USA > New Jersey > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, New Jersey, 1664-1920, Volume I > Part 32
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Mr. Hall was connected with the Terra Cotta Works until a short time before his death. The manufacture of brick and terra cotta has been benefited to an almost unlimited extent by Mr. Hall's inventions and improvements. He was a broad-minded, public-spirited citizen, and took a great interest in public affairs, having three times been elected mayor of the city, and in 1882 was president of the Fire-Brick Makers' Association of the United States.
Henry Maurer, a native of Germany, came to Perth Amboy in 1875 from New York, where he had been in business for many years, and purchased the fire-brick works of Joseph Forbes, near the mouth of Woodbridge Creek. He expended over $50,000 in enlarging and im- proving the plant, and proceeded to manufacture fire-brick, red brick, gas retorts, furnace blocks, tile, hollow brick and French roofing tile. The works are now equal to any of the kind in the country, and contain many of Mr. Maurer's valuable inventions. He died a number of years ago, and the business is conducted by his sons.
About 1883, Edward M. Keasbey, who had been mining clay for several years in what is now known as Keasbey, in connection with his brother, A. Q. Keasbey, of Newark, erected a factory where they manu- factured building brick, and later on fire-proofing materials. This was the forerunner of a large plant consisting of three extensive buildings, and a similar one at Lorillard, in Monmouth county, now owned and operated by the National Fire-Proofing Company, of Pittsburgh, of which Henry M. Keasbey, a son of one of the brothers above mentioned, is president. This corporation owns and operates thirty plants and does an immense business.
Adam Weber, of New York, erected large works at Keasbey about thirty years ago, and manufactured fire-brick, gas retorts, etc. In 1905 he sold the plant to the Didier-March Company, who operated it until a few months ago, when it passed into the hands of another company.
The American Encaustic Tiling Company began business in 1913, manufacturing wall tile, and also dealing in decorative tile in colors, employing about ninety men. The officers are: Emil Kohler, president, and H. D. Lillibridge, vice-president and general superintendent.
The C. Pardee Company purchased the Eagleswood property about 1900, and erected Steel and Enameled Tile Works. The former has since passed into the control of other parties, who continue the business and retain the Pardee name.
Abel Hansen does a large business at Fords, manufacturing bath tubs, tanks, basins, toilet fixtures, etc., all of porcelain, using the native clays.
The Roessler & Hasslacher Chemical Company, with offices corner of High and Fayette streets, commenced business in Brooklyn in 1882, and removed to Perth Amboy two years later. The first property the
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firm purchased was the old cork factory of William King, at the foot of Commerce street. From that small beginning has arisen the large plant, fronting on Staten Island Sound, and composed of forty buildings. All varieties of chemical goods are manufactured, and about four hun- dred men and boys are employed. The present large and beautiful office building was erected in 1910. In addition to the large business done in the United States, the firm has a very considerable trade with Mexico and South America. A New York office is maintained at 609 Sixth avenue. The officers are Franz Roessler, president; William H. Hamm, vice-president and treasurer ; and P. Schleussner, secretary.
The Standard Underground Cable Company was established on High street in 1898, the cable department being first installed. In 1902 the rod, wire, weather-proof and rubber departments were added. From 1914- 1918 the plant was largely employed by the United States government and produced vast quantities of tubes and other war materials. The daily output is from 300,000 to 400,000 pounds of various products. The average number of employes, under normal conditions, is about 1,500. The executive offices are in Pittsburgh, and the present officials are as follows: J. W. Marsh, president (from the foundation of the corpora- tion) ; P. H. W. Smith, of Pittsburgh, C. J. Marsh, of New York, and C. C. Baldwin, of Perth Amboy, vice-presidents ; C. M. Hagen, of Pitts- burgh, secretary and treasurer ; and H. W. Fisher, assistant secretary.
The Perth Amboy Dry Dock Company, with W. Parker Runyon, president, and Charles D. Snedeker, secretary and treasurer, was incor- porated in 1887, and developed from a marine railway established in 1860. Since the incorporation, four dry docks have been installed, with a capacity of 2,500 tons, eight piers, 370 to 400 feet long, floating equip- ment, electric and air-welding plants, complete power equipment, der- ricks, blacksmith and machine shops, sawmills, etc. The average number of employes is between three hundred and four hundred. Adjoining frontage, recently purchased, gives the plant a water front of over one thousand feet. The Emergency Fleet Corporation of the United States Government Shipping Board has been building a number of modern drydocks, with a view of placing them with reliable estab- lished shipyards for operation, giving the shipyard owners the privilege of purchasing them upon reasonable terms. The Perth Amboy Com- pany was awarded one of these docks, with a capacity of one thousand tons, and it is now installed.
