USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > Compendium of history and biography of the city of Detroit and Wayne County, Michigan > Part 28
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The business of the Peninsular Stove Com- pany may properly be said to date its founda- tion back to the year 1861, though the present title was not adopted until a score of years later. In the year first mentioned, Messrs. Jeremiah and James Dwyer and Thomas W. Mizner organized the firm of J. Dwyer & Company, which established a small stove foundry at the corner of White street and
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Mount Elliott avenue, Detroit. Two years later Mr. Mizner's interest was purchased by Jeremiah Dwyer, and the firm name continued the same as previously until 1864, when a stock company was organized, under the title of the Detroit Stove Works. In 1871, on ac- count of impaired health, Jeremiah Dwyer sold his interest in the Detroit Stove Works to his brother James, who continued to be ac- tively identified with the management of the business for a decade thereafter. In 1881 James Dwyer purchased the old Eureka Iron Works, in the village of Wyandotte, and un- der his effective supervision the business was there built up to a point where about four tons of iron were used per diem, while employment was given to about fifty hands. The original products were principally cook stoves, and the same found sale mostly in Detroit and the southern part of the state. Under the title of James Dwyer & Company the enterprise was continued until 1882, in March of which year the business was incorporated under the present title of the Peninsular Stove Company. The headquarters were then transferred to Detroit and the plant was established on its present site, at the corner of Fort and Eighth streets. The original plant at this location had a front- age of three hundred feet on Fort street, and the magnificent growth of the enterprise is measurably indicated in the status of the pres- ent works, which occupy two entire blocks on Fort street, running back a distance of four hundred feet. The entire tract is covered with the buildings of the company and employment is now afforded to twelve hundred men, most of whom are skilled mechanics. In meeting the requirements of the pay roll the company ex- pends from twenty-five thousand to thirty thousand dollars every two weeks, and the annual output, including heating and cooking stoves, is seventy-five thousand stoves. The products are sold in all parts of the United States and Canada, and the foreign trade is constantly expanding.
The Peninsular Stove Company was incor- porated with a capital stock of fifty thousand dollars, and this has since been increased to
three million dollars, to meet the demands placed upon the institution by its immense business and amplified operations. The origi- nal organizers of the company were James Dwyer, William B. Moran, Fred T. Moran and R. McD. Campau, and the respective offices which were assumed were as here noted : William B. Moran, president; James Dwyer, vice-president and general manager; and R. McD. Campau, secretary. The present officers of the company are as follows: Fred T. Moran, president; James Dwyer, vice-presi- dent and general manager; John M. Dwyer, secretary; James M. Dwyer, treasurer; and Daniel T. Crowley, auditor. On the director- ate are found, besides these executive officers, a number of the best known and most influ- ential capitalists and business men of Detroit. The concern is now one of the largest of the kind in the world and has had much potency in furthering the industrial precedence of Detroit.
THE BURROUGHS ADDING MACHINE COMPANY.
One of the splendid manufacturing concerns which constitutes a brilliant jewel in the in- dustrial crown of the city of Detroit is that whose title initiates this article, and that the same has been gained to the Michigan metrop- olis is but another mark of appreciation of the superior advantages here offered as a manufacturing and distributing center. The unique product of the Burroughs company is now known throughout the civilized world, for the Burroughs adding machine was the first practical device of the sort ever placed on the market, its supremacy has easily main- tained at all times and against all competition, and its use has simplified, facilitated and in- sured accuracy in the handling of all lines of business. It is not within the province of this necessarily circumscribed article to enter into details concerning the labors of the earnest and determined inventor of this splendid piece of mechanism, nor to reveal the struggles and vicissitudes he encountered ere he was enabled to perfect the device, but it is sufficient to say that the name of William Seward Burroughs
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will go down in history as that of the inventor of one of the most useful mechanisms ever given to the business world. He lived to wit- ness the definite success of his protracted and self-denying efforts and was summoned from life in the very prime of his strong and useful manhood. His death occurred on the 14th of September, 1898, and well may it be said that "His works do follow him." The company which perpetuates his name and manufactures his invention has issued a beautiful little brochure in which is entered a review of his life history, and to this the interested reader may be referred. Mr. Burroughs died a num- ber of years before the company established its great plant in Detroit, but it is fitting that in this article due honor be paid him as having made possible the upbuilding of the magnifi- cent concern which is contributing so materi- ally to the industrial and commercial prestige of Detroit. From the artistic little memorial work just mentioned we draw the following brief extract: "Finally there was produced the perfected Burroughs adding and listing machine. The patient inventor was at last triumphant, and soon the whole world mar- veled at the invention-a perfect adding mechanism-adapted to the uses of the bank, the counting-room, and of every business re- quiring quick and accurate accounting. Bur- roughs had won. When he died, honored by the world, wealth at last had become his; but he valued far more the love and esteem of his official associates and of the 350 employes of the company he had founded. A beautiful marble shaft was erected by his friends and associates over his grave in Bellefontaine cemetery, St. Louis, Missouri. Under that stately column reposes a man who was noble in poverty, humble in wealth, and great in his benefits to humanity." Mr. Burroughs was but forty-one years of age at the time of his death.
