USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > Compendium of history and biography of the city of Detroit and Wayne County, Michigan > Part 26
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The development of the biological depart- ment necessitated the acquirement of two massive buildings originally erected by the late Hiram Walker for car-building purposes, but never so used. In 1899 the company, after having acquired the block between Guoin and Wight streets, erected thereon a three-story building, five hundred and eighteen feet long and sixty feet deep. About the same time was also effected the purchase of the building pre- viously erected by the United States Capsule Company, on the northeast corner of Joseph Campau avenue and Wight street. In 1903 was erected the fine scientific building, three stories in height and sixty by one hundred and sixty feet in dimensions, and this is devoted almost entirely to research work in chemistry. biology, etc. Its equipment is undoubtedly unexcelled by that of any other of the kind in the world,-either in connection with a manu- facturing industry or collegiate institution. It is well understood to-day that all the phenomena of life are to be explained on the basis of chemical and physical laws, and it is partly because of a clear recognition of this fact that
biological chemistry has gained the eminence it has now reached as a division of biology. It has furnished direct and positive aid to physiology and both practical and experimental medicine, and Parke, Davis & Company have accomplished a wonderful work in this field of research and development. In 1905 was com- pleted the large three-story structure which is now used entirely for shipping purposes and finishing stock, and which has an aggregate floor space of one hundred and thirty-seven thousand, seven hundred and sixty square feet. A new four-story building with basement, four hundred and ten by sixty feet, was com- pleted in 1908, and was occupied in July of that year. This gives the institution a total floor space aggregating fully 16.68 acres.
In the number and character of employes and in the equipment of machinery and other facilities the same steady progression has been marked. At the initiation of the enterprise not more than twenty persons were demanded in conducting the same, and at the present time the requisition is from two thousand to twenty- five hundred in connection with the main es- tablishment in Detroit. The number engaged in manufacturing operations means little to those unfamiliar with the technique of the in- dustry under survey, but it can not be inap- propriate to state at this juncture that to-day there are employed in manufacturing depart- ments at the laboratories of Parke, Davis & Company in Detroit about two thousand per- sons; in the Canadian laboratories three hun- dred, and in the Continental laboratories, at Hounslow, England, two hundred and fifty persons. In the last mentioned are manufac- tured only such products as can not be more economically imported. The sales department in Detroit engages the attention of two hun- dred and fifty office employes and commercial travelers, and a combined force of about three hundred and sixty traveling representatives are scattered through the various branches. In manufacturing, assembling, packing and shipping, employment is given to about twenty- five hundred persons.
There is an ethical and sentimental side to every successful business enterprise. Early in
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its history this important concern recognized certain marked deficiencies in manufacturing pharmacy, and at once undertook to correct them. The management also conceived the idea that there was no reason why the manu- facturing pharmacist should not take the same interest in the scientific problems that con- fronted the physician in his practice or the pro- fessor in his college. Scientific men, investi- gators and students in medicine and pharmacy, were at first suspicious of this commercial in- truder in their domain, but soon gave it their confidence and recognized it as a most val- uable coadjutor; the more so because it eschewed certain business methods and prac- tices which medicine and pharmacy had come to regard as unethical and as prejudicial to public health.
It may well be noted that long before the pos- sibilities of serum-therapy and biologic phar- macy had dawned upon the world of medical and pharmaceutical science, Parke, Davis & Company explored the unknown botanic field, and expended large treasure in investigation and experimentation. The layman will best ap- preciate the importance of this work when he learns that Cascara Sagrada, than which there are probably not more than four or five drugs in more common use, was introduced to the medical profession by Parke, Davis & Com- pany. Other such botanic drugs evolved and exploited by this great concern are: Grindelia Robusta, Guarana, Coca, Yerba Santa, Tonga, Manaca, Chekan, Boldo, Jaborandi and Cocillana.
