USA > New York > Genesee County > History of the Genesee country (western New York) comprising the counties of Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Chemung, Erie, Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, Niagara, Ontario, Orleans, Schuyler, Steuben, Wayne, Wyoming and Yates, Volume III > Part 8
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ticing at the New York bar. Shortly afterward he formed the law firm of Hawks- worth & Rankine and successfully conducted important litigations involving large amounts and establishing important principles of law, the decision in at least one of which is still a leading case on the subject matter involved. Notwithstanding his enthusiasm for his law studies and practice, the clear vision of Niagara brought into obedience to the will of man, remained ever present with him. From time to time he returned and continued to take part in the deliberations and counsel of the faith- ful and sanguine in search of a feasible plan of development and means of obtaining the large amount of capital required.
In 1885 the state of New York acquired, at a large expenditure of money and opened to be forever free to the public, the lands on all sides of the American Falls and for nearly a mile above. In that year a civil engineer of many years experience in public works was employed by the state on plans for the development and im- provement of the state reservation at Niagara. The opportunity afforded by his presence on the ground was embraced by the little party of Niagara visionaries and Thomas Evershed was retained to suggest a plan for a large scale power development, with the condition that it must be consistent and wholly in harmony with the purpose of the state in fully preserving the grandeur and beauty of the great cataract and all of its surroundings.
Such a plan was evolved by Mr. Evershed and enthusiastically accepted by those who retained him. In its essential features it was simplicity itself, though the in- struments for carrying it out involved untried mechanical design, invention and skill, and could never have become successful except for considerable improvements after- ward made in the art of the production, transmission and use of electricity. The plan provided for taking water from the upper river, a mile and one-half above the falls, to operate turbines of high power and great energy output, located in deeply excavated wheelpits with a disclosure of tail waters to the level of the lower river at a point beyond the northerly limits of the state reservation, by means of a great tunnel extending across and under the village of Niagara Falls at an average depth of about two hundred feet.
The following year the legislature of the state of New York. by Chapter 83 of the Laws of 1886, chartered Colonel Gaskill of Niagara Falls, Thomas Evershed of Rochester, and six others, citizens of the Niagara frontier, the'r associates and as- signs, as a body corporate under the name of the Niagara River Hydraulic Tunnel, Power & Sewer Company of Niagara Falls (subsequently changed by order of the supreme court to The Niagara Falls Power Company). Among other things, the corporation was authorized to construct, maintain and operate a power plant such as was then planned by Mr. Evershed.
Well directed and valiant effort was made both at home and abroad by the trustees of this new company to obtain the considerable sum of money needed for the con- struction of the plant. At one time their efforts seemed to have succeeded. Sub- stantial financial interests in Great Britain were so far persuaded as to indicate their disposition to undertake the financing of the project. They were said to have contrib- uted and deposited in a London bank a large sum of money to be used in the work. No part of it, however, was ever received by the trustees of the company for applica- tion to their purposes. It is little wonder the faithful few found capital timid. The undertaking was novel. A demand for the use at Niagara of sufficient power to pay a return on a large investment could not then be foreseen. The method of economical transmission of the power for use elsewhere was undecided, and the best methods then known did not look attractive.
In 1886 electricity was slowly coming into use for lighting and for small-powered direct current motors. The art of street and shop lighting with the arc formed between poles of alternating currents was still in its infancy. Few, if any, of the scientists of that time had visioned electricity as the solution of the problem of long distance transmission of energy for use in operating industrial plants, and none had discovered its still greater uses in electrical furnaces as subsequently invented. No American had shown the aptness and skill required to design and fabricate a water turbine such as would be required for the commercial success of the proposed development. High head turbines of small energy and output had been successfully employed in a few instances in France and Switzerland, but none with an output of energy sufficiently great for the successful working out of Mr. Evershed's idea.
Meanwhile Mr. Rankine had progressed in New York both in his chosen profes- sion and in attracting the favorable notice and consideration of men there engaged in conducting the great business and financial affairs of the country. His clear vision, his faith in the outcome of the Niagara project, and his enthusiasm for the undertak-
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ing of the enterprise were contagious. He was given the opportunity of going into the matter fully with Francis Lynde Stetson, one of New York's eminent lawyers, and counsel for some of the large corporations and important financial interests. Mr. Stetson was a practical idealist with great courage in his convictions. Mr. Rankine soon discovered that Mr. Stetson foresaw the difficulties of the project, but that he also visioned its possibilities not only for commercial success, but as a means of lightening the burdens of mankind, increasing the world's production and conserving its fuel resources. The project strongly appealed to his imagination and his answer was that he would undertake to enlist the assistance of those able to carry the pro- ject to a conclusion.
