Landmarks of Oswego County, New York, Part 39

Author: Churchill, John Charles, 1821-1905; Smith, H. P. (Henry Perry), 1839-1925; Child, W. Stanley
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason
Number of Pages: 1410

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1843

THE OSWEGO STARCH FACTORY, OSWEGO, N. Y. T. KINGSFORD & SON. INCORPORATED 1848.

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OSWEGO AS A VILLAGE AND CITY.

This was the condition of the industry down to a few years prior to the time when Thomas Kingsford became connected with it. He was a native of England, where he had already become familiar with the na- ture and use of chemicals. Coming to America in 1831 (whither he was followed by his family in 1833), he found employment in a fac- tory where starch was being produced from wheat by old and crude methods, during which he became impressed with the probable value of our Indian corn for starch-making purposes. He offered the sug- gestion to starch makers in 1841, but it was treated as visionary. Mr. Kingsford was a man of self-reliance and perseverance, and believing thoroughly in the correctness of his theory, he began experimenting in 184I at the factory where he was then employed. It is not necessary to follow here the course of his unceasing experiments ; it will suffice to state that after innumerable trials his labors were crowned with suc- cess and in 1842 he produced his first marketable starch from corn. After further experiment and study with a view to improving his pro- cess and product, he in 1846 associated with himself his son, Thomson Kingsford, then a young practical machinist, thus forming the firm of T. Kingsford & Son. They built a small factory in Bergen, N. J, and there the business of corn starch manufacture was successfully be- gun. The great value of the new product was apparent from the first; the demand rapidly increased, and capitalists soon sought in- vestment in its manufacture. This resulted in 1848 in the incorpora- tion of an organization styled The Oswego Starch Factory, T. Kingsford & Son, manufacturers, and the removal of the business to Oswego. Unfailing water-power, a pure water supply for manufacturing pur- poses, and good shipping facilities were the chief advantages secured by the change of location. The growth of this industry since 1848 has been almost unprecedented in the history of manufactures of this State. From a capacity of 1,327,000 pounds in 1849 the same has been increased to a capacity of 25,000,000 pounds per annum. The present consumption of corn annually is about 1,000,000 bushels. Since the establishment of the industry in Oswego the works have grown from a comparatively small structure to one of the most extensive plants in this State, For grinding the great quantity of corn used, there are twenty- four pairs of burr stones and six pairs of heavy iron rollers ; five

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LANDMARKS OF OSWEGO COUNTY.

miles of shafting, connected by 2,500 gear wheels, also 3,000 pulleys ; 690 sieves for straining the starch ; more than 600 cisterns and tanks for cleansing and purifying the starch; forty-three miles of steam pipes for drying the starch and warming the works; fourteen turbine water wheels of an aggregate of 1,200 horse power, and ten steam engines of nearly 900 horse power, making an aggregate of over 2,000 horse power ; fourteen large steam boilers; thirty-two machines for packing and weighing the starch, capable of packing more than 96,000 packages per day. The building and machinery where the packing cases are made have a capacity to turn out 96,000 cases per day. 350 tons of paper and pasteboard for wrappers are used annually. There are two miles of belting, varying in width from two inches to twenty four inches, and twenty-seven and one-quarter miles of hoop iron used in hooping the cisterns. To aid in maintaining the high purity of the starch, great filters are provided through which passes all the water used in the vari- ous processes. Pumps with a capacity of 4,000,000 gallons per day force the water through more than ten miles of pipe and gutters in the treatment of the starch. The buildings cover five acres, while the num ber of acres occupied for factory purposes is twenty ; the main factory buildings, varying in height from five to seven stories, have a frontage on the Oswego River of 1,245 feet by 200 feet deep from the Varick Canal ; 5,000 tons of coal are used annually. About 700 people are employed in the starch business, and the capital of the company has gradually increased from $50,000 to $500,000. Four brands of starch are now manufactured with the names of "Silver Gloss,"" Pure," " Oswego Corn Starch," and " Laundro," a perfect cold water starch recently introduced. A part of the starch, by undergoing special treat- ment, is transformed into the dietetic " Corn Starch," " Prepared Corn," or " Corn Flour," a delicious edible product of the grain, originated by the Kingsfords in 1850. Starch had not been used for food until its preparation in this form by this firm. Extensive depots are maintained in New York, Chicago, St. Louis, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Baltimore, London, and Edinburg. It is, perhaps, unnecessary to add that the Kings- ford starch, the name of which is familiar as a household word through- out the world, is superior to the product of any other manufacturer.

