USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > Compendium of history and biography of the city of Detroit and Wayne County, Michigan > Part 25
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As one of the substantial, popular and ably conducted financial institutions of Wayne county this bank is entitled to definite consid- eration, and it affords to the city of Wyandotte facilities which are greatly appreciated.
The Wyandotte Savings Bank was organ- ized in 1871, on the IIth of November of which year it was incorporated under the laws of the state, with a capital of fifty thousand dollars. The enterprise was promoted by John S. Van Alstyne, who has been president of the bank from its inception and who is one of the most honored pioneers and influential
citizens of Wyandotte. He secured the sup- port of Frederick B. Sibley, George Hendrie, and William H. Zabriskie, all of Detroit, and these gentlemen were associated with him in the organization of the new institution. Other prominent men who were represented on the first board of directors were Dr. Edmond P. Christian, of Wyandotte; Samuel L. Potter, manager of the Rolling Mill Company; Oscar T. Brinton, manager of the blast furnace of the same company; and Simon Mandelbaum, of Detroit, well known in connection with the or- ganization of the famous Calumet & Hecla Company, which controls the greatest of the copper mines of the northern peninsula of Michigan. Frederick B. Sibley was vice-presi- dent of the bank from the beginning until his death, in 1907, and since that time George Hendrie has held this office. William Van Miller was the first cashier and held this office until 1897, when he was succeeded by the present incumbent, Frederick E. Van Alstyne, a son of the president of the institution. The bank has been conducted according to con- servative methods, has secured the financial co-operation of men of the highest standing in the business world, and has well merited the public confidence which it has ever enjoyed. The bank has at the present time in earned surplus and undivided profits a fund of forty- five thousand dollars.
THE DIME SAVINGS BANK.
Among the leading institutions of Detroit and the state this bank holds a position of no little relative priority and popularity, and in its operations it is fortified by the support of representative capitalists and business men as officers and stockholders and by the impreg- nable strength of management and control.
The Dime Savings Bank of Detroit was or- ganized in the year 1884, with a capital of sixty thousand dollars, and it initiated business on May Ist of that year. The personnel of its first board of directors was as follows: A. M. Henry, S. M. Cutcheon, J. E. Scripps, William Livingstone, Jr., J. L. Hudson, William Hull, R. J. F. Roehm, E. W. Voigt, and C. A. War-
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ren. The first officers of the new institution were as follows: Sullivan M. Cutcheon, presi- dent; James E. Scripps, vice-president; and Frederick Woolfenden, cashier. A. M. Henry served as president from May 1, 1884, until May 24, 1884.
The year following the opening of the bank its capital stock was increased to one hundred thousand dollars, and in 1887 a further in- crease was made, to the amount of two hundred thousand dollars. At the present time the capital stock, paid in, is five hundred thou- sand dollars. Upon the death of Mr. Woolf- enden, in 1891, Charles A. Warren, one of the original directors and for many years city pas- senger and ticket agent of the Michigan Cen- tral Railroad, became cashier, an office of which he has since remained incumbent.
On the 18th of April, 1900, S. M. Cutcheon, who had for six years been the able and hon- ored executive head of the bank, was called from the scene of life's activities, after a career of signal usefulness and inviolable integrity. To his conservative management and financial acumen and to his devotion to the advancement and stability of the bank's interests its growth was in a large measure due. He was succeeded in the presidency by William Livingstone, who is one of the best known of the representative business men of Detroit, where his interests are wide and varied, and who has well upheld the prestige of the institution through his wise and careful policy and broad grasp of affairs. He is extensively interested in lake shipping and general marine affairs, is president of the Lake Carriers' Association and the Michigan Navi- gation Company. He is ex-president of the Detroit Board of Trade, ex-collector of the port of Detroit, and ex-president of the Detroit park and boulevard commission. He is a prominent and valued member of St. Andrew's Society and the Fellowcraft Club, of each of which he has served as president, and is ex- vice-president of the American Bankers' As- sociation and ex-president of the Michigan State Bankers' Association. For many years he was publisher of the Detroit Journal, which has long been recognized as one of the leading daily newspapers of the central states. The vice-presidents are George H. Barbour and Joseph L. Hudson. Mr. Barbour is vice-
president and general manager of the Michigan Stove Company, one of the largest concerns of the kind in the world, and is ex-president of the Manufacturers' Association of the United States. Mr. Hudson has long been known as one of the merchant princes of the state, being president of the J. L. Hudson Company, of Detroit. The other executive officers are : Charles A. Warren, cashier ; L. C. Sherwood, David S. Carnegie and Charlton E. Partridge, assistant cashiers ; and George T. Breen, audi- tor. The full personnel of the directorate is as follows: William Livingstone, George H. Barbour, Joseph L. Hudson, James B. McKay, Bethune Duffield, Marshall H. Godfrey, Au- gustus C. Stellwagen, Silas P. Hovey, Aaron A. Parker, John. Pridgeon, Jr., James E. Dana-
This bank was founded primarily for the purpose of attracting small depositors, and her, and Charles A. Warren.
