adhesion to every promise, and his punctual fulfillment of all engage- ments. He was buried at Crown Hill by the Masons, of whom he was a member for thirty years.

The harness house of the Sulgrove Brothers, on West Washington Street, was the first in the city to manufacture harness for general sale and for whole salc. This business they have maintained now nearly ten years. Besides this house there is that of Ad. Hercth, on Court Street (one of the oldest of the later establishments); F. M. Rottler, North Dela- ware; Paul Sherman, South Delaware; C. J. Shan- ver, Indiana Avenue; Feehentin & Co., South Me- ridian ; R. P. Thiceke, East Washington ; William

478

HISTORY OF INDIANAPOLIS AND MARION COUNTY.

S. Marsh, Fort Wayne Avenue; John Foltz, West Washington ; I. H. Herrington, North Delaware; J. M. Huffer, West Washington; M. E. King & Co., Massachusetts Avenue. These generally make both saddles and harness.

Belting is manufactured by the Hide, Leather and Belting Company, South Meridian Street.

Textile Products .- WOOL. The earliest mill for the manufacture of woolen goods was that of Na- thaniel West, on the canal at the Michigan road crossing, or ' Cottontown, but nearly contemporane- ously with him Souder & Hannaman made woolen cloth and fulled it on the site of the water-works. This establishment came to the hands of Merritt & Coughlin in 1849, or thereabouts, and it was burned the following year, or about 1851. They rebuilt at once, and have continued the business ever since. In 1856 they built their present extensive woolen- mill on West Washington Street (a little off the site of the old building), and within two or three years have built a large addition on the east, next to the mill-race.

GEORGE MERRITT .- The Merritt family came to America about two hundred years ago, landing at Quebec. One of its earliest members settled at the head of Lake Champlain, and had among his chil- dren Nehemiah, whose relationship to the subject of this biographical sketch was that of great-great- grandfather. His son Ichabod married Sarah Wing and had children, among whom was Joseph Merritt, born in 1776, and married to Cynthia Howland. The children of this marriage are Austis, Abraham, Jo- seph, Richard, Sarah, Isaac, Cynthia, Mary L., and Mahala. Joseph, of this number, was born June 19, 1792, in Saratoga County, N. Y., and married Phebe Hart, to whom were born children,-Jane, William, Jonathan, Daniel, Charles, Richard, George, Phebe, and Joseph. The birth of their son George oc- curred Nov. 22, 1824, in Saratoga County, N. Y., where his youth until his twelfth year was passed. The family then emigrated to Michigan, and his growing years were spent in the general labor inci- dent to clearing and cultivating a farm. On attain- ing the age of twenty-one he removed to Ohio, and under the direction of an uncle learned the trade of

woolen manufacturing. On becoming proficient in this branch of industry, he, with his brother Charles, in 1850, leased a mill at Beaver Creek, Ohio, and began the manufacture of woolen goods, which was continued for six years. Mr. Merritt, in 1856, re- moved to Indianapolis and formed a copartnership with William Coughlen, for the purpose of woolen manufacturing, which was continued uninterruptedly for a period of twenty-five years, when the latter re- tired from business, and a son, Worth Merritt, be- came interested, under the firm-name of George Mer- ritt & Co.

Mr. Merritt has been actively identified with other enterprises in the city of his residence. He is a di- rector of the Indiana National Bank and one of its incorporators. He was elected to the board of school commissioners of Indianapolis in 1874 and is still a member, during all of which time he has been chair- man of the finance committee. All measures for the conduct of the late war received his earnest support, especially those having in view the labors of the San- itary Commission. During this period he was one of the trusted advisers of Governor Morton, and fre- quently consulted with reference to the many ques- tions arising during that critical period. Mr. Mer- ritt's sympathies having been enlisted in behalf of the orphans of soldiers, he, in connection with Miss Susan Fussell, established a home for a limited num- ber of these children at Knightstown, where liberal provision was made for their training and comfort until able to help themselves, Mr. Merritt bearing the necessary expense involved. Through his exertions a bill passed the Legislature, by which orphan chil- dren in poor-houses were established in families under the supervision and care of matrons. He was reared in the Quaker faith, but is a supporter and one of the congregation of Plymouth Church of this city.

