USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > The city of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922, Vol. III > Part 13
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usefulness rather than whose ostentation shall pre- serve his deeds as an example and incentive to his fellowmen."
JOSEPH MACK. It is a trite saying that "there is always room at the top," yet there are compara- tively few people who grasp the real significance of this, else so many would not stop short of successful achievement. The broader spirit and more insistent demands of the new century have found expression in the business career of Joseph Mack, a man of well balanced capacities and powers, who has had the confidence and courage to venture where favor- ing opportunity led the way. This has brought him to a point of leadership not only in connection with the printing business of Detroit but of the entire country as well, and today the Joseph Mack Printing House is known throughout the length and breadth of the land.
Joseph Mack was born December 1, 1868, near Peterboro, Canada, his parents being John and Agnes (Hamilton) Mack. He pursued his education in the public schools of Lindsay, Ontario, but when only twelve years of age began working in the printing office of the Canadian Post at Lindsay, Ontario. There he mastered the rudiments of job printing and later went to Toronto, where he continued his apprentice- ship with the house of James Murray & Company, commercial printers, while subsequently he worked for the firm of Bingham & Webber. He returned to Lindsay to work on the Victoria Warder, then owned by Sam Hughes, and he next went to Ottawa, where for five and a half years he was employed in the gov- ernment printing bureau. During this time he prepared for entrance into MeGill University but never undertook to matriculate, and at the same period he lived among the French and studied their language.
It was in 1892, just prior to the widespread financial panie of 1893, that Mr. Mack came to Detroit, where he found it almost impossible. to secure employment. For a short time, however, he worked for the Schober Printing Company, following which he was for a longer period in the employ of the Detroit Publishing Company, but at length he entered into partnership relations with C. H. Rule in conducting a printing business under the firm name of Rule & Mack. In November, 1901, he purchased his partner's interest and became sole owner of the enterprise that is now conducted under the name of the Joseph Mack Print- ing House, Incorporated.
One of the potent elements in the success of Mr. Mack has been his genius for organization. As the business grew and developed he gathered around him a corps of most efficient department managers and employes, seeking in his men those who showed the same tenacity which had marked his career, printers who knew their trade and could appreciate artistie work, artists and writers who could produce catalogues
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and other sales literature with a minimum of sug- gestion from the patron.
While Mr. Mack regards organization, equipment and capital as the three essentials to successful busi- ness, he believes the first to be the most important. Volume, service and quality have been made the ideals of the Joseph Mack Printing House. At the outset of his business he studied the situation in De- troit and learned that many of the big automobile firms of the city went to New York, Cleveland, Buffalo and other places for their printing because they be- lieved there was no plant in Detroit that could turn out the work in sufficient quantities. Mr. Mack there- fore resolved to have his share of this trade and began developing an organization adequate to the needs of the Detroit automobile industry in the print- ing line. So rapidly did the Joseph Mack Printing House develop that they soon found it difficult to secure adequate renting quarters for the plant. They erected for themselves a building at 115 State street, which at the time seemed ample for all future re- quirements of the business, but as evidence of the Mack aggressiveness, that building soon became in- adequate and an adjoining building of almost equal capacity was leased, but within a short time the company was again cramped for space and the plant was removed to the Joseph Mack building, the large modern structure they are now occupying at the corner of John R and Elizabeth streets.
The company, which was incorporated in August, 1913, has today one of the largest batteries of two- color printing presses in this locality, and the com- pany as edition printers of advertising matter, does work unsurpassed by that in any other city. The plant has a great manufacturing capacity and no longer does the automobile industry send its printing to New York or other places. In fact, the Joseph Mack Printing House has many patrons in New York, including some of the largest concerns of that city. Mr. Mack has secured the services not only of the most efficient printers but also of some of the most capable commercial artists of the country and men whose duty it is to study out and initiate new ideas of advertising. There is nothing in this line which his establishment cannot supply and it has been one of the important elements in Detroit's industrial and commercial growth.
