USA > New Jersey > Essex County > Newark > A History of the city of Newark, New Jersey : embracing practically two and a half centuries, 1666-1913, Volume II > Part 28
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PANIC EFFECTS AND BENEFITS.
The blessing of a prosperous contentment appears to have continued up to 1837, in which year occurred the great financial crisis that affected all lines of general business throughout the country, creating a stagnation which spread disaster everywhere, partially paralyzing almost every branch of industry, crippling many of the largest establishments, and forcing the smaller ones to the wall.
A direct effect of the panic and losses incident thereto was subsequently felt in the staggering blow given to the shoe industry, from which a recovery of slow growth was made, the volume of business being absorbed by eastern manufacturers who engaged largely in making the cheaper grades, and have continued to supply the demand for this class of footwear; leaving it to the Newark worker to turn out a high class product noted as having attained a reputation worldwide for superiority in design, quality and workmanship.
A study of the statistics of the census taken in 1840 shows that a very noticeable falling off in practically all lines of industry then carried on in Newark had occurred, in some trades the loss representing fully one-third of the total annual production, in others the loss reaching as high as 50 per cent.
In the manufacture of carriages reported in 1836 as being valued at over a million of dollars, in 1840 the production had shrunk to $738,969; in jewelry from $225,060 to $158,302; and so in other lines that held prominence, the exception being in the making of hats, which showed remark- able gain, the annual volume of sales exceeding those of the most prosperous years of production.
In the manufacture of furniture and cabinet wares a serious deprecia- tion was experienced, the production falling from $180,000 in value in 1836 to less than $80,000 in 1840, while the sum total of the depreciation is represented by the difference in the aggregate value of production in all lines in the four years of $2,574,202.
No one engaged in trade escaped the effect of this panic, because all appear to have conformed to the vogue of long term credits and all suffered alike. Out of the wreck of men's fortunes due to this disaster, it would appear substantial benefit was obtained through the lessons learned, inasmuch as it instilled a policy of caution and brought about a conservative reform in the matter of credits, the old plan of long term credits to which much of the misfortune was due giving place to a safer one, under which sales were made on terms calling for quick settlement, thereby enabling manu- facturers to turn their capital more frequently, which resulted in the cheap-
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ening of prices as well as the production of a greater volume of finished products.
When the men who were engaged in industry began to recover from the effects of the panic of 1837, it may be surmised that they put aside all sentiment and set to with a grim determination to win back their losses, and, while doing so, arranging their affairs in such a way as to prevent a recurrence of the disaster through which they had passed.
While the effect of the losses incurred and the disturbance in business continued to be felt up to 1843, it is apparent that taking the city as a whole a progress of substantial character was being made, both in popula- tion and in the trades, so much so that it is cheering to find on an examina- tion of the returns made for the decade ending with the year 1850 that the population had doubled, by reason of the number of skilled workmen attracted to the city through the good reputation achieved abroad; and these, finding profitable employment in a wholesome atmosphere, surrounded by a home-loving, contented people, became permanent residents, each in turn writing to a friend in the old home urging their coming to the place where they had found the conditions under which they preferred to live.
IMPROVED TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES-1860-1900. NEW MEN AND NEW METHODS.
Why, if we must ascribe a reason for the steady progress in the building up of industry in the city of Newark, may we not believe that these men possessed the spirit of occupation which inspired men to build, and when building, to build as if forever; or, that in their work they were possessed with the spirit to do it in such a way that their descendants would forever thank them; and that the time would come when men would say as they looked upon the labor which they wrought that this work which our fathers performed had been work well done.
It is a matter of regret that the statistics of the census for the years 1840 and 1850 may not be used for comparative purposes with those for 1860 or later periods because of the fact that when taken and compiled by government officials the industries of the county as a whole were included, also because the County of Essex then included what is now Union County, of which Elizabeth, Rahway and Plainfield are a part.