Mr. Merritt was married on the 30th of March, 1852, to Miss Paulina T. McClung, whose birth oc- curred in Rockbridge County, Va. She is the daugh- ter of John S. McClung and Hannah Eliza Kinear, of Xenia, Ohio, and granddaughter of Joseph aud Elizabeth Wilson McClung. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Merritt are Jeannette G., Worth J., who is

Engraved by samuel sartain. Phil" 1

Geo. Merritt

479

MANUFACTURING INTERESTS OF THE CITY OF INDIANAPOLIS.

associated with his father in business, and Ernest G., now in college.

In 1847, C. E. and G. W. Geisendorff began the manufacture of woolen goods in the old steam-mill, but not very successfully, and they left it in 1852 and built a frame mill, still standing and in use, on the west bank of the mill-race, on the National road a little west of the point where that road separates from Washington Street. Here they have carried on a large and successful business, which has compelled them to more than double their original capacity by the addition of a large brick mill in the rear of the old one. Mr. Yount succeeded Mr. West on the canal in 1849, but did not continue long.

COTTON .- He, or Mr. West before him, attempted the cotton manufacture for a short time, but aban- doned it as not worth the trouble. The only cotton- mill that has approached a successful business here is that of the Indianapolis Cotton Manufacturing Com- pany, which was built ten or twelve years ago just west of Fall Creek race, and three or four hundred feet north of the river-bank. This has been kept in pretty fair operation since then, but recently it has been proposed to abandon it.

HEMP .- The only hemp manufacture of any con- . sequence, and that of very little, was rope-making. There have been several " rope-walks" here at one time or another. That which continued longest was on the lane which now forms South West Street, a little below the other lane which is now South Street. About 1840, as related in the general history, Mr. McCarty began the manufacture of hemp, not of hemp products, on the east bank of Pogue's Run Bottom, near the present line of Ray Street, taking the water to rot the hemp and run his brakes and other apparatus from the canal. He raised the hemp himself, or most of it, on his " Bayon Farm," now the site of so many and so large industrial establish- ments in West Indianapolis. The times were hard though, and all the circumstances unpropitious, and even his iron energy and resolution could not endure carrying an extensive factory and a large farm at a dead loss. The business was abandoned about 1843.

DRESSMAKING belongs to this division of manu- factures, and as there are 91 dressmaking establish-

ments in the city, it may be supposed to be a pretty large division. The census of 1880 reports 31 milli- nery and dressmaking establishments here, with 306 hands and an annual product of $324,000. As the directory shows 91 dressmaking establishments and 35 milllinery establishments, or a total of 126, four times as many as the census found, either the census was incorrect,-a not very improbable suggestion,-or this class of manufactures has increased enormously in four years. What the real value of products or force of hands employed may be it is impossible to conjecture with any reasonable measure of accuracy. The census statement might fairly be doubled, how- ever.

TAILORING .- Tailoring, like shoe-making, was an affair of direct work, on orders, for customers in all the first thirty years of the city's existence, and most of it both in town and country was done at home. Working-clothes, " every-day" clothes, as they were called, were oftener than not the product of the mother's scissors and needle, cut by patterns, and made up in the intervals of cooking, washing, and house-cleaning. If the fits were not close or neat, the wear was unequaled in these degenerate days of " slop-shop" work and sewing-machine evasions. The first man to sell ready-made clothes was Benjamin Orr, in 1838, but tailors had grown plenty and quite busy by that time. The first was Andrew Byrne, uncle of Mr. Nowland, who came here in 1820, and presumably plied his trade then and always after- wards when he had anything to do. Among the late arrivals of tailors were Capt. Alexander Wiley, James Smith, Samuel P. Daniels, afterwards State Librarian, John Montgomery, D. B. Ward, who be- long to the first two decades.

