USA > Indiana > Allen County > Fort Wayne > Valley of the upper Maumee River, with historical account of Allen County and the city of Fort Wayne, Indiana, Volume II > Part 10
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Fred N. Kollock, a popular citizen of Fort Wayne, is prominent in railroad circles as agent of the Union line at Fort Wayne, and traveling agent for the Pennsylvania railroad company, and the C., St. L. & P. railroad. Mr. Kollock was born at Burlington, N. J., April 27, 1845, and two years later was taken by his parents to Philadelphia, where he grew to the age of sixteen years. In August,
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1862, determined to enlist in the army, he attained his purpose by leav- ing home secretly, and joining company B, Twenty-ninth regiment, Pennsylvania infantry. He was with the 'Twelfth army corps in the army of the Potomac, participating in the battles of Antietam, Chancell- orsville and Gettysburg, and was then with the Twentieth corps under Gen. Joe Hooker, at the battle of Mission Ridge and Lookout Mountain, and Atlanta, and in Sherman's campaign through Georgia. After nearly three year's service he was mustered out as sergeant in July, 1865. Two older brothers were in the service, one as assistant surgeon in the navy, and the other as surgeon of the One Hundred and Eighteenth Pennsylvania. In 1865, Mr. Kollock went to Milwaukee, and was connected with the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railroad until 1873, when he engaged in the oil busines in the same city. He returned to the service of the railroad company in 1875, and remained with them until 1880, when in December, he came to Fort Wayne to accept the position of soliciting agent of the Union line. In 1885 he was promoted agent. Mr. Kollock is at present junior vice- commander of Antony Wayne post, No. 271, G. A. R., and chancellor commander of Phoenix lodge, No. 101, K. of P .; of the uniform rank of the later fraternity he is an enthusiastic champion, and on June 4, 1884, he was elected colonel of the Second regiment, Indiana brigade, for a term of four years. Mr. Kollock was married January 13, 1870, to Mary A. Green, of Philadelphia, and they have three children: John K., born November 3, 1871, a graduate of Fort Wayne college, 1886, and now a member of the class of 92, Amherst college; Fred N., Jr., born October 25, 1876, and Lester R., born January 9, 1882.
One of the early manufacturers at the city of Fort Wayne was D. S. Beaver, born in Franklin county, Pa., May 3, 1820, who came to this city in 1839, and took a position in the mill of Samuel Freeman, and made his home with that gentleman. He was foreman for six years, and in 1845 rented the mill, and subsequently purchased the property which he operated until 1876. He then sold out, and had charge of the Fort Wayne ·poultry yards until his death, December 9, 1888. He was married at Mexico, Oswego county, N. Y., to Sarah J. Lamb, who died April 3, 1849, leaving one child, Charles B. Beaver, born February 17, 1848, now a prominent citizen of Fort Wayne. October 17, 1850, he again married, to Mrs. A. M. Nichols, of Brockport, N. Y., who died October 16, 1851. His third, marriage was to Mrs. Agnes E. Hamil- ton, at West Stockbridge, Mass., April 3, 1854. She died March 20, 1877, leaving two children: Edwin L., born October 6, 1855, and Minnie A., born August 8, 1863. Another child, Frank M., died in 1876. Mr. Beaver united with the Presbyterian church in 1845, was made an elder in 1853, and held that office until death. Charles B. Beaver was engaged with his father until his twenty-first year, when he began an engagement of eighteen months as clerk for a wholesale house in Fort Wayne. After a year spent in railroading, he entered the service of the United States Express company, and has risen through the various
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positions of driver of a wagon, manager of the business at the depot, messenger between Fort Wayne and Cincinnati, to agent at Fort Wayne, to which responsible position he was appointed July 28, 1880. He has also been agent of the Pacific Express company since it came into the city about 1878. Mr. Beaver is a member of the Presbyterian church. He was married February 17, 1869, to Mary A. Markley, of this city, born in February 27, 1847, and they have had six children, of whom the following are living: Minnie May, Hugh M., Harry C. and Frank M.
