USA > Indiana > Knox County > Vincennes > History of Old Vincennes and Knox County, Indiana, Volume I > Part 63
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The Blackford Window Glass Factory is a model plant in every detail, and was built in 1903 at a cost of $115,000. The factory employs about 175 skilled workmen-mosfly Belgians-and operates day and night, about
*Prior and subsequent to that date John Kuhn brewed lager and manufactured yeast on the present site of St. John's Hotel, and Jacob Kautz was also a brewer on a small scale in an establishment located on the lot where the B. & O. S. W. freight depot now stands.
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nine months in the year. The higher grades of its products (No. I window glass) are shipped to St. Louis, Cincinnati, Chicago, Cleveland, Saginaw, Indianapolis, Davenport, and to many points in Texas, Louisiana, Missis- sippi, and in fact, to customers located in a large number of cities and towns throughout the central and southern states, at an average of two carloads a day. Besides the Blackford, there are two other glass manu- factories-Vincennes and Flint Glass Bottle-and when the three are in full operation their employes are paid on an average of $27,000 per month.
The John Ebner Artificial Ice Factory and Citizens' Ice Plant, operated by the same company, and having a combined capacity of 120 tons daily, ship more carloads of ice than any other factory in the state. The first named plant was erected in 1880, since which time its manufacturing and storage capacity have been quadrupled twice. The Citizens plant was built in 1906. The Ebner plant's storage capacity for ice is ten thousand tons, and the cold storage capacity for apples is fifty thousand barrels. The purchase of apples by the Ebner company has done much to stimulate the growing of the fruit in this section as well as to provide for it a ready market and good prices at all seasons. The plant is located on a piece of ground comprising about twenty-five acres, and is one of the city's notable industries.
The Vincennes' Paper Company was established in 1886 by Jacob S. Shepard and Mrs. S. T. Cattrell, of Urbana, Ohio. Mr. Shepard died in 1893. After a successful and uninterrupted operation of eight years, the plant was destroyed by fire in 1895. The year following it was rebuilt on an enlarged scale and equipped with the most modern and efficient ma- chinery. Mr. A. M. Shepard, the present head of the establishment, be- came president of the company and it was incorporated in 1901, the year of the organization of the Vincennes Egg Case Company, which has a plant adjoining. The latter establishment uses board made by the Vincennes Paper Co., and has a capacity of about 3,500 fillers daily. The plant of the paper company consumes great quantities of straw from the farms of Knox and adjoining counties and waste paper from the city, converting these into a first-class quality of strawboard. The capacity of the factory is about thirty tons daily. The product is sold in all parts of the country, reaching westward to California and to all parts of the east and south and northward into Canada. The plant has been greatly damaged by fires on three different occasions, and was almost completely destroyed by a boiler explosion on July 30, 1906, in which Harry Borders, engineer, and Lafe Leighty, fireman, lost their lives. While the company is only capitalized at $60,000, the plant and business is worth treble that amount.
The Vincennes Lumber & Planing Mills, forming a combination of completeness and convenience, established in 1890, carry every conceivable requirement for the builder's use. Their yards are located on St. Clair street, on the B. & O. S. W. tracks, east of the Union station. Upon the lumber yard tract, which consists of a space three hundred feet square, are
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storage sheds 350 feet long. These are accessible from a private railroad switch by tramways operated in loading and unloading cars of lumber and building material. The facilities of the mill are such as to give contractors and other patrons the opportunity to obtain the most intricate and artistic specialties to be found anywhere in the woodwork line and materials of all sorts for interior and exterior buildings. In the lumber yards are handled annually about 300 carloads of material brought from a long dis- tance, besides many hundred thousand feet of lumber cut from timber within a radius of fifty miles from Vincennes. M. A. Bosworth, H. I. Mc- Ilvaine, the Marion Hardwood Lumber Company, Klemeyer Lumber Com- pany and William H. Leathers, all of which, except the last named, occupy more territory and operate on a larger scale than the Vincennes Lumber & Planing Mills, are also expert cabinet makers, and manufacture every- thing in the line of store, office, bank and bar fixtures, such as showcases, counter, shelving, etc., and also special window frames and doors, store fronts and interior equipments for churches, school houses and homes.