On the 12th day of June, 1889, Edward A. Wickes, Francis Lynde Stetson and William B. Rankine, all of New York city, incorporated The Cataract Construction Company for the purpose of taking over the then outstanding shares of The Niagara Falls Power Company, constructing its plant and placing it on an operating basis. The financial plan involved subscriptions to substantial blocks of mortgage bonds of the Power company. The first to write his name on the list of such "money sub- scribers" was John Pierrepont Morgan, father of the present banker of that name. In all the dark days which followed and which included those of the panics of 1893 and 1897, Mr. Morgan's faith in the final outcome of the enterprise never wavered. Again and again he subscribed his full quota of the increased amounts found neces- sary to carry on the undertaking, and at his death every bond and share subscribed by him were found by his successors intact. Early and substantial "money subscribers" of The Cataract Construction Company, other than the three incorporators above named and Mr. Morgan, in the order of the time in which their interest in the project began, were Hamilton Mckay Twombly, Morris K. Jessup, Darius Ogden Mills, Charles F. Clark, Edward D. Adams, Charles Lanier, A. J. Forbes Leith, Walter Howe, John Crosby Brown, Frederick W. Whitridge, William K. Vanderbilt, George S. Bowdoin, Joseph Larocque, Charles A. Sweet (of Buffalo) and John Jacob Astor.
The remainder of Mr. Rankine's life is essentially the history of the hopes, struggles and final success of the Niagara enterprise. It is, however, not the pur- pose of this short sketch to go into details of the many difficulties which soon developed nor of the skill and enterprise of its trustees, its officers and engineers in meeting the emergencies, and throughout two of the world's great financial cataclysms finding the required funds for construction, which at Mr. Rankine's death amounted to upwards of twenty-two millions of dollars for the development of one hundred and fifty thousand horse-power. The original estimate was five million dollars for an initial development of one hundred thousand liorse-power. Suffice it to say that construction began in 1890; that the first two five thousand horse-power generating units were completed and placed in service in October, 1895, and the first ten units, now housed in power-house No. 1, were completed in 1899, and eleven additional similar units were completed for power-house No. 2 early in 1903. The plant of a Canadian subsidiary company, with an output now of about one hundred thousand horse-power, was begun in 1902, and an installation of about fifty thousand horse- power had been finished prior to Mr. Rankine's demise. As construction proceeded, uses for the plant's output increased. Electricity had come, or was swiftly coming into its own. Inventive genius was stimulated and responded by giving birth to new products and new industries, made possible with an abundant and cheap supply of continuous energy in a form so reliable and adaptable as the electric current.
In all the financing, planning and management of the company, and in the work of construction and operation, Mr. Rankine took a leading part. Elsewhere whatever may have been the relation of the directors, officers, stockholders and financial sup- porters of the enterprise, at Niagara to the day of his death, Mr. Rankine was its head and front and chief administrator. Until 1899, at least nominally, he resided in New York city. In that year The Cataract Construction Company turned over the plant to The Niagara Falls Power Company for operation, as well as completion of construction. Mr. Rankine then came to Niagara Falls to reside in order that he might be more conveniently situated in managing the affairs of the company and its Canadian auxiliary company. Gentle, approachable, in touch with the company's employes and their interests and affairs, Mr. Rankine at all times had their respect, loyalty and love. He was a constant precept and example of untiring and effective work.
In Niagara Falls, on February 23, 1905, Mr. Rankine was married to Annette Kittridge Norton. Mr. Rankine passed away in Franconia, New Hampshire, on Sep- tember 30, 1905, at the age of forty-seven years, when at the height of his usefulness, and was survived by his widow, who has since passed away.
