USA > Nebraska > Douglas County > Omaha > Omaha: the Gate city, and Douglas County, Nebraska, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume I > Part 30
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CARRIAGE FACTORIES
In 1858 Andrew J. Simpson came to Omaha from Sacramento, Calif., and began making wagons and carriages in a small shop on Douglas Street, near Fourteenth. A few years later he erected a three-story brick building on Dodge Street, just west of Fourteenth, and enlarged his business until he employed thirty-five or forty men. Simpson's carriage factory was the first institution of the kind in the State of Nebraska. It is still in existence and is now operated under the name of A. J. Simpson & Son at No. 1407 Dodge Street.
Andrew Murphy came to Omaha in 1867 and two years later opened a little blacksmith shop near the intersection of Fourteenth and Howard streets. As his business grew he met the demand by enlarging his quarters until finally he built his present plant on the corner of Fourteenth and Jackson streets-a three- story-building valued at $200,000. The factory now employs nearly one hundred men, is equipped with modern tools and machinery, and carries on a general car- riage building business. One department is devoted to the building of automo- bile truck bodies to suit the purposes of the owner of the truck. The slogan of this factory, "Murphy did it," has become a by-word about Omaha.
The firm of Meadimber & Daily began carriage making in 1875 on the corner of Sixteenth Street and Capitol Avenue, with only two men in the shops. In 1881
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Mr. Daily retired from the partnership and Mr. Meadimber shortly afterward removed to the corner of Sixteenth and Chicago streets, where his factory was burned in July, 1890, entailing a loss of some thirty-five thousand dollars. The ruins of the building were hardly cold, when he stretched an awning over a portion of the walls and resumed operations. In less than two months his new factory at Nos. 1513-1515 Chicago Street was ready for occupancy and fifty men were at work in a four-story building 44 by 132 feet, turning out all sorts of vehicles.
William Snyder engaged in the carriage making business in 1879. At first he did all the work himself, but he afterward removed to the corner of Fourteenth and Harney streets, where he employed about a dozen men. Most of his work was made to order.
Harry Frost and L. D. Harris, two employees of A. J. Simpson, formed a partnership and began business for themselves in May, 1889, under the firm name of Frost & Harris. They located their shop on the corner of Twenty-third and Izard streets and in a short time had twenty-five men employed. Harry Frost is still in the business and is located at No. 1410 Leavenworth Street.
William R. Drummond & Company, B. H. Osterhoudt, F. W. Simpson, Wil- liam Pfeiffer and some others also operated carriage factories or repair shops at some period in the city's history and a few of them are still in business.
BREWERIES
In 1859 Frederick Krug established a brewery in a one-story frame building, 22 by 40 feet in dimensions, on the south side of Farnam Street between Tenth and Eleventh streets. That was the first brewery in the State of Nebraska. Before it was opened for business Mr. Krug took as a partner Rudolph Selzer and the firm started out as Krug & Selzer, Mr. Krug operating the plant and his partner taking charge of a retail department in the front of the little building. The brewery turned out from twelve to eighteen barrels every week, most of which were sold to the Mormons at Florence. In 1860 Mr. Krug purchased his partner's interest and three years later built the malt house on the corner of Eleventh and Jackson streets. The whole plant was removed to that site in 1867. The plant is now located at the junction of Krug Avenue and Boulevard and is operated under the name of the Fred Krug Brewing Company.
Metz Brothers, a firm composed of Frederick, Sr., Frederick, Jr., and Charles Metz, embarked in the brewing business by purchasing the brewery established in 1861 by a man named McCumbe, located on the corner of Sixth and Leaven- worth streets, where the plant is still situated. The Metz Brothers purchased the brewery in 1864 and since then have greatly enlarged the plant.
Joseph Baumann started a small brewery on Sherman Avenue in 1865. His death occurred in 1876 and his widow continued the business for a time with Gottlieb Storz as foreman. In 1884 Mr. Storz and J. D. Iler purchased the prop- erty and in 1891 the Omaha Brewing Association was formed with Gottlieb Storz as president. Such was the evolution of the Storz Brewing Company, located at No. 1819 Sherman Avenue.
The Willow Springs Brewery, located at No. 213 Hickory Street, and the Jetter Brewery, at No. 6002 South Thirtieth Street, are both modern plants. In 1915 the output of the five Omaha brewing companies was valued at $3,205,375.