The great success of the Kingsford starch very naturally led to oppo-

18ho Kingofondo

Thomson Thingsford Thomson

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OSWEGO AS A VILLAGE AND CITY.

sition in the manufacture. One of the earliest of the opposition con - cerns was the one established on Battle Island and noticed elsewhere, which resulted in failure. In 1870 there were in the United States 195 starch factories, employing 2,072 persons, with an aggregate output of $6,000,000 value. Of this The Oswego Starch Factory produced more than one-third. In 1891 a trust was formed composed of most of the starch companies in the United States and called The National Starch Manufacturing Company, which trust Mr. Kingsford refused to join. The exhibit of the Kingsford starch at the recent World's Columbian Exposition came into competition with the products of England, France, Germany, and most other countries of the civilized world, and received the highest award. The same result has followed the exhibition of this starch at many other of the great expositions in various countries.

As an accessory to the starch making business, an extensive box manufactory and planing mill was established in 1851, which now uses about 5,000,000 feet of lumber annually for packing boxes for the pro- duct. The present trustees of The Oswego Starch Factory are as fol- lows: Thomson Kingsford, president ; Thomas P. Kingsford, vice- president; Alonzo G. Beardsley, secretary and treasurer ; Theodore M. Pomeroy, Henry A. Morgan, William P. Beardsley (assistant treasurer), John D. Higgins, Byron De Witt, John H. McCollum.

In the year 1864 the Messrs. Kingsford established the Kingsford Foundry and Machine Works for the manufacture of all kinds of boilers, engines, agricultural, and other machinery, and architectural iron work, now one of the most prosperous industries of the kind in Northern New York.

In connection with these industries a large mercantile store is carried on under the name of the Kingsford Family Supply Store.

Thomas Kingsford, the original discoverer, died in 1869, leaving his secret in the sole possession of his son, Thomson Kingsford, who has since substantially controlled the great interests here described. Since 1880 his son, Thomas P. Kingsford, has been connected with the busi- ness which is still carried on under the name of T. Kingsford & Son. (See biographies of members of the Kingsford family in Part II.)

Another industry of considerable importance was founded in 1848 under the name of the Vulcan Iron Works, by William Smith and John

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LANDMARKS OF OSWEGO COUNTY.

King, who established the present plant on the corner of West Bridge and Second streets. Mr. Smith retired from the firm in 1862 and from that year until 1871 Mr. King carried on the business alone. In 1871 R. G. Holbrook became a partner under the firm name of John King & Co., and continued until July, 1875, when the Vulcan Iron Works Com- pany, a stock corporation, was formed with a capital of $60,000. Under this title the business continued until January 1, 1895, when the works were burned and have not since been rebuilt. Until 1860 the product consisted almost exclusively of mill machinery, but about that time the manufacture of steam dredges was commenced, and a very large portion of the dredges used on the lakes, since that time have been turned out by this establishment. The works were burned in 1867, and rebuilt with doubled capacity. The dredging and excavating machinery made here are the inventions of John King. The present officers of the com- pany are David B. Page, president ; Robert G. Holbrook, treasurer ; Robert H. King, secretary.

