USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > The city of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922, Vol. III > Part 29
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In 1906 Mr. Springman initiated his present busi- ness enterprise by opening a modest establishment at 220 Rowena street. Three years later he removed to 75 Larned street, West, where he conducted the busi- ness eleven years, within which time it increased to extensive proportions. In 1920 removal was made to the present large and well equipped establishment at 1579 Milwaukee avenue, East, and here a large and prosperous industrial enterprise is carried on in the manufacturing of folding paper boxes and a wide and varied line of other paper products, largely for com-
mereial uses. The plant is supplied with the most modern machinery and general accessories and in its various departments employment is given to an average of more than oue hundred persons, many of whom are highly skilled artisans in their respective assignments of work. At the plant are manufactured also gaskets for use by automobile manufacturers, and this has become an important phase of the business. The en- terprise is national in scope, and here are constantly being originated and manufactured novelties and spe- eial types of containers of paper construction, so that their introduction to the trade gives a definitely cumu- lative trend to the business.
Mr. Springman is a loyal member and supporter of the Detroit Board of Commerce, is found arrayed in the ranks of the republican party, and he and his family hold membership in St. John's Evangelical church, as do also his venerable parents. Mr. Spring- man has been a close student of the history and teachings of the time-honored Masonie fraternity, in . which he has received the thirty-second degree of the Ancient Accepted Seottish Rite, in Michigan Sovereign Consistory. His basie York Rite affiliation is with Detroit Lodge, No. 2, Free & Accepted Masons; his capitular alliance is with King Cyrus Chapter of Royal Areh Masons, and his chivalrie membership is in historie old Detroit Commandery, No. 1, Knights Templar. He is identified also with the Mystic Shrine, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Wayne Assembly of the Order of Amarans. He is also a member of the Detroit Automobile Club.
In 1892 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Spring- man to Miss Pauline Markhoff of Detroit, and they have two children: Russell O., who was born in 1894, and who is secretary of the Springman Paper Products Company. He married Miss Mabel Caston, and they have two daughters, Marion and Virginia; and Irene, who was born in 1897 and who is the wife of Lloyd H. Diehl of Detroit. They have a son, Lloyd H., Jr. Lloyd H. Diehl is vice president of the Springman Paper Products Company.
Through his own ability and well ordered activities Mr. Springman has gained for himself a secure place as one of the representative business men of the city that has been his home from childhood, and here, in both business and social eireles, his friends are in number as his acquaintances. The family home is at 2456 Taylor avenue, and Mr. Springman takes special pride in his beautiful summer home at Pointe DuChene, Algonae, St. Clair county.
LEONARD F. KNOWLES, a well known figure in real estate eireles in Detroit, conducting his opera- tions under the name of the R. H. Taylor Real Estate Company, with offices in the Penobscot building, was born at Spring Green, Wisconsin, February 18, 1876, a son of James and Mary (Thomas) Knowles. The father was born in Michigan iu 1836, while the mother was born in Wisconsin. The grandparents came to
CHARLES T. SPRINGMAN
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the middle west from Long Island, New York, and were representatives of early colonists of that section of the country, the family being represented in the Revolutionary war. It was at an early period in the pioneer development of Michigan that the Knowles family was here established. Later in life James Knowles, father of Leonard F. Knowles, engaged in farming, but during the period of the Civil war he put aside all business and personal considerations and enlisted as a private of the Sixth Wisconsin Regiment. He now makes his home in St. Louis, Michigan, at the age of eighty-four years, but the mother passed away in Tennessee in 1897, having gone south for the benefit of her health. In their family were four children: Mrs. Rosa Priest, Ernest, Frank and Leonard F., all now of Detroit.
In his youthful days Leonard F. Knowles attended the public schools of St. Louis, Michigan, and after- ward entered the Dibrell Normal College of Tennessee. Subsequently he became a law student in the Univer- sity of Michigan and was graduated with the LL. B. degree in 1901. For nine years thereafter he engaged in the practice of law in Charlevoix county, Michigan, and became a prominent corporation attorney, rep- resenting various large iron, chemical and other cor- poration interests. He removed to Detroit as attorney and secretary of the Charcoal Iron Company of America, with which he continued for several years. He then resigned his position in 1914 in order to look after his own interests, for in the meantime he had become the owner of much valuable real estate, having made extensive and judicious investments in Detroit property. He therefore organized what is known as the R. H. Taylor Real Estate Company, in which he is still interested.
