USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > The city of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922, Vol. IV > Part 9
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FRANK G. BRUESCH, secretary and treasurer of the Crawford Laundry Company, was born in Zil- waukee, Michigan, January 26, 1892. His father, John H. Bruesch, was born in Germany and was brought to America by his parents when but two years of age, the family settling in Michigan, where he was reared to manhood and acquired his education. He married Anna Luebs, a native of Saginaw, Michi- gan, and later he entered the employ of the Morton Salt Company of Port Huron, Michigan, with which business he has been connected for many years, he and his wife making their home in that city.
Frank G. Bruesch, their only child, obtained his education in the public schools of Saginaw, Michigan, and also in the schools of River Rouge, just outside of Detroit. He completed a high school course in, Port Huron and then, leaving school, became an em- ploye of the American Blower Company of this city, with which he continued for a brief period. He afterward obtained a position with the Woodward Taxicab Company of Detroit and was subsequently with the Lozier Motor Company in a clerical capacity for two years. Finally he became a representative of the Crawford Laundry Company in the spring of 1913, accepting a position in the office. In 1916 he was made an official of the company, being elected secre- tary and treasurer. He has filled this position most capably through the intervening period and has con- tributed to the development of the business until it is one of the foremost of the kind in Detroit. The concern has a modern establishment at No. 387 Jef- ferson avenue, East, where the business was started in a small way in 1908, but in 1913 a new building was added to the old laundry and equipped with the latest laundry machines and everything required in the conduct of a successful business of this character. From time to time the latest models in laundry machinery have been introduced and the plant is today one of the most thoroughly modern in Detroit, while
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the large business is cared for through the labors of from one hundred to one hundred and ten employes.
On the 10th of September, 1913, Mr. Bruesch was married to Miss Merriel Wolf, daughter of Thomas H. and Dorothy Wolf. They have one child, J. Flem- ing, born in Detroit in 1917. The parents are mem- bers of the First Presbyterian church and are inter- ested in all those forces which make for higher moral standards and better methods of living.
JOHN CLEMENT ALEXANDER, a member of the Detroit bar since 1911, was born in Duluth, Minne- sota, November 27, 1886, his parents being Horace Elie and Eliza (Crawford) Alexander. The father was born in England in 1857 and in 1873 crossed the Atlantic with his widowed mother, settling first in Toronto, Canada, where he wedded Miss Crawford. He passed away in Washington, D. C., in 1913, hav- ing for many years been a compositor on the Wash- ington Post, a position which he filled to the time of his demise. His widow survives and now resides in Detroit. She was a daughter of John Crawford, a native of Scotland, who died in Canada, while the grandfather of John C. Alexander in the paternal line was Horace Elie Alexander, who was an artist and spent his life in England.
John C. Alexander was reared in the national capital, where he attended the public schools and then entered upon the study of law, being graduated in 1910 from the law department of Georgetown Uni- versity, at which time the LL. B. degree was con- ferred upon him, while in 1911 his Alma Mater be- stowed upon him the degrees of LL. M. and L. D. M. He continued a resident of Washington until 1911, when he removed to Detroit and here entered upon .the general practice of law.
Mr. Alexander was an associate member of the legal advisory board of Wayne county, Michigan, during the period of the war. His political allegiance is given to the republican party and his religious faith is indicated by his membership in the Episcopal church. He is also identified with various fraternal and social organizations, having membership with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, with the various York Rite bodies of Masonry, including the Knights Templar commandery, and also with the Mystic Shrine. He belongs, too, to the Delta Theta Pi, is a member of the Detroit Bar Association, of the Lawyers' Club and of the Fellowcraft Club.
