USA > New Jersey > Hudson County > Hudson County to-day; its history, people, trades, commerce, institutions and industries > Part 10
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This company began business in the old building of the United Electrical company and, as stated, now occupies practically three-quarters of the big block. It has one of the most up-to-date machine shops in the entire metropolitan dis- trict and is equipped for heavy, as well as light work. The plant also includes a forge shop, plate shop. etc .. and is thus equipped for everything in the iron working line. It was the first firm in the country to manufacture double acting pile hammers, which has made the modern method of building foundations practical.
Some idea of the importance of the Union Iron Works may be found in the fact that its proposed equipment for raising the Maine in Havana Harbor was selected after close study of all available types and makes of machinery de- signed for this purpose. This piece of work did much to make the fame of the company known and was the subject of much comment by technical papers in Europe as well as in the United States.
The firm supplied two pile drivers for driving the foundations for the Hali- fax piers for the Canadian government. These hammers are the largest in the world and drove 1. 100 24x24x60 to 00 feet long concrete piles without breaking one.
The firm has branches in Boston, Chicago. San Francisco, Los Angeles, New Orleans. Montreal. Toronto. Vancouver, Dallas, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Seattle and Atlanta, besides representatives in twenty-seven other cities in the United States and Canada. It exports to every country in Europe and South America, also the Far East, Canada and Mexico. It ships to every state in the imion and its annual output is enormous.
With such a business as that of the Union Iron Works there must neces- sarily be a very efficient organization and it has been the aim of the company to build this up to a high standard of excellence during its whole business career. There has never been any labor troubles with the Union Iron Works and there never will be so long as the present management continues, for it is the belief of those in charge that men and employes are human and should be treated as such. The officers of the company are: President. M. Schalscha ; secretary and treasurer. W. G. Schalscha.
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10. T. Atkinsm Un.
1
ICHARD ATKINSON, found- er of the Wm. H. Atkinson Company Iron Works, at the foot of Seventh Street, Hoboken, came to New York with his wife and two sons from Leeds, England. in the year 1829. where his father had been in business as a millwright until his death in 1828.
In 1833 Richard Atkinson opened a small shop in Rector Street, New York, as a shipsmith, and through his energy this developed into the largest business of its kind in the -. harbor at that time, necessitating the removal to 54 West Street, and the establishment of three branches wMLU 11. conveniently located along the water front. The iron work for many of the American clipper ships, which were in vogue previous to the Civil War, was made at these shops. In 1874 Richard Atkinson retired leav- ing the business in the hands of his son. Thomas W. Atkinson, who in turn retired in 1885 and turned the works over to his nephew. Wm. H. Atkinson, who now conducts it. The old West Street stand was abandoned in 1888, and the business moved to Fourteenth Street, Hoboken, and finally passing to its present location in 1903, where it was incorporated.
During all this time the entire three generations have steadily retained the same customers, among them being the North German Lloyd Steamship Company, which has remained on the books for more than fifty years. Be- sides the harbor trade, mining machinery, dredges and dredging machinery have been built and shipped to all parts of the world. This firm lately built the steel work for the largest copper smelting furnace in the world, and the conveying machinery for handling the output for the same furnace.
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F. 1. Janssen
W. JANSSEN. a wholesale dealer in dairy products at 316 Garden street, Hoboken, has shown himself progressive in his line of endeavor. He
F. . not only operates the main office, located as above stated, but he has branches at 155 Eighth street and 255 First street. In his local trade he em- ploys about forty men.
Besides the distributing branches already named he has creamery branches at Little York, N. Y .; Earlville, N. Y .; Whitney Point, N. Y .; Greene, N. Y., and Delaware, N. J. He takes the entire output of these col- lecting branches, distributing them to hotels, restaurants, etc., in Hudson County, New York and other nearby localities. His output embraces every- thing in the dairy line, butter, eggs, cheese and milk.