On the 2d of December, 1903, Mr. Knowles was married to Miss Florence Beardsley of Charlevoix county, Michigan, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Alfred J. Beardsley, the former a prominent merchant and lumber manufacturer of that county. Mr. and Mrs. Knowles reside in a fine home at 80 Westminster and occupy a very enviable position in the social circles of the city. Having no children of his own, Mr. Knowles has provided education for a number of boys who otherwise would have been deprived of such advantages. He has always been very fond of literature and turns to it largely for his recreation. In 1907 and 1908 he was a member of the convention which drafted the state constitution of Michigan, which is the only political or public office he has ever filled. Nevertheless he is always a supporter of those activ- ities which are looking to the upbuilding of the com- monwealth and he has done much valuable public service as a private citizen, his political allegiance being given to the republican party. During the World war, although beyond the first draft age, he volunteered his services to his country without pay, and having always been accustomed to handle large bodies of men, he was attached to the ordnance depart-
ment for the United States government in the state of Michigan and had supervision over many plants for the manufacture of high powered explosive shells, turning out the best produced in the country. Where- ever his aid is needed for his city, the commonwealth or the country it is freely given and his labors for public benefit have been far-reaching and beneficial.
HARMON R. VERNOR. A record of insurance activities in Detroit would be incomplete without extended reference to Harmon R. Vernor, who for many years has conducted what is now the oldest insurance agency of Detroit, the business being carried on under the firm style of Vernor Brothers, although H. R. Vernor is sole proprietor. He was born in Detroit, August 16, 1855, and is a son of Jeremiah and Elizabeth S. (Roberts) Vernor. His grandfather in the maternal line was John Roberts, who held a commission and the rank of colonel of militia in the Northwest territory before Michigan was admitted into the Union. His commission was given him by Governor Woodbridge and renewed by Governor Cass. John Roberts built a bridge over a creek which once ran where Griswold and Congress streets now intersect and H. R. Vernor has in his office a piece of cedar taken from the old bridge when excavations were being made.
In his youth H. R. Vernor pursued a public school education and was a student in the old high school building which was afterward destroyed by fire. Throughout his business career he has been identified with insurance activities, becoming connected with the agency which in 1852 was established by Jeremiah and Benjamin Vernor under the firm style of Vernor Brothers, a name that has since been maintained. No other insurance agency of Detroit has existed for so long a period and none has ever enjoyed a more unassailable reputation for the integrity and enterprise of its business methods. Of the founders, Jeremiah Vernor died in 1916, while Benjamin passed away in 1889. In the intervening years from his school days H. R. Vernor has steadily acquainted himself with every phase of the business and finally succeeded to the ownership thereof.
In 1882 was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Vernor and Miss Lydia Evans and they now have one son: Stanley E. Vernor, who wedded Chrystal E. Camp- bell and they have two children, Chrystal E., and Thomas E.
In his youthful days Mr. Vernor was an enthusiastic baseball player and in 1872 he was one of the prin- cipal organizers of the Cass Baseball Club, which on several occasions won the state championship. This club still exists in a social form, with Mr. Vernor as its secretary-treasurer, and from an old fund long since created flowers are purchased as each of the members is called to his final rest. Fraternally Mr. Vernor is a thirty-second degree Mason, a past master of Ashlar Lodge, A. F. & A. M., a past high priest
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of King Cyrus Chapter, R. A. M., a member of the Detroit Commandery, No. I, and also of Moslem Tem- ple of the Mystie Shrine. He likewise holds member- ship with the Detroit Athletic Club, and the guiding spirit of his life. is indicated in the fact that he has long been a member of the Wesleyan Methodist church, having been for twenty-five years secretary of the Simpson Methodist Sabbath school. His political en- dorsement is given to the republican party but politi- eal prominence and preferment have had no attraction for him. For sixty-five years a resident of Detroit, he has witnessed the greater part of its development and progress, keenly interested in its upbuilding and earnest in his support of every measure tending to advance its welfare and uphold its civie standards.