The increase of population from 17,290, in 1840, to 38,849, in 1850, sorves to indicate the progress being made, and further surprising growth is attested in the number of residents in 1860, when the population was found to be 71,941, an increase of over 400 per cent. in twenty years. Within this cycle remarkable strides in industrial conditions had also been made, both in the introduction of new trades by men who had found it advantageous to select Newark as a safe place for the location of industry, as well as by the expansion of home concerns, influenced by the introduction of new pro- cesses of manufacture, improved means of transportation, and the opening up of new markets of trade. The industrial condition of the city is evidenced in the figures relating thereto, which show the amount of capital invested had increased from $3,170,000, in 1850, to $13,819,605, in 1860, the number of employees from 5,587 to 21,638, and that the finished product of all industries had reached the high value of $27,854,000.
THIE ADVENT OF GERMAN AND IRISH WORKERS.
That there were contributory causes to this progress and expansion of Industry goes without saying. A research shows that with prosperity good
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profit was being realized, which served to incite men with means to invest their capital, some forming partnerships with men having a practical knowl- edge of the business and so adding another to the number of establishments, others again taking a share in the profits in return for the advancement of capital necessary to permit of increasing the capacity of the plant. The main and principal cause is, however, traceable to the advent of the refugees from Germany in the years following the revolution of 1848, many of whom settled in Newark. From the year named down to 1860, great numbers of immigrants from the German provinces began to arrive, bringing with them many of the customs of the old land, through the innocent enjoyment of which they were destined to suffer from the narrow prejudices and ill-timed raillery begot by provincialism.
Among these men there were many who had enjoyed university educa- tions and who were destined to impress their mark upon the business and social life of the city; others possessing a practical knowledge of the arts and crafts in mechanical pursuits, who were to become the leaders in manu- facture; while all were to make place and fill it with credit both to them- selves and to the city.
Side by side with these men and their families from the Rhine country, another element was making for the growth in population and in the building up of industry; the people of Ireland, forced out of their own beautiful land through the oppressive laws enacted by an alien parliament, were also arriving in great number, the men of both races working amicably at the bench, the mill, or the forge, or doing the heavy laborious work incident to the building of a modern city.
If the question were to be asked-how much did the men of these two races contributo to the building up of Newark; to the establishment of its Industries; to the making of it what it is to-day ?- it would be untruthful to say that it would have prospered as well perhaps if they had not come; the truth is indelibly imprinted on Newark in the great array of names of German and Irish origin that stand at the head of the industrial establish- ments in the city which have built up since 1850, and in the building up of which can be traced the real growth in population, the rapid increase in municipal wealth, the expansion of the financial institutions and the develop- ment in all avenues of trade and commerce.
Of course it is to be assumed that the people descended from the original settlers, as well as those of English, Scotch and French origin, were each contributing to the tide of progress, but it is nevertheless noticeable that the descendants of the earlier inhabitants, instead of continuing in the conduct of industry, were engaging in other very essential but more lucrative pursuits at the time, employing their talent in directing or managing the operation of financial institutions, or in mercantile trade, leaving it to the men of foreign origin to bear the burden of the mill and shop.
At the time of the advent of these newcomers, important changes were occurring in methods of transportation via rail and water routes, a wider application of the use of steam power was being made, and notable improve- ments in processes of manufacture and in technical equipment was taking place. in many instances producing results which were revolutionary in character-so that with the opening of the year 1860 one would expect to find the City of Newark enjoying a full tide of prosperity, its factory owners kopt busy anticipating the needs and wants of constantly expanding markets, and Its working population feellng the satisfaction and enjoymont that goes with time well occupied and labor well repaid.
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Many of the leading establishments were doing a prosperous as well as a profitable business in supplying the wants of the southern markets, especially those engaged in the manufacture of clothing, in which a trade exceeding two and one half million of dollars was being carried on annually; in harness and saddlery the annual sales amounting to one and one-half million dollars yearly; in the manufacture of gold jewelry a rapid progress was being made, alded by the skill in designing and beauty of workmanship brought to bear on this craft by many workmen among the immigrants from Germany who had taken up their abode in the city.
DIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY.
The manufacture of cotton wear and hosiery gave employ to many among the daughters of the city, approximately one thousand being employed, while in the manufacture of corsets, woolen caps, shirts and underwear, a like number were employed at remunerative wages.
Among the industries of 1860 there were six distinct branches turning out a finished product yearly in excess of a million dollars, viz .: Clothing, harness, hats, jewelry, leather; rubber, oil, and enameled cloth; there were also eight other branches producing between five hundred thousand and one million of value annually-boots and shoes, carriages, cotton and woolen goods, iron and steel, machinery, ales and porter, saddlery hardware, and trunks and bags, while in more than twenty other industries the value of the goods made annually, principally for export, aggregated in each line between one hundred thousand and a half million dollars.
