Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota, Part 92

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 92

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After completing his course in the Institute of Technology Mr. Hewitt worked in the offices of different architects from 1898 to 1900. In April of the latter year he went to Paris to study in the "Ecole des Beaux Arts," the national school of arehitecture in France. He was admitted to this institu- tion on a competitive examination which placed him at the head of the list of foreign applicants and within one place of heading the whole list of students admitted. When he com- pleted his course in this school he stood second in a class of fifty students or more.

Mr. Hewitt remained in Paris until 1904, when he returned to Minneapolis and opened offiees for the practice of his pro- fession. While he was abroad, however, he made trips to England, Spain, Switzerland, and Italy for study. His first offices in Minneapolis were in the Lumber Exchange, but he found them inadequate and moved to larger rooms at 14 Fourth Street North. These met his requirements for eigh- teen months, and he then decided to build an office of his own for permanent use and erceted the attractive and artistic office building which he now occupies at 716 Fourth Avenue South, and which is one of the architectural gems of the city.

From the beginning of his career here Mr. Hewitt has had an extensive business and his work has all been of a high elass. He designed the residences of Mrs. L. R. Brooks, on Mount Curve Avenue; and of E. J. Carpenter, T. B. Janney, Robert Webb, and William Bovey. He also designed the eity residence of Charles S. Pillsbury and his summer home at Lake Minnetonka, the MeKnight Building, St. Mark's Church, the Thomas Hopewell Hospital, and the Loose Wiles Biscuit Factory. He is now (1914) at work on the Hennepin Avenue Methodist church and the Gateway Park.

Mr. Hewitt was one of the prime movers in the efforts that resulted in the erection of the fine building for the Minne- apolis Museum of Arts, and he is an enthusiastic member of the Society of Fine Arts. He also belongs to the Minneapolis, Minikalıda, and Lafayette Clubs, and the Cliff Dwellers Club of Chicago. He was married April 18, 1900, to Miss Caroline C. Christian. They have one child, their son Charles C., who was born in Paris. A daughter named Helen died a number of years ago. The parents are members of St. Marks Epis- copal Church, and live at 126 East Franklin avenue. No residents of Minneapolis stand higher in public esteem than they, and they are riehly deserving of all the regard and good will bestowed upon them because of their high character, rare accomplishments, genial natures and genuine worth in every way. They embody the best attributes of elevated Minne- apolis citizenship and are among its most admired exponents.

CHARLES SUMNER HALE.

As president of the Peteler Car company, Minneapolis, and through his connection of other large industries in this city Charles Sumner Hale has been able to contribute largely and substantially to the growth of Minneapolis as a manufacturing center and the expansion of the city's industrial and com-

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

mercial power and usefulness, and he has made the most of his opportunities in this respect for the benefit of the city and all classes of its residents.

Mr. Hale was born in Minneapolis on April 1, 1870, and is a son of Jefferson M. and Louisa M. (Herrick) Hale. He was graduated from the high school in 1888 and from the academic department of the University of Minnesota in 1892. He then began his business career in the store of his father. Some time afterward he was associated for two years with the late Jesse G. Jones, and at the end of that period became con- nected with W. S. Hill in the lumber trade. In 1896 he was made secretary and treasurer of the Kettle River Quarries company, furnisher of building and paving material, with quarries at Sandstone, Minnesota. In 1904, in company with George W. Bestor, he organized the Kilgore Machine company, which soon afterward absorbed the Peteler Portable Railway Manufacturing company, and is now called the Peteler Car company and engaged in making cars for contractors and rail- roads.

The old plant of the Peteler Car company embraces five acres, and the company also owns another site of twenty acres within the free switching zone at Como avenue and Belt Line. The new plant is located on that track and is the only commercial car plant in this state for standard car work. It has contracts with the Soo Line, the Minneapolis & St. Louis and the Chicago Great Western railroads covering the building of refrigerator cars, tank, box and flat cars and rebuilding and repairing old ones. Its employes number at times more than 300 and its pay roll exceeds $20,000 a month.