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Mr. Rankine gave of his busy life much time and service to the civic upbuilding of the community and its charitable and educational institutions. He was chancellor of the Diocese of Western New York at the date of, and for several years prior to, his death. He was a director of the Equitable Trust Company and the Nikola Tesla Com- pany of New York city; the Tonawonda Power Company, the Suburban Power Com- pany, the Bell Telephone Company of Buffalo, the Niagara Falls Power Company, the Niagara Development Company, the Niagara Junction Railway Company and the Shredded Wheat Company. His genial, kindly nature endeared him to a wide circle of friends and he enjoyed the social amenities of life, belonging to the University and Metropolitan Clubs and the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity of New York city, the Buffalo Club, the Niagara Club and the Niagara Falls Country Club. He was a power in constructive development and evolution and his history affords a striking example of high purpose, nobly achieved.
In concluding this sketch of Mr. Rankine's career no words can be more fitting than those of Francis Lynde Stetson, phrasing the appreciation of his high character and business capacity by those who sat with him on the boards, first of The Cataract Construction Company and later of The Niagara Falls Power company:
"As director, he began to serve The Niagara Falls Power Company in 1886, before any other member of the board, and during almost a score of years his unin- terrupted service was characterized by a devotion equal to that of many of his colleagues, and by an intelligent and exclusive attention beyond that which any of them could give. In all of the greatly various and novel elements of our large and important business, there was not one with which he did not make himself familiar, and by all employes and customers he was regarded as a trusted friend. Called upon to act as originator, supervisor, counselor, negotiator, arbiter and executive, he excelled in every capacity. Obviously, in the death of such an officer, the company has suffered irreparable loss.
"But in especial degree his colleagues are conscious of personal bereavement. His charming personality, his unfailing courtesy, his delicate and delightful humor, his sensible and seasoned conversation, and his considerable knowledge of affairs and particularly of men, combined to make him a desired and agreeable associate, and to fix in the affectionate regard and memory of his colleagues, the name and life of William Birch Rankine."
In November, 1924, the William B. Rankine Memorial Commission was organized in Niagara Falls, for the purpose of erecting a suitable monument to Mr. Rankine, as the father of the Niagara Falls Power Company and the Niagara Falls hydro- electric power development. This memorial is to stand on the grounds of the new city hall and this and other memorials are "to the memory of those who have contrib- uted so largely to the scientific, transportation and commercial progress of Niagara Falls."
JAMES WILLIAM GILBRIDE.
James William Gilbride of Mount Morris, Livingston county, New York, was born on a farm in the township of Groveland, Livingston county, on October 10, 1864, the son of Martin and Jane (Patton) Gilbride, the father being a native of Ireland and the mother a native of Michigan. Martin Gilbride died on October 23, 1876; his widow is living.
The education of James William Gilbride was gained in the public schools of the district, and while still a boy he began to work on the home farm, where he remained for the next fourteen years. He then went into railroading, and for twelve years was employed by the Lackawanna Railroad Company. Leaving the railroad, Mr. Gilbride traveled for a year in the state of Washington for a wholesale meat house, after which he was employed in the highway department of New York state for seven years. He then moved to Mount Morris and became connected with the Winters & Prophet Canning Company, and had been with the company eight years when, in September, 1920, it was taken over by the New York Canners, Incorporated, Mr. Gilbride remain- ing with the latter corporation. He is personally interested in agriculture and is the owner of a farm in Mount Morris township. In 1923 Mr. Gilbride served as president of the village of Mount Morris. He was a member of the board of education for nine years and a trustee of the village for two years, and is also a vice president and director of the Livingston county branch of the Federal Loan Association.
Mr. Gilbride was married on December 8, 1887, to Jennie Clark of Sparta, Liv-
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ingston county. Three children have been born to them: James W., Jr., was killed by the kick of a horse on June 21, 1921. He was married to Sally Price, and was the father of Margaret, Dorothy and Frank; Martin, a farmer of Mount Morris township, married Myrtie Rowe, and their children are Jessie, Eloise and Martin, Jr .; and Mrs. Marie E. Foster of Mount Morris. In his religious convictions Mr. Gilbride is a member of the Methodist Episcopal faith and a steward in the Mount Morris church of that denomination. Fraternally he is a Royal Arch Mason, and politically he votes the republican ticket.
CLINTON ROGERS.
