USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > The city of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922, Vol. I > Part 56
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
546
CITY OF DETROIT
factories is approximately 600,000 stoves, ranges and furnaces. One company alone manufactures over four hundred different models. The plants occupied by the companies cover over forty acres of ground and the number of employes closely approaches the five thousand mark.
The pioneer company of this group is the Detroit Stove Works, which was first incorporated in 1864, and again in 1907. The beginning of this company really dates back to 1861, when Jeremiah Dwyer, his brother James, and Thomas W. Misner organized the J. Dwyer & Company. Jeremiah Dwyer was a native of Brooklyn, where he was born in 1838, and was brought to Detroit by his parents the same year. After his education he eventually became an apprentice in the old Hydraulic Iron Works, where he learned the trade of foundryman, and from this he stepped into the stove manufacturing business, with which he remained prominently identified until his death in January, 1920. The plant of this small company first organized by Mr. Dwyer was located near the site of the present Michigan Stove Company and the first stoves were sold by personal solicitation among the residents of the city. Two years after the organization, Misner's interest in the firm was purchased by William H. Tefft, but the firm name remained the same. Within a few years after his start, Mr. Dwyer became acquainted with Charles DuCharme, one of the wealthy De- troiters of that period and a member of the firm of Buhl, DuCharme & Company, hardware dealers. From them, Dwyer bought his pig iron and similar materials for the manufacture of stoves. DuCharme influenced Dwyer to expand his business, consequently in 1864 the Detroit Stove Works came into existence, the founders having been Jeremiah Dwyer, James Dwyer, Merrill I. Mills, Edwin S. Barbour, and William H. Tefft. In 1869 Mr. Jeremiah Dwyer sold out his interest in this company on account of health and sojourned in the South until 1871, when he returned to Detroit. The Detroit Stove Works, when working at capacity, employs close to one thousand men. The "Jewell" brand of stoves features the output of this plant.
Jeremiah Dwyer and his brother were the first Michigan foundrymen to apply engineering to the foundry trade. Before this, molders in Detroit had worked by "rule of thumb." William H. Keep, the first mechanical engineer in foundry work in the state, introduced the use of metal mixtures for stove molding, and was the first in Michigan to develop the utilization of southern irons in mixtures for "thin plate" molding.
After returning from his southern trip, with renewed health, Jeremiah Dwyer again became active in business and in the autumn of 1871 brought about the incorporation of the Michigan Stove Company, in association with Charles DuCharme, Francis Palms, Richard H. Long, Merrill I. Mills, and George II. Barbour. The original executive officers were: Charles DuCharme, president; Jeremiah Dwyer, vice president and manager; Merrill I. Mills, treasurer; and George H. Barbour, secretary. Charles DuCharme died in January, 1873, and was succeeded in the presidency by Francis Palms, who also retained the position until his death. Jeremiah Dwyer was the next president and held the office until his decease in 1920, whereupon George H. Barbour became the leading official. The officers at the present time are: George H. Barbour, chairman of the board; Charles A. DuCharme, president; Harry B. Gillespie, vice president and treasurer; Charles B. DuCharme, vice president; Emmett J. Dwyer, vice president; Francis Palms, secretary; Louis B. Young, general manager.
FREDERICK STEARNS & COMPANY
PARKE, DAVIS & COMPANY
549
CITY OF DETROIT
The Michigan Stove Company began the actual manufacture of stoves on September 12, 1872. The first year a small variety of models were made, with sales valued at $300,000. Today the annual production is about three million five hundred thousand dollars worth of stoves, ranges and furnaces, with more than four hundred models. The original plant covered about five acres, while the present plant on East Jefferson Avenue covers about sixteen acres. The present plant capacity is 150,000 annually and the number of employes is approximately one thousand two hundred. Soon after the organization of the company, all of the products were trade-marked under the name of "Garland." The products first sold in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana, but now they are sold throughout the United States and Canada. The company was first capitalized for $300,000, but now the capitalization is $3,000,000.
