USA > New York > Orange County > Newburgh > Newburgh; her institutions, industries and leading citizens, historical, descriptive and biographical > Part 52
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THE GRANITE CITY SOAP COMPANY'S FACTORY.
Early in the Sum- mer of 1890 the man- agers conceived the plan of making the company co-opera- tive, and at the same time of taking up the manufacture of laundry soaps. A large number of the retail grocers of the eastern New England States at once saw the advan . tages of the plan and became stockholders. In looking abont for works suitable for their purposes, they found that the famous Oakley Works in Newburgh were on the market. The purchase was made in June, 1890, and possession taken immediately. The purchase of the Oakley
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factory included all the trademarks and brands so widely known and made so valuable by Jesse Oakley, and which were afterwards con- trolled by his successors, L. & J. Oakley, by whom the present factory was built in 1886. It is probably the most completely equipped soap factory in this country. The dimensions of the factory are as follows: Its length on Liberty Street is 234 feet, its depth is 125 feet on Benkard Avenue and South William Street, with a front and rear projection affording spacious offices in front, and in the rear rooms for storing soap ready for shipment, a completely equipped box shop, laboratory, and printing room, with most complete facilities for re- ceiving and delivery. The ground owned by the company is ample for any extension that the company may desire to make, should its business outgrow the present facilities. Its present capacity is 500 boxes of soap a day. This, we believe, is the first co-operative soap plan ever tried, and while it is comparatively of recent origin, it has
ex-President of the Boston Retail Grocers' Association; George W. Slade, Stephen B. Ashley and Holder B. Durfee, of Fall River, Mass .; A. Manchester, Adamsville, R. I .; H. W. Durgin, Taunton, Mass .; I. P. Harris, Salem, Mass .; Henry Hovey, Norwich, Ct .; Moses Sloan, Newburgh, N. Y., and F. W. Potter, New York.
CONSUMERS GAS COMPANY, John C. Adams, President; Omon H. Lawrence, Vice-President; Benj. J. Macdonald, Secretary and Treasurer. This company was organized in May, 1878. At that time the Newburgh Gaslight Company was the only lighting company in this city. The prices charged for gas were $3.50 per thousand feet to consumers, and $45 per lamp to the city. A committee was ap- pointed by the Common Council at that time to confer with the trus- tees of the gas company, looking toward a reduction in prices. The
:
Mammell
WORKS OF THE CONSUMERS GAS COMPANY.
been in operation long enough to demonstrate its popularity, and practically to have passed beyond the experimental stage.
The company adopted a number of the famous Oakley brands, notably the Puritan, Vaska and Queen. In beginning their manu- facture they determined to make them equal, if not superior to the best soaps in the market. They added to this list a floating white soap of rare purity and excellence, to which they gave the name of White Bear, and have adopted as its trade mark a white bear on a floating cake of ice on an Arctic sea.
The business of the company has steadily increased since it began its operations in Newburgh, and has largely increased its list of stock- holders in the New England States and in New York and New Jersey. At its last annual meeting, held in October, a board of thirteen directors was chosen, nine of whom are retail grocers prom- inent in their respective localities, as follows: James A. Litchfield, President of the Boston Retail Grocers' Association; C. E. Harris, President of the Providence Retail Grocers' Association; A. J. Lovell,
company refused to make any reduction. The committee at once looked for persons interested in erecting gas works. The Presi- dent of the Consumers Gas Company, then in the Board of Al- dermen, at once placed himself in communication with the late Com- modore C. K. Garrison, and by him was recommended to a firm who were interested in erecting gas works. Judge S. W. Fullerton became interested, and, as counsel for the parties, formed the present Con- sumers Gas Company. A contract was entered into with the city to furnish gas to the city and citizens at a greatly reduced rate. The old company claimed that it could not afford to furnish gas at a less rate. As soon, however, as the new company began business it of- fered to do so at almost any price. After a short struggle, finding their leakage enormous and further opposition useless, the old com- pany made a proposition to sell out. After a conference, an agree- ment was made for a transfer to the new company. At first it was thought by the people that as the Consumers Company had a mo- nopoly prices would be advanced. This, however, did not occur
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the company held firmly to its agreement to furnish gas at the re- duced rates. By this course it had a better hold on the public than most gas companies. From that time to the present it has continued to conduct its business on a cash basis, and in a business-like manner.
HON JOHN C. ADAMS.
It has encountered for several years the opposition of two electric companies, and while the new light has taken business from it, the growth of the city and the large consumption of gas for heating and cooking, has kept up the demand for gas. The company use the Martin and Lowe process of manufacture.