But even with this big business, he is planning greater and better things for himself and his business and soon will enter the retail field in a building now being erected at 109-III Grand street. This will be one of the most up-to-date plants of its kind in this part of the country. A special Pasteur- ization plant, where this process will be scientifically done, will be among the accessories. When this is finished he will incorporate the business, of which he is and will remain sole owner. and expects to double its volume. which at the present aggregates something like $500.000 a year.
One of the features of his present business is that he can supply those who deal with him with milk at least 24 hours ahead of those competitors who receive their milk in bulk and bottle and Pasteurize it at their own plants. His milk is all bottled in the country and is brought to the city properly iced and refrigerated. It is loaded on wagons directly at the trains and the work of distribution is thus done with no time lost.
Withal he is careful to have only the best and purest of dairy products handled by either himself or his men. Cows must be milked by the best methods and by the cleanest of workmen under the most sanitary surround- ings. His butter and cheese is made in dairy rooms combining cleanliness. ventilation and healthy workmen and women. He sees to it that nothing comes to him for distribution that will not pass the most rigid inspection His main office and local branches are also models of cleanliness.
In these days when there is so much talk about hoof and mouth disease, and other diseases which affect cattle and which are communicated through milk to human beings, Mr. Janssen's method of obtaining and Pasteurizing milk are important matters of consideration te every consumer. The cattle on every farm over which Ah. Janssen has control of the output are rigidly and regularly inspected for any trace of any kind of disease. No pains nor expense are spared to protect the consumer.
Every bottle of Janssen's milk is perfectly Pasteurized in the country before shipment. This acts as the most thorough protection of the consumer. With other dealers the milk is sent in cans to the distributors and is Pasteurized by them. This gives the germs in the milk a chance to develop for several hours before Pasteurization. With Janssen's milk no chance is given the germs to develop at all. The milk is Pasteurized practically as soon as it comes from the coW.
Not only is the milk sold by Mr. Janssen made doubly safe in the manner described, but the mode and manner of shipment insure the consumer fresher milk than that obtained of the ordinary purveyor of milk, there being at least a difference of twenty-four hours in distribution. Anyone can readily see the advantage of obtaining strictly fresh and perfectly Pasteurized milk at the same time. It means more wholesome and healthier milk in every way than that obtained through the ordinary channels of distribution.
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This extreme care in the milking and Pasteurization of the milk handled by Mr. Janssen is characteristic of the man himself. Clean-cut, honest and whole- some in every way, he demands, and obtains, the same characteristics in the products he handles. He is a man who himself is satisfied with none but the best and who believes that his patrons are entitled to the best product and the best service it is possible to obtain. He measures the desires of his patrons by his own characteristic of wanting only the best, and he impresses those with whom he has dealings of his absolute desire and ability to give them what they wani.
Time was when such care as this was regarded as only an extra and uneces sary expense in production. Mr. Janssen, however, has worked on the principle that by taking extreme caution and letting his patrons know he is doing it, and why, that his trade would increase and profits come in this way quicker and more surely than by saving at the expense of quality and service, which would con- tinually bear an ever increasing crop of malcontent consumers. That he is right is proven by the wonderful increase in his trade, which has not only made his new building a possibility, but an absolute necessity in order to meet the continually ncreasing demands for Janssen milk and Janssen service.
When Janssen enters the retail field he will apply his well known service to that branch of the industry. His patrons will be assured of the best, and the cost will be no greater than that for the inferior service of some of the competitors in the same field. His preparations for this branch of the business are being care- fully made. When completed he will have the most efficient force of men and drivers possible to obtain. He will conduct it on the same high į lane that has characterized his conduct of the wholesale industry through all the successful years of the past.
Men like Mr. Janssen and business enterprises conducted along high class lines like his are worth while. It is such men and such industries that lend a tone to the community at the same time elevating and praiseworthy. Every such man and business has its influence for the betterment of communities. They are of the old-fashioned standard of that honor in business affairs which are both commendable and make for individual success. The man who has a standard of morals that dominates his business is sure to be a man respected among his fellows. With all Janssen's praiseworthy characteristics, he is not an austere man nor one hard to meet. His great hobby is his business, but he always has time to give a pleasant word to those with whom he comes in contact, although he is as busy as a man can well be.