The Peninsular Stove Company was incorporated March 23, 1881, and reincorporated in 1903. The plant was located at the corner of Fort and Eighth Streets. The original officers of this company were: W. B. Moran, president; W. N. Carpenter, vice president; James Dwyer, general manager; Robert McD. Campau, secretary; and Clarence Carpenter, treasurer. It is recorded that in 1883 the company made 273 varieties of stoves, ranges and furnaces, producing 20,000 articles. In the first year of its existence, the com- pany shipped its product to sixteen states, which territory has now grown to cover the entire United States and Canada. The company now has a capital- ization of about $3,000,000 and is officered by the following: John M. Dwyer, chairman of the board; F. T. Moran, president; J. M. Dwyer, vice president; Daniel T. Crowley, vice president and general manager; Edwin L. Dwyer, treasurer; Albert E. Dwyer, purchasing agent; Alfred B. Moran, secretary; F. C. Moran, manager furnace department. Approximately one thousand men are employed by the Peninsular Stove Company during the good seasons.
The Art Stove Company was incorporated in 1888 and is now capitalized for $600,000. This concern, with a plant at 6531 Russell Street, manufactures "Laurel" stoves, ranges and furnaces. The officers are: William A. Dwyer, president; John O. Campbell, vice president and general manager; Harry C. Kendall, treasurer; and Hugh Ledyard, secretary.
The Detroit Vapor Stove Company, incorporated in 1894 and located at 12345 Kercheval Avenue, manufactures what is probably the best oil cook stove on the market, with a yearly production of 100,000 stoves. About five hundred employes are retained at the height of production, and the officers of the company are: John S. Sherman, president; Edwin P. Harms, vice president and secretary; George H. Harms, treasurer; and A. G. Sherman, manager. The capital stock authorized is $450,000.
PHARMACEUTICAL MANUFACTORIES
Detroit ranks second only to New York in the value of its manufactured pharmaceutical products. Having at least three companies of national repu- tation, the manufacture of drugs and kindred products is as distinctive to the City of Detroit as the making of automobiles, stoves or adding machines.
The most notable of the pioneers in the drug-manufacturing business was Frederick Stearns, of whom a biographical sketch is presented in another volume of this work. Mr. Stearns came here from Buffalo in January, 1855, and in April following established himself in the retail drug trade with L. E. Higby, and later acquired the entire ownership. Mr. Stearns was ambitious to become
550
CITY OF DETROIT
a pharmaceutical manufacturer and he first undertook the work in a limited way in 1856, with one room, a cooking stove, and one girl as an assistant. He marketed his own products by canvassing the towns along the railroads west of Detroit and soon built up a reputation which warranted the addition of steam power and milling and extracting machinery, much of which was of his own invention. Twice his establishment was destroyed by fire, but he persisted and each time repaired his losses and started anew. In addition to his manufactur- ing. he continued his retail drug business. He was an enemy of the patent medicine, which he knew to be based upon quackery, and in 1876 he created the idea of counteracting trade of this type by putting up ready-made prepar- ations, or prescriptions, suitable and useful for common ailments, with the formula plainly inscribed upon the label, also simple directions for its use. This departure was then' known as the "New Idea." It was immediately successful and soon he built up a large trade through the drug stores of the United States and Canada.
While he began with a single room, twelve feet square, in 1856, he was constantly forced to increase his facilities until eventually his manufacturing establishment covered four acres of floor space, while his employes numbered over four hundred in addition to thirty-five traveling salesmen. His retail business, which had at first yielded about $16,000 yearly, constituted the nucleus of a trade which sometimes brought him more than that sum daily. His patron- age also came from the West Indies, the Spanish-American republics, and Australia. In 1881 he disposed of his retail business, which at that time was the largest in Michigan, and in 1882 incorporated the manufacturing enter- prise under the name of Frederick Stearns & Company, for the accommodation of which he erected a plant at the corner of Twenty-first and Marquette streets. He continued actively in the management until 1SS7, when he turned this duty over to his sons, Frederick K. and William L., and retired to well-earned rest and the opportunity to gratify his desire for study and travel. Mr. Stearns died January 13, 1907. The present building erected at 6533 East Jefferson for the accommodation of the rapidly-growing business was occupied in February, 1900.
In addition to the making of drugs, the company manufactures a high-class and complete line of toilet preparations, the best known of which are marketed under the trade name of "Day Dream" products. The officers of the company at the present time are: Mr. Frederick K. Stearns, chairman of the board; Willard Ohliger, president and general manager; Frederick S. Stearns, treasurer and first vice president; David M. Gray, secretary and second vice president.
