USA > New Jersey > Hudson County > Jersey City > History of Jersey City, N.J. : a record of its early settlement and corporate progress, sketches of the towns and cities that were absorbed in the growth of the present municipality, its business, finance, manufactures and form of government, with some notice of the men who built the city > Part 62
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CENTRAL STOCK YARDS AND TRANSIT CO., JERSEY CITY
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HISTORY OF JERSEY CITY.
ceded the founding of the company, and has had sole charge of the company's factories, and of its manufacturing and constructing departments since the organization of the company. He was the inventor of all of the special machinery constructed or used during the earlier years of the company. Mr. Stowe is a resident of Jersey City.
Mr. Geo. A. Wies, the treasurer and general selling agent of the company, entered the office of the company when but a lad, and quickly advanced from one position to another. He is a resident of New York.
Mr. Isaac B. Markey, the secretary of the company, may be said to be a " Nestor " of that trade. He was formerly a resident of Jersey City, but now resides in Brooklyn.
Col. Richard Vose, of New York, one of the incorporators of this company, and its presi- dent for about ten years, died in 1893.
CENTRAL STOCK YARD & TRANSIT Co., the first of the kind in this country, was opened at Communipaw. October 14, 1866. Previous to that date the business was carried on at three places in New York City and one in Bergen. Soon after 1866 the business of the four places was concentrated at West Sixtieth Street. New York City, and at Communipaw. Owing to the increase in the business and the limited facilities, the yards moved to their present location Janu- ary 1, 1874, for cattle, sheep and calves, and the west bank of the Hackensack River for hogs. There were received during i893 17,665 cars, containing 172,782 cattle, 527,035 hogs, $68,120 sheep and 62,621 calves.
The following firms receive and sell live stock : Samuel Sanders, Newton & Co., Daniel MePherson, D. H. Sherman, J. Shamberg & Son, MI. Goldsmith, S. Judd & Co., J. H. Wilker- son, P. S. Kase, G. B. Wilson, E. L. Lambert, Brainard & Bro. and Taber & Allerton.
The yards and buildings have facilities for the feeding and selling of 5.000 cattle, 10,000 sheep and calves and 6,000 hogs, and refrigerating of 2,000 cattle. For the lightering of live stock to ocean steamers, East and North rivers, the company have four boats. The Pennsylva- nia, New York, Lake Erie & Western, West Shore, and New York. Susquehanna & Western have direct connection with the yards hy tracks on the north and south sides. Live stock from the Lehigh Valley, New York Central, and Delaware, Lackawanna & Western railroads are de- livered to the yards by boats. The exporters from these yards are : MI. Goldsmith, who in 1893 exported to different parts of Europe 46,661 live cattle ; J. Shamberg & Son, 18.763, and D. H. Sherman, 7.484 carcasses of beef. The slaughterers of cattle for consumption in and about New York City are: Michael Lally, F. & G. Schober, H. Heilburn, B. Smith, William E. Cooper and Lohmann & Son; and of sheep and calves : Wm. Everett, H. Heilburn, Simon Downey, Samuel Nagle, Wn. Winberry and Samuel Allerton. Jr. All the hides are salted on the premises : the fat from cattle slaughtered is tried out, pressed for oil and stearine, most of which is shipped to Europe, where the oil is made into oleomargarine. The hogs are slaughtered on the west bank of the Hackensack River, and after being slaughtered are hung in cars specially made for their transportation, and arrive at these yards at midnight, where they are loaded on trucks and delivered to purchasers in New York City and Brooklyn before daylight. The company em- ploys ISo men in the different departments. In addition there are 420 men connected directly with the different interests. The patrons are supplied with all the conveniences of doing busi- ness, such as telegraph offices, telephones, barber shop, restaurant and bar. Cattle are sold on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays: sheep and calves every day except Sunday, when the yards are practically closed to all business except the care of stock. For the protection of property and of the patrons the company have six special policemen and five deputy-sheriffs, all under ex-Chief of Police N. R. Fowler.
The officers of the company are : S. W. Allerton, president : D. H. Sherman, manager and treasurer ; E. L. Lambert, assistant treasurer : S. H. Smith, superintendent ; J. L. Bonham, cashier; Robert C. Bonham, bookkeeper.
THE P. LORILLARD COMPANY, of Jersey City, N. J., has the distinction of being 135 years old as a tobacco manufacturing industry, and to be to-day the largest in the United States. There is one other factory that exceeds in the total pounds of plug manufactured ; but it ex- ceeds all others as a plug, fine-cut, smoking and snuff manufactory, whose total output in a year approaches the 25,000,000-pound mark.
