USA > Indiana > Indiana and Indianans : a history of aboriginal and territorial Indiana and the century of statehood, Volume V > Part 41
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Mr. Buschmann has well earned a solid success in his native city and has always been that type of citizen who could be de- pended upon for co-operation and effective contribution to every public spirited movement. He is a republican, is affiliated with Oriental Lodge No. 500, Free and Ac- cepted Masons, is a Scottish Rite Mason, Mystic Shriner, also a member of the Co- lumbia Club, Chamber of Commerce, Ro- tary Club, Marion Club and other social organizations, and he and his wife are members of the Tabernacle Church. He has various other business interests outside of those represented by the Lewis Meier & Company.
Mr. Buschmann married Miss Grace Clay Hooker, who was born at Terre Haute November 21, 1879, daughter of James and Mary J. Hooker, later of Meri- dian Heights, Indianapolis. Mr. and Mrs. Buschmann have two children, Severin and Charles E. Severin graduated from the University of Indiana in 1917, taking both the regular literary course and having one year of law. Just before graduation he en- tered the first officers training camp at Fort Benjamin Harrison, and was one of the youngest men in that camp to receive the commission of second lieutenant. He was promoted to first lieutenant in July and captain in August, 1918, at which time he sailed for France. The armistice was signed when he was on his way to the battle front. Returning to Brest he made appli- cation and was admitted to a four months' course at the University of Paris.
E. A. MARPLE is manager of the White River Creamery Company at Muncie, one of the numerous plants of the Fox River Butter and Creamery Company. This is one of the institutions that indicate a new trend to agricultural activities in Indiana, and well informed persons agree that In- diana is destined to occupy a rising scale of importance in the great dairy industry of the country.
The manager of the Muncie plant was born December 18, 1887, at North Bend in Nebraska, a son of W. W. and Nancy (Reister) Marple. His father, a native of Pennsylvania, came to the Middle West in the '60s, and for about five years taught school in Illinois. He then removed to Macon, Missouri, where he was a general merchant, and several years later went to St. Joseph, Missouri, and engaged in the creamery business. He was one of the pio- neers in what is now a big American in- dustry. While at St. Joseph he visited Chicago and consulted Mr. Truesdale, then president of the Rock Island Railroad. Under Mr. Truesdale's advice and under the auspices of the railroad company he was engaged to promote a system of cream- eries along the lines of that road. He es- tablished and organized ninety-six cream- eries, and developed the business to a high potentiality for the Rock Island Road. One of the principal centers of the industry was at St. Joseph, and W. W. Marple for a number of years managed that plant under his personal supervision.
W. W. Marple finally came with his fam- ily to Muncie, Indiana, and established here the White River Creamery. Later this was consolidated with the Fox River Com- pany, and has since been under the per- sonal management and supervision of Mr. E. A. Marple. The plant now turns out a million pounds of butter annually and 40,000 gallons of ice cream. It has 6,300 patrons.
E. A. Marple was educated in the public schools of St. Joseph, Missouri, and in 1908 graduated from Drake University at Des Moines, Iowa. In the meantime he had ac- quired a thorough knowledge of the cream- ery business in every detail from his father, and that business has since been his profes- sion and his work has brought him a lead- ing and authoritative position in creamery circles.
September 3, 1910, at Chicago, Mr.
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Marple married Miss Nellie Dwyer, daugh- ter of John Dwyer of that city. They have one son, W. W. Marple, born December 8, 1916.
FRANK RIDGWAY LEEDS, M. D. There has been no name in the annals of this city from earliest pioneer times that gath- ered to itself more of the distinctions of business, professional and civic prominence than Leeds. Doctor Leeds is member of the third generation of the family in this sec- tion of Indiana, and is a son of Alfred W. Leeds and is a grandson of that splendid LaPorte County pioneer Offley Leeds.
The American ancestry of the family runs back to Thomas Leeds, a native of England who came to America about 1677 and settled at Shrewsbury, New Jersey. On August 6, 1678, he married for his third wife Margaret Collier, of Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania. The line of descent from this pioneer couple is traced through Dan- iel, Japheth, Japheth, Jr., Daniel, Offley, Alfred W. and Frank Ridgway.