The Indiana Handle Factory, despite the fact that within the past five years it has been twice destroyed by fire, bids fair to become one of the largest and most important industries of the city. The plant was estab- lished here in May. 1901, after the manager, Thomas R. Welsh, had in- vestigated quite a number of locations in Indiana and the west and south. The company has been an extensive buyer of ash timber, and manufactures all kinds of handles for implements, using the finest of machinery, the op- eration of which is very interesting. From fifty to seventy-five men are employed at the factory, from which carloads of its product are shipped daily to all parts of the United States. In addition to these shipments, every few days goods are sent in carload lots to England, Germany, Argentine, France, Central America and other countries.
The Vincennes Furniture Manufacturing Company, as the name sug- gests, manufactures furniture of different grades. Tables of all kinds from many varieties of wood are made, but a specialty of oak is used. Kitchen cabinets of different styles are also manufactured, as are cupboards and odd dressers. The company is now engaged in making bookcases that are considered as fine as any on the market, and for which there is a great de- mand. Large quantities of the product of the plant are sold at home while considerable is shipped to distant points. Within a short time a more hand- some grade of furniture will be manufactured, and the facilities of the plant, already extensive, will be increased. The company was incorporated in 1902, and its present officers are: E. A. Ritterskamp, president ; August Meise, vice president ; August Schulties, secretary and treasurer ; Andrew Entle, general manager.
The Nash-May Manufacturing Co., which established its extensive plant here in 1902, is equipped for all kinds of turning and wood manufacturing. Sash and doors are the principal output of the establishment, which makes shipments to all parts of the country. The plant is also prepared for the
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manufacture of bank and office furniture, but because of the large demand for work in pine and cypress, and for sash and door patterns, the industry is not at present pushing the manufacture of furniture. Some excellent designs made by the firm are on display at the works and are attracting much attention from the trade. The majority of the large number of em- ployes are skilled workmen, necessitating a heavy payroll. The capital stock of the company is $45,000, and its officers are: Benjamin Niehaus, president ; August Schulties, vice president ; C. B. Duckwall, secretary and treasurer ; R. G. May, superintendent.
The Empire Paper Company operates one of the costliest and most com- plete strawboard plants in the country. The company was incorporated under the laws of Delaware with a capital stock of $125,000, and in 1904 completed the present plant at a cost approximating $200,000. The smoke- stack is an attractive feature of the establishment. It is built of fire brick, stands 125 feet high, and cost $4,000. The machinery is of the latest pat- tern, and includes eight 1,200-pound beating and one refining engine, and a 96-inch strawboard machine. The capacity of the plant is 45,000 pounds of strawboard per day, besides several tons of wrapping and finer grades of white paper.
The Vincennes Produce Company, which makes a specialty of fatten- ing chickens on buttermilk, is one of the city's new industries. It receives and ships carloads of poultry every day, and has earned a high reputation in the markets of the east for the palatableness of its products. The poultry business, in both city and county, is conducted on a very large scale. The first man to introduce chicken hatching by artificial means was a Dr. Huff- man, who operated a plant here more than fifty years ago. Twenty years ago Vincennes was the greatest poultry market in the country, except New York.
The Hartman Manufacturing Company was originally organized in 1899, and was incorporated in 1891 with J. H. Rabb (deceased) president, and Fred. Harsch. secretary and treasurer. The present officers of the company are Edward Watson, president : Louis A. Meyer, secretary and treasurer ; and Win. H. Willmore, general manager. The concern is an extensive establishment and enjoys the peculiar distinction of being the only factory in the country whose time is given absolutely and exclusively to the manufacture of cultivators and rolling coulters. Its output consists of all styles of riding and walking two-horse cultivators for cultivating corn, cotton, tobacco, potatoes and beans. There are a number of larger facto- ries in the country making cultivators, which also make various other kinds of implements, hence the claim of the Hartman Manufacturing Company that they are specialists in this line, and can make a better grade of culti- vators than any other concern is well based. The present plant was built in 1899, since which time has more than doubled, necessitating the addition of many new buildings. During the last few years the company has ex- ported goods to South America and South Africa amounting annually to
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$25,000. The annual output of the plant aggregates in money more than $100,000.