The Raritan Copper Works, on the site of the old John R. Watson fire-brick works, was erected in 1898 by the Lewissohn Brothers, of New York, and the first copper was produced in April of the following year. The business consists of the refining of copper and its by-products -silver, gold, platinum, palladium, selenium and tellurium. Several years later the works passed into the control and became a subsidiary
Mid-18
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corporation of the Anaconda Mining Company. The average number of employees is 1,400. Mr. A. C. Clark is the general manager.
The American Smelting and Refining Company established a large plant fronting on the Staten Island Sound in 1895 for the refining of lead and copper ores, and other branches of the business. In conse- quence of the inability to secure a sufficient number of employees about one-half of the plant is closed at the present writing, the working force being only about seven hundred; formerly 1,800 men and boys were employed. J. F. Austin is the general manager.
New Brunswick-The wall paper business of Janeway & Company, of New Brunswick, was started by John P. Hardenbergh in 1844, in two small buildings on Water street, the wall paper being printed on hand presses. In 1846, Henry L. Janeway, who was born in Philadelphia and came to New Brunswick in 1833, bought an interest in the business, and the firm introduced the first machine for printing wall paper. It was made in the machine shop of Haley Fiske, of the city, and was a very crude affair. Later on an improved machine was made in the locomotive works at Paterson, which printed four colors and worked very satisfactorily. In those early days Mr. Janeway invented the plan for a machine for hanging wall paper while in the drying process, by passing it over ropes on grooved pulleys. It was made in William Waldron's machine works, in the city, and remained a secret for eight years, although it was never patented. Later on a foreman, who had been in the employ of Hardenbergh & Janeway, introduced it into other factories. The plan has been greatly improved since then, but the main idea remains the same. About 1850, William R. Janeway, brother of Henry L., bought Mr. Hardenbergh's interest, the firm became Janeway & Company, and an office was opened in Maiden Lane, New York. Steam power was installed in 1846, and many additions were made to the factory, which were continued from year to year until 1876, when the storehouse on Water street was built, and the plant continually enlarged until it covered the entire block. The works were destroyed by fire, February 7, 1885, the warehouse alone being saved. Rebuilding was immediately commenced, and the new factory was occupied October Ist of the same year. The main building had five floors, 65x315 feet, and the warehouse four floors, 70x160 feet, with a frontage on the Delaware and Raritan canal of 315 feet. The equipment included engines of 120 horsepower, boilers of 240 horsepower, and sixteen printing presses, and employed a working force of over 200. The capacity of the works was from ten to twelve million rolls of paper annually. The paper was sold all over the United States and Canada, and over twenty-five salesmen were employed. Mr. Janeway's generosity to the employees during the winter of the great fire, when the factory was destroyed, was most praiseworthy. Among other benefactions, he replaced the
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destroyed tools of the print cutters, which were very valuable. He died in 1909, and the business and factory were sold in 1914. He was a trustee of the First Presbyterian Church for thirty-six years, trustee of Rutgers College since 1862, member of the Board of Education for twenty-two years and its president for seven years, director of the New Brunswick Mutual Fire Insurance Company, charter member of the company who built the City Water Works, member of the Water Board for four years, and a bank and gas company director for forty-two years.
In 1863, Belcher & Nicholson, the latter being a former member of the firm of Janeway & Company, established a wall paper factory in New Brunswick, manufacturing chiefly bronzes and what are techni- cally known as French drawn stripes and mouldings. In 1870, Charles J. Carpender, and in 1872, Colonel Jacob J. Janeway, came into the business, and the firm of Janeway & Carpender was formed. A factory 165x50 feet was erected, fifty employees engaged, and the business greatly enlarged, including the printing of blanks, satins, tints, gold and silver paper. The great specialty is the French drawn stripes and mouldings. The former are used in paneling a room in imitation of fresco, the mouldings being surmounted by caps and corners to complete the panels. The drawn stripes, which are made by but one other firm in the country, are combinations of shades and stripes, which take the place of figures in wall paper. Over seven hundred and fifty styles of paper are kept in stock, and salesmen travel through the United States and Canada, selling a vast amount of goods. Mr. Carpender died several months ago.