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David Mauer
AVID MAYER, pawnbroker at 214 First street. Hoboken, is one of those men one sometimes meets who regards his business as a part of himself and who does everything in his power to make that business respected by all. Mayer believes that his business should be his first con- sideration, that the protection of pledges left him by his patrons is of para- mount importance, that the ordinary man does not care so much for the man with whom he is dealing as for the manner in which he is dealt with, that the more a man does to make his business reputable the larger patronage he will get, that honesty and fairness toward those with whom he deals will reap its own reward, and that no one can afford, under any circumstances, to lose the respect and confidence of those with whom business relations throw him in contact.
With such principles as these the business of David Maver has grown and prospered. His business was started in 1890 in Jersey City. It rapidly outgrew the limited space he had and he moved to 74 Washington street. Hoboken, in 1894. Even this location soon became too small and he moved into his present place of business in 1903. Two years ago he remodeled this place at an enormous expense. installing a burglar and fire proof vault. the only one of its kind in the State of New Jersey for men in his class of business. This was done for the protection of pledges left in his care. He states that it is a source of satisfaction to hear the many complimentary re- marks from his patrons regarding the care taken of pledges and the courteous treatment received at his hands and those of his employees.
Courtesy is demanded from everyone about his premises to patrons and prospective patrons. All are treated with great courtesy and consideration. Mr. Maver loans money on watches, diamonds and jewelry only. His charges are as low as the careful conduct of his business will permit. No pledge is ever sold if he sees a chance of the patron redeeming it. Purchasers find his place a bargain counter, for he is content with small profits. His treatment of patrons is generous in the extreme. All these attributes have combined to make the man and place of business of David Mayer regarded highly.
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J. Lorillard Company
F all the industries of Hudson County that of the P. Lorillard Com- pany, manufacturers of more than one hundred and sixty different brands of snuff, tobacco, cigars and cigarettes, has the most extensive and interesting history.
'Way back in the days before the Revolution, while George Wash- ington was still a boy, the industrial seed was planted which has since bloomed into the tremendous plant of the P. Lorillard Company. This concern now is not only Jersey City's largest manufacturer and employer of men, but one of the world's greatest enterprises.
The story of this development down through the years is most inter- esting. From the beginning it is one of great success-of big accomplish- ments by each succeeding generation of Lorillards-down to the present successful management.
In 1760 Pierre Lorillard, a French Huguenot, began the manufacture of snuff in a mill in the Bronx, New York City. The mill was operated by water power and is still standing in what is now the Botanical Garden at a point near the Mansion. It is pointed out as one of the original New York's oldest landmarks.
From the year 1800 the direction of the business was carried on from Chatham Street, which was at that time the High Road from New York City to Boston. This arrangement continued until the usee of the Bronx mill was discontinued and the entire business was removed across the East River to Brooklyn.
At the death of Pierre Lorillard he bequeathed the business to his widow. who, in turn at her death, bequeathed it to her two sons, Peter and George. In 1832 George died, and Peter Lorillard, after managing the already ex- tensive property alone for a time, turned it over to his son and namesake. who successfully conducted the business for nearly thirty years. Peter then turned it over to his sons, Peter, Jr., and George.
The year of 1870 marked a new and important epoch in the concern's history. For at that time the business was entirely removed to ILI First Street, Jersey City -- the manufacture of tobaccos was begun in addition to that of snuffs-and the present firm name of P. Lorillard Company was adopted. In 1884 the firm comprised Peter Lorillard, Peter Lorillard, Jr., N. Griswold Lorillard and Charles Siedler. Mr. Siedler retiring in De- cember, 1887.
In 1911 the P. Lorillard Co. moved its general offices, together with part of its manufacturing plant, to Newark Avenue and Senate Place, Jersey City. The Lorillard building consists of two wings each six stories high, 250 feet long and ico feet wide. Five thousand people are employed in this one plant ; 3.000 more are given employment at the concern's tobacco factory at III First Street and its cigar factory at 104 First Street.