The manufacturing and placing on the mar- ket of the Burroughs adding machine was instituted in the city of St. Louis, Missouri, in 1888. In January of that year was organ- ized the American Arithmometer Company, which was incorporated with a capital stock of
one hundred thousand dollars; this was in- creased to five hundred thousand dollars prior to the death of Mr. Burroughs. The original officers were as here noted: Thomas Metcalfe, president; William S. Burroughs, vice-presi- dent; Richard M. Scuggs, treasurer; and A. H. B. Oliver, secretary. William R. Pye was also one of the stockholders in the original company. All of those who were thus interested are now deceased. At the start the company struggled against great obstacles and for some time its existence was rather precarious, but the passing years could not fail to bring suc- cess to a venture based upon a foundation of so substantial an order. The original company eventually brought the output of its factory up to about twenty machines a day. The head- quarters of the enterprise remained in St. Louis until 1904, when the removal to Detroit was made, principally through the influence of Joseph Boyer, president of the company at the present time. His intimate association with the industry is noted more fully in the specific sketch of his career, on other pages of this work. In Detroit was organized in 1905 the Burroughs Adding Machine Company, which was incorporated in January of that year, under the laws of the state, and with officers as follows: Joseph Boyer, president; Henry Wood, of St. Louis, vice-president; Benjamin G. Chapman, secretary and treasurer; Alvan Macauley, general manager; Alfred J. Daughty, manager of the works; and Joseph Boyer, Benjamin G. Chapman, Henry Wood, Edward Rector, and Emil P. Wenger, direc- tors. The gigantic plant of the company is located on Second avenue and Amsterdam street, where a tract of nine acres was secured for the purpose. One-third of this area is covered by the buildings, which have an ag- gregate floor space of three and one-half acres. The main building is three hundred and twenty feet square and a part of the same is two stories in height. All of the buildings are constructed of brick and stone and are of the most substantial and modern type, as is also the mechanical equipment in every department of the great institution. Employment is now given to more than sixteen hundred persons,
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including operatives and office force, and over two hundred men represent the concern through its trade territory. It is scarcely necessary to state that the factory employes are nearly all skilled artisans, and the pay roll of the company represents an average weekly expenditure of twenty-five thousand dollars. The aggregate of sales in 1906 was more than three and one-half millions of dol- lars, and this was exceeded by the sales for 1907. Detroit takes justifiable pride in having gained to herself this magnificent industry, the largest of the kind in the world and one whose prestige is ever increasing.
THE AMERICAN CAR & FOUNDRY COM- PANY.
