USA > New York > Bronx County > History of Bronx borough, city of New York : compiled for the North side news > Part 45
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60
facture. The main office of the firm is in the factory building. but they nave found it necessary to open a branch office in the business section of the city They also have representatives in Chicago, St. Louis, San Francisco and Richmond. It is recalled by members of the firm that only a few years ago their workmen were able to rent small houses with gardens on land now used as streets, but owing to the tremendous growth of the city in this direction this is simply a memory of the past, for the congested conditions of the lower part of the city is now fully apparent in this locality. Park Avenue is now a recognized locality for many factories of various description.
GEORGE HAISS MANUFACTURING COMPANY .- Among the many manufacturing establishments lately established in the Borough of the Bronx, is the George Hlaiss Manufacturing Company, at Rider Avenne and 14Ist Street, manufacturing a full line of Coal Handling Machinery, including the Hlaiss Improved Hoisting Engines, especially adapted to coal hoisting demands and requirement ; also the Haiss Improved Clam-Shell Bucket and all the other machinery necessary to complete and equip a coal handling plant. The company is now putting up a large four-story building, fifty by one hundred feet, with its length fronting on Rider Avenue, to accommodate the constantly grow ing demands of the business, which will give more than 40,000 square feet of floor surface and will be a model manufacturing plant in every respect, as all the modern improvements will be mitroduced that will in any way add to the convenience or effi- ciency of the plant, the product of which goes to every part of the United States and Canada. Most of the coal handiing plants of the Bronx have been designed and erected by this company, and a very convincing idea of the extent of the work that has been done can be had by standing on the bridge across the Mott Haven Canal at 138th Street and looking down the canal, as all the coal hoisting and handling plants there were designed and erected by this company. The inducement that prompted the company to locate in the Bronx, was due to the superior shipping facilities afforded here and the recognition of the fact that there must be an unparalleled growth and development, all of which has been and is being realized. Mr. Haiss early realized that there was great room for improvement in the machinery neces- sary to handle coal economically and set about to perfect and introduce his ideas, adopting for his motto, "Nothing is good enough that can be made better," and the success that has crowned his efforts is ample evidence that he was right. The company takes contracts to erect and equip complete coal handling plant. all over the country, manufacturing the necessary machinery in the shops, and buying lumber and timber from the mill; in the South by the cargo, enables it to successfully compete with any in the same line as to price, and when there is added the personal supervision and careful attention to all the minutia of detail that is given all along the line from the start to the finish it is easily seen that merit must win in this as in all other lines. George Hlaiss was born in Bethel, Sullivan County, New York, 45 years ago, and was the third son of Charles and Elizabeth Haiss, who came from Wurtemberg. Germany, in 1847. and were am pc the first German settlers of Sullivan County. His early educa- tion was acquired in the public schools of his native county. In 1878 he came to New York and became identified with the manu. facturing and building interests. in the meantime taking up the study of mechanical engineering as business would permit and which he is still continuing. In ISSo he became connected with the coal business, at that time known as Haiss Brothers, which he followed unul m 1802 seeing the need of improved machinery
t
WILLIAM TAYLOR
GEORGE HAISS
1
GEORGE HEY
٠* المانيا
WILLIAM H. BRANDT
HISTORY OF BRONX BOROUGH
319
to handle coal economically, and being of an inventive turn of mind, he put up one of the first machines for handling coal in his own business. Its success being so marked he retired from the coal business and immediately began to manufacture and construet a line of coal handling machinery. In the course of his business he has invented and patented more than a dozen different machines and devices which are being used in the busi- ness, and with an inventor at the head and surrounded with a competent staff of engineers the company is one of the up-to- date concerns of the Bronx.