There are a score of other industries operating on larger or smaller scales than the ones briefly noted, including foundries, machine shops, wagon and carriage factories, etc., which it will not be necessary to com- ment on, inasmuch as the above will serve to convey to the reader's mind a fair idea of Vincennes as a manufacturing center.
CORPORATIONS AND PUBLIC UTILITIES.
The Vincennes Draw Bridge Company was incorporated October 13, 1869, with a capital stock of $40,000 in shares of $50 each. Later the amount of stock was increased to $75,000. In 1875 the city took $20,000 of this stock, and two years later increased its holdings by subscribing an additional $25,000. In 1899 the city purchased all the stock, paying share- holders for the same sixty cents on the dollar, and made a free bridge, which is the avenue through which the great bulk of the produce of Law- rence county is brought across the Wabash to the Vincennes market. In 1843 the Wabash Navigation Company was organized for the purpose of improving the navigation of the Wabash so as to admit large steamers from New Orleans. The company built at Mt. Carmel a lock and dam of wood, which rotted within a few years and became a hindrance instead of aid to navigation. The stockholders, realizing they had made a bad investment, for- tunately sold their shares to the United States, and the federal government replaced the old wooden structure with durable and expensive works of stone, costing a million dollars. In 1836, according to a statement by Mr. Cauthorn, "as many as 800 steamboats passed by Vincennes by actual count." Steamboats from New Orleans, St. Louis, Louisville, Cincinnati and Pittsburg were daily visitors to this port during the boating season and went as far up the Wabash as Lafayette. From 1840 to 1845 more than 200 boats carried on a regular traffic between Vincennes and various ports on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Between 1850 and 1860 steamboating on the Wabash was a profitable and remunerative business. In August, 1852, rails for the Vincennes division of the C. & V. Railroad were brought up the Wabash from New Orleans on five large boats. This was the same year that Spalding & Rogers arrived with their circus, giving performances on a very large boat called the "Floating Palace." In 1857-8 the aggrega- tion came to Vincennes overland and went into winter quarters at Spalding- ville. Hank Dearth, who several years later took up his residence here was driver of the band wagon, and drove forty horses. When William Lake's circus showed here July 4, 1863, Dearth was asked by the manage- ment to drive the band wagon, but declined the offer until assured that he would be furnished forty horses. Mike Sexton was leader of the band.
While steamboats navigate the Wabash at all stages of water, above and below the city, and bring to Vincennes the bountiful crops of the farms
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along its banks, the stream has ceased to be the great artery of trade and commerce it was before the coming of the railroads. The advantages pos- sessed by Vincennes as a railroad center are not generally known to those without her borders, and the magnitude of the situation is not fully real- ized by all who dwell within her confines. Five railroads form a junction at this point from direct routes north, south, east and west. By direct lines of travel the steel highways centering here lead to the Atlantic seaboard cities. Three of the roads having a terminal point here make direct con- nection with the great west and southwest. Two roads are direct avenues to the north, and two form a part of the great southern trunk lines. In short, all roads leading in and out of the city are either trunk lines or direct feeders thereof. The old Evansville & Terre Haute Railway (now a part of the Frisco system) extending from the south to the north, traversing Knox County for a distance of thirty-three miles, connecting at Evans- ville with southwestern lines and at Terre Haute with diverging lines east and west, as well as to the north and northwest, is a route of considerable importance to Vincennes. The Indianapolis & Vincennes Railway, a part of the great Pennsylvania system of railroads, traverses the county for a distance of twenty-five miles, running from Vincennes in a northeasterly direction, forming direct connection with all important through routes to the east and west here and at Indianapolis. The Baltimore & Ohio South- western Railroad, which made Vincennes a town of importance more than fifty years ago, is one of the greatest trunk lines in the country. It extends from the Ohio to the Mississippi river, and has numerous arteries running to the north and south. It traverses Knox County easterly and westerly for a distance of about sixteen miles, and at its terminal points makes con- nections with all important roads to markets of the east, west, north and south. The Cairo & Vincennes Railroad and the Danville & Southwestern Railway (both now a part of the New York Central) penetrate several eastern and western states, touching all of the principal cities of these sec- tions and giving direct connections to the east and north. All of these rival lines of railways are lively competitors for business at this end of their respective lines and as a consequence the patrons here get the benefit of cheap and quick transportation not enjoyed by less favored sister cities. Freight rates to and from Vincennes for cheapness will compare more than favorably with those accorded Indianapolis, Evansville and Terre Haute, and are lesser than those obtained by many cities in the northern and southern sections of the state. The advantages of through cars for freight and passenger traffic between important cities, such as are maintained at Vincennes, make transportation easier and less expensive by obviating vexa- tious delays and transfers. The amount of money paid out monthly to the employes of these various railroads, aggregating thousands of dollars, read- ily finds its way into the hand of the manufacturer and merchant and event- ually becomes a part of the working capital of the business community. Some conception of the importance of Vincennes as a commercial center
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may be had by a reference to the business of the railroads done last year, which was not up to the standard of previous years. In twelve months the number of loaded cars sent out over the several lines aggregated about 25.978, carrying 1,592,000 tons. The number of cars received, loaded, was nearly 30,000, with a capacity greater than 2,742,000 tons.