Offley Leeds was born in New Jersey in 1798, being one of a family of twelve chil- dren. He was reared on a farm, was edu- cated in common schools and as a youth taught during the winters and assisted on the farm the rest of the year. From his earnings and savings he eventually engaged in the merchandise business at Egg Harbor, New Jersey. He was successful and added to his capital slowly but surely. Later a vessel in which he had a large shipment of goods bought in Philadelphia was wrecked and the goods lost. He had bought the mer- chandise partly on credit. He at once went to the merchants and frankly told them that he was unable to meet his bills unless they could sell him more goods on credit. They promptly extended his credit and he justified their patience and steadily pros- pered in his affairs. Later he sold his busi- ness in New Jersey and for a time was a miller on Staten Island, New York. In 1837 he sold his interests in the east and came west to Michigan City. He invested in thousands of acres of land around that new town, and for years was one of the largest real estate owners in Northern In- diana. He also established a store at Michigan City and conducted a general merchandise business until 1852. Later he became interested in flour mills and other
business enterprises. He was one of the directors of the old State Bank of Indiana. Again and again his resources and judg- ment were placed at the disposal of many community undertakings in that part of LaPorte County. During the panic of 1857 many local manufacturers were un- able to get cash for their goods and were obliged either to close or to pay their help in scrip. When merchants refused to ac- cept this scrip Offley Leeds stepped into the breach and guaranteed its payment, thus enabling a number of local business men to continue their factories until the recurrence of good times. Thus it was with an honored name as well as with a comfort- able fortune that Offley Leeds passed to his reward in 1877. He married Charlotte Ridgway, a native of New Jersey and daughter of Jeremiah and Judith Ridg- way. The Ridgways were another pioneer family of LaPorte County. Offley Leeds and wife had three children; Alfred W., Caroline C. and Walter O. Through many generations the prevailing religion of the Leeds family was that of the Friends Church.
Alfred W. Leeds was born at Tuckerton, New Jersey, January 7, 1824. He grew up in LaPorte County and for many years was associated with his father in the man- agement of their extensive realty deals and other business affairs. He died November 23, 1883. Alfred W. Leeds married Minnie Lell, daughter of John and Christina Lell, natives of Stuttgart, Germany. The Lell family came to America and settled in La- Porte County in 1854. Mrs. Minnie Leeds after the death of her husband became noted for the successful management of her business affairs. She was a director in the Citizens Bank and a stockholder in many corporations. Among other buildings which she erected is the First National Bank Building at Michigan City. She was also deeply interested in the welfare of the Public Library and was a member of its Board of Trustees. She died at Michigan City June 28, 1911. Alfred W. Leeds and wife had seven children : Eva, who married Dr. E. Z. Cole, a physician and surgeon of Michigan City, later moving to Balti- more, Maryland ; Alfred W .; Julia A., wife of Samuel J. Taylor; Arthur L., a physi- cian now in the Medical Corps of the United States Army with the rank of lieu-
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tenant; William, who died at the age of fourteen years ; Frank R .; and Alice Mae, wife of Gilbert L. Lock.
Dr. Frank Ridgway Leeds was born at Michigan City and had most liberal op- portunities and advantages in his home and . in school and university. He attended the city schools, spent two years in the Armour Institute at Chicago, and began the study of medicine with his brother-in-law, Doctor Cole. He graduated M. D. in 1899 from the Hahnemann Medical College at Chi- cago. For one year he was an interne in the Chicago Baptist Hospital and for two years practiced at Waterville, Oneida County, New York. From there he re- turned to his native city and has been stead- ily engaged in a large practice ever since. In 1915 he established the Nova Baths, which have since developed into an impor- tant sanitarium for the treatment of di- seases of various kinds, especially those yielding to modern electro, mechanical and hydro therapeutic methods. During the influenza epidemie in 1918 many patients were successfully treated in the sanitarium.
