USA > New York > Orange County > Newburgh > Newburgh; her institutions, industries and leading citizens, historical, descriptive and biographical > Part 46
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Mr. Fowler's childhood was spent at Newburgh. He received his early education at Siglar's school, Newburgh, and College Hill, Poughkeepsie, after which he studied abroad for nearly two years, spending most of his time in Germany. Returning to New York, he entered the banking house of Morton, Bliss & Co., then Morton, Burns & Co., where he acquired a general knowledge of financial af- fairs. We next find him studying law under Prof. Theo. D. Dwight, at the Columbia College law school. He entered the junior class of that institution October 21, 1872. He pursued a full course of study, graduating in May, 1874, and receiving the degree of Bachelor of Laws. Prof. Dwight speaks of him as follows:
"While in the law school, he was distinguished for the qualities fitting him to be a successful lawyer. He showed a very clear and discriminating mind, apt to learn, ability to grasp and solve knotty legal questions, thoroughness in preparation, and great self possession and self control. He was greatly es- teemed by his instructors and class mates, and graduated with high distinction. I always looked for great success on his part in the profession, and have not the smallest doubt that had he remained in it he would have reached its highest positions. Having among his other qualities an eminently practical mind, he became at an early day versed in railroad questions, while his advice and counsel were eagerly sought for and highly valued. From Mr. Fowler's natural ability, legal acquirements and sound judgment, I do not believe that there is any man in the country better fitted to conduct one of our great railroad en- terprises more honorably and successfully than he."
Since his admission topractice, few members of the New York bar have been so successful in the commercial branch of their profession. Mr. Fowler has been prominently identified with a large number of cases. He has personally conducted intricate legal matters and ne- gotiations for the late William H. Vanderbilt and other distinguished Americans. He is known also to have rendered legal services for James McHenry, Henry Labouchere and Edmund Yates, of London, England, as well as for leading continental capitalists.
Mr. Fowler was employed by President Gowen, of the Philadel- phia and Reading, in many legal struggles with the New Jersey Cen- tral Company and other corporations. Also by the late President
Devereux, of the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Indianapolis Railroad. In all of these important suits he has shown the posses- sion of qualifications, which have won him an enviable reputation for professional efficiency.
In 1881 Mr. Fowler was elected director of the Shenango and Alle- gheny Railroad. In 1884 we find him a director of the West Pennsyl- vania and Shenango Connecting Railroads. On March 15, of same year, he was appointed receiver of the Shenango and Allegheny Rail- road and the Mercer Coal and Iron Co. On March 31 following, Mr. Fowler was elected director of the New York, Ontario, and Western. In 1886 he was elected President. He has also served as director in the Boards of the East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia Railroad and other corporations.
No higher tribute could be paid to anyone than the following, which is taken from the report of R. B. Carnahan, Master of the
THOMAS POWELL FOWLER.
United States Circuit Court, on the management of the Shenango and Allegheny Railroad by Mr. Fowler as receiver:
" The duties of the Receiver are laborious, responsible and require the exer- cise not only of care and good judgment in the management of the railroad and property, but of unusual caution and tact in the circumstances in which the Receiver was placed, and by which the property was surrounded. All the evidence in the case has satisfied the Master that the operations of the railroad and the management of the property of the defendant company were conducted with skill, ability, energy and good judgment. The Special Master is satisfied and has found above that the Receiver has discharged the duties of his trust with ability, skill and fidelity, and no one is found or comes forward alleging the contrary."
The intelligence and fidelity which Mr. Fowler has shown in his various positions, reinforced by the experience gained therein, will doubtless carry him to a much higher one in the railroad world. Standing as he is on the very threshold of his career, he can but feel an honorable degree of pride in the importance and responsibility of the duties now devolving upon him as chief executive officer of the New York, Ontario and Western. Mr. Fowler occupies his country place in the Village of Warwick during the Summer months. In 1876 he married Isabelle, eldest daughter of Benjamin F. Dunning, an em- inent New York lawyer and for many years a partner of Chas. O'Conor.
MANUFACTURING.
The Leading Productive Industries of Newburgh Illustrated and Described, and the Men Who Manage Them.
