Compendium of history and biography of the city of Detroit and Wayne County, Michigan, Part 38

Author: Burton, Clarence Monroe, 1853-1932
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Chicago H. Taylor & Co.
Number of Pages: 858

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The large and distinctively modern plant of the company is located at the corner of Gratiot avenue and Superior street, and the equipment in every department is of the best type. The main brewery building is one hundred and forty feet square, and the building devoted to the bottling department is one hundred feet square. The average annual output is sixty thousand barrels, and the product is sold largely in Detroit and its environs, where the demand for the same is steady and cumulative. The concern pays out annually in wages about sixty-five thousand dollars and employment is given to an average of seventy men. With ample capital and the best of management the company has handled its business with due conservatism and has at all times placed its product at a trade premium in demand, by rea- son of the fact that absolute purity and proper handling have been demanded in every phase of the work, both mechanical and chemical. The concern has gained a high reputation and controls a large and substantial business.

THE MANUFACTURERS' POWER BUILD- ING COMPANY.

This company was organized in 1906, in March of which year it was incorporated with a capital stock of twelve thousand dollars, and the personnel of its official corps is as follows : F. G. Skinner, president; Edward J. Roney,

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vice-president; and Jacob C. Danziger, sec- main building is four hundred and fifty by one retary and treasurer. The company , was formed for the purpose of owning and oper- ating building used by the Detroit Motor Cast- ings Company, the Cowles & Danziger Com- pany, and the Smith Chandelier Company, to which concerns it is practically an auxiliary, its interested principals being connected with one or more of the companies mentioned. Thus the concern exercises important func- tions and it is a distinct acquisition to the city of Detroit as an industrial and manufacturing center. The allied companies are elsewhere mentioned in this work, in which also appear sketches of the officers noted above.

THE WHITEHEAD & KALES IRON WORKS.

Contributing its quota to the industrial pre- eminence of Detroit and controlling a large and substantial business in its prescribed line of manufacturing, this well known company dates its inception from the year 1899, when the firm of Whitehead & Kales was formed. The firm instituted practical operations in a building at the corner of Randolph and Frank- lin streets, and from a modest beginning, in- volving the employment of only twenty-five men, the business has grown year by year until it is now recognized as one of the representa- tive industries of the metropolies of Michigan, having unexcelled facilities and resting on most secure financial and technical foundations. The original firm title was retained until 1905, when the business was incorporated under the laws of the state, as the Whitehead & Kales Iron Works. The capital stock of the com- pany is one hundred thousand dollars and the personnel of the official corps of the institution is as here noted: James T. Whitehead, presi- dent and treasurer; William R. Kales, vice- president and designing engineer; and James T. Warner, secretary. The office and plant of the company are located at the juncture of Beecher avenue and the Michigan Central Railroad. Here an ample tract of ground is owned and here are established the substan- tial and finely equipped modern buildings which constitute the company's plant. The

hundred and fifty-five feet in dimensions, and the other buildings, including storehouses, are in harmony with the main structure. The best of transportation facilities are afforded by the proximity of the Michigan Central Railroad, with whose lines are connected the four side- tracks constructed on the grounds of the iron works. The company now gives employment to an average force of two hundred persons. The annual pay roll represents an expenditure of about sixty-five thousand dollars, and the trade of the concern now extends throughout the middle west and the Pacific coast sections. Careful management, progressive policies and able technical supervision have made the growth of the enterprise especially rapid and substantial, and its continued expansion along normal channels is assured. The company are builders of structures in steel, including bridges, jails and prisons, and manufacture architectural and ornamental iron work, trav- eling, gantry and jib cranes, turntables, indus- trial railways, cars, trolleys, etc., coal-handling plants, iron-ore buckets, tanks, smokestacks and breechings, and turn out all kinds of heavy and light sheet-iron work. Individual mention of the officers of the company is made elsewhere in this volume.

