USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > Compendium of history and biography of the city of Detroit and Wayne County, Michigan > Part 34
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The well equipped plant of the Buhl Mal- leable Company is, in the main, that formerly utilized by the Peninsular Car Company, on Adair street, but enlargements and other im- provements upon the buildings have been made from time to time, to meet the demands of the expanding business and to facilitate the work of manufacturing. Through the extension of the plant the company now utilize the large tract of land lying between Adair and Walker streets on Wight street and extending down to the Detroit river, where excellent dock fa- cilities are controlled. In the works are em- ployed six hundred and fifty operatives, of
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whom one hundred and fifty to one hundred and seventy-five are moulders, and the output of the plant not only includes the original line of sprocket chains, now a small feature of the enterprise, but also the highest grade of mal- leable-iron work, for agricultural plants, car work and general malleable work. The output reaches an annual aggregate of from eight thousand to ten thousand tons and the products are sold principally throughout the United States and Canada.
THE AMERICAN HARROW COMPANY.
The superior advantages offered by Detroit as a manufacturing and distributing center are becoming more thoroughly appreciated every succeeding year, and in witness of this fact the best evidence is that shown in the marvel- ous impetus which has of recent years been given to the city's industrial growth and ex- pansion. Among the many manufacturing enterprises which thus lend prestige to the city is numbered that conducted under the cor- porate title indicated at the head of this article.
The American Harrow Company, repre- senting one of the newer and important in- dustries of the city, was incorporated in 1882, with a capital stock of one hundred thousand dollars, and with official corps as follows: D. M. Ferry, president, until his death; W. B. Moran originally vice-president; Sherman R. Miller, vice-president; and William W. Col- lier, secretary and treasurer. In addi- tion to the present officers of the company several others of the stockholders are
represented on the directorate. Shortly after incorporation the company instituted the erection of a suitable plant, securing an eligi- ble location on the corner of Milwaukee ave- nue and Hastings street, where they now have four acres of ground covered with buildings, and have a most complete and finely equipped modern plant. The products of the establish- ment include harrows, cultivators and manure- spreaders, all of special and effective design and all properly protected by patents, and the trade of the concern now permeates into all sections of the agricultural world. From the
earnings of the concern the capital stock has now been increased to the noteworthy aggre- gate of two hundred and fifty thousand dol- lars. Though the major portion of the output is utilized in the United States and Canada, the company has already built up specially sub- stantial and appreciative trade in England, Australia and Holland. This concern repre- sents the largest manufactory of disk-harrows and manure-spreaders in the world.
William W. Collier and the late Henry Gale, of Albion, Michigan, were the leading spirits in the promoting of this important and well ordered enterprise and to them is due the or- ganization of the company under so favorable auspices. Since the death of Mr. Gale the practical management of the business has de- volved largely upon Mr. Collier, in co-opera- tion with the executive committee.
WILLIAM W. COLLIER is a native of the Wolverine state, having been born in Battle Creek, Michigan, on the 19th of November, 1850, and being a son of Victor P. Collier, who was long one of the prominent and in- fluential business men of that city. Mr. Col- lier was reared in Battle Creek, where he se- cured his preliminary educational training, which was supplemented by further study in Highland Military Academy. After leaving school Mr. Collier was associated with his father in the hardware business for some time, and the father later became president of the First National Bank of Battle Creek, also serv- ing one term as state treasurer.
In 1871, soon after attaining to his legal majority, William W. Collier came to Detroit, where he entered the employ of the hardware house of Ducharme, Fletcher & Company, with whom he remained four years, after which he was salesman for the Wyandotte Rolling Mill Company until 1902, when he became identi- fied with the organization of the American Harrow Company, as already described in this article. He is also vice-president of the Du- plex Printing Press Company, of Battle Creek. In the spring of 1908, the Detroit Driving Club was reorganized, with a capital stock of twenty-five thousand dollars, and Mr. Collier was chosen president. The company leased
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the State Fair grounds and track for a period of ten years, and have greatly improved the same.