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DISTILLERY
In 1866 James G. and Samuel D. Megeath purchased the outfit and equip- ment of the McCoy Distillery at Council Bluffs, at a Government condemnation sale. Peter E. and Joseph D. Iler and Marsh Kennard were taken into partner- ship, the plant was removed to Omaha and the business of making alcohol and whisky was commenced. In a few years the Megeaths sold their interest to the Ilers and Kennard, who in 1872 incorporated the Willow Springs Distilling Com- pany, now known as the Willow Springs Branch of the Standard Distilling and Distributing Company. For twenty-five years the annual product of this distil- lery has averaged over three millions of dollars and the company has paid over two millions every year in internal revenue taxes.
IRON WORKS
One of the earliest iron works in Omaha was the establishment of Davis & Cowgill, of which E. P. Davis was president; H. S. McDonald, secretary ; and J. B. Cowgill, general superintendent. For several years they employed fifty or more men and were extensive manufacturers of electric street railway appli- ances, which were sold throughout the Middle West, from British Columbia to Texas.
The Phoenix Foundry and Machine Works were established by John McLearie and E. Oehrle on the corner of Twenty-fifth and Patrick streets in the '70s. In 1889 the plant was destroyed by fire and the works were removed to Pinkney Street at the crossing of the Belt Railroad, where a successful business was car- ried on for many years.
The Paxton & Vierling Iron Works, located at No. 1312 South Seventeenth Street, is the outgrowth of a small concern started as the "Cass Street Foundry" about 1880 by T. W. T. Richards and L. G. Heybrook. The old Cass Street plant was destroyed by fire, when the works were removed to the present site, and in 1886 passed into the hands of William A. Paxton, Robert, Louis and A. J. Vierling. For a number of years the output of this concern has been over three hundred thousand dollars annually. In 1916 C. J. Vierling was president ; A. J. Vierling, vice president and Louis Vierling, secretary and treasurer. Since the death of Mr. Paxton the Vierlings have been the owners and managers of the works, though the firm name has never been changed.
It may be news to some of the people of Omaha to learn that barbed wire was once manufactured in the city. Thomas Gibson, while secretary of the Omaha Board of Trade, began the industry in a small way at the foot of Capitol Avenue. A few years later his plant was purchased by a company composed of W. J. Broatch, M. M. Marshall, O. N. Ramsey and others, who removed the business to the corner of Fourteenth and Nicholas streets and expended about fifty thou- sand dollars in the erection of buildings, etc. Subsequently the institution was incorporated as the Omaha Barb Wire Fence and Nail Company. The capital stock was fixed at $150,000; Jeff W. Bedford was elected president; Charles Burmester, secretary and treasurer; Thomas H. Taylor, manager. From four to five thousand tons of barbed wire were turned out annually for several years,
CUTTING DOWN THE DOUGLAS STREET HILL IN THE EARLY '90s The N. B. Falconer House, corner of Nineteenth Street
TOM MURRAY'S ROW, SOUTH SIDE OF HARNEY STREET, BETWEEN SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH STREETS, OMAHA
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but the company was unable to compete with the larger and more favorably situated factories and it was closed in the fall of 1892.
A nail factory was started in the spring of 1878 in a temporary building on the north side of the Union Pacific Railroad between Sixteenth and Seventeenth streets. John A. Creighton was president of the company; G. T. Walker, vice president and superintendent; James Creighton, secretary and treasurer. The authorized capital was $50,000 and about fourteen thousand dollars were invested in machinery. In 1879 the output was 40,000 kegs of nails. Legal complications arose and the factory remained inactive for several years, when the company was reorganized and the plant was removed to St. Joseph, Mo.
The Omaha Structural Company, whose plant is located at the junction of Forty-eighth and Leavenworth streets, began business on a small scale in 1911. Success was assured from the start and a statement recently authorized by the company says : "The company owns a large plant that covers about eight acres. Huge machines, each worth a small fortune, are used for handling and shaping the great masses of steel. One hundred and fifty men are employed at the plant and 250 more are kept continuously busy on work throughout the country, not including a score of engineers and office employees."
Among the large contracts in steel construction that have been undertaken by this company may be mentioned the Government bridge over the Colorado River at Yuma, Arizona; the Grain Exchange Building, Omaha; the Miller & Paine Building, Lincoln; the Colorado National Bank, Denver; the Liberty Theater, Spokane; and the First National Bank of Omaha. John W. Towle is president of the company; W. L. Carey, secretary ; Karl E. Vogel, chief engineer.
