USA > New Mexico > History of New Mexico : its resources and people, Volume II > Part 5
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Among the enterprises established in 1882 was the I. X. L. Laundry, started by A. L. Morrison. Beginning as a small enterprise, it has grown to great proportions. Mr. Morrison subsequently became the senior mem- ber of the firm of Morrison & Handley, who sold out to Mr. Crosson. Hc was succeeded by M. W. Mulligan, the latter by Brockmeier & Candee, and they in turn by Brockmeier & Beaton. From 1892 until 1896 Mr. Brockmeier controlled the business. In the latter year J. A. Hubbs, who had entered the employ of the concern in 1890, leased the plant and oper- ated it twenty-two months. At the expiration of that time Mr. Hubbs and George A. Kaseman purchased it, but since 1900 Mr. Hubbs has been the sole proprietor. The present home of the laundry, a commodious and finely equipped structure, was erected by Mr. Hubbs in 1905-6. The patronage of the laundry extends as far north at Raton, south to Las Cruces and Silver City, and west to Chloride and Kingman in Arizona. Mr. Hubbs has become recognized as one of the successful business men of Albuquerque.
Born in Minnesota in 1867. he was reared in Kansas and came to New Mexico with his parents in 1881. After spending about a year at the Bonanza mining camp, near Santa Fé, he removed to Albuquerque. He was one of the organizers of and is a director in the State National Bank, is a member of the Commercial Club. Odd Fellows, the Elks and the Masons. For two years he served in the city council and has been promi- nent locally as a representative citizen.
Robert Wilmot Hopkins, who has been postmaster of Albuquerque since August 15, 1901, was one of the first men to locate in the modern town. He was born in 1848 in Lawrence county, Ohio, which enjoys the distinction of being the banner Republican county in that state. Arriving in Albuquerque in August, 1880, he was first employed as clerk by Moore, Bennett & Company, then by their successors, Putney & Frask, and finally hy L. B. Putney, remaining with this house through its various changes for eleven years continuously. After serving one year as city clerk he became superintendent and general manager of the Crystal Ice Company, occupying that post for nine years, or until his appointment as postmaster by President Mckinley. He first received a recess appointment, his nomi- nation afterward being confirmed by the senate. In March, 1906, he was re-commissioned by President Roosevelt. Mr. Hopkins' interest in edu- cational matters is exhibited by the fact that he has served continuously
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for nine years as president of the Albuquerque school board. He is un- swerving in his devotion to the principles of the Republican party. In Odd Fellowship and in the Ancient Order of United Workmen he has passed all the chairs in the local lodges and has represented both in the grand lodges.
General Eugene A. Carr, U. S. A., assumed command of the district of New Mexico, November 26, 1888, after having served in Arizona for a number of years, with headquarters at Fort Wingate, and remained in command until the close of the year 1890. He is a native of Buffalo, New York, and was graduated at West Point in 1850. During the Civil war he was brevetted major general for gallantry in action, and the medal of honor conferred upon him for distinguished services. His military service in New Mexico dates from 1882, when he was stationed at Fort Bayard, being in command there until assigned to duty at Fort Wingate. He made many scouting trips and expeditions through the Indian country, and did much to rid the country of hostile Indians. He is now retired, living in Washington, D. C.
His son, Clark M. Carr, of Mckinley county, president of the Zuñi Mountain Lumber and Trading Company, at Guam, has been active for a number of years in the development of lumber and live stock interests of western New Mexico. He served as a delegate to the National Repub- lican convention in 1904, was nominated for the legislature from McKin- ley county, was a prominent candidate for appointment as governor of the Territory in 1905. He served in Cuba during the war with Spain, and in the Philippine Islands, as captain of infantry, participated in many cam- paign expeditions.