In the field of biologic chemistry and serum- therapy, Parke, Davis & Company occupy an advanced position. In 1894, when the virtues of diphtheria antitoxin had been heralded throughout the world and the supplies were limited to what was produced in Germany, the United States congress was considering the proposition of appropriating twenty-five thou- sand dollars for the manufacturing of anti- toxin in this country. At this juncture, as was announced in an Associated Press dispatch at the time, Parke, Davis & Company had al- ready anticipated the demand and concluded
experiments and arrangements which would enable them to supply it.
This concern's reputation for progressive- ness has naturally brought to its attention many discoveries and improvements in medi- cine and pharmacy. Its policy has always been to carefully test and try out every preparation thus brought to its consideration. More often than otherwise the discovery is found to be of no value or impracticable for utilization in large manufacturing operations, but from the whole some valuable products, such as Taka- Diastase, for illustration, have been added to the physician's armamentarium. Adrenalin is another valuable example of the company's initiative in scientific. investigation.
It can not be doubted that nothing has more signally conduced to the phenomenal success of Parke, Davis & Company than the high plane of pharmaceutical integrity on which its operations have ever been maintained. Re- garding quality and therapeutic efficiency as of the utmost importance, the company have wonderfully improved the standards of the different pharmaceuticals existing at the time they came into the field, and the name itself of the concern is a voucher for the maximum of excellence in all products. Improvements have been made which insure the uniform quality of fluid extracts; the permanency and assimilability of gelatine-coated products, and likewise has essential perfection been attained in sugar and gelatine-coated pills, elixirs and other of the various forms in which remedial agents are presented to the physician. The confidence which is given to Parke, Davis & Company by the medical profession of the world and the consequent patronage accorded, are a natural recognition of the concern's co- operative efforts in medical and pharmaceutical progress.
With the company have been identified a number of the representative capitalists and business men of Detroit, and changes have oc- curred from time to time, due to death, com- mercial exigencies, etc. To enter into details concerning all those who have been officers and stockholders of the corporation is, as a matter of course, apart from the scope of such
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an article as is here entered concerning one of Detroit's most magnificent industrial and com- mercial institutions and one in which the city has long taken a just and commendable pride.
THE DETROIT & CLEVELAND NAVIGA- TION COMPANY.
Since the dawn of its history as a civilized community Detroit has found appreciation of its unexcelled water-transportation facilities, and among the agencies which have fostered the development of these natural advantages none has been and continues more prominent and effective than that exerted by the corpo- ration whose name initiates this article. Its history dates back more than a half century and its fleet of vessels comprises the highest examples of marine architecture known to lake-marine navigation. The company has ex- erted a most potent influence in the industrial and civic development of the Michigan me- tropolis in its advancement to a position of importance among the leading industrial, financial and commercial centers of the United States, and a brief review of its history is demanded in this publication.
The first passenger and freight service to be established between the cities of Detroit and Cleveland was initiated in the year 1850, when the steamers "Southerner" and "Baltimore" were placed in commission between these ports by Captain Arthur Edwards. These steamers covered the route during the seasons of 1850- 51, and were succeeded in 1852 by the "Forest City," completed that year for John Owen and associates and run jointly with the steamers "St. Louis" and "Sam Ward," owned by E. B. Ward & Company. In 1853 the steamers "May Queen," built that year, and the "City of Cleveland," built the year previous, suc- ceeded the former vessels on the route. In 1855, the steamer "Ocean" was added with a view to operating both day and night lines. This arrangement continued during the sea- son of 1855, and a portion of that of 1856, when the "Queen" was laid up, due to unre- munerative business. The seasons of 1857-61, inclusive, saw the route covered by the "May
