USA > New York > Oneida County > Utica > Memorial history of Utica, N.Y. : from its settlement to the present time > Part 57
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In this connection we must refer to a circumstance which doubtless had an influence in giving force to the arguments used. By the returns of the census of 1845, the people of Utica were startled to find that they had already gone backward in numbers, that the population was
603
UTICA STEAM WOOLEN MILLS.
nearly six hundred short of what it had been five years earlier ; and al- though it was shortly discovered that there had been an error in the census report which indicated this unwelcome condition, and that there had in reality been no actual decline, yet the importance attached to the published returns, the fear of some possible truth in their evidence, and the mortification of having the decline of Utica published abroad, awoke a home spirit and assisted to further the projects for factories, both woolen and cotton, which now busied the town. This led to a willingness on the part of those who had money to spare, to invest it in manufactures. Meetings were held and their practicability freely discussed. To be assured of their benefit, and above all, to learn whether water or steam was the most advisable agent to use, a com- mittee of three prominent men was selected to visit mills in the east and obtain the information desired. The committee comprised Spen - cer Kellogg, A. S. Pond and E. A. Graham. Their report was briefly to the effect that such mills were largely profitable and that steam was the most desirable source of power. This report settled all doubts and increased the desire to invest. Within a few months, beside the com- pany first in the field, two others were formed and the capital raised to enter on the manufacture of woolens, while at the same time the pre- paratory steps were taken which led to the extensive manufacture of cotton goods, as hereafter described.
There was organized at this time a company with a nominal capital of $100,000, for the manufacture of woolen goods; its title was the Utica Steam Woolen- Mills. Sufficient of the amount was subscribed to enable the company to be incorporated February 27, 1846. The first directors were: Andrew S. Pond, president ; Samuel Churchill, secretary ; Thomas Colling, treasurer; Dolphas Skinner, Nicholas Devereux, George F. Taylor, Benjamin Cahoon, Hamilton Spencer, and C. Goodrich. William C. Churchill, was the agent. The buildings were erected in 1847, on Columbia street and Nail Creek, where they are still standing. The machinery consisted of twenty-seven carding machines, forty-four looms, 264 spindles, and an engine of fifty horse- power. About 100 hands were employed, and 300,000 pounds of wool were consumed annually, making 150,000 yards of broadcloths. Dur- ing a long course of years the company reaped a full share of success.
604
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA.
The mill became the property of A. T. Stewart, of New York city, in 1869, under a judgment sale. Mr. Stewart made improvements and ad- ditions and operated the mill until his death. His partners continued the business until December, 1877, since which date the mill has been closed.
The company known as the Utica Globe Mill, with like ample equip- ments, followed a year after the former, its buildings being up and its ma- chinery in motion near the close of 1847. Pond, Higham & Co. constructed the engine, Puffer & Co. the looms and three sets of cards, Bagg & Roberts completing the rest of them. Messrs. Munson, Faxton, William J. Bacon, Martin Hart, Horatio Seymour, Hamilton and Julius A. Spencer, Andrew S. Pond, and Palmer V. Kellogg were its first board of directors, and Samuel Churchill, its agent. Its first eight years of ex- periment were not years of success. The company failed, lost the whole of its capital, and was compelled to assess dollar on dollar upon each holder's stock. A new one was formed which bought up the assets for the sum of $40,000, and as the Utica Woolen Mills started afresh on the first day of August, 1855. T. S. Faxton, the former vice-president and a large owner of stock, was prominent in organizing the new com- pany. He was elected its president and had as associates Joel C. Bailey, William D. Hamlin, Alrick Hubbell, Palmer V. Kellogg, Benjamin F. Ray, John Thorn, and John M. Rice. The panic of 1857 having been safely passed through a prosperous season began, and under the able manage- ment of its president and Robert Middleton as agent, aided by the advice of its trustees, the mill gained large profits for its shareholders, and a re- pute for its fabrics that is second to none in the country. The capital which had been $70,000 in the beginning, was in 1868 increased from its earnings to $300,000. New buildings were erected and the old machinery wholly replaced: The name was changed to The Globe Woolen Mills-a title borrowed from each of the former-was the one now assumed by the company. While at the height of success a disastrous fire which occurred in September, 1871, laid in ashes the mill and its contents. But it did not dishearten the owners. Their own interests, those of the city, and of the numerous workmen thrown out of employment, required its rebuilding; and before the debris had cooled, gangs of men were at work and plans in preparation to put up two new ones. Early in 1873
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INFLUENCE OF THE FACTORIES.