August 29, 1900, Doctor Leeds married Miss Florence Clark. She was born at Chazy in Clinton County, New York, daughter of James B. and Mary A. (Wil- son) Clark and granddaughter of Samuel and Lorinda (MeLain) Clark of early Scotch ancestry. Her first American an- cestor was an English soldier who came to the colonies, and after his discharge set- tled in New Hampshire. Later his five sons moved to Clinton County, New York, and the road upon which they settled took the name of Clark Street. These five sons burned brick and each built a substantial brick house on Clark Street, those old buildings still standing in good condition. The father of Mrs. Leeds was a merchant at Ellenburg, New York, for several years, then resumed farming, and late in life came to Michigan City and spent his last days with Mr. and Mrs. Leeds. Mrs. Leeds' mother is still living in Michigan City.
Doctor and Mrs. Leeds have two chil- dren : James Clark and Eva-Deane. Doctor and Mrs. Leeds are members of the Pres- byterian Church. He is a member of the City, County, State and American Medi- cal Associations and by re-election in 1917 is now serving his second term as county coroner. He is also a member of the Acme
Lodge of Masons. He was appointed medi- cal examiner for the Exemption Board for Local Number One for LaPorte. County, and served until the close of the war. He is a member of the Rotary Club and of the Chamber of Commerce.
HERMAN KUCHENBUCH, of Richmond, is one of the veteran confectionery manu- facturers of Indiana. He learned his busi- ness more than fifty years ago at Cincin- mati, and has been a candy manufacturer at Richmond for thirty years. He is pro- prietor of the wholesale business at 169 Fort Wayne Avenue, being maker of widely known "Home Confections."
Mr. Kuchenbuch was born at Matagorda on the Texas Gulf Coast May 24, 1848, son of John and Teresa (Rust) Kuchenbuch. His parents came from Hanover, Germany, and were among the early German colonists of Texas. His father attempted to make clay brick in Texas, but failed in that venture, since the clay was not of the proper quality. He died in 1853.
Herman Kuchenbuch spent his boyhood at Cincinnati, Ohio, where the family set- tled. He attended school for two years at St. John's School in Cincinnati, and at the age of fourteen went to work to make his living. For a time he was employed in packing hardtack for the Union Army. The Civil war was then in progress. He worked for Henry Warwick on Court Street in Cincinnati two years. In July, 1864, he began his apprenticeship at the candy business with the firm of Austin & Smith. He was with that Cincinnati firm of confectioners fourteen years, and be- came foreman of one of the departments. Then for nine years he was with Mitchell & Whitelaw, confectioners. During that time he served two years as president of the Confectioners Union at Cincinnati, was county delegate of the Union two years, and in 1884 was chairman of the Strike Committee which secured complete re- dress of all grievances and demands.
Mr. Kuchenbuch first came to Richmond in 1888, and for two years was with the firm of Hinchman & Cox as a foreman. He was then in business for a time as a retailer at Middletown, Ohio, and then successively for brief periods was at Marion, Indiana, Richmond, Cincinnati, Akron, Ohio, again at Cincinnati, at Dayton, and then re- turned to form his present long continuous
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relations with Richmond. He opened a place of business of his own, and now manufactures candy entirely for the whole- sale trade. Mr. Kuchenbuch invented the "Ferre Stick," a stick candy which is widely known and sold all over this section of the Middle West.
In 1872, at Cincinnati, Mr. Kuchenbuch married Miss Elizabeth Roof, daughter of Frederick and Kate Roof, of Cincinnati. They have three children: Herman, of Covington, Kentucky, who is married and has four children ; Catherine; and Albert, of Connersville, Indiana, who is married and has three children. Mr. Kuchenbuch is a democrat in politics and a member of St. Mary's Church.
INDIANA BUSINESS COLLEGE is the cor- porate title of an association or university of schools, fourteen in number, represented in as many Indiana cities and towns, each school with its individual name and its corps of instructors, but managed under a general plan and benefiting by the cen- tralized efficiency of the headquarters at Indianapolis.
This is perhaps the most conspicuous ex- ample of the application to education of the principle and policy long ago evolved from American experience in industry and business. The most notable contribution of America to the economic progress of the world has been through standardization and centralized management. Industry as represented in mining, manufacturing and transportation, retail merchandising and even in later years agriculture, has been so thoroughly energized and vitalized by this principle and policy that its appli- cation to commercial education was doubt- less inevitable, though it remained for a group of men with characteristic Indiana enterprise and push to really perfect the plan as now exemplified by the Indiana Business College.