under the capable management of its officers and directors it has overtaken some of its older competitors, has built up a commercial busi- ness of large volume, and is one of the staunch financial institutions of the city of Detroit. According to its official statement of September 23, 1908, the bank has a surplus fund of $250,- 000; undivided profits, net, $36,675.10; com- mercial deposits, $1,565,030.43; and savings deposits, $3,433,272.86.
THE HOME SAVINGS BANK.
Distinctively unique in the history of the banking institutions of Detroit is that of the Home Savings Bank, whose record has been that of conservative and discriminating man- agement when operations were conducted upon a modest scale, while the same has held true in the amplification of the functions of the bank to so great an extent as to place it among the leading financial institutions of the state.
This bank was organized in December, 1888, its charter being granted on the IIth of that month. The bank was incorporated with a capital stock of two hundred thousand dollars, of which amount one hundred and twenty thousand dollars were paid in as the practical basis of operations. The institution initiated business in January, 1889, and its offices were at first located in the McGraw building. The
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prime object of the promoters and organizers was to build up a savings and commercial bank, without relying up the handling of accounts from country banks, whose exchange business entails much care and labor and offers little profit to the city institutions handling the same. The Home Savings Bank had its original stock well distributed in safe keeping, though its principal holders were not largely of the heaviest capitalistic class. It has been signally favored in having from the start to the present a chief executive who, though he had not had practical experience in banking, was well forti- fied for the duties of the presidency, as he had been a particularly successful business man, endowed with great pragmatic ability and ani- mated by that integrity and liberality which are so essential in the proper handling of the affairs of a bank. Of the honored president, James McGregor, individual mention is made elsewhere in this work, and to the article in question reference may be made for a succinct outline of his business career.
The first official report of the Home Sav- ings Bank was issued March 30, 1889, after it had been doing business about three months, and it is interesting, in view of its standing to- day, to revert to the fact that in this report its resources were shown to aggregate $274,- 871.71. In an appreciative article published in the Michigan Investor concerning this institu- tion, the following words are worthy of repro- duction and consequent perpetuation in this volume: "Its history has been closely associ- ated from the start with the most conservative business interests of the city and for more than the latter half of it with some of the most pow- erful. The influence of a single strong man, now, as from the start, its president, who did not intend to become a banker when the insti- tution was organized but who accepted its presidency because his friends rather forced him into it, is traceable the entire growth and policy of the institution."
In May, 1894, the bank removed from the McGraw building to its present attractive quar- ters in the building erected primarily for its accommodation, on the corner of Michigan avenue and Griswold street, opposite the city
hall, the building having been erected and fitted up by the president of the bank. At that time the offices were unexcelled by those of any other banking institution in the state, and they still remain of high comparative standard, not- withstanding the many fine buildings which have since been erected in Detroit with special provision for banking business. In the year of removal began the period of marked growth and expansion in the business of the Home Savings Bank. The present cashier, in June of that year, succeeded the original incumbent of the office, John S. Schmittdiel, and he had the distinction of being at the time the youngest bank cashier in Michigan, having been but twenty-five years of age at the time of his pro- motion to his responsible office but having lit- erally grown up in the banking business, in which he had developed distinctive executive power and a thorough comprehension of de- tails, so that he was well fortified for the du- ties devolving upon him. Ably seconding the policy of the president of the bank, he has done much to further the upbuilding of an institu- tion which now holds high rank among the banking concerns of the state of Michigan. He has been connected with the bank from the time of its organization, and he has won his advancement through the various grades to his present office, in which he has made a most admirable record.