In 1891 Mr. Mack was united in marriage to Miss Catherine M. McCann of Whitby, Ontario, and they became the parents of five children. One son, Nelson Joseph, died at the age of eighteen years. The others are: Thomas Henry, Kathryn H., Florence Marjorie and Eleanor. The surviving son has been thoroughly trained in all the phases of the printing business and is now the vice president of the Joseph Mack Printing House and one of its active workers.
As the years have passed Mr. Mack has become interested in other important business affairs, chiefly along the line of real estate investment and develop-
ment. He is an official or director in many real estate companies and is also a director of the National Bank of Commerce of Detroit.
Politically Mr. Mack is a republican and in religious belief a Protestant. He belongs to the Detroit Board of Commerce, of which he has been vice president and four years a director; to the Typothetae; and to the Allied Printing Trades Association. A contem- porary writer has said of him:
"While Mr. Mack can talk enthusiastically about the printing industry, he does not make it his ex- clusive hobby. He works rapidly and takes his re- creation with a zest. Golf is his sport, he enjoys the theatre, he reads extensively English, French and German authors and, appreciative of the social amen- ities of life, gives much attention to the clubs of the city."
To the genius for organization and the intense interest in golf possessed by Mr. Mack, the city is indebted for one of its finest and most popular clubs- the Oakland Hills Country Club. As the founder of this club Mr. Mack worked unceasingly for its sne- cess and as its first president he guided its develop- ment until it has become a club whose memberships are in demand, due to its excellent equipment and high-class personnel.
Mr. Mack is well known in club circles, belonging to the Detroit Club, Detroit Athletic Club, Oakland Hills Country Club, Detroit Golf Club, Country Club, Bloomfield Hills Country Club, Pine Lake Country Club, the Boat Club, the Detroit Aderaft Club and the Detroit Automobile Club.
Never hesitating to take a forward step when the way was open, Mr. Mack has reached a point of prom- inence in business circles and his record should serve as a source of inspiration and encouragement to others. His quietude of deportment, his easy dignity, his frankness and cordiality of address characterize him as a man who is ready to meet any obligation of life with the confidence and courage which arise from personal ability, right conception of things and habit- ual regard for that which is best in the exercise of human activities.
NICHOLAS J. ENGEL, secretary and general man- ager of the Cadillac Clay Company, manufacturers of clay products at Detroit, was born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, September 29, 1886, a son of Nicholas G. and Elizabeth (Metz) Engel, both of whom were natives of Buffalo, New York. In the latter part of the '80s they removed to Detroit and the father be- came superintendent of the Buhl Stamping Company, with which he continued up to the time of his death in the year 1905. His widow survives and is yet a resident of Detroit. They had a family of three chil- dren: Elizabeth, who is Mrs. William A. Doyle, now living at Highland Park, Michigan; Mary, who is Sister Elizabeth in St. Joseph's convent at Buffalo, New York; and Nicholas J.
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The last named was the second iu order of birth in the family. He attended the parochial schools of Detroit and afterward became a student in St. Joseph's Commercial School of this city. Starting out upon his business career, he secured a position with the firm of Lowrie & Robinson, with whom he remained for three years. He was afterward in the employ of the Detroit Lumber Company for two years and later was connected with the Bartlett Supply Company, eventually acquiring an interest in the business and becoming the secretary. This business was later absorbed by the United Fuel & Supply Com- pany and Mr. Engel disposed of his interest and turned his attention to the sale of building material, in which he became very successful, conducting a prosperous business of that character until 1916. Fol- lowing the outbreak of the war, when building opera- tions were largely suspended that the interests of the government might be promoted, he organized the Cadillac Clay Company for the jobbing of clay prod- ucts, including sewer pipe, flue linings, lime, fireproof- ing, drain tile, etc. Of the new organization he became the secretary and general manager and so continues. The business has flourished and is one of the substantial productive industries of Detroit.
On the 7th of February, 1917, Mr. Engel was mar- ried to Miss Ethel Cadaret, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Louis Cadaret, of Detroit. Mr. Engel belongs to the Roman Catholic church and has membership with the Knights of Columbus. He is also identified with the Detroit Board of Commerce, with the Benevo- lent Protective Order of Elks and with the Eliza- beth Lake Country Club. His political endorsement is given to the republican party and he keeps well informed on the questions and issues of the day but has never sought nor desired office as a reward for party fealty, his business affairs fully claiming his attention, while their capable management has been the source of his growing success.
