USA > New Jersey > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, New Jersey, 1664-1920, Volume I > Part 35
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New Brunswick was to receive her seventh city charter in 1863. Legislation, however, did not greatly affect the provisions of the pre- vious charter. The term of office of the mayor was made two years. The first mayor under the new charter was Richard McDonald; his successors have been as follows: Augustus T. Stout, 1865; John T. Jenkins, 1865-67; Miles Ross, 1867-69; Dr. George J. Janeway, 1869-71 ; Garret Conover, 1871-73; Thomas DeRussy, 1873-75; Isaiah Rolfe, 1875-77; Dewitt T. Reiley, 1879-81 ; William S. Strong, 1881-89; James H. Van Cleef, 1889-95; Nicholas Williamson, 1895-1902; George A. Viehmann, 1902-04; William S. Myers, 1904-06; Drury W. Cooper, 1906-08; W. Edwin Florance, 1908-10; John J. Morrison, 1910-14 ; Austin Scott, 1914-15; Edward F. Farrington, 1915-18; John J. Morrison, 1918. New Brunswick adopted the commission form of government March 7, 1915, under the State law for governing cities, passed by the legisla- ture of 1914.
The location of the postoffice was still of transitory migration. On the appointment in 1861 of John T. Jenkins as postmaster, the office was removed to 40 Dennis street, afterward to No. 202 Neilson street, and later to Burnet street, opposite Commerce square, where it remained during the occupancy of the office of Joseph F. Fisher, appointed April 5, 1869, and his successor, Levi B. Jarrard, October 26, 1881. When John F. Babcock became postmaster, June 7, 1883, he proposed to remove the office to the old Masonic Hall-this raised a storm of protest from the merchants ; as the city did not at that time possess a free delivery system, the location was considered too far uptown. Though a petition was circulated and signed by hundreds of citizens, Mr. Babcock was tri-
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umphant. Here the office remained during the occupancy of Robert Carson, who was appointed February 27, 1885, and William H. Price, who became postmaster April 4, 1887. On the reappointment of Robert Carson, January 6, 1892, he removed the office in July of that year to the corner of George and Paterson streets, where it continued under Charles D. Deshler, appointed April 4, 1896, and his successor, Charles W. Russell, who took charge in April, 1900; until it was removed to its present permanent home, built by the government at an expense of $125,000, October 1, 1903. The present incumbent of the office, Peter H. S. Hendricks, succeeded Postmaster Russell, May 29, 1913. Rural delivery was established December 15, 1900; there are now six routes.
New Brunswick's great industrial awakening had its birth in the thirties and forties of the last century. The city at that time was largely college ruled, its streets with a few exceptions unpaved, no gas or sewers, was supplied only with well water for drinking purposes, which was in danger of being contaminated in the lower portion of the city by the drainage from the upper section, thus being menaced with epidemics of typhoid, though science had not at that period taken cog- nizance of the dangerous properties of drinking water thus exposed.
Though there were industries previous to this period, they were of primitive character. New Brunswick in early days being a seaport, it was natural that a shipbuilding industry would be generated, hence an important industry in that line was carried on by the Orams, the Runyons, the Hoaglands, the Kemptons, and the Waterhouses. Large fleet schooners and sloops, also seagoing craft for coast service, as well as barges, were built. Luke Hoagland constructed several yachts for the New York Yacht Club, notable among them the "Minnie," a prize winner; the "Siren," and "Ibis," then the largest steam yacht of the squadron. He afterwards built launches and torpedo boats for the government. When New Brunswick ceased to be a seaport, these indus- tries died a natural death. An industry of antiquity was the carriage manufactory of John Van Nuis, who as early as 1810-II built a factory on Albany street, consisting of several frame buildings arranged as a quadrangle. From 1813 to 1840 the Van Nuis carriages were known throughout the Southern States. The business after his death was conducted by his three sons-Lyle, Robert and James, who had been his partners. The death of his two brothers caused a change in the firm name, and Lyle Van Nuis in 1867 became the sole owner. The repu- tation of their work was second to none, and a line of handsome carriages was always kept in stock; the change to the modern transportation, however, sounded the knell of carriage repositories.