The Home Savings Bank now conducts its business upon a capital stock, paid in, of four hundred thousand dollars, and it has a surplus fund of three hundred thousand dollars. From its statement of September 23, 1908, are de- rived the following significant items relative to its resources : Commercial deposits, $1,276,- 017.01 ; certificates of deposit, $23, 149.20; due to banks and bankers, $94,583.78; certified checks, $5,962.12; savings deposits, $4,133,- 150.02; savings certificates, $93,210.13; undi- vided profits, net, $50,108.55. In view of the significance of this record and the necessary limitations prescribed for this descriptive ar- ticle, it is needless to enter into farther details concerning the magnificent growth of this popular institution. Its functions as a savings bank are specially well ordered and beneficent.
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Its facilities in this department are in every way admirable, attracting a most desirable class of patrons.
The present officers of the Home Savings Bank are as follows: James McGregor, presi- dent; W. K. Anderson, vice-president ; Charles I. Farrell, vice-president; Julius H. Haass, cashier ; Edwin J. Eckert and Arthur E. Loch, assistant cashiers; William H. McClenahen, manager of the Michigan avenue branch; Henry A. Schulte, manager of the Gratiot ave- nue office; Alfred B. Tapert, manager of the Mount Elliott avenue branch; and U. Grant Race and Walter F. Haass, attorneys. The following named constitute the directorate of the bank : James McGregor, W. K. Anderson, Charles I. Farrell, Orla B. Taylor, Frederick Guenther, Ralph Phelps, Jr., George H. Clip- pert, Emory W. Clark, Leartus Connor, and Julius H. Haass. This bank was the pioneer in the establishing of branch offices to meet the legitimate demands of and furnish accommo- dations to the citizens of sections far removed from the central institution. The policy has proven a wise one in every respect and has been emulated by other leading banking houses of the city.
The bank makes loans on improved real es- tate in Detroit and Wayne county only. Loans are made of only small amounts,-to home builders, small manufacturers and merchants,- so that the loss of any loan or number of them could not affect the bank to any extent.
THE NATIONAL LOAN & INVESTMENT COMPANY.
For the exercising of two specific and im- portant functions was effected the organization of this company, which was incorporated under the laws of the state in November, 1889. Its primary objects have thus been succinctly stated: First, to assist those who desired to buy or build homes to pay off an indebtedness upon them by small monthly payments, cover- ing a period of years; and, second, to furnish a safe depository for the funds of its members having regular incomes from salaries, wages or any other source, and to enable them sys- tematically to lay aside a portion of their in-
come each month, to which reserve should be added a proportionate amount of the profits of the business until the deposits, together with the profits upon the same, had reached a cer- tain definite amount, when that amount would be paid to the investor in a lump sum.
The company has now been in operation for nearly a score of years, and within this time it has accomplished a most beneficent work. Through its instrumentality have been built and paid for more than eight thousand homes, and through its medium thousands of persons have been enabled to accumulate sums ranging from one hundred to several thousands of dollars. Its receipts and disbursements, based princi- pally upon small transactions in the lines men- tioned, have reached at the opening of the present year (1908) more than thirty millions of dollars,-a statement which bears its own imperial significance. The company has with- out exception promptly met every demand placed upon it and its present undivided profits are one hundred and thirty-two thousand dol- lars. From an article descriptive of this valued institution of Detroit and appearing in Wen- dell's history of banks and banking in Michi- gan, is made the following pertinent extract : "This company is prohibited by law from ac- cepting any commercial risks whatever or from making loans upon anything but its own stock up to ninety per cent. of its cash withdrawal value, and upon real estate worth not less than double the amount of the loan. One of the greatest and most beneficent functions exer- cised by the company is its demonstration of the value of monthly-payment system of dis- charging mortgages."