SCHIEFFELIN & COMPANY'S LABORATORY .- For one hundred and eleven years .the drug house of Schieffelin & Co. has stood for honorable dealing; without interruption generation after generation of the same family have condneted the business and maintained its high reputation. Founded in 1794 by Jacob Schieffelin, it was continued in 1814 by his son, Henry Hamilton Schieffelin, and in 1849 by his son, Samuel Bradhurst Schieffelin ;
more so. In the construction one of the principal objects has been not only to make the building as such fire-proof, but to make each section a fire-proof unit. In order to obtain at the same time a large floor space unobstructed by as few columns as pos- sible, a peculiar construction became necessary. It consists of steel columns supporting a triangular frame work of steel beams, which are braced by brackets, thus allowing a very wide span between the columns, on the cantilever system. The spaces be- tween the steel beams are filled in solidly with a concrete of Port. land cement. Therefore, as there are no openings between the floors, and as the partitions are made of rock plaster on metal, if any fire occurred, it would be confined to the room in which it started. The floors are all graded to different flush outlets. and the sills of the doors are raised three inches above the floors, so that no water can overflow from one floor to another and thus do damage which might not be occasioned by fire. The window frames are of iron, and in the places where the fire shutters would be required by law they have been replaced by
FELINICE: LABORATORY,
000;
Schieffelin & Company's Laboratory
then in 1865 by his son, Wm. Henry Schieffelin, and in 1895 by his son, Win. Jay Schieffelin, in each case in partnership with brothers or cousins. The warehouse at the corner of William and Beekman Streets was built by the firm in 1854, and there the commercial part of the business is transacted. while the manufacturing is done in the laboratory on the Southern Boule- vard and St. Ann's Avenue. That the American chemist, engi- neer and architect, if they join their best efforts. can accomplish something of which they need not be ashamed when compared with the very best the old world has produced, is demonstrated by this building. A chemical laboratory is proverbially an in- titution to be dreaded, and to be placed under ban by the com- munity which it has invaded. The pleasant exterior of the new building does anything but justice to the traditional popular re- quirement of such an institution. The general style of the build- · ing is perfectly in harmony with its nse, and at the same time ' pleasing and, no doubt, to most persons a surprise. If the ex- terior has proven unusual and interesting, the interior is even
wired glass window panes, which may soften and crack during the course of a fire, but which never will break out, fall in. or warp, and, therefore, are most effectual in contining the flames- to the room where the fire may be. The doors in the building are fire-doors and are hung with counterpoised weights, connected by a fusible connection, which melts when the temperature is raised, and allows the door to slide shut. There are three fire- escapes to the building : one at the end of each wing, and one at the back. The two front fire-escapes are of stone, and are enclosed in brick towers. The elevator, dumb-waiter and chutes for refuse are all on the outside of the building. In the room where naphtha, ether, or other inflammable solvents are e.t. ployed. the electric lights have sleeves of rubber and are on one circuit, controlled by a switch in another part of the builing. : 1 order to avoid any chance of a spark. The doors of the differ .: departments are of different materials, to correspond with the varying character of the work done. Where the work is dry, tie door remains of concrete, smooth and clean. Where water is
.
320
HISTORY OF BRONX BOROUGH
apt to be split, as in the chemical department, the bottle washing room, and the pharmaceutical department, the floors are made of asphalt. In the acid and nitrous ether room the floor is of blue- flag stone laid in oil tar, graded to an earthenware drain pipe; and where much oil is used the floor is iron. There are a num- ber of drying rooms, both hot (steam heated) and cold. The mill drying room is situated immediately over the boilers, where a high temperature can be maintained. The work in the labora- tory is divided into departments, namely, the Analytical Depart- ment, Mill Department, Chemical Department, Extract Depart- ment, Pharmaceutical Department, Pill Department and the Wrapping and Shipping Department. The analytical department is in charge of two chemists, and besides analyzing and testing almost everything that is received or sent out, they are occupied with research and experimental work. This department occupies one end of the large building on the second floor, covering a space of 50x30 feet. divided by a solid oak partition, with plate glass top. One side is used for the laboratory work proper, for which there is ample apparatus and many improved fittings, such as centrifugal machines, suction and blast pump; steam water baths, drying closets, hood, etc. The sink and drain- board is made of cherry treated while in the drying kiln with two applications of melted paraffine. The electric lights in this whole department are on movable arm brackets, enabling the light to be put in any position desired. In the adjoining room is an excellent library of works on chemistry, a file of current chemical literature, including German and English periodicals, improved balances, and high power microscope; all on a working table which is covered with piate glass. The floor of this depart- mient was given two coats of paint to avoid any possibility of dust from the concrete. There is also a dark room for photographic and polariscopic work. The other departments are fitted with appliances appropriate for their work. The most interesting per- haps are the large percolators in the chemical department, and the mammoth mixer with a capacity of two thousand pounds, and also the copper stills in the extract department. The above description calls attention primarily to those things which are peculiar to this laboratory rather than to those which most laboratories have in common. It seems almost unnecessary to state that most if not all of these improvements have been tried elsewhere. It is the bringing together of all that have proven successful into one organic whole, as it were, that makes the Schieffelin Laboratory so interesting and instructive. To enum- erate the chemicals and pharmaceutical preparations made in this laboratory would result in a list resembling very much a copy of a chemical or pharmaceutical catalogue and would be of little value. Yet it will be of interest to mention the chief pro- ducts which are cocaine, nitrous ether, pills and tablets, fluid extracts and pharmaceuticals, medicated soaps and toilet prepara- tions, fruit juices and syrups, effervescing salts and lithia tab- lets and powdered drugs.