The agency of the Adams express company at Fort Wayne is in the hands of Charles O. Essig, a competent and popular young business man. Mr. Essig was born in Williamsport, Allen county, Ind., October 15, 1859, the son of Adam P. Essig, one of the worthy early settlers, who came to this county about 1840, and purchasing land, was occupied in farming until 1871, when he removed to Fort Wayne. He now resides in the city. For ten years after coming here he was in the hotel business. His wife's maiden name was Susannah Mahnensmith. Their son Charles was reared in the city and educated at both the public schools and at the Brothers' schools. In 1878 he became a clerk in the office of the city treasurer, and remained in that position until 1881, after which he was engaged for eight months as general clerk for tracklayers of a railroad. He entered the employment of the Adams express com- pany at Fort Wayne, February 23, 1882, with general duties. In July, 1883, he was promoted to bill clerk, in December, 1887, made acting agent, and in June, 1888, was appointed agent and manager. During this period he also had charge of the business of the American express company which was with the Adams. Mr. Essig is a member of the National Union, and is secretary of the local lodge. He is also a mem- ber of the First Baptist church, of which he was treasurer for some time. He was married June 16, 1886, to Ella Brooks, of the city.
MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES.
From its situation as an inland city, Fort Wayne is dependent to an unusual degree for its prosperity upon the extent of its manufactories. Fortunately its location on the the great avenues of travel between New York and the great cities of the west, has made its shipping facilities of inestimable value, has cheapened its freight rates, and made travel to the great commercial centers easy and pleasurable. More than this its location has been fortunate in being in the center of the great hard wood timber district, which Lieut. Maury once aptly described as the "Steppes of America."
Fort Wayne has never felt the injurious effects of a boom, but has made such regular and substantial additions to its wealth, year by year, which few American cities can boast of. In 1828 the population was but 500; in 1840, 1,200; in 1860, 10,319; in 1880, 25,700; and in 1889, a population of over 75,000 people is shown by the canvass of R. L.
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Polk & Co., publishers of the new directory. Eight hundred dwelling houses will be erected this year, and architects estimate that $3,000,000 will not cover the building contracts. So great has been the demand for brick that the yards have been taxed to their utmost capacity, and many thousands have been shipped in from other places.
These observations are preliminary to a sketch of the manufacturing industries of this city. Some of them, it will be noted, are of surprising extent, wide-spread reputation and of financial solidity equal to any in the land.
Let us begin with the great shops of the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago railway company, of which the Pennsylvania company is the lessee. Over 1, 100 names are now on the labor rolls, and the company paymaster makes a monthly disbursement in Fort Wayne of over $100,- 000 per month. Considerably more than half of this great volume of money is charged to the account of the shops proper, and the salaries of the superintendent and other officials is not included. The 1,100 em- ployes referred to, it should be understood, include the men who work in the yards, but not the engineers, firemen, conductors, brakemen, switchmen, sectionmen, freight handlers and clerks in all departments who constitute a distinct regiment of their own.
In order that the magnitude of the company's plant may be better understood the following figures, representing the ground plan areas of buildings, furnished to the writer by superintendent of motive power and machinery, F. D. Cassanave, are here presented: Station and hotel, two stories, 230x35; freight house, 300x35; office building, 55x55; brass foundry, 60x25; machine shops, 320XIIO; boiler shops, 145x70; engine or round-house with stalls, 39; blacksmith shops, 320x80; plan- ing-mill, 217x75, with two wings, each 187x63; oil house, 35x22.
