USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Holyoke > Holyoke daily transcript > Part 24
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24
GEORGE W. PRENTISS
SPRINGFIELD PROVISION COMPANY
Passers through Brightwood, by train ar trolley, have often noted a group of brick build ings bearing the name of the Springfield Provision Company, and perhaps idly wondered what sort of provisions were therein made. Few people probably know that outside of Boston this is the largest packing honse in New England, and that 4,000 hogs a week are slaughtered and prepared for cating in one form or another of the many varieties of food that the great American pig allows. In this group of buildings are ucarly five acres of floor space, three hundred men are employed the year around, and in the sausage room alone, one hundred and twenty-five thousand pounds of sansages are prepared every week.
The Brightwood plant was not built until 1889, and originally was very much smaller than the present group of buildings. When the company was first organized, William Nash. of Holyoke, was elected president : C. D. Holbrook, vice-president; E. C. Swift of Boston. treasurer, and Justin B. Perkins of Holyoke, general manager. At this time such a thing as a governnient inspection was unknown, and packing houses in general were in the early. stages of their development. The saving of the by-products, such as hair and blood and re- fuse parts, which is carried to the minntest detail at the present time, had not been fully developed. During the past five years, however, not only has the utilization of every part of the pig, except the squeal, been brought about, but great advances have been made for better sanitation and separation of edible food products from the non-edible throughout the entire process of converting the pig to toothsome hams, bacon, spareribs and the like.
The plant of the Springfield Provision Company is a model of its kind, and more than fully meets the utmost requirements of the government rules and the directions of its inspec- tors. The entire system of refrigeration has lately been overhauled and special attention is given to the chilling of the hogs direct from the slaughter house. A brick smoke house. forty-five by forty-seven fect, built of steel and concrete, has the capacity of one hundred and thirty-five tons of smoked meats per week. The meats are hung on trolleys in the curing department, run on tracks to the smoke house and, after going through the smoking process, are ready to be packed. This eliminates the handling of meats by hand. Hickory wood is used exclusively in smoking products
The sausage room is also equipped with trufless, and its products are handled in a similar manner. This room is finished in white enamel, has asphalt floors, marble tables; in fact in .ill parts of the work, the meats do not come in contact with wood, but on either chamel or iron tables, from the killing department to the packing room. The work of hog killing is under the constant supervision of two United States inspectors. Every one of the hogs is inspected by both these men, both before and after they are killed. If any animal shows any sign of disease, it is tagged, and goes into a separate inspection room, adjacent to the killing floor, where # is subject to a further examination. If found to be diseased it is dropped directly into a rendering tank, located on the floor below. This tank is closed and sealed by the inspector, after which the contents are cooked for a number of hours under forty pounds steam pressure. The products of the tank are used as fertilizer and non-edible grease. A new hog yard has recently been built at a cost of thirty thousand dollars, of steel and con- crete construction. The floors are of vitrified brick. It has a capacity of two thousand hogs.
An idea of the thorough cleanliness of the operations is gained by the fact that their turnping station: cost ten thousand dollars alone, and pumps on the average a million gallons of water a day, which is used for cleaning and condensing purposes. The payroll of the plant is not far from two hundred thousand dollars a year.
The plant is open for inspection at any time. About everything needed in the oper- ation of the plant is made on the premises. The company has its own storage vaults, with the capacity for storing three million pounds of meats; its own repair and machine shop : its own pipe shop, etc. It stables fourteen horses, and has its own fire system with fire drills twice a month. Of the three hundred men employed, about a hundred are in the killing de- partment, seventy-five in the cutting department, and seventy in the sausage department. The company buys all the local hogs it can get hold of. but this is wholly insufficient for its necds. and a large number are bought in Chicago every weck. The officials of the company are : President, Edward F. Swift of Chicago; treasurer and general manager. F. A Reed of Springfield : superintendent of the plant. L. W. Hooker of Springfield.
PARSONS PAPER COMPANY
This company enjoys the distinction of being the old- est in the city: it was established here in the year 1853. and through all these years it has been steadily increasing its facilities and widening the circle of its operations. Quality has beenzalways the first consideration with the management, aud their products stand today with no su- periors in the world, mamifactured of the best material procurable, under ideal conditions of equipment and man- agement and of uniform, dependable quality. They have the largest and best equipped paper mill in the world devoted entirely to the manufacture of ledgers, bonds, and linen papers. Flere is made the famous Scotch Linen Ledger paper, which is the result of years of study and experi- mentation, and is one of the leading and first-class ledger papers in the world. In addition to this well-known line they also manufacture Parsons Linen, Parsons Defendum Linen Ledger, Old Hampden Bond, and Parsons Parch- inent Bristol. "Quality rather than quantity" has always been the motto of this company, and a strict adlierence 10 this principle has made their product the standard of merit in paper manufacturing.
-0-
WILLIAM B. WHITING COAL COMPANY.