A few other manufacturing establishments were in operation or begun during the period under consideration (1840-1850), among which was the making of glazed wadding in the woolen factory of Clark & Randall; the Ames plaster mill, which was in operation as early as 1842 and burned with other property on November 29 of that year ; the carriage manufactory of B. J. Denton, later (1865) Denton & Son ; and the old Oswego tannery on the east side, which was started by a Mr. Wilber in 1840 and sold by him in 1845 to William O. Hubbard, who in 1866 transferred it to Hubbard 1 & North,2 he remaining the senior member of the firm. Its capacity was 200 tons of leather per annum. The business was finally discontinued and the old building is now used by the Switz Condé Company as a storehouse.

A brief record of comparative commercial statistics of this period (1840-50) will be of interest at this point. The value of imports in 1841 was $1,839,876. Of this sum the value of wheat was $707, 100

1 Joseph Hubbard was a native of Rensselaer county and died in September, 1882, aged sixty- three years. He was alderman of the Sixth ward in 1876-7, and treasurer of the city one year. He succeeded William O. Hubbard in the firm of Hubbard & North.

2 Charles North, of the firm of Hubbard & North, died in February, 1892, aged seventy-two years. He was a native of Ireland, came to Oswego in 1846 as foreman in the tannery, and re- mained one of its proprietors through several changes. He held the offices of alderman, city treasurer, mayor in 1868, 1886, and 1887, and member of assembly in 1876.

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OSWEGO AS A VILLAGE AND CITY.

The wheat received by way of the Welland Canal was 756,887 bushels. The value of exports to United States ports in this year were : salt $253,000 ; merchandise, $3,674,500. The value of imports and ex- ports in 1849 had reached $19,909,327, an increase in three years of about $4,500,000. In 1849 there were shipped by canal from Oswego 888,307 barrels of flour ; 1,063,462 bushels of wheat ; 401, 178 bushels of corn. These figures exceeded those of the previous year by about 200,000 barrels of flour and 200,000 bushels of wheat. The total re- ceipts of grain in 1849 were 5,842,088 bushels, an increase of a little over 1,000,000 over the preceding year. The following statement shows the collection of tolls from 1844 to 1849 inclusive :

1844

$133,444 1847 $233,224

1845

138,704 1848. 225,265

1846

. 163,866

1849. 280,680

During the latter half of the decade (1840-50) nearly twice as much Onondaga salt came to Oswego as was shipped to Buffalo. The quan- tity arriving at Oswego in 1848 was 2,186,510 bushels. The value of exports and imports during these five years regularly and rapidly in- creased. In 1849 there were exported from Oswego 48,316, 120 feet of lumber, an increase over the preceding year of more than 17,000,000 feet.

The period between 1850 and 1870 is noteworthy for the building of several large elevators, considerable addition to the milling facilities, the founding of various new concerns, particularly in the line of brewing and malting, and the establishment upon a prosperous basis of several large lumber yards. At this time (1850) the morocco factory of S. & S. Allen in East Oswego was in full operation, while opposite was the Os- wego Dry Dock, owned by G. H. Dixon and Richard H. Rogers. The old firm of D. Talcott & Son (Daniel and George), proprietors of the Phoenix foundry in East Oswego, had dissolved and the new firm of Talcott & Canfield (George Talcott and C. M. Canfield) had taken its place.

The Merchants' Elevator was built in 1853, by Benjamin Hagaman, on the site of a similar concern which was burned that year. It finally passed to Smith,1 Murdock & Co., and was destroyed by the fire of

1 Warren Douglass Smith, who was long identified with the lumber, grain, and forwarding

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LANDMARKS OF OSWEGO COUNTY.

1892. In 1853 the Continental Elevator was built by Wright & Little - john ; passed to Root, Noyes, Matthews & Dewolf; and suffered the same fate. The Reciprocity Mills and Elevator were erected by George1 and Cheney Ames 2 and subsequently passed into the hands of the last named builder. The establishment burned July 24, 1879, at which time it was owned by the Lake Ontario National Bank and E. S. Durant. In September, 1851, the firm of Carrington & Pardee dis- solved, F. T. Carrington taking the ownership of the Ontario grain warehouse, " the largest establishment of the kind on the whole chain of lakes," and embarking in the commission and forwarding business.