MERCHANT TAILORING came after the opening of our railroad system, though no doubt some little was done before. Mr. Ward was probably among the earliest merchant tailors. There are now 23 mer- chant tailors in the city, and 34 tailors of ordinary custom-work. The census reports 28 merchant tai- lors four years ago, employing 453 hands, and pro- ducing annually $777,960 worth of clothing. Not- withstanding the reduction of 5 establishments, the probability is that more work is done now than then,

480

HISTORY OF INDIANAPOLIS AND MARION COUNTY.

and the value of the work done by other tailors is probably enough to make the aggregate of both $1,000,000.

Printing, aside from newspapers, employs 26 estab- lishments in the city, and 5 publishing-houses. In . 1880 the aggregate of both was 25, with 707 hands, and an annual produet of $726,857. It is probably twice that now, though the force of hands may not be doubled. The eensus returns are of little value four years away, and they are not strikingly aeeurate indications of the condition of industries even when nearer to the time they are supposed to belong to.

Chemicals .- The manufactures of this class have until within the last decade been carried on by drug- houses, when anything of that kind was attempted at all. In this class the oldest in the city, and probably in the State, is that of Browning & Sloan, East Washington Street, near Meridian. It was cstab- lished by Dr. John L. Mothershead about the year 1840, on the north side of Washington Street, mid- way between Meridian and the alley. Some years later David Craighead, who, with Mr. Brandon, earried a like establishment nearly opposite, went into this, and Mr. Browning, now senior proprietor, was for a number of years a clerk in it. He ac- quired so thorough a knowledge of the business and such skill in all its processes that he became indis- pensable, and was made a partner in 1850, when only twenty-three years old. Mr. Sloan, who was a clerk with Craighead & Browning, became a partner in 1862. During all the time after Mr. Craighead's death, Mr. Browning conducted the business alone from 1854 to 1862, the estate still retaining its in- terest. It is the best-known and most extensive house of its class in the State. It manufactures its fluid extracts and pharmaceutical preparations gen- erally, and all the latest remedies.

A large factory on McCarty Street, between Dela- ware and Alabama, is used wholly for the manufae- ture of chemicals and pharmaceutical preparations. It was established by_Eli Lilly & Co. some ten years ago on Maryland Street, and was then removed to South Meridian, and thenee to its present location. For a time Dr. John F. Johnston was associated with Mr. Lilly, but for a few years past they have been

separated, and Dr. Johnston has an establishment on South Pennsylvania Street.

VARNISH is a manufacture belonging to this class, and there is one long-established and extensive factory of that kind here. It was begun by Henry B. Mears eighteen years ago, on the point between Kentucky Avenue and Mississippi Street. Here in a very short time J. O. D. Lilly entered the estab- lishment, and in a few years bought out Mr. Mears, and associated his sons in the business. About ten years ago he built a much larger house, and espe- eially arranged for his work, on the river-bank at the foot of Rose and Grant Streets, a block west of West Street, and here he produces an artiele that eom- mands a sale all over the United States, even in cities that have varnish-factories. of their own. In 1871, Messrs. Ebner, Kramer & Aldag established a varnish- factory on the corner of Pine and Ohio Streets. No report appears of the amount of business done by either, but Mr. Lilly probably prodnees near $100,000 a year.