On May 7, 1867, Dr. Samuel P. Duffield, Hervey C. Parke and George S. Davis organized a company under the name of Duffield, Parke & Company, and prepared to engage in the manufacturing of pharmaceutical preparations. Their first laboratory was established at the corner of Henry Street and Cass Avenue. In 1869 Dr. August F. Jennings succeeded Doctor Duffield as a mem- ber of the firm, and the title was then changed to Parke, Jennings & Company. In 1871 Doctor Jennings retired and William H. Stevens and John R. Grout became special partners. With this change came the present firm name- Parke, Davis & Company. Under this title the business was incorporated January 14, 1875, with an authorized capital stock of $125,000, which has since been increased to $12,000,000. The first board of directors and incor- porators consisted of Hervey C. Parke, George S. Davis, John R. Grout, William
551
CITY OF DETROIT
H. Stevens and Harry Tillman. Mr. Parke was president, Mr. Davis, the secretary, and Mr. Tillman treasurer. The quarters at Cass and Henry soon became too small and 1873 a new site was secured on the east half of the block bounded by Joseph Campau, Guoin, McDougall and Atwater. Upon this site a two-story brick building was erected. From time to time this tract has been added to and new buildings constructed as the requirements of the growing business demanded. Nearly twenty acres of floor space are occupied by the company. The number of employes ranges between two thousand and two thousand seven hundred and fifty. The company sets forth that they are manufacturers of pharmaceutical products, new chemicals, digestive ferments, empty capsules and other gelatine products, pressed herbs, etc., propagators of vaccines, serums, antitoxins, and importers of crude vegetable drugs and oils. Branch laboratories are maintained in London, England, in Canada and in New South Wales, and branch houses are located in England, Canada, Australia, Russia, India, Brazil, Cuba and Japan.
Nelson, Baker & Company, also devoted to the manufacture of pharma- ceutical preparations, was founded in the late '80s by E. H. Nelson. In 1893 the company erected a laboratory on Lafayette Avenue and Brooklyn and this original home has been enlarged to suit the growth of the company. The company manufactures full and complete lines of pharmaceutical preparations. Incorporation of the company occurred in 1889 and now the authorized capital stock is $1,000,000. The officers at present are: Edwin H. Nelson, president; Alfred Lucking, vice president; Frank W. Keyser, general manager; J. S. Black, secretary; and C. R. Burrell, treasurer. An average of two hundred and fifty people are employed by this company.
F. A. Thompson & Company was organized in the year 1898, chiefly through the efforts of Frank A. Thompson. The company was incorporated in 1898 and now has an authorized capital stock of $550,000. The firm manufactures a general line of pharmaceutical preparations, a specialty being made of nicotine products from tobacco for the destruction of plant insects and other vermin, including the various parasites which infect animals. The company also manu- factures resinoids, alkaloids, medicinal extracts of all kinds, and other prepar- ations sold to the manufacturing and wholesale trade. The plant is located at 1962 Trombly Avenue and the officers in 1921 are: Frank A. Thompson, president; M. B. Whittaker, vice president; John McFarlane, secretary; and Fred Guenther, treasurer.
PAINT AND VARNISH MANUFACTORIES
The manufacture of paints and varnishes and kindred products has, from a very early day, carried the name and reputation of Detroit throughout the United States and foreign countries. There are several companies at the present time engaged in this class of manufacturing. The oldest and most important of these is the firm of Berry Brothers, known for over a half century wherever varnishes and allied products are marketed. The manufacture of varnish in itself is an absorbing story.
Fine varnishes are combinations of copal gum, linseed oil and turpentine. The gum is melted and the solvents added while the gum is in liquified form, after which the mixture is strained, filtered and consigned to huge tanks for a prolonged sojourn to get ripe and mellow.
Copal is of vegetable origin, being the fossilized resin of an extinct race of
552
CITY OF DETROIT
trees and is found in places now treeless and barren, at depths ranging from two to twelve feet or more, in Africa, New Zealand, the Philippines, the Baltic, and other parts of the world.