The lake imports for 1851 were, in wheat, 4,231,899 bushels, while the exports of salt amounted to 467,957 barrels.

The Ames Iron Works were founded in 1853 by Talcott & Under- hill, who succeeded Talcott & Canfield, and who were soon after joined by Luther Wright, Thomas Kingsford, and Hamilton Murray. Messrs. Wright and Murray subsequently retired and the others continued the business until 1855, when it was sold to Henry M. Ames, who changed the name to the Ames Iron Works. October 9, 1869, a partnership was formed consisting of H. M. and Leonard Ames, sr.,3 and Isaac L.

interests of Oswego, was born in Jefferson county ; came here in 1854, and died January 1, 1892. With Marshall W. Forward, he formed the lumber and grain firm of Forward & Smith. He was quartermaster of the moth Regt. for four years during the Civil War. He remained south until 1867, when he returned to Oswego and with Cheney Ames engaged in the commission business and later became a member of the firm of Smith, Murdock & Co.

1 George Ames, son of Leonard, was born in Mexico, June 6, 1806, learned the trade of stone cutter, and came to Oswego in 1832, entering the employ of T. S. Morgan. He was long engaged in milling and elevator operations, served as alderman, and died August 26, 1876.

2 Cheney Ames, a brother of George, was born in Mexico, in June 1808, removed to Oswego in 1837, and died September 14, 1892, in Chicago. He raised $1,000 to improve the road from Oswego to Scriba ; obtained from the Legislature an act to repeal the charter of the toll bridge ; was in- fluential in securing the charter for the city ; and engineered the work of deepening the main chan- nel of the river in front of the elevators. He was elected to the Senate in 1858, served on the war committee, was again sent to the Senate in 1864, and secured the charter for the State Normal School. He imported the first logs to Oswego from Canada ; was largely interested in the first knitting factory and the manufacture of water lime and plaster; was a prime mover in establish- ing the Syracuse & Binghamton, the Rome & Oswego, and the Midland Railroads ; was a partner in the grain business with George B. Sloan; and was postmaster in 1849 and 1876. He was an eloquent orator, which was one of the attributes that gave him a large influence over his associ- ates-a man of superior natural abilities and comprehensive acquired qualifications.

3 Leonard Ames, sr., was born in the town of Mexico, February 8, 1818. His father was a farmer and the son remained at home until his twenty-fourth year, engaged in arduous toil. Leaving home he soon embarked in the meat packing business in Indiana. He subsequently re- turned to Oswego county and with James S. Chandler opened a private bank in Mexico. He was the senior member of the firm of Ames, Howlett & Co., at Oswego, in milling. In 1864 he was a

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OSWEGO AS A VILLAGE AND CITY.

Merriam. In 1872 Leonard Ames and Mr. Merriam purchased the establishment, and in 1882 were succeeded by Leonard Ames, sr., Arthur L. Merriam, Leonard Ames, jr., and Frederick W. Merriam. In 1889 the latter retired and Allen Ames succeeded to his interest. This is one of the leading engine and boiler manufactories in the State, and employs about 300 men.

J. H. & William H. Goit commenced in 1852 a planing mill business which was destroyed by fire in 1853. They immediately rebuilt the establishment and in 1854 were succeeded by Goit & McCollom. In 1870 the concern passed into the hands of William H. Goit' and John K. Post. The latter subsequently became sole owner and the business was finally discontinued.

In 1855 Lewis Brosemer 2 purchased the small Alexander brewery on the west river road about one mile from the city limits. During the war he erected a similar establishment on the river bank, which was abandoned in 1889. In 1888-89 he built the present brewery on West First street, on what was called the Water Cure property, opposite the horseshoe dam, which is now conducted by his sons, Frank L. and John F. They employ about twenty men and turn out 200 barrels of beer daily. A sanitarium hotel formerly occupied this site.