The Western Bridge and Construction Company, whose general offices are in the Bee Building, is another large concern of comparatively recent origin. Its operations include the building of bridges all over Nebraska, Iowa, Wyoming and South Dakota. F. J. Birss is president; T. L. Travis, vice president; C. L. Dettman, secretary; H. W. Anderson, treasurer; J. Q. Hossack, superintendent of construction. Mr. Birss is a recognized authority on the subject of bridge building, and his expert knowledge on the subject has enabled him to equip his plant so that it is equal to any in the country of its capacity.
The Omaha General Iron Works, located at the corner of Twentieth and Pierce streets, makes a specialty of ornamental iron work and fire escapes. It also does some structural steel work. George Messerschmidt is general manager. There are several smaller iron works in the city, but those enumerated are the representative concerns, past and present, in that line.
UNION PACIFIC SHOPS
Although not a plant that manufactures any product for general consump- tion, or one that finds a place in the open market, the Union Pacific shops con- stitute one of the institutions of Omaha that gives employment to a large force of men engaged in building and repairing the equipment of the great trans-con- tinental railway. The shops were started in a modest way about the time the construction of the Union Pacific Railroad was commenced. With the growth of the traffic the plant has been enlarged from time to time until now the shops and appurtenances cover an area of sixty acres and represent an investment run-
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ning into millions of dollars. In May, 1916, there were 1,550 men employed in the shops and fifty more in the store department adjoining. One feature of these great shops is the "tie doctoring department," in which more than half a million railroad ties were chemically treated in 1915 for the purpose of increasing their durability. The payroll of the Union Pacific employees living in Omaha (shop men and all others) in 1915 was $4.346,328, about three-fourths of which went to the people employed in the shops.
THE SMELTER
The Omaha Smelting Company was organized on October 15, 1870, by C. H. Downs, William H. Pier, John A. Horbach and W. W. Lowe, with a capital stock of $60,000, all of which was expended within the next two years in the construction of buildings and the purchase of machinery. A. L. King, Leopold and Charles Balbach, C. W. Mead, E. W. Nash and C. B. Rustin came into the company during this period and Charles Balbach was made superintendent. in August, 1882, the Grant Smelting Company, of Denver, Colo., was consolidated with the Omaha company and the corporate name was then changed to the Omaha & Grant Smelting Company. Through the consolidation and reorganization, the capital stock was increased to $2,500,000 and ten years later the volume of busi- ness ran over twenty-one millions of dollars. For a number of years the two plants of the company, one at Omaha and the other at Denver, employed 1,000 men and the company had the reputation of being the largest of its kind in the world. The Omaha Smelting Works cover about twenty-five acres of ground and the large smoke-stack, which rises to a height of 312 feet, is said to be the highest self-supporting metal stack known. The works are now operated by the American Smelting and Refining Company, with Walter T. Page as manager. The value of refined metals and by-products for the year 1915 was $39, 113.510.
WHITE LEAD WORKS
Early in August, 1878. the Omaha White Lead Company began the manu- facture of that product in Omaha. This was the first white lead works west of Chicago and St. Louis. The original company was composed of Levi Carter, Chris Hartman, William A. Paxton, C. W. Mead. D. O. Clark, Nathan Shelton, S. E. Locke and W. B. Royal. When first incorporated the capital stock was $00.000. C. W. Mead was chosen president; Nathan Shelton, secretary, an l S. E. Locke, manager. In 1881 the capital stock was increased to $90,000 and the capacity of the works was increased from 1,000 to 1.500 tons annually. Toward the close of the year 1885 the low price of white lead caused the works to be shut down. In January, 1886. the buildings, etc., were purchased by Levi Carter, who organized the Carter White Lead Company, with a capital stock of $150.000. Of the new company Levi Carter was president; H. W. Yates, vice president : S. B. Hayden, secretary. It was Mr. Carter's idea that by enlarging the plant and producing larger quantities of white lead, the cost of production could be correspondingly decreased and the works operated at a profit. In 1889 the capi- tal stock was therefore increased to $500,000 and improvements costing $60,000 were made, which increased the capacity to over four thousand tons annually.
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At that time Mr. Yates sold his interest to his partners. On June 14, 1890, the works were completely destroyed by fire, but new buildings were immediately erected at a cost of $200,000, with a capacity of 10,000 tons per year. Two years later the output amounted in value to $1,000,000. After a successful business for several years the works were absorbed by the White Lead Trust and closed and had not been reopened in September, 1916.
