USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > Compendium of history and biography of the city of Detroit and Wayne County, Michigan > Part 36
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115
THE C. PFEIFFER BREWING COMPANY.
To note those enterprises which stand as representative in their respective lines of in- dustry as bearing upon the precedence and com- mercial activity of the city of Detroit, is one of the prime desiderata in the compilation of this work, and under these conditions the company named above demands particular recognition, being one of the important concerns of the sort in the city and being conducted upon the prin- ciples of strict commercial integrity.
The C. Pfeiffer Brewing Company, which succeeded to the brewing business established by Conrad Pfeiffer in 1898, was organized and incorporated as a stock company on the 2d of March, 1902, with a capital of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The growth of the enterprise had been such as to demand this process of amplification and extension of com- mercial latitude. The well equipped plant, modern in every detail, is located at Nos. 908 to 940 Beaufait avenue, on which thoroughfare the company has a frontage of four hundred feet, while the premises extend back a distance of one hundred and five feet to the Michigan Central Railroad. The new brew house, a substantial brick structure three stories in height and with a floor space of nine thousand square feet, was erected in 1907, at a cost of twenty-five thousand dollars, and is a-model in every particular, its facilities being unexcelled by those of any brewery in the city. The ice
229
DETROIT AND WAYNE COUNTY
plant has a capacity of ninety tons a day and in the prosecution of the flourishing busi- ness this capacity is fully utilized. The out- put of the brewery for the year 1907 was thirty-five thousand barrels, of which about fifteen per cent. was bottled. The company's products are utilized principally by the trade in the city of Detroit, and so secure is the de- mand of this local trade that no special effort has. been made to extend the same into ex- traneous territory. The business gives em- ployment to a force of forty men,-in the manufacturing, distributing and office depart- ments,-and the amount represented on the annual pay roll, aside from the salaries of the officers of the company, is fully thirty thou- sand dollars. The concern pays to the city in water tax seven hundred dollars annually. Under the new regime the business of the company has rapidly and substantially ex- panded, and the very popularity of the product is the best attest of its superiority and of the correct business methods brought to bear in the prosecution of the enterprise.
The personnel of the official corps of the C. Pfeiffer Brewing Company is as here desig- nated: Conrad Pfeiffer, president; Martin Breitmeyer, vice-president and treasurer; and Henry C. Deitz, secretary. The executive du- ties assigned to these officials are as follows : The president has charge of the manufactur- ing and of the sales and purchasing depart- ments; the finances of the company are, of course, in charge of the treasurer, who is also vice-president; and the secretary has the su- pervision of the accounting department and general detail work of the office. Individual mention of these three representative business men is made in this volume.
THE DETROIT STEEL PULLEY COMPANY.
Another of the unique industrial enterprises which add to the extent and variety of the manufactured products which bear the prestige of the city afar, as being "made in Detroit," is that represented by the Detroit Steel Pulley Company, which was organized and incorpo-
rated in the fall of 1905, with a capital stock of fifty thousand dollars, and with interested principals as here noted: Daniel T. McNiel, Paul C. McNiel, Walter C. McNiel, John M. Parker, Charles R. Dennen, and Arthur W. Johnston. The personnel of the first execu- tive corps was as follows: Daniel T. McNiel, president; John M. Parker, vice-president; and Paul C. McNiel, secretary and treasurer. No change has been made in the executive force since the incorporation of the company. The well equipped plant of the company is lo- cated at the corner of Bellevue avenue and Warren avenue east, and the main factory building is a brick structure, ninety by one hundred and sixty-eight feet in dimension. Operations were instituted with a force of only four employes, but such has been the growth of the enterprise that at the present time the services of twenty skilled artisans are required and also a number of unskilled workmen are retained on the pay roll, which represents an average expenditure of about fifteen thousand dollars. The company confines itself to the manufacturing of split-steel belt pulleys, the patents on which are owned by the corpora- tion, whose president, Daniel T. McNiel, is the patentee. The pulleys turned out by this com- pany have met with most favorable reception and having proven to have all the good quali- ties to be claimed for wooden pulleys, besides many points which render them unmistakably superior in insuring effective operation and also economy and safety. The practically in- destructible nature of the devise, of course, im- plies economy wherever it is used. The output of the concern is sold principally to the job- bing trade, and the pulleys are now in use in the most diverse sections of the United States. Their introduction constitutes their best ad- vertising, and the business of the company is rapidly expanding, so that an enlargement of its plant will be necessitated in the near future.