In politics he is a Republican, and he is identified with various civic and social organi- zations. He and his wife hold membership in the Unitarian church.
In 1891 was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Collier to Miss Virginia Wright, daughter of Philo Wright, a well known vessel-owner of Detroit, and prominently identified with navi- gation interests on the Great Lakes. Mr. and Mrs. Collier have three sons,-Wright, Ste- phen, and William.
THE BUHL STAMPING COMPANY.
As an important mechanic industry of De- troit that represented by the company whose name here appears, merits due consideration in this work, which has assigned as a promi- nent function in its province the recording of the histories of those enterprises which have tended to conserve the upbuilding of modern and greater industrial Detroit.
The Buhl Stamping Company was founded in 1888, and the interested principals in the new corporation were junior partners in the wholesale hardware concern of Buhl Sons & Company. The first president of the company was Theodore D. Buhl, and Charles H. Jacobs was chosen vice-president; Dewitt E. Dela- mater, secretary; and Jefferson M. Thurber, treasurer. The capital stock represented in the incorporation was twenty-five thousand dol- lars, and the plant secured for the initiation of practical operations was that of the Buhl Iron Works, located on Third, Larned and Congress streets, from Third to Fourth streets, in the western section of the city. The plant was extensively remodeled without interfering with the operation of the factory and the main building is now three hundred by two hundred and fifty feet in dimension, three stories in height. Of the force of five hundred opera- tives about forty per cent. is represented in skilled labor. The business had its inception through a realization on the part of Theodore D. Buhl of its practical necessity as an adjunct
or complement to other lines of enterprise with which he was identified, and the products of the concern comprise a full line of milk cans, cream separators, lanterns, etc. During the . first four years the enterprise was not a pay- ing venture, owing to ineffective management in the detail work of the various departments, but the business has shown a steady and sub- stantial growth and is now paying good re- turns on the investment made, besides being a valuable acquisition to the industrial and commercial life of the city. The products now find sale in the most diverse sections of the United States, with a growing trade in Canada and Mexico. Since the death of Theodore D. Buhl, his son Willis E., has been presi- dent of the company. Jefferson M. Thurber is secretary; Dewitt C. Delamater, treasurer; and John B. Breen, general manager.
THE AMERICAN RADIATOR COMPANY.
In the sum total of the multifarious manu- facturing industries which contribute materi- ally to upholding the commercial precedence and prestige of the city of Detroit that con- ducted under the above title has no incon- spicuous place, the Michigan and Detroit plants of the company being large and finely equipped establishments and their products being of the highest order of excellence. Both plants are located in Detroit,
This Michigan-plant branch of the enter- prise in Detroit, dates its foundation back to 1888, and the original incorporation was made under title of the Michigan Radiator & Iron Manufacturing Company. The chief promoter was John B. Dyar, who had been for about a decade previously managing owner of the De- troit Metal & Heating Works. In the forming of the new company there were associated with him such representative business men of De- troit as Martin S. Smith, Clarence Carpenter, Clarence M. Woolley, James McMillan, E. W. Meddaugh, and Ernest E. Mann. The per- sonnel of the original executive corps was as follows : John B. Dyar, president ; M. S. Smith, vice-president ; Clarence Carpenter, treasurer; and C. M. Woolley, secretary.
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The company purchased a tract of land on Trombly avenue, between Russell street and the tracks of the Grand Trunk Railway, se- curing about six acres and erecting thereon a foundry building eighty by three hundred feet in dimensions; a machine shop, forty by four hundred and thirty feet; a core room eighty feet square; cleaning room, fifty by sixty feet ; power house, eighty by forty feet; warehouse four hundred and seventy-eight by one hun- dred and twenty-four feet ; and an adequate and appropriate office building. The company en- gaged in the manufacturing of cast-iron radi- ators for water and steam warming purposes, being the second concern to take up this line of industry in Detroit, where the Detroit Steam Radiator Company had previously been in the field for a period of about four years, having also the distinction of being one of the pioneer concerns in this branch of manufacture in the United States.