During the last few months this company has expended a large amount in enlarging and improving the works. It is the company's intention to meet the very general demand for gas for heating pur- poses, and they expect to furnish it at such a price as will not exceed the cost of coal per ton, not considering the cost of kindling wood, and the trouble of removing ashes. There are now in use in this city about 150 gas stoves. The company expect to canvas the city for such custom, and no doubt the consumption of gas will be greatly in- creased from this source alone. It is also hoped that the increased consumption will warrant a reduction in the price for lighting.
The bonded indebtedness of the company is $150,000, its capital stock is $200,000. The Directors of the company are John C. Adams, Benj. J. Macdonald, Omon H. Lawrence, Joseph H. Berry and Henry Baumgardner.
HON. JOHN C. ADAMS, President of the Consumers Gas Com- pany, was born at Tivoli, Dutchess County, N. Y., May 16, 1836. After leaving school he went to New York City and was employed there as a clerk for a number of years. He was next in business in Rondout, where he remained till 1860, when he came to Newburgh and opened a grocery-store. In the business, political and social life of the town he became well known and popular. When the war broke out he went from the Democratic into the Republican ranks,
and has ever since been a considerable factor of the local party. Dur- ing the war he was special agent for the provost marshal's office in this senatorial district, and succeeded in getting a new enrollment for Newburgh in place of an unjust one.
Mr. Adams was the first Supervisor elected from the Third Ward after the incorporation of the city in 1865. In 1867 he was appointed Harbor Master at New York, and at the close of his term in 1870 he entered the auction business here in the firm of R. Millspaugh & Co. On the death of Ezra Farrington in 1876, Mr. Adams was appointed Postmaster of the city, and re-appointed in 1880, serving in all eight years. In 1880 he was elected President of the Consumers Gas Com- pany of Newburgh, which was established two years before in oppo- sition to the Newburgh Gaslight Company. The old company was consolidated with the Consumers in 1881.
Mr. Adams was elected to the Common Council from the Third Ward in March, 1874, and re-elected in 1876. At the organization in March, 1877, he was elected President, and served until his resigna- tion as Alderman July 3, 1877. He was Member of Assembly in 1888, 1889 and 1890, being nominated each time without an opposing candidate, and he was the only Assemblyman from this district ever elected for more than two terms. While in the Assembly he served on the Committees on Railroads, Commerce and Navigation, and Gas and Electricity, as well as others. Mr. Adams was one of the Com- mittee of Five in charge of the Newburgh Centennial, and his ex- ecutive ability was clearly manifested in that great undertaking, and in the successful accomplishment of all his plans. During the con- struction of the West Shore Railroad he served, with Judge Wilkin and Judge Guernsey, as a commissioner to assess damages to prop- erty.
Mr. Adams is a member of the Board of Trustees of Washington's Headquarters, having been appointed by Governor Cleveland; he is
PHOTO. BY ATKINSON.
BENJ. J. MACDONALD.
Vice-President of the Newburgh Street Railway Company, a director of the New York and New Jersey Bridge Company, and is now serv-
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ing his seventh consecutive term as Supervisor from the Third Ward. Hc has been a working member of the Board of Trade since its or- ganization and is a Trustee in the Building and Loan Association. Mr. Adams has been a useful man in this community. Occasions frequently arise in the unofficial life of a city when a representative citizen is chosen from among the rest to act in its behalf. In testimony to the worth of Mr. Adams it may be said that he has often acted in such relations. Energetic, able and practical, polished in speech and behavior, he can always be relied upon to do the right thing at the right time. One of the pleasant memories of his early manhood is connected with the old Hudson River base ball club, in which he was one of the strongest players. Mr. Adams was married September 24, 1856, to Emma M., daughter of Henry A. Barton, of Perry, Wyoming County, N. Y. Mrs. Frederick M. Taylor is their only surviving child.
BENJAMIN J. MACDONALD, Treasurer of the Consumers Gas Company, was born in New York City. A few years later his parents removed to Newburgh, and here he has lived ever since. He
DANIEL IRWIN.
62
SHIP CHANDLERY
SAIL MAKER.
DANIEL IRWIN'S SAIL LOFT AND STORE-62 South Water Street.
received his education at St. Patrick's School and School No. 3 and at the Academy. At the Academy he took the classical course, graduated in 1877, and then took a post-graduate course. Soon after leaving school he obtained a position in the office of the Con- sumers Gas Company as book-keeper, and gradually other duties of a
financial nature were entrusted to him. In recognition of his ability and faithful service, he was in February, 1886, elected a director of the company to fill a vacancy caused by the death of Judge Monell, and at the same time elected secretary of the board and treasurer of the company. He has filled these offices ever since, having immediate charge of the works and the financial affairs of the company. Mr. Macdonald is a director and the secretary of the Newburgh Building and Loan Association, a position he has filled since 1887. He is also secretary of the Newburgh City Club, an active member of the Amer- can Gas-light Association, a member of the Newburgh Canoe and Boating Association, and of the Tenth Separate Company, N. G. S. N. Y. He is a Regents' Examiner of the University of the State of New York for Mount St. Mary's Academy.
