Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota, Part 51

Author: Holcombe, R. I. (Return Ira), 1845-1916; Bingham, William H
Publication date: 1914
Publisher: Chicago : H. Taylor & Co.
Number of Pages: 1190

USA > Minnesota > Hennepin County > Minneapolis > Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota > Part 51

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GUSTAVE A. BINGENHEIMER.

Gustave A. Bingenheimer, President and Treasurer of the Diamond Iron Works, makes no claim to distinction in the Way of greatness or heroie action, but on the contrary, is modest about his achievements, although his business career is one of distinction. At the age of eighteen he was con- ducting an extensive and profitable business of his own, and now, when he is barely forty-six, he has founded and con- trolled large business enterprises and directed others, and his rise in the business world has been due to no influential connections or adventitious circumstances, but wholly to his own ability, foresight and grasp of opportunities.

Mr. Bingenheimer is a native of Minneapolis, born March 15, 1867, and the son of Jacob Bingenheimer, who came to this city in 1858, and started one of the first flour mills, his plant being located at Shingle Creek. He was successful and held high rank among the business men of the time. His business expanded and with it he kept pace with industrial and commercial growth, until death ended his labors August 27, 1872.

Gustave A. Bingenheimer obtained his education in the public schools, and after leaving the high school started to work in the drug store of the present mayor, Wallace G. Nye. Soon afterward he entered the employ of E. P. Sweet, a well- known druggist, soon becoming a member of the firm. The partnership lasted about three years, when Mr. Bingenheimer decided to start a similar business of his own. He opened a drug store at Plymouth avenue and Sixth street north, where he was located ten years. Following this he had drug stores at Fourth avenue and Franklin avenue south, Wash- ington and Plymouth avenues north, Lyndale and Sixth ave- nues north and Humboldt and Sixth avenues north, and one at Melrose, Minnesota.

In 1905 he became connected with the Diamond Iron Works and was elected vice president and secretary of the company. When H. H. Smith, the president, died in 1910, Mr. Bingen- heimer was made president and treasurer. He is also presi- dent and treasurer of the Diamond Iron Mining company, operating in the iron range, and vice president of the Bingen- heimer Mercantile company at Mandan, North Dakota.

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

It is not to be supposed, however, that he has been wholly absorbed in his industrial and mercantile operations. He has taken an earnest interest and a serviceable part in local public affairs, giving his helpful support to every undertaking for its advancement or improvement, but never seeking or desiring the prominence of official station. He is a member of the Athletie, Rotary, Interlachen and Automobile clubs.

January 16, 1895, Mr. Bingenheimer was united in marriage with Miss Genevra Smith of Minneapolis. They have two children, Philip H. and Marion J.

CHARLES W. BIBB.

Charles W. Bibb, president of the Minneapolis Cereal com- pany, is a native of the Old Dominion, or rather in that part of the state now called West Virginia, born July 30, 1857. His parents were Rev. Martin Thomas and Sarah M. Bibb, both descended from old Southern families. The father was a native of Lynchburg, Virginia, and a minister of the Baptist church.

Charles W. obtained his early education in Missouri, where his parents went in his boyhood, and began his business career as a bookkeeper in the Union Stockyards in St. Louis. He came to Minneapolis in 1884 and started handling broom corn and manufacturing and jobbing the material for the manufacturing of brooms, beginning operations at 725 Second street north, removing a few years later to 406 Third avenue north, where he continued for 10 years.

About 1905 he sold his establishment and became president of the Minneapolis Cereal company. The company manufac- tures Cream of Rye, Toasted Rye Flakes and other farinaceous products which have won a high world-wide reputation. Mr. Bibb is a member of the Civic and Commerce Association and the Municipal Commission. He also has devoted considerable time to literary subjects, he being the author of a number of books. He was married Aug. 13, 1879, to Miss Julia T. Sharp, and they are members of Trinity Baptist church. They have three children: Harry T., Frank L. and Eugene S. Harry is a resident of Gulf Port, Mississippi. Frank is a teacher in the New York University of New York, and Eugene is practicing law, being located at 314 MeKnight Building.

WILLIAM WALLACE EASTMAN.