The father of the foundation of the present industrial life of New Brunswick was Martin A. Howell, a native of New Brunswick. He combined the sterling qualities of his paternal grandfather, who was
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of Welsh descent, with the craftiness and hardheadedness of his maternal grandfather, who came from the land of the Scots. Young Howell's qualifications were energy, economy, and untiring industry, with which he overcame many youthful disappointments and difficulties. He finally in 1837 erected what was the first manufactory built in the city for the production of wall paper, one of the first erected for that industry in the United States. It was operated on Water street, by canal water- power, and from an annual production of $8,000 grew and increased in a few years to $150,000. It was two years later that Horace H. Day, in his little shop on Dennis street, turned out carriage cloth made by spreading over cloth, rubber dissolved in turpentine, and shoes made from rubber uppers fitted on leather bottoms. In the shipping trade of New Brunswick at that time was a young man, James Bishop, whose vessels plied between New York and Para, South America, and through his agent at that point he came to know of the inexhaustible supply of rubber on the banks of the Amazon river and its tributaries. Know- ing the value of this Brazilian product, he readily became interested in its exportation and became a pioneer in the rubber industry. The rubber trade antecedent to its development as an industry in the United States was recognized in Europe. The valuable properties of the gum were utilized about 1767, when it was offered in a stationer's store in London in cubes an inch square at three shillings sixpence, as an eraser of pencil marks. Mackintosh, a haberdasher, in 1823 patented a varnish com- pounded by dissolving rubber gum in coal oil; with this liquid he smeared fabrics, thus rendering them waterproof. Even to this day, Mackintosh is the general term for all waterproof material. Subse- quently, other patents were taken out in England for the manufacture of shirred goods, availing of the properties of the elasticity of the gum for that purpose, but beyond that English inventors never ventured, leav- ing the more important inventions to the Americans. The pioneer in the successful manufacture of rubber goods in America was E. M. Chaffee. a native of Massachusetts. He invented a machine in 1832 that would spread upon cloth a preparation of rubber gum dissolved in turpentine. to which was added lamp black. This made the material waterproof, and was successfully used for goods exposed to the elements, such as covers for life preservers, coaches, storm hats, or sou'westers. Chaffee, to extend his manufacturing, organized a stock company with which Daniel Hayward became identified, but in producing the cloth in large quantities it became uneven and inferior in quality. Charles Goodyear and his brother Nelson also engaged in experimenting, and while they met with some success in elastic goods, in other appliances they produced a material that became sticky when exposed to heat or became hard when exposed to cold. The rubber shoes were a solid piece of unglazed rubber, which fitted closely over the leather shoe and
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was ungainly looking, like an ugly black stocking. They also made a shoe with uppers of leather, while between the soles was placed a cloth smeared with a compound of rubber gum. Here in New Brunswick, Horace Day was keeping pace with them, and the interesting spectacle was presented of four young men-Chaffee, Hayward, Goodyear and Day-all penniless, but with an abiding faith in themselves and their own inventive powers. In 1838 there came to New Brunswick to assist Mr. Day, a German, Christopher Meyer. He was of a naturally ingenious turn of mind, with some knowledge of machinery. Mr. Day engaged his services for two years in perfecting patterns and machinery for operating in the manufacture of rubber goods. The Goodyear vulcan- ization process came out in 1844; Mr. Day claimed the right of using it for the New Jersey Rubber Shoe Company, which he had established in 1839, basing his claim on the plea that it was an unpatented English invention, and began making improved shoes. This resulted in law- suits in which Mr. Day was finally vanquished. His assistant, how- ever, Mr. Meyers, spent his evenings in making his patterns, and soon had his machinery ready for a beginning. Through the assistant of James Bishop, who granted him financial aid, he started in a small way at Landing Bridge, on the canal, manufacturing rubber shoes and rubber carriage cloth. This undertaking he eventually sold, and in 1845, asso- ciated with John R. Ford, he rebuilt his factory that had been destroyed by fire. The Ford & Company in 1850 became a corporation, the Ford Company, and four years later its name was changed to the Meyer Rubber Company. After Mr. Day's unsuccessful litigation, the New Jersey Rubber Shoe Company met with varied changes. They manu- factured rubber blankets for the use of the soldiers during the Civil War, but the works finally came into the possession of Mr. Meyers and others who formed the New Jersey Rubber Company in April, 1870. Previous to this Messrs. Meyers and Ford had built in 1858 the Novelty Rubber Company mills on Neilson street, above the railroad bridge for the manufacture of hard rubber articles. Their output soon amounted to $600,000 annually, an endless variety of articles being manufactured and shipped to all parts of the world. The firm of Onderdonk & Letson had acquired the Goodyear rights for manufacturing rubber boots and shoes, which they disposed of in 1849 to the New Brunswick Rubber Company, who employed three hundred hands, doing an annual business of about $700,000. All these rubber industries have long since ceased to exist under their former names, the manufacture of rubber boots and shoes in New Brunswick being confined at the present day to the United States Rubber Company, having salesroom in New York City and Chicago, Illinois.