JOHN FRANCIS DODGE. A man of superlative mental and physical energy, there was nothing in the outset of the business career of John Francis Dodge to indicate that he would become a multimil- lionaire and a dominant figure in the history of the automobile industry of the world. His success may seem phenomenal as viewed in results achieved and yet the Aladdin lamp which brought forces to his command was his diligence, his determination and his ambition. There were days when discouragement loomed large, when obstacles seemed insurmountable, when opportunity was a negligible quantity; but not withstanding these facts, John F. Dodge and his brother Horace-their interests being at all times inseparable-persevered and at length found them- selves on the highroad to snecess. A most notable illustration of their resourcefulness and capability is found in the aid which they rendered to the government during the World war in the manu- facture of mechanisms hitherto unknown on this side of the Atlantic. Throughout his life John F. Dodge accomplished what he attempted, and the methods which he pursued were ever such as would bear the elosest investigation and serntiny.
Born in Niles, Michigan, October 25, 1864, John F. Dodge was one of the three children of Daniel and Maria (Casto) Dodge. The father was a machinist and iron worker of Niles and it was in the father's shop that John and his brother Horace learned the machinist's trade following the completion of their education as publie school pupils in Niles. In their youthful days they ran barefoot through the woods together and fished side by side with bamboo poles in the St. Joseph river. From that time on the two brothers were scarcely ever apart, all of their interests in life being shared. They early developed skill along mechanical lines and their enterprise was shown in the building of the first bieyele ever seen in Niles. After leaving their father's employ they worked as journeymen machinists in several eities of Mich- igan and in 1886 John F. Dodge came to Detroit, where he entered upon a struggle to wrest fortune from the hands of fate. He was first employed in the shop
of Tom Murphy, a boiler manufacturer, and after serving as a machinist for six months he was ad- vanced to the position of foreman. Five or six years later he entered the employ of the Canadian Typograph Company, working in Windsor, and at a later period he and his brother leased the plant of the Typograph Company and conducted the business on their own ac- count for about two years, this being their first venture as employers. They manufactured the Evans & Dodge bieyele and in 1900 established their business in Detroit by opening a machine shop in the Boydell building on Beaubien street, at which time they had twelve employes. Something of the mammoth growth of their business is indicated in the faet that the employes of the corporation today number eighteen thousand. In the early days both brothers worked early and late-a habit which they never forsook even after notable success had erowned their efforts. After their workmen had left the shop for the day the brothers would continue their labors often until mid- night and the struggle was a long, hard and some- times disappointing one, but as time passed their ex- cellent workmanship won them patronage and eventu- ally they were obliged to seek larger quarters, which they found at Monroe avenue and Hastings street. Their equipment was inereased to meet the demands of the trade and their first order from the automobile industry came from the Olds Motor Company for three thousand sets of transmissions. This was their initial step into the great automobile industry. They afterward secured a Ford contraet and in time ae- quired some of the stoek of the Ford company, which they held for a number of years and subsequently sold to Edsel B. Ford for approximately twenty-four million dollars. Their success is the story of steady growth in business, resulting from elose application and wise direction. There was not a single esoterie phase in the history of all their marvelous business development. In 1912, withdrawing from active con- neetion with the Ford interests, they determined to engage in the manufacture of a car of their own and their plans resulted in the completion of a great plant in Hamtramck in 1914, which was begun in 1910, built with consideration for the welfare of their employes from the standpoints of health and safety, and although completed in 1914, it remains one of the model factories of the world. Its output up to the time of the death of John F. Dodge had totaled probably four hundred and twenty-five thous- and automobiles. The factory was being operated to the limit of its capacity at the time America entered the World war. Immediately the Dodge broth- ers offered their plant to the government for any use deemed important. While the government desired the type of ear manufactured by the Dodges, it also wanted the delicate recoil mechanism of the French 155s-the most famous artillery in the world. When told of this need, the Dodges said that they would continue the manufacture of their ears for the gov-