This company is located at No. 458 Dwight street, and does a very extensive business, which has been gradually built up by attention to modern business methods and the policy of selling as good coal as it is possible to get, which principles have been carefully adhered to since the incep- tion of the business, in the year 1870. This company handles the best grades of coal, both anthracite and bitumi- nous, and makes a specialty of superior cannel coal. Heav- ily stocked with Lehigh, Lackawanna and Cumberland coals, no coal pockets in the city afford a more satisfactory supply. For domestic uses, all coal is carefully screened, thus insuring coal, and that's all, when delivered to the consumer.
THE CROCKER-MCELWAIN COMPANY
Although this concern is a comparatively recent adeli tion to Holyoke's papermaking circles. it has built up a fine reputation for itself. and an active patronage through- out our own and many foreign lands. It has also aided materially in spreading abroad the name and fame of the "Paper City." The fortunes of the company are in the hands of two very able and progressive business men Clifton A. Crocker is president and treasurer, and R Franklin McElwain is vice-president and assistant treas- urer. They are both practical and experienced men in the
business, having been formerly connected with the Crocker Manufacturing Company. The company was in- corporated under state laws in 1904, and has a capital stock of $600,000. Their mills, on the site of the Cabot street mill, formerly owned by the Holyoke Water Power Company, are equipped with the latest and best inventions in papermaking machinery, and an inspection of them is almost like a visit to wonderland. About three hundred skilled operatives are employed. They make finte bond papers, ledgers, card indexed and papeterie papers, and the position which these products occupy in the industrial and commercial world today is evidence of the ability and in- tegrity of the men at the head of the concern
CASPER RANGER, INC.
Casper Ranger, Inc., dealers in lumber and builders' specialties, are located at the corner of Appleton and Bond streets. The proprietor of this extensive business is one of the best-known business men in the city, and we may add in all New England as well, for his trade extends through- out this section, and his prominence in all mercantile affairs has caused him to become favorably known by reputation to many with whom he has never had personal dealings. He has been established here for the past thirty-five years, and the plant at the corner of Appleton and Bond streets is one of the most up-to-date in equipment in New Eng- land. The plant covers in all about ten acres, consisting of yards. planing mill, and other buildings. A specialty is made of fine high grade woodwork of all kinds in addition to which a general line of lumber of all kinds is carried. One hundred and sixty-five men are employed in the mill. yards and offices.
The Casper Ranger Construction Company is a sep- arate organization though housed in the same offices, and does a big business in crection of all kinds of huildings. from a modest garage to factory building, employing huu- dreds of people. Over 600 men are employed by this com- pany, and their reputation for thoroughly reliable, modern construction is unexcelled.
HOLYOKE BELTING COMPANY
llolyoke has often been spoken of by the unthinking as a "one industry" town, referring to the paper industry. But this is not true, for Holyoke has a great variety of large and small factories and mills employing from one hundred to several thousand hands. The Holyoke Belting Company was established in the year 1808, and is one of the city's oldest and most firnily established concerns. They make oak tanned leather beltmg. submarine waterproof belting, and rould belting, lace leather and supplies ; they make a specialty of their waterproof belting product of
considerable importance. The firm has extensive patronage through the country, furnishing the mills with their supplies in these lines. The officials of the company are as follows : President, Theodore W. Kirkland; vice-president, John W. Buckley; treasurer, Harry D. Hanks; secretary, Oren B Smith : superintendent, Charles F. Smith
-0-
KLY LUMBER COMPANY
The success of every industrial undertaking depends largely upon the experience and executive ability of the men composing its management. For this reason the Ely Lumber Company possess advantages not often found in similar organizations. The business was started in this city about thirty years ago under the title of Watson Ely & Son. It became incorporated under the present name in 1898, with a capital of $40,000, and the following officers: President, Franklin W. Ely: treasurer, George S. Lewis; secretary and manager, L. A. Williston. The location of their plant is an ideal one for the business in hand; they have a railroad frontage for the whole length on one side and one of the principal commercial streets of the city on the other. The plant covers about 80,000 square feet of space, and has an up-to-date equipment in the latest ma- chinery and labor saving devices.
CITY NATIONAL BANK 0
The City National Bank of Holyoke, Mass., was in- corporated in 1879 with a capital of $200,000. In 1888 ít was reorganized and the capitalization increased to $500,- 100. Today it is recognized as among the strongest finan- cial institutions in Western New England. ably officered, ably directed, and carrying the necounts of many of the leading manufacturers, merchants, and small depositors of Holyoke and vicinity.
Centrally situated in the busiest section ut Holyoke, Is specially designed new fireproof building at the corner uf Hight and Appleton streets offers every facility and safe- guard for the prompt and convenient transaction of all forins of banking and financial husiness. Its accommoda- tions and equipment are modern in every respect, and equal to those of any metropolitan bank Its resources are large : its organization thorough
Thirty-two years of steady growth and safe and sane management have strongly entrenched it in public favor. proving beyond cavil the confidence which only conserva- tive direction creates, Its record of prosperity in the past augurs well for even greater successes in the future And the service which it has always afforded to patrons will ever continue to be maintained as one of the important reasons for its existence.
With the Compliments of the
HOLYOKE WATER POWER COMPANY
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.