The Detroit branch of this great manufac- turing institution is comprised of what was for- merly known as the Peninsular Car Company, located at Ferry and Russell streets; the Michi- gan Car Company; the Detroit Car Wheel Company, and Detroit Pipe and Foundry Company, located at Michigan and Clark ave- nues; and the Baugh Steam Forge, located on the Detroit river at the foot of Clark avenue. All of these properties were merged into the Michigan-Peninsular Car Company in Sep- tember, 1892, and in March, 1899, were acquired by the American Car & Foundry Company, with other plants located in Chi- cago, St. Louis, Buffalo and other cities. The plants in Detroit are designated as the Penin- sular Department, Michigan Department and Forge Department. In 1884 the Peninsular Car Company purchased twenty-five acres of land at Ferry and Russell streets and in the same year erected buildings and installed equipment of the best to be had at that time. It was then only necessary to arrange for the construction of wooden cars. When the de- mand for steel cars made it apparent that eventually the wooden car would give way to the car of steel construction, large shops were erected at this plant and equipped with machinery adapted to this work. The build- ings alone now cover about twenty acres and the total acreage occupied is fifty-two. The capacity of the plant is about seventy-five cars
per day and the large acreage occupied is necessary for storage of material and for trackage to handle new cars. There are also foundries at this plant in which are made the wheels and castings for cars turned out. When operated to capacity about forty-five hundred men are employed, one-third of whom are skilled mechanics.
The Michigan Department, at Michigan and Clark avenues, occupies thirty-nine acres. The capacity of the Michigan car shop is twelve thousand cars per annum, made up of box, gondola and refrigerator cars. At the found- ries one hundred thousand car wheels are made annually, about twenty thousand tons of gray iron castings, for cars, locomotives and structural work, and twenty thousand tons of water and gas pipe. This latter is supplied to municipalities and public-service corporations.
At the Forge Department, occupying nine acres of land on the shore of the Detroit river at the foot of Clark avenue, about fifty thou- sand tons of bar iron are made annually, prac- tically all of which goes into the construction of new cars.
The American Car and Foundry Company occupy, within the radius of the three-mile circle, one hundred acres of land and when operating their Detroit plants to capacity em- ploy in all about seven thousand men, and the amount paid for labor is seventy-five thousand dollars per week. This is Detroit's largest in- dustry and the amount of its weekly pay roll indicates its value to the city.
The company's general offices are in St. Louis, Missouri. Mr. George H. Russel is the local representative on the board of directors. Joseph G. Johnston is district manager, and P. H. Sullivan, assistant manager of the De- troit district. Both of these men have been identified with the company for a number of years.
Representative Detroit capitalists who were formerly identified with the car building in- dustry in Detroit are Colonel Frank J. Hecker, C. L. Freer and James McGregor, and the late Senator James McMillan, John S. Newberry, Christian H. Buhl, Theodore D. Buhl, Gen- eral Russell A. Alger, James F. Joy, and Will- iam C. McMillan.
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THE DETROIT UNITED RAILWAY.
If there is any one feature which gives emphasis to the enterprising character of the city of Detroit in this progressive era it is the superiority of the facilities provided for rapid transit within her borders, and judged by the high standard maintained, the Michigan metropolis holds rank with the leading metro- politan centers of the country.
The Detroit United Railway controls all street and suburban lines in and entering the city of Detroit, and its policy is one of liber- ality and utmost progressiveness, as is mani- fest in the fine equipment and the service accorded. The company was incorporated under the laws of the state of Michigan on the 3Ist of December, 1900, and its capital stock is twelve and one-half million dollars. The franchises of the company cover all lines in the city, and at the time of incorporation the ownership of the Grosse Pointe and Highland Park lines also became vested in this corpora- tion. In 1902 were acquired also the Detroit & Flint and the Detroit & Pontiac interurban lines, as well as the Detroit & Northwestern, (known as the Orchard Lake division), and the Detroit & Wyandotte lines. The company also owns all the stock of the Rapid Railway system, the line from Grosse Pointe to Mount Clemens, the Detroit & Toledo line, and that between Detroit and Jackson. Since this com- pany was incorporated it has added seven hundred and eight miles of track to its prop- erties, and in the province of Ontario, Canada, it owns and operates the lines from Windsor to Walkerville and Tecumseh. In Detroit the system has been greatly amplified by the ex- tension of the existing lines and by the install- ing of new ones. Cars of the most modern and improved type have replaced those of in- ferior order and the constant aim is to main- tain the highest perfection in service and facilities. The company owns all of the capital stock of the Detroit & Port Huron Shore Line Railway, and also all of the capital stock of the Sandwich, Windsor & Amherstburg Rail- way. Its total mileage is now nearly eight hundred miles; its rolling stock consists of 1,561 cars, 2,637 motors, and 2,019 trucks.