The era of progress and prosperity, which had set in about the year 1843, continued down to the commencement of hostilities between the South and the North, when the firing of the first gun at Fort Sumter carried greater losses to many among the leaders in industry in Newark than any previous disaster. A number were compelled to suspend operations, while others, availing themselves of the opportunity to adapt their machinery or work- shops to new uses, were quick to do so, and commenced to turn out army supplies, adding for the time new features to the industries of the city in the making of swords, pistols, guns, knapsacks, saddles, tents, blankets and utensils of various kinds.
The end of the long strife found much for men to do in building up what for years was being neglected or destroyed. How this was accomplished and how a country torn asunder in civil strife for so many years could successfully take up the pursuits of life, each man fitting in where his services could be utilized, furnished a marvel which amazed the civilized world, and the history of Newark if comprehensively written from that period down to the present would serve as an index.
To give definite value for reference purposes it is desirable to include a summary of the returns of the census of 1860 containing a list in alphabetical order of the industries carried on at that period, giving the amount invested as capital in each, the number of operatives employed, the sum total of the wage roll paid annually, and the value of manufactures when turned into a finished product. The following table shows all returns for all industries in the city of Newark, collated by the Census Department of the United States for the year 1860:
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NAME OF BUSINESS
No. of Establish- ments
Capital Invested in Business
Total No. of Handy Employed
Total Amount of Wages Paid
Total Valile of Products
Agricultural Implements.
1
$ 2,950
5
$ 1,980
$ 6,000
Bakers' Products
18
64,500
87
27,180
271,720
Blacksmithing
7
10,800
23
8,004
18,260
Boots and Shoes
77
274,740
1,394
400,440
970,811
Brass and Brassware
8
25,660
31
12,480
68,750
Brushes
1
4,000
9
2,880
6,500
Building
11
56,740
95
48,864
162,300
Carriages and Wagons
2
400
3
720
2,100
Clothing, Men's.
12
1,149,000
4,604
814,104
2,628,352
Coffee and Spices
3
28,500
14
6,420
92,200
Cutlery
5
28,000
46
18,876
61,000
Cooperage
9
16,700
62
21,324
52,800
Chemicals
8
1,358,000
181
71,700
476,000
Corsets and Hoop-skirts.
1
40,000
136
16,764
225,000
Cigars and Tobacco.
16
120,800
174
47,196
299,760
Coffins
3
13,000
12
5,040
13,500
Cotton,
Woolen
and
Silk
Goods
10
416,000
966
244,872
846,400
Edge Tools, Axes and Ham- mers
13
118,700
233
102,960
275,725
Engraving
1,550
4
1,920
2,950
Fertilizers
1
12,000
4
1,248
18,000
Furniture
11
109,200
139
49,644
128,186
Files and Rasps
3
4,800
28
8,412
20,000
Furriers
2
10,000
13
3,744
12,000
Flour and Grain
1
1,300 350,000
30
16,200
111,470
Glass (Bent and Stained)
4
16,000
23
8,390
41,700
Harness
28
1,232,400
1,100
438,108
1,446,700
Hats and Caps.
25
383,950
1,369
442,816
2,029,514
Hubs, Wheels, Spokes, etc.
7
87,500
101
40,980
139,142
Hardware
12
148,000
202
76,052
220,400
Hat Blocks
2
4,000
7
3,036
7,000
Iron and Steel
17
325,000
490
176,424
507,700
Jewelry
27
785,600
808
369,528
1,525,000
Kindling Wood
1
13,000
15
4,800
10,000
Lamps and Lanterns
26,000
39
15,936
57,000
Lumber
12
144,000
128
49,344
276,100
Leather ( Patent and Enam- eled, Tanned and Curried)
30
1,250,300
1,064
386,100
2,880,022
Machinery
21
435,800
424
216,468
841,450
Malt Liquors.