these mills were completed, 234 and 150 x 50 feet. In 1886 a worsted mill 50 x 210 feet in size and four stories high was added to the plant. The motive power is furnished by two engines of 300 horse-power each. The mills contain twenty-one sets of Platt's English cards, thirty self- acting mules, 166 broad 6 x 4 Crompton looms, and the most approved finishing machinery of French, German and English manufacture. The mills and other buildings practically cover nine acres on the corner of Stark and Court streets, and furnish employment to nearly 1,000 operatives. The company manufactures the finest fancy woolen and worsted goods, their sales extending throughout the United States. The present directors are, Robert Middleton, president; A. C. Miller, vice- president; John Thorn, Russell Wheeler, John W. McLean, James G. Hunt, and Walter D. Middleton. The company has an office in New York where they sell their own goods. W. W. Coffin, treasurer, has charge of the office.
Returning to the year 1847 we find that the influence caused by these undertakings was soon palpably felt in the quickening of business and awakened spirit of enterprise. New streets were opened, old ones re- graded ; old tenements were undergoing renovation and change, while neat dwellings in numbers were taking the place of what had before been but commons. The spirit aroused gave birth to new projects and strengthened the force of some already in being. A screw factory, east of the market and between Bleecker and Jay streets, erected by Messrs. Barnard, Francis and Lawrence, and at work since the winter before, was increased in its stock and its company, and was making 1,000 gross of wood screws per day. The old City Mill was possessed of every con- venience for flouring, but depended for water on the waste from the weigh lock. It received at this time an engine of eighty horse- power, which insured its ability to turn out a grist of 300 barrels each working day. By machinists and the makers of manufacturers' findings, in the preparations of snuff and tobacco-a business now fast gaining a foot- hold-in the sawing and polishing of marble for monuments, and in other employments where steam was of aid, this agent was coming more and more into use ; and at least twenty engines, large and small, were then doing work in the place.
The manufacture of cotton in Utica seemed from the start to hold
606
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA.
out special hopes of success ; and by the winter of 1845-46 funds enough had been promised to engage in the work; but the wish to augment the investment occasioned delay. Those interested were waiting till a general law should be passed to incorporate companies with a capi- tal of $200,000 or more, and freed from the clause which made the owners of the stock liable, in case of loss, to even twice the amount of their holding. To secure the enactment of this law some of the num- ber went to Albany and urged forward the bill at each session ; and pending its passage they drew up a paper which was to be in force when it passed, and to hold its subscribers when $120,000 were pledged. It bore the date of January II, 1847, and by its terms of agreement named as trustees, Theodore S. Faxton, Silas D. Childs, Alfred Munson, Charles A. Mann, Edmund A. Graham, Andrew S. Pond, and Horatio Seymour. In the meantime the land was secured and the foundations begun. On the 17th of February, 1848, the act took effect, and the next season there was started the first of the large structures now in use by the company. It was 300 x 65 feet in size, with wings, and an engine-house attached. A Corliss engine was purchased, while the shafting was made by Puffer & Co., the looms by A. J. Williams, and the frames and some of the cards by Rogers & Spencer. William Wal- cott became the next year the general agent and treasurer, and when, in the fall, these duties were severed, Mr. Childs took charge of the finances and Rufus Stafford was made superintendent. In 1850 the mill with its 8,000 spindles, 180 looms and 165 hands, began the man- ufacture of wide cotton goods. The production of this mill was 1,200,- 000 square yards of cloth annually, and double that number when the whole mill was put in operation about five years later. The lower mill was erected and put in operation in 1870. Its dimensions are similar to those of the No. I mill, except that it is four stories high. No. 3 mill is an addition to, and connected with, No. I mill; it was erected in 1880-81 and immediately began operations. It is also four stories high. During the present year (1891) extensive improvements are in progress, mainly for the purpose of consolidating the steam and motive power, with additional buildings for a prospective increase of productive capac- ity of about 15,000 spindles. The entire establishment occupies the oblong block bounded by State, Columbia and Court streets, and the
Engdy F.G.Kernan,NY
Geoff Wiley,
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WORKERS IN IRON.