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ernment and would consider the other. They made an inspection trip to see the French material and upon their return informed the war department that they were ready to undertake the project, provided the government had sufficient confidence in them to permit them to manufacture it in their own way. This was an unheard-of proposition, for up to this time every- thing demanded by the government was turned out under military supervision. At length, however, their proposition was accepted, word being received to this effect by the Dodge brothers October 27, 1917, the day of the week being Saturday. Before six o'clock on Monday morning work was under way for the building of the necessary factory and installment of the necessary machinery. In record speed the build- ing was completed, so that on the first day of March, four months after the ground was broken, the power was turned on and the recoil mechanisms were being built. No such machinery as the government de- manded had ever been made in America and the en- gineers of the Dodge Company were put to work to design machinery necessary for the manufacture of such mechanisms. One hundred and twenty-nine special machines were designed and made by the Dodge organization itself, while other machinery which could be obtained was brought to the plant. Within a year of the day on which work began on the plant, the ordnance plant was shipping twenty recoil mechanisms a day to proving grounds where they could be tested. This ordnance plant cost ap- proximately ten million dollars and was the only one in America manufacturing the recoil machinery for the French 155 milimeter guns. The French artillery experts at first scoffed at the idea that an American factory could make the mechanism but relapsed into silent amazement to find the detail of the work correct and the American principle of quantity pro- duction applied to the manufacture.
Notwithstanding the dominant position which he gained in the motor world, Mr. Dodge was equally prominent in connection with other industrial and commercial lines, including the ownership and man- agement of large realty interests, banking and other investments. Shortly before his death he was elected a director of the First & Old Detroit National Bank, in which he was a heavy stockholder, and he like- wise had much stock in other banking institutions, was at one time a director of the National Bank of Commerce and was interested in a number of hotel projects. An excellent description and characteriza- tion of John F. Dodge was given by The Detroit News, which said, "The Dodge industrial achieve- ments have been too rapid and their magnitude has been too great for accurate recording. The reason for this is clear to those who knew John Dodge during the years of accomplishment. A man of superlative mental and physical energy, he combined the appear- ance of ability with the fact of it. Solidly built, with massive shoulders and a well proportioned body,
his physical proportions attracted attention in a crowd. But the first glance at his face riveted attention there. His head was large, with a broad forehead and clear eyes. There was no outstanding feature to his face, its proportions in nose, mouth, chin and cheek being normal for the size of the head. But no person could gaze at the face without gaining impression of tre- mendous power. This impression was only heightened by hearing him speak. A careful economy and selec- tion of words, short sentences, clear enunciation and tone and a firm and powerful method of expression, combined with his physical and facial characteristics to make him the dominating figure in nearly every gathering. John Dodge's name is linked with that of his brother in the building of the great automobile plant and in connection with the industrial by-prod- ucts of that institution. In one field, however, the older brother's name stands alone. That is in politics. The lure of politics attracted him as many others. The natural desire to pull the strings on those who pull the strings on governments, combined with the fact that his associations were with the men active in county and municipal politics in the past fifteen years, got him into the political arena. Mayor Codd appointed him on the board of water commissioners in 1905. Mr. Dodge was mildly active during the Codd and Breitmeyer city administrations, but it was with the election of Oscar B. Marx as mayor in 1912 that he became a powerful political figure. He was one of Marx's backers in the campaign, and on the latter's election was at once chosen as a member of the newly created board of street railway com- missioners. During the succeeding years he wielded a powerful influence, being allied with the Oakman and Marx wings of the local republicans. The con- trolling organization in the republican party locally became known indeterminately as the Marx or Dodge organization. Aside from the water board and street railway commission places he held no political ap- pointments, but he was a delegate to the national convention in Chicago in 1916. He was frequently mentioned for the senatorship after William Alden Smith's retirement was announced, but would not run. Mr. Dodge made a record during the five years he served on the water board. He had old machinery replaced, new derricks and cranes installed and was instrumental in getting a new pumping station under way."