February 4. 1860, the Legislature confirmed the incorporation of the Oswego Chair Company in pursuance of an act passed February 17, 1848. The establishment was located where Kingsford's machine shop now stands, and was finally moved to Detroit, Mich.

In 1862 the Marine and the Corn Exchange Elevators were erected. The former was built by George Ames and Mollison & Hastings, and in 1874 passed into the possession of Hastings & Dowdle. It finally became the property of the Oswego Starch Factory, was burned in

leader in the organization of the Second National Bank and was many years its president. Mr. Ames has held the offices of supervisor of Mexico in 1855 ; member of assembly in 1857; delegate to the convention that nominated Lincoln in 1860 ; and served as U. S. assessor under him. With limited education, Mr. Ames has advanced to the front rank of the business men of Oswego county through his industry, perseverance, and integrity. He still maintains a leading interest in business in Oswego.

1 Willlam H. Goit was born in Mexico, November 6, 1816, came to Oswego in 1844, and died December 6, 1888. He was a miller by trade, served as alderman four years from 1859; as trustee of the swego City Savings Bank; as a member of the Board of Education ; and in 1883 as a member of the Board of Charities.

2 Lewis Brosemer died March 20, 1894.

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LANDMARKS OF OSWEGO COUNTY.

1892, and has not yet been rebuilt. The Corn Exchange Elevator was erected by Henry M. Ames. It subsequently passed to A. F. Smith & Co. and later to C. C. Morton. It was burned in 1892.

In 1862 the Oswego planing mill was started on the corner of East Utica and First streets by O. M. and I. S. Blanchard and W. P. Gran- nis. It developed into a large establishment, employing seventy five men, and consuming 2,000,000 feet of lumber annually. It was burned about 1880, and in 1881 the firm was succeeded by Wright & Boyle, who removed the business to its present location on the corner of West First and Seneca streets. The proprietors are Ami W. Wright and William H Boyle. About 125 people are employed. On the original site of this establishment (on the corner of East Utica and First streets) Penfield & Van Auken subsequently started a sash, door and blind factory, which, in October, 1887, passed to Rufus R. Thomas & Co., who were succeeded in February, 1804, by Frederick R. Gerry with Sidney Van Auken as general manager. From fifty to sixty men are employed. Another establishment of 1862 was the Oswego malt house by Root & Ames, who, in 1864, were succeeded by John F. Betz, of Philadelphia. In 1874 Mr. Betz sold to Charles W. Pardee. The con- cern subsequently passed to Francis Perot's Sons Malting Company, the present proprietors. This company is the oldest of the kind in the United States, having been established in Philadelphia in 1687 and in- corporated in 1887.

During this year (1862) Willard A. Kitts and George Goble had ship yards in Oswego, and the Lake Ontario Steamboat Company, H. N. Throop, superintendent, had two steamers, the Ontario and Cataract on the lake.

In 1864 the Northwestern Elevator was built by Irwin & Sloan. It was destroyed by fire in 1867, but immediately rebuilt, and now has a storage capacity of 450,000 bushels of grain. This is one of the larg- est and finest elevators on the lake and the only one in Oswego. The firm of Irwin & Sloan had as partners at various times Theodore Irwin, George B. Sloan, O. F. Gaylord, Robert Downey, J. I. Weed and Dudley M. Irwin, and were long among the largest dealers in grain in the State. In June, 1884, they dissolved and were succeeded by Gaylord, Downey & Co., who, in the spring of 1894, were followed by Downey, Irwin &

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OSWEGO AS A VILLAGE AND CITY.

Co., the present proprietors. The firm handles annually several mill- ions of bushels of grain, including large quantities of barley; they have every facility at command and transact a very large Canadian and Western trade. .

The commercial interests of Oswego have employed a large fleet of sail and steam vessels. Many of these were built in Oswego shipyards by Matthew McNair, Townsend, Bronson & Co., Sylvester Doolittle, James A. Baker, G. H. Weeks, Andrew Miller, George Goble, Peter Lamoree,1 Thomas S. Mott, John Lee, Thomas Collins,2 and others. With the decline of commerce ship building decreased in extent and finally passed out of existence with the exception of such work as is done at the present dry docks.