Chenango Canal, covering about four acres. The chartered capital is at the present time $690,000, but the actual amount invested exceeds $1,000,000. The number of operatives employed is about 800, and the number of spindles is over 40,000. The annual output of the mills is about 9,000,000 square yards of sheetings and shirtings, of various widths. The following are the present officers of the corporation : Ephraim Chamberlain, president and treasurer; George H. Wiley, vice president and superintendent ; F. G. Chamberlain, secretary and assistant treasurer. Mr. Chamberlain, the president, has been connected with the corporation since 1849, and Mr. Wiley since 1852. (See biography of these men in later pages.)
The success which attended the working of these factories just de- scribed, the proof they gave of the capabilities of steam in lieu of falling water for the propulsion of machines, stimulated other undertakings both individual and associate for the making of wares in iron, wood, cloth, leather, etc. How far this influence was felt in each individual case it is impossible to say. Some may have arisen from the growth of the town and the increased needs of its people,-needs brought about, it may be, or enhanced by the very existence of the machines and con- structions which had already preceded them ; some from an inventive search for employment and the investment of money in unoccupied fields ; some from the improved ease in dispersing abroad the fruits of home labor through the multiplied railways that were now centered in Utica. No other course, therefore, is left in our notice of such as are to follow than to keep on in the arrangement somewhat chronological thus far attempted.
Other workers in iron, beginning between 1850 and 1860, were the following : The Phoenix Iron Works of Chauncey Palmer, started in 1852, destroyed by fire in 1857 but rebuilt the year after, have been since in the hands of his son Cyrus F. Palmer. Additions have been made until now the plant covers 200 X 140 feet and consists of several buildings. The products are hot-air and hot-water heaters, architect- ural and ornamental work, settees and lawn adornments and all kinds of iron work.
Another maker of ornamental work is Linus Dean, who began in 1858, and from a small business has made additions as occasion de-
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA.
manded. His lot and buildings, with a front of 125 feet on Whitesboro street, extend back to the canal. Iron fence in every style, urns, fire escapes, and lawn furniture are made.
In a small way and alone, E. A. Wood undertook in 1861 the fabri- cation of steam guages. Six years later Francis G. Wood became a partner and the firm name of Utica Steam Gauge Company was adopted. In 1882 Francis G. having withdrawn, his place was supplied by William E. Wood, son of the founder. Their premises, fronting on Fayette street, consist, besides their office and foundry, of some smaller build- ing and yard. They manufacture gauges for steam engines and other engine-room fixtures. To this they have added the branch industry of steam heating. Wood's patent pedal valve for radiators is one of the articles made.
In a building on Broad and Mohawk streets, built for Dana's lock factory, Chapman & Co. started a foundry which ere long became that of Le Roy, Shattuck & Head. In consequence of deaths and other changes it is now known as Heads', George W. Head being president and Francis T. Giblin secretary of an incorporated company. Fifty men are employed in the making of hot-air furnaces and hot water boilers, wagon hardware and plumbers' materials.
Justus Child started at Willow Vale, in 1860, the manufacture of mow- ing machines, his office and headquarters being in Utica. The proprie- tors have since been in turn, J. M., Wallace B., Orlando J., and Charles H. Childs, and Everett B. Crumb. Their storehouse and salesroom is located at the corner of Fayette and Seneca streets. They manufacture and sell a large assortment of agricultural implements, wagons, etc. Since 1879 one of this house has been interested in another factory for the making of articles in agriculture which was set on foot by Jones & Falkner in 1865. It is now Childs & Jones. They make dairy and agricultural implements, and deal besides in stoves, tinware, bicycles, etc. Their headquarters are at 84 Genesee street.
Charles Millar, a man of unusual stir and enterprise, who had been for years a successful carpenter and builder, took to dealing in hard- ware. This business was established in 1861, and five years later his son, Henry W. Millar, joined his father therein. In 1867 the firm oc- cupied the Millar building, which was just completed on Genesee street.