A pioneer in several lines of industry in Minneapolis and a promoter of improvements in other localities, the late Wil- liam Wallace Eastman, who died in this eity on the 26th of July, 1906, on the verge of eighty years of age, made his mark deep and enduring in the industrial and commercial life of several places, and is remembered in all of them with high esteem for the exalted worth of his character, his great busi- ness capacity, his broad and intelligent public spirit and his unceasing enterprise in developing natural resources and mak- ing them serviceable to mankind.

Mr. Eastman was born on February 6, 1827, at Conway, a popular resort for artists and tourists, in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. The interesting little city of his birth lies on the upper waters of the Saco river, in sight of Mount Kearsage and Mount Washington, and surrounded by many

other peaks of scenic and historic renown, in a region so grandly and picturesquely beautiful that the sojourner in it can almost feel the celestial soul that lights the smile on Nature's lips there. It was in this region that the future founder of mueh that was great and architect of much that was imposing grew to manhood, obtained his education, learned crafts of useful industry and began his' shining busines's ca- reer. Travel from the outside world brought him into contact with highly cultivated minds, and Nature was ever breathing into his being breadth of view and self-reliance, broadening his spirit for great undertakings and building up his physical na- ture to make him equal to their requirements.

This scion of old English ancestry and families long domes- ticated in New England was a son of William K. and Rhoda (Messer) Eastman. The father was a merchant, farmer and paper manufacturer. He was prominent in the public affairs of his home county, and served it for a time in the important office of sheriff. The greater part of his life was passed among his native hills, but in his declining year's he moved to Minneapolis, where he died at the age of ninety-three.

William W. Eastman worked in his father's paper mill, drove a stage coach and engaged in other occupations during his minority. From his boyhood the West wore a winning smile for him, and soon after attaining his majority he made a trip to California. But he did not linger long in that land of golden promise. In 1854 he 'eame to St. Anthony, where his brother John and his sister, Mrs. D. A. Secombe, were living. About this time Jolin Eastman, Captain Rollins and R. P. Upton were building a flour mill on Hennepin Island. William Eastman joined them in the enterprise, and the result of their joint efforts was the erection and operation of the first flour mill in St. Anthony, except the "Old Goverment Mill," which was put up in the wilderness in 1821 for the use of the troops on the military reservation, which is now Fort Snelling, but was, until 1824, Fort St. Anthony.

As soon as the St. Anthony mill dam was completed and power was assured Mr. Fastman, in company with Paris Gib- son, built a fine stone mill with five run of burrs, which is still standing and is known as the "Cataraet Mill." In this mill was made the second flour that was shipped east from the Falls of St. Anthony. The same gentlemen soon afterward built a woolen factory, in which they used the first power tunnel put in service in this locality. Here they produced blankets that always won wherever they were put in competi- tion with the best of foreign or domestic make, and also manu- factured cloth and flannels. The same premises were later occupied by the North Star Woolen mills, long one of the lead- ing industrial plants in this city.

In 1860 Mr. Eastman, returning to the oceupation of his boy- hood, put up the first paper mill in this region, and also built the Anchor flour mill with twelve run of burrs in company with Paris Gibson and George H. Eastman, the largest and most imposing of its day, but long since dwarfed by the other structures in the flour milling industry that have risen around it. The Pillsbury Flour Mills company now owns and operates it as one of that company's large aggregation of mills, but it still holds its distinction as a pioneer in the business, and if not hoary with age is nevertheless conspicuous in importance and the interest of its history.

Lumbering having become the common occupation of enter- prising men in this locality, so broad, alert and comprehen- sive a mind as Mr. Eastman's was, could be in no danger of overlooking its importance and the opportunities it offered for

nMacedonian

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

large and profitable operations. He embarked in it with ardor, in partnership with Chas. A. Bovey, and for many years the firm of Eastman, Bovey & Company .was one of the leaders in the lumber industry in this part of the country.

A short time afterward Mr. Eastman and several associates with him bought Nicollet Island as a seat for new industries. The purchasers offered the upper part of the island to the city for a park, asking a moderate priee for it, but the offer was not accepted, and the negligence of the city authorities in this matter ha's been a source of deep regret to the whole people of the municipality ever since. As a means of making his new site as valuable and productive as possible, Mr. East- man originated a plan for developing and directing the water power available from the river in such a way that the full force of the Falls could be utilized. This was the ercction of an apron from bank to bank, and was adopted by the govern- ment engineers at Mr. Eastman's suggestion. It has overcome difficulties encountered in other plans previously tried, and permanently preserved the Falls from disaster and their great power from waste.