DANIEL IRWIN, one of our well-to-do business men, came to Newburgh shortly after the beginning of the rebellion from New York City, where he was born, He was an experienced sail-maker, and furthermore an able seaman, having spent several years at sea, and visited foreign ports. On coming to Newburgh he began busi-
PHOTO. BY ATKINSON.
DANIEL IRWIN.
ness at No. 62 Front Street, corner of Third. After a brief stay he moved to a new building put up by Benjamin Carpenter expressly for Mr. Irwin's use, on the wharf at the rear of No. 22 Front Street, where now stands the Homer Ramsdell Transportation Company's storehouse. Mr. Irwin was an expert in his trade and his business grew rapidly. He next moved to No. 1 Front Street, corner of First, where he started the ship chandlery business in connection with sail- making, remaining there thirteen years. In 1882 he erected his pres- ent large establishment at No. 62 South Water Street, where he has large sail lofts and warerooms. He has made the canvas outfit for many fine vessels, and has been very successful in business. Mr. Irwin was a member of the Fire Department for seventeen years, and at one time assistant foreman of Four Engine Company. He married Frances E. Nichols, of New York, and has two daughters and one son.
POSSA MILLS ROSS' TLOUR MILLS
LLLL
2
-
-
6
FEER
W.R & C.L.
BROWNS LIME WORKS.
9
The
M-A-0
I-Adams & Bishop Co.'s Paper Mill.
2-D. Powers & Sons' Oil Cloth Factory.
3_Ross' Flour Mills.
4-Orange County Woolen Mills.
5- Ferry & Napier's Hat Factory.
6-The Walsh Paper Mill.
7-The Newburgh Woolen Mills. 8-McCord's Brush Factory.
9-Brown's Lime Works.
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MERCANTILE
And Other Business Interests of the City of Newburgh.
W ARD & LOGAN. This is the most important house on the Hudson River engaged in the painting trade. Its employees have at times numbered as many as one hundred and fifty, with contracts from New York to Buffalo, and immense sales of paints, oils, petroleum, ship-chandlery goods, and building and railroad sup- plies. It occupies the block in Front Street between Ferry and Carpenter Streets. The business was established in 1858 by Peter Ward and Chancey M. Leonard, both distinguished citizens and at different periods Mayors of the city. The location of the busi- ness house was then on the west side of Front Street near the corner of First. Their growing trade soon needed larger accommodations, which were obtained by the oc- cupation of the adjoining building, which was on the corner of First Street. They occupied these two buildings until 1866, when they moved to their pres- ent place of business, and some years afterward the STEEL ENGRAVINGS. ARTISTS large brick addition on the east was erected, so that their establishment is the largest of the kind on the Hudson. From 1881 to 1889 they also had a branch house in New York City.
HON. PETER WARD was a native of the Village of Ramapo, in the near-by County of Rockland, where his father, Thomas Ward, was for many years engaged in iron manufacture. He was born September 30, 1827. The rudiments of his education were received in the common schools of Ramapo, Goshen and Haverstraw, with special reference to his subsequent occupation as a civil engineer; but as he left school at an early age, he could from that moment hope to enlarge the narrow basis of his education only by snatching what he might out of the intervals of rest in a busy life. This is what he did, and to his faculty of digesting what he read and observed he was mainly indebted for those attainments which he mastered. As a mere boy he was employ- ed for four years in the civil engineering corps of the Erie Railroad. Even thus early in life he exhib- ited those business traits which marked out his ca- reer, and his mind took hold upon large things, and comprehended ideas above the common.
WARDET.0G.
WARD & LOGAN'S STORE-28 to 34 Front Street.
Their operations ex- tend over a large section of country, and their rep- utation for good work- manship is second to none. When the Erie railroad shops were at Ramapo the firm painted all the passenger coaches of that company, and at another period they painted all the coaches of the Atlantic & Great Western Railway Company. Among their other large contracts was the painting of the ferryboats of the New Jersey Central Railway Company and the West Shore Company; also the great elevators of the New York Central and the West Shore at New York and Weehawken. The firm make a specialty of steam- boat painting, and are heavy dealers in painters' and builders' supplies, including sash, blinds and doors. Steel engravings, picture-framing and artists' supplies, and frescoing and interior decorating, are other branches of their business. The long career of the firm has been most honorable and prosperous, and the business has been very help- ful to the community.