In initiating practical operations the Michi- gan Radiator & Iron Manufacturing Company gave employment to about two hundred hands, and the business met with immediate success. In a few years about five hundred employes were represented on the pay roll of the com- pany and the enterprise had assumed very ex- tensive proportions, after having been in operation for but little more than a decade. In the year 1891 the American Radiator Com- pany was organized and incorporated and as- sumed possession and control of the business and plant of each the Michigan Radiator & Iron Manufacturing Company and the Detroit Radiator Company, of this city, as well as of the Pierce Steam Heating Company, of Buf- falo, New York. About this time the Michi- gan plant began the manufacturing of hot- water and steam warming apparatus in con- nection with its previous line of products, and in 1894 were manufactured in the plant its first boilers for house-warming purposes. The manufacturing of radiators was gradually dis- continued, being turned over to the Detroit plant, and the original plant of the Michigan Radiator & Iron Manufacturing Company is now devoted exclusively to the manufacturing of hot-water and steam-warming appliances,
not including radiators. About one acre of additional ground has been added to the origi- nal tract and new buildings have been erected, to meet the demands of the constantly expand- ing business. Further amplification is required in this line at the present time, and arrange- ments are being made for the enlarging of the plant in the near future. The employes of the Michigan plant of this concern are now up- ward of seven hundred in number, and about one-half are skilled artisans. The office force numbers twenty persons, and the average an- nual outlay in salaries and wages aggregates five hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Clar- ence Carpenter is manager of the plant; Henry J. Rente, assistant manager; and Roland H. Mann, assistant superintendent.
THE POSSELIUS BROTHERS' FURNITURE MANUFACTURING COMPANY.
An industry of considerable magnitude and one unique in special features of furniture manufacturing is that conducted under the title appearing above, and the extensive and finely equipped factory and warerooms of the company are eligibly located on Mount Elliott and Harper avenues. This business dates its foundation back to the year 1870, when it was established in a somewhat modest way by the late Adolph Posselius. Success attended the enterprise from the start and the advancement has been substantial and consecutive during the intervening years, the result being the building up of an industry of wide ramifica- tions and one that contributes materially to the commercial precedence of the city of Detroit. For a time the business was conducted under the title of Posselius Brothers and in 1890 the Posselius Brother Furniture Manufacturing Company was incorporated, with a capital stock of fifty thousand dollars. The officers of this company are as here noted : Charles W. Munz, president and general manager ; John H. Knodell, vice-president; and Anthony Seeger, secretary and treasurer. The concern stands the largest exclusive manufacturers of dining- room extension tables in the world, and its specialty is the "Victor" tables, representing the improved inventions of Mr. Munz, the
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president of the company. The products of this institution find sale in the most diverse sections of the Union, and the volume of trade is very large, with a constantly cumulative tendency. A branch salesroom is maintained at 1319 Michigan avenue, Chicago, in the Fur- niture Exposition building.
The plant of the company utilizes six acres of ground at the location previously noted. The main building has a frontage of three hundred and sixty feet on Harper avenue, this section being sixty feet in width, and the Mount Elliott avenue frontage is one hundred and fifty feet, with a width of seventy-five feet. This building is four stories in height and is substantially constructed of brick, ac- cording to the most modern ideas for factory purposes. The power building is in the main one hundred by fifty feet in dimensions and has an annex twenty-five by forty feet. The shipping room is fifty-five by seventy-five feet in dimensions. The facilities throughout, in- cluding the mechanical equipment, are of the highest type and the plant was erected in 1901, in which year the business was removed from its former location on Gratiot avenue, between Russell and Riopelle streets. In the manufac- turing department of the enterprise employ- ment is afforded to a force of two hundred and thirty operatives, about half of whom are skilled mechanics, and fifteen men are em- ployed in representing the sales department throughout the extensive trade territory cov- ered by the company. The average annual expenditure in wages is one hundred thousand dollars. On other pages of this publication appear brief sketches of the careers of the president and the secretary and treasurer of the company.
