History of Chautauqua County, New York, and its people, Volume I, Part 78

Author: Downs, John Phillips, 1853- ed. [from old catalog]; Hedley, Fenwick, Y., joint ed. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Boston, New York [etc.] American historical society, inc.
Number of Pages: 649

USA > New York > Chautauqua County > History of Chautauqua County, New York, and its people, Volume I > Part 78

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President Bestor assumed the responsibility for administration of the Schools. The Schools were 62 per cent in receipts ahead of 1918 and 18 per cent ahead of the best previous year, 1914.

The National Board of the Y. W. C. A. purchased and rebuilt a Hospitality House. A two-story fire- proof vault was erected in the Colonnade and the gen- eral offices were rearranged.

1920-The most notable feature of the program was the engagement of the New York Symphony Orches- tra for six weeks with six concerts each week. The program as a whole was regarded as one of the most successful in Chautauqua's history.

The Summer Schools were 25 per cent ahead of 1919 in income and 20 per cent in registration, making this the banner year in their history.

The Old First Night Gift of over $50,000 was devoted to the Comprehensive Plan which reached the sum of $450,000, including Mr. John D. Rockefeller's offer of 20 per cent on all other subscriptions.

Provision was made by interested friends for a new clubhouse on the golf links before another summer, and the addition of nine holes to the course.

THE JAMESTOWN BOARD OF COMMERCE.

The Jamestown Board of Commerce with a member- ship of about 600 energetic business men, is zealous in its care for the city's commercial welfare and general civic good. Its membership is gathered from prac- tically every business house, corporation and manu- facturing plant in Jamestown and vicinity, and through its subdivisions renders service of benefit to all.

The Board of Commerce operates on a committee system, its success depending upon the activity of these committees. The Wholesale division maintains cordial relations with the retailers of three States; the Retail division is active in promoting the mercantile interests of the city; while a Traffic bureau assists in solving Jamestown's transportation problems. The board does not confine itself to the business problems of its mem- bers, but takes up economic questions, housing and public improvements being subjects that are earnestly and helpfully discussed. There is no phase of legitimate Board of Commerce work that is neglected by the Jamestown board, but particular stress will be laid upon its war work carried on during a period when its normal functions were interfered with. As a means of raising the various war funds, after other plans had been tried, the Board of Commerce. in cooperation with James- town organizations and citizens, organized in September, 1918, as the Jamestown War Council, and participated in the Fourth Liberty Loan, the United War Drive and the Red Cross Christmas Roll Call. All these cam- paigns were successes, especially the Red Cross "drive," in which the Jamestown membership was doubled. From January, 1918, the Board of Commerce cooperated with the Chautauqua County Chapter of the American Red Cross, to the extent of furnishing them all office help and quarters. The board handled the work of the Four-

Minute Men; cooperated with Charles M. Dow, Chau- tauqua County Fuel Administrator, by furnishing office quarters and a portion of his office force; conducted the Thrift department of the War Savings Stamp campaign ; and at the request of the United States Department of Agriculture appointed a committee on farm labor which held itself in readiness to carry out the wishes of the Department. These are but a few of the activities of the Jamestown Board of Commerce in war and in peace, but enough has been said to prove that the board is living up to the full spirit of the object of the organiza- tion as expressed in its By-Laws-"to promote the gen- eral welfare of Jamestown and the surrounding terri- tory."

Officers of the Board for the year 1919-1920: Fred D. Tinkham, president : Charles L. Eckman, vice-president ; John A. Jones, vice-president; Alfred Anderson, vice- president ; Lucian J. Warren, treasurer ; A. Bartholdi Peterson, executive secretary.

As a matter of public interest this account of the Jamestown War Savings Stamp Bank is appended. In the Thrift campaign, savings societies were formed in various factories, and a little bank was erected in Cherry street. The materials, labor and cost of build- ing were furnished by the Jamestown Builders Ex- change and the design as well as the workmanship of the little building excited much favorable comment. $100,000 worth of stamps were sold in the bank from the time it was opened in June, 1918, till the armistice was signed. The bank was manned by volunteer crews who were checked in each morning and checked out each night by Mrs. E. D. Bevitt, who had the general super- vision of the bank. Those in charge usually repre- sented some organization or lodge and there was keen

336

CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE

competition among them to have the "largest day."