In 1870 Francis Peteler founded the Peteler Portable Rail- way Manufacturing company, he having been the inventor of the first dump car used in railroad work. He erected the plant located at Thirtieth Avenue S. E. and the Northern Pacific tracks south east, and continued in charge of it until 1905, when the company was consolidated with the Kilgore Machine company and he retired from active connection with it. Since then the consolidated enterprise has been manufacturing additional lines of equipment for railroad work, and has built up a very extensive business.

Mr. Hale has also been president of the American Loco- motive Equipment company, of Chicago, and the Sandstone Land company, which owns the townsite and electric and water companies at Sandstone. He is a member of the Minneapolis and Minikahda clubs, the Chi Psi college fraternity and Plymouth Congregational church. On June 23, 1897, he was married at Mankato, Minnesota, to Miss Marjorie L. Patterson. They have one child, their son Sumner Patterson Hale.

WILLIAM S. HUNT.

He is the son of Dr. Henderson Hunt and Sarah Ann (Bar- low) Hunt and was born in the town of Delavan, Wisconsin, on May 1st, 1861. His mother's father, Stevan A. Barlow, was for two terms the attorney general for the state of Wisconsin. Another relative on his mother's side was John W. Barlow who as an officer in the regular army held the rank of brigadier-general. Dr. Hunt, the father, was an old time family physician, of a type, unfortunately, which the specialist has driven out of fashion. He was not only the physician of the physical ills but also the healer of souls and the

father confessor of half the town of Delavan; William, his son, spent the years of his early youth and boyhood in Delavan and began his education in the local schools. When he was sixteen years of age the family moved to Beloit and he began the scientific course in Beloit College. From this college he graduated in 1880. He now determined to become an architect and went to Chicago to study. He put in three years of hard work there as a student and then entered the office of one of the most prominent of the Chicago architects as an office student. He came to Minneapolis in 1888 still considering himself a student. That same year he began an independent practice of his profession which he has continued successfully ever since. It has been his good fortune to plan a great many of the large and beautiful buildings of the city.

Mr. Hunt is a republican in politics although not seeking office and having little time for any special activity along political lines. He is interested in all civic matters and a student of civic conditions. He is a member of the Odd Fellows and a number of principal clubs of the city. He belongs to the Episcopal church. He married Miss Caroline Park Graves in 1885. She died seven years later. In May, 1906 he was married to Miss Barbara C. Maurer. They have no children.

ALONZO D. HOAR.

Mr. Hoar was born in Meeker county, Minnesota, Septem- ber 1, 1864, being a son of David B. and Melissa (Bryant) Hoar, natives of Maine but quarried in Minneapolis. The muother came to Minnesota with her parents, in 1856, finding a new home near Monticello, in Wright county. David B. Hoar became a resident of Meeker county, in the fall of 1857, the next year taking a tract of government land from which he was driven by the Indians in 1862, his dwelling being burned. He then served in the militia aiding in reducing the savages to subjection.

When their homes were destroyed the families fled to Monticello. Eleven of the men returned and collected the household effects, and on their way back to Monticello intended to stop at a Mr. Coswell's. Four of them drove into this place and were immediately killed by Indians lying in con- cealment. The other seven escaped, one of whom, James Nelson of Litchfield, is still living.

Mrs. Hoar was teaching school at the period of the out- break, and was warned of the impending danger by a mail carrier. But before she and the rest of the family could get away bands of Indians appeared in the neighborhood. As their house was destroyed and their crops ruined, they decided to go back East, and for two years and a half thereafter lived with Mr. Hoar's people in New Brunswick. They then returned to their homestead of 280 acres in Meeker county, and there Mr. Hoar died in 1900 in his eighty-third year.

Mrs. Hoar and some of the members of her family are still living on the homestead. She and her sister, Mrs. Lemming, are among the very few survivors of the Indian trouble in her vicinity. She and husband were the parents of eleven children, seven sons and four daughters. ten of whom are living (1913) and of whom Alonzo D. and Irving are residents of Minneapolis. Alonzo came to this city in 1886, and for seven years was assistant engineer at the city water works. About 1893 he started his present transfer business with one

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

horse, doing all his own work. Ile now keeps sixteen horses and employs eight men with a constantly increasing business.