HE WHITEHILL ENGINE AND PICTET ICE MA- CHINE COMPANY, Robert Whitehill, President; William C. Dornin, Vice-President; Lewis M. Smith, Treasurer; Clarence Whitehill, Secretary. This large and representative establishment, formerly 6 known as the Newburgh Steam Engine Works, was founded in 1824. For many years it occupied the prem- ises on the northeast and northwest corners of Grand Street and Broadway. The building of the present extensive works was begun in 1883, and the foundry portion was occupied the following year. The machine shops were completed in December, 1890, since which time the entire business has been conducted there. The premises oc-
cupy the entire block bounded by South William, Johnes, Edward and Lafayette Streets, and the brick buildings cover three sides of the block, and have a total frontage of 840 feet. The machine- shop on Edward Street is 330x60 feet, one-half of it being two stories and the other half three stories in height. The foundry including the chemical works has 310 feet on Johnes Street. On the South William Street side the building has a width of 200 feet, including the offices, chemical-works, pattern, storage and draughting-rooms. The chem- ical-works are in a portion of the building 65x50 feet in size. The series of buildings surround a court and constitute what is generally conceded to be one of the most complete engineering plants in the country. There is but one entrance leading to the various depart-
WHITEHILL ENGINE AND PICTET ICE MACHINE COMPANY'S WORKS.
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WHITEHILL ENGINE AND PICTET ICE MACHINE COMPANY'S WORKS-MAIN FLOOR.
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ments. This provides a simple and complete system of supervising the details of the whole work. Everything that goes into the place or comes out must pass the offices. The whole work is divided into departments so that there is a place for everything, and the manage- ment is such that everything is in its place. Near the machine-shop are the draughting-room, pattern-shop, storerooms, stock-room and blacksmith-shop. At one side, utilizing the southwest portion of the second floor, is the storeroom for patterns, where patterns which have been once put in place can be readily found. In the machine- shop is an electric elevated railway-crane capable of lifting from 40,000 to 50,000 pounds. It is arranged to travel upon steel rails a distance of 240 feet lengthwise of the shop. It is operated by three electric motors which are controlled by three levers in the "pilot- house " of the crane. In the foundry is a cupola of 35,000 pounds ca- pacity.
The above named company was organized in 1890, with a capital of $500,000. It mannfactures steam engines, ice-making and refri- gerating machines, iron and brass castings and general machinery, and gives employment to about 250 men. The ice machines are made on the Pictet process, in which the basis of action is anhydrous sulphur- ous oxide, which is generally ac- knowledged to be the most exped- ient, economical and satisfactory principle .* It is a chemical noted for its low-working pressure, is of itself a lubricant, and does not in- jure any of the metals; its low pressure is a guarantee against ex- plosion. It is a safe article for stor- age and shipment, its tendency being to extinguish rather than cause fire. The entire machine is set up in the works before shipment and tested at 150 pounds air pressure, though the maximum pressure ever required is only 68 pounds. Owing to the low pressure employed the machine is practically indestructible. Ma- chines of six tons and upward have Whitehill Corliss engines, with auto- matic cut-off and regulator. With every machine is furnished a suffic- ient quantity of anhydrous sulphur- ous oxide and ice cans or moulds suf- ficient to make daily the guaranteed product of ice, and they also attach to machines of four tons capacity M-N-CO and upwards their improved exhaust steam condenser, making distilled water for producing transparent ice.
ROBERT WHITEHILL,
This modern industry supplies a thorough and economical process of refrigeration. It is adapted not only to making ice, but for pork-packing houses, cold-storage, breweries, chocolate-houses and for other purposes. In many cases the amount paid for ice during one, two or three years will cover the cost of refrigerating machinery.
The steam engines manufactured by the company are generally of the Corliss type, but with various improvements, notably the re- leasing mechanism designed by Charles A. Dixon, the superintendent of the works. They are made in all sizes from 40 to 2,000 horse
power, non-condensing, condensing, compound, horizontal or vertical. single or in pairs, and are fully guaranteed to equal any in economy, strength, finish and weight. All parts of the engine are made strictly to gauge and templets, so that any part can be quickly replaced to fit any engine of its style and size. The trade of the company extends through all sections of the United States and Canada, while ice-mak- ing and refrigerating machines and other specialties are shipped to Mexico, Cuba, Central and South America, India and Australia. The works are not only a credit to the city, but are of a high representa- tive character.
ROBERT WHITEHILL, the President of the company, is virtu- ally the founder of the works in their new development. His history bears with it, as another has said, " the lesson which many young men fail to appreciate-the lesson of the necessity of fitting them- selves for any opportunity which may cross their career. This les- son may be read in books, but is best impressed by living examples that may be known and seen by all men, and of which Mr. Whitehill is a type. That he is a man of energy and intelligence need not be said, nor that he is a substantial and use- ful citizen, for the evidences of these qualifications are in the results which he has accomplished, and these re- sults are the jewels that so fittingly adorn his character and give him his rank as a business man." Mr. Whitehill was born in Glasgow, Scotland, June 1, 1845, the son of Hugh and Jeannette Murray White- hill, who were also natives of Scot- land. He was brought to this coun- try in 1847, at which time his parents settled at Wappingers Falls. Ten years later he removed with his parents to Newburgh, was graduat- ed from the Academy, and entered active life as a book-keeper and cashier in New York City. The work that was born with him, how- ever, asserted its mastery, and he soon entered the foundry of Stanton, Mallory & Co., to learn the trade of a machinist. He remained there un- til the suspension of the firm, and during that period with his father's assistance he invented a machine for sizing and dressing cotton-yarn. and put it in operation at the New- burgh Steam Mills, of which his father was superintendent. Sub- sequently he engaged as a journeyman with the Novelty Iron Works of New York, where he acquired valuable experience in con- structing and erecting the machinery of steamships. A year later he entered the United States Navy as third assistant engineer.