Other days also passed the $1,000 mark but did not exceed the then existing record as follows :

June 27, Spanish American Veterans. $1324.38

June 28, Metropolitan Life.

1868.29

June 29, Alpha Zeta

2328.10

July 20, Prudential Insurance

1496.12

June 8, 1918, P. E. Cook.

$306.00

July 27, Metropolitan Life

1553.95

Aug. 3, Sons of St. George.

June 25, Princess Rebekah

702.37

Aug. 28, Police Wives

Aug. 31, Metropolitan Life

1973.96 1289.12 2969.85

Sept. 2, Central Labor Council.

Sept. 28, U. C. T ......

1234.00

Oct. 30, Mecca Chapter, O. E. S.

1002.45

Nov 2, Mt. Sinai, O. E. S ..

2511.99

Dec, 21, Traffic Club

2765.80

Dec. 24. Soldiers' Relief Society

2625.10

Dec. 27, Mt. Sinai, O. E. S ..

1926.15

Dec. 30, Daughters of Isabella

1040.53

Dec. 31, W. C. T. U.

1225.84

DUNKIRK CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.

By Jay T. Badgley.

Dunkirk has the distinction of occupying the fourth place in the United States in "the scale of civic pride" -- that is, the number of members of the Chamber of Com- merce according to population, numbering 22,000 peo- ple. She has on the roster of her Chamber of Com- merce the names of 1,152 members signed for a period of three years at the regular fee of $25.00 per year. The officers are: Charles D. Armstrong, president ; Earl C. Reed, first vice-president; John W. Holmes, second vice-president ; William W. Heppell, treasurer ; Jay T. Badgley, executive manager.

The policy adopted by the Chamber is that of carry- ing out the idea that the chief function of a Chamber of Commerce is not the increasing of the number of smoke- stacks by the solicitation of concerns from outside to locate, but to make the city so desirable and delightful a place in which to live that she will grow by reason of her being the best place in which to live, and presenting the best opportunities for business and industrial pur- poses. Therefore the first endeavors of the newly organized Chamber have been to arouse public spirit and interest in improvement along the lines of increasing the beauty, the utility, the educational advantages and the patriotic and moral tone of the city. To this end a committee is assiduously devoting itself to materializ- ing plans for the beautifying of the harbor front, the establishing of parks, the straightening and directing of streams, and all else that will add to outward attractive- ness. Along utilitarian lines several very ambitious pro- jects are being developed :

First-The return of the city to its birthright. Dun- kirk was born because of a supposed mission to be the greatest lake port on the Great Lakes. She was se- lected as the western terminus of the Erie railroad, and while the President of the United States was driv- ing the silver spike to mark the completion of the first railway across the State, and Daniel Webster was delivering his oration for the occasion, the first fleet of steamships to connect a railway system with the traffic of the lakes was whistling its celebration of the event at the Dunkirk docks. Some years later the main line terminus of the Erie was transferred to Buffalo, and Dunkirk harbor has been but of more or less utility ever since. The Chamber of Commerce has made considerable advance in working out plans by which the city's prestige may be restored. While this includes plans for trans-lake transportation, pres- ent interest is largely centered in taking advantage

of her strategic position with reference to the Welland canal and the Barge canal, Dunkirk Harbor being but twenty-eight miles from the former and thirty miles from the latter. Steam barges especially con- structed for this kind of traffic and towing fleets of other steel barges can make the trip from Dunkirk to Buffalo in four hours, from Buffalo to New York via Barge canal and Hudson river, where the cargo may be discharged directly from barge to steamer without the expense or uncertainty of the use of docks or lighters; the ordinary time from Buffalo to New York is seven days, thence making ports of call at the New England cities along the Sound and on to Boston through the Cape Cod canal. The same kind of craft. using the Welland canal, can reach the more important points in Canada with shipments of coal and all other commodities.

Second-Very recently the Chamber of Commerce has taken up the matter of procuring electricity and water from the Arkwright Hills, at whose feet she lies. At the suggestion of this body, the Board of Water Commissioners have decided to secure the ser- vices of the best hydraulic engineers to at once begin a survey and report upon the feasibility of this plan. A preliminary report by an engineer appointed to in- vestigate, states that an abundance of water is secura- ble, and that the needs of the city would be met there- by to the point where her population will have trip- pled. It will, therefore, doubtless be but a short while before the resources placed by the Almighty in the Arkwright Hills, for Dunkirk's use, will be fully uti- lized.

