USA > Michigan > St Joseph County > History of St. Joseph County, Michigan; Volume I > Part 29
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THREE RIVERS PUBLIC LIBRARY.
The Three Rivers Public Library is housed in one of the most striking buildings in the city and has entrances from both Main and Penn streets. It is built of vari-colored unfinished stone, its front on Main street being of a pink color and that which abuts on Penn being of a light gray color. The building is two-stories throughout, tastefully furnished and lighted by means of a beauti- ful circular sky-light of colored glass.
The foundation of the library was laid in 1887 when a few hun- dred volumes were collected by interested citizens and placed in a little room in the Kelsey block. After the collection had grown considerably, it was removed to the second floor of the State Sav- ings Bank. By July, 1897, the library had grown to such propor- tions that the township of Lockport agreed with the city to consoli- date its collection with that of the public library, in consideration of the free use of the latter for a period of ten years. Throughout all these early struggles to found a public library, up to the present time, E. B. Linsley has been at the head of the enterprise and done more than any other one man to promote it. In 1904 Andrew Car- negie offered $12,500 toward a new building, providing the manage- ment would raise the money for operating expenses. Warren J. Willits finally donated the site and the building now occupied was completed in January, 1905. Its final cost was about $25,000, Mr. Carnegie eventually increasing his first donation toward the build- ing fund.
All public requirements are not only completely met by the library, but the Woman's Club of Three Rivers is also accommo- dated with convenient and tasteful quarters. The different rooms of the library are furnished in various historical styles-the read- ing room in Louis XIV ; the delivery and director's rooms in Louis XV; and the assembly room in Moorish style. The Three Rivers public library now represents a collection of 11,000 volumes in its circulation and reference departments, besides many state docu- ments and other pamphlets. Its officers are E. B. Linsley, presi-
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dent; B. E. Andrews, vice president; M. J. Huss, secretary ; and Dr. A. W. Scidmore, director. Miss Sue I. Silliman has been the cour- teous and efficient librarian for a number of years.
FIRE PROTECTION, WATER SUPPLY, ETC.
Three Rivers is provided with protection from fire through a well-organized fire department. It was first organized in October, 1859, with fifty members. Its first engine house was in John Young's shop. The village erected its own headquarters in 1866, and until the erection of the present water works plant, in 1890, the water supply for public purposes was obtained from cisterns which were built by the city. In the year named, the village council com- pleted its plant on North street, near Rocky river, and commenced to pump the supply not only for fire, but for domestic purposes from the productive artesian vein which underlies this portion of the city. At the present time, eight wells are drawn upon for this supply, the water coming from a depth of about one hundred and eighty feet.
RIVERSIDE CEMETERY.
The Riverside Cemetery comprises more than forty-seven acres of tastefully improved grounds lying on the north bank of the St. Joseph about one mile east of the soldiers' monument on Main street ; in surveyor's terms it is located on the northeast quarter of the southwest quarter of section 17. The association which con- trols the property was organized October 2, 1858, by the election of the following officers: Edward S. Moore, president; E. H. Lo- throp, vice president; Adolphus E. Hewitt, secretary; A. C. Prutz- man, treasurer ; and nine trustees.
Three weeks afterwards, Messrs. Moore, Prutzman, James E. Kelsey and Joseph B. Millard deeded twenty acres to the Oakdale Cemetery Association (as it was originally known) for a consider- ation of $1,000. This tract included the north half of the present cemetery. In January, 1859, the name of the association was changed to the Riverside Cemetery and in 1861, twelve and one- half acres lying north of the St. Joseph river were added to the original twenty acres, the balance of the cemetery grounds being purchased several years later.
The first improvements of the cemetery grounds were made by Colonel Norman Andrews, a well known civil engineer who
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RIVERSIDE CEMETERY, WITH G. A. R. PLAT IN FOREGROUND
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worked all the winter following the organization of the associa- tion in mapping out his work. Since his time, the improvements have been carried on systematically and artistically so that the cemetery, as it now appears is a decided ornament and credit to the city of Three Rivers. Many of the old pioneers and found- ers of the cemetery now repose under its beautiful oaks and green sward-such as James E. Kelsey, Edward S. Moore and A. C. Prutzman. Most of the remains of the old pioneers are buried along Central avenue which was the original entrance to the cemetery.