THE SULLIVAN PACKING COMPANY.
Under the title here noted is conducted one of the important and successful business en- terprises of Detroit, and the interested princi- pals in the concern, which is a corporation, are James J. Sullivan, Frank J. Sullivan, Mark M. Fleischman, William Wreford and Alfred Roe. James J. Sullivan, founder of the enter-
prise and president of the company, is one of the well known and essentially representative live-stock commission men of Detroit, and he is connected with the live-stock exchange of this city, as well as that of the city of Buffalo, New York.
The prosperous industry here considered was founded in 1895, by James J. Sullivan, and at the start employment was given to only twelve persons. The cattle killed each week did not at that time aggregate more than sev- enty-five head. The company now employs a force of fifty men in the abattoir, and twelve men, utilizing an equal number of wagons, are employed in the delivering of products.
The business was conducted as a copartner- ship, under the title of the Sullivan Beef Com- pany, until April 2, 1908, when it was incor- porated under the present title and with a cap- ital stock of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The officers of the company are as here noted : James J. Sullivan, president ; Mark M. Fleischman, vice-president; William Wre- ford, second vice-president ; Frank J. Sullivan, secretary, treasurer and general manager; Alexander McFall, superintendent of the pack- ing plant; and William Flanigan, superintend- ent of the abattoir.
The abattoir, packing house and general of- fices of the Sullivan Packing Company are located at the juncture of Beecher avenue and the tracks of the Michigan Central Railroad. A frontage of five hundred and forty feet is owned on the avenue mentioned and the grounds utilized extend back therefrom a dis- tance of one hundred and seventy feet to a spur track of the Michigan Central, through which railroad the best of shipping facilities are controlled. The plant is the most modern of the kind in Michigan. The buildings are of brick, steel and concrete construction and were erected in 1906 and 1908. The machin- ery and other accessories are of the most modern type known to the business and thus insure perfection of output. The cold-storage rooms have a capacity for the housing of four hundred beeves, five hundred lambs and two hundred calves, and the capacity of the ice plant is sixty tons per day. The packing plant
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has facilities for the slaughtering and packing of three thousand hogs per week. All the hoisting and transferring machinery is oper- ated by electric power, and the sanitary equip- ment of the entire plant is as nearly perfect as scientific principles and scrupulous care can make it. The by-products of the abattoir and packing house are treated in sanitary, odorless rendering-tanks, and from this department of the enterprise are produced two grades of tal- low and a valuable dry fertilizer. The com- pany has its own power plant and generates its own electricity for mechanical and lighting purposes. The establishment as an entirety is a veritable model. The abattoir handles an average of three hundred and fifty head of cattle, four hundred lambs, one hundred and fifty calves, and from twenty-five hundred to three thousand hogs each week, and the annual transactions represent an average aggregate of fully two and one-half millions of dollars.
Within the year 1908 the company has erected a packing plant, placed in operation in October of that year. The building is four stories in height, and its equipment through- out is the acme of perfection. There has been adopted a new system, by which the slaughter- ing is done on the top floor, from which the products are worked downward through the various processes. Improved facilities are to be noted on every side, including provisions for the scraping of the hogs by machinery. The latest improved sausage machinery has been installed, and the coolers are of the best type. Operations involve the slaughtering and handling of three thousand hogs a week, and the finest grades of ham, bacon, lard, sausage, etc., are turned out in this fine establishment.
The output of the plant is utilized princi- pally in the retail markets of Detroit and the state, and the cattle and hogs are procured from the stockyards of Kansas City, Omaha, Chicago and Detroit. Particular discrimina- tion is brought to bear in the selection of stock. The company's plant has a storage capacity for the accommodation of fifteen thousand beef hides, five thousand calf skins and five thousand sheep pelts. All of these products must be rehandled and repiled at least once
in every thirty days, in order to prevent de- terioriation or spontaneous combustion. There is also storage capacity for one hundred casks of tallow. These brief statements indicate that the industry is one of no minor importance and no small scope, and it is ably managed in every department.