During the past year much has been accomplished in the way of industrial growth by the Chamber assisting local plants in enlarging their plants and production, and also in attracting outside interest by reason of her unusual industrial advantages.

The entertainment and education of the people has received attention. But one feature of this work will be used for example ; the Chamber of Commerce backed a movement by which a symphony orchestra with fifty pieces was organized and trained until it was able to produce music worthy of an organization in any city of four times the population. Soloists of national fame were secured to assist, and concerts have been given through the winter months to the delight of the thou- sands who have attended.

The work of this organization has been but nicely begun and a spirit of civic loyalty and progressiveness has been aroused which bids fair to make Dunkirk phenomenal as to prosperity and growth.

MANUFACTURING.

Manufacturing came to Chautauqua county with the early settlers, in fact was forced upon them by the exigencies of their situation. In order to obtain money to purchase the necessities of life while the land was being cleared and made ready for sowing the manu-

facture of pot and pearl ashes and of black salts was carried on by the pioneer. This was mostly shipped by buying concerns to New York and elsewhere, one dealer alone shipping annually from two to forty thou- sand dollars worth of the product. Thus the clearing

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busi da

A the

2864.53

July 3, Eagles

July 12, Knights of Columbus 3537.48

Aug. 2, Maccabees

5048.96

Sept. 21, Exempt Firemen. 6490.50

2707.17

June 26, Exempt Firemen.

637.91

2630.56

June 14, The Elks ..

Following are the records as successively established.

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End

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337

MANUFACTURING

of the land was greatly facilitated by this passing of the forests through the ash kettles which were found on every tract taken up and a great deal of needed money was placed in circulation among the settlers, With the retreat of the forest and the coming of the fields there were surplus farm products to dispose of but means of transportation were yet crude and out of that condition arose the necessity of home manufacture to reduce the bulk of commodities to be transported to outside markets. So grain was converted into liquor which was much more easily transported and every section almost had its distillery and later grist-mills, fulling mills, hat factories and wagon shops sprang into ex- istence. Lumber mills were soon found on every stream and the great forests gradually melted away before woodman's onslaught.

The first cloth dressing factory in Jamestown was operated by Daniel Hazeltine in 1816. He admitted Robert Falconer a partner in 1823 and in 1830 their out- put was 20,000 yards. Other similar factories were started and later consolidated. William Broadhead in- augurated the manufacture of worsted goods but it was not until 1873 when in partnership with William Hall he founded the worsted manufacturing business which grew to be one of Jamestown's principal industries. Broadhead & Hall soon dissolved partnership but each continued as independent manufacturers. William Hall furnished the capital for the Jamestown Alpaca Mills and at the age of 79 gave his personal attention to the construction of the plant. The Broadhead interest is still supreme in the Worsted Mills that bear their name.

Fine cabinet work was done by Royal Keyes in James- town in 1816, this being the first cabinet making shop in the county. In 1821 he entered into a partnership with William and John C. Breed and theirs was for years the largest furniture manufacturing plant in the county. The abundance of suitable hardwood timber near at hand fostered that industry and soon Jamestown inade furniture was on sale in the towns along the Allegheny and Ohio rivers. In 1837 they built a factory in which they installed furniture making machinery driven by water power, the first in the county, and in the fifties were supplying dealers by their own team delivery with- in a hundred mile radius. The furniture manufacturing business has grown to enormous proportions and to- day (1920) forty factories are engaged in the business in Jamestown alone.

A distinct line of furniture manufacturing is that of the Art Metal Construction Company of Jamestown, a business which employed according to the federal 1910 census 1,130 men, the Broadhead Worsted Mills then employing 809 hands, these the two largest employers of labor in the city.

The Art Metal Construction Company, which leads all other plants in the world in the manufacture of metal office furniture, had its inception in 1888 when the Fen- ton Metallic Manufacturing Company was organized with R. E. Fenton. president, J. W. Hine, superin- tendent. Arthur C. Wade became president of the com- pany upon Mr. Fenton's death and in 1890 a consolida- tion was effected with several other companies and an enormous business has been developed. It is a mat- ter of local pride that here in Chautauqua county the business of making steel office furniture was originated and developed and that today the county possesses the world's largest steel and bronze office equipment manu- facturing business in the world and that there is not a modern bank, public building, commercial office nor library in the United States in which the product of this Chautauqua plant will not be found.