George A. Kaseman, who recently resigned the office of chief deputy United States marshal at Albuquerque, where he has resided since 1887, was born in Shamokin, Pennsylvania, in 1868. He was a student in Buck- nell University at Louisburg, Pennsylvania, but before completing his course there ill health forced him to abandon his studies, and hoping that a change of climate might prove beneficial, he came to New Mexico. For four years, from 1887 until 1891, he was employed in connection with the management of the Harvey eating houses, and for eight years thereafter was with the Santa Fé Railroad Company in the general attorney's office at Albuquerque, and with the auditing department. He was afterward expert accountant in going over the Bernalillo county books, six months of his time in the year 1900 being devoted to that work. He was also connected with the A. A. Grant enterprises for one year and spent a year in the fuel business in El Paso. It was in the spring of 1897 that, in con- nection with W. H. Hahn, he organized the firm of W. H. Hahn & Com- pany for the sale of fuel and erected a plant on Railroad avenue, east of the Santa Fe Railroad. He is still a member of the company, having for the past nine years successfully operated in this line of trade. It was Mr. Kaseman who built the first long-distance telephone line in this part of the territory, extending from Albuquerque to Belen, the year of its construction being 1902. He was manager of the Automatic Telephone Company, organized in 1895, and absorbed by the Bell Telephone Com- pany in 1906. His term as manager covered the last two years of the independent existence of the Automatic Company. In July, 1904, Mr. Kaseman organized the Albuquerque Lumber Company in connection
Brott Kannman
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with W. H. Hahn and Frank McKee, with Mr. McKee as president and Mr. Kaseman as secretary. The capital stock is fifty thousand dollars. For five years Mr. Kaseman has been interested in the sheep industry, having in 1901 organized the Las Animas Sheep Company, which was in- corporated in 1905 with W. H. Hahn as president, L. A. McKee, Frank McKee and George A. Kaseman as directors. The range, partly patented, lies in Socorro county. He is interested also in other parts of the Terri- tory, mort particularly in Santa Fé and San Miguel counties.
In October, 1901, he was appointed deputy United States marshal by C. M. Foraker, and was, till his resignation, chief deputy, having prac- tical charge of the work in connection with this office. His political alle- giance is unfalteringly given to the Republican party, and he is a stanch advocate of its principles. Mr. Kaseman is a Mason, having become a member of the blue lodge in Shamokin, Pennsylvania, while he has mem- bership with the chapter, commandery and shrine in Albuquerque. He is a charter member of the Elks lodge at Albuquerque, and belongs to the Commercial Club. The extent and importance of his business operations classes him with the most enterprising citizens of the Territory, and since coming to the southwest he has made rapid and substantial progress. He is quick to recognize opportunities, and with the rapid development of the Territory he has utilized his advantages until his invested interests are now large and his business interests prosperous.
William R. Forbes, chief deputy United States marshal, and a resi- dent of Albuquerque, New Mexico, was born in Portage, Wisconsin, and came to the Territory from Chicago, where he had been engaged in the livery business. The year of his arrival was 1896, and for three years he was in the employ of the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company, and for one year with the Alamogordo Lumber Company. In 1902 he was appointed deputy under United States Marshal Foraker, and still continues in that office, He was made a Mason in Fort Winnebago Lodge, No. 33. A. F. & A. M., at Portage, Wisconsin, in 1886, is a member of Fort Winnebago chapter and commandery, and of Ballut Abyad Temple of the Mystic Shrine, at Albuquerque.
Charles Edwin Newcomer, deputy United States marshal of New Mexico, residing at Albuquerque, has been a resident of the Territory since 1890. He was born in Mount Morris, Illinois, and spent the years from 1878 until 1890 in Pueblo, Colorado, where he served as county assessor and deputy sheriff. After his removal to Albuquerque he became a clerk in the office of the probate clerk and assessor, acting in that capacity for about five years, or until 1895, when he was made under sheriff and chief office deputy under Sheriff Thomas S. Hubbell, serving until August 31, 1905. He was then appointed deputy marshal on the Ist of April, 1906, and is filling this position at the present writing. In politics he has al- ways been an unfaltering Republican, with firm faith in the principles of the party and their ultimate triumph. He is also a prominent Mason, be- longing to the lodge, chapter, commandery and shrine, and he is a charter member of the Elks at Albuquerque. His official record has been char- acterized by unfaltering fidelity to duty.