Among the most striking features of the grounds are the elegant chapel and memorial hall in which religious services are often held for the honored dead, and the huge granite boulder which marks the resting place of the veterans of the Civil war, connected with the E. M. Prutzman post, G. A. R .; the imposing boulder is native to St. Joseph county and was dedicated as a memorial to the "boys in blue" on May 30, 1903. In the same year the memorial chapel was completed at a cost of $3,600.
As shown by the records of the associations, the first lots were purchased by Hon. E. S. Moore and Col. Andrews, February 28, 1861.
James E. Kelsey succeeded Mr. Moore as president, and was followed in 1866 by John W. Frey, who commenced to serve in 1866; Abram C. Prutzman in 1868; Henry Yawney in 1871; Samuel P. Adams, 1874; Richmond E. Case, 1878; James F. Thoms, 1884, and Luther T. Wilcox, 1900. Warren J. Willits was head of the association from 1900 to 1902, when Dr. A. C. Sheldon was elected president and is still serving.
Judge David M. Bateman followed Mr. Hewitt as secretary in 1863; Newton H. Barnard assumed the office in 1885; J. H. Huy- ler in 1886; Judge R. R. Pealer in 1888; Hosea Burch, 1890; Allen H. Huyler, 1895, and William E. Barnard (still in office), 1896.
There have been but two treasurers of the association : Stephen Kelsey, 1858-85, and Jeff P. McKee from the latter year to 1910.
THE SHEFFIELD CAR COMPANY.
The Sheffield Car Company which covers forty acres of ground in the Second ward of the southern part of the city of Three Rivers, employs twelve hundred men and controls the following four corporations :
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The Three Rivers Electric Works.
The Three Rivers Brass Works.
The Three Rivers Velocipede Car Company.
The Three Rivers Railway Supply Company.
The Sheffield Car Company, as a corporation, is one of the largest manufacturers of light motor cars (up to the size of a street car) and other railway specialties in the United States: also turns out dump cars, mining cars, marine engines, stand pipes, electrical machinery, and an endless variety of drills and track tools.
When it is considered that the total population of the city is about 4,500, its importance to the business stability of Three Rivers may be well understood. In fact, it is not going too far to say that about one-third the total population of the place directly depends upon the Sheffield Car Company for its livelihood. In full justice to the management of this great corporation, it should also be stated that its generous treatment of employees is in line with the most advanced ideas; for not only are the wages paid to its skilled labor up to the full standard, but schools of instruc- tion have been established on the grounds by which many defects in earlier education may be remedied by ambitious youth and men. These schools are in session on an average of two nights a week. Boys who are desirous of learning various branches of mechanics -especially electroplating-also find opportunities at the shops of the Sheffield Car Company which are generous and unusual.
On January 1, 1910, the capital of the Sheffield Car Company was increased from $200,000 to $400,000, and the following officers elected :
Charles H. Morse, president.
W. E. Miller, vice president.
E. B. Linsley, treasurer and manager.
M. J. Huss, secretary.
W. S. Hovey, superintendent.
The three last named are citizens of Three Rivers, Mr. Lins- ley being not only the active force behind the great transactions of the Sheffield Car Company, but a power for usefulness and good in the general advancement of the city.
The Sheffield Car Company originated in the business estab- lished in March, 1879, under the name of George S. Sheffield & Com- pany, which, in turn, was based upon the inventions and inventive genius of Mr. Sheffield. He built his first three-wheel car at his
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farm ten miles from Three Rivers, and the story is quite well au- thenticated that he did so, that it might be easier for him to get home Saturday night after working all the week in his village shop. The first cars turned out had wooden spokes, but in 1890 Mr. Shef- field commenced to make them of boiler plate. His first partner in the enterprise was W. J. Willits, his office man, and in February, 1881, E. B. Linsley joined the company, which was incorporated June 15, 1882, as the Sheffield Velocipede Car Company, and in 1892 under its present name. By this time the manufacture of the velocipede three wheel car had been largely superseded in favor of various improved vehicles, such as a light engine for the use of road masters, weighing three or four hundred pounds, and various motor cars propelled by gasoline engines.