These great buildings cover a space of four blocks from west to east and two blocks from north to south, nearly every foot of space being made available. They are not, however, the whole of the company's shop plant. Vast as is their extent, splendid as is their equipment, and although the army of men work ten hours a day and often a night force labors until morning, there was a demand for additional manufacturing facilities that must be met with enlarged accommodations. Accordingly, just beyond the eastern limits of the city the company, two years ago, laid out a magnificent yard with ten miles of side track and there erected a vast car shop, built in the segment of a circle, like a big round-house, for the storage of locomotives. This structure has seventeen stalls, reached from a turn table and each capable of holding two freight cars, when in process of construction. When this shop shall have been com- pleted the turn table will be in the center of a mammoth car establish- ment containing forty stalls and capable of holding eighty cars. The surprising growth of the business of the company promises to make the completion of this great shop necessary within the near future. A large planing-mill is another of the improvements at the east yards. The old and new shops of the Pennsylvania company at Fort Wayne cover a
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tract of fifty acres. In them will be built this year forty new locomotives of the Class S, or Big Mogul pattern, each capable of drawing forty loaded freight cars at a speed of eighteen miles an hour. Two thousand dairy, refrigerator, box and gondola cars will be turned out, besides an immense amount of repair work to the rolling stock of the entire west- ern division of 279 miles. The performances of the passenger engines manufactured at these shops have so often been referred to in the public press that it were idle to state more here than that they have made the very best of records for speed, power and economy in the use of coal. Not unfrequently the limited express, or vestibule train, as it is variously called, is carried over the western division at an average rate of speed of fifty miles an hour, the train attaining, where there are few railway crossings to stop at, the surprising velocity of seventy miles an hour. Exact records of these performances are kept by the company which claims with its well-constructed track, its perfect system of train dis- patching, its unexcelled motive power and equipment to be able to run its trains faster and with less risk to life and property than is done on any road in the country. Mr. G. L. Potter is the general superintendent . of the shops, and his corps of assistants are all men of many years' faith- ful and intelligent service.
The main car shops of the Wabash road are at Toledo, Ohio, and at Springfield, Ills., but the principal erecting shops of the eastern di- vision of the main line, extending from Toledo, Ohio, to Danville, Ills., are located at Fort Wayne. and here, until recently, J. B. Barnes, the superintendent of the motive power and machinery, had his headquar- ters. The building, rebuilding and repair of all the locomotives is done at the Fort Wayne shops. This work is under the supervision of master mechanic, Frank Morse, and Frank Tyrrell, general foreman. The dismemberment of the Wabash property by Judge Gresham's famous decree has had the effect of removing the mechanical work on what were the Peru branch and the Eel River branch and of reducing the number of men on the company's labor rolls at this point. How- ever, 225 men are yet given employment and for their benefit and the benefit of the train men, freight house men and others, the company's paymaster makes a monthly disbursement of $20,000. The Wabash plant at Fort Wayne consists, in buildings, of two round-houses of forty stalls capacity, an erecting shop 100x160 feet, fully equipped with the latest and best machinery, a blacksmish shop 40x160 feet, a wood shop 30x200 feet, a paint shop 30x100 feet, a tin and coppersmith shop 30x40 feet, an oil house 20x30 feet, besides a large freight house, passenger depot, coal sheds, and other smaller structures. The number of loco- motives turned out every month, either new or generally overhauled, will average fourteen.
The Fort Wayne, Cincinnati & Louisville railway, the "Muncie " route, has never been as prosperous as some of the east and west trunk lines, and although its management has been generally wise and eco- nomical, it has never been able to erect extensive shops anywhere. How-
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ever, the headquarters for the mechanical department are in Fort Wayne. The principal shop is a large brick structure excellently equipped and carefully managed by master mechanic, Theodore Habenkorn. Fifty skilled men are employed under his direction. The business on the "Muncie" has of late years had a most satisfactory increase, and $4,000 is a fair estimate of the disbursements for all kinds of labor the company makes at Fort Wayne.
The Lake Shore railway, which reaches this city from the north is a branch of the main line leading from Auburn Junction, has no shops at Fort Wayne, although the liberal grant of land made to the com- pany's predecessor, the Fort Wayne, Jackson & Saginaw railway was predicted upon their establishment here.
The Nickel Plate makes Fort Wayne a division point for engine and freight service, and has at Fort Wayne a round-house and repair shop, but the disposition of the management is toward increasing this little beginning, it being well understood that the location of the principal shop plant at Fort Wayne would be most advantageous.
First among the private enterprises that give solidity to the city may be mentioned the Bass foundry and machine works, an establishment so vast as to easily rival the mammoth shops operated by the Pennsylvania company.
It is no easy matter to comprehend, let alone describe, an industry which covers twenty acres, gives employment to 1,100 men and dis- burses $35,000 per month in wages, besides paying out many times that amount for the pig iron which goes into the blazing cupolas, and for the other material which make up the varied output of this mammoth hive of industry. The manufactured product finds its way either as station- ary engines, machinery, saw-mills, etc., to every city in the land, and on nearly all the trunk lines the car wheels used will be found, upon inspec- tion, to be marked with the name of this great corporation. It is a fact, beyond any dispute, that at Fort Wayne, Ind., more car wheels are cast than in any city in the world.