16
578,000
165
62,796
833,875
Marble and Stone Work
6
25,500
58
24,540
68,000
Mineral Waters
6,500
10
2,940
11,400
Lime, Cement and Brick
303,600
259
64,620
263,400
Plumbing
12
27,500
40
17,172
107,650
Photographs
1
1,600
2
1,020
3,000
News, Book and Job Printing
10
47,900
117
42.516
109,754
Medicines and Extracts
1
1,000
540
1,600
Patterns and Models.
1
2,700
6
3,000
5,000
Painting
1
17,100
41
18,660
40,400
Potteryware
7,000
18
7,200
12,500
Paper Boxes.
8
20,800
148
35,988
97,400
Picture Frames
5
38,100
37
13,224
69,000
2
864
9,000
Gas
1
366,125
755
297,744
771,715
Carpets
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HISTORY OF NEWARK
NAME OF BUSINESS
No. of Establish- ments
Capital Invested in Business
Total No. of Hands Employed
Total Amount of Wages Paid
Total Value of Products
Rubber,
Oil and Enameled
Cloth
10
630,200
532
197,868
1,515,150
Sash, Blinds and Doors.
6
73,200
126
52,224
143,350
Soap and Candles
2
65,000
20
6,504
117,000
Shirts and Underwear
4
75,800
477
62,400
225,000
Springs and Axles
6
67,000
88
37,260
127,200
Saddlery Hardware
34
288,600
848
274,956
698,150
Trunks, Bags and Frames
16
343,000
947
245,748
982,500
Tin and Tinware
22
156,600
283
89,244
345,450
Umbrellas and Canes
1
1,040
2
768
5,000
Varnishes
8
155,250
24
12,948
347,000
Wood Turning
8
28,150
48
19,692
44,000
Miscellaneous
52
693,200
849
228,552
1,361,793
Totals
765
$13,819,605
21,638
$6,588,408
$27,854,214
THE SPIRIT OF INVENTION-NEW PROCESSES AND MODERN MACHINERY-1800-1875-SETH BOYDEN, THE INVENTOR.
That the spirit of imagination has existed within the minds of men who have lived and worked in Newark requires no story of pen to substantiate, because it is a self-evident fact, amply attested to in the records of the patent office since the establishment of government. That it is inherit in the tem- perament of the workers within this city is evidenced in the many blessings conferred upon humanity in the new processes, the new methods of mechanism, and the new articles of utility added to the commerce of the world, which have been fashioned out of the thought and shaped by the hands of these men. They have demonstrated that they were endowed with a gift such as the immortal Shakespeare reflects, of a man "who was possessed of a foolish, extravagant spirit, full of forms, shapes, figures, objects, appre- hensions, notions and resolutions, that are begot in the ventricle of memory, and delivered upon the mellowing of occasion." If it had been given to the Bard of Avon to have known one such, who contributed in greater proportion, with more cheerfulness and actual desire to confer benefit upon mankind than from any other motive, he would have found his ideal in Seth Boyden, whose memory, and talent, and worth, are suitably commemorated in a statue of bronze which stands in Washington Park, attesting the fact that of all the men who have lived in Newark he stands the peer because of his benefactions.
It can truthfully be said that the work commenced by Seth Boyden in the early years of the century has been continued from generation to gen- eration, but it is not possible to detract any of the credit due to him, as being the one individual who contributed more than any other to the progress of the city, or, to the building up of its industries.
Of Seth Boyden it can be sald that if he had supplied only the cut-off valve attached to the governor of engines used on our railways, conserving and directing the power and strength of the machine, he would have con- ferred a benefit of inestimable value, as has been testified to by John Charl- ton, one of the men who assisted Stevenson in the building of the first loco-
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motive, and who later became a citizen of Newark; or, if his discovery of the process for the manufacture of malleable iron which opened up a new and wider use for this material, were his only contribution to commerce, it would have entitled him to everlasting gratitude; but when, after years of experiment and at great cost, he found the process for the glazing of leather -then known only to French manufacturers-the use of which he freely gave to those engaged in the industry in Newark, without thought of gain, he added to his benefactions.