Queen" and the "Ocean." In 1862, the "Morning Star" was completed and displaced the "Ocean," and then during the latter part of the season the "City of Cleveland" displaced the "May Queen." The route was covered during the years 1863-66, inclusive, by the "Morning Star" and the "City of Cleveland." In 1867, the "R. N. Rice" was completed and displaced the "City of Cleveland." The busi- ness at this time was operated as the Detroit & Cleveland Steamboat Line and was run in connection with the Michigan Central Rail- road, affording the latter company a water route to Cleveland from Detroit, at that time its eastern terminus; and the service was known and advertised as the Michigan Central Railroad Line. The business was conducted under the management of John Owen, who was heavily interested, and its local affairs were taken care of by Keith & Carter, at De- troit, and by L. A. Pierce, at Cleveland, act- ing as agents. The business had, during the seventeen years of operation, grown to such volume that it was necessary to weld the vari- ous private interests which controlled its ves- sels more closely, and during the winter of 1867-68, John Owen and David Carter per- fected an organization which resulted in the incorporation, in April, 1868, of the Detroit & Cleveland Steam Navigation Company, with the following incorporators: John Owen, David Carter, Captain Ira Davis, Captain E. R. Viger, W. B. Watson, James Moreton, W. Mckay, Joseph Cook and S. Gardner, of De- troit, and L. A. Pierce and George B. Burton, of Cleveland. The company was incorporated with a capital of three hundred thousand dol- lars and granted a thirty year charter by the state of Michigan. Its first election of officers occurred in May, 1868, when John Owen was elected president and treasurer, and David Carter, secretary. Its vessels were two in number, the steamers "R. N. Rice" and "Morning Star." The latter steamer was lost in collision with the schooner "Cortlandt" on the 20th of June, 1868, with a loss of twenty- six lives, and her place on the route was filled by the steamer "Northwest," which with the "R. N. Rice" was run continuously until the
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close of navigation in 1876. During the win- ter of 1876-7, the "Northwest" was rebuilt at a cost of eighty thousand dollars and the fol- lowing summer the "R. N. Rice" was prac- tically destroyed by fire, while lying at her moorings in Detroit, the "Saginaw" taking her place on the route for the balance of the sea- son. The first vessel to be built for this com- pany was the "City of Detroit," a composite hulled steamer, completed in 1878, at a cost of one hundred and seventy-five thousand dol- lars. This steamer, with the "Northwest," took care of the traffic on the Cleveland route until 1886. The second vessel constructed was the "City of Cleveland," which was built in 1880, and which was placed on a route be- tween Detroit and Houghton, Michigan, re- maining in this service during the seasons of 1880-81-82. In 1883 the third vessel, the "City of Mackinac," an iron steamer, costing one hundred and sixty thousand dollars, was completed, and in connection with the steamer "City of Cleveland," whose name had been changed to the "City of Alpena," the company inaugurated the service on the route between Detroit and St. Ignace, and known as the Lake Huron division. The fourth vessel to be built for the company marked a great ad- vance in lake passenger-steamers, being the first steel-hulled steamer constructed for pas- senger service on the Great Lakes and the first to be equipped with feathering wheels. This steamer was completed in 1886, at a cost of three hundred thousand dollars, was named the "City of Cleveland" and replaced the "North- west," which was sold to the White Star Line, and by them rebuilt and renamed the "Grey- hound." In 1889, the fifth vessel was com- pleted for the company, a steel steamer costing three hundred and fifty thousand dollars and named the "City of Detroit." This replaced the older vessel of that name on the Detroit- Cleveland route. The latter steamer was known as the "City of Detroit" No. I, during the season of 1889, and was run on the route between Chicago and St. Joseph, Michigan. The following year she was renamed the "City of the Straits" and has since plied between Cleveland and Put-in-Bay. The demands of