WILLIAM TAYLOR .- Our subject is the well known superintendent and manager of the Taylor Textile Manufactur- ing Co., Williamsbridge. lle is distinguished among business men of this section, as the founder and introducer of a new industry; at least if not wholly that the reviver and restorer of it, the builder up of an institution affording means of liveli- lood to a large number of hands. A man of large and varied industrial experience, not alone in this country, but in France and langeland also, this story is interesting. Briefly it is as follows. He was born in Calais, France, of English parents. March I, 1855, and was brought up, received his schooling and mastered la- trade there. His father, Samuel Taylor, was born in Lan- cashire, England ; his mother was Aun Dudman of London. Eng.
land. His father was a lace maker in France (Calais), when machine lace was made behind locked doors and the workers went to and from their labor as lords of the manor in silk hats and were very secretive as to their occupation, keeping strictly to themselves when away from work. Then as now we inay say Calais led in beauty and excellence of its lace product. There our subject served an apprenticeship with such well known, lace firms as Hewett & Buttler, Daveniere, Hall Bros., Robert West, the noted prize winner in all our expositions of lace ; the late Topham Bros., Darquer & Bacquet, Robert Maxton and others. He acquired a thorough knowledge of lace manu- facture in all its details at an early age. He is schooled in the manufacture and finishing of Band, Braided, Gimped and Boffin Fining Valenciennes, Torchons, Guipures, Maltese, Clunys, Blondes, Hamburg and Brussels Laces, Waist and Fancy Spot and Sprig Netts, Russian Point, Chantilly Lace, Renaissance, Wool Yak and other laces, and is expert in the setting up of fine machinery for the purpose, master of all the minutest details for the disposition of threads to obtain the best results. In 1877 he went from Calais to Nottingham. While there he married Fran- cis Beesley, daughter of Daniel Gabriel Beesley and Sarah Bar- nett, both of Beeston, Nottinghamshire. Thence he went back to Calais for a while, but after two years returned to Notting- hamshire and became foreman and manager for G. L. Bates, lace manufacturers, in H. Simpsons & Co. Factory, New Bas. ford, Nottingham. He set up and re-arranged this plant for the more perfect manufacture of bottom bar Blond and Chan- tilly lace, and soon made such improvements as to command a commission on the production, as well as salary, and still has the highest recommendations from this firin. During the ex- treme depression of trade in 1892 he left Nottingham and came to this country at the solicitation of American friends and took charge of H. S. Hall's lace machinery at Jersey City. There he made very evident improvements in the machinery as shown in an improved product of silk veilings and Bordon Laces. In 1894 he went to Nottingham, England, and to France for H. S. Hall and purchased improvements and accessories for the produc- tion of Bottom Bar cross band and Bordon laces, which were a great success and found a ready market. In October, 1897, he se- cured the Associated Lace Company's Plant, at Williamsbridge, N. Y., froni S. Duden and leased the factory for ten years. The plant and factory both he found in very bad condition. It took much care and labor to put them in order, as they had been tied up for nine or ten years, and had never before been properly set up. Ile ran the business alone for two years, and in spite of much adverse prejudice against domestic made lace (prejudice brought about by so-called experts putting into the market goods very much below the standard) he made hinself a name for excellence and finish in his product. Gradually he got his good- into most of the leading houses ot the city, many of whom, by this time, were beginning to realize that the European climate had nothing to do with the production of good lace, but that excellence depended instead on the skill of the operator. En- couraged by this success he incorporated in 1899 the Taylor Lace Company, directors. Mr. W. J. Hull, treasurer and secretary : Mr. Wmn. Taylor, president. W. E. Masterton, vice-president. In 1902 Mr. Taylor negotiated the whole of the stock of the company, which was incorporated in 18oo. in order to re-incorporate under the name of the Taylor Textile Mig. Co. and went to Europe again for the new company, composed of Louis Hamburger, president; Geo. F. Kleinberger, vice-president ; Max Steiner, secretary and treasurer ; Wm. Taylor, superin- tendent and manager ; Sidney Traub, director. The offices are at 01-03 Fifth Avenue, New York. Factory, Bartholdi Street. Wil- liamsbridge, N. Y. While the factory was being renovated and
321
HISTORY OF BRONX BOROUGH
improvements being made for heating, lighting and labor saving were being made at an expense of several thousand dollars. From that time to this business has more than doubled. The com- pany soon succeeded in introducing its goods to the trade gen- erally in this country and Canada, and since has very materially increased its business. The mill is now employing forty hands and is turning out over three thousand yards of fancy silk veils a day, besides quantities of spotted netts, which for style and perfection of manufacture are second, it is admitted, to none in market. Mr. Taylor, as we have said. has lived in this country thirteen years, five years of that time in Jersey City and eight at Williamsbridge. In politics he is a Democrat. His religious affili- ations are indicated in the fact that he is a trustee and Sunday school teacher of Olin M. E. Church and a director of the Wil- liamsbridge Branch of the Y. M. C. A. He is father, by his irarriage at Nottingham above mentioned, of two children, Frances Eliza, deccased, and William Dudman. now engaged in the manufacture of lace with his father, acting in the capacity of assistant manager.