0. WARDELL & SONS.

In the middle '70s Detroit was a city of about one hundred and fifty thousand popula- tion and here has been vouchsafed within the intervening years a substantial and normal ad- vancement along material and civic lines, so that at the opening of the year 1908 the city stands as an industrial and commercial center of nearly an half million population. This growth has implied the expansion of the terri- tory of the city to a notable extent, that due provision might be made for the many manu- facturing plants and the houses demanded for the accommodation of the greatly augmented number of inhabitants. In this connection a work of great magnitude has been done by the reliable and enterprising real-estate dealers of the city, and through their discriminating ef-

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forts marked impetus has been given to this march of progress and industrial development. One of the oldest and best known of the real- estate firms of Detroit is that whose title initi- ates this paragraph, and as real-estate dealers and auctioneers no concern in the city can claim greater prestige and popularity. The reputa- tion of the concern rests upon the solid foun- dation of more than thirty-five years of fair and honorable dealings, and the founder of the firm still remains its executive head.

In 1873 Orrin Wardell established himself in Detroit as a dealer in and auctioneer of real estate, and he has since been continuously and prominently identified with this important de- partment of business enterprise. He conducted the business individually until 1882, when his elder son, Charles R. Wardell, was admitted to partnership, under the firm name of O. War- dell & Son. This title obtained until 1887, when the younger son, Fred, was admitted to partnership and the present firm name adopted. The offices of the business were established in the Walker block from the time that the founder entered this field of enterprise in De- troit up to a few months ago, when they re- moved to 1223 Majestic building. Individual mention of the three members of the firm is made on other pages of this volume.

The priority of the firm of O. Wardell & Sons in the especial function of real-estate auctioneering is best illustrated by the volume of business transacted. Fully seventy-five per cent. of all the real estate sold at auction in Detroit and its environs has been handled by this firm, and among the most important sales may be noted the following: The Eureka Iron Works, at Wyandotte, involving an ag- gregate of one hundred and forty thousand dollars; the Trumbull avenue holdings of Waldo A. Avery and Michael J. Murphy, two hundred thousand dollars; and the sale of the property of the City Savings Bank for its trustee, the Union Trust Company. The firm also conducted the sale of the furnishings of the Griswold House in 1893, disposing of about sixteen hundred articles within a period of twelve hours, and in 1905 were sold by the

firm the furnishings of two hundred rooms of the old Russell House.

O. Wardell & Sons have made a specialty of the sale of subdivision property, and in this field have done a large and successful business. Their operations have extended into the most diverse sections of the state of Michigan and they are at the present time handling in this line a large business in the city of Cleveland, Ohio. They are members of the Detroit Board of Commerce and the Detroit Real Estate Board, and the interested principals are num- bered among the honored and representative business men of the city. The firm has been conspicuously identified with the development and upbuilding of Mount View Park, located at Waterford, Michigan, where about fifteen cottages have been erected and where the col- ony is also provided with a first-class café service by the authorities in control of the resort. Among the representative citizens of Detroit who have erected cottages in this beautiful park may be mentioned Dr. C. C. Miller, H. F. James, George Hammond, Charles Burton, W. C. Dailey, O. Wardell, and Charles R. Wardell.

THE EKHARDT & BECKER BREWING COMPANY.

A concern of magnitude and with the best of facilities for the prosecution of its special line of industry, this company ranks as one of the leading manufacturers of high-grade beer in Detroit. The company was incorporated in 1891, with a capital stock of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and it succeeded to the business of the firm of Ekhardt & Becker, which was formed in September, 1873, and which was in turn the successor of John Koch, who established the Michigan brewery at 244 Russell street. The original plant had a capacity for the output of about ten thousand barrels annually, and the incorporation of the present stock company was brought about to meet the exigencies of the large and constantly increasing business which had been built up by honorable methods and superior product. At the time of the organization of the com-