SEWARD E. CLARK, secretary and general man- ager of Grinnell Brothers, is one of Detroit's best known business men in the musical trade, with which he has been connected for nearly thirty years. Mr. Clark was born at Springfield, Oakland county, Mich- igan, January 10, 1863, a son of Reuben N. and Eliza- beth (Polhemus) Clark, and received his education in the public schools, later attending high school at Clarkston, Michigan. He began his business career
when about nineteen years of age as a clerk for the American B. H. O. and Sewing Machine Company. The thoroughness with which he mastered the tasks entrusted to him and his increasing capability led to various promotions and from 1888 until 1892 he was manager for the company at Cincinnati, Ohio, thus entering upon a position of marked executive control. He became identified with the piano trade of Detroit in the latter year as president of the S. E. Clark Company and contributed to the successful conduct of the business until May, 1903, when he sold out to Grin- nell Brothers. At that time, however, he entered the firm as general manager of branch stores and later became one of the directors, the secretary and general manager of Grinnell Brothers, Incorporated. He has figured prominently in music trade eireles of Detroit and since his connection with the firm has been a con- tributing factor in its wonderful growth. Mr. Clark is also one of the directors and secretary of the Grinnell Realty Company.
On the 18th of September, 1889, Mr. Clark was married to Miss Myrta D. West of Clarkston, Michi- gan, and they have one daughter, Mary W., now Mrs. Grant B. Canfield of Detroit. The parents are mem- bers of the Congregational church, in the work of which they have taken an active and helpful part, Mr. Clark being at one time the president of the Michigan Congregational Brotherhood. He is also a Knights Templar Mason, loyal to the teachings and purposes of the craft, while in politics he is a repub- lican. He belongs to the Detroit Golf Club, the Ingle- side Club, the Detroit Music Trades Association, which he has served as president, and the National Asso- ciation of Piano Merchants. He finds much of his recreation in reading, whereby he has become a man of wide general information, with whom association means expansion and elevation. The family residence at 216 Chicago boulevard, is one of the attractive homes in that section of the city.
THE VINTON FAMILY IN DETROIT. The name of Vinton has had a long and honorable association with Detroit's business interests and it may fairly be said that no single name is more intimately con- nected with the material growth of the city or more worthy of an honored place in the history of the municipality.
Primarily, the prestige of the Vinton name was established by G. Jay Vinton, who was popularly known as Jay Vinton and who was for more than a quarter of a century one of the prominent figures in Detroit. Politicians come and go and are soon forgotten, but this man helped to enlarge the old Detroit and build the modern metropolis, and he left his impress not only upon the physical city but upon the people who were so fortunate as to know him. He was a business man of wide vision and large activ- ities, and although best known as a building contrac- tor, he was a rare executive and financier. Under
GEORGE JAY VINTON
WARREN GEORGE VINTON
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his able management the Vinton Company grew to be one of the strongest concerns in Detroit. However, it was not alone his business ability and success which commanded the respect of his fellows; he was a man of high character, and the cornerstone of his success was honesty. As one who knew him intimately has said: "He wouldn't stand for the least dishonesty- not for a minute."
The Vinton Company is the oldest contracting com- pany in Detroit and in carpentry work its operations have been greater than those of any other company in the city. The business was founded in 1858 by Warren G. Vinton, grandfather of Robert King Vin- ton, the active representative of the company. G. Jay Vinton, son of the founder, was born in Detroit, August 10, 1859. He received his early schooling iu this city and while attending school learned the trade of carpenter, so that at an early age he joined his father in the carpentry business. 'From the inception of their enterprise until nearly the end of the nine- teenth century, Detroit was essentially a city of wooden buildings, consequently they confined their operations to carpentry work, but persistently and wisely expanded their business. After about thirty years of great activity, during which they erected many of Detroit's principal buildings of that time, Warren G. Vinton turned over the active management of the firm to his son, G. Jay Vinton, and on July 1, 1895, the new manager incorporated The Vinton Com- pany, of which he was president and general manager until his death. He extended the operations to gen- eral contracting and doing the entire work on any contract, no matter how large. For this purpose he built up a new organization and equipped the com- pany to handle the steel, brick, stone and cement work that has become essential in modern buildings. His organization comprised eleven complete depart- ments and placed him in a position to undertake the entire work of any contract, from the turning of the first sod to the decorating and furnishing of the completed structure. The company's factory on the corner of Woodbridge and Beaubien streets covered the entire block and they continually employed from twelve hundred to fifteen hundred men.