For many years transportation facilities for passengers within the city were afforded through omnibuses, hacks and herdics, in which lines Wil- liam Green, Frederick Graeter and Mass & Watson, respectively, were in- terested. The charter for the first street railway was granted October 24, 1881, to Charles Graeter, Frederick Graeter, their associates, successors and assigns, to organize themselves into a body corporate and politic under the laws of Indiana, under the name and style of the Vincennes Citizens' Street Railway Company. Fifteen thousand dollars was the capital stock of the company, which was officered hy Frederick Graeter, president, and George WV. Graeter, secretary and superintendent. The cars were drawn by mules, and the ordinance under which the right of way was granted restricted the fare to five cents each way and required that cars be run every twenty min- utes between the hours of 6 a. m. and 10 p. m. In March, 1891, the Messrs. Graeter assigned their franchise to Allen Tindolph, of Vincennes, and Messrs. Jacob Griner and Benjamin F. Hudnut, of Terre Haute, when the trolley system for running cars was introduced. A few years later Hud- nut bought Tindolph and Griner's interest in the plant and successfully operated the same until 1908, when he disposed of the property to S. A. Culbertson and S. S. Bush, of Louisville, Kentucky, who changed the name of the line to the Vincennes Traction Company. The system has over fifty miles of tracks, and preparations are now making to extend the lines to the south side, Vincennes' latest addition. The cars are run over a well- ballasted roadway, and from the plant that supplies electricity to propel them light, heat and power for private usage and commercial purposes is also furnished. The open arc lamps provided consumers by the company are of dazzling brilliancy, of which the headlights carried on the cars are a fair sample. The company is doing a heavy passenger traffic and render- ing nice service, by running on schedule time, making connections with all trains, and carrying passengers to and from the parks and places of amuse- ment in good season. A pleasant trip is provided in a ride from Lakewood Park to Columbia Park, a distance of about six miles.
The traction line facilities of Vincennes, for which the people of the township on May 19, 1911, voted subsidies amounting to $160,000, will in the near future equal the steam roads for local traffic. Preparations arc now making for the building of three different roads into Vincennes, viz. : The Vincennes and Interstate, with its terminal at Bridgeport, the center of the Illinois oil fields; the Vincennes, Washington and Eastern, with Loogootee as one of the terminal points, and the Vincennes North and South traction line of which Vincennes will be the central and Evansville and Terre Haute terminal stations.
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The first gas light company was incorporated September, 1859, by Charles P. McGrady, W. H. H. Terrell and others, under the name of Vincennes Gas Light Company ; charter to run for twenty years. In the early seventies, Joseph A. Daugherty, who imported the English sparrows to Vincennes, became owner of the plant, and as such in 1874 had a dis- agreement with the city council regarding the lighting of streets. The controversy ultimately led up to a point where Mr. Daugherty turned off the gas, leaving the city in darkness for more than a year. A few public- spirited citizens, seeing the necessity of relieving the town of its dark dilemma as well as an opportunity to make money, built a new gas plant. and on January 20, 1876, incorporated the Citizens Gas Light Company. The stockholders were L. L. Watson, M. D. La Croix, Joseph Pollock, Laz Noble, W. H. De Wolf, H. A. Foulks and George G. Reily. Dr. J. II. Rabb was president and George G. Ramsdell, secretary and treasurer. Until 1907, when Charles Schaffer, of Pittsburg, Pa., secured a franchise to fur- nish natural gas to private consumers at 20 cents per 1000 cubic feet and manufactures at 10 cents per 1000, the Citizens Gas Light Co. had a mo- nopoly, and sold artificial gas at prices ranging from $3.50 to 95 cents per 1000 feet. In 1910 the Citizens' Gas Light Co., which has changed its name to the Vincennes Light & Power Co., made arrangements with Mr. Schaffer to supply their customers, as well as his, with natural gas, since which time the use of artificial gas has been discontinued. Natural gas is preferable to artificial in both the home and factory, and its cheapness, as well as the advantageous qualities it possesses for culinary uses, illuminating purposes, as fuel, and for supplying motive power, make its daily consumption enor- mous. Its odor is scarcely discernible, and the brilliancy and steadiness of the flame produced by its ignition render it a most desirable illuminant.