Mr. Iloar's father took a warm interest in local public affairs and filled several local offices. In this respect the son has been like the father, having been interested in the progress and advancement of his community. In 1908 he was elected alderman from the Tenth ward and served on the committees on good roads, public grounds and buildings, licenses, salaries, markets, and fire department. The goods roads committee of which he was a member did effective work in the way of bringing about a general improvement of the roads leading into the city. In fact, laid the foundation for all such improve- ments that have since been made.

November 12, 1890, Mr. Hoar married Miss Nettie Beach, daughter of John P. Beach, one of the pioneers of Northfield, who came from New York. Mrs. Hoar died in 1907, leaving three sons, Chester, Bryant' and Gordon. The former is in tlie employ of a railroad company in St. Paul and Bryant is in the employ of Pittsburg Plate Glass Co.

December 10, 1910, Mr. Hoar was united with Miss Mina Grout, who was born and reared near Mankato, where her father was for years a member of the police force, and who died recently in Minneapolis. Mr. Hoar has been a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows from the age of twenty-one, and is on the eharter roll of Highland Lodge, at Camden Place. He also belongs to the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Woodmen of the World. His re- ligious affiliation is with the Camden Place Methodist Episcopal ehurch.

PLEASANT M. STARNES.

Pleasant M. Starnes is a stockholder and valued executive in corporations that are conducting extensive operations in the handling of timber lands and other properties on the Pacific coast, with specially large holdings in Northwest Canada. He maintains his residence and business headquarters in the city of Minneapolis, where he is vice-president and general man- ager of the American Timber Holding Company, besides which he is vice-president of the North American Timber Holding Company, the official headquarters of which are in the city of Chicago.

He was born in Hancock county, Illinois, on the 1st of January, 1863, and is a son of Eldridge and Emily (Jenkins) Starnes, the former of whom was born in Tennessee and the latter in Ohio, their marriage having been solemnized in the state of Illinois, where the father Eldridge Starnes was a pioneer representative of the agricultural industry in Hancock county. He departed this life Feb. 3, 1914, and the mother on April 17, 1914. After long years of worthy and fruitful application, he maintained his home at Afton, Iowa, and both he and his wife commanded inviolable places in the eonfidence and high regard of all who knew them.

Pleasant M. Starnes gained his initial experience in connec- tion with the work of the home farm and duly availed him- self of the advantages of the public schools of his native state, where he also attended a well ordered academy and thus effectively supplemented his earlier educational discipline. He finally went to the state of Iowa, and there he began the study of law under effective preceptorship. He later estab- lislied his residence in Kansas, where he was admitted to the

bar, and for several years thereafter lie was there engaged in the successful practice of his profession. He maintained his residence for some time at Winfield and later in the city of Topeka, the capital of the state, and in the meanwhile he developed and matured the powers which have made him a force in the industrial world. He then moved to Iowa where he held the position of state manager for an insurance com- pany and later he there. effected the organization of a life insurance company, of which he became president, an office of which he continued the efficient incumbent until the eom- pany was consolidated with the National Life Insurance Com- pany of the U. S. A. in Chicago. Mr. Starnes showed great administrative and constructive ability during his identifica- tion with this important field of enterprise and developed a large and substantial business for the corporation. After its. consolidation with the National Life Insurance Company he became president of the latter corporation, of which he 'con- tinued the executive head for two years.

From the domain of life insurance M. Starnes withdrew to turn his attention to real-estate operations, particularly in the handling of timber lands and other realty in Western Canada and other parts of the west. In 1909 he came to Minneapolis and effected the organization of the American Timber Holding Company, and of this representative corpora- tion he is now vice-president and general manager, the com- pany having extensive and valuable holdings of timber lands in various localities on the Pacific coast as well as in the Canadian northwest. He also was one of the organizers of the North American Timber Holding Company, of Chicago, of which he is vice-president and a director and in which a num- ber of representative business men and capitalists of Minne- apolis and other places are likewise interested principals. Mr. Starnes is also vice-president and treasurer of the Western Finance Company, a director and executive of various other important corporations, in Minneapolis and the northwest. He is a stockholder in leading financial institutions in Minne- apolis and is known as one of the representative men of affairs in this city.