The National Loan & Investment Company now has well appointed and spacious offices at 204 Griswold street, and its business has from the start been of the most substantial order, based upon the supervision of men of ability and capital and upon conservative but distinctly progressive management. Its capital stock paid in is $2,553,803.50 and the present officers of the company are as here noted: James H. Tribou, president; Fred P. Todd, vice-presi- dent; Frank B. Leland, secretary; Laverne Bassett, assistant secretary; and Joseph B. Standart, treasurer.
LEADING Industrial and Commercial Institutions
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PARKE, DAVIS & COMPANY.
Of primary and most insistent relevancy to the industrial and general commercial history of the Michigan metropolis is the record of the splendid corporation whose title initiates this article. There can be no measure of incon- sistency in saying that of all the great con- cerns which have contributed to the commercial advancement and prestige of Detroit none other has been a factor of so distinct importance as has Parke, Davis & Company, whose establish- ment is the largest of the kind in the world, whose business ramifications have carried the name of Detroit into all quarters of the globe, and whose beneficent influence, by very rea- son of products sent forth, has transcended the bounds of mere commercialism and made for the wellbeing of humanity. This statement will readily be understood when recognition is had of the scope of the magnificent enterprise of the company,-manufacturers of pharmaceuti- cal products, new chemicals, digestive ferments, empty capsules and other gelatin products, pressed herbs, etc .; propagators of vaccines, serums, antitoxins and other biological prod- ucts; and importers of crude vegetable drugs, oils, etc., in original packages. The great main laboratories and general offices of the company are in Detroit, and the extent of the plant is in- dicated in the fact that six city blocks are owned and utilized by the company,-Atwater, Guoin and Wight streets, between Joseph Cam- pau avenue and Walker street. Branch labora- tories are maintained in Walkerville, Ontario, and London, England, and branch warehouses are to be found in New York city, Baltimore, New Orleans, Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City, Minneapolis, and Indianapolis, United States of America; and in the following named foreign cities: Montreal, Quebec; Sydney, Australia; Bombay, India; St. Peters- burg, Russia; Tokyo, Japan; and Buenos Ayres, Argentina. The capital stock of the corporation at the present time is eight million dollars, and the personnel of the official and executive corps is as here noted: Frank G. Ryan, president; David C. Whitney and Henry M. Campbell, vice-presidents; Ernest
G. Swift, secretary and general manager; and George Hargreaves, treasurer.
The history of the inception and develop- ment of every large industrial enterprise in- variably presents varied phases, each bearing its specific and analytical interest, but of these several presentations it is quite probable that to the general reader only one may be of indi- vidual interest. Thus in a publication of the province assigned to the one at hand there is no propriety in entering into a scientific review of the development of the great industry rep- resented by Parke, Davis & Company. Rather should the object be to convey to the reader a conception of the relative importance of the enterprise as bearing upon the commercial precedence of Detroit and to offer succinct statements as to the generic scope of the busi- ness. Those who are not particularly con- cerned in the nature of the products which Parke, Davis & Company scatter so extensively over the world that there is probably not a civilized country, and few semi-civilized, where their label may not be found, will never- theless be entertained and perhaps instructed by the prosaic recital of the principal incidents which mark the commercial development of the enterprise.
On the 7th of May, 1867, Dr. Samuel P. Duffield and Messrs. Hervey C. Parke and George S. Davis organized a partnership under the title of Duffield, Parke & Company, and prepared to engage in the manufacturing of pharmaceutical preparations. Their first labo- ratory, which was one of very modest order, was established at the corner of Cass avenue and Henry street, in the city of Detroit. This formed the nucleus around which has been evolved the gigantic enterprise now controlled by Parke, Davis & Company. In 1869 Dr. August F. Jennings succeeded Dr. Duffield as a member of the firm, whose title was there- upon changed to Parke, Jennings & Company. In 1871 Dr. Jennings retired, and Messrs. William H. Stevens and John R. Grout be- came special partners. With this change was inaugurated the present title of Parke, Davis & Company, which has thus obtained for
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nearly forty years. With the retirement of pau avenue, Guoin street, McDougall avenue Dr. Jennings, Messrs. Parke and Davis became the active partners and managers of the busi- ness. It should be remembered that at that time Detroit had not become widely known as a manufacturing city. The founders of this great house could scarcely have had a concep- tion that their operations would reach beyond the circumscribed confines of the territory then supplied by Detroit's wholesale and manufac- turing concerns. The business, however, de- veloped to such an extent that it was regarded as an unwise policy to allow it to remain sub- ject to the radical changes in methods and control which might be entailed by the death or retirement of a partner, and on the 14th of January, 1875, the business was incorporated, under the title of Parke, Davis & Company, with a capital stock of one hundred and twenty- five thousand dollars, of which eighty-one thousand, nine hundred and fifty dollars were paid in. The names of the incorporators and first board of directors were: Hervey C. Parke, George S. Davis, John R. Grout, William H. Stevens, and Harry Tillman. The president was Mr. Parke, the secretary, Mr. Davis, and the treasurer, Mr. Tillman.