Clinton Rogers, president of the Howe & Rogers Company, was one of Rochester's most influential business men. His identification with the city's mercantile interests covered a period of nearly seventy years and his life was one of great usefulness in this community, where was endeared to him a host of true, loving friends. He was born on the 3d of December, 1832, in the town of Wales, Hampden county, Massachu- setts, the youngest in a family of four sons and two daughters, whose parents were Joel and Mary (Shaw) Rogers. The great-grandfather of Clinton Rogers served in the War of the Revolution and participated in the battles of Lexington and Bunker Hill.
Clinton Rogers received his education in the common schools of Wales, Massachu- setts, and began his business career as a clerk in his brother's general store in that town. He remained there about two years, then located in Worcester, Massachu- setts, at the age of twenty years, where he continued until 1855, which year witnessed his arrival in Rochester, New York. Here he was first employed as a clerk for Wilder, Case & Company, in whose service he remained for two years. In March, 1857, in association with John H. Howe, Mr. Rogers established a carpet store under the firm name of Howe & Rogers. This store was on State street, near Main, and the capital of its founders was extremely limited, but they were honest and reliable and their personal qualifications were their guarantee to their creditors. When they secured their first bill of goods from the Lowell Carpet Company, this firm's representative remarked that the company had never before extended credit on the basis of so small a capital, but would in this instance on account of the two part- ner's splendid recommendations from previous employers. In the early days of their enterprise they employed three men, but the business had a healthy growth from its start and it was not many years before Howe & Rogers became leaders in their line of Merchandise, a position the house occupies at this time in Rochester. The business has grown to occupy a five-story building at Nos. 89 to 91 South Clinton avenue, with two large warehouses and a large force of employes. The firm con- tinued as a copartnership until 1898, when it was incorporated and some stock was sold to a few of the old employes in recognition of their faithful service. The rela- tion between the original partners continued until Mr. Howe's death in 1904, since which time his son, John B. Howe, has been active in the business.
Mr. Rogers did not confine his attention alone to mercantile pursuits, but on the contrary the sphere of his activity included identification with various business and civic projects. He was a director of the Genesee Valley Trust Company and had previously been a director of the old Traders National Bank for over forty years. He was one of the founders of the Rochester Chamber of Commerce and held office in that organization for more than thirty years, serving as its president in 1905, at which time he was instrumental in securing the passage of the anti-smoke ordi- nance. He was president of the Rochester Historical Society in 1906 and 1907 and always took a great interest in the work of that society; one of the board of gov- ernors of the Homeopathic Hospital and a trustee of the Church Home. Mr. Rogers was a very prominent, active and influential member of St. Luke's Episcopal church, served nearly fifty years as vestryman and senior warden and was a most liberal contributor to the church and various charities. He was also deeply interested in the cause of education and put forth earnest, effective and far-reaching effort for the promotion of church and educational interests. He was a member of the Sons of the American Revolution, and was very active in this organization, serving as vice president of Rochester Chapter during the years 1911 and 1912, and then was elected to the presidency. He was a member of the Rochester Country Club, the Genesee Valley Club, the Washington Club and Frank H. Lawrence Lodge, F. & A. M. In political matters he took an active interest in the affairs of the republican party.
Clinton Poques
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He was fond of golf and found much pleasure in travel. He had visited various foreign countries as well as many points of interest in this country. Mr. Rogers possessed a fine collection of steel engravings, which he purchased in France on one of his trips abroad.
On August 23, 1876, Mr. Rogers was married to Miss Fannie C. Rochester, a daughter of Henry E. and Jane (Hart) Rochester and one of the last two surviving grandchildren of Colonel Nathaniel Rochester, founder of the city. Mrs. Rogers' mother was a daughter of Roswell Hart. Mr. and Mrs. Rogers were the parents of four children: Fannie Beatrice, now Mrs. Sidney B. Roby and the mother of three daughters, Margaret Breese, Jane Hart and Mary Rogers; Alice Montgomery, the wife of Dr. Joseph Roby and the mother of two sons and a daughter, Joseph, Jr., Helen Rogers and Rochester Ross; Rochester Hart, who married Miss Lois Smith, a daughter of J. Hungerford Smith of Rochester, and they have two sons and a daughter, Rochester Hart, Jr., Jean Dawson and Nathaniel Rochester; and Helen, who resides with her mother.