In 1865 he returned to Newburgh and rented a portion of the steam-engine works of Corwin, Stanton & Co., and for five years thereafter was engaged, with his father as a partner, in the manu- facture of his patented machinery. The changes which then occurred in the Corwin foundry gave opportunity for an association with Lewis M. Smith and the laying of the foundations of the industry of which he is the head. He is also interested in the Chadborn & Coldwell manufactory of lawn mowers, and altogether he a very important factor in the development and prosperity of the city. For several years he was President of the Board of Trade, and in that rela- tion as well as through his private business connections, he is ever striving for the up-building of Newburgh. In the years 1871 and 1872 he represented the Second Ward in the Common Council, and was President of the Board in the latter year.
* Extract from 12th Volume, 9th Edition, Encyclopedia Britannica, pp. 613, 614. After mentioning the danger of explosion as one of the great disadvantages of the use of ammonia in ice machines, the article says: "Sulphurous oxide, first employed as a refrigerating agent by PICTET, of Geneva, *
* is in
many respects far superior to any other known refrigerator. Thus, it is more easily liquefied than ammonia and methylic ether; * * it has no chemi-
cal action upon metals or fats; it is incombustible; it is obtainable at small ex- pense, and it has, besides, good lubricating properties, in short, it seems to pos- sess all the essentials of an efficient and economical refrigerator. * * **
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NEWBURGH.
RESIDENCE OF ROBERT WHITEHILL-Grand Avenue.
THE CHADBORN & COLDWELL MANUFACTURING COM-
PANY, Robert Whitehill, President; Lewis M. Smith, Treasurer; Edwin T. Smith, Secretary. This is one of the oldest and largest concerns engaged in the manufacture of lawn-mowers in this country. Their machines are sold in every civilized country in the world. A branch house is located in London, England, and agencies are estab- lished in all the principal cities in Europe, America and Australia. Their machines have received the highest awards at many test trials, both in England and America, at the International Expositions at Philadelphia, Paris and Vienna, and also at nearly every State fair in the United States.
We understand that the first lawn-mower was brought from Eng- land about 1850 by Heury Winthrop Sargent, of Fishkill-on-the- Hudson, N. Y. About two years later Horatio N. Swift, then of Newburgh, commenced manufacturing, and doubtless was the first manufacturer of lawn-mowers in the United States. Subsequently he established a machine-shop at Matteawan, N. Y., and manufactured a few mowers each year in connection with a general machine bus- iness. These machines were a close copy of the English machine owned by Mr. Sargent. The smallest mower Mr. Swift made was a fourteen-inch, which weighed about one hundred and fifty pounds, and sold for $65: and the largest (a horse-mower) was a forty-two- tuch machine, and sold for more than three hundred dollars. They were cumbersome and complicated, as well as costly, and only about two hundred were manufactured each year. During the year 1868- 69 several patents were granted to citizens of this country for im- provements in lawu-mowers, and the subject of their manufacture was brought to the attention of some parties in this city, who com- menced their manufacture in a small way, producing the Excelsior Roller Mower, which was a great improvement øver any lawn-mower previously introduced to the public in this country. The firm of Chad- born, Coldwell & Co. was formed, and operations commenced in a
room in the Washington Iron Works on South Water Street, in this city. The total amount of their business the first year was about $2,500. This mower received favorable attention, and it became apparent that eventually there would be a large demand for such a machine throughout the country.
On January 1, 1870, the Chadborn & Coldwell Manufacturing Com- pany was organized with three stockholders, viz., George L. Chadborn, Thomas Coldwell and Lewis M. Smith. The capital stock was $4,000, and the company was incorporated at that time. The stock was sub- sequently increased to $80,000, and in July, 1891, was further in- creased to $110,000. In 1870 the company rented the basement of the large building on the northeast corner of High Street and Broadway, and made use of a room in the building on the corner of Colden Street and Broadway for a paint shop. As their business increased their plant was enlarged, until we find them occupying the entire building at the corner of High Street, which they subsequently purchased for their own use. In 1872 they purchased the stock, patents and good- will of Mr. Swift in his lawn-mower business. They continued to manufacture the Excelsior roller and horse mowers, each year in- creasing their business until 1878, when they began the manufacture of the Excelsior Side-wheel Mower, and from that time they have made a variety of patterns as new improvements have been evolved and the demand for special machines has arisen.