At the time of incorporation the company elected the following named officers: Henry A. Everett, president; Jere C. Hutchins, vice- president and treasurer; Albert E. Peters, sec- retary; and Antoine B. du Pont, general manager. The last mentioned official resigned his position within the same year and removed to St. Louis, Missouri. The personnel of the present official corps (1908) is as follows : Henry A. Everett, of Cleveland, Ohio, chair- man of the board of directors; Jere C. Hutch- ings, Detroit, president; Arthur Pack, Detroit, vice-president; Edward W. Moore, Cleveland, second vice-president; Edwin Henderson, New York, secretary; George H. Russel, De- troit, treasurer; Albert E. Peters, Detroit, assistant secretary; and Frank W. Brooks, Detroit, general manager. All of the officers mentioned with the exception of the secretary and assistant secretary are also members of the board of directors, which includes also the following named : Robert B. Van Cortlandt, New York city; Charles M. Swift, Detroit; Alonzo Potter, New York city; and A. J. Fer- guson and J. M. Wilson, of Montreal, Quebec.
THE MICHIGAN MUTUAL LIFE INSUR- ANCE COMPANY.
One of the most beneficent forces that has entered into and permeated modern civiliza- tion is that of life insurance. Its functions are in the protection of those who are nearest and dearest to the individual and thus they touch the home-that conservator of all that is best and most enduring in the scheme of human existence. In the light of recent de- velopments and investigations which have revealed much that is wrong in the conduct of the business of certain corporations conducting life-insurance business there is no reason for public disquietude or lack of confidence, for the basic elements of indemnity remain un- changed and exalted and there are innumer- able concerns which have a high sense of their stewardship and regulate their operations upon a broad, safe and humanitarian basis, enlisting the highest personal integrity and manipulat- ing their financial affairs for the distinct and
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prime benefit of those who seek security through their interposition. Such a concern is the Michigan Mutual Life Insurance Com- pany, of Detroit, a corporation whose magnifi- cent growth has been the diametrical result of effective service, honorable methods and pub- lic appreciation of the same.
This well known and substantial insurance company instituted business forty years ago, and its history is without spot or blemish. In . 1867 it was incorporated under the laws of Michigan and began the transaction of life- insurance business within its assigned prov- ince, which then comprised practically only the state. Concerning its inception and growth the following pertinent extracts are taken from the Michigan Investor, a weekly publi- cation, of the issue of August 27, 1904.
"The Michigan Mutual Life Insurance Company has far outgrown the dreams of its original organizers. It has become one of the big organizations of Detroit and Michigan and is now on the high road to take rank as one of the large insurance companies of the country. The dreams of the organizers of the company were modest, it must be chronicled. They expected the company to do largely a local business, with possible extensions into Ohio and Indiana. With such a restricted field its growth was naturally slow. The fact that it wrote endowment business almost ex- clusively for many years also was a check upon rapid advancement, as in course of time the endowment policies matured almost as fast as new business could be written. All this is changed now. The methods pursued by the company were revolutionized with the advent of Mr. O. R. Looker as secretary and man- ager, in 1883. From this year dates the real growth of the Michigan Mutual Life into a big insurance concern.
"The company is now abreast of any like concern in the world in the issuance of all ap- proved forms of life-insurance contracts. It was the first company in the United States to endorse cash surrender values upon insurance policies, and it also has been the pioneer in many of the most attractive insurance con- tracts which are now universally approved and
used. Perhaps the most important of these is the provident plan of insurance, a method whereby the payments are made by the insured in monthly installments, instead of annually, thus supplying the masses with reliable old- line life insurance upon terms easily within their reach. This form of insurance has be- come so popular that many competing com- panies have copied and adopted it.