In politics Mr. Starnes gives his allegiance to the Repub- lican party and in his civic attitude he is essentially public- spirited. In his home city of Minneapolis he is identified with the Minneapolis, the Athletic, the Minikalıda, and the La- fayette Clubs and other representative organizations.

In the year 1894 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Starnes to Miss Marie Lower, who, like himself, was born and reared in the state of Illinois. They have four children- Frederick E., who is in the office with his father; William D., who is assistant secretary of the North American Timber Holding Company, of Chicago; and Louis H. and Mildred E., who remain at the parental home.

WILLIAM PENROSE HALLOWELL.

William Penrose Hallowell, a well known business man who is prominently identified with the commercial interests of Minneapolis as coal dealer and manufacturer, was born at Philadelphia, Pa., November 30, 1863, the son of William P. and Elizabeth (Davis) Hallowell. He received the educational advantages of his native state in several of its well known institutions, attending Cheltenham academy, the Friends Central school and Swarthmore college. In 1883, lie eame to

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

Minneapolis, joining his brothers, Morris L. and I. R. D. Hal- lowell, who had located here a few years previously. His first employment was as clerk in the Northwestern National bank. ' He then served in the same capacity with D. Morrison & Company, merchant millers. In 1888 he accepted a clerkship with the Northwestern Fuel company and since that time has continued to devote his attention to this business. He became a partner of the firm of H. W. Armstrong & Company, then resident manager for the Youghiogheney & Lehigh Coal company. In 1902 was secretary of the Holmes & McCaughy company, and in 1904 vice president and treasurer Holmes & Hallowell company, located at 401 First avenue, south, who operate wholesale and retail offices in Minneapolis and St. Paul. He is also prominently connected with the Ramaley Boat com- pany as president in the manufacture of cruisers, auto boats, hydroplanes, racing sail boats and high grade row boats and canoes. Mr. Hallowell served for five years, 1883-88, in the state militia, as a member of Company I, First regiment. He holds membership in the Minneapolis, Minikahda, and La- fayette clubs and his personal affiliations are with the Repub- lican party. His marriage to Miss Agnes Hardenbergh, the daughter of Charles M. and Mary Lee Hardenbergh of Min- neapolis, was solemnized in St. Marks church, June 5, 1888. Their only child, William Penrose Hallowell, Jr., died March 23, 1913, aged twenty-one years.

EMANUEL GEORGE HALL.

Mr. Hall is a native of the city of Bowmanville, province of Ontario, Canada, where his life began on August 13, 1865. The circumstances of the family made it necessary for him to begin earning his own living at an early age, and his opportunities for securing an education were therefore limited. In 1880, when he was fifteen years old, he came to Minneapolis with his parents, and soon afterward began learning the cigarmaker's trade in the factory of James Elwin, under whom he served an apprenticeship of four years. He then worked at the trade in several different states, until early in 1909, when he was appointed assistant State Labor Commissioner of this state under Labor Commissioner W. E. McEwen, during the last term of the late Governor Johnson.

Mr. Hall filled this office with great credit to himself and satisfaction to all the interests involved for two years and four months, having direction of the factory and other inspectors during the whole of his tenure. He retired from the office in May, 1911, and in June of the same year was elected president of the State Federation of Labor by its annual convention in session in Mankato. In 1912 he was re-elected by the convention which met in Brainerd, and in June, 1913, was chosen a third time by the convention in St. Cloud.

As president of the state central body of organized labor Mr. Hall is required to look after the interests of the labor unions and their members in all parts of the state.

The State Federation of Labor embraces between 30,000 and 35,000 union workers, and reaches, in its work and influence, every locality in Minnesota sufficiently populous to maintain a labor union.

The State Federation of Labor was organized in 1890 on a very small scale. It has made steady progress from the start, although it has had its seasons of depression, and is

now a very strong, virile and energetic body. During the last two years one of the most difficult situations it has had to deal with was the strike of the street car employes in Duluth. Mr. Hall was on the battle ground continuously for seven weeks, using every honorable means, with the help of others, to bring about an adjustment of the differences between the men and their employers and bettering the conditions of labor for the workmen, and while the strike was not entirely successful, practically every condition asked for by the street car men has been since conceded and is now enjoyed.