Jamestown was the pioneer also in the manufacture of Emulsion Ready Prepared Photographic Paper, a distinct and radical step forward in photographic sci- ence. Porter Sheldon was the president of the first company formed to manufacture the paper and at his death was succeeded by Charles S. Abbott. This busi- ness is now a branch of The Eastman Kodak Company.

Cheese manufacturing was introduced into Chautau- qua county by Asahel Burnham, the first factory making cheese or butter on a large scale being built by him in 1861 in the town of Arkwright. It was built at Burnham's Hollow in the Canadaway creek and was called the "Canadaway Cheese Factory." He built a second cheese factory at Sinclairville in 1865 and there he manufactured in that year 4,349,364 pounds of milk from 1,450 cows belonging to 120 patrons and made 7,200 cheeses each weighing about sixty pounds. He built and owned several similar factories and became known as the "Cheese King." The movement begun in Arkwright in 1861 spread rapidly throughout the county and in 1900 forty-two cheese factories in Chautauqua county made 4,064,760 pounds of cheese and the thirty- five creameries made 2,937,062 pounds of butter, almost entirely marketed in New York City. Cheese making on a large scale has been abandoned but the county in 1915 (State census) produced for the market 23,384,208 gallons of milk which was manufactured at the con- densaries and creameries into dairy products which sold for $2,034,455.

Silver Creek began manufacturing in 1856, when Simon Howes erected a plant for manufacturing smut and separating machinery. That business proved lucra- tive and other factories for manufacturing grist mill machinery developed until in 1900 it was estimated that three-fourths of all the grain cleaners in use in the entire world were made at Silver Creek.

Wine manufacturing began in 1859 when Fay, Ryck- man & Haywood established their wine house in Broc- ton.

The locomotive works at Dunkirk came to that village with the Erie railroad, being at first little more than a repair shop, although a few locomotives were built each year. After Horatio G. Brooks became the control- ing owner the business was incorporated as the Brooks Locomotive Works, Mr. Brooks continuing as president until his death in 1887. He was then suc- ceeded by M. L. Hinman, former treasurer and secre- tary, he remaining executive head until 1901 when the works were absorbed by the American Locomotive Company. Brooks locomotives went wherever there were railroads, and the plant is yet one of the great manufacturing centres of the country. The works employed in 1915 (State census) 3,009 hands. All fac- tories of the city of Dunkirk employed 4,350 hands ac- cording to the same authority.

The Atlas Crucible Steel Company, manufacturers of high speed tool steel, is located in Dunkirk, which is also the home of the American Glove Company, the Romer Axe Company, the United States Radiator Corporation and many other factories large and small to the number of sixty.

The canning of fruit and vegetables and the manu- facture of fruit products has grown to be an important manufacturing business, as is the making of fruit baskets. Forestville, Fredonia, Frewsburg, Ripley, Port- land, Sherman, Silver Creek, Stockton and Westfield are the centres for that class of manufacturing.

Westfield is the principal grape juice manufacturing village, Ripley also being the home of a grape juice plant. Sherman has a condensed milk and powdered milk company operating in the village, and other large

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338

CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE

milk products companies operate in the county. Fruit baskets are manufactured in Ripley, in Portland, in Stockton, in Westfield and elsewhere in the county. Mirrors are manufactured in Falconer and at Silver Creek, while furniture, veneer, automobile accessories and a wonderful variety of manufactured goods swell to a grand total which means county prosperity.

The factories of Jamestown alone paid in yearly salaries to officers managing them, according to the federal census of 1910, $420,911 ; to clerks, $574,255; to factory hands, $3,305,245. The factories converted raw material valued at $7,383,868 into manufactured prod- ucts, having a value of $14,720,240.

Chautauqua county is the eighth county in the State outside New York in the number of its inspected fac- tories. Jamestown was the twelfth city in number of factories, twelfth in the number of wage earners em-

ployed and fifteenth in capital invested and wages paid.

In Jamestown in 1913 there were 169 factories in the city with an invested capital of $21,000,000. The aver- age number of wage earners employed during 1913 ac- cording to the State Commissioner of Labor was 9,102 of whom 2,577 were in the furniture and upholstery fac- tories, 2,104 in the woolen mills, 1,237 in the metal furniture plants and 960 in the sheet iron concerns. In addition there were 1,214 employes in the sixteen fac- tories of Falconer. Jamestown is first among the cities of this state in the number employed in woolen mills, and also in metal furniture and fixtures, while it ranks second in wooden furniture. Of every 1,000 inhabitants, 263 are employed in the factories. The total of salaries and wages paid in 1914 according to the Federal Census of Manufactures, was $5,839,003 and is now much high- er. The eight-hour day now prevails in all leading in- dustries.