There are few industries that have increased so rapidly as that of the manufacture of lawn-mowers in this country. Twenty-two years ago two or three hundred manufactured in this country, and a few imported from England, supplied the demand. Now the Chadborn & Coldwell Manufacturing Company alone manufacture upwards of twenty thousand annually, and soon with increased facilities, they expect to make iu their new factory thirty thousand each year.
After occupying their present factory for twenty years, the com- pany purchased, in 1891, a piece of ground, ou the southwest corner
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of Lafayette and Johnes Streets, for a larger factory. Here they erected a building having a frontage on Lafayette Street of 100 feet and on Johnes Street a depth of 180 feet. This structure is of brick, four stories high, heavily timbered and built in the most substantial manner, and no expense has been spared to make it complete in every particular. The principal exterior features are an ornamental tower on the northeast corner, and a chimney 85 feet high at the south end. The floor surface of each story contains about 12,000 square feet, and the ceiling in the machine-shop is sufficiently high to make it light and healthy for the operatives. The office is located on the north side in the L part of the structure and is finished in hard wood.
Patterns of lawn-mowers are manufactured by this company in large variety. Among those most favorably known to the trade are the "New Model," "New Model High Wheel," the "O. K.," the
improvements adapted to the high wheel from which it derives its name. The material and workmanship on this pattern of mower are the best that can be obtained, and the machine is most durable and efficient.
The "O. K." mower is of more recent origin than the "New Model," and was made to meet the demand from certain portions of the country where a less expensive machine is required. It has been thoroughly tested, and has proven to be a desirable machine for cut- ting grass. The revolving cutter has steel blades, steel shaft and malleable flanges; the journals have a new device for taking up the wear, which can be readily adjusted. The quality of the machine is unquestioned, and it has met with a large sale, although but lately put on the market.
The "Rival" is the latest mower this company has offered to the trade. It is made with three blades in the revolving cutter, built in
CHADBORN & COLDWELL MANUFACTURING COMPANY'S FACTORY.
"Rival," "Excelsior Roller " and "Excelsior Horse " lawn-mowers. The "New Model" mower combines every improvement that more than a score of years' experience as lawn-mower manufacturers can suggest or mechanical skill devise. For simplicity, durability and quality of work it is unequalled, while for lightness of draft it excels by a large percentage any other lawn-mower made. The company guarantee every claim they make, and warrant every machine they send out from their factory.
The "New Model High Wheel" was brought out in order to sup- ply a demand for a first-class lawn-mower which would cut higher grass than the ordinary machine. Its driving-wheels are ten inches in diameter, and the revolving cutter is six inches in diameter. It has all the excellent qualities of the " New Model," together with the
a substantial manner, and is calculated to do equally as effective work as any mower manufactured, although sold at a low price. The especial features of the mower are the simple manner of adjustment and the concave stationary knife, which presents its cutting edge in such a manner as to practically sharpen itself by means of contact with the blades of the revolving cutter.
The " Excelsior Roller" mower has been on the market so many years that it has become a household word, so to speak, among gar- deners, horticulturists and gentlemen who desire to keep their lawn looking like a picture. This mower is especially adapted to cutting borders, and the machine, by reason of the iron roller, has more weight than other lawn-mowers, and thus keeps close to the ground, avoiding the irregular appearance one often sees in a lawn after the
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grass is cut by a light mower. A large number of these mowers are exported every year, as they meet with a ready sale in countries formerly supplied with English machines only, the American mower being preferred because of its light weight. The "Excel- sior Horse" mower is in use in numerons public parks, on college lawns, government grounds and on private estates throughout this and other countries. The side-draft attachment which is furnished with this mower allows the horse to walk on the cut grass, thus avoiding tramping the grass down. The sec- tional castor-wheel is also an improvement over the old pattern wheel, as it permits the grass to pass be- tween the wheels and does not roll it down.
The patterns of lawn-mowers are varied according to the country in which they are to be used. In England, where the grass is of a wirey character, and the atmosphere charged with moisture, the grass is cut much closer than in America, consequently the mowers for England are made with a greater number of blades in the revolving entter, and ent close to the ground. Many make use of a box at- tached to the mower for collecting the cut grass, as it is not necessary to allow the grass to remain on the ground and protect the roots from the rays of the sun, as is done generally in this country. Although Eng- land has been making lawn-mowers for probably sixty years, she is now importing large numbers of various patterns from America, and the demand is con- tinnally increasing. We believe that the lawn-mower business of the Chadborn & Coldwell Manufacturing Company at this time exceeds any other of the kind in the world, and their machines are acknowledged as the standard for lawn-mowers.
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