BAKERY- SHOE MANUFACTURE. 609
They manufactured cheese and butter-making apparatus, and were wholesale dealers in plumber's and farmer's supplies. In 1883 the man- ufacture of lead pipe was begun, and two years later a warehouse and factory were erected on Main street, on the line of the New York Cen- tral Railroad. In 1885 John L. Murray, son-in-law of Charles Millar, was admitted to the firm, and he, with Henry W. Millar, make the pres- ent firm. In 1889 the firm, with the assistance of Nicholas E. Kernan, Irvin A. Williams and William M. White, organized the Utica Pipe Foundry Company, and Mr. Millar became its first president. The firm employs 120 men. They manufacture cast iron water pipe and specials for gas and water works. (See biography of Charles Millar in the part of the volume devoted to biography.)
George Young, who had been brought up in Germany to the trade of baker and was engaged in it for some time after his settlement in Utica, bought, in 1864, the bake shop of Luke Wilkins and entered on a business which has by degrees grown to be one of large extent and importance. He occupies three adjoining stores on Bleecker street, and has numerous hands in his service in the baking and sale of crack- ers and bread, besides teams to distribute these products abroad. Crackers and Vienna bread are his specialties.
An important addition to the manufactures of Utica has been that of ladies' and misses' shoes. This branch of industry was commenced about 1862-63, by James M. Wiswell, who subsequently became asso- ciated with James H. Thompson. In 1866 J. Newton Cloyes purchased Wiswell's interest, and the firm became Thompson & Cloyes. From 1872 Mr. Cloyes has been sole proprietor. When the business was be- gun it was on a limited scale, in the attic of No. 12 John street. Mr. Thompson employed from five to ten hands, and put in operation the first McKay machine ever brought here. In 1880 Mr. Cloyes, after sev- eral preceding changes of location, moved to his present quarters on Meadow street, and has at work 175 men.
R. S. and William H. Reynolds began the same industry in 1865, their brother, George A., being admitted to partnership the following year. In 1873 fire partially destroyed their building, and they erected a large one on the corner of John and Catherine. It is occupied by George A., one of his brothers having died and the other withdrawn. The business has increased to large proportions, employing 500 hands.
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4
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA.
A third firm to engage in the same business was that of Holbrook & Ludlow, who began in 1872 on lower John street. In 1880, Mr. Lud- low having withdrawn, Lewis H. Lawrence became a partner. The business was transferred to its present site on Catherine. It was de- stroyed in the large fire of March, 1884, but has been handsomely re . built. About 300 hands are busied.
Next door to the preceding there has been quartered till recently the shoe firm of Tallman & Hurd. This firm has been recently dissolved, with the probability of the setting up of two new ones in its stead.
Cabinetware has of course been produced in Utica from an early pe- riod of its history, and its producers have been numerous. It is un- necessary to notice more than two or three of their establishments. The Union Cabinet Association, made up of sixteen members, chiefly from the shop of Perrine & Fowler who had just failed, was formed in 1855. At the end of the year eight of them had dropped out. They had two workshops and employed twenty-five men. To increase their capital others were taken in while some withdrew. After various changes of membership and of location the property was bought by Joseph B. Nelbach, one of the company. It then stood on Fayette street near State. Adding to it a double store adjoining, Mr. Nelbach has continued the sale of cabinetware and furniture. But little manu- facturing is now done.
A factory established some years afterward, that is to say, in 1878, on the corner of Broad and Hubbell, by George E. Lord and William E. Latimer, employs 100 hands and manufactures parlor suits, rockers, chairs, etc. The annual output is about $150,000.
The Utica Furniture Company erected buildings in 1887, on the cor- ner of Broad and Gilbert streets, having had an origin some time before. They failed in 1889 and the plant was idle for a year. Early in 1891 the company was incorporated with a paid up capital stock of $10. 000. They manufacture roller- top and flat-top desks. Of this com - pany George F. Ballard is president.
The making of spring beds was begun in 1871 by Segar & Co. The parties engaged in it have subsequently been Segar & Mallory, Segar & Foster, and are now Foster & Brothers. Begun on ยท Cathe- rine street, the factory is now on Broad street, corner of Clay, where
611
KNITTING FACTORIES.
are manufactured spiral springs and spring beds of various styles, and sixty hands are at work. There is a branch in St. Louis and another in Baltimore.