a constantly increasing business on the Lake Huron division taxed the capacity of the steam- ers operated on this route, and necessitated the building of new steamers of larger carrying ca- pacity; accordingly, in 1893, the twin vessels "City of Alpena" and "City of Mackinac" were completed at a cost of three hundred thousand dollars each, and they replaced the steamers of the same names formerly operated on the route, the old vessels being sold to the Cleve- land & Buffalo Transit Company, forming its first fleet ; the "City of Alpena" being renamed the "State of Ohio" and the "City of Macki- nac" changed to that of the "State of New York." In 1906 contracts were let for the construction of the eighth vessel to be built for the company and to be ready for the season of 1907. The hull of this vessel was laid in 1906, her upper works were practically com- pleted and a large portion of her machinery installed when, on May 13, 1907, she was burned to her steel framework, entailing a loss to her builders, the Detroit Shipbuilding Com- pany, of seven hundred thousand dollars, be- sides that involved in the needed tonnage and other service which she would have supplied during the season. Expecting to replace the "City of Cleveland" with this new steamer, her name was changed in 1907, to the "City of St. Ignace" and she was to have been oper- ated on the Lake Huron division, but the de- struction of the new vessel kept her on her former route. The completion of the last ves- sel, the eighth in order of construction, marks the highest advancement in lake-marine con- struction. The cost of the completed steamer is one million two hundred and fifty thousand dollars and she is the largest, most sumptuously furnished and equipped of any passenger vessel on fresh water, and is not excelled in appoint- ments, comforts or construction by the best ocean-going steamers. Her trial trip on the 28th of April, 1908, resulted most satisfac- torily to her designer, her constructors and the officials of the company. The new "City of Cleveland" has a passenger capacity of four thousand five hundred persons and a freight capacity of one thousand tons. She will be operated upon the Detroit-Cleveland route
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during the mid-summer months, the "City of St. Ignace" commencing and concluding the season on this route and during the operation of the "City of Cleveland" will be run as an excursion steamer on Lake Huron and adja- cent waters.
In 1896-98, the Cleveland & Buffalo Tran- sit Company replaced the steamers "State of New York" and "State of Ohio" by new ves- sels and the Detroit company purchased a half- interest in these steamers, which were oper- ated jointly by the two corporations as the Cleveland & Toledo Line. The season of 1908 finds the "State of New York" placed upon the run between Detroit and Bay City, the initiation of this service due to repeated and urgent requests upon the part of the mer- chants and traveling public of Bay City and Saginaw. On the expiration of the charter granted to the Detroit & Cleveland Steam Navigation Company in April, 1868, and run- ning until April, 1898, the company was rein- corporated as the Detroit & Cleveland Navi- gation Company, with a capital of one million five hundred thousand dollars. This amount was increased in 1907 to two and one half million dollars. The terminal property owned by the company in both the city of Detroit and at Cleveland is easily accessible to the traveling public and also affords the best of shipping facilities, while its buildings offer exceptional comforts to its patrons as well as the necessary accommodation for the handling of its freight business.
The history of the development of the busi- ness of this company has been marked by pro- gressiveness on the part of the executive of- ficers, both in the operative and financial de- partments of the organization. The continued insistance upon the part of the management that at all times the vessels of the fleet should excel in the controlling essentials of safety, speed and comfort, the spirit of enterprise and confidence in the appreciation by the public of the improvements for its benefit, have ad- vanced in a very marked degree the commer- cial development of the city and state. That the traveling public has justly appreciated the efforts of the management is easily proven by
the universal commendation of its service and the oft repeated statement "that nowhere on fresh water is found a fleet of vessels which are maintained at such a high state of ef- ficiency in all departments as are those of the Detroit & Cleveland Navigation Company."