MISCELLANEOUS
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Omaha has two factories for the production of ice making machinery, one of which was established in 1915. These two plants ship their machines to all parts of the world and during the year 1915 reported sales of $404,500.
On January 1, 1891, the firm of Billow & Doup began the manufacture of mattresses and pillows in a small store room on the corner of Fourteenth Street and Capitol Avenue. A fire two years later caused a removal to No. 1301 Nicholas Street. In 1896 L. G. Doup purchased his partner's interest and became sole proprietor. In 1905 Mr. Doup erected a three-story fire proof build- ing and in 1915 a large four-story structure was added, making a total floor space of nearly ninety thousand square feet. This concern used in 1915 over a million and a half pounds of cotton lintel and more feathers than any similar factory west of Chicago. A furniture department has been added, which turns out chairs, tables, settees, davenports, etc., but the mattress feature is still the leading one of the factory, 200 mattresses being turned out daily.
There are two macaroni factories that ship goods to all parts of the East and South. One of these-the' Skinner Manufacturing Company-has the reputation of being the largest factory of the kind in the world. Of this company Paul F. Skinner is president; John W. Welch, vice president; Robert Gilmore, secretary. The value of the product of the two factories in 1915 was nearly three-quarters of a million dollars.
Two large ice and cold storage companies-the People's and the Omalia- have a combined capacity of about three hundred tons of pure manufactured ice every twenty-four hours. Each company has two plants. The cold storage plant of the People's Company is at No. 1224 Chicago Street and the ice factory is on the corner of Nineteenth and Williams streets. The old plant of the Omaha Ice and Cold Storage Company at Fifth and Jones streets had a capacity of 20,000 tons of ice annually, and a new plant recently erected at the intersection of Twenty-third and Boyd streets has a capacity of 30,000 tons.
The Bemis Omaha Bag Company began business in the spring of 1887, with a capital stock of $750,000, as manufacturers of burlaps and cotton bags and dealers in grain bags, twine and cordage. A large five-story brick building was erected on Eleventh Street at the north end of the viaduct and the company soon had a business of more than half a million dollars annually. With the organiza- tion of the grain exchange and the increasing importance of Omaha as a grain market, this volume of business gradually grew until in 1915 it amounted to over two millions of dollars.
As a butter producing city, Omaha claims to stand at the head of the proces- sion. Five large creameries turned out in 1915 real creamery butter worth more
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OMAHA AND DOUGLAS COUNTY
than seven millions of dollars, and a sixth factory, devoted to what is known as "process butter," produced large quantities.
There are two establishments for the manufacture of stock food from alfalfa-the M. C. Peters Mill Company and the Krogh Alfalfa Mills. These two concerns use large quantities of alfalfa and molasses and their products are shipped to all parts of the Middle West and Northwest. Stock raisers seem to have learned the value of this food, for in 1915 the two mills turned out consider- ably over three million dollars' worth of the product and both of them enlarged their capacity for the future.
According to statistics furnished by the Commercial Club concerning the manufacturing establishments of the city for the year 1915, the total value of all manufactured products was $213,893,000. The following table shows the relative value of fifteen of the leading products :
Alfalfa stock food
$ 3,700,000
Bags
2,160,000
Beer
3,205,000
Boots and shoes
800,000
Bread, crackers, etc.
2,417,575
Butter
7,860,805
Clothing
1,342,574
Confectionery
752,632
Distilled liquors
3,210,000
Dressed meats, etc.
115,434,550
Flour and mill products
3,216,513
Grocers' specialties
2,344,750
Macaroni
744,000
Refined metals, etc.
39,113,510
Structural steel
855,980
Total $187,157,889
This leaves a balance of $26,735,III to be distributed among a number of minor manufacturing enterprises, which turn out agricultural implements, art goods, artists' materials, athletic and sporting goods, bank and office fixtures, barber chairs, blank books, boxes, breakfast foods, brooms, burial caskets, cement blocks, church furniture, cigars, dental supplies, drain tile, electrical goods, hats, hospital supplies, jewelry, lodge furniture and supplies, marble work, photog- raphers' materials, pickles and vinegar, refrigerators, road building machinery, serum, soap, starch, surgical instruments, tents and awnings, washing powder, etc.