Thomas J. Maloney, for years prominently connected with the admin- istration of Jersey City's affairs, and who has done much in the building up of its working conditions, is now president of this gigantic concern. Mr. Maloney became connected with the concern over twenty-eight years ago. He is a native of New Jersey and has always been an active cham- pion of her interests.
The P. Lorillard Co. makes more than 160 different brands of tobaccos. cigarettes and cigars.
It is the largest manufacturer of cigars and little cigars in the world. This is due partly to the tremendous yearly sales of the famous Rose De V'alle high-grade cigars and Between the Acts little cigars.
This concern is also one of the biggest manufacturers of tobacco, making all kinds of tobaccos. among the oldest being Century and Climax. Climax plug tobacco, originated by the Lorillard Co., was the first tobacco
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to which a tin tag was attached as a trade-mark. Century, fine cut. has been used by thousands of men throughout their lives. Many of its patrons are now between seventy and eighty years of age, and they are still using Century tabacco.
The cigarette business of the Lorillard Company is also tremendous. This is best illustrated in the fact that out of a total increase of two and a half billion cigarettes for the year 1913, one and a half billion of this increase was obtained by the Lorillard Company. Some of the cigarette brands made by the concern are Egyptian Deities, Turkish Trophies. Mogul. Murad. Helmar. London Life. Zira and Nebo.
Level Head. a prominent brand of chewing and smoking tobacco, was especially put on the market to give the working man the fullest possible measure of fine tobacco at the lowest possible price.
But notwithstanding innumerable such successes, Mr. Maloney was not content until he put on the market a high class blended Burley tobacco. put up in tins, This was the only kind of tobacco which the Lorillard Company did not make, and as there were several brands of this class already enjoying an extensive sale, Mr. Maloney had an exceedingly difficult problem to face, both in obtaining a better blend and creating a market for it.
In the Burley mixture which Mr. Maloney named Stag-and in the method he adopted in marketing it in tins of half the usual quantity at 5c -- Mr. Maloney distinguished himself both as an expert blender and merchan- diser of tobaccos. It has been on the market but eighteen months, yet its sales during last year compared most favorably with the sales of similar tobaccos which have been made and sold for many years.
Besides the main branch the company owns and operates branches at 104 and III First Street. Jersey City : S. Anargyros, 1310 Avenue A, New York: Baltimore, Md .: Wilmington, Del .: Lancaster, Pa. ; Richmond, Va. : Middletown, Ohio: the Federal Cigar Company and Luhrman and Wilbera Tobacco Company.
Such an enterprise as this is of inestimable value to the section in which it operates, and much of the prosperity of that section of the county is due to the wages and salaries it disburses among its thousands of em- ploves. The capacity of the main houses and its branches is practically unlimited for the supply of its products, which are recognized interna- tionally as the best in their line the market can supply.
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anagr Baking Company
A MONG the most important of the sanitary bake shops in Hudson County is that conducted by the Savage Baking Company at 186 Griffith street, Jersey City Heights. The business was founded in 1912 by A. E. Savage, who had been a baker in Brooklyn, and who some nine years ago came to Hudson County, saw an opening in the Hudson City section and began the manufacture of bakestuffs there in the old way.
Mr. Savage was always a progressive baker and for many years he had the idea of a model bakery and at the first opportunity that presented itself established this business which has grown to mammoth proportions. The company is incorporated for $25,000. This capital is all paid in and there is none of the stock for sale. Mr. Savage is, of course, the principal stockholder and president of the company, and it is under his direction that much of the progress that has been made was possible.
Other officers and stockholders of the company are : Gertrude R. Savage, who is secretary and treasurer, and Emmett Casterlin, who is vice-president. The board of directors includes the officers and it is a close corporation con- ducted as a family affair.