The building done in Detroit by this company has been enormous and it would not be an easy task to give a list of the structures they have erected or upon which they have been among the principal con- tractors, but some examples of their work are herein given to suggest the wonderful part they have played in the upbuilding of Detroit. They were the con- tractors for the Stevens building, the present Masonic Temple on Fort street, the Y. M. C. A., the Detroit Athletic Club, Washington Arcade, the plant of the Burroughs Adding Machine Company, the Michigan Stove Works, Detroit Opera House, Whitney Theater and building, First Congregational church, St. Paul's (Episcopal) cathedral, St. Andrew's church, St. Fran- cis Home for Boys, the Detroit Boat Club, the Amo
apartments, the residences of J. B. and E. L. Ford, Truman H. Newberry, Russel A. Alger, Jr., Mrs. Henry Stevens, and several of Detroit's finest school build- ings. They were among the principal contractors on such buildings as the Fine Arts, Michigan Central depot, Free Press building, Detroit Trust Company building, the Grinnell block, the Cadillac hotel, the Wayne hotel, the Horticultural building and Aquarium at Belle Isle, the Lenox, Charlevoix and Pasadena apartments, the Detroit city hall, the Wayne County building, the Majestic building, the Detroit Stove Works, Detroit Club, Woodward Avenue Methodist church, the Hudson, Packard, Hupp, Chalmers and other motor car plants. Also, the operations of the company have not been confined strictly to Detroit; they have erected many fine structures in other Mich- igan cities, and in Ohio and in New York.
While keeping in close touch with every depart- ment of his extensive business Mr. Vinton interested himself in humanitarian and social work. He was a builder not only of material edifices, but also of the civic and ethical things that make for good citizen- ship and the welfare of the community. He was presi- dent of the board of trustees of the Michigan asylum at Pontiac, trustee of the Florence Crittenden Home, vice president of the Y. M. C. A., member of the board of trustees of the Woodward Avenue Baptist church and also of the executive committee of the Baptist Union of America. He was a prominent Mason, having passed to the thirty-second degree in that fraternity. In a secular way also he was iden- tified with progressive organizations of the city. He was a member of the Builders Association of Detroit, the Board of Commerce and the Detroit Boat Club. In his younger days he was a member of the Detroit Light Guard, Michigan State Militia, for six years. For many years he was treasurer of the MeClure Lum- ber Company.
On October 12, 1887, G. Jay Vinton married Rosa B. King of Brooklyn, New York, who is still living in Detroit. Their family consists of three sons and a daughter: Warren Jay received his Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Michigan with the class of '11, and was also chosen a member of the honorary literary fraternity, Phi Beta Kappa. During the World war he was a lieutenant in the American Red Cross, having been attached to the relief expedition to the Balkans. He married Miss Marga Tozzi of Italy and now resides in Paris, France, where he is engaged in the study of physics, astronomy and psychology; Rob- ert King Vinton, of whom mention is made later, was the second son; Donald P. Vinton is now engaged in the bond business in Detroit. At the outbreak of America's hostilities against Germany in 1917 he was commissioned a first lieutenant of infantry at the Officers Training Camp at Fort Sheridan, was later transferred to the cavalry and finally, when the troop to which he was attached was transferred to the field artillery his commission was changed to that branch
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of the service. His tenure of service was constantly in this country; Elizabeth Vinton is the only daughter.
Robert King Vinton was born in Detroit, April 9, 1892, and after preparing for college in the local schools entered the University of Michigan. He was not destined to complete his course, however, as the death of his father, which occurred December 23, 1910, rendered it more advisable that he return to Detroit to assist in looking after the large and varied interests of the Vinton Company, of which his father had been president and general manager. Since that time Robert K. Vinton has been the active represent- ative of the Vinton Company and for some years he has been secretary and treasurer of the corporation. The company was engaged, as described before, in has confined its operations to real estate and building investments. The company is a close corporation, the entire stock being vested in the Vinton family. They own a large amount of realty and improved property in Detroit, including two hotels, several apartment houses and the Vinton building, the latter one of the largest office buildings in the city and erected in 1916.
In 1914 Robert K. Vinton married Miss Marion G. Fikes, daughter of Rev. Maurice P. Fikes, a minister of the Baptist church. They have two children: Mary Elizabeth, born July 27, 1915; and Robert Jay, born on September 13, 1917, at Detroit.