The usual method of procuring the gum is very primitive. With a spear sharp enough to penetrate the ground the digger prods the soil until it en- counters something hard. He then digs with his spade, and although the obstruetion is not always gum, he is often rewarded with the desired prize, and keeps on digging anyhow. While not the most lucrative job in the world, the industrious gum digger earns a satisfactory income. Copal gums differ widely in hardness, and also in color, which ranges from transparent white to very dark brown. The variations in the grades of gum, and the proportions of gum, linseed oil and turpentine used in varnish-making determine the adaptability of varnish for various uses. Substitutions of inferior materials for copal gum, linseed oil and turpentine, and the use of adulterants, produce poor and unsatisfactory varnish.
The firm of Berry Brothers rose from the most humble origin, the business having been established in 1858 by Joseph H. and Thomas Berry, on an extremely modest seale. The infant industry speedily grew into lusty manhood, however, and has kept on growing until the present mammoth factory is one of the show places of Detroit.
The first factory used in 1858 was just a frame shack with a brick chimney, located on the Detroit River where they are still situated. The site of this old building is now occupied by some of their large storage warehouses, At their private doek on which these warehouses are built, they ship and receive goods by the big lake freighters.
They soon outgrew the cramped conditions and meager facilities of the little shaek, and the steadily growing demand for their varnishes necessitated larger quarters. In the early '60s the little frame shack gave place to a substantial group of brick buildings that not only had the appearance of a real varnish fae- tory, but as a matter of fact formed a very completely equipped little plant.
It was here that "Hard Oil Finish" was born, an interior finish that Berry Brothers originated and christened, and which became world famous. It is now known as Luxeberry Wood Finish, a registered trade name they adopted many years ago to protect buyers against numerous inferior varnishes having no fixed standard of quality or price, and wrongfully called "Hard Oil Finish."
A new factory building completed in the '70s, showed a remarkable expansion both in the manufacturing equipment and storage capacity. It was a large up-to-date factory for that period, including ample gum melting facilities, a four-story main building, and several substantial smaller buildings for raw material and manufacturing purposes.
This factory met with disaster, the main four-story structure having been completely destroyed by fire in 1877. New buildings were started while the ruins of the old plant were still smoldering, and business was continued without interruption.
In the 'SOs the factory was again greatly enlarged, the equipment at that time consisting of two extensive batteries of kettles, larger and more substantial buildings, greatly increased storage capacity and improved shipping facilities. The side track in front of the factory, and the Detroit River at the rear, giving rail and water transportation right at the factory doors.
In the early '90s expansion was again necessary, and extensive additions
BERRY BROTHERS PLANT
---
---
.
-
DODGE BROTHERS MOTOR CAR COMPANY
555
CITY OF DETROIT
were made to the plant affording facilities for a greatly augmented output. Ten years later, the volume of business again necessitated enlargement.
The popularity and success of the house of Berry Brothers rests upon a number of solid foundation stones. They have introduced and marketed many finishes that have become staple commodities in varnish using circles.
Prominent among the architectural finishes they have introduced are the "Luxeberry" line, embracing wood finishes, spar varnish, wall finishes, cement coating, enamels, etc. Other architectural finishes that are universally known and used are Liquid Granite floor varnish, Berrycraft stain finish, Lacklustre, Dulgloss finish, Lusterlo, Lionoil, and Shingletint, all of which are Berry Brothers' exclusive products.
They are equally prominent in the production of finishes used in the various manufacturing industries, and especially in connection with the automobile trade where their Raven Japans are in great demand for producing the black lustrous surfaces seen on pleasure cars.
Besides varnish, Berry Brothers manufacture a line of coach colors, fillers, surfacers, etc., and operate what is said to be the largest shellac bleaching plant in the world.
The geographical ramifications of Berry Brothers embrace in addition to the factory at Detroit, a complete factory and storage facilities at Walkerville, Canada, and representatives and branch offices in Great Britain, Europe, Australia, Cuba, and South America.
The home affiliations consist of eight branch offices and warehouses in the United States, and the general administration building in Detroit consists of six large private offices, and a spacious main office in which the entire factory of 1858 could be exhibited as a curio. A more tangible idea of the magnitude of this plant will be conveyed from the fact that the little frame shack of 1858 has grown into an aggregation of forty-eight buildings which comprise the present manufacturing plant. The little thirty-gallon melting kettle first used has been retired and is now represented by three batteries of kettles numbering forty-five in all, having a combined capacity of 11,500 gallons at a single batch, and in the storage tanks is maintained a million and a half gallons of varnish. The daily normal capacity in the shellac department is 15,000 pounds of bleached shellac, and 5,000 gallons of cut shellac.