United States Rubber Company-In 1839, Christopher Meyer, a native of Hanover, Germany, came to New Brunswick, to put up for Horace H. Day a steam engine and machinery for the first manufacture of rubber goods in the city. Mr. Day was then having carriage and rubber shoes failures. Mr. Meyer made his first essay at manufacturing under the Goodyear patent, inventing and improving machinery, and perfecting the progress of rubber shoe making. He discovered a plan by which the disagreeable odor of the rubber was almost entirely elimi- nated, and the cloth and shoes rendered more durable, a plan which was only surpassed by the subsequent discovery of the process of vul- canization. Mr. Day refused to recognize the value of this process, and the two parted. For about two years Mr. Meyer operated a small plant at the Landing Bridge, and in 1843 J. C. Ackerman, of New Bruns- wick, proposed to build for him a factory on the site of the old Milltown grist mill, which was done, James Bishop joining with Mr. Meyer in the management. Shirred goods, carriage cloth and rubber shoes were manufactured, and also rubber pontoon bridges for United States government use in the Mexican War, until 1845, when the factory was destroyed by fire, including Mr. Meyer's residence, leaving him almost penniless. John R. Ford, a New York merchant, came to his aid, and
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together they rebuilt the works, and the firm of Ford & Company con- tinued business until 1850, when a joint stock company was organized under the general law under the name of the Ford Rubber Company. Four years later the name was changed to the Meyer Rubber Company, and continued as such, with Mr. Meyer as president and Mr. Ford as treasurer. In 1877 he organized the New Jersey Rubber Shoe Com- pany, erected large buildings in Little Burnet street, and manufactured boats, shoes, canes, etc. He also established the Novelty Rubber Works in Neilson street, above the railroad bridge, for the manufacture of hard rubber. The goods manufactured amounted to about $600,000 annually, and included every possible variety of hard rubber goods, as follows : Buttons in great variety, smokers' requisites, as pipes, pipe- stems and bowls in great diversity of shapes and sizes; pipe and tobacco boxes, cigar cases, match boxes, etc., crochet hooks, knitting pins and tatting needles, and a variety of articles used in trimming ladies' dresses. Round rulers of all sizes, also hotel, restaurant, billiard, poker and jewelers' checks, elegant canes, and many other goods under the name of Yankee Notions. These articles were shipped to all parts of the world. Germany and England were a large market, also Cape Town, South Africa, Australia, Central and South America, in addition to the large quantities sold to pipe manufacturers and dealers in this country. The rubber business is still continued in New Brunswick under the title of the United States Rubber Company, with James Desh- ler as president.
Mr. Meyer became interested in the rubber business in New Bruns- wick when it was in its infancy, and to him alone is largely due its development, which has made such rapid progress among the most important manufactures of the country. This interest increased under his management and superior ability from a business of a few thousand dollars until it reached several millions annually. He may well be classed among the self-made business men, and a shining example of what ambition and a will to succeed under adverse circumstances may achieve.
In 1887 Robert W., James W. and Edward M. Johnson secured the old Parsons Mill property, near the Pennsylvania railroad, and began the manufacture of absorbent and surgical dressing materials. In 1893 the old Novelty Button Works was purchased, and in 1900 the cotton mill was erected. The property of the Norfolk and New Brunswick Hosiery Company was acquired in 1908, and the company has been continually enlarging and improving the plant. In 1897, having had much difficulty in shipping their goods by rail, the company secured two steam freight boats, which from that time to the present have made daily trips to New York during the navigable season. During the late European War the company, under the direction of the Red Cross,
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supplied the armies of the United States and the Allies with all the absorbent cotton, gauze bandages and other surgical supplies that were needed. The average number of employes is 2,000. Robert W. John- son, Sr., the president, died in 1910. The present officers are James W. Johnson, president; Frank Jones and Robert W. Johnson, vice-presi- dents; Robert C. Nicholas, secretary ; and Charles A. McCormick, treasurer.