After Mr. Eastman and his associates bought the island they opened stone quarries and built many shops, residences and tenement houses on it. Mr. Eastman alone putting up sixty- two structures, including his own residence, in which so many years of his life were passed, and which is still standing, an impressive monument to his energy, enterprise and foresight. He was also the moving spirit in organizing a company and erecting the famous Syndicate block on Nicollet avenue, and he personally had built the Eastman block on the same thor- oughfare.

But this promoter of comprehensive and varied powers did not confine his operations to Minneapolis or the construction of mills, dwellings and business blocks. He erected "The East- man," a famous hotel at Hot Springs, Arkansas, which is one of the prominent resort houses of entertainment in the United States. He was also active in the building of the first section of the Northern Pacific Railroad, and was connected in a lead- ing way with many other enterprise's of magnitude, among them the Minneapolis Brewing company, of which he was president at the time of his death and had been for six years prior to that event. Previous to his taking this position he was for a time president of the Dunham & Eastman whole- sale grocery company, although Mr. Dunham was the active manager of the business.

Mr. Eastman was married in 1855 to Miss Susan R. Lovejoy, who was born at Conway, New Hampshire, in 1832, and who died in Minneapolis on April 19, 1912. She was one of the most admired and estcemed ladies Minneapolis has ever known, richly endowed with all the graces of charmning womanhood and all the most ennobling traits of her sex. Her natural gifts and acquired culture ripened with advancing age and made her, in her later years, an inspiration to all who came in con- tact with her.

The only daughter of the household to reach maturity was Ida May, who became the wife of A. C. Loring, a prominent business man of Minneapolis. She died young, leaving her brother, Fred W. Eastman, the only living representative of this generation of the family. He married Miss Jeannette Hale, who also died some years ago, leaving an only son, Wil- liam W. Eastman, who is now a dealer in stocks and bonds in this city. The present wife of Fred W. Eastman was Mrs. Emma (Spalding) Baker before her marriage to him. They have one child, their son Frederick William. Mr. and Mrs.

Fred W. Eastman occupy the old family home on Nieollet Island. (The founder of the house was active in public affairs as a citizen and promoter of the community's welfare, an ar- dent and serviceable supporter of all undertaking's involving its progress and improvement, earnest in his aid to the leading clubs and other social, educational and moral agencies at work in the city, and in many ways one of its most useful, helpful and representative residents.)

WARREN F. BARR.

Having served two years in the city council as alderman from the Twelfth ward with great acceptability and advan- tage to the city, Warren F. Barr was well known to the people of Minneapolis when he sought the nomination for the office of mayor in 1912. He did not secure the nomination, but so highly estcemed were his services in the couneil, and in such cordial regard was he held as a business man and citizen, that he was fourth in the order of preference of the thirteen candidates who were voted for at the primaries.

Mr. Barr was born on a farm near Clarence, Shelby county, Missouri, on August 19, 1875, and is a scion of old and prom- inent families in that county. His mother's father was for many years county clerk there, and during the Civil war was forced to enlist in the Confederate army for the effect the influence of his example would have on other men in the loeality. His grandson Warren was rcared on the parental farm and completed his academic education at the Macon District high school, in his native state, from which he was graduated in 1892. He then studied law at the Northern Indiana University at Valparaiso, Indiana, and afterward taught school ten years in Missouri, Montana and Minnesota, his last service in this useful line being at Forestville, in this state, in 1905 and 1906.

In the year last named Mr. Barr located in Minneapolis, and from then until 1912 was employed as storekeeper for the Minneapolis Steel and Machinery company. Just four years after taking up his residenee in this city he was elected alderman from the Twelfth ward, being the first Independent candidate elected in this eity in eighteen years. In the city council he has ably championed legislation for progress and the benefit and protection of the working classes. By great effort he succeeded, in a fight lasting three years, in having the new Third avenue bridge constructed of eonercte instead of stecl, as was at first intended, his purpose being to make the structure add to rather than detract from the beauty of the river. He also brought about the purchase by the city of machinery for doing grading in connection with the im- provement of streets. Before this purchase was made the city was obliged to pay forty eents a cubic yard to remove earth, but with the machinery now used the cost is only fifteen eents a yard. Four wards are supplied with a 40-horse power engine and grader. The dirt is loaded directly into wagons, each grader requiring the use of fourteen teams.