A brief reference to the commercial statistics during the period under consideration (1850-70) is proper. In 1850 the receipts of grain were 6, 132,012 bushels ; in 1860 they had reached 17,334,673 bushels. There were in store and on vessels in Oswego in 1860 nearly one and one- half million bushels of grain. The canal business of 1860 was: flour 108,881 barrels, an increase over 1859 of about 70,000 barrels ; wheat, 1,032,580 bushels, an increase over 1859 of 700,000 bushels ; corn, 1,369,487, an increase over the preceding year of over 1,000,000 bush- els ; lumber, 68,333,531 feet, nearly double the quantity of the year 1859.

The following statistical statement of business in Oswego about the year 1870 is of interest in this connection. The capacity of the various mills was about 600,000 barrels a year. The mills were the Atlas,3 with 5 runs; Columbia, 5; Cumberland, 7; Crescent, 4; Empire, 5 ; Exchange, 5 ; Lake Ontario, 7 ; Magnolia, 4; Ontario, 6; Premium, 5; Pearl, 5; Reciprocity, 4; Skenandoah, 5; Washington, 6; six in Fulton with 34 runs. The dealers were Irwin & Sloan, who received

1 Peter Lamoree, born in New Baltimore, N. Y., in 1812, died April 6, 1892. A ship carpenter by trade, he came to Oswego in 1827 and finally joined John Lee (as Lee & Lamoree) as proprie- tors of the shipyard formerly owned by George Goble. With the firm, and later alone, he built many vessels, and also the first tug in Oswego, the Howard. He was a member of the first fire company, one of the old Oswego Guards, and prominent in early affairs.

2 Thomas Collins came to Oswego in 1818 and died November 17, 1861. He was a master ship- builder.

3 The Atlas mills were burned September 20, 1879, under the ownership of John Dunn. with a loss of $60,000,

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LANDMARKS OF OSWEGO COUNTY.

2, 169, 105 bushels of wheat, corn, etc., and 1,300,638 bushels of Canadian barley ; Failing & Rundell, whose total receipts were 1,452,- 902 bushels ; Wheeler, Fort & Co., of the Atlas mills ; Moses Merick, for Jesse Hoyt, of New York, who received 1,593,605 bushels ; Hagaman & Murdock and Cheney Ames, an equal quantity ; Hastings & Co. and C. C. Morton each received large shipments of grain, as did also W. H. Herrick,1 whose invoices consisted largely of barley, his receipts of this cereal amounting to 700,000 bushels. There were eleven grain ele- vators in the city having a total storage capacity of more than 2,000,000 bushels.

At this time the lumber trade had reached large proportions. Origin- ating with Simeon Bates, as previously noted, he continued the business for a time and was subsequently associated with Peckham H. Smith. The latter succeeded the firm and afterward took into partnership John K. Post. This firm frequently carried 80,000,000 feet a year. Daniel L. Couch came into the business later and handled 80,000,000 feet in 1870. Other heavy lumber firms deserving mention are O. M. Bond & Co., L. A. Card, E. W. Rathbun & Co. (still in business) J. P. Wetmore, E. L. & S. Thornton, Page, Clark & Co., and George B. Powell. The quantity of Canadian lumber handled in Oswego in 1870 was 284,291,000 feet, and of Michigan and other lumber 5,350,358 feet.

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Landmarks of Oswego County, New York, Part 39

Author: Churchill, John Charles, 1821-1905; Smith, H. P. (Henry Perry), 1839-1925; Child, W. Stanley Publication date: 1895 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason Number of Pages: 1410

Author: Churchill, John Charles, 1821-1905; Smith, H. P. (Henry Perry), 1839-1925; Child, W. Stanley
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason
Number of Pages: 1410