JOHN O. D. LILLY is of English parentage, his grandfather William Lilly, an Episcopal clergyman, having come to America about the year 1794 and settled at Albany, N. Y., from whence he removed to Elizabeth, N. J., and, in connection with his saered calling, taught a female seminary. His children were Catherine (Mrs. Francis Lathrop), John, a physician who resided for half a century in Lambertville, N. J., and William, who was born about the year 1789 in England, and came when a lad of six years to Ameriea with his father. The latter served in the war of 1812, and participated in the battle of Platts- burg. He was united in marriage to Miss Catherine Dey, of Geneva, N. Y., and had children fourteen in number, of whom Samuel, Benjamin, Phoebe Ann, Jane, Charlotte, William, John O. D., and James reached mature years. Four of this number are still living. John O. D. was born Sept. 17, 1822, in Penn Yano, Yates Co., N. Y., which place he left with his parents for New York City when six years .of age. After a brief residence in the metropolis, the family removed to Steuben County, in the same State, where he remained seven years. The common school, and later the academy of the town in which

مستبـ

481

MANUFACTURING INTERESTS OF THE CITY OF INDIANAPOLIS.

his parents resided, afforded advantages of education, after which he removed to Carbon County, Pa., and acquiring the business of a machinist, before the age of twenty-one years became foreman of a machine- shop. At twenty-two he removed to Philadelphia, and from that city to Reading, where his mechanical insight and thorough knowledge of machinery made him invaluable as foreman of the shops of the Read- ing Railroad. Mr. Lilly was in 1848 married to Miss Catherine, daughter of Col. John Miller, a prominent citizen and legislator of Berks County, Pa. Their children are Emma, Ida, Charles, and John M. Charles, of this number, is married to Miss Jessie Hall, of Indianapolis. Mr. Lilly determined in 1849 to seek the West as a more promising field for the artisan, and located in Madison, Ind., where he became master machinist of the Madison and Indianapolis Railroad, and ultimately superin- tendent of the same road. He afterward was offered and accepted the superintendency of the Lafayette and Indianapolis Railroad. In 1862 he became an employé of the government as master machinist of United States Military Railroads, with the rank of colonel, and Washington as headquarters. Mr. Lilly in his various railroad schemes brought to bear not only superior knowledge, but his accustomed energy and judgment, which placed the seal of success on all his efforts, and rendered his services alike valu- able to the government or private corporations. Hav- ing previous to the war resided in Indianapolis, he made that city again his home on retiring from the service, and began the manufacture of varnish with Henry B. Mears, whose interest he subsequently purchased and made his sons partners in the estab- lishment. Their products are of superior quality and find a ready market. Mr. Lilly was president of the Brown Rotary Shuttle Sewing-Machine Com- pany, located in Indianapolis, which succumbed to the financial disasters of 1873. He is also engaged in other active enterprises. He has been identified in various ways with the city and its improvements, and is especially interested in its school system. In politics he is a Republican, though not a participant in the active work of the party.

Tobacco .- LEAF. There are three dealers in leaf-

tobacco who do some little manufacturing, but there is little done now compared to what there was up to 1878. At that time, or shortly before, Mr. Ferdinand Christ- man manufactured " fine-cnt" very largely, and sold it all over the West. The business has declined since, till it is prosecuted only in a small way, except in the manufacture of cigars. This branch of the business is still carried on as extensively as ever. The census reported but 42 manufacturers of cigars and tobacco of all kinds, with 192 hands, and a yearly product of $287,900. There are now 87 cigar-making houses in the city, double the number four years ago, and they have probably doubled the product, though there are no authoritative statements to prove it. Among the largest of the present establishments is that of C. H. O'Brien, corner of Maryland and South Illi- nois Streets ; John A. McGaw, North Illinois Street ; John Rauch, West Washington Street.

Confectionery .- The oldest confectionery house in the city is that of Daggett & Co., northwest corner of Meridian and Georgia Streets. It carries on the manufacture in all three of the upper stories, and does a larger business probably than similar factories. Becker, on West Washington Street, also does a large business ; also Angelo Rosasco, on South Illinois Street ; Irmer & Moench, North Pennsylvania Street ; John Dixon, Massachusetts Avenue; Harriet E. Hall, East Washington Street. There are of manu- facturers and dealers together 34 in the city, 5 being women : Mary Watson, West Washington Street; Caroline B. Martio, Indiana Avenue; Harriet Love- joy, East Washington Street ; Lola Harris, Virginia Avenue. There were 9 in 1880, producing $260,000 wortb of goods.