JOHN S. GRAY. Believing with Lincoln that "there is something better than making a living- making a life," John S. Gray so directed his efforts and his activities that the sentence of the martyr president may well be said to epitomize the record of this leading merchant and eminent citizen of De- troit. While he utilized business opportunities so successfully as to win a place among Michigan's mil- lionaires, the most envious could not grudge him his success, so honorably was it attained and so worthily used.
John S. Gray was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, October 5, 1841, and came to America when but eight years of age with his parents, Philip C. and Amelia Gray. The father had been a crockery mer- chant in Edinburgh, where his ancestors had lived for many generations. On the 6th of April, 1849, he sailed with his family from Liverpool, England, and soon after arriving in the new world settled on a
farm in Wisconsin but did not find agricultural life congenial and therefore disposed of his property, re- moving to Detroit in May, 1857. John S. Gray, who was then sixteen years of age, became a pupil in the Capitol school, taught by Professor Olcott, and upon the opening of the high school was one of the first pupils, there continuing his studies until the fall of 1858. In the winter of that year he engaged in teaching at Algonac, and while he was thus employed his father purchased a small toy store on the west side of Woodward avenue, near Larned street.
In the spring of 1859, therefore, John S. Gray en- tered his father's store and thus took his initial step in a business career that was notably successful and which should serve as an inspiring force in the lives of others. They conducted the store until 1861, when they disposed of their stock of toys and formed a partnership with C. Pelgrim, under the firm style of Pelgrim, Gray & Company, for the manufacture of candy. The new enterprise was begun on a small scale but enjoyed a steady growth until January, 1862, when the store and stock were destroyed by fire. They immediately opened another store at No. 143 Jefferson avenue with a larger stock, and when soon afterward the father retired, the business was continued by John S. Gray and Mr. Pelgrim, who soon admitted to a partnership Joseph Toynton, who had previously been in the employ of William Phelps & Company, wholesale grocers. In 1865 Mr. Pelgrim retired and the firm style of Gray & Toynton was adopted. The business grew rapidly, owing to the capable management and keen discernment of the partners, and they were forced to enlarge the building to meet the demands of the trade. In the spring of 1870 J. B. Fox was admitted as a partner, under the firm style of Gray, Toynton & Fox, and in the fall of the same year they were again compelled to seek larger quarters, accordingly purchasing and removing to the building on the southeast corner of Wood- bridge and Bates streets. In the spring of 1881 both Mr. Toynton and Mr. Fox passed away and their respective interests in the business were withdrawn. Mr. Gray then incorporated the remaining interests under the same name and as president of the company steadily directed the development and conduct of the business. In 1881 an adjoining store was added and during the busy season from one hundred and fifty to two hundred people were employed, making the establishment the largest of the kind in the state. Some time prior to his death John S. Gray also in- vested heavily in the automobile enterprise promoted by Henry Ford, the result of which investment has been startling. Mr. Gray was president of the Ford Motor Company from its organization until the time of his death in 1906. He served for a number of years on the public library board of Detroit.
It was on the 31st of October, 1864, that Mr. Gray was married to Miss Anna E. Hayward at Beloit, Wisconsin, and they became the parents of three
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sons and a daughter: Philip H., Paul R., David and Alice Gray. The family circle was broken by the haud of death when on July 6th, 1906, John S. Gray passed away. Many years before, or in 1872, in order to regain his health, he had made an extended tour through Europe and the far east, visiting Egypt, Palestine and various sections of Asia Minor, as well as his old home in Scotland. In 1883 he again went abroad, once more visited the land of hills and heather and extended his travels to France and Italy, finding great delight in viewing the scenes of modern and historie interest and the works of art to be found in those lands. As a business man he rauked among the first in his adopted city, both as to efficiency and probity of character. He was careful and economical and possessed a rare combination of progressiveness and conservatism. In politics he was liberal and main- tained a course independent of party ties. In the anti-slavery days, however, his belief concerning the question of slavery made him a strong abolitionist. He was well read in general literature and an earnest student of the Scriptures. He held membership in the Christian church from 1857 and was an active worker in its missions and in its Sunday schools. Notable as were his achievements in a business way, his career might well be measured by the standard of a modern philosopher, who has said: "Not the good that comes to us, but the good that comes to the world through us is the measure of our success." Judged by this standard, John S. Gray's was a notably successful career.