The Neverslip Manufacturing Company was organized in February, 1896, with Robert W. Johnson, president; James W. Johnson, vice- president; and William J. McCurdy, secretary and treasurer, for the manufacture of horseshoes, calks and tools. On May 29, 1917, the Manufacturers' Iron and Steel Company was incorporated, which included the Neverslip Manufacturing Company, of New Brunswick; the Neverslip Manufacturing Company, of Montreal, Canada; and the Bryden Horseshoe Company, of Catasauqua, Pennsylvania, with the following officers: James W. Johnson, president and general manager ; Robert C. Nicholas, vice-president and secretary ; George F. McCormick, treasurer ; and H. Morley Holton, assistant treasurer ; directors: J. W. Johnson, R. C. Nicholas, G. F. McCormick, Paul E. Miller, H. Morley Holton, Sidney B. Carpender and Royal W. Mattice. The average number of employees in the New Brunswick plant is 125, and only adjustable calks and tools are made.
The Consolidated Fruit Jar Company was organized December 14, 1871, in its present building on Water street, by R. W. Booth, of New York, for the manufacture of sheet and cast metal goods, and at first made principally fruit-jar tops and can screws. Later on, bottle caps, collapsible tubes, oil cans and sprinkler tops for toilet waters and per- fumes were manufactured. The average number of employees is 330, and the output is disposed of to manufacturers and jobbers. The officers are : Henry B. Kent, president ; Charles P. Buckley, vice-president, and Benj. W. Erickson, secretary and treasurer.
In 1852 George Buttler and John Y. Brokaw began to manufacture sash doors, blinds, shelving, stair work, counters, office fixtures, etc., and many years after the firm became the Buttler-Howell Company, with the following officers: Howard V. Buttler, president; Abram S. Howell, vice-president and treasurer ; Robert V. Buttler, secretary, and G. Harold Buttler, superintendent. The firm makes a specialty of lay- ing hardwood floors and the interior finishing of houses. A stockroom for the sale of goods is maintained in Elizabeth.
One of the oldest industries in the city was the carriage factory of John Van Nuis, built by him in 1810 on Albany street. The wood- work, blacksmithing, trimming and painting were done in separate buildings, with a repository in front. In 1813 he shipped some car- riages to Norfolk, Virginia, and found a ready sale, and finally established
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an agency there. His sons made trips through the South and eventually extended the trade to North and South Carolina. In 1840 a repository was opened at Mobile, where carriages were sold over a territory of 500 miles around the city. In 1858, when the Civil War appeared immi- nent, the Southern business was abandoned. The firm lost much money and was never able to regain its immense business. The factory was closed in 1915.
Other manufactures are mentioned in the chapters on Woodbridge, Piscataway, East Brunswick, and the Boroughs of South River, Hel- metta, Jamesburg, Sayreville, Roosevelt and Middlesex, and the city of South Amboy.
FALLS RARITAN RIVER, NEW BRUNSWICK
PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD BRIDGE, NEW BRUNSWICK
CHAPTER XXV. CITY OF NEW BRUNSWICK.
In the seventeenth century, where New Brunswick now stands there was a dense cedar forest interspersed with a swamp. A mystic tradition which the ancient records do not verify states that the first inhabitant Daniel Cooper, settled where the postroad afterwards crossed the river, and kept a ferry. This Cooper was one of the early purchasers and settlers under the proprietors, and his name appears as such on the schedule to the Elizabethtown Bill. This record states that his tract of land of two thousand acres was on the "Passack" river, and there- fore the conclusion is drawn that it did not extend as far west as the Raritan river, therefore he had no connection with the early settlement of New Brunswick.
In Watson's "Annals of Philadelphia" is preserved an item from William Edmundson's Journal. An early traveler in East Jersey in 1675, he made a journey southward from New York, and in going from Mid- dletown to the Delaware river, accompanied by an Indian guide, they lost their way in the wilderness, and were obliged to return to the Raritan river to enable them to discover the proper course. He tells of coming to a "small landing from New York," which was no doubt the crossing of the path where afterwards Inian's Ferry was established. These early travelers wended their way along a small path, with no tame animal in sight, kindling in the wilderness a fire by the side of which they slept, and finally reaching Delaware Falls, now the site of the city of Trenton.