The death of Mr. Joseph H. Berry some years ago, and the more recent passing of Mr. Thomas Berry, although a sad loss to their many friends and employes, had no lasting effect on the standing or conduct of the business, except such official changes as became necessary, and today the company is doing the largest business in its history.
All the old traditions upon which the house of Berry Brothers was built are preserved and maintained by the company. The business policies are also earnestly supplemented by the various heads of departments, many of whom have been connected with the house for long periods of years, and whose interest in the successful conduct of the business is based upon personal regard for the house as much as for interested motives, and with such an "esprit de corps" no house can do otherwise than prosper.
The present personnel of the house of Berry Brothers is: Frederick L. Colby, president; Edward W. Pendleton, vice president; William R. Carnegie, treasurer and general manager.
556
CITY OF DETROIT
Berry Brothers was last incorporated December 31, 1913, and has an author- ized capitalization of $3,000,000.
The Detroit White Lead Works dates back to 1865, when J. H. Worcester established on Jones Street, between Third and Fourth, a small factory in which he began operations under the title of the Detroit White Lead & Color Works. After a failure, Worcester again took up the work and continued until 1880, when Col. Fordyce H. Rogers purchased the entire plant, and organized the Detroit White Lead Works, which was incorporated December 22, 1880, with a capital stock of $50,000. The original president of the com- pany was F. D. C. Hinchman. On February 27, 1896, the factory was destroyed by fire, but was rebuilt upon a more extensive scale on Milwaukee Avenue. Operations in the new plant were begun November 6, 1896. The company was reincorporated in 1910, with an authorized capitalization of $300,000. The officers are: W. H. Cottingham, president; R. W. Levenhagen, vice presi- dent; J. G. Burns, secretary. The number of employes averages about 200.
The Acme White Lead & Color Works, now owned by the Sherwin-Williams interests of Cleveland, Ohio, and located at St. Aubin and the Michigan Central railroad, had its beginning in 1884, when William L. Davies and Thomas Neal started in business in a small rented building on the old "circus grounds" on the Jones Farm, in the vicinity of Grand River Avenue and Fourth Street. Neal and a paint-maker were the only employes then. In the second year, Albert E. F. White and H. Kirke White became financially interested in the concern, and at the end of the year an additional building was secured. This was the beginning of a growth which was scarcely interrupted. New buildings were added and the capital stock increased as the growing trade warranted. The company was first incorporated in December, 1884. In March, 1920, as stated before, the Acme White Lead & Color Works was purchased by Sherwin- Williams of Cleveland, but the old name was retained for trade purposes, although a new corporate title of Motor City Paint Company was adopted. The most recent incorporation was January 6, 1920, at which time a reduction in the ยท capital stock was authorized. This company, which employs about 400 people, manufactures lead products, paints, enamels, stains, varnishes and colors. The officers are, in 1921, W. H. Cottingham, president; G. A. Martin, vice presi- dent; Thomas Neal, vice president; M. W. Neal, vice president and treasurer; A. M. Woodward, secretary.
The Detroit Graphite Company, located at 550 Twelfth Street, manu- facturers of ready-mixed paints for exterior and interior use in the protection of metal surfaces from corrosion, was organized in 1892, chiefly through the efforts of Alexander A. Boutell, secretary of the Chamber of Commerce and treasurer of the Baraga Graphite Company, owners of graphite deposits in the Upper Peninsula. The first officers of the company were: A. G. Boynton, president ; Ralzemond A. Parker, vice president : Alexander A. Boutell, treasurer and general manager; William F. Monroe, secretary. The first plant was located on Twelfth Street, near Fort, and for the first four years little progress was made. However, in 1896, the company got its products before the ordnance depart- ments of the United States Army and Navy, and after the most rigid tests, they were adopted by the government for general use in both branches. This insured the success of the company and the growth has been steady since that time, with a consequent increase of plant facilities. The company was rein- corporated in 1907 and now has an authorized capitalization of $1,100,000.
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.