Their fine-eut, smoking and snuff mills comprise a solid block of buildings covering a full
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HISTORY OF JERSEY CITY.
square (ordinarily a square in most cities is 400 feet square), and the plug factory covers two squares-solid brick structures, six and seven stories high, especially constructed with a view of giving light and comfort to the thousands of working people, and to facilitate the manufact- uring business as far as human devices and skill can.
Each department of each great factory is under the supervision of a superintendent whose experience has won him the position, and the whole great works are under a supervisor who re- quires a strict accounting from his various subordinates, and the great works are operated like a clock. The employees' interests are looked after carefully, the factories being kept in the best sanitary condition possible ; a fine library for the benefit of the work-people is maintained, as also a dispensary for any of them that may become sick ; and evening and sewing schools are operated for the benefit of the young, to educate them and teach the young women.
STORAGE
WAREHOUSE
This company has the best buyers the various leaf markets of the West and South afford, under liberal salaries, to purchase for them, and the many millions of pounds of leaf tobacco received by them annually has among it much of the best grown in the various sections.
Since the establishment of the internal revenue tax on tobacco in 1862 by the U. S. Government, this firm has paid into the United States treasury over $50,000,000 as tax on manufactured tobacco, and their output is distributed in all parts of the United States, and they have no mean trade in South America, Australia and some European countries for their smoking tobacco and snuff.
It was in 1760 that this enterprise was first started on what is now Park Row, New York City, by Pierre Lorillard, a Frenchi Huguenot, who found a refuge and home in this country long before the War of Independence, and he developed it gradually, and by each succeeding generation of the same family it was carried forward to new successes until now in the hands of the third and fourth generations.
THE JERSEY CITY WAREHOUSE AND STORAGE COMPANY. This company was organized in 1893, and erected large warehouses on Provost and Six- teenth streets. The location was chosen because of its convenience of access from the Jersey City and Hoboken ferries, and its nearness to the cary af - AF LEICHT - 45 MONTGOMERY OF . - ARCHITECT - termini of the Erie and Delaware, Lackawanna JERSEY CITY STORAGE WAREHOUSE. & Western railroads. The buildings are fire- proof, and afford safe storage for household goods and merchandise. Cars can be loaded and unloaded at the warehouse door without extra handling or expense, and free delivery is offered to all harbor points. The officers of the company are : J. B. Cleveland, president ; L. B. Foley, vice-president ; H. C. Hicks, treasurer, and E. Nichols, secretary. The directors are prominent citizens, and the Title Guarantee and Trust Company is the financial agent of the company.
THE LEWRENA. During the last two decades there has been a tendency toward concentra- tion in the movement of the city population. The small single houses for one or two families have given place to large, well-built structures that house a dozen or more families. The Lewrena apartment-house at Grove and Second streets is an outcome of this movement, and a typical building of most recent construction. It is five stories high, with frontages of twenty- five feet on Grove Street and ninety feet on Second Street. It was designed by A. F. Leicht, and
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VIEWS OF PILING DRIVEN BY THE SANFORD & STILLMAN CO., JERSEY CITY.
1. Penn. R. R. Bridge over Hackensack River.
2. Car Barns of the Consolidated Traction Co.
3. Adams Express Co.'s Pier E, North River.
4. Penn. R. R. Ferry at Bay Street.
5. Penn. R. R. Bridge over Hackensack River.
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11949
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RANEW YORK CONDENSED TTORICO
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JERSEY CITY DEPOT OF THE NEW YORK CONDENSED MILK CO.
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HISTORY OF JERSEY CITY.
built under his supervision for Lewis B. Foley, the owner. The material of construction was brick, stone and iron, and no effort or expense was spared in trying to make this a model. Its sanitary arrangements, and private halls for each family, are all that can be desired for health and convenience.