In 1891 Mr. Sheffield withdrew from`the company, and in the late eighties Charles H. Morse, of Chicago, bought a small interest in the business. In 1902 he purchased Mr. Willits' entire interest and became president of the company, while W. E. Miller, who bought in at the same time, was elected vice president. It may be said that these gentlemen represent the outside capital and general control of the great industry known under the concentrated name of the Sheffield Car Company, and that since the retirement of Mr. Sheffield, especially, Mr. Linsley has been the strong man on the ground to see that the wheels hum and the business goes ahead in a practical way. Among other large corporations absorbed by the Sheffield Car Company is what is still known as the Roberts Wheel & Car Company.
R. M. KELLOGG COMPANY.
The Kellogg strawberry farms, or nurseries, covering some two hundred and twenty-five acres of land, at Three Rivers, represent by far the largest enterprise of the kind in the world. In the busy season of out-door propagation, an army of men and women, boys and girls, is employed not only in raising, packing and shipping the plants to all parts of the universe, but in spreading the literature of the great business abroad and in transacting the manifold de- tails involved in dealing with twenty thousand customers by corre- spondence. Before entering into a description of the Kellogg farms and the splendid business system which safeguards and promotes the vast enterprise, a brief history of the remarkable industry is demanded and presented, condensed from both printed and verbal sources.
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After twelve years of study, observation and experience on a smaller but somewhat similar farm at Ionia, in this state, Russell M. Kellogg, the founder of these farms, determined to seek a field of larger endeavor and set out to find a location which combined what he deemed the necessary requisites, namely, ample land for expansion, composed of a soil adapted to the work; ample water supply for irrigating purposes, should irrigation be required in an extended drought, and ample shipping facilities. All these he found in the farm he bought at Three Rivers in the spring of 1896, and here he came in that year and began the work destined to make famous the Kellogg strain of Thoroughbred strawberry plants.
THE KELLOGG STRAWBERRY FARMS THREE RIVERS.
The work Mr. Kellogg had done at Ionia won for him more than local fame and a patronage of fair proportions, but he began business here on a small scale-feeling his way to larger triumphs, as it were. His purchase consisted of an old homestead with a stately mansion and something a little under one hundred acres of land, lying on the banks of the Portage river. A portion of the farm was broken up and prepared for plant setting, and in 1897 the first crop of plants was grown. Then the business steadily grew, until the entire original hundred acres was given over to the growing of plants. That is, approximately fifty acres of plants were grown each year, two fields alternating between cow peas, or some other legume, and strawberry plants; it being the rule of the
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farm never to grow two crops of plants in succession on the same ground.
But greater things were in store. On account of an almost unprecedented increase in patronage in 1903 an addition to the farm of sixty-one acres was made, and the area given over to plants each year relatively extended. Still the business continued to grow. One year $13,000 in cash was returned to customers because the de- mand for plants was larger than the supply and their orders could not be filled. The following year, notwithstanding the number of plants grown, the sum returned reached $10,000, and during the succeding four years this item reached a total of an additional $27,- 000, notwithstanding that in 1905 sixty-five acres were added to the area under cultivation. This brought the total to 225 acres, or the largest farm in the world, by many times, devoted to the production of strawberry plants.
It may assist in giving the reader an idea of the magnitude of the business now transacted by the Kellogg farms to state that there is sent out from the large office building of the company about forty per cent of the total amount of mail handled by the Three Rivers postoffice. During the past four years more than $25,000 has been paid in postage, the outgoing mail of the concern averaging fully one hundred tons annually. Orders are received from every state and territory in the Union; from Australia, Hawaii, Cuba and Bermuda, and from many European countries. Of such volume is the express business of the concern that both the American and United States companies have established branches in the com- pany's packing house. Each express company employs two clerks in handling the shipments, and many days entire carloads of plants go by express from the farms.