It was some years after the Delaware & Raritan Canal was in opera- tion that Commodore Robert F. Stockton, with the idea of utilizing
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to advantage the fall of water between the upper and lower level of the locks in New Brunswick, induced his friend James Neilson to join with him in the erection of a plant for a cotton spinning mill, the power to operate the works to be derived from the canal. This scheme was put into practice and carried on for some years, giving employment to men and women, and is cited as the first organized industry in the city offering employment to either sex. The cotton milling, however, was not remu- nerative ; the buildings remained idle until 1866, when parties interested in Norfolk, Connecticut, in the manufacture of yarn, who had invented a machine to produce knit goods, wishing to obtain another location, bought the works and established in New Brunswick the Norfolk and New Brunswick Hosiery Company. This was one of the enterprising industries of the city, with extensive works located on the corner of Neilson and Hamilton streets until a few years ago, when it discontinued business.
The early endeavors in the manufacture of wall paper have been mentioned. In 1844 John P. Hardenbergh commenced the manufacture of wall paper on Water street. He disposed of his interests in 1849 to William R. Janeway, the firm becoming Janeway & Company. The early factory, measuring forty feet by twenty-five feet, soon gave way to an immense structure facing on Water street, which with other buildings covered two acres of grounds. Here ordinary wall paper was printed from maple rollers, gilt paper and water colors from maple blocks. The printing machines were made by the Waldron Machine Works, established by William Waldron in 1848. These machines were after- wards made by this concern for exportation to Europe, the business being still carried on by descendants of the original founder, on the River road, under the style of the John Waldron Company. The busi- ness of Janeway Company extended from Maine to California; the competition became severe, but Janeway & Company with their exten- sive facilities for business outlived all competition. Wall paper is manufactured at the present day in New Brunswick by Janeway & Carpender.
The manufacture of shoes was at one time a leading factor in the industrial life of the city. The genesis of the industry was in 1856, when one Felter, with a shop at the head of Deleven street, employed two hands in the making of hand-sewed shoes. This grew into an industry, with a factory located on Bayard street between Neilson and George streets, where employment was given to over three hundred hands, nearly half of whom were females. The weekly production was over five thousand pairs of boots and shoes-men's and boys' boots and shoes ; ladies' misses' and children's shoes, sewed and nailed, having a yearly production value of over $400,000. In the old courthouse, John Boundey in the early sixties started a shoe factory employing about fifty hands,
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from which he removed, finally locating on Spring street near Albany street. An extensive strike by the Knights of St. Crispin in February, 1871, caused the outgrowth of shoe factories to be operated on the cooperative plan. This caused the formation in New Brunswick of the firms of Motisher & Shyers, and Vosper & Kramer, young men who for a time conducted a thriving business. Mr. Kramer in 1879 purchased the interest of his partner, and established a shoe factory on Hamilton street near Division street, where he for several years carried on an exten- sive shoe trade. In the year 1877 Frank E. and James T. Kilpatrick formed a firm for the manufacture of leather shoes, styled Kilpatrick & Company. A large brick factory on the corner of Neilson and Hamil- ton streets was occupied; women's, misses' and children's grain, pebble, goat and kid, also men's, youths' and boys' calf and fine calf splits boots and shoes were manufactured. While the firm did an extensive home trade, they also found a market for their productions in the Eastern and Southern States.
Among the present industries of New Brunswick is the Consolidated Fruit Jar Company, established in 1858 and incorporated in 1871. They commenced operations under the combined patents of three or four former factories, with a paid up capital stock of $500,000. They are the proprietors and manufacturers of the Mason fruit jar trimmings ; Boyd's and Chace's oillers, can screws, spouts, and general white metal goods, making a specialty of collapsible tubes, rectal and nasal tubes, sprinkler tops for perfumes and toilet waters and tooth powders. Their factory is situated on Water street, near Railroad street.