THE NEW YORK CONDENSED MILK COMPANY. When the New York Condensed Milk Com- pany began a few years ago to solicit customers in Jersey City, it was not then seriously considered that the business in this eity alone would in so short a time grow to such proportions as to per- mit its being classified as one of the important industries. Considering the facts, the business of supplying Borden's pure milk, both fluid and condensed, is not only an important one as viewed from the standpoint of the company, but an exceedingly valuable possession to the in- habitants of Jersey City, who have been so greatly benefited by the eoneern which distributes such vast quantities of pure milk to the residents. The original depot of the company was opened at Nos. 642 and 644 Montgomery Street in January, 1890. Several additional buildings were added from time to time to this property, but it soon became evident that a larger plot of land would be necessary, consequently a plot 150 feet by 100 feet, at Nos. 641 to 651 Mont- gomery Street, opposite the original site, was purchased. Upon this was erected, at the corner, one two-story briek building, 30 by 100 feet, containing the office on the ground floor, and dwell- ing apartments on the second floor for the manager. The second building was erected on the westerly end of the plot, 30 by 100 feet, two stories in height, but this has been recently enlarged by the addition of a third story, and as a stable accommodates about seventy-five horses. Connecting these two buildings on the rear line, for a depth of forty feet, a shed was erected, 90 by 40 feet, for the protection of the wagons, trucks, etc., necessary in the business. This proved inadequate, however, and the remainder of the ground was covered in 1894, so that thirty-five wagons were easily taken care of, with plenty of space for an additional number if required. It takes fifty men in the execution of details attending the - supplying of 8,000 or more customers.
Quite in keeping with the above record of progress is the history of every one of the numerous branehes operated by this great BORDEN'S JERSEY CITY HEADQUARTERS. institution. The notable fact that the busi- ness of milk purveying has been accompanied with less intelligent methods than most any other industry, rendered the wide success of the Borden Company more easily attainable, and even considering its educating influcnees where its operations are conducted, it is to be regretted that the general system of milk production and sale is conducted with so little regard for the public health.
THE JERSEY CITY PACKING COMPANY is a large concern, which has made the name of the city familiar in the trade centres of the world. It began business on a small seale about nine years ago, and now has an extensive plant and $600,000 capital. The main buildings on Ninth Street are massive brick structures, six stories high, occupying an L-shaped site, with frontages of 200 and 300 feet. The beef-curing vats are in the basement and sub-cellar. There are 542 of these, each made to hold 4,500 pounds, giving a capacity in this department of 2,439,000 pounds at a time. From these vats the beef goes to the cooling-rooms on the third, fourth and fifth floors. There are three of these rooms, cach with a capacity of 6,000 packages. The hog department handles 1,000 earcasses daily. The hog cooling-room has a capacity of 20,000 pieces. The lard department has rendering tanks, each with a capacity of 5,000 pounds. There are five smoke-houses, each with a capacity of 2,000 pieces. The sixth floor contains the sausage department, with five chipping, four mixing, and three stuffing machines. The engine-rooms contain one stationary engine of 60 horse-power, and three ice machines of 125 horse-power
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HISTORY OF JERSEY CITY,
cach. There are three boilers in the battery. The ice machines produce seventy-five tons daily. The salt stores have storage room for 40,000 bushels. The machine shop, on the fifth floor, is thoroughly fitted with all appliances for the prompt repair of the extensive mechanical plant. Throughout the buildings machinery is utilized for all the work, and speed, economy and cleanliness are secured by the most improved mechanical appliances. The buildings are equipped with automatic fire extinguishers, and communication between the floors is obtained by elevators, with a speed of 125 feet a minute. There are 250 men employed by the company, and their output of eured beef and hog product is one of the largest on the Atlantic seaboard. At Tenth and Erie streets the company's stables are located. There are now 86 horses, all gray Percheron Normans, and 63 wagons in the building. The company's slaughter-house is on West Thirty-ninth Strect, New York, and has a capacity of 1,000 hogs daily,
THEO QUEET
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CA POT.
Turner & Bonnell
FRANK STEVENS' BUILDING.
G. F. Swift is president, E. C. Swift. treasurer, and J. S. Bailey, general man- ager of the company. They bave intro- duced many improvements in the manner of preparing meats and in packing for market, which has aided in securing the well-deserved reputation of the company. They export to England, France and Ger- many, and to the West Indies and South America. The preparation, cutting, cur- ing, smoking, freezing and packing of meat has been reduced to a science, and the brands of the output are favorites in all markets, at home and abroad.
THE DODGE & BLISS COMPANY has re- cently succeeded the old firms of Dodge & Co., and the Dodge & Bliss Box Co., which have been prominent in the lumber and box interests in Jersey City for the past thirty years. The new company has aban- doned the old site, which covered three acres at Bay, Greene and Morgan streets, and were the pioneers in opening up a new section of the city on West Side Avenue, and west of it, including water frontage on the Hackensack River. There they have erected a very large plant, with abundant room and ample facilities for their constantly growing business. Their example in forming a new business sec- tion has been followed by many other manufacturers, and it is now a busy part of the city.