Stone-Cutting .- The first stone-cutter who had a yard here and sawed stone was Mr. Spears, on the corner of Washington Street and Kentucky Avenue, in 1833 or 1834. He was followed a few years later by Peter Francis, who had his place on the corner of Kentucky Avenue and Maryland Street. These were the pioneers. Scott & Nicholson, who had the con- tract for the stone-work of the court-house, began business here in 1854, and soou established the most extensive yard in the city on Kentucky Avenue, at a point just below the Vaudalia Railroad. After com-

482

HISTORY OF INDIANAPOLIS AND MARION COUNTY.

pleting the court-house they retired from business, and their yard is partly occupied by Mr. Greenrod. Mr. Goddard also has a yard on the same avenue a square farther north, and G. Ittenbach & Co. have one on Harrison Street.

Marble-Work .- This is a comparatively recent industry here, and is largely confined to memorial work of one kind or another. The houses are only seven : T. J. Clark & Co., West Washington ; J. R. Cowie, North Delaware ; August Diener, East Washington ; J. P. LePage, opposite west entrance of Crown Hill; A. A. McKain, East Market ; J. M. Sullivan, West Ohio ; W. C. Whitehead, Massachu- setts Avenue. The value of the marble- and stone- cutting of 1880,-no report is later except those that are partial or defective,-with 11 establishments and 114 hands, was $237,000.

Brick .- Yards for making and burning brick in the last generation gathered along Virginia Avenue, outside of the town proper, though an occasional one was maintained nearer the centre of settlement. Now they are all clear out of the city, or only in the re- motest outskirts, though they have offices in the usual business-places. There are 13 of them now. There were 7 in 1880, producing $53,000 of brick. The secretary of the Board of Trade reports them thus for 1882 (the report for 1883 not being yet completed), showing a loss of 3 yards in the year, but a large gain otherwise :

Number of yards in city and vicinity 18

Capital invested .. $130,000

Number of men employed. 280

Number of brick manufactured during year .. 20,000,000 Total value of brick made. $165,000

Oil .- The early manufacture of linseed oil has been described in the general history. There is little to add now, except that after the business had disap- peared or diminished greatly for a score of years, it was revived in 1864 by I. P. Evans & Co., who also established a large manufactory on South Delaware Street, at the crossing of the Union Railway tracks. Here the business increased to such an extent that about three years ago it was deemed necessary or advisable to establish a second manufactory, on a still larger scale, on the west side of the river, near the

Michigan Street bridge, on the Belt Railroad. The product of oil annually is about $200,000.

Ice .- Ice was packed for domestic use and confec- tionery manufacture as early as 1840, by John Hodg- kins, on the sites of the present Catholic school, St. John's Cathedral, and the bishop's residence. It was not for several years, however, that it was packed in quantities to supply a general demand. About the ycar 1847, Mr. George Pitts began this business, and it has extended till now several large dealers maintain ice-ponds on the low ground between the canal and Fall Creek, while others cut from the canal and Fall Creek, and occasionally from the river. There are some half-dozen packers and dealers in the city now, who supply customers every day by wagons, as bakers and butchers do. They employ about 200 hands altogether in the packing season, which is very variable in this climate, and in 1880 sold a total value of $67,000 of ice. The business now is much larger, and there are some dealers who supply only ice cut on the lakes in the northern part of the State, cutting none here.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Indianapolis and Marion County, Indiana, Part 85

Author: Sulgrove, Berry R. (Berry Robinson), 1828-1890 Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co. Number of Pages: 942

Author: Sulgrove, Berry R. (Berry Robinson), 1828-1890
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 942