By far the greater portion of Omaha's manufacturing progress has been made within the last quarter of a century. When the city was first settled, and for several years afterward, the lack of transportation made the fuel problem a serious one for manufacturers of the Gate City. But with the building of railroads and the opening of new coal mines in Iowa, Kansas and Missouri; with the gradual reduction in freight rates ; and the introduction of electricity as a motive power, especially in factories where light machinery is principally used, the Omaha manufacturer has been placed more nearly on an equal footing with his competitor in other parts of the country. As late as 1892 the total capital invested in the
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manufacturing enterprises of the city was only a little over twelve millions of dollars. The factory payroll in 1915 was nearly one and one half times as great as the total capital of 1892, approximating seventeen millions. And the progress of the last quarter of a century is but the beginning. What the next twenty-five years will bring forth remains to be seen, but it will be safe to predict that in 1940 the City of Omaha will be one of the leading manufacturing centers of the great central valley.
CHAPTER XVII
GRAIN AND LIVE STOCK TRADE
THE FIRST ELEVATOR IN OMAHA-UNION GRAIN COMPANY-OMAHA ELEVATOR COM- PANY-OTHER ELEVATORS-A. B. STICKNEY- OMAIIA GRAIN EXCHANGE-ITS NEW BUILDING-HISTORY OF THE STOCK YARDS-GROWTH OF THE MARKET- COMPARATIVE FIGURES-THE FIRST SALE-PACKING HOUSES-SOME SPECIAL. FEATURES.
In the development of the great Northwest wheat became one of the leading agricultural products. Minneapolis sprang into prominence as a grain market and milling center and Chicago forged to the front as the nation's great mart for handling all kinds of grain. By 1880 these two cities had a combined elevator capacity of over fifty million bushels, while Omaha, on the margin of the great wheat fields, had a capacity of less than one million, for the reason that railroad transportation was lacking to enable her to compete with Minneapolis and Chicago.
THE FIRST ELEVATOR
In 1874 Fred H. Davis, David Barriger and John McCormick began the erection of an elevator at the corner of Seventh and Jones streets, the first ever built in Omaha. It cost about thirty thousand dollars and opened for business in 1875, with a capacity of 200,000 bushels. At that time the shipment of Nebraska wheat amounted to only a few hundred cars annually and the elevator was considered large enough to handle all the grain that was likely to be offered. The following winter the business was incorporated as the Omaha Elevator Company with Mr. McCormick as president ; Mr. Barriger, vice president; and Mr. Davis, secretary and treasurer. The capital stock of this corporation was $50,000.
In July, 1879, this elevator, with all its contents, was destroyed by fire, entail- ing a loss of $100,000, about three-fourths of which was covered by insurance. Mr. McCormick immediately erected a temporary office upon the grounds and also built a warehouse in order to continue the business, and Mr. Barriger began planning for the erection of the large elevator near Spoon Lake, on the opposite side of the Missouri River. It was completed in 1883, at a cost of $280,000, and had a storage capacity of 1,000,000 bushels. The business was conducted by the Omaha Elevator Company until Mr. Cormick's death in 1885, when H. W. Rogers succeeded to the presidency and the name of the corporation was changed to the Omaha Elevator & Grain Company.
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THE UNION GRAIN COMPANY
In the meantime C. W. Lyman and P. C. Himebaugh had entered the field under the firm name of C. W. Lyman & Company. In June, 1877, they opened their elevator, near the corner of Thirteenth Street and the Union Pacific Railroad. It was a modest affair, having a capacity of only 40,000 bushels, and the capital of the firm was equally limited. In August Mr. Lyman retired and was succeeded by Nathan Merriam, the firm then becoming Himebaugh & Merriam. The capacity of the elevator was increased to 150,000 bushels. In August, 1889, a new com- pany was formed by the consolidation of the firm of Himebaugh & Merriam and the Omaha Elevator & Grain Company, under the name of the Omaha Union Grain Company.
OMAHA ELEVATOR COMPANY
In 1890 the Union Pacific Railroad Company, with the cooperation of a few of Omaha's leading citizens, erected the large elevator east of Twelfth Street, with a capacity of 700,000 bushels, and one of the same capacity in Council Bluffs, in which all the railroads from the east assisted. The entire business of these two elevators was taken over by a newly organized concern under the name of the Omaha Elevator Company, of which Frank H. Peavey, of Minneapolis, was president ; A. B. Jaquith, vice president and general manager; E. P. Peck, secre- tary; and C. T. Peavey, treasurer. These officers, with F. H. Davis, E. C. Michener and C. M. Champlin, constituted the first board of directors. Within the next five years, in addition to the two large elevators at Omaha and Council Bluffs, the Omaha Elevator Company was operating about seventy other elevators in Nebraska, with a combined capacity of 1,000,000 bushels, for which Omaha was the central market.
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