The Bass works were established in 1853, and the company was in- corporated twenty years later. The president and principal owner is John H. Bass, the secretary, John I. White, and the treasurer, Robert- son J. Fisher. Mr. Bass is president of the First National bank, is an officer in two other national banks, is president of the Star Iron Tower company, of the street railway company, and is identified with many other industries besides. His wealth is estimated at nearly $4,000,000. He is still in the prime of life and the great institution which his energy has built up is ever expanding. Many of the employes have been twenty-five years in his service, and of them, it may generally be said, that there are but few traveling journeymen and that nearly all are of the better class of thrifty American mechanics, who strive to save from their earnings enough to provide well for their families, to educate their children to traits of industries and frugality, to own a comfortable home and to secure themselves from want in their old age. In the thirty-six
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· years of operation the establishment has never known a strike or even any serious labor trouble. This results from the remarkable degree of confidence existing between the corporation and its employes. Large branches of this establishment are those of the St. Louis Car Wheel company and of J. H. Bass, Chicago.
Everywhere in America where vehicle wheels are bought and sold, the name of H. G. Olds, of Fort Wayne, Ind., is a familiar one, for he is president of a corporation which manufactures more wheels for wagons, carriages and other vehicles than any other. The record shows that in this business as in the business of manufacturing car wheels, a Fort Wayne manufactory excels all others in the extent of its outputs. Think of 90,000 sets of wheels made and shipped in the last twelve months! It would seem that hereafter not only the rich can ride in chaises, but the poor will not always be compelled to walk. Upward of 7,000,000 spokes will be manufactured this year, 1,500,000 strips for felloes will be used, and about 500,000 hub blocks. Vast amounts of timber are annually unloaded from wagon at the works, besides over 2,500 cars, each with an average load of 30,000 pounds. The works are located at the south- east corner of Lafayette street and the Wabash railway, and cover five acres of ground. In the various departments nearly 500 men and boys are employed, and over $16,000 a month is disbursed in wages. The concern retains the name under which business was conducted in the lifetime of Noble G. Olds, and is called N. G. Olds & Sons.
The marvel of the manufacturing establishments in Fort Wayne is that of the Fort Wayne Jenney Electric Light company, its wonderful growth emphasizing the prediction that the electric spark with the vaporized drop of water would revolutionize the world. The company was incorporated in 1881, with a capital stock of $100,000. The five original incorporators were O. A. Simons, now deceased, J. H. Bass, H. G. Olds, P. A. Randall and R. T. McDonald. The business started in a small way in two rooms, in one of the buildings connected with the Fort Wayne Iron Works, on Superior street, and was afterward removed to Mr. Randall's building on East Columbia street. The patents used were at first chiefly those of James A. Jenney, and his son Charles D. Jenney. Mr. McDonald was elected general manager, and he soon began to attract for the new company and its light a reputation that was as surprising as it was gratifying to his friends. In 1887, the capital stock was increased to $500,000, the company by that time had occupied new and enlarged shops at the intersection of Broadway and the P., Ft. W. & C., railway track, gave employment to 500 people, and had won a famous lawsuit in which the Alder Brush company of Cleve- land, had sought to cripple the company by suing an Indianapolis firm, which used the Jenney light, for damages for infringement. About this time general manager McDonald secured the services of the distinguished electrician, M. M M. Slattery, whose ingenius system of producing light by alternating currents of electricity has revolutionized the business of electrical illumination. The works were burned down on the night
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of November 23, IS88, and have since then been rebuilt on a scale of double the size of the destroyed buildings. The majority of the stock has lately passed into the hands of a Boston syndicate, which controls the Thomas-Houston company. Mr. J. H. Bass predicts that within a few years the shops of the Fort Wayne Jenney Electric Light company, will exceed the Bass foundry and machine works in extent. The Jenney light illuminates a large portion of New York city, and is found in nearly every city in the land and on every navigable lake and river.