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pany a tract of land was purchased at the cor- distributing center. The company was organ- ner of Orleans and Winder streets. On the former street the frontage is two hundred feet and on the latter three hundred and fifty feet, so that ample accommodations were afforded for the erection of the fine new plant. The buildings are of substantial brick and stone construction and the plant now has a capacity for the output of fifty thousand barrels a year, -a capacity that is fully tested by the trade demands placed upon the institution. The bottling department is modern in every re- spect, and the ice plant has a capacity of one hundred and thirty-five tons a day. The prod- uct of this establishment is admitted to be of the highest standard of excellence, and the popular appreciation of this fact is shown in the substantial trade controlled. The company gives employment to a force of about fifty men, exclusive of office assistants, and the average annual expenditure in wages is thirty-five thousand dollars. The company is rapidly in- creasing its scope of operations and its execu- tive and technical principals are men of marked business ability and thorough experience. The brewmaster of the plant, August H. Ekhardt, is one of the youngest in the state and is con- sidered one of the most successful. All de- partments are in charge of men who have be- come most favorably known to the trade, and every care is taken to insure absolute perfec- tion of sanitary provisions and purity and evenness of product.

The personnel of the executive corps of the Ekhardt & Becker Brewing Company is as here indicated: August Ekhardt, president; August Voss, vice-president; and William H. Becker, secretary and treasurer. August Ek- hardt, William H. Becker and Louis Becker are the managing directors.

THE DETROIT HOIST & MACHINE COM- PANY.

This company controls one of the unique industrial enterprises of Detroit and one which has, through its successful operation, con- tributed in both a direct and collateral way to the prestige of the city as a manufacturing and

ized in 1905, as the Pilling Air Engine Com- pany, and the title was later changed to the present form,-the Detroit Hoist & Machine Company. The business was duly incorporated under the laws of the state, with a capital stock of twenty thousand dollars, which was in- creased to thirty-five thousand dollars in the following year, to meet the demands of the expanding business. The interested principals in the organization of the company were Jo- siah C. Fleming, of Chicago, who became president of the corporation, and Frank L. Bromley, who became secretary and treas- urer. The concern leased a portion of the plant of the Detroit Stoker & Foun- dry Company, and utilized the same until 1907, when the present finely equipped plant was erected, near Clay avenue, at the crossing of the Grand Trunk Railway, where the com- pany had purchased three acres of ground for the purpose. The company manufacture pneu- matic hoists, pneumatic motors for use in con- nection with the operation of railway cranes, and also other specialties of kindred order. The trade of the concern extends throughout the United States and Canada and the prod- ucts are of recognized superiority, thus con- stituting their own advertisement and insur- ing the continuous growth and the definite solidity of the industry. Employment is given to twenty-five skilled artisans, and the force is certain to be increased from time to time, as the expansion of the business requires. The original officers of the company still retain their respective executive positions, and J. Wil- fred Thompson has been added to the list, in the office of vice-president.

THE KOLB-GOTFREDSON HORSE COM- PANY.

With Detroit headquarters at 1093 to 1113 Gratiot avenue, this concern transacts a large and important business as dealers in and com- mission salesmen of horses and also as dealers in carriages, buggies, wagons, harness, etc. At the establishment of the company auction sales of draft, driving, saddle and farm horses

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are held every Thursday and Saturday, at ten o'clock A. M., and private sales are held daily. In the carriage and harness department are handled all kinds of carriages and buggies of the light driving order, and a specialty is made of harness equipment of all kinds, saddlery, and turf supplies, as well as delivery wagons and lumber and dump wagons. The company was incorporated under the laws of the state in August, 1905, with a capital stock of sixty thousand dollars, and it succeeded to the busi- ness founded by Jacob Kolb in 1878. Thus the enterprise under the corporate regime was in- stituted with ample capitalistic reinforcement and a high and well established reputation for fair and honorable dealings. In January, 1908, the business was incorporated, with capital stock of $150,000. The officers of the company are as here noted : Jacob Kolb, Sr., president; William D. Fox, vice-president; and Benjamin Gotfredson, secretary and treasurer. All of the interested principals are thoroughly expe- rienced in their line of business, being authori- tative judges of the values of horses, and the company is the largest concern of the kind in the middle west. In 1907 twelve thousand horses were sold through its agency, and an average of fully thirty-six thousand dollars is paid out annually in wages to employes. In the carriage and harness department an exten- sive trade also is controlled. The company owns the building occupied, and the same is substantially constructed of brick, is eighty- four by two hundred and twenty feet in di- mensions, three stores in height and represents the expenditure of thirty thousand dollars. This fine, modern building, which has the best of equipment throughout, was erected in 1905. The company has an accumulated surplus of forty thousand dollars, and this reserve is be- ing used with due care and conservatism in the expansion of the business. A review of the career of the president of the company appears on other pages of this publication.