Babcock, but having superior talent in the construction depart- ment of his work, he was soon sought by other architects to give physical forms to their artistic ideas. His first great work was the Leland Stanford Mausoleum, erected in 1886, costing $250,- 000, marking an epoch in this line of architecture, for from that period commenced the highly expensive work which has since been done by Mr. Caterson all over the United States. In Woodlawn alone there is a regular village of mausoleums. In the strong features of Mr. Caterson's work, its superior con- struction, he uses only the heaviest and largest of stones, so as to have as few joints as possible, as it is through the latter that time and the elements make the strongest inroads, as in the steps of the great Collis P. Huntington Mausoleum in Wood- lawn. There are only three divisions, each having its section of platform steps and stringers cut in one piece; one of these pieces weighs seventy tons. With only three joints in this long approach to the tomb proper, there is not likely to be the same opportunity for frost or dampness-fruitful sources of ruin
Mausoleum of Coffis P. Huntington, erected by Robert Caterson
ROBERT CATERSON, the mausoleum and monument man- ufacturer of Woodlawn, Bronx. In Woodlawn Cemetery some of the highest ideals in the Greek art, and of that school in line, form and detail, are reproduced upon a scale so magnificent as to present the best possible opportunity for study. Here will be found mainly all forms of the classic art, expressing every thought of feeling in the genius of Robert Caterson, Greater New York builder of monuments, mausoleums, and hill- side vaults. In 1855, Mr. Caterson came to New York, and lo- cating in Brooklyn, learned the stone-cutting trade near old Greenwood Cemetery. His first work as a journeyman was on the State Capitol at Columbia, S. C. In 1869 he came to Wood- lawn, which then had but few monuments or mausoleums of any note, and commenced the business in which he has since been one of the most prominent and important factors throughout the United States. During his apprenticeship the French Lady's Monument in Greenwood Cemetery was considered the best in this country, now it is regarded from any point of view quite an ordinary achievement. Using first his own designs carly in the Su's, he secured the services of an eminent architect, Mr. J. T.
and decay-to effect a lodgment that there would be if there were seams between each of the steps, and between these and the stringers. The monument of the late viec-president Hobart, made also by Mr. Caterson, in which one roof stone weighed forty-nine tons when cut (there being five in all) took a week to transport it to Paterson. N. J. With the Sanford. Hunting- ton and Hobart monuments and mausoleums among Mr. Caterson's notable works may be mentioned the Huntington Me- morial Chapel, at Huntington, Conn., E. Frank Coe in Middle- field, Conn., W. B. Curtis, the founder of the New York Athletic Club, (this latter magnificent sarcophagus being subscribed for by the athletic associations of America) ; Win. C. Hamilton in Philadelphia, Mr. Bradley, of Bradley & Hubbard at Meriden. Conn; Mrs. Vernon K. Stevenson at Nashville, Tenn-the last being a copy of the sarcophagus of Napoleon in the In- valides at Paris-and its replica on smaller line, for Mr. Weller. (of Taft. Weller & Co.); also the Ehret mausoleum and the Jeremiah Coster mattoleum. For years Mr. Caterson songhet for stone which, while possessing the excellence of the Vermont and Massachusetts granite, would offer some variation from
A
VAN NEST WOOD WORKING COMPANY
GEORCE MC KENZIE
ARCHIBALD J. MC KENZIE
ALEXANDER CRUICKSHANK
323
HISTORY OF BRONX BOROUGH
sameness of color. He finally determined that the stone of the how famous granite mountains in Burnett County, Texas, , { which the State Capitol at Austin was built, answered the porpose, and he therefore purchased the whole property which embraces the mountain hills, over ten thousand acres in granite and-, and 2.400 acres in fee simple. The stone is a pink granite, :- deep in color as the Scotch, and as heavy as any other stone, weraging some twelve feet to the ton. The mountain, 175 feet i !! lteight, is encircled at its top, about which lies the extensive plant. Mr. Caterson is furnishing the United States govern- mocnit a large number of car loads a day of the granite, and the enty work on the jetties and on the new sea wall at Galveston for the original jetties, and the Aransas Pass jetties on the Gulf.