During its life of forty years the company had as executive chiefs the following: John Owen, who with David Carter, was one of its most active organizers; Mr. Owen was its first president and treasurer and remained its execu- tive head until he was succeeded by the late Senator James McMillan, who upon his death, in 1903, was in turn succeeded as president by his son, William C. McMillan : upon the death of the latter, in 1907, his brother, Philip H. McMillan, was elected to the office. With the history of the company the name of David Carter is indissolubly linked. The organiza- tion of the corporation was in great measure due to his efforts and the result of his ideas. He more than any other effected the develop- ment of its service, and to his unflagging zeal, persistent industry and impregnable faith in the possibilities of the line, upon the success of which he was ready to and did stake his all in the decade closing in 1870, the success and present unassailable position of the line are in a great measure due. He was connected with the service between Detroit and Cleveland some sixteen years previous to the organiza- tion of the company and on its incorporation was elected its first secretary. Shortly after- ward he was appointed general manager, and in these dual positions he remained until his death, in 1901. On other pages of this volume is printed a memoriam to him, to which the reader is referred for supplemental informa- tion. Mr. Carter was succeeded upon his death as general manager by the late William C. McMillan. Upon the death of the latter, in 1907, he in turn was succeeded by Arnold A. Schantz, who became connected with the com- pany in 1878, and who by sheer ability and in- defatigable effort has risen from an unim- portant position in connection with the pas- senger department to that of executive head of the operative department of the company. Those in charge of the various departments of
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operation of which Mr. Schantz is chief are men of exceptional ability and who have been connected with the line for many years. Per- sonal mention of the various executives is printed elsewhere in the work under their re- spective names and the personnel is as follows : Executive officers-Philip H. McMillan, presi- dent; James McGregor, vice-president ; George M. Black, secretary and treasurer. Operating executives-Arnold A. Schantz, general man- ager; Bert C. Wilder, general auditor; Lin- coln G. Lewis, general passenger agent; Dan- iel C. McIntyre, general freight agent; and Louis Thorne, chief of commissary depart- ment. The general offices, with the exception of that of general freight agent, are in the com- pany's building at the foot of Wayne street, Detroit.
D. M. FERRY & COMPANY.
The name of no industrial concern in De- troit is better known throughout the world than that which initiates this article, for the ramifications of its business are gigantic in scope and variety. It would be difficult for one not familiar with details to realize the multifarious agencies which have been brought to bear in this building up of an industry which is the most extensive of the kind in existence, for not only has it demanded the great executive and administrative talent and progressive methods which must ever be the concomitants of so marked commercial suc- cess, but there has also been the necessity for patient experimentation and investigation along definite scientific lines, a close study of plant growth and of the best means for gain- ing the products suited for varying soil and climatic conditions, as well as for propagating the ultimate types of the thousands of vege- tables and flowers whose seeds are the output of this splendid Detroit institution. An indus- try of so great magnitude and under a man- agement which is all that experience and science can offer, assuredly should be given more than cursory attention in this publication, within whose province it is to indicate as clearly as may be the sources through which the larger and greater Detroit is being developed. On
other pages of this volume appears a brief re- view of the career of Dexter M. Ferry, the late head of D. M. Ferry & Company, and the two articles should be brought into mental juxtaposition by the reader in order that a clearer idea may be gained of the business enterprise to which the sketch at hand is devoted.
This industry dates its practical inception back more than half a century, the firm of M. T. Gardner & Company, seedsmen, having been organized in 1856 and the three inter- ested principals having been Miles T. Gard- ner, Dexter M. Ferry and Eber F. Church. Under the title noted the enterprise was con- ducted until 1865, when Mr. Gardner sold his interest to his associates and the firm name of Ferry, Church & Company was adopted. Be- sides Messrs. Ferry and Church, H. Kirke White and Charles C. Bowen were represented as members of the new firm, of which Mr. Ferry was executive head until his death, which occurred November 10, 1907. He stood as the only person who had been identi- fied with the business from the time of its foundation, and it is needless to say that its rise to its present status has been resultant upon his efforts and abilities more than to those of all others who have been concerned with the undertaking. In 1867 the present title of D. M. Ferry & Company was adopted and in 1872 Albert E. F. White was admitted to the firm. The business was continued under partnership relations and control until 1879, when, under the same title, it was incorporated under the laws of the state, with a capital of seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Mr. Ferry became president and general manager of the new corporation. The other original officers chosen were as follows: James McMillan, vice-president; H. K. White, treas- urer; and Charles C. Bowen, secretary. The directorate included these executive officers and also A. E. F. White, John S. Newberry and W. K. Anderson. In 1894 the capital of the company was increased to its present amount,-eight hundred thousand dollars,- and the personnel of the administrative corps at the time of this writing is as follows: H. K.
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White, vice-president; Lem W. Bowen, treas- urer and general manager; D. M. Ferry, Jr., secretary ; and A. E. F. White, auditor. These officers, with Sherman R. Miller and P. H. McMillan, constitute the directorate of the concern.
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