Among other prominent industries was the saw mill of Isaac Rolfe & Son, which was established by Mr. Rolfe in company with G. W. Metlar, on Burnet street, at the foot of New street. The old Neilson mill, which supplied the public with sawed lumber, had for many years been shut down. The new mill measured 180 feet on Burnet street, was 300 feet deep, and had a canal front of 340 feet. Engaged in a kindred enterprise was William S. Van Doren's sash and blind factory midway between Morris and Oliver streets, on Neilson street. The business was started in 1852 by William Wright, but was purchased in 1866 by Mr. Van Doren, who enlarged the works. He suffered considerable loss by fire in November, 1872, which destroyed half of his premises, but within a month the factory was in operation again. There was estab- lished in 1856 another sash and blind factory on John street, foot of Morris street, by A. J. Butler, where a large amount of work was pro- duced annually. Mr. Butler was also interested in a pottery located on Burnet street, which was celebrated for its line of terra cotta.
One of the thriving industries of its day was the furniture manu- factory of Cornelius Powelson. The business sprang from a small shop on the corner of New and George streets; the trade increased, and in
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1847 a four-story brick structure was erected on the corner of George and Schureman streets, where exclusive first-class furniture and uphol- stery work was made for customers all over the country. Equally unique was the confectionery establishment of William Frank, who opened in 1850 a small place on the east side of Peace street for the sale of candies; to this was afterwards added toys imported from Ger- many, and the manufacture of French and American candies in over two hundred varieties. His wholesale trade was limited to the various country towns within twenty miles of the city. Three brothers by the name of McCrellis in 1851 established on Somerset street a factory for the manufacture of carriages, wagons and sleighs. A large number of workmen were employed, and it soon became one of the most extensive manufacturing firms in the city. Mention has already been made of the Waldron Machine Works; there was also the National Iron Works, established in 1847 by Elijah Kelly, that specialized in rubber goods machinery, also manufactured a newly patented powder-making machine. The Empire Machine Works made improved knitting machines. The New Brunswick Carpet Company was established in 1871 for the manu- facture of tapestry Brussels carpets. They built extensive brick build- ings covering some three acres of grounds on Water street near Somerset street. They employed nearly three hundred hands, producing nearly $1,000,000 worth of goods annually. The business was relinquished in 1877, the company closing their works. In a large substantial brick factory on the corner of Hamilton and Union streets, in 1882, D. McNair & Son were actively engaged in the manufacture of buckram, mosquito netting and light muslin, employing a large number of hands, weaving these materials which had a continual demand in the market. The senior Mr. McNair established the business in the early sixties of the past century. The Home Valley Preserving Company was established in 1884 by Benjamin F. Holmes with a capital stock of $25,000; the com- pany were growers and packers of all kinds of fruits and vegetables, also conducted a farm of two hundred acres within the city limits, in a high state of cultivation, besides contracting for the products of some three hundred or more acres in the immediate vicinity. The factory purchased and utilized for this industry was originally the old Raritan Steam Mills, a brick structure on Water street. The tin containers were manufactured on the premises; some six hundred thousand cans comprising apples, pears, peaches, plums, grapes, strawberries, rasp- berries, blackberries, cherries, etc., corn, asparagus and other vegetables, also poultry, beef and mutton, jams and jellies, were preserved and packed annually.
Today the principal manufacturing industries not already mentioned are the laboratory and chemical establishment of Johnson & Johnson, which gives employment to 2,100 hands; the Neverslip Works, manu-
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facturing Red Top horse shoe calks, horses' and mules' shoes, soft steel rivets, with branch offices at Catasauqua, Pennsylvania; Montreal, Canada ; New York. Chicago and Boston; employment is furnished for about 250 employees. The cigar manufacturing industry is one of the most thriving of New Brunswick ; Bayuk Brothers & Company employed in the neighborhood of 300 males and females; the New Brunswick Cigar Company have on their payroll 750 employees; the Forty-four Cigar Company, Incorporated, gives employment to 185; the Gans Broth- ers have about 85 in their employ; the Tri-State Cigar Company has employment for about 40; and there are other small cigar manufacturers. William Black & Company do an extensive business in supplying these and other manufacturers with cigar boxes.