Mr. Barr is a Democrat in political faith and an active party worker in all campaigns. He is an effective public speaker, and a gentleman of pleasing address, frank and candid manner. He has hosts of friends, as was shown in his campaign for the mayoralty nomination, which has been alluded to. He was married in 1902, at Great Falls, Montana, to Miss Marie E. Shanahan, of Preston, Minnesota. They

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

have four children, James Warren, Mildred Elizabeth, Ruth Marie and Deloris Belle. Mrs. Barr is a member of the Catholic church, but her husband was reared in the Methodist Episcopal Church South. He belongs to the Masonic Order, the Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias and the Order of Camels. His principal recreation is fishing.

JOHN T. BAXTER.

President of the Northwestern National Life Insurance Company, was born at Berlin, Wisconsin, October 15, 1862, his parents being Thomas and Susannah (Lewis) Baxter. After attending the local high school, he entered Ripon Col- lege, and, during a three years' course, won scholastic dis- tinction as one of that school's best orators. Matriculating in Williams College, he received his Bachelor of Arts degree with the class of 1887, and being the choice of the student body and faculty, was awarded the Van Vechtem prize as the best extemporaneous speaker.

In 1887 he came to Minneapolis and in furtherance of cherished desires, began reading law, and upon admission to the bar in 1889, at once embarked upon a successful practice.

Upon the re-organization of the Northwestern National Life Insurance Company in 1905, he was chosen as its counsel, thenceforth devoting such attention to its affairs and that of Life Insurance in general, that he, in 1912, was the logical choice for president. This company, which stands in a peculiarly important relationship to Minnesota, has grown from modest beginnings, being organized in 1885, with a nucleus of some 500 members taken over from an Iowa organ- ization. W. S. Sparks was its first president, and the present city attorney, Daniel Fish, its legal representative. Its ex- perience has been varied, but its financial resources steadily strengthened, even during the period of greatest depression ; its death benefits have ever been met with promptness, and it now stands as a monument of local protection; one of Minne- apolis' stanchest financial institutions-a credit alike to its promoters, the city and the state.

In 1891, Mr. Baxter married Miss Gertrude Hooker of Minneapolis. They have three children, Beth, Helen and John. Both Mr. and Mrs. Baxter have taken prominent parts in social and civic life, he being a member of the Minneapolis Chib, the University Club, of which he has served as presi- dent, the Minikahda Club, and the Six O'Clock Club. He is also a member of the American Bar Association and of the Minneapolis Bar Association, of which he was long secretary.

RANDALL S. BURHYTE.

Randall S. Burhyte, one of the esteemed citizens of Minne- apolis, is living retired at 428 Groveland avenue. Mr. Burhyte was born at Remsen, Oneida county, New York, February 2, 1836, and received an academic education. At sixteen he went to Utica to clerk in a store, where capacity and fidelity to duty made him the head of a leading department before he was twenty-one.

In 1857 he moved to Hudson, Wisconsin, where he bought a stock of goods and opened a store. Hudson was then a city of some 3,500 inhabitants, and one of the best business

towns in the Northwest. Mr. Burhyte was quick to see and seize the chance it offered, and in addition to the general merchandising was also engaged in the handling of grain. He remained at Hudson until 1871, removing to River Falls, where he operated a store and lumber yard in association with his brother, and did an extensive business. He became president of a bank in River Falls, and so continued until 1879 and retired after a successful business career. Mr. Burhyte came to this city to live in 1886, and for a time conducted a loan business. In political faith he is a Demo- crat, but has never been a hide-bound or aggressive partisan. In fraternal relations he has been a Freemason for forty years.

September 7, 1863, in Hudson, Wisconsin, Mr. Burhyte was united in marriage with Miss Anna Fulton, a native of Liberty, Sullivan county, New York, and brought to Wis- cousin by her parents as a child. Their only daughter, Jennie is the wife of John G. McHugh, secretary of the Chamber of Commerce. Mrs. McHugh's parents have their home with her and enjoy the companionship of their two granddaughters, Miriam and Jean McHugh.