On the 22d of September, 1892, John F. Dodge was married to Miss Ivy S. Hawkins, who passed away in 1901, leaving three children: Winifred, who is now Mrs. William J. Gray, Jr .; Isabel C., now the wife of George Sloane of New York; and John Duval Dodge. On the 10th of December, 1907, Mr. Dodge was married to Miss Matilda Rausch, daughter of George Rausch, formerly a Detroit merchant, who was a native of Germany and was married in Canada. His daugh- ter, Mrs. Dodge, was born in Canada. The children of this marriage are: Frances Matilda, born November 27,
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1914; Daniel G., born July 23, 1917; and Anna Mar- garet, born June 14, 1919.
Mr. Dodge was the owner of a model farm at Roch- ester and a beautiful home on Boston boulevard in Detroit, but at the time of his death was erecting what was to be the most magnificent and palatial residence of the city. He turned to golf, fishing and yachting for recreation, but there were many years of his life in which there was absolutely no, or but little, leisure, when the upbuilding of his busi- ness demanded all of his attention. As he prospered his philanthropies increased and included many per- sonal pensioners-friends who had to be taken care of and employes who became incapacitated in his plant. To many organized charities he was also a most liberal donor. With the attainment of wealth he never forgot his duties and obligations to his fel- lowmen, to his city and his country and was ever the champion of Detroit's best interests and its civic improvement and progress. One of his generous gifts was a hundred-thousand-dollar building deeded to the Detroit Federation of Women's Clubs in recognition of the splendid work which they had done for the improvement of civic and sociological conditions, his sister, Mrs. Delphine Dodge Ashbaugh, having at one time been president of the state federation of clubs.
Death came to Mr. Dodge when he was in New York, to which city he and his brother had gone to attend the automobile show. While there both were stricken with pneumonia and John F. Dodge succumbed to the disease, passing away on the 14th of January, 1920. No better indication of the life work and the character of John F. Dodge can be given than in quoting from editorials published at the time of his death. One of these said: "John Dodge had an army of competitors as a captain of industry. The fortune he accumulated will probably be over- shadowed in the final showing by the money of a number of other men in the community. But few, in- deed, will be the citizens of whom it will be said through the years-'They were as ready as John Dodge to help out the poor fellow who was down on his Juek.' Instances were innumerable wherein the man responded generously to tales of misfortune which were brought to him. Stories abound concerning times he brushed business aside to listen to appeals in the interest of persons of whom he had never heard, of times when he virtually put his checkbook in the hands of friends. He had endured poverty stoically. He bad faced the threat of failure with courage. In the days when riches came to him he forgot neither the companions of his earlier life nor the whips which may assail and the traps that may trip men in their struggle for existence. Headstrong he could be, a fighter with every ounce of his man- hood and every resource at his command, but not a vein or a cell of his heart ever hardened."
The Detroit Free Press, at the time of his passing, said editorially: "This community could ill afford to
lose John F. Dodge. He was a citizen who counted. He was one of the big forces in the making of modern Detroit and there is every reason to believe that if he had lived the next ten-year period would have been the time of his greatest accomplishment. Mr. Dodge had all the equipment necessary to progress and achievement and he used to the full what nature had provided him. He was a man no person could pass by with indifference; nor could any city in which he moved and lived Jong leave him out of its reckon- ings. He was absolutely straightforward. He told the truth without quibbling. He always meant what he said, and mostly he said what he felt. He believed in fair dealing and practiced it. He also demanded fair dealing in others, and generally he obtained it. He was without fear, consequently he went to his objectives unhampered by many considerations that might have blocked a less forceful man. He was a dynamo of energy with a driving power that was tremendous. Those who knew Mr. Dodge well say that he was growing every day. Unquestionably he was one of the rising figures in American industry and he was coming more and more into general prominence throughout the country. With his brother he handled exceedingly large affairs, and the work of the two for the government throughout the war period and the development of the Dodge Brothers plant stand out as striking examples of American initiative and executive genius. John F. Dodge frankly demanded a great deal from life; but he also put a great deal into life, and the effect of what he accomplished will be felt beneficially in Detroit for a long time. No greater loss could befall the city and state through the death of an individual."
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