C. RIEGER'S SONS .- The leading and most extensive manufacturers of office, bank and bar fixtures in Greater New York, whose offices and factory are located at Nos. 702 and 704
East 148th Street and from 691 to 697 East 147th Street, near Third Avenue, Borough of the Bronx. The foundation of this mammoth establishment was founded in 1870 by Mr. C. Rieger, Sr., in a small shop at No. 659 East 144th Street for the pur- pose of manufacturing furniture on a small scale, employing only from six to ten men, from which small beginning the present establishment has evolved, placing. it in that exalted position which no similar manufacturing concern throughout Greater New York enjoys at present. The large factories rin through the bleck from 147th to 148th Streets, occupying floor space to the amount of 40.000 square feet, employing 130 men and numerous sile line shops, under the direction of various it's contractors, who employ on their own account a large staff of men, practical mechanics. C. Rieger's & Sons were the first to inaugurate and establish this business in the Bronx and their success has been so marvellous that they are recognized and
known throughout the entire country as the most practical and progressive manufacturers of office, bank and bar fixtures. Their designs are all original and the cabinet features of their work for beauty in designs, for mechanical construction, substantiability and durability in service has made for C. Rieger's Sons an imperishable name for which the citzens of the borough of the Bronx arc justly proud. The members of this firm are Christian Rieger, Jr., aged 42, Charles Rieger, aged 40, and Edward Rieger, aged 33.
GEORGE MCKENZIE, of the Van Nest Woodworking Co., was born in New York in 1858, educated in the downtown public schools, and has been engaged in the sash, door and trim business or as an architectural draftsman in New York City and Bronx Borough all his life. He started in this part of the city fourteen years ago at 133d Street, near Third Avenue, where he opened at his present location one year and a half ago. He has been fortunate and shared in the prosperity of that growing part of the district. As an old resident Mr. Mckenzie is well and widely known. He is a member of Marion Lodge, F. and A. M., and is a man of family, with a wife and one child
ARCHIBALD J. MCKENZIE, secretary of the Van Nest Woodworking Company, was born in New York City. July 14, 1866. He received a thorough education in the public schools, graduating therefrom in 1883. At the conclusion of his school term he immediately engaged in business with his elder brother, George Mckenzie, Esq., who was at that time located in 125th Street and East River. In 1892 their plant was entirely destroyed by fire, the firm suffering a severe financial loss. This did not daunt their perseverance or energy. They immediately secured a larger business site at 133d Street and the Southern Bouelvard, in The Bronx, where they erected a larger plant than the one destroyed by fire, and where they remained for fourteen years. In May, 1904, the company found it necessary, on account of their increased business, to again make a change and secure larger quarters. They erected extensive buildings for the manu- facture of sash, doors, blinds, trim, cte., in Van Buren Street, Van Nest. Recently the company disposed of the ground to the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company. The buildings which occupied the site were removed to the present location, Adams and Van Nest Streets. Again the enormous growth of the business caused the company to crect additional buildings to furnish room for new and improved machinery which was installed. There is probably a no more complete plant of its kind anywhere in the country for the production of building materials. The company are well known through- out Greater New York, and their products are sought by all re. sponsible builders who use first-class building material. The establishment casily stands first in the Bronx as to capacity, amount of business done and quality of manufactured products. The personal standing of cach member of the company is of the highest, both commercially and socially. The subject of this sketch married Miss Anna F. Forschner, October 11, 1003. Two children have blessed the union, Archibald K. and Janet. Mr. MeKenzic is a prominent member of the well-known Longwood Club of Bronx Borough.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.