In three states and in several lines of trade Mr. Burhyte has dignified and adorned business life and exemplified the best traits of elevated American citizenship. He has met every requirement of duty, being highly estcemed for his genuine manhood and uprightness, his business ability, public spirit and practical enterprise.

GEORGE A. BRACKETT.

For a continuous period of almost sixty years, with only one interruption of about ten years, the record of ambitious undertakings, valuable achievements and distinguished service to the community in business and public life made by George A. Brackett, has run like a veritable thread of gold through the texture of Minneapolis history, along all lines of whole- some progress and development and connected with every im- portant event that has occurred and every important accom- plishment that has been wrought out among this people.

Mr. Brackett was born at Calais, Maine, on September 16, 1836, the second son of a large family of children born to Henry H. and Mary (Godfry) Brackett. The father was a mechanic, and although descended from prominent English ancestors, his circumstances were moderate, and his son George was obliged to earn his own living from an early age, and was thus de- prived of the advantages of schooling which he was very desirous of having. But he had large gifts of industry, cour- age, perseverance and self-reliance from his boyhood, and has been able to meet the requirements of every situation in which lie has found himself in a masterly way.

Mr. Brackett came to Minneapolis in 1857, at the same time that his boyhood acquaintance, Hon. W. D. Washburn, came, and secured employment for a time in a butcher shop, after- ward working on the construction of the new dam. The next spring he opened a meat store of his own, and his experience in is proved to be very valuable to him a few years later, when he secured contracts for supplying the troops with meat in the Indian outbreak and the Civil war. After the war he engaged in flour milling in a leading way until 1869, when new and broader fields of operation required his attention.

In the year last named he took charge of the Northern Pa-

Gro. a. Brackett

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND IIENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

cific Railroad Reconnaissance conducted by Governor J. Greg- ory Smith, president of the road. Was appointed purchasing agent for the road by Governor Smith. The expedition was fitted out in Minneapolis and traveled West over the plains to the Big Bend of the Missouri river. Mr. Brackett's report showed the country inspected to be so satisfactory for the pur- pose that the construction of the road was immediately be- gun, and he and others secured a contract to build the first 240 miles, extending from Duluth to the Red river. In this work he had associated with him Hon. W. D. Washburn, Col. W. S. King, W. W. Eastman, Dorilus Morrison, and other prominent men in this community.

Mr. Brackett was engaged in railroad construction work ten years, but during this period, as in all the later years of his life, other interests also occupied his attention and his large endowments for development. He was a member of the village council in the sixties and for years thereafter was connected with the municipal government as an alderman and in other capacities. He was one of the leading promoters of the city water works, the sewerage system, the fire depart- ment, of which he was chief for years, and the park system, being a member of the park board for a long time. In fact, he has always been at the forefront of whatever has been of greatest importance and interest. He was prominent in the festivities which welcomed home the returning soldiers after the Civil war; a member of the first board of directors of the Minneapolis Exposition of 1885; one of the most potential factors in the Harvest Festival of 1891, and has always been one of the chief spokesmen and entertainers when dis- tinguished personages have visited the city.

In 1873 Mr. Brackett was elected mayor of Minneapolis and he gave the city a model business administration. As a mem- ber of the park board he succeeded in raising $100,000 for the purchase of Minnehaha Park at a critical time, when the chance of doing anything in that direction seemed lost. He also helped to organize the Associated Charities and was presi- dent of the organization for years. He is still one of its vice- presidents and was for a long time a member of the State Board of Charities and Corrections.

The panic of 1893 shattered Mr. Brackett's fortune, and soon afterward he went to Alaska to rebuild it. While in that country he aided in the construction of a wagon road over the mountains from Skagway. The work presented enor- inous difficulties and obstructions, including financial and po- litical trickery in large measure, and there was bitter opposi- tion to it. But the indomitable will and genius of Mr. Brackett triumphed over all obstacles, and his achievement demonstrated tlie feasibility and practical value of a railroad through the same country, which has since been built.

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Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota, Part 51

Author: Holcombe, R. I. (Return Ira), 1845-1916; Bingham, William H Publication date: 1914 Publisher: Chicago : H. Taylor & Co. Number of Pages: 1190

Author: Holcombe, R. I. (Return Ira), 1845-1916; Bingham, William H
Publication date: 1914
Publisher: Chicago : H. Taylor & Co.
Number of Pages: 1190