ABNER ELISHA LARNED, president of the firm of Larned, Carter & Company and one of Detroit's foremost business men and citizens, was born Jan- uary 31, 1871, in Fenton, Genesee county, Michigan, a son of Horace J. and Flora (Roberts) Larned. The Larned family was founded in America in early colonial times and its connection with Michigan his- tory dates back to pioneer days. Elisha Larned, the paternal grandfather of Abner E. Larned, was the second white settler in what is now Fenton township, Genesee county, Michigan, migrating there from New York state and settling on a tract of heavily timbered land, the title to which he received from the govern- ment. Here he reclaimed a farm from primitive con- ditions and his old homestead, now a valuable prop- erty, is yet in possession of the family.
Horace J. Larned, the father of Abner E. Larned, was born in Fenton, Michigan, where he was reared. He was for many years in business in that village. He married Miss Flora Roberts, a daughter of Abner Roberts, who came from New York state to Michigan in pioneer days and was also an early settler in Gen- esee county. In Fenton he built one of the first taverns or inns, long known as the Fenton House and for years one of the landmarks of Genesee county.
Abner E. Larned was reared in Fenton, Michigan, receiving his education in the local schools and
graduating from the high school in the class of 1889. In 1890 he came to Detroit and entered the employ of the wholesale dry goods firm of Strong, Lee & Company and for three years was one of their traveling salesmen. In this capacity Mr. Larned was very snc- cessful and he only left it to accept a more important position-that of manager of the domestic goods department of Edson, Moore & Company. He re- mained with that well known wholesale dry goods house until 1896, when he resigned his position to go into business for himself. In 1897 he became asso- ciated with David S. Carter in the manufacture of overalls, under the firm name of Larned, Carter & Company. Mr. Larned has been the executive head of the business since its inception and in the earlier days of the business had personal supervision of the sales, shipping and purchasing departments. In in- troducing their product, Mr. Larned visited every state and territory in the Union. The growth and ex- pansion of the firm of Larned, Carter & Company has been steady. They are now the world's greatest overall makers, maintaining branch houses in St. Louis, San Francisco, Perth Amboy, New Jersey, Port Huron, Michigan, and Toronto, Canada.
Mr. Larned's value to Detroit as a citizen is not alone measured by the substantial contribution he has made to her industrial greatness but as well by the deep and helpful interest he has taken in about every organized movement for the upholding or betterment of the city's civic standards. He has been for a number of years one of the valued working members of the Detroit Board of Commerce and during the period that he was president of that organization its membership increased more than one hundred per cent. He inaugurated the movement for a two million dollar bond issue for good roads for Wayne county and within three months carried the same to successful completion. This was in the early days of good roads movements and was the foundation for subsequent important projects of that character. He has also served as a member of the board of directors and also of the executive committee of the Board of Commerce.
Appreciative of the social amenities of life, Mr. Larned belongs to Detroit's most prominent clubs. In January, 1920, he was elected to the presidency of the Detroit Athletic Club as the successor of Henry B. Joy. Mr. Larned is one of a group of citizens including Mr. Joy, Hugh Chalmers and Charles Hughes which was directly responsible for the organ- ization and success of the Detroit Athletic Club. Mr. Larned was very active in the sale of the bonds issued to finance the project and gave unsparingly of his time and efforts that Detroit might have a dis- tinctive, downtown athletic club ranking with the best in the country. He is also a member of the Detroit Club, Country Club, Old Club, Automobile Country Club, Detroit Automobile Club, Rotary Club, the Players' Club and the Fine Arts Club. Mr.
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Larned belongs to the Garment Manufacturers' As- sociation and is chairman of the open price committee. While his manufacturing interests have claimed the greater part of his time and attention, he is also vice president of the First State Bank of Detroit.