Harry J. Cooper, deputy United States marshal, and a resident of Albuquerque, came to the Territory from St. Louis in 1887, locating in Silver City. For some time he served as deputy sheriff of Grant county
Vol. II. 3
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which, during those days, was infested with desperate characters. In the performance of his duties his life was frequently in jeopardy, and though on many occasions he was the target for bullets from those whom he was commissioned to apprehend, he has never suffered serious injury. For five years Mr. Cooper was a member of the police force of Albuquerque. Since 1905 he has been deputy under United States Marshal C. M. Fora- ker. Mr. Cooper was born in Pilot Grove, Cooper county, Missouri, in 1857, and spent the first thirty years of his life in that state. He is now one of the most widely known men in New Mexico.
Fred B. Heyn, chief deputy sheriff of Bernalillo county, and now a resident of Albuquerque, arrived in the Territory in 1887, coming from Texas. He was born in Wisconsin, where he had learned and followed the machinists trade, and he here engaged in the furniture business with his father, F. W. Heyn, on Railroad avenue. The father, soon after com- ing, established a furniture store here, but is now located on a farm six miles from the city, having withdrawn from the furniture trade after two or three years.
After disposing of their furniture business Fred B. Heyn was me- chanical engineer for the Crystal Ice Company for six years, and in Sep- tember, 1905, he was appointed chief deputy sheriff of Bernalillo county by Perfecto Armijo.
Mr. Heyn married Josefa Armijo, a daughter of Arbrosia and Can- delario (Griego) Armijo, and a direct descendant of General Don Manuel Armijo, the last of the Mexican governors of New Mexico.
M. A. Ross, of Albuquerque, timber inspector, has resided in New Mexico for many years, and has become recognized as one of the best au- thorities on the timber resources of the Territory. His duties have car- ried him to most of the timbered sections of this part of the country, and his familiarity with the district and his sound judgment in placing a valuation upon timber renders him an exceedingly capable man in the office which he is filling.
H. E. Fox, who for many years was engaged in the jewelry trade in Albuquerque, came to the town when it was in its infancy and established himself in business. He took an active part in the upbuilding of the com- munity, contributing in various ways to the development and progress of the city. Mr. Fox was active in many, wavs in the building up of the city, a member of the board of directors of the Commercial Club, and for four years a member of the Board of Education. In the spring of 1906 he removed to Spokane, Washington, to engage in the manufacturing lum- ber business.
Harry H. Tilton, of Albuquerque, came to New Mexico in the spring of 1895 from Chicago. He was born in Dayton, Ohio, in 1857, and while residing in Chicago was connected with the manufacture of furniture and with a publishing house. Entering upon his business career in the south- west, he spent four years, from 1897 until 1901, on the staff of the Citizen, and at the same time he became interested in real estate. He saw the need of modern cottages and began to build for rent and sale. This was in 1899. He built many cottages on West Railroad avenue, and in 1902 he was elected secretary of the Co-Operative Building & Loan Associa- tion. He has watched with interest the signs of the times in the real estate market in this section of the country, and has foreseen many needs for
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which he has provided. In May, 1904. he organized the Security Ware- house & Improvement Company, combining his private interests there- with. This company erected warehouses and other buildings, including the first exclusive storage warehouse in New Mexico. Mr. Tilton became secretary and manager of the company and brought much capital to the town, at least two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, which, being ex- pended here, has been of the utmost benefit to the city in its material development and progress.
Mr. Tilton is a prominent York and Scottish Rite Mason, holding his membership largely in Chicago. He is also a Shriner and a past poten- tate of Albuquerque Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He likewise belongs to Temple Lodge and Rio Grande chapter, both at Albuquerque. He is also an Odd Fellow and was grand instructor in Illinois. His recogni- tion of business opportunities in the west and the readiness with which he has met these and provided for them, have made him a distinguished and able business man of this section of the country.
George P. Learnard, a music dealer of Albuquerque, came to this city and established a music and piano business in 1900 in partnership with Henry G. Lindemann, which relation has been profitably maintained con- tinuously since. A native of Napoleon, Michigan, Mr. Learnard trav- eled for a number of ycars for the Ann Arbor Organ Company before coming to New Mexico. He has since figured prominently in musical circles in this city, and in addition to managing a well equipped store in which a liberal patronage has been secured, he is at present organizing and promoting the Learnard & Lindemann Boys' Band, which, if the plans are successfully carried out, will be an important feature in musical circles of the city and Territory. It is to be composed of about thirty boys between the ages of twelve and eighteen years under the instruction of George Leo Patterson, who is a graduate of Harvard College, and has been a member of various famous musical organizations in the United States.