THE MEDICAL PROFESSION.

The official history of medicine in Chautauqua county dates from a day in June, 1818, when during court week in Mayville a number of physicians and surgeons met and founded the Chautauqua County Medical Society. It is difficult to write intelligently of the medical profes- sion of that and earlier days, as most of the physicians left no record of their work except a few incidents which have been handed down by tradition. It is only since in comparatively recent years that a public record has been kept by legal mandate. From the very nature of a physician's professional services and under the ethics of the profession there is but little publicity given to their work. Ethics forbade advertising and even newspaper files fail to always tell of their residence. These early doctors came to the county, settled in vari- ous localities, labored hard and earnestly; passed away and are generally forgotten. If they are remembered it is generally because of something which they did out- side of the profession to which they devoted their energies and talents. Yet no profession has advanced as the medical profession has during this last century. The physicians of the olden times knew enough to pre- scribe calomel or quinine, to use the lancet in bleeding the afflicted in nearly all cases and to blister him with mustard when all other remedies failed. Those early doctors were men of robust health and strong constitu- tion and luckily for them their patients were of the same type, otherwise they could not have withstood the vigorous treatment.

When the County Medical Society was formed in 1818 there was no law to forbid practicing medicine without a diploma, and the power to grant licenses to practice was a prerogative of the Medical Society. The ablest exponents of the profession did not understand the science of health as it is known today; the purpose of the old time physician being to cure the patient when taken ill; the purpose of the modern profession to pre- vent him from getting ill. It is comparatively a recent discovery that anaesthetics could be given to the patient so that a surgical operation could be performed with- ont his immediate manifestation of pain. The books of the profession as late as 1844 give explicit directions as to the best way to tie a patient when his leg or arm was to be amputated. But few other operations were then performed. The discovery of anaesthetics has enabled the profession to cure many ailments by operations which were impossible before, while the discovery of the antiseptic dressing has been almost equally beneficial.

Both have aided materially in lengthening the average life of the human family.

As a rule, in a new country the physician came first and after him the lawyer and the clergyman. Until the pioneers began to have property to transfer or dispute over they could get along without a lawyer, and from what we know of them a clergyman was not considered an absolute necessity. But ills and pains of the human body were as demonstrative then as now and these called for the physician's aid as soon as it could be obtained.

Before his arrival the housewife who had been taught from her youth the curative virtues of herbs and roots ministered to many an ache and pain and doubtless with great success. For many years during the early life of the county she performed a very important part in the health department of household economy. For many diseases of children and perhaps for diseases of grown persons in their incipient stages, the teas the anxious mother brewed from herbs and roots were doubtless quite efficient.

MEDICAL SOCIETIES-The Chautauqua County Medical Society was formed at a meeting held in Mayville in June, 1818, with Dr. Elial T. Foote as chairman, Dr. Fenn Denning as secretary. Officers elected were : President, Elial T. Foote ; vice-president. Samuel Snow ; secretary-treasurer-librarian, Fenn Denning ; censors. Orris Crosby, John P. M. Whaley, Henry Sargent. The three last named were also appointed a committee to prepare a code of by-laws, to be presented at the next meeting ; and Dr. Foote was appointed a delegate to the State Society. At the meeting in June, 1819, Dr. Sargent presented a code of by-laws prepared by himself, which were adopted. Dr. Jedediah Prendergast was chosen president ; Dr. Squire White, vice-president; Dr. Eben- ezer P. Upham, secretary ; Drs. Foote, Crosby and Sar- gent, censors.

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History of Chautauqua County, New York, and its people, Volume I, Part 78

Author: Downs, John Phillips, 1853- ed. [from old catalog]; Hedley, Fenwick, Y., joint ed. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1921 Publisher: Boston, New York [etc.] American historical society, inc. Number of Pages: 649

Author: Downs, John Phillips, 1853- ed. [from old catalog]; Hedley, Fenwick, Y., joint ed. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Boston, New York [etc.] American historical society, inc.
Number of Pages: 649