THE ENTERPRISE FOUNDRY COMPANY.

Under the above title is conducted one of the thriving and well ordered industrial en-

terprises which contribute to the sum total of the great commercial prestige of the city of Detroit. The business, like many others of this city, was initiated on a small scale, and it has been expanded to an enterprise of large scope and importance, through the ability of the interested principals and through the su- periority of the products. The company manu- factures gray-iron, brass and aluminum cast- ings, and also does a general jobbing business along the line of its manufactured products, making a specialty of light castings. The in- dustry is the outgrowth of the labors and ener- gies of men practical in the business, and the success which has attended the same is grati- fying to note in connection with that of other enterprises which are likewise contributing their quota to the upbuilding of the greater Detroit.

The Enterprise Foundry Company, which well merits its title, was organized in 1896 and was incorporated under the laws of the state, with a capital stock of five thousand dollars. Those concerned in the establishing of the busi- ness under these circumstances were George S. Cuddy, Charles W. Carolin and John Goschen- hofer, all of whom are practical moulders and foundry men and all of whom had previously been skilled employes at their trade. Relying upon their technical knowledge and their com- mon interest in inaugurating independent busi- ness careers, they established the new enter- prise, though their capitalistic reinforcement was but limited. The original plant covered three lots, at the junction of Warren avenue and the lines of the Michigan Central Rail- road, and operations were started with a force of but eight men. The present plant, located on Warren avenue and the Belt Line, is essen- tially modern in its equipment and appurte- nances, so that the business suffers no handicap in the matter of facilities for the expeditious and effective handling of all work undertaken. The company's buildings now occupy two acres of ground and were erected in 1905-6. They are of reinforced concrete construction, and the pattern building is thoroughly fire-proof. Employment is given to a force of one hun- dred and fifteen persons, of whom seventy-five

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are skilled mechanics, and the aggregate of wages paid out by the concern for the year 1907 is represented in the sum of eighty-two thousand dollars. The output is sold princi- pally in Detroit and a large portion of the work of this finely equipped foundry is turned out on contract. The trade is secure and substan- tial and is constantly expanding, thus showing that the company's reputation for reliability and high-grade work is amply justified. The capital stock is now thirty thousand dollars, and the personnel of the executive corps is as follows: Frank Smith, president; Emil Van Wanseelee, vice-president; George S. Cuddy, treasurer; and Charles W. Carolin, general manager and sales agent. The president, Mr. Smith, who is a representative real-estate dealer of Detroit, has been identified with the company since 1898, and the vice-president, who is also the mechanical engineer of the con- cern, became a stockholder and executive of- ficer in 1899. Mr. Cuddy, the treasurer, also has charge of the experimental department, and John Goschenhofer, Jr., is superintendent of the foundry department. The technical ability of the officers of the company, together with their distinctive community of interests, insures continuous success to the enterprise, which is well entitled to representation in this publication.

THE TIVOLI BREWING COMPANY.

In manifold lines of industrial activity has Detroit gained a position of pre-eminence, and here are found represented practically all lines of legitimate business enterprise which any other metropolitan centers can claim. The brewing interests of the Michigan metropolis find a progressive and effective exemplifica- tion in the enterprise conducted under the title which initiates this article, and the energized ability brought to bear in an executive way is equalled by the superiority of the product of the concern.

The Tivoli Brewing Company was organ- ized in 1898 and was incorporated under the laws of the state, with a capital stock of one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars, so

that it is amply fortified in both financial and administrative agencies. The able triumvirate which effected the incorporation was Messrs. Bernhard Verstine, Louis W. Schimmel and Franz Brogniez. The first named is president of the company, but takes no active part in the management of the business, and the other of- ficers of the company at the present time are as here noted : A. James Singelyn, vice-president and treasurer; and Louis W. Schimmel, secre- tary and general manager.