The City Electric Lighting Company, which was organized in 1898, has just entered upon the fulfillment of its second contract for lighting the streets. The franchise provides for the furnishing of electric arc lamps, one hundred and seventy-one of which are of the 71/2-ampere pattern, en- closed with alternating current, while ninety-seven are metallic-flame, 4- ampere lamps, having a direct current. All of the lamps arc of 2,000 candle power and are lighted all night and every night, from sunset until sunrise, at an annual cost of $14.370.16, which is $53.62 per annum for cach lamp. The city is as well lighted as any other in Indiana, and at less cost. The parks, engine houses, hospitals and bridges are illuminated with incandes- cent lamps, free of cost, by the same company, as is also the city hall. The plant of this company is an admirably equipped concern, and is supplying electrical energy for motors equal to 800 horsepower, besides furnishing current for lighting 25,000 incandescent lamps for private consumers. The scheduled rates for commercial lighting are very low and the service given is excellent.
The Vincennes Coal Mining Company, whose holdings have long since passed from the hands of the original owners, was incorporated December
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17. 1872. The company operated mines at Edwardsport, of which prop- erty Christian Hoffman subsequently became the sole owner, sinking a fortune in the enterprise. Of the original incorporators only one-H. A. Foulks-is now living. The others were John R. Mantle, Alfred Patton, Jolın H. Shepard and George Harris. The capital stock of the concern when first organized, was $100,000.
The Vincennes Calorific Brick & Tile Company was incorporated by Franklin C. Clark, John R. Mantle and Samuel P. Ruble and Thomas Day- son in 1881. The plant, since its establishment, has several times changed hands, and is operated today by Brandon Clark, son of F. C. Clark. It has been greatly enlarged in recent years, and has a capacity today of 50,000 brick and a vast quantity of tile. The Prullage Brick Yard is a concern of almost equal capacity and the two manufacture annually about 10,000,000 of brick.
The Spring Lake Ice Company, incorporated in 1882, N. F. Dalton, president, was capitalized at $30,000, and for ten years did a prosperous business. The Vincennes Traction Company acquired the ground formerly in possession of the Spring Lake Company, and have converted the same into a beautiful park, the lake from which the "frozen liquid" was carved being not the least among its many charming features.
The Steam Mill Company, the buildings of which were on the river front, occupying a portion of the ground now belonging to Harrison Park, and remaining in a good state of preservation as late as 1850, was at one time the most important industry in Vincennes. The enterprise, conceived by Nathaniel Ewing. John D. Hay, Benjamin Parke and others, was launched August 6, 1817. A quantity of land twenty arpents front and twenty arpents deep was purchased by the firm in Upper Prairie survey on which to erect the plant. The main structure was of brick, two stories high and 700 feet long. The concern was a saw and grist mill, and from the second story extended a log carriage-way to the river upon which logs floated down the river were carried by steam power into the mill. Persons traveling over the Terre Haute State Road passed beneath this log-way. Not far above the mill, on the same road, was a tall brick malt house, and still further up was a large distillery, at one time operated by W. F. Pidg- eon. The steam mill was equipped with four saws, driven by 200 horse- power engines, and had a capacity of 250 barrels of flour per day. The company issued bills of credit similar to bank notes, some of which are oc- casionally brought to light, bearing the signatures of N. Ewing, J. D. Hay, W. Felton, C. Small and Benjamin Parke. The enterprise proved a dis- astrous financial failure to many of the stockholders.
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