Besides the United States Rubber Company, previously mentioned, who carry on their payroll 500 employees, there are engaged in the rubber industry the Howe Rubber Company, who manufacture automobile inner tubes, employing 225 hands; and the Indian Tire and Rubber Company, who manufacture hard rubber goods, furnishing employment to 400. The Somerset Rubber Reclaiming Works are situated on George road. There are two machine shops manufacturing knitting machine needles-the Loyal T. Ives Company, employing in that industry about 250 employees, and Fred J. Potter Company, on Somerset and Bethany streets, while knitting machinery is made by the Crawford Manufactur- ing Company and the Kilbourn Manufacturing Company. The manu- facture of aprons is carried on by J. M. Barkelew & Company on the corner of Weldon street and Remsen avenue. Instead of a carpet factory there are two weaving establishments that convert rags into carpets and rugs. The Ringwalt Linoleum Works are also engaged in the manufac- turing of floor coverings.
The Brunswick Refrigerating Company at their plant at the end of Jersey avenue, manufactures refrigerating and ice making machinery, employing 175 hands. The National Musical String Company on Georges road. near the city line, gives employment to 125 hands ; musi- cal strings and harmonicas are produced. The Janeway Button Com- pany, employing 150 hands, are engaged in producing a vegetable ivory button. The New Brunswick Brass Foundry produces brass, bronze and aluminum castings. The Cronk Manufacturing Company furnishes doors, sashes, mouldings, interior finish, mantels, tiles and packing cases. The Consolidated Fruit Jar Company, already mentioned, employs 325 hands. The Webb Wire Works on Liberty street manufactures musical wire and is the largest factory in the United States for the production of this article of merchandise. The Wright-Martin Aircraft Corporation, of which the celebrated engineer, General George W. Goethals, was president, occupied during the war the plant of the Simplex Automobile Company on Jersey avenue, near Sandford street. Here aviation and Mid-20
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Liberty engines were manufactured, three shifts being employed daily during the duration of the war, employment being given to over 8,000 employees. The works are now operated by International Motor Com- pany, who employed at the present time about 1,500 hands. These industries have been further dealt with in another chapter of this work, devoted to the manufacturing industries of the county.
The introduction of rapid transit marked an important era in the history of New Brunswick's progress and enterprise. The legislature on February 13, 1867, by an act granted a charter for a street railway which included an ordinance of the city for a franchise passed November 30, 1866. The parties interested in this charter never availed themselves of its privileges. Matters laid dormant until in September, 1885, when George W. Ballou and F. M. Delano, residents of New York, came to the city, looking for an opportunity to develop street railway territory. After the investigation of several routes, they employed C. T. Cowen- hoven as their counsel to take the necessary steps to procure them a legal status. Judge Cowenhoven discovered the existence of the former charter, and that it was still alive and effective. In February, 1886, he secured from the surviving charter parties a transfer of their rights to the New Brunswick City Railroad Company. This corporation after being duly organized elected C. T. Cowenhoven, president; George C. Tolle, secretary ; Carroll Sprigg, treasurer, and Josiah Tice, superinten- dent. The directors were C. T. Cowenhoven, R. H. Becker, George Berdine, C. W. Kent, all of New Brunswick, and F. M. Delano, Carroll Sprigg, George W. Ballou, all of New York.
While these movements were in progress, Woodbridge Strong, rep- resenting New York capitalists, filed a certificate of incorporation under the general incorporation act for the New Brunswick & Suburban Railway Company. The two eminent attorneys, Cowenhoven & Strong, soon locked their legal horns, and a struggle was commenced before the city council as to which company should be granted the city fran- chise. This rivalry soon assumed a partisan aspect, but was of short duration, it being decided in favor of the Cowenhoven road. The ordi- nance granting the New Brunswick City Railway Company the franchise was passed by the common council, March 26, 1886. Work on the railroad began on Somerset street, but in a week's time, owing to lack of material, it was suspended until May 26, 1886, when a formal contract was made with Philip Richardson, of New York, to build and equip the road, he agreeing to have it in running order September 15, 1886, which was in compliance with the terms of the ordinance granting the fran- chise. Mr. Richardson sublet the contract to Thomas B. Conway of New York, who commenced work about July I, pushing it forward with vigor until September 1, when he stopped and filed a mechanic's lien for the work already done. This trouble was settled in a few days,
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