Not only has Mr. Learnard been prominent and influential in advanc- ing the musical interests of the city, but has also been closely connected with measures bearing upon its government and the shaping of its muni- cipal policy. He has been a member of the city council of Albuquerque for the past two years, and at the last election was re-elected for the succeeding four years. During the past five years Mr. Learnard has been closely associated with the executive committee of the Territorial Fair Association.
Isaac H. Cox, president of the Standard Plumbing and Heating Com- pany, of Albuquerque, is a native of Iowa, where he learned the plumber's trade. In 1886 he located in San Diego, California, where he remained in business until 1894, when he established himself in Albuquerque. For six years he had as a partner Henry Brockmeier, under the firm style of Brockmeier & Cox. He was also for a time a stockholder in the firm of J. L. Bell & Co., but disposed of his interests in that concern in June, 1904, when he organized the Standard Plumbing and Heating Company. with Wallace Hesselden as a partner. This concern is one of the most widely known of the character in New Mexico, and has done much of the best work in Albuquerque, having now a large patronage, which is a fruitful source of success.
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Much of the urban improvement of Albuquerque during the past fifteen years has been effected after designs planned by Edward Buxton Cristy, architect. Mr. Cristy is a native of New York city and a gradu- ate, in the architectural course, of Columbian University, from which he received the degree of Ph. D. in 1891. While he engaged in his chosen calling for a brief period in New York before removing to Albuquerque, his best work is to be seen in the latter city. He has been architect for the A. A. Grant estate, and drew the plans for the new Presbyterian church erected in 1905-6; for Hadley Science Hall, the Girls' and Boys' apartments, and the power house of the University of New Mexico, and all the university building undertaken in late years. The girls' apartments are a radical departure from the conventional style, being a modernization of the old Pueblo style of architecture, constructed of brick covered with cement. He remodeled the Congregational church after its partial de- struction by fire, and several of the public school buildings, including the plans for the Central school building, the work on these, the university building and the city hall, erected in 1906, being in competition with other architects. Among the other work planned by him, either for the entire construction or for remodeling buildings previously constructed, should be mentioned Pearson Hall, the First National Bank building, the Barnett block, adjoining the postoffice, the Armijo block, on the corner of Third street and Railroad avenue, the remodeled interior of the Im- maculate Conception church, Episcopal church and Methodist Episcopal church, and most of the finer residences in the city. Many other build- ings in the Territory are monuments to his skill.
Mr. Cristy was a member of the park commission for several years, and planned a large portion of the work in connection with its improve- ment. He is a Mason and has passed all the chairs in the local lodge of Odd Fellows.
The progress of Albuquerque received an unparalleled impetus dur- ing the years from 1903 to 1906. New capital was brought into the city, new projects for the improvement of the city as a place of residence were inaugurated, new public utilities were introduced and old ones greatly improved, and new blood generally was infused into the life of the com- munity. On the 7th of November, 1904, the Surety Investment Company was incorporated, with Colonel Sellers as general manager. Early in 1905 this company began development operations on an extensive plan, platting and disposing of nearly seven hundred lots in Perea addition, the eastern addition, and Luna Place. Colonel Sellers personally platted and sold within thirty days the Grant tract on North Fifth street.
In April, 1906, he effected the organization and incorporation of the University Heights Improvement Company, which began the develop- ment of a large section of land in the eastern suburbs of the city, beyond the University, at the south side of Railroad avenue. Soon afterward Colonel Sellers applied to the Albuquerque city council for a franchise for a new electric railroad connecting this portion of the city with the busi- ness section, and immediately interested a large majority of the property holders along the proposed route in the project.
Colonel Sellers has been active in the promotion of various enter- prises of this character in New Mexico for several years. Before locat- ing in Albuquerque he devoted several years to the development of the
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San Juan valley. Though confronted by numerous obstacles which had been placed in his path by the more conservative citizens and business rivals, he has proven a strong factor in the growth of Albuquerque, which unquestionably owes much to his assiduous efforts toward the advance of the city.