"Prior to 1883 the company's business had been confined to Michigan, Ohio and In- diana. Now it is ably and vigorously repre- sented in twenty states, and the expansion is not yet ended. What the company has accom- plished within the period of forty years that it has been doing business can be best told in figures. These show that it passed through the various periods of business depression which have occurred during the four decades with flying colors, surviving financial panics which stranded many older companies-a high compliment to the conservative methods of its officers. The whole number of policies issued during 1869 was 842, and the net number of policies in force was 1,018, carrying aggregate risks of $1,694,600. By December 31, 1873, the assets had passed the half million mark, standing at $500,336.21, despite the financial panic. There was a steady mounting of the assets of the company for the next four years. In 1880 the million-dollar mark had been over- hauled, and there has been no setback in growth since. The three-million mark was passed in 1890 and the four-million mark was crossed in 1892. On January 1, 1904, the books showed the magnificent figures of $8,- 355,318.29. At this time the whole amount of insurance in force was $42,804,923.47, and the policies in force were 32,719. The sur- plus yet stands near the $500,000 mark. (On the Ist of January, 1907, the books of the company showed assets to the amount of $9,- 902,754, and since that date the ten-million mark has been passed. The insurance in force now aggregates forty-seven million dollars).
"The proof of the successful management of a life-insurance company, it is repeatedly asserted, is the earning power of the funds intrusted to its care by its policy holders and
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the wisdom and care with which such funds are invested. The funds of the Michigan Mutual Life Insurance Company are all in- vested in first-mortgages upon real estate, worth in all cases at least twice the amount loaned thereon, and upon the security of its own policies. Not a dollar of the funds of this company is invested in stocks or other fluctu- ating securities. The Michigan Mutual Life Insurance Company was originally capitalized at one hundred thousand dollars, which amount was increased to two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in 1876, at which figure it yet stands. This capital is all paid up, and in addition the company has in the custody of the treasurer of Michigan a deposit of one hundred thousand dollars as a security for its policy holders. This money can not be with- drawn while a policy of the company remains in force."
It is not within the province of an article of this nature to enter into manifold details as to the history and status of any of the con- cerns here represented, but this outline of the admirable record of one of Michigan's splen- did institutions is consistently given place in the pages. The first president of the company was the late Hon. John J. Bagley, who was succeeded, after a regime of four years, by Jacob S. Farrand, who remained at the head for nearly a quarter of a century, when death severed the connection. He was succeeded by William A. Butler, who died within the same year and who was succeeded by Hon. Thomas W. Palmer, who served until 1893, when the present incumbent, Oscar R. Looker, was elected president, still retaining the position of active manager. Of the men mentioned in this connection there is no need for extended men- tion, for their names loom large in the finan- cial and civic history of Detroit and the state of Michigan. During all the years through which the company has been doing business it has had the executive and capitalistic support of citizens of the highest type, and the direc- torate, as well as the executive corps, has ever been a voucher for reliability and correct methods. The present officers are as follows : O. R. Looker, president ; C. A. Kent, first vice-
president and counsel; Hoyt Post, second vice- president; A. F. Moore, secretary; Theron F. Giddings, general superintendent of agencies; G. W. Sanders, actuary; T. E. McDonough and B. A. Welstead, assistant secretary and as- sistant actuary, respectively; J. P. Dawson, cashier; A. H. Wilkinson, attorney; and C. A. Devendorf, M. D., medical director. The full personnel of the directorate of the com- pany is as follows : O. R. Looker, A. F. Moore, T. F. Giddings, C. A. Kent, Hoyt Post, A. H. Wilkinson, C. A. Devendorf, T. E. McDonough, D. M. Ferry, George Peck, R. P. Williams, C. H. Candler, W. S. Green, L. H. Chamberlin, W. H. Brace, Thomas A. Wadsworth, M. L. Williams, E. H. Elwell, D. F. Mooney, and J. J. Mooney.
The foregoing record offers a brief resume of the upbuilding of this strong and valued Michigan institution, and the work accom- plished by the Michigan Mutual Life Insur- ance Company has brought to it all of honor and prestige and has reflected distinction upon the city and state.
Concerning the headquarters of the com- pany the following description is taken from the Michigan Investor, to which we are in- debted for previous excerpts.
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