The consecutive expansion and development of this corporation is marked in no more em- phatic way than by the successive increases in its capital stock, brought about by the neces- sity of augmenting its capacity and facilities or of making proper provision for the utiliza- tion of its earned surplus. In 1881 the capital stock was increased to two hundred and fifty thousand dollars; in 1884 to five hundred thou- sand dollars; in 1887 to one million dollars; in 1895, when the expired term of its cor- porate existence was extended, to two million dollars; in 1903 to four million dollars; and in 1907 to eight million dollars. But the growth has been indicated with almost equal signifi- cance by the successive enlargements of the company's plant. The somewhat obscure quarters at the corner of Cass avenue and Henry street continued to be utilized until 1873, when the firm acquired about four-fifths of an acre, comprising somewhat less than the east half of the block bounded by Joseph Cam-
and Atwater street, and upon this site an un- pretentious brick building of two stories was erected. These quarters, however, were very capacious as compared with those originally secured by the firm. It was thought that the new building would meet all requirements for many years, but in 1879 it was found necessary to enlarge the laboratory building, and this was accomplished by the erection of an addi- tion two stories in height and two hundred and forty by sixty feet in dimensions, on the river front of the lot. At the same time an office and shipping building, sixty feet square and three stories in height, was erected. In 1880 the laboratory was further enlarged, by an addition two stories in height and two hun- dred feet long by twenty feet wide. In the spring of 1883 a three-story building, for crude-stock and printing purposes, was erected on the parallel wing, forming an extension of the original laboratory building, sixty by two hundred feet. With this improvement the laboratory occupied the entire tract of land originally secured, with a court in the center. It was realized as imperative that more ground should be secured, and the remainder of the block was therefore purchased by the com- pany, which soon afterward purchased also the block immediately to the north. The acquire- ment of surrounding property was extended from year to year, to meet the demands of the ever expanding business, and the company now own and utilize thirteen and one-third acres, comprising practically six city blocks of the average size. The building operations of the company have been almost unparalleled. Omitting mention of small, subsidiary struc- tures, the following data are worthy of con- sideration. The office building erected in 1879, although apparently adequate for years to come, was soon found to be too small for its purposes, and in 1887 a new office building, one hundred by sixty feet, was erected, to be devoted solely to office and shipping purposes. The significance of this greatly enlarged pro- vision as taken in connection with the growth of the business is shown in the fact that at the present time several of the office departments
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have been crowded out of the same, for lack of room. What was conceived at the begin- ning to be ample space for the storage of fin- ished packages, and for packing and shipping, is now devoted entirely to counting-room pur- poses. The second story has been increased in size by additions and is devoted entirely to the offices of the executive officials, the man- agers, and the purchasing and sales depart- ments. The third story accommodates a large force of general clerks and stenographers, in addition to the legal department and the de- partment of animal industry. The fourth story has been refinished for the use of the department devoted to the publications in which the company is interested. In 1890, in order to meet requirements for manufacturing and storage, a building three stories in height and sixty feet deep was extended around the block, occupying one hundred and twenty-five feet on Atwater street, two hundred feet on Joseph Campau avenue, and two hundred and fifty-seven feet on Guoin street. This brought about the enclosure of the entire square.
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