Mr. Hall's devotion to the cause of organized labor and his ability in serving it have been recognized in a national, or more correctly speaking, an international way. He is the Sixth Vice President of the Cigarmakers' International Union, the supreme governing body of the craft for the United States, including their insular dependencies, and the Dominion of Canada. By virtue of this office he is a member of the General Executive Board of the International Union. He is also the secretary-treasurer of the Northwestern Blue Label Conference, an interstate organization formed and maintained for the benefit of union cigarmakers in Minnesota and the Dakotas.

In 1886, while Mr. Hall was working as a journeyman cigar- maker, he took an active part in the great fight for the eight-hour workday for his craft. The fight was won for the workers, and in fifteen years following the establishment. of the eight-hour day for them the death rate from tuberculosis among cigarmakers fell from 63 per cent to 25 per cent as compared with other industries, which is an enormous saving of human life since the number of persons engaged in making cigars and tobacco products is so large. This decrease is attributed entirely to organization and the eight-hour day.

In his home city of Minneapolis Mr. Hall has been appointed on a committee of three to select a 'committee of fifteen to make an investigation within educational lines for the purpose of recommending to the Minneapolis Board of Education a plan of vocational training to be put in operation in the public schools of the city. On July 2, 1892, Mr. Hall was married in Fargo, North Dakota, to Miss Martha Strem, a native of Fertile, Polk county, Minnesota. They have six children, Gertrude, Ethel, Hazel, Milton, Chester and Irene. The head of the house belongs to the Knights of Pythias, the Woodmen and the Order of Moose. His residence in Minneapolis is at No. 923 Third avenue north.

THOMAS ASBURY HARRISON.

Mr. Harrison was a very prominent citizen and business man of Minneapolis. He was the founder of the Security National Bank, in 1878, and its president thereafter until his death, in 1885. He was one of the original members of the lumber firm of J. Dean & Company, organized in 1863, and which built the Atlantic & Pacific Mills, for many years the most extensive lumber mills of Minneapolis. He was for several years president of the State National Bank, a director in the First National Bank of St. Paul and in the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul and the St. Paul & Sioux City Railroads. In 1862 he and his brothers, Hugh and William Harrison, built Harrison's Hall at the junction of Nicollet and Washing- ton Avenues. The building was of stone and upon its con-

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HISTORY OF MINNEAPOLIS AND HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINNESOTA

struction was the most imposing in the town. Mr. Harrison was born at Belleville, Ill., December 18, 1811. In early life he was engaged in milling and operated both saw mills and flour mills. He came to Minneapolis in 1859, and died in 1885. In 1839 he married Rebecca M. Green and she died in Minneapolis, February 13, 1884, in her 64th year. They had five children, two of whom-Mrs. S. H. Knight and Mrs. Dr. E. B. Zier-now reside in Minneapolis.

PAUL D. BOUTELL.

Sinee writing the following Mr. Boutell was called to the life eternal on May 26, 1914.

To no part of the population it has gained from other sections of the country is the Northwest more indebted than to that which it has secured from New England. The persons who have come here from that section have brought with them the industry, frugality and all-conquering ingenuity which have combined to make its residents renowned through- out the eivilized world, and having ready to their hands great wealth of natural resources, however difficult of development, have gloriously helped to work out the results of application, genius and persistency which have made Minneapolis wonder- ful for the extent and rapidity of its growth and advancement.

One of the admirable specimens of the strong and resource- ful New England character was P. D. Boutell, for more than a generation of human life one of the leading merchants and business men of the city, and also one of its most elevated and influential citizens. He was well advanced in years and retired from all active pursuits when the end came on May 26, 1914. His record as a worker was practically made up and closed. There was little more for him in reputation, in achievement or in business profits to look forward to. But the retrospect of his career, however unsatisfactory it may have been to himself, is full of suggestiveness and sources of admir- ation for his friends and all others who know what he had done and how true he had been to every command of duty.

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Compendium of history and biography of Minneapolis and Hennepin County, Minnesota, Part 92

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