The whole bent and inclination of this man's life was to find a new process, to discover a new application, to evolve a theory into an actuality, at no time being mindful of personal profit or gain, and apparently satisfied when once the desired result was secured. He contributed to the building-up of the zinc industry which, for a period of seventy- five years up to within a recent date, continued to be one of the important industries of Newark, through a formula for the smelting of ores that produced a revolution in the business. The invention of a machine to manufacture brads and tacks would have earned a fortune in itself for any man, and yet he merely turned it over to the machinery manufacturers of the city to obtain such benefit as they might from the sale of the machine. In his invention of a machine for the splitting of leather, he doubled the value of the hide, and gave the manufacturers of this product an advantage which enabled them to outstrip competitors.
Many other remarkable and valuable processes and inventions were produced by his genius, and of these he failed to take any advantage in the sense of personal profit. So with Hallock it may be said of him, "One of the few, the immortal names, that were not born to die." If the generations from the days of Boyden have not produced such another, or, if the men to whom fortune has come with success beyond their dreams have failed to emulate him, nevertheless there has lived among the workers in the hive of industry men who in their own way have contributed to the progress of industry and the prosperity of its people who should ever be kept in grateful remembrance.
INDUSTRIAL LEADERS.
One such of whose methods mention may well be made is Edward Bal- bach, whose improved methods for the smelting and reducing of mineral ores enabled him to build up a plant, commenced in a small frame shed located on the river front at the foot of Merchant street to one of gigantic proportion, occupying several hundred feet frontage on the river and covering two or more city blocks, in whichi an army of men are now engaged; the value of the annual output having developed from a few thousand dollars yearly to approximately forty millions.
Another among the industrial leaders who has contributed to the development of Newark, adding to its prestige as a centre and becoming a benefactor by contributing a new product to the world's commerce, was I. Smith Hyatt, the discoverer and inventor of celluloid, the manufacture of which is peculiar to Newark. This industry has been phenomenal in its development; from a small, hazardous beginning, employing a nominal force of workers, it has grown to be one of the great industrial plants of the nation, engaging millions of dollars of capital, producing a thousand varieties of articles, employing several thousand workers in its numerous processes which require separate groups of buildings covering many acres of land.
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What a rival the town of Celluloid would have been if Newark had to depend upon this one article of commerce to achieve a distinction instead of the thousands of articles its workshops and workers are producing and furnishing to aid in supplying the wants of a world!
Other men whose inventive genius and business ability should be men- tioned as having played a part successfully in the building-up of Newark as a centre of industry are Lysander Wright, George Watts, Ezra Gould, Charles T. Sloan and Ulrich Eberhardt, each of whom in the designing and building of improved machinery and in the invention of improvements sus- tained the reputation of the city and attracted orders from all parts of the world, enabling them to build up substantial establishments which gave employ to large numbers of workers from whose ranks there developed men, year by year, who in turn have become employers and who are now the builders among the present generation.
When the bank of the Passaic river was selected as a site for the loca- tion of a mill to manufacture cotton thread, by George A. Clark and William Clark, of Paisley, Scotland, a new industry, important at the time, was brought to Newark, and from its advent it has been one of the factors in giving employment to a large force of women. If it were not that so great a diversity of industry always existed in Newark, the magnitude of the Clark Thread Company plant itself might have made the name of the city known the world over; it would have at least served to advertise the name of New- ark in like manner to that of Waltham, Elgin, Fall River, and other like places that have become household words because of the manufacture of a single product in each.
With the evolution in processes and the introduction of new formulas in manufactures, those engaged in the production of chemicals were busy in their laboratories, and, if success stands for ability, then it is a certainty that the brains of those who have contributed in the building up of the great color and chemical establishments in Newark have also added to the tide of progress, and Henry Merz, John B. Stobaeus, Ellis R. Carhuff, and others among the chemists of Newark, must be considered as having shared in this work.
DESIGN AND TECHNIQUE.
Wherever artistic worth in technique and design is known, there the searcher will find the names of Newark craftsmen, especially so if the place of manufacture of some unique, bizarre, or fanciful article of gold or silver workmanship, or setting of precious stones in some piece of jewelry, should be the quest.
From the days of Hinsdale and Carrington, Taylor, Baldwin and Down- ing, down to those of Carter, Krementz, Allsop, Larter, Richardson, Alling and Tiffany, Newark has maintained a reputation for the best in the manu- facture of rings, ornaments, chains, bracelets, pins, and the thousand and one articles fashioned from gold for personal adornment as well as for articles made of silver for household use.
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