As the matter is well put by an interesting booklet devoted to the exposition of the Kellogg industries: "The foundation of the Kellogg success was an idea-the idea that the strawberry is suscep- tible to improvement through breeding and selection. Through infinite care and protracted observation and study, this idea was worked out to practical realization. The story is a long one-too long for this place; but in a word we may say that the work done on this farm has proved conclusively that there is a distinct corre- spondence between plant life and animal life, and that characteris- tics of the plant may be intensified or discouraged, according to the will of the breeder, as may be done in the case of animals. Bur- bank in myriad ways; Hopkins, Reilly, Reid and the Funks with
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corn; Morrill with peaches-all have demonstrated the fact. The Kellogg Company proved to a skeptical world that these same fun- damental laws operate as perfectly in the case of the strawberry; and thus we have the Kellogg Thoroughbred plants."
The general rule followed by the Kellogg management in the propagation of the plants is that pistulate (female varieties) never should be set without bisexuals (male varieties) being set beside the females. "If some pistulate is your favorite and you wish to make it your leader, set one row of bisexuals of earlier season than the pistulate; next, one row of bisexuals of later season than the pistulate. In other words, place three rows of pistulates between two rows of bisexuals of different seasons." An interesting fact is that the three most popular varieties of strawberries grown on the Kellogg farms-Warfield, Bederwood and Bubach-have been con- tinuously bred and selected from the stock which were first brought by Mr. Kellogg to his Ionia farm more than a quarter of a century ago. Glen Mary and Senator Dunlap are other leading thorough- breds, known to all strawberry growers.
It is a sight long to be remembered when the brigade of plowers move down the mile-long rows of plants in the spring, "tickling the soil and making the plants laugh." This is repeated scores of times. Then an army of hoemen work ten hours a day from spring to October, and not a weed or spear of grass is allowed to grow. Soil is drawn with the hoe over the runner cords just back of the young plant, which encourages a large number of strong roots to start directly from its crown. This also aids it to take root quickly so that it may become self-supporting, strong and vigorous.
During the eight weeks of the packing and shipping season, the busiest scene is transferred to the packing house and express offices. About a hundred women count and tie the plants into bun- dles of twenty-six, each bearing a wooden label as to variety and sex. A force of men examine the plants carefully for shipment, packing them in alternate layers of dampened moss. Then come the load- ing of the express cars with the packed boxes and the busy shipping season, lasting substantially from the later days of March to those of May. In a typical season the Kellogg farms send out several carloads daily on the regular express trains, besides thirty special express carloads.
Then there is the scientific work in connection with the experi- mental farm, in which both plants and berries are raised and tested as fruiters, drought-resisters, canners, etc. And the mounted
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sprayers, which ward off insect pests and plant diseases, are never idle from setting to mulching time. The latter is also a busy sea- son, approximately three hundred wagon-loads of straw being re- quired, each autumn, to cover the one hundred acres of plants.
Frank E. Beatty is president and general manager of the R. M. Kellogg Company and is a man of great business ability, a national expert in the strawberry line; C. J. Beatty, vice-president; and W. H. Burke, secretary and treasurer. To Mr. Burke is chiefly due the effectiveness of the mail-order features of the business- the "follow-up" system; in fact, the mass of details conveniently bulked under the term "office work" has been molded by his organ- izing and executive ability into a fine machine.
THREE RIVERS ROBE TANNERY.
The Three Rivers Robe Tannery is doing a good business in a two-story brick building, the products of the manufactory being coats, robes, gloves and mittens made from selected Galloway cattle hides, as well as horse hide coats and robes. Mr. Avery established the business in a little shop, during 1893, and had no expectation himself that it would develop into its present propor- tions. He is a practical live-stock man and his sole assistant, at the beginning of the venture, was an Englishman who had had a limited experience in tanning hides, with the hair on, in the "old country." To condense a long story of hard work and ingenius improvements in the preservation, curing and tanning of the skins, and their manufacture into the warm glossy articles which are now turned out of the establishment-it may be briefly said that favor- able conditions and good management rapidly developed the en- terprise. In 1902 the large plant now occupied was erected, con- sisting of a main building of brick, two stories and 220 by 36 feet, and a one-story extension 40 feet square. W. E. Clark and B. R. Wheeler are partners in the business.
OTHER INDUSTRIES.
A much smaller tannery and fur factory are conducted by Duane D. Arnold, while the Specialty Manufacturing Company stands for an enterprise which is only four years old, but already vigorous. The latter factory is chiefly concerned in the making of kitchen cabinets, its active superintendent being C. L. Gladdy.