In his political connection Mr. Larned is a stanch supporter of the republican party and takes a keen interest in its success without being harried with political ambition or any desire to enter the turbulent stream of so-called practical politics. For many years he has been actively and zealously identified with the work of the Young Men's Christian Association and has done most effective work in building up the De- troit organization of this body. He was the chairman of the most successful committee of those that raised funds for the erection of the Association building in Detroit, which was completed in 1909 and which is one of the finest structures of its character in the United States. His work of a similar nature, whether for civic, philanthropie or patriotic purposes, has been valuable and conspicuous. During the World war he was very prominent in those activities whereby civ- ilians could render valuable aid to the government and his executive efficiency became of extreme value in board and committee work and in the promotion of patriotic work in the city. Mr. Larned was chairman of the sales committee, on all the Liberty Loan drives during the World war and was also general chairman of the patriotic fund which raised eleven million dol- lars in one campaign for patriotic and charitable purposes, following the close of the war. While en route to Europe on a government mission, he was a passenger of the "Tuscania," which was torpedoed off the coast of Ireland, on February 5, 1918, and three hundred lives were lost. The Red Arrow Divi- sion of engineers was on board this vessel and ten of the men were lost. He stands as a high type of the American citizen, resourceful, farsighted, pub- lic-spirited, and with that steadfastness of purpose which enables him to accomplish his object in the upbuilding of individual fortune and in the support of interests of vital worth to the community.
On the 29th day of June, 1892, Mr. Larned was married in Muskegon, Michigan, to Miss Minnie K. Kellogg, a daughter of Rev. Frederick A. Kellogg, then pastor of the Congregational church in that city. Mr. and Mrs. Larned have two sons: Bradford York and Cortland Kellogg. Mr. Larned's residence is at Grosse Pointe Shores.
WILLIAM EDWARD BEE, president and general manager of the Palmer-Bee Company, manufacturers of power transmission machinery, was born in Wyan- dotte, Michigan, June 30, 1870, and is descended from English ancestry. His parents, Isaac and Emma (Newman) Bee, were natives of England and came to the new world in early life. The father, who en- gaged in the trucking business, remained a resident of Wyandotte until 1876, when he removed to Detroit
and became counected with the Baugh Steam Forge Company, with which he was associated to the time of his death. His widow survives and yet makes her home in Detroit. Their family numbered two sons and a daughter: William E .; Arthur Raymond, a resi- dent of New York city; and Maude, who is now the wife of William Noble of Detroit.
William E. Bee started out in the business world by entering the employ of A. R. & W. F. Lynn, wholesale grocers. Later he was with the Detroit Steel & Spring Company, with which he remained for six years and then entered the employ of the Gates Iron Works of Chicago. He was first employed as draftsman and became a mechanical engineer, his association with that house continuing from 1891 until 1896. He was afterward with the Webster Man- ufacturing Company of Chicago as chief engineer and superintendent from 1897 until 1903. He then returned to Detroit and here organized what is known as the Palmer-Bee Company, engaged in the manufac- ture and sale of power transmission, elevating and conveying machinery. The business was established in a modest way and its growth has been remarkable. Through careful management, wise direction and fidelity to all the interests of his patrons, Mr. Bee has built up a most efficient organization, which not only furnishes employment to a large force in De- troit but utilizes the product of a vast number of workmen in other plants, as the business of the Palmer- Bee Company is also that of jobbers and manufac- turers' agents and extends not only to every state in the Union but te many foreign countries. The build- ing and grounds, now occupied by the Palmer-Bee Company on Grand boulevard, were secured in 1915, and although the building then erected seemed amply commodious, it is now too small for the growing business and will shortly be removed to the new seven and one-half acre plant, corner of Westminster and G. T. R. R. It is in one of the desirable sections of Detroit, where ground values have increased many- fold in the past few years. Mr. Bee is the president and general manager and from the beginning has been the directing head of the enterprise. He is also identified with other interests. In business affairs he has at all times manifested sound judgment and has readily discriminated between the essential and the non-essential.
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