Mr. Vinton takes a keen interest in athletic sports and has a splendid record as a basket-ball player. He has been a member of the Y. M. C. A. team, the Detroit Athletic Club five, and the celebrated Rayls quintet, with which he has played against the best teams in the country. In 1919 the Rayls were the champions of the middle west.
Mr. Vinton's club affiliations are with the Detroit Athletic Club, the Automobile Country Club at Pine Lake, and the Oakland Hills Country Club. He is also a member of the Detroit Real Estate Board and the Board of Commerce. His religious connection is with the Woodward Avenue Baptist church and he is one of the trustees of the Detroit Baptist Union, a position formerly held by his father.
During the World war Mr. Vinton held a captain's commission in the construction division and, among other things, had supervision of the construction of the Morrow Aviation Field at Detroit.
CHARLES FARRINGTON DOW, belonging to that class of real estate men who are steadily upbuilding the city, is now at the head of a large company doing an extensive business in real estate circles. He was born in Syracuse, New York, May 15, 1880, and is a son of Hezekiah Farrington and Mary S. (Northrop) Dow. Entering school at the usual age, he passed through consecutive grades to his grad- uation from the high school of Syracuse, New York, with the class of 1897, after which he entered the Syracuse University, in the class of 1902. Starting
out in the business world he secured a position with the Massachusetts Life Insurance Company at Syra- cuse and remained with that corporation for seven years. In January, 1907, he became connected with real estate interests as a representative of Homer Warren & Company of Detroit, with whom he con- tinued for two years, and then, ambitious to engage in business on his own account, he organized the real estate firm of Dow & Gilbert in 1909. Through the intervening years his business has steadily developed, owing to the thoroughness of his methods and his close application, and he is now the president of the Dow- Gilbert Realty Company, Incorporated. Their busi- ness has developed to large proportions in the han- dling of city realty and Mr. Dow has ever been a follower of conservative methods, resulting in the steady upbuilding not only of his business but of the interests of the city as well. Mr. Dow is operating quite extensively in the border cities, his holdings, combined with his associates, being the largest of any real estate operators in that field. He is a valued member of the Detroit Real Estate Board and is a recognized authority upon all questions of vital in- terest to real estate circles in Detroit.
On the 17th of June, 1902, Mr. Dow was married to Miss Florence M. Hickok of Syracuse, New York, and they became parents of two sons and a daughter: Farrington L., Charles W. (deceased), and Helen Mary. In social and fraternal circles Mr. Dow is widely known. He is a member of the Delta Upsilon, a col- lege fraternity, and in Masonry has attained the Knights Templar degree. He belongs to the Oakland Hills Country Club, gives his political support to the republican party and in religious belief is a Presby- terian. Detroit is fortunate in having as a repre- sentative of its real estate interests a young man of such substantial qualities and high business ideals as Charles F. Dow.
FRANK ENGEL is one of the firm of Engel Broth- ers, dealers in high grade furniture and household equipments in Detroit. He was born in this city December 9, 1872, and is a brother of George Engel, commissioner of public works of Detroit, one of the best known and most popular officials of the city and also interested in the furniture business. The parents are Conrad and Susan (Wagner) Engel, both of Euro- pean birth, who came to America at the ages of six- teen and two years, respectively. The father settled in Detroit on crossing the Atlantic and afterward re- moved to the northern part of the state, where he engaged in the business of boot and shoe making, his output being sold to the miners operating in the copper and iron mines of northern Michigan. He afterward returned to Detroit, where he continued in the boot and shoe business until his retirement sev- eral years ago. He still resides in this city and has reached the age of eighty-two years, while his wife
ROBERT KING VINTON
Vol. IV-6
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is seventy-six years of age. They became the parents of six children, one of whom has passed away, the others being: John H., Mrs. Anna Heide, Mrs. Amelia Graul, Frank and George, all of Detroit.