The starting point or nucleus of the system was a school at Logansport which in 1902 was purchased by the interests that later became organized and incorporated as the Indiana Business College. In 1903 the same interests acquired the business college at Kokomo and another college at Marion. In the fall of 1903 the Muncie Business College was purchased. During the same year another extension brought into the group two business schools at An-
derson, which were then consolidated as one school, and has since been part of the Indiana Business College under the name Anderson Business College. In the sum- mer of 1905 Mr. Cring and his associates went to Lafayette and bought the business college in that city. Also in 1905 they purchased the Richmond Business College and a little later incorporated within their system the schools at Newcastle and Co- lumbus and also the Central Business Col- lege at Indianapolis. A few years later two other business colleges at Indianapolis were bought and consolidated with the Cen- tral Business College. The next schools to fall in line were those at Vincennes and Washington, and at Crawfordsville, and the most recent unit under the general or- ganization is the Peru Business College, purchased in 1916. This total of fourteen individual schools, all managed by the In- diana Business College, have an annual en- rollment of over 4,000 students, which rep- resents one of the largest totals of attend- ance of any business college system in America.
American ideals of education have been undergoing rapid changes. When the young person has acquired a well-rounded general education, he starts out to special- ize. If he wants to be a doctor he at- tends a medical college; if a lawyer, a law school ; if a business man, a business college. It is hardly claiming too much to say that the business college as a type was a pioneer in this new order of education, supplying definite technical instruction for a definite purpose. The need for such schools and such training was never greater than at the present time, and considering this nor- mal demand and the abnormal demand created by the stupendous growth in the in- dustrial and commercial interests of In- dianapolis and Indiana within the past few years, it is fortunate indeed that such an organization as the Indiana Business College was already in existence and with a splendid record of results already ob- tained in furnishing adequately trained business assistants. Now, under the stress of intense reconstruction activities and the need for especially trained help, the various colleges comprised under this corporate management have found their resources taxed to the uttermost to perform the es- sential duties laid upon them. It must be realized that specific, definite business
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schools, such as these, fill a real and im- portant place in our commercial life.
The men behind the Indiana Business College are Charles C. Cring, president ; Fred W. Case, vice president; Ora Butz, general manager. These are all in the gen- eral offices of the organization at Indian- apolis, and other stockholders and directors are J .. T. Pickerill at Muncie, R. H. Puter- baugh at Lafayette, and W. L. Stump at Richmond. These are managing and di- recting heads, while each school has a com- plete corps of principals and teachers.
A man of very interesting attainments and experience is Mr. Charles C. Cring, president of the corporation. He was born in Delaware County, Ohio, in the typical log cabin associated with the birth of so many enterprising and successful Ameri- cans. The labor and trials he underwent in educating himself have proved splendid qualifications for his subsequent career as a teacher. He was educated in the coun- try schools, later in the Ohio Wesleyan University, and when still in his teens taught his first school. Prior to his connec- tion with the system of which he is now the head he was four years engaged in business college work at South Bend.
Nearly every successful American recog- nizes some fundamental principle or rule upon which he has co-ordinated and devel- oped his experience and his achievements. A few years ago Mr. Cring recognized the chief significance of bookkeeping as noth- ing more or less than simple honesty-the setting down of debits and credits, repre- senting exchange of value for equal value, and involving of necessity a "quid pro quo" in every transaction. It was a de- nial of the fallacy that one can get "some- thing for nothing" and bookkeeping sim- ply proved with regard to this fallacy that "it can't be done," and thus added to the evidence which has been accumulating since the time of Adam Smith that trade is a matter of mutual benefit, and not simple robbery or piracy. What he recognized as fundamental to the success of business in general Mr. Cring applied throughout his experience as manager and head of the business colleges, and that policy is largely responsible for the success and growth of the Indiana Business College. The policy also explains the slogan of the college -- service. The finest enunciation of this word in a business motto is the motto of
the Rotarian that "he profits most who serves best," and it is the spirit of that motto Mr. Cring constantly endeavors to interpret through the schools.