Mr. Roger's city residence was at the southwest corner of Spring and South Washington streets, but his death occurred at his summer home in Webster on the Lake, on September 26, 1924, when he was in his ninety-second year. At the time of Mr. Rogers' death the Rochester Times-Union editorially said in part: "Through the death of Mr. Rogers, Rochester loses one who was long prominent in business and civic affairs, a man who was respected, trusted, and leaves the memory of an hon- orable and useful career."
Contemporaneous writers said of him: "Clinton Rogers was one of our most prominent men, both in civic and business life, upright and clean in all his associations. His long career of usefulness is a shining example for those he has left behind to emulate. He had lived long enough to see many changes in this city and he has left behind him a name that will always be remembered for all things that are good and wholesome. He was one of the few men left who always preserved and carried forward through life that true patriotism and devotion to his country which made him, as he always was, a valuable citizen and a loyal and true friend. No one has ever been more respected in the city nor ever more fully enjoyed the confidence of the people, nor better deserved such respect and confidence, than Clinton Rogers. His name was synonymous with honesty, and his word was as good as any bond ever solemnized by signature or seal. His methods in every relation would bear the closest investigation. He stood as a high type of American manhood because of native intellectual force, of well developed talents, of keen insight, of strong pur- pose and of unfaltering determination. His sturdy integrity and honesty of principle led him to despise all unworthy or questionable means to secure success in any under- taking or for any purpose, or to promote his own advancement in any direction."
EDWIN S. GORDON.
Edwin S. Gordon, a prominent Rochester architect, is the senior member of the firm of Gordon & Kaelber, which has to its credit many of the most important struc- tures of this city, as well as other parts of the country. He represents a family that has long been established in western New York. He was born in Rochester, on the 28th of March. 1867, his parents being Henry R. and Jane (Benton) Gordon, the former a native of Henrietta, Monroe county, New York, and the latter of Rochester, this state. Henry R. Gordon was brought to this city by his parents in his boyhood days and has here resided continuously since, now living retired at the ripe old age of eighty-five years. A merchant tailor by trade, he engaged in that business for many years and also acted as salesman for a tailoring establishment. His wife, who passed away in her forty-ninth year, was the daughter of the first superintendent of Mount Hope cemetery and one of the pioneers of Rochester. The latter was closely associated with the early development of this city and was one of the first men to run a packet line on the canal. A carpenter by trade, he served at one time as superintendent of the carpentering department of the prison at Kingston, Canada.
In the acquirement of an education Edwin S. Gordon attended the Wadsworth School and the Rochester Free Academy and subsequently pursued a night course in architecture as a student in the Mechanics Institute of this city. He then became instructor in architecture in the Mechanics Institute, teaching the night classes there for fourteen years. After completing his course in architecture he secured a position as shipping clerk and bookkeeper in the service of the firm of H. E. Welcher & Com-
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pany of Rochester. In 1885 he became draughtsman for the firm of Fay & Dryer and later was similarly employed by James G. Cutler, well known architects of this city. He spent four years as a partner with Claude Bragdon and William H. Orchard, and was afterward a draughtsman with J. Foster Warner, a leading Rochester architect, for eight years. On the expiration of that period he became a partner of William V. Madden, in the firm of Gordon & Madden, which during the period of its existence designed Corpus Christi church, St. Peter's and Paul's, Blessed Sacrament, St. Stanis- laus, Rochester General Hospital, and many other important buildings. Since the 1st of May, 1918, Mr. Gordon has been associated with William G. Kaelber, under the firm name of Gordon & Kaelber. They were the architects for the Eastman Theater, in association with McKim, Mead & White-one of the most handsome theater struc- tures in the United States. They designed the First Church of Christ, Scientist, and the Monroe and Arnett Y. M. C. A. buildings, the Hiram Sibley building, Rochester Dental Dispensary, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, additions to the Rochester Trust & Safe Deposit Company, and the Security Trust Company, Genesee Valley Trust Company, and Traders Bank. Mr. Gordon was the architect of all of the public and high school buildings of this city, during the years from 1912 to 1924. The firm of Gordon & Madden and William G. Kaelber were architects for building in the Rochester Exposition Park. He is a fellow of the American Institute of Architects, a member of Central New York Chapter, A. I. A., and of the Rochester Society of Architects, the Rochester Engineering Society, and is a director of the Mortgage Reserve Board Corporation.
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