The Olds wagon works were established with a capital stock of $200,000, and its plant, including a four-story brick building, 60x412 feet, with a blacksmith shop 75x150 feet, occupies an entire square, in which are extensive drying houses, side-tracks, etc. Its wagons are turned out at the rate of forty and fifty a day and are sold all over America. The company employs 200 men and has a monthly pay roll ot $10,000.
The Kerr Murray Manufacturing company is engaged in building gas apparatus and has put up some of the largest works in the country. The business was established in 1862, the general foundry and machine business being then the principal feature. Mr. Murray had scarce begun the building of gas works when he died and the business has since been prosecuted with wonderful success by a stock company of which his son-in-law, Mr. A. D. Cressler, is president and manager. Large buildings have been erected and are splendidly equipped. The capital stock is $100,000.
Among the gentlemen to newly enter the manufacturing business.in Fort Wayne are the Messrs. D. N. and S. M. Foster. The former is at the head of the Fort Wayne Furniture company, whose large works lie at the north end of Lafayette street, to the north of the Nickel Plate track. Two hundred men are employed chiefly in the manufacturing of a patent folding bed, the most valuable and salable in the market. The establishment has been doubled in capacity in the single year of its existence and further large additions must soon be made.
Mr. S. M. Foster is the proprietor of an institution that gives steady employment to over 300 operatives, mostly girls. The business is that of manufacturing shirt waists for children, an industry entirely new hereabouts. An immense building is occupied near the furniture company's establishment.
The Clark & Rhinesmith Lumber company is one of the solid and thrifty industries of Fort Wayne. Their extensive works are situated at the intersection of the Wabash track and Lafayette street, and employ 150 men. Here are manufactured the Anthony Wayne washing machines, which are sold all over the world. The principal products, however, are building materials of all kinds, such as doors, sash, blinds, etc.
The Fort Wayne Organ company is said to pay the handsomest dividends of any manufacturing investment in the city. The company now owns large shops on South Fairfield avenue, and sends around the
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Globe organs for the church, the concert hall and the parlor, of surpass- ing excellence for correctness of pitch, durability of workmanship, and beauty of design. Of late years an immense foreign trade has grown up.
Directly opposite the Fort Wayne Jenney Electric Light works is located the large establishment of Louis Rastetter. The business is the converting of ash timber into buggy bows and other articles of bent wood work, known to the trade. Many thousand dollars are paid to Mr. Rastetter annually by A. G. Spaulding & Bros., of Chicago, for racquet bats, base ball bats and other sporting goods. One hundred men are employed.
A particularly thrify industry is that of the Fleming Manufacturing company in the Ninth ward. The company owns valuable patents for the manufacture of road scrapers and leveling machines which are sold in great numbers from ocean to ocean. The buildings have 40,000 square feet of floorage. Mr. Charles Pfeiffer is the manager.
In the extreme west end of the city are located the works of the Horton Manufacturing company. The large buildings with the lumber yard cover over an acre of ground, and over 100 men are employed. Here are manufactured the Horton washing machine and four styles of corn planters. Mr. John C. Peters is the principal proprietor.
Near to the Horton works the Indiana machine works have built new and large buildings which are devoted to the manufacture of wood working machinery of various kinds, pulleys, etc. An immense business has been built up.
. One of the oldest and strongest of the wood manufacturing enter- prises in the city is that of the Peters Box and Lumber company, situ- ated in the Ninth ward. The company was founded by Mr. John C. Peters, and its principal industry was long the manufacture of boxes, but the concern is now chiefly occupied with the manufacture of furniture of a high grade, and competes successfully with the big institutions at Grand Rapids, Mich., and other furniture-making centers. Charles Pape, William Fleming and Wilson McQuiston are the proprietors. They have recently added the manufacture of wooden pulleys to their business.
In the extreme east end of the city Winch & Sons have established a hub factory, which gives employment to eighty men.
The White wheel works were organized in 1872. The business is now owned by Capt. James B. White, ex-member of congress, and his son, John W. White. ` The latter has the management and gives to it his entire time and attention. The works have a paid up capital of $100,000, and the value of the annual output is $150,000. One hundred and thirty hands are employed the year round and the pay roll is $4,000 per month. Fifty thousand dollars is annually expended for material, and nearly all of this large sum is distributed in the near vicinity of Fort Wayne, to find its way again in the local channels of trade.
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