While those acquainted with the schools, their work and their organic management, claim they constitute one of the remark- able achievements in specialized training, there is a natural modesty on the part of Mr. Cring that disposes him to share the credit with his associates and assistants. He would say that he has been fortunate, others would say that he has been wise and discriminating, in selecting the men and women to work with him in order to give the best of training to the thousands of pupils who attend and have attended this system of schools. In the fifteen years of the growth and development of the Indiana Business College there has come about a thorough, smooth working, result produc- ing organization, with a policy evolved and improved by the combined thought and ex- perience of a number of men who have made this special field of education their particular study for years. The Indiana Business College is so organized that noth- ing but the highest and most efficient serv- ice results.
JAMES H. KROH. It was the generally felt and expressed sentiment of the people of Indianapolis at the time of the death of James H. Kroh on June 1, 1917, that a man had been removed from scenes of ac- tivities from which he could be ill spared and that at the age of fifty-eight, despite all the achievements to his credit, his life had not been rounded out with the useful- ness and service which the people had come to expect from him and upon which the community as a whole had depended as one of the forces in general improvement and betterment.
His place in the community was well de- scribed in the columns of the Indianapolis News, which said : "Perhaps no one in In- dianapolis took a deeper interest in the de- velopment of the city than Mr. Kroh. His retiring disposition kept him out of public view, but those who have had much to do with the awakened civic interest in Indian- apolis knew and estimated Mr. Kroh at his true worth. Along with a fine spirit of altruism he did much charitable work in a quiet way. During the flood of 1913 he was deeply moved by the suffering of the
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people on the west side. For days his auto- mobile was at the disposal of the authori- ties, and he contributed money and food and clothing to the relief of the unfortu- nate. While in West Indianapolis his at- tention was called to the destruction of the homes of two widows. Mr. Kroh engaged a force of men, placed the houses back on the foundations, removed the debris, then papered and painted the houses at his own expense."
All of this was in keeping with the char- acter and ideals of the man. While his years were spent in diligent and successful occupation with business, his business af- fairs were always conducted with a disin- terestedness which made of them a sort of public and community service.
James H. Kroh was born in Wabash County, Illinois, December 7, 1859. His parents were Harrington Tice and Chris- tiana (Harrington) Kroh, the former a na- tive of Berkeley County, Virginia, and the latter of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The Kroh family was of Holland Dutch descent, and some of the name were well known in the early history of Virginia. Harrington Tice Kroh was an old school medical prac- titioner in Pennsylvania and in Illinois. He was one of those hard working doctors who rode night and day in answer to calls of distress, and it was doubtless from him that James H. Kroh learned the spirit of disinterested service early in life.
A common school education in his na- tive county was supplemented by a course at Lebanon, Ohio, and after leaving school James H. Kroh taught in country districts. He finally entered the employ of the Me- Cormick, now the International Harvester, Company, and was general agent for this company at Evansville, Indiana, Cham- paign, Illinois, Indianapolis, and Omaha. In 1904 he returned to Indianapolis, and entered actively into the real estate busi- ness. He was associated with the old firm of J. B. Heywood and H. C. Kellogg. Upon the death of Mr. Heywood and the retirement of Mr. Kellogg Mr. Kroh con- dueted the business alone.
In the real estate field much emphasis and stress should be placed upon the work which he did in developing that portion of Indianapolis, Fall Creek. A tract of land that was little better than a waste was re- claimed and set in motion plans of improve- ment which have radically changed condi-
tions and made that one of the most prom- ising sections of Indianapolis. Mr. Kroh should also be remembered as a factor in the park development of Indianapolis, and he gave steadily the strength of his influ- ence to creating a system of parks and playgrounds that would be consistent with the population and the dignity of Indian- apolis as one of the largest cities of the Middle West.
While not a member of any church, Mr. Kroh was liberal of time and means to charity and other worthy enterprises. He was a member of the Chamber of Com- merce, the Real Estate Board, and was a Knight Templar Mason and cast his polit- ical vote independently, though usually with republican tendencies.
December 17, 1895, he married Miss Cora E. Phelps, daughter of Davis H. and Lydia (Hodson) Phelps. Her parents were both natives of Henry County, Indiana, where her father was prominent as a stock man. Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Kroh, Evangeline and Ruth, the latter now deceased. Mrs. Kroh and her daughter re- side at 2022 North Meridian Street.
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