He conceived the plan of mining bituminous coal on the Ohio River, and supplying steamers with it. He went to Cold Grove, but closer examin- ation did not inspire him favorably with the specu- lation, and he abandoned it. He then fitted up a large flat-boat, which he named "The Floating Scow of Old Virginny," stocked it with dry goods, groceries, boots and shoes, hired two clerks and a cook, and floated down the river, trading along shore with planters till he reached Baton Rouge. Here he sold the scow to boat-breakers, and sailed up to the head-waters of the Mississippi, where he bought venison and corn and shipped them to New Orleans. Fifteen mouths he had been thus occupied when he turned eastward with seven hundred dollars more in his pocket than when he started. That was his first business venture, and for a youth of twenty-one a very creditable undertaking.
In 1849 he resumed engineering for the Erie Railroad, and ran the levels for its route from Corning to Dunkirk. In 1851 he became Superintendent of the Newburgh Branch of the Erie, filling that po- sition up to 1857, except an interval of one year (1853) when he went to Kentucky to build the Maysville and Lexington road.
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From that time Mr. Ward, either alone or by the firms of Ward & Lary, or Ward, Mackin & Co., of which he was the senior member. was almost constantly engaged in large railroad constructions. As
HON. PETER WARD.
contractor, and sometimes as a projector, he built hundreds of miles of railway. In 1860 he built a portion of the Sterling Mountain Rail- way; in 1868 the Newburgh and New York (Short Cut); in 1870 the Hackensack extension from Hillsdale to Spring Val- ley, about eighteen miles in length, and the third track from Turners to the Short Cut junction. In 1870-71 he constructed thirty-five miles of railway for the New Jersey Southern (as a cut off between Long Branch and Philadelphia) from Whiting to Pemberton; in 1872-73, the road from Spring Valley to Stony Point, above Haverstraw, thirty-seven miles in length; in 1873, the Smyrna and Delaware Bay Rail- way, forty miles in length; in 1881-82, a section of the West Shore Railway from Newburgh to Highland; the whole of the same road through Monroe County, and the branch from Coeymans to Albany; in 1885-56 fifty miles of the St. Louis and San Francisco, run- ning through the Indian Territory, and at the time of his death he was completing the great Zig Zag Tun- nel on the New York, Ontario & Western Railroad, and a ten-mile section of the Lehigh Valley branch from Geneva to Buffalo. He also in the years 1888-89 built the water-works at Sing Sing.
Incidentally to his railroad business, Mr. Ward was extensively engaged in the painting business as the senior member of the firms of Ward & Leonard, Ward, Leonard & Co. (by the admission of James J. Logan, his brother-in-law), and finally Ward & Logan, after the death of Mayor Chancey M. Leonard in 1874. While accounted a leader in the Democratic party, it is more because of his native worth and per- sonal influence than because of any zeal or partisan endeavors on his part. For official honors Mr. Ward found little time. A
single term of five years in the Board of Education (1861-66) was the only position he would accept until 1882, when, having in prospect the great centennial celebration, a committee of citizens urged him to permit the use of his name for Mayor. He consent- ed, and was elected hy a large majority. Under his father's roof the in- fluences naturally carried him to sympathize with the Democratic party. His name was a tower of strength; it thrilled every Democratic heart in his city, and had the respect of every honorable opponent. As Mayor he filled the position honorably, ably and with dignity. The executive committee of the general committee of citizens who had taken some steps in arranging for a national celebration in 1883, rec- ognizing his eminent fitness, confided to him, and four others to be se- lected by him, the entire direction of the undertaking. Mayor Ward selected his coadjutors, and with the almost unrestricted powers vested in them, they applied themselves to the work systematically, confer- ring with few others than the joint Congressional committee, and pursuing the even tenor of their way, regardless alike of either good or evil report. The result was one of the greatest celebrations ever held in the land. On that memorable day, in the presence of the notables of the Nation, our Mayor presided over all with grace and dignity. In 1888 he again yielded to the popular demand of his par- ty and was elected to the State Senate for the unexpired term of his predecessor, the late Henry R. Low.
Senator Ward was for a number of years one of the Trustees of the Newburgh Savings Bank; and of the Board of Trustees of Wash- ington's Headquarters he was a member from its beginning.
In 1852 he was married to Mary A. Logan, daughter of Captain Samuel R. Logan, of this city, and a sister of his partner James J. Logan. She was a most engaging and estimable lady, and of great usefulness in works of benevolence. For nearly forty years united in their lives, in the tinie of death they were not long separated. The spirit of the loving wife had not long to await the coming of the manly man. He died May 10, 1891, and was buried at Cedar Hill.
Of a genial personality, of eminently practical mind, he had no patience with arrogance or conceit in any form, and appreciated worth wherever found. Successful in business, public spirited, and ranking among the city's men of wealth, he, either individually or through his firm, subscribed liberally to every proper movement, and was a power for good in the community. His life epitomized faithful public service, helpfulness to the community, whole-hearted, unaf-
RESIDENCE OF HON. PETER WARD-329 Grand Street.
fected and dignified