The making of knit goods by machine process was commenced by S. S. Lowery and J. L. Lowery in 1863, with an investment of about $10,000. The plant was located on Pine street, and was operated until 1866 in the manufacture of knit goods, chiefly stockings for the use of the army. In 1867 a new firm was organized, consisting of S. S. Lowery and J. L. Williams, and the mill fixtures were removed to the corner of Fulton and Franklin streets, where a large brick building was occupied. The mill had four sets of cards, with spinning and weaving machinery to correspond, and consumed annually about 200,000 pounds of cotton and wool in about equal quantities. The annual output was $150,000 value in ladies' and children's fine underwear. In 1886 this company closed up the business and the plant was idle for a time. In 1889 a stock company was formed and operated the factory for a year and a half. This company was not successful, and in May, 1890, a firm, con- sisting of Quentin McAdam, Erwin B. Kenyon, Charles Rathbun, John W. Allis and James McGuire, was organized and took possession of the property. This company manufactures exclusively children's knit un . derwear, and employs 125 hands. They do a large jobbing trade in this city through the wholesale house of Quentin McAdam & Co., which is connected with this manufactory, and in New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Baltimore, their output being 60,000 dozens for the past year. Reorganized in December, 1891, the company is now known as the Utica Knitting Company. It has a capital of $20,000, fully paid in.
In the mean time another establishment of like character was started by Charles Stewart, who was joined in 1870 by John Wild, a man prac- ticed in this business, who came here from Oswego. Their factory was on Jay street. The business was carried on in a comparatively small way until 1873, when Mr. Stewart died. Mr. Wild then acquired his partner's interest and conducted the industry alone until 1874, when N. E. Devereux joined him and the establishment was enlarged. At the time of the formation of the firm of Wild & Devereux the entire working force, including the proprietors, numbered twenty-nine hands,
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF UTICA.
and the annual production had a value of only about $30,000. A few years later they purchased land on Broad street, facing Kossuth avenue, where they erected a large three-story factory. The new mill was oc- cupied in 1880. The firm now employs 440 hands, and the annual prod- uct has a value of $400,000, and consists of knit underwear of cotton.
The manufacture of Scotch caps is an industry that was begun in a small way at New Hartford, in 1868, by Thomas Hanford, and con- tinued by him at that place until 1831. While there he sold the shells of such caps to D. W. Northrup, who put in the linings and placed them on the market. This was about 1875. Mr. Northrup has since conducted the manufacture on a larger scale down to the present time, his plant being on Liberty street. In the spring of 1884 the factory of Mr. Hanford and his partner, John E. McLoughlin, was removed to the lower end of Park avenue in this city. Hiram E. Brewster was admit- ted as a partner, and the name of Mohawk Valley Cap Factory Com- pany was adopted. The place of Mr. Hanford, who has withdrawn, is filled by William F. Allen. They employ about 250 hands, and the annual capacity of production is 60,000 dozen caps, which are disposed of in this country and abroad. Another company engaged in the same business is that of the Empire Scotch Cap Factory, Nos. 123-129 Broad street, started in 1883, but organized in 1887. It consists of Alfred Bayliss and C. F. Crandall. The premises are like those of the pre- ceding, and their equipment includes two sets of cards and twenty- eight knitting machines. About 125 operatives are employed, $75,000 of capital is invested, and the trade is widely diffused.
The Lynch Scotch Cap Company began operations in 1885. It is located on Culver street in a four-story brick building, employs about fifty hands and makes 20,000 dozen caps. Its market is in the United States and Canada. The Lenox factory, an incorporated company, be- gan on upper Genesee street in 1888.
The Mohawk Valley Cotton Mills, Broad street, foot of Nichols, has the same executive management as the Utica Steam Cotton Mills with which it is affiliated. The company was organized in 1880 for the pur- pose of meeting the demand for sheetings of a little different texture, but of same widths as those manufactured by the last named mills. The capital stock is $500,000. The buildings of this company are a
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SKENANDOA COTTON CO .- EUREKA MOWER CO.
main building 100 x 200 feet in dimensions, four stories high ; one wing 100 feet square, three stories high ; one wing 40 x 100 feet, two stories high ; engine and boiler houses, and a large store house, the latter on the north side of the canal. There are in operation 21,000 spindles, and equal to 600 4-4 looms (from 4-4 to 10-4), with a motive power of 400 horse-power. About 350 hands are employed, and the annual out- put is about 4,500,000 square yards.
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