On other pages of this work is entered a brief review of the career of Daniel T. McNiel, president of the company, and in the same will also be found specific mention of his sons, both of whom are stockholders in the same company.
230
DETROIT AND WAYNE COUNTY
THE CAILLE BROTHERS COMPANY.
One of the notable industrial enterprises of Detroit which have given the city a place among the leading manufacturing cen- ters of the world is that conducted by the corporation whose title initiates this paragraph. The company are the largest manufacturers of coin slot apparatus in the world, and the Detroit plant of the concern, at 1300-1340 Second avenue, is likewise the largest of all factories devoted to this line of manufacture. The gigantic enterprise is fur- ther conspicuous from the fact that it repre- sents the concrete results of the technical skill, progressive ideas and energy of business men of the younger generation,-men whose fine initiative talent has enabled them to build up a magnificent industry within the space of com- paratively few years. The enormous sales of the coin slot machines of the Caille Brothers Company testify to the distinctive merits of the products and to the popular appreciation of the manifold devices of this line sent out by the concern into all sections of the civilized world.
The Caille Brothers Company was incor- porated under the laws of the state of Michi- gan in 1901, and its operations are based on a capital stock of three hundred thousand dol- lars. Coin-controlling machines of fully eighty different types are manufactured and each is of the best mechanical construction, backed by the positive guaranty of the company. The an- nual output of the plant has now reached the enormous average of fully twelve thousand machines, all of which are protected by patents issued to the Caille brothers, who are the in- ventors of the various mechanical devices em- ployed. The business had its inception in 1893, when the Caille Company was organized and began operations on a modest scale in the city of Saginaw, Michigan, where the headquar- ters were maintained until 1896, when A. Arthur Caille and Adolph A. Caille, the two in- terested principals, came to Detroit and here laid the foundation for the present enterprise controlled by their company. Both brothers are practical mechanics and specially skilled as artisans, and both have shown distinctive ability in the invention of mechanical devices. The
original factory in Detroit was one of modest order and was located at the corner of Wood- ward and Baltimore avenues, from which lo- cation the removal was made to the corner of Second and Amsterdam avenues in 1904. At the latter and eligible location was erected the fine, modern plant utilized by the company at the present time. The large buildings are sub- stantially constructed of brick and stone, and the main building, one hundred and twenty by three hundred and fifty feet in dimensions, is three stories in height, not including the base- ment. The factory proper lies at the rear of the main building and is one story in height. In the prosecution of the various details of manufacture employment is given to an aver- age force of three hundred persons, of whom fully seventy-five per cent. are skilled me- chanics, and the average annual expenditure in wages and salaries aggregates two hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. In capacity, out- put and extent of business controlled, the con- cern outranks all others of the kind in the world, and its value to Detroit is large, both in a direct and collateral way. It is not within the province of this article to enter into details concerning the products of this great indus- trial institution, but the literature issued by the company gives all information that can be asked in this regard. Agencies are maintained by the company in the leading cities of the United States, as well as in those of European countries and other foreign lands. The stock of the company is virtually controlled by the Caille brothers, of whom A. Arthur Caille is president and general manager, and Adolph A., vice-president and secretary. The former has the general supervision of the finance and sales departments of the business, and the latter has charge of the manufacturing and the directing of the general accounting and office affairs. Personal mention of the brothers is made on other pages of this volume.
THE NATIONAL TWIST DRILL & TOOL COMPANY.