Albert Faber, a furniture dealer of Albuquerque, was born in Ger- many, and came to Albuquerque in 1888. For ten years he worked for Ilfeld Brothers, at the time the leading mercantile firm in the Territory. In 1898 he engaged in business for himself as a dealer in carpets and draperies, and since the Ist of January, 1906, has occupied the new Staab block, a thoroughly modern store building with twenty thousand square feet of floor space. He carries a stock valued at $15,000, which includes furniture and general household goods. He is not active in politics, but is a firm believer in the future of the country and in the ultimate triumph of principles for its best interests, and is active in all public enterprises for the development of the part of the country in which he lives. He has, without doubt, the largest business of this kind in this section of the Territory.
Andrew Borders, engaged in the undertaking business at Albuquerque, came to this city in February, 1891, from California, and throughout the intervening years has been engaged in this business. He was born in Sparta, Illinois, in 1862. He was made a Mason in his native city and holds membership with the lodge and chapter. He is also a Knight of Pythias, of Mineral Lodge No. 4, at Albuquerque, and is connected with the Elks lodge here.
The first wholesale liquor business established in Albuquerque was that of Dougher & Baca, founded in April, 1880. They built the first two- story business house in the old town. Santiago Baca purchased the busi- ness in September, 1880, and Ernest Meyers became manager. The busi- ness was removed to the new town in 1881, and on January 6, 1885, was purchased by Lowenthal & Meyers. They were succeeded by Meyers, Abel & Company, and the latter firm, of which Ernest Meyers was the senior member, continued the business until January. 1905, when Mr. Meyers established the firm of Ernest Meyers & Company, on Silver avenue.
Major Meyers enjoys the distinction in commercial circles of having been the first man to travel for a local liquor house of any kind in New Mexico, engaging in that work before the advent of the railroad. Born in Woodville, Wilkinson county, Mississippi, on July 6, 1857, he came to Las Vegas, New Mexico, by rail late in the year 1879, and proceeded from that point to Albuquerque by stage. In March, 1881, he made a trip on horseback from Albuquerque to Needles, California, about the same time the railroad surveying party started out under Klingman. This was the first trip ever made by a traveling salesman for any house through that part of the country. Major Meyers also shipped the first carload of beer to Prescott, Arizona. The majority of the men who engaged in the liquor business in the region west of Albuquerque in those early days, some of whom have since become millionaires, owe their start to him. Before the business was established in Albuquerque, Santa Fé dealers received from eighteen to twenty dollars per gallon for brandy that cost them not to exceed two dollars and a half per gallon, with a tax of but ninety
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cents. Major Meyers is authority for the statement that the first beer sent to this territory was that brewed by Dick Brothers, of Quincy, Illi- nois, and that the first cigars sold in Albuquerque, that is, sold by a job- bing house in any quantities, were known as the Red and Black. Whiskey was originally sold only by the barrel, but about the time the railroad came those buying in quantities purchased at a gallon rate instead of so much per barrel. Double Anchor and Pike's Magnolia, both rectified ninety- proof goods, were the popular brands in those days. The second man to establish a wholesale liquor house was William E. Talbot. In a short time afterwards Charles Zeiger started the other liquor house.
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DONA ANA COUNTY.
It is said that Doña Ana county received its name in memory of Miss Anna, the daughter of a Spanish colonel. It appears that the young lady was engaged in playing hand-ball, or some other solitary game, in a se- chided place in the Gila river region, when she was stolen by Apache Indians, and disappeared from her world. She was a very beautiful maiden, or her father a man of considerable standing; it may be that both of these facts were taken into consideration in the naming of the county.
Doña Ana was one of the original nine counties into which the Terri- tory was divided by the legislative act of January 9. 1852, and its bounda- ries were given therein as follows: The southern boundary, on the left bank of the Rio del Norte, is the boundary of the state of Texas, and on the right, the dividing line between the Republic of Mexico; on the north, the boundary of the county of Socorro; and on the east and west, the boundaries of the Territory. By an act of January 15, 1855, all of the Gadsden Purchase was annexed to the county, but upon the organization of Arizona Territory, in 1861-2, it retained only that portion within the present limits of New Mexico.
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