The lumber business of this company has always been one of the largest in Jersey City and surrounding towns, and is growing greater with increased facilities for serving their trade. They have branch establishments at Tonawanda, N. Y., and Meredith, N. H., and their con- nections are many and large. The box department is one of the largest in the United States. They not only do a large local trade in made boxes, but ship shooks to all parts of the world. The manufacture of shooks was always an important feature of their trade, and it has grown rapidly, and the company contracts for any number of boxes or shooks, from one to one million or more.
VAN DER BEEK & SONS was the pioneer lumber concern, and is one of the oldest business firms in Jersey City. The offices, mills and yards are at the corner of Greene and Steuben
DEPOT OF THE JERSEY CITY PACKING CO., JERSEY CITY.
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OFFICE, FACTORY AND YARDS OF THE DODGE & BLISS CO., JERSEY CITY.
VANDLAHECK A SONG LUMBER
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OFFICE AND LUMBER YARDS OF VANDERBEEK & SONS, JERSEY CITY.
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HISTORY OF JERSEY CITY.
streets and adjacent thereto, on the site originally selected when the firm was organized, in 1846. At that time Harsimus Cove was a bay extending west to Henderson Street, and afforded ship- ping facilities for the concern. The firm was originally Morrell, Van Der Beek & Post. The business has grown with the city, and it is now one of the most complete and extensive institutions of the kind in the State. The dry and fine lumber used in trade is stored in compartments, which form a lumber yard under a glass roof. The stock kept on hand by the firm embraces every kind of Ameriean wood that can be utilized in trade. The plan- ing mills are supplied with the latest improvements in machinery. The motive power is supplied by two engines, one of 100, and the other of 165 horse-power. There are three boilers, and the shav- ings are utilized for fuel, powerful blowers carrying them from the machines direct to the fire boxes. The box factory is adapted to the manufacture of all varieties of wooden packing boxes in any quantity. The yards, mills, storehouses and offices cover an area of more than two city blocks, a portion of which ineludes the site of the machine shop erected by Robert Fulton, where he built the first steamboat.
THE THOMPSON & BUSHNELL COMPANY was organized about eight years ago, and has erected extensive foundries at the corner of Bay and Warren streets. Richard Thompson is president, and N. Y. Office Thompson & Bushnell Co .. John S. Bushnell is secretary and treasurer. Both had a long 110 Liberty Street. training and much practical experience in their line of business before they organized the com- pany. They have made numerous inventions, and own a number of valuable patents. Among these are: The Bachelder adjustable spring steam engine indicator ; the Ideal redueing wheel ; an injector blower, and Thompson's patent soot-sneker for cleaning boiler tubes. A great variety and large quantities of grate bars are made in the foundry. A single order for their Aetna shaking-grate, recently filled, called for over 100,000 pounds. In addition to the articles made in their factory, the company deals in all goods used in engine and boiler rooms. The main offices are at 110 Liberty Street, New York, and are under the charge of Mr. Bushnell. Mr.
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Foundry of Thompson & Bushnell Co, Jersey City.
Thompson conducts the mechanical and traveling departments, and has prob- ably indicated more steam engines than any other man in the country during a given time. The com- pany issues an illustrated catalogue, which is a hand- book in boiler and engine rooms.
BUSSING & GRAEF, manu- facturers of dessicated cocoanut, began business on September 1, 1890. They occupied at that time a single floor of a
building adjoining their present factory. In 1892 their present factory, 65 and 67 Wilkinson Avenue, was erected. Their business at first required but half a dozen barrels of cocoanuts a day. Now their consumption exceeds 2,000,000 cocoanuts annually.
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HISTORY OF JERSEY CITY.
Frederick W. Bussing was born in New York City in 1849, and received his education in the public schools. He became a resident of Jersey City in 1882. He entered the employ of
MANHATTAN
LAUNDRY Co.
L. Schepp, cocoanut manufacturer in New York, in 1870, and remained in his employ twenty years.
Emil A. Graef was born in New York City in 1858, and was educated in the pub- lie schools. He was employed by L. Schepp twelve years, and left him to accept a clerical position in the New York post-office. After a time he became weary of the change, and entered into partner- ship with his former fellow-employee. Their business has prospered. Both are members of Damon Council, Royal Arca- num, and of the Greenville Building Loan Association.
THE MANHATTAN LAUNDRY COMPANY is MANHATTAN LAUNDRY CO. BUILDING. one of the most important industries of its kind in Jersey City. The plant was estab- lished several years ago at 375 and 377 Wayne Street, and is complete in all its departments. The company have a large patronage from steamboat, hotel and railway companies, and make a special feature of work for private individuals The concern is open at all times to the pub- lic, and an inspection of the machinery, which is all the most modern and improved, makes an interesting study. Mr. M. A. Stoner is the superintendent.