Contributing its quota to the industrial pres- tige and commercial importance of Detroit is
231
DETROIT AND WAYNE COUNTY
the company to a description of whose rise and splendid progress this article is devoted. The company was organized primarily through the efforts of P. J. Hoenscheid, the present manager, and it was duly incorporated under the laws of the state November 3, 1903, basing its operations upon a capital stock of seventy- five thousand dollars. Mr. Hoenscheid has been identified with this line of enterprise for more than a quarter of a century, having been for many years connected with the various twist-drill companies and being recognized as an expert mechanic and as one well fortified in technical and practical knowledge. He has been manager of the manufacturing depart- ment of the National Twist Drill & Tool Com- pany from the time of its inception and of him individual mention is made on other pages of this publication. The officers of the company are as follows: William H. McGregor, presi- dent; Jonathan O. Whitaker, of Chicago, vice- president; Otto Reinhardt, treasurer; and George Mead, secretary. The concern has a fine, modern plant, located at Brush street and Grand boulevard east, and the output of the same is of the highest grade. All kinds of twist drills are manufactured, together with a multiplicity of designs in the way of small machine-tools. Special attention is given to the manufacture of tools made from high-speed steel. The trade of the company extends into the most diverse sections of the United States, and an excellent export business is also con- trolled by the company, whose affairs have been administered with distinctive ability and discrimination. The present plant of the com- pany was erected in 1907, on Brush street, near Grand boulevard, and the buildings, which are mainly of reinforced concrete, were constructed by the Detroit Concrete Stone Company. The main building is three stories in height and forty by one hundred and forty feet in dimensions, affording twenty thousand square feet of floor space. The average corps of employes numbers one hundred and twenty- five men, and of this number fully eighty-five per cent. are skilled artisans.
THE DETROIT TOOL COMPANY.
Under the above title is conducted one of the successful industrial enterprises of Detroit, and the products of the establishment are sold throughout the civilized world,-a fact which attests the value of the machines manufactured by the company.
The Detroit Tool Company was organized and incorporated in 1905, with a capital stock of five thousand dollars, and those interested in the organization were William L. Holmes, Dr. J. W. Morrison, H. T. Harding and. Harold W. Holmes. The officers of the com- pany are as follows: William L. Holmes, president ; J. W. Morrison, vice-president; M. E. Glenn, treasurer.
The plant of this corporation is located on Rivard street and is admirably equipped for the production of the Detroit combination tool, which is the name of the unique machine which constitutes the specific output of the factory. The Detroit combination tool is composed of six high-grade, scientifically designed tools, every one of which is of the highest practical use and indispensable to everyone who has use for tools. From a circular issued by the com- pany the following pertinent statements in re- gard to the unique device are taken: "It is useful to the engineer for making repairs about the steam plant, and in the engine room of a steamboat, where the question of space is so important, the value of this tool can be in- stantly appreciated. This tool may also be used to advantage by the repair crews of water works, gas systems and railroads, as it over- comes the necessity of having to return to the shop in case they want to do any drilling, forging or grinding. The automobile owner realizes that the greatest inconvenience and expense in connection with his automobile is the time that is consumed by sending the ma- chine to the shop to have even the simplest repairs made. Many times these repairs could be made by the owner or chauffeur if they had the proper tools to work with. The Detroit combination tool affords a full equipment for making all these repairs. The farmer and householder will find the Detroit combination
232
DETROIT AND WAYNE COUNTY
tool a complete workshop for the many repairs which they find necessary to make."
The Detroit combination tool represents the highest grade of material and the most perfect type of workmanship, thus insuring durability and effective service in each of its several func- tions. Its versatility of application is its chief point of appeal to all who have use for me- chanical devices. In the one machine are em- braced a forge, with a geared rotary blower, and the forge is easily and quickly adjusted to or removed from the bed piece; an anvil, made of the highest grade chilled manganese iron; a vise, with four-inch jaws of tempered tool steel, opening ten inches, and operated by a screw made of cold rolled steel and fitted with a hand wheel which has a drop-forged steel handle ; a pipe vise, operated by the same heavy screw as the vise, and capable of handling any pipe from one-eighth inch to three inches, in vertical or horizontal position ; an emery wheel, ten inches in diameter and made of the best material; a drill-press, geared two to one, giv- ing great power and speed, and fitted with a Barber adjustable chuck; transmission gears are cut, the large wheels running into phos- phor-bronze pinions, thus making as strong, durable and noiseless gears as can be made; the anvil hardy is made of the best tempered tool steel; and a crucible holder, consisting of an iron frame that rests on the forge over the fire, and used for heating crucible, glue pot or soldering iron. The machine is made in two models, and the same are adequately described in the literature issued by the company and sent to all who make application for the same. The Detroit combination tool is the joint pro- duction of Dr. J. W. Morrison and Harold W. Holmes, of Detroit.
THE HARGREAVES MANUFACTURING COMPANY.
Under this title is conducted one of the unique and important industrial enterprises of the Michigan metropolis, one whose trade ramifications are widely extended and one which contributes its quota to the commercial prestige of the city. In its functions the con- cern is one of the largest of its kind in the
world. The company was incorporated under the laws of the state in the year 1872, with a capital stock of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Its organizers were George and Samuel Hargreaves, who secured the capi- talistic support of the following named repre- sentative citizens of Detroit: William B. Wes- son, George Hendrie, William J. Chittenden, Ashley Pon'd, Thomas Ferguson, Sidney D. Miller and Hon. George V. N. Lothrop. The company purchased the block of land bounded by Lafayette avenue and Howard, Seventeenth and Eighteenth streets, and there erected a substantial factory building of brick, the struc- ture being three stories in height and having an aggregate floor space of one hundred thou- sand square feet. The facilities of the plant have been kept up to the highest standard at all times and the output is enormous each year. The company manufacture picture mouldings, frames and framed pictures of every description, including productions in oils, water colors, pastels, etchings, photogravures, chromos, etc., and their trade extends into the most diverse sections of the United States and Canada, and also penetrates definitely into England and Australia. They have resident agents in the city of London, England, and in Sydney, Australia, and their export business is large and substantial, showing a constantly cumulative tendency. In the various depart- ments of the home establishment employment is given to a force of about four hundred per- sons, and the annual pay roll represents an average expenditure of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The officers of the company are as follows: William J. Chittenden, presi- dent; Thomas E. Reeder, vice-president and general manager; Walter N. Baker, treasurer; and Charles F. Mellish, secretary and assistant manager.
The general management of the business is reposed in the able hands of Mr. Reeder, a sketch of whose career appears elsewhere in this volume; the sales department is under the superintendency of Mr. Mellish; and Mr. Baker has charge of the correspondence. The latter two officials are likewise individually mentioned in this publication.
233
DETROIT AND WAYNE COUNTY
THE DETROIT CARRIAGE COMPANY.
It is well within the province of this pub- lication to make specific mention of those in- dustrial enterprises through which is upheld the high commercial prestige of the city of Detroit, and as contributory in this respect the industry conducted under the above title is one of no little importance. The business is the outgrowth of that established under the name of the Detroit Carriage Manufacturing Company, in 1898, when the company was in- corporated with a capital stock of fifty thou- sand dollars and with officers as follows: Herman Roehm, president; Daniel S. Giles, vice-president and manager; and George E. Moody, secretary and treasurer. The com- pany engaged in the manufacturing of high- grade carriages, establishing a well equipped plant in a building leased from the Rumsey Manufacturing Company and giving employ- ment to a force of seventy-five men. Within the first year twenty thousand dollars were ex- pended in the erection of a large addition to the original building, and since that time still other additions have been made, together with many incidental improvements in the equip- ment of the plant, which is now owned by the Detroit Carriage Company, which succeeded the original company.
The Detroit Carriage Company was incor- porated in 1903, and the officers of the same are as follows: Henry W. Paton, secretary ; Albert H. Roehm, treasurer. The operative force now includes one hundred and twenty- five men, the majority of whom are skilled mechanics. The average annual outlay in wages reaches an aggregate of fully sixty-five thousand dollars. The company now manu- factures fine automobile bodies, giving this branch of the enterprise precedence over the making of other vehicles, and the output is recognized for invariable superiority,-a fact which has brought the products of the factory into demand wherever automobiles are manu- factured within the United States, though the greater part of the output is utilized in Detroit, which is the recognized hub of the automobile industry.
The nucleus of the business of the Detroit Carriage Company was that started by the Rumsey Manufacturing Company, in 1886, and of this company Herman Roehm was president; Henry H. Brown, secretary; and Charles Kellogg, treasurer. William D. Rum- sey was likewise one of the interested princi- pals in the company, which engaged in the manufacturing of carriage and buggy bodies and other parts in the white,-that is, to be finished by other manufacturers. The factory was located on Clay avenue, in juxtaposition to the tracks of the Grand Trunk Railroad, and employment was originally given to thirty workmen. The plant was partially destroyed by fire in October, 1889, and in March of the following year the new plant was completed. In 1898 the plant and business passed into the control of the Detroit Carriage Manufacturing Company, as noted in the opening paragraph of this article. The business of the Detroit Carriage Company has grown to large and substantial proportions and the enterprise is one which has enlisted the energies and man- agement of business men of marked aggres- siveness and of distinctive energy and pro- gressiveness.
THE AMERICAN BREWING COMPANY.
Continued success is the ultimate criterion of merit and reliability in the industrial world, and the distinctive priority maintained by the American Brewing Company thus stands in evidence of its well authorized claims as one of the leading concerns of the sort in the state of Michigan.
This company was organized in 1890, in August of which year it was duly incorporated under the laws of the state, with a capital stock of fifty thousand dollars. The most patent voucher of the success of the enterprise is that afforded in the fact that in 1906 it was found expedient, in order to meet the demands placed upon the institution, to increase the capital stock to two hundred thousand dollars. The company succeeded to the business of the Ex- position Brewing Company, which was organ- ized in 1890, and under the new regime the
234
DETROIT AND WAYNE COUNTY
interested principals were Edward Stange, Louis Schmit, Gustav Fetters, George Sexauer, Conrad Clippert, William Zimmermann, Fred- erick Kraft, and Anthony and Charles Schmidt.
Immediately after its organization the American Brewing Company purchased four lots at the corner of Medina and Boyer streets, the tract running back a distance of two hun- dred feet, to the Detroit river. On this prop- erty was erected a fine, modern plant, with a capacity for the annual output of fifteen thou- sand barrels, and in 1904 the capacity was in- creased to thirty thousand barrels. The trade of the company now taxes this concern to practically its full capacity, and the business is principally confined to Detroit and its environs. The company does no bottling, selling its en- tire product in the keg and barrel. Employ- ment is given to a force of about forty men, and the average annual outlay in wages ag- gregates about thirty-five thousand dollars. The executive head and general superintendent and manager of the business is Edward Stange, of whom individual mention is made elsewhere in this volume; the sales department is in charge of Adolph Beckmann; the finances and correspondence are handled under the direction of Arthur S. Fetters; and Oscar Lamsens is brewmaster. The plant is equipped with the most modern apparatus, machinery and acces- sories devised for the business, and this, with the employment of thoroughly trained and skilled workmen, with perspicacious knowledge of all details, insures the finest quality and grade of production, the beer from the com- pany's establishment being recognized for its absolute purity and general excellence. The plant is in every respect a model one. The sanitary provisions are unexcelled, and abso- lute cleanliness is maintained in every depart- ment. The ice manufacturing plant, where ice is made from distilled water only, was added in 1906. This is conceded to be one of the best in the city, and this fact has gained recognition in a most conspicuous sense, as the company has furnished the distilled water ice used in 1907 by the Detroit board of health,
the municipal building and the Bagley foun- tain, on the Campus Martius.
In 1902 a reorganization of the company was effected, and the officers and board of di- rectors since that time have been as follows : Edward Stange, president; William Zimmer- man, vice-president; Leo Taube, treasurer; Arthur S. Fetters, secretary; and Oscar Lamsens, brewmaster.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.