The chief business of the company is the baking of home made white bread. This is distributed throughout all of Hudson County and a part of Essex and Bergen Counties as well. Thirty-three wagons and drivers are constantly employed in the distribution, which is so arranged that it is pos- sible for the customer farthest away from the bakeshop to have fresh bread before breakfast each morning. A large part of the trade consists of supply- ing grocers, delicatessen stores and branch bakeries. For the purely local trade buns, etc., are also baked daily, but this is but a small part of the trade.
The company employs fifty-five workmen constantly in the making and distribution of its bakestuffs. This is a large organization for this class of business in the county and therefore it ranks among the first industries of the kind here.
The bake shop is modern in every respect. There are machine mixers and everything that can possibly be handled by sanitary machinery is so handled. All machinery must be scrupulously clean, the bakers must don freshly laundered garments and have ideally clean hands and bodies before they are permitted to work. After baking, the foodstuffs are handled in a most sanitary manner, from the oven to the counters and wagons and thence to the patrons of the concern.
Mr. Savage is justly proud of his success in the bread baking and dis- tributing lines. His is not a business which just naturally grew. It is the result of progressive management along the lines of distribution. Savage home made bread has become a byword in many families, as the large output will show. He makes it a point to employ none but courteous drivers. These he pays well, according to the importance of the different routes. From each he requires a cash deposit, which is carefully banked and never touched, not so much as security, but because he believes that the man who can save a few dollars by his own industry is the man best suited to deliver a high class product.
Mr. Savage has been a pioneer in Hudson County along the home made bread baking and delivery lines. Long before the present model establish - ment was built he was conducting a lucrative business. Long before the laws made sanitary bake shops compulsory, Mr. Savage was conducting a shop which was talked about favorably by all who visited it. But the present business and building is the crowning glory of his work in Hudson County. Whatever further development there may be will be along the lines of natural growth, for there can be no improvement in the mode and manner of handling the product of the Savage Baking Company's ovens.
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Amintain Dre Company
3 N the Mountain Ice Company, with its main office at 51 Newark Street. Hoboken. (and with branches in the principal cities in New Jersey and Pennsylvania ), Hudson County can boast of one of the largest dis- tributors of natural ice to be found in the entire country. The company was incorporated March 17. 1902. Its chief officers are: Il. W. Bahrenburg. president and general manager: E. P. Kingsbury, secretary and treasurer : J. Il. Donnelly, assistant secretary and treasurer. Upwards of 3.000 people are employed during the harvesting season and 1,000 during the shipping and sales season.
The company is the outgrowth of the ice business established in 1877 by Cooper & Hewitt at Greenwood Lake, and llowell Brothers at Fox Hill in 1888, with capacities of 38,000 and 20,000 tons, respectively. The now famous Pocono Mountain section in Pennsylvania was opened up to this industry in 1890. The capacities of these plants in Northern New Jersey and the Pocono section of Pennsylvania have grown under the management of the new com- pany until the combined storage capacity now aggregates more than 1,000,000 tons.
Shortly after the incorporation of the Mountain Ice Company the man- agement realized the importance of surrounding the harvesting and sale of its product with all possible sanitary precautions. It was one of the first ice companies in the United States to adopt the use of the large seven-bar planer, by which from three to twelve inches of the top surface is removed at the time of storage, thus making the ice stored free from any possible con- tamination or snow ice from the surface during harvesting. It was the first company to wash and flush the cars with well water under high pressure to insure a clean car, the first to adopt the use of a sanitary paper for the cover- ing and protection of ice in transit. and the first ice company in this part of the country to abandon the use of salt or marsh hay and sawdust (for insu- lating purposes) in direct contact with the ice: thus insuring absolute clean- liness in storage. The company engages an eminent chemist annually to make sanitary surveys and analyses of the water and ice at the various mountain lakes. These surveys show the ice at the time of storage to be almost sterile and entirely suitable for domestic use. (Copies of these surveys are fur- nished upon request). In addition thereto these properties are operated under the supervision of the Natural Ice Association of America whose sanitary surveys and bacteriological analyses are made annually. prior to the fur- nishing of emblems of certification of the purity of their product.
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