In his boyhood days Frank Engel was a pupil in the public schools and after passing through consecu- tive grades to the high school became a student in the Detroit Business University, his thorough training securing for him a position with the Michigan Elevator Company, which he represented in a clerical capacity. He was afterward with George Heide, dealer in groceries and meats, remaining in his employ for almost two years. He became an employe of the Grand Upholstering Company in May, 1892, remain- ing in that connection until September, 1898. At the latter date he resigned his position to establish busi- ness on his own account as a member of the Engel Furniture Company, consummating his plans on the 1st of October, 1898. The business had a moderate beginning but has gradually been developed to its present large proportions. At an early day the com- pany occupied a four-story building, but today the Engel Brothers Furniture Company is housed in a sixteen-story building devoted entirely to the display and sale of household furniture. They carry every- thing of use and adornment in a home from the basement to the finest parlor equipment. Their stock is very extensive and attractive and the business is now one of mammoth proportions, while the methods pursued in its conduct are such as will bear the closest investigation and scrutiny.
In November, 1897, Mr. Engel was married to Miss Millie Gettschlag, who was suddenly stricken when about to enter her automobile preparatory to a shop- ping trip on the 29th of October, 1919. Before medical aid could be summoned she passed away, her death mourned by a most extensive circle of friends as well as the members of her own household. She was a daughter of Louis A. and Minnie Gettschlag, of a well known family of Detroit. Mr. and Mrs. Engel had one child, Marguerite, born in Detroit in 1898 and educated in the public schools of this city. She is now residing with her father.
Mr. Engel belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and has membership relations with the Har- monie Club and the Mendelssohn Club, which indi- cates much concerning the nature of his interests outside of business. He also belongs to the Detroit Board of Commerce and to the Furniture Dealers Asso- ciation. He is widely known and prominent in com- mercial circles and stands high in matters of pro- gressive citizenship. His worth is widely acknowl- edged and everywhere he is spoken of in terms of high regard.
C. W. GRACEY, the secretary and treasurer of the Schoof Gracey Body Company of Detroit, and well known as one of the leading young business men of Detroit, was born at Comber, Essex county, Ontario,
Canada. He began his education in the schools of his native country and continued his studies in De- troit, after his removal to the United States. He pursued a business course in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and thus qualified for practical and responsible duties in the commercial world. Later he went to the Canadian northwest, and was in the service of the Canadian government at Edmonton, Alberta, for a period of three years. Later he came to Detroit, and joined the organization of Maurice W. Fox, with whom he remained for three years.
Mr. Gracey then took a special course in wireless telegraphy in the University of Detroit and following America's entrance into the World war he enlisted for service as a wireless operator, joining the Two Hundred and Eighteenth Field Battalion. He was assigned to Camp Travis, Texas, as instructor, and remained for some time in the south, receiving his discharge at Camp Custer, in February, 1919.
On the 21st of June of the same year Mr. Gracey was united in marriage to Miss Vera Schoof, a daugh- ter of August F. Schoof of Detroit. In February, 1919, the corporation of the Schoof-Gracey Body Com- pany was formed, with Mr. Gracey as secretary and treasurer, and he has since in this connection bent his energies to administrative direction and executive control of a business that is steadily developing under the guidance of able officers who are actuated in all they undertake by a most progressive spirit.
OTTO STOLL of Detroit, county register of deeds in Wayne county, and reelected November 2, 1920, was born September 14, 1862, in the city which is still his place of residence, his father being Julius Stoll, who was one of the first police judges of De- troit. The family home was on Macomb street, which at that time was a high-class residential neighbor- hood. He pursued his education in the old seminary on Lafayette boulevard, East, in which many men afterward eminent along various lines were educated, including Rear Admiral Winterhalter, Gari Melchers and Jules Rolshoven, distinguished artists, and a number of other men who have become prominent either locally or nationally.
When his textbooks were put aside Mr. Stoll became connected with a florist business and afterward spent fifteen years in the jewelry trade. His keen interest in affairs of public concern and his support of meas- ures which he deemed of value to the community and to the commonwealth led to his election in 1895 to the house of representatives and in the general as- sembly he headed a movement to repeal the mortgage tax act, which was then in existence. The measure was lost by a few votes, however. Mr. Stoll was one of the loyal supporters of Mayor Pingree, assisting him in some of the legislation which he sought to promote for the benefit of Detroit. He served as deputy county clerk under Henry M. Reynolds, and as deputy county clerk under William H. MeGregor. In
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