WALKER & COMPANY.
When one stops to consider the progressive- ness of Detroit's captains of industry and the many channels in which their energies are di- rected, it is not surprising that the city has forged to the front industrially and commer- cially. An idea of the diversity of interests represented is to be gleaned from a perusal of the various descriptive and biographical sketches appearing within the pages of this work, and in this connection the concern whose name introduces this article is well entitled to consideration. The company manufactures electric signs and a variety of other styles of commercial signs, figures as an effective dis- tributor of out-door advertising and is one of the leading bill-posting concerns of the United States. It controls a large business in its several departments.
The enterprise dates its foundation from the year 1862, when William and John D. Walk- er, uncle and brother respectively of the pres- ent president of the company, established the business under the title at present maintained, though the original concern was a copartner- ship. Like many another Detroit concern with so long a history, Walker & Company began operations upon a very modest scale, though one adequate for the demands of lo- cality and period. At the inception a two- sheet poster was the largest display advertis- ing put forth by the firm. In 1872, the pres- ent president, Henry W. Walker, individually mentioned in this publication, became a mem- ber of the firm, whose business at that time had been extended in such a way as to effectively cover the cities of Detroit and Buffalo, and the executive force then comprised only two other men besides himself. Henry W. Walker re- mained actively identified with the firm for about a decade, and through his energy and
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progressive policy the business greatly ex- panded in scope. In 1881 he retired from the firm and resumed his connection with the lum- bering industry, with which he had previously been identified, but in 1883 he associated him- self with Charles Shaw, lessee of the Detroit opera house, and again engaged in the bill- posting business, under the original title of Walker & Company. In 1885 Mr. Walker pur- chased and assumed control of all bill boards utilized by the Detroit opera house and soon established the enterprise upon a most sub- stantial and metropolitan basis, the growth of the business being most satisfactory, while the best advertising sites, both as to location and number, were secured as rapidly as they be- came available. The firm maintained from the start a high reputation for honorable busi- ness methods, and the result has been that to-day the concern is recognized as one of the most popular, as well as one of the largest and most progressive, in the Union. No other in the growth of the business caused a removal the same province of enterprise has in its chosen domain so many eligible locations con- trolled for advertising purposes, has a superior order of equipments and facilities, or gives better service. Nearly all the bill boards used are constructed of sheet iron and the utmost care is given to affording attractive advertis- ing of the most advanced modern type. In 1905 the firm began the manufacturing of electric signs, as a supplement to their regular commercial-sign department, and this feature of the enterprise has gained distinctive popu- lar approval and support, many of the most attractive electric signs in Detroit being pro- ducts of the manufactory of Walker & Com- pany. In March, 1906, the business was in- corporated under the laws of the state, with a capital stock of twenty-five thousand dollars, and Henry W. Walker became president and general manager of the new corporation, while his son, Harry C. Walker, one of the alert and enterprising business men of the younger generation in Detroit, is the secretary and treasurer, proving an able coadjutor to his father. The company employ a force of sixty to eighty experts in the sign and bill-posting
department, have four solicitors, and an office corps of nine persons. Their bill boards cover not only the city of Detroit, but also Wyan- dotte, Trenton, Monroe, Ecorse, Ypsilanti, and the St. Clair Flats, and the general dis- tributing business of the concern has reached gigantic proportions, the facilities controlled being such that the largest and best advertisers have recourse to the services of the company. Both of the executive officers of the company are members of the Associated Bill Posters and Distributers of the United States and Canada, and Harry C. Walker is a director of this organization, while Henry W. was one of the organizers and original directors. The ad- vertisers of Detroit may well find satisfaction in the facilities offered by this concern, whose plant is uniformly recognized as being one of the best equipped in the country, while the re- liability of the service is of the highest.
Their being members of the National As- sociation enables them to get absolutely relia- ble service in every city of two thousand in- habitants or over in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Cuba. This organization is one of the most complete, reliable and important ever organized in America, each member having a complete list of all other members' boards, capacity, prices and scope.
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