REGINA MUSIC BOX COMPANY. One of the important manufacturing industries of Jersey City is the Regina Music Box Co., occupying the Cushing building, at the corner of Morris and Hudson streets. Although the company was but recently incorporated, it has been doing bus- iness under its present name, and carrying on the manufacture of the excellent "Regina" music boxes, for two years. In this period the house has built up a large following among musical instrument dealers in every part of the country.
The officers of the Regina Music Box Co. are : Mr. Percival Knauth, of Knauth, Nachod & Kuhne, bankers, New York, president ; Mr. Percival Kuhne, of the same firm, vice-president, and Mr. Ludwig C. Tietz, secretary and treasurer.
To the indefatigable, persistent efforts of Mr. Tietz, and his foresightedness in placing agencies for the "Regina " with firms of repute and high standing in the trade, is due much of the imme- diate success of the house.
In this he is ably seconded by Mr. G. A. Brach- hausen, of the Polyphon Musik Werke. of Leipzig, Germany, and these two gentlemen, with the other officers of the concern, are now doing wonders toward pushing the "Regina" instruments to the position in the front rank of goods of their type which they undoubtedly deserve. The Jersey City house is an offshoot from the Leipzig com- pany, and its instruments closely resemble those of the latter, but it is conducted independently.
G. A. BRACHHAUSEN.
When Mr. Brachhausen, the superintendent of the Regina Music Box Co.'s plant, came to America, not quite two years ago, to establish a factory for the manufacture of music boxes, he
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FACTORY OF THE REGINA MUSIC BOX CO., JERSEY CITY.
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HISTORY OF JERSEY CITY.
had much to contend with, notwithstanding his long experience in the factory of the Poly- phon Musik Werke. This will be readily understood by a mention of his claim, which is, that he was the first in America to make a music box "comb," or to manufacture a musie box entire. This means not only that he had to teach the greater part of his help their trade, but that he had to invent and supervise the manufacture of nearly all the machinery used in their im- portant plant in Jersey City.
The popularity of the " Regina " is rapidly increasing, and all who have seen it pronounce it one of the best and most convenient form of the music box. At the manufactory hardly a
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Regina
LIEGTERIOUS.
REGINA MISIC ROXES.
day goes by that some improvement, more or less important, is not made in the boxes, to suit the many customers of the concern.
At present the catalogue of the company contains twenty-two styles, including musical automata, both with penny or nickel slot attachment, and combined with hall clocks, and single comb and duplex boxes, operated either with a crank or by clockwork. The number of tunes arranged for the Regina Music Box to January 1, 1895, was over 1,300.'
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HISTORY OF JERSEY CITY.
The FULLER OFFICE BUILDING, at Hudson and Montgomery streets, is a five-story and cellar brick structure, fronting 100 feet on both Hudson and Montgomery streets. It is the most complete and best appointed office building in Jersey City, with elevator, steani heat and every convenience. It was formerly the historie hotel known as the "Darcy House," which has a history dating back to the Jersey Associates. The new building was planned and com- pleted under the supervision of its owners, A. M. and W. M. Fuller, of Philadelphia, and their agent, Mr. Frank Stevens, president of the Real Estate Trusts Co., in the spring of 1884. It is substantially constructed, and is the popular office home for many law firms and business men. Among the few who occupy convenient and well-lighted offices in this building are : the Western Union Telegraph Co., National Express Co., F. Missler & Krimmert, Archey Cross- man, John E. Muller, Earl B. Silvers, George Mathews, Wm. M. Dougherty, Prudential Insur- ance Co., Chicago Junction Railways & Union Stock Yards Co., P. Sanford Ross, John Griffin, Geo. B. Wilson & Co., Earle & Harrison, Wm. Warbrick, Geo. V. Bartlett, Brainard Bros., P. J. Connor, Geo. W. Cassidy, Van Winkle & Klink, Wm. C. Cudlipp, S. D. Haines, Reon Barns, J. Adriance Bush, Walter Kip, J. H. Potts, Fred'k Frambach, Wm. P. Douglas, Wm. F. Midlege, Wm. G. E. See, R. P. Wortendyke, Wm. C. Spencer, Albert C. Wall, M. J. Currie, New Jersey Title & Abstract Co., Ran- dolph, Condiet & Black, U S. Industrial Insurance Co., Louis H. Giele, Board of Chosen Freeholders, Chas. W. Fuller, Geo. L. Record, New Jersey Riparian Commis- sioners, and many others.
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