It was on November 10, 1681, John Inian and company bought two lots which form the principal site of the city of New Brunswick. The tract thus purchased had a mile of river front and was two miles in depth. Inian, in connection with Joseph Benbridge and others, peti- tioned the Governor and Council on March 1, 1682, for a patent of the lands they had purchased from the Indians. The warrant was for six thousand acres but it appears that the surveyor had laid out 7,680 acres without the reservation of the seventh that was the proportion of the proprietors. The Council, however, determined that the petitioners should have patents for the land, John Inian to receive one thousand acres, and all others five hundred acres each on payment of one half- penny an acre, the overplus of the tract to be appropriated to the pro- prietors in lieu of their seventh. A map made in 1685 by John Reid, at that time first deputy surveyor under the proprietors, gives the situ- ation and outlines of nineteen lots designated as the "Raritan Lots," lying on the mouth of South river, past the present site of New Bruns-
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wick to Bound Brook, seventeen of which have each about a half a mile of river front by about two miles in depth, and extending in a south- westerly direction inland. Beginning at the mouth of South river, the first of these lots is marked to "Law Baker, and contains 1,300 acres ; the next to "C. P. Sommans," 1,000 acres; the next to "Governor Bar- clay," 500 acres; the next to C. Longfield, 500 acres; the two next to "John Inians," each 640 acres. This last is shown on the map to be the "fording place," designated by a hand pointing towards it, also by the word "falles" written opposite. This was the original site of New Brunswick; the falles were a rocky rift extending across the river, mak- ing the stream so shallow it could be easily crossed at low water in a wagon or on horseback.
Soon after Inian's settlement, he operated a ferry, and on April 19, 1686, he addressed a communication to the Governor and Council of East Jersey, stating that at considerable expense he had made a road to Delaware Falls from his house on the Raritan, which was six miles shorter than a former road, and had furnished himself with all accommo- dations as boats, canoes, etc., for ferrying over the Raritan river all those traveling with horses and cattle. He desired the board to settle the rates to be charged for transportation across the Raritan, but whether it was legally established as a ferry at this time is doubtful. The pro- prietors, however, on November 2, 1697, granted the ferry for the lives of Inian and his wife and to the survivor at a rental of five shillings sterling per annum.
The place continued to be called Inian's Ferry, though it was vari- ously corrupted into Inions, Innions, Onions and Inyance, in the public acts and records as late as 1723. In that year, there being only one street in the hamlet, called Broad street and now Burnet street, the county court was petitioned by Henry Freeman, William Harris, Timothy Bloomfield and Dirck Van Aersdalen, asking to lay out a road and two streets.
John Inian was unquestionably a man of some consequence in the community. Besides being an associate justice of the court, he was a member of Governors Hamilton's and Basse's councils, and was often designated in the records as "Captain John Inians."
The earliest use of the name New Brunswick is found in the minutes of the county court, April 7, 1724, when two surveyors of the roads and two constables were appointed. After this date it ceased to be called by the name of Inian's. Though this was ten years after the accession of the House of Brunswick to the throne of Great Britain, it is pre- sumable that the future city was named in its honor. At this early period of settlement the population was very small, although it was beginning to overshadow the older settlements of Woodbridge, Perth Amboy and Piscataway, and its importance as a commercial center was
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at least flattering. The adjacent territory was rapidly filling up with settlers, and quoting James Alexander, who settled at Inian's Ferry in 1715, there were at that time only four or five houses in the thirty miles between Inian's Ferry and Falls of the Delaware (Trenton). Fifteen years later there was almost a continuous line of fences and houses of farm- ers engaged in raising wheat, and as New Brunswick was the nearest landing, it became the store house for their produce. This caused the embyro town to increase in population, and a plot of ground in the center of the village commanded as high a price as the same size lot in the heart of New York City.
About this period several Dutch families immigrated from Albany, New York, bringing with them building material and locating along the public road. They were men of considerable property and enterprise ; prominent amongst them were Dirck Schuyler, Hendrick Van Deursen, Dirck Van Veghten, Abraham Schuyler, John Ten Broeck, Nicholas Van Dyke, and Dirck Van Alen. The arrival of these Dutch settlers gave a fresh impulse to trade. The principal streets were Burnet, Water and Albany, with a few buildings on Church, the inhabitants living along the river as far south as Sonman's Hill, extending north a short distance above the ferry ; the increased population and activity resulted in the incorporation in 1730 of the township of New Brunswick.
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