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The Three Rivers Knitting works are among the substantial in- dustries of the place; George E. Arnold being principally respon- sible for their success. The D. & A. Post Mold Company has a large plant and chiefly manufactures steel molds for concrete posts. Three Rivers Milling Company is a well established corporation, with F. M. Rudd as president and George T. Wolf, vice president; the Three Rivers Broom Company is well-to-do, and there are other industries of less standing which go to make up the industrial life of the place.
FIRST NATIONAL BANK.
The financial, business and manufacturing interests of Three Rivers enjoy adequate banking facilities through the First Na- tional and the State Savings banks. From the time the citizens of Lockport subscribed for $100,000 stock and elected directors for the establishment of a "wild-cat" bank (and that is as far as the movement went), in 1837, no further attempt was made to get a bank of issue upon its feet until the passage of the national banking law in 1864. In December of that year the First National of Three Rivers was organized, with Hon. Edward S. Moore as president and Charles C. Warren, cashier. In the succeeding year Charles L. Blood became cashier, and served thus until 1884, when he succeeded Mr. Moore as president. J. P. McKee succeeded Mr. Blood as cashier, the latter continuing at the head of the affairs of the bank until 1896, when S. A. Walton was elected president. Mr. Walton served out that year, and Hon. R. R. Pealer was president in 1897. C. H. Blood succeeded Mr. McKee as cashier in 1891; Charles W. Cox commenced to serve in that capacity dur- ing 1895 and retired in 1900, when Norman W. Garrison, present incumbent, assumed the cashiership.
The present officers are as follows : Gardner Powell, president ; Charles W. Cox, vice president; G. W. Cole, vice president; Nor- man W. Garrison, cashier. Besides the foregoing, the directors are Charles W. Cox (assistant cashier), T. A. Sperry and P. P. Major. The capital stock of the First National is $50,000; surplus and undivided profits, $12,000; national bank notes outstanding, $50,000; deposits, $347,821.
STATE SAVINGS BANK.
The State Savings Bank of Three Rivers was organized August 15, 1891, and commenced business on the 20th of Septem-
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ber, with W. J. Willits as president; Cyrus Roberts, vice president, and George T. Wolf, cashier. Mr. Willits remained president until he went to California in 1902, when he was succeeded by Amos C. Wolf, Dr. W. E. Clark being vice president, George T. Wolf, cashier, and George M. Wolf, assistant cashier. These officers are still serving, with E. B. Linsley, chairman of the board. Capital of the bank, $60,000; surplus, $40,000.
BUILDING AND LOAN ASSOCIATION.
There are two institutions in Three Rivers which have had an especially strong influence in improving its social and civic con- ditions-its Building and Loan Association and Civic League.
The Three Rivers Building and Loan Association was organ- ized in 1887, by A. C. Titus, W. O. Pealer and E. B. Linsley. The first organization was officered as follows: E. B. Linsley, president ; A. C. Titus, secretary ; W. O. Pealer, attorney. This organization re- mained in force for about a year when Mr. Pealer removed to Du- luth. Two years later Mr. Titus retired and removed to Wiscon- sin, and was succeeded by E. E. Harwood, who held the office of secretary for about three years, when W. E. Barnard was elected to the office and has held the position ever since. B. E. Andrews, in the meantime, was elected attorney and has held that position until the present time. E. B. Linsley has continuously remained president during the twenty-three years that have elapsed since the organization, so that the present list of officers is: E. B. Linsley, president; O. T. Avery, vice president; W. E. Barnard, secretary ; G. T. Wolf, treasurer; B. E. Andrews, attorney.
The association has been very successful and up to January 1, 1910, had made loans to the amount of $579,625. While not the largest association in the state, it has always been economically managed and has not made a loss, owing to the faithful attention to its business by its board of directors. There have only been one or two cases where it has been obliged to take a piece of real estate and then only through some unusual circumstance, such as death of the owner, and in every case the property has been sold by the asso- ciation at a profit. The association is based upon a plan somewhat original, in that the funds are taken in by one set of officers and paid out by an entirely different set, and the name of the president and secretary is required to the signature of every order paid out. Over $800,000 has been handled by the association during its life and so far as known not a penny has been lost.
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