The plant of the company is one of model type in every detail and is eligibly located on Mack avenue at the corner of Hurlbut street, where two and one-half acres of ground are owned and utilized. The capacity of the in- stitution at the inception of its operations was forty thousand barrels per annum, and the ef- fective generalship of the officers of the con- cern made the industry distinctively successful from the start, for in no respect is the pro- duct permitted to go forth to the trade until the ultimate of excellence has been attained. The result is that the Tivoli beer has been its own advertiser, justifying the old English adage that "Good wine needs no bush," the old cus- tom having been for the English public wine houses to place over the door a bush from some tree as the designating advertisement. Exten- sive improvements were made at the plant in 1907, including the erection of a new office building, the providing of fine storage cellars and wash house, and the installation of an ice plant of one hundred tons capacity. The build- ings are all of fire-proof construction and the plant stands as a veritable model. The output for 1907 was sixty-five thousand barrels, and the product finds its largest demand in the city of Detroit, while the outside trade is increasing with such rapidity as to test the capacity of the institution. Employment is given to an ade- quate force in each of the various departments. The concern utilizes thirty horses in the work of its delivery department, and the animals are of the best type and kept with utmost care. Thus the teams and wagons of the company at- tract attention by reason of their superiority. The company also operates one automobile truck, being one of two breweries in the city

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to adopt this modern accessory. The institu- tion has forged rapidly to the front within the decade of its existence and its products are recognized as being unexcelled by those of any other local brewery. The officers in charge are each specially well equipped for the han- dling of assigned work, and are known as pro- gressive and reliable business men. The vice- president and treasurer, Mr. Singelyn, has supervision of the financial and sales depart- ments of the business; the secretary and gen- eral manager, Mr. Schimmel, has charge of the details of manufacture and of the accounting and correspondence department; and Adolph Wandrie, a thoroughly skilled and practical operative, is brewmaster of the concern.

THE INDEPENDENT BREWING COM- PANY.

An effective representative of the brewing

interests in the state of Michigan is the com- pany whose name initiates this paragraph and whose business has reached large and substan- tial proportions. The company was incorpor- ated under the laws of Michigan in 1906, with a capital stock of seventy-five thousand dollars and with the following named organizers : John Coll, William F. Zoeller, William Unruh, George H. Schmitt, August Graunau, Robert Kunze, and Frederick Wentzel. The company forthwith effected the purchase of one acre of ground at the juncture of Springwells avenue and the tracks of the Michigan Central Rail- road, and upon this site was erected in the same year the present modern and finely equipped plant, which has a capacity for the output of thirty-five thousand barrels of beer per annum. The most scrupulous care is given to every detail of manufacture, thus insuring a product of maximum excellence.

Department of Biography 1

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ALEXANDER LEWIS.

A publication of this nature exercises its most important function when it takes cog- nizance, through proper memorial tribute, of the life and labors of so distinguished a citizen as the late Alexander Lewis, who became a resident of Detroit in the year which marked the admission of Michigan to the Union and who rose to prominence and prosperity through his own well directed efforts. He served as mayor of Detroit in the centennial year of our national independence, he ever stood exponent of the most leal and loyal citizenship, and was a gracious, noble personality whose memory will be long cherished and venerated in the beautiful city in which he continued to make his home until his death, which occurred on the morning of Saturday, April 18, 1908. At the time of his demise he was one of the most venerable and most honored pioneer residents of the fair "City of the Straits."

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Compendium of history and biography of the city of Detroit and Wayne County, Michigan, Part 38

Author: Burton, Clarence Monroe, 1853-1932 Publication date: 1909 Publisher: Chicago H. Taylor & Co. Number of Pages: 858

Author: Burton, Clarence Monroe, 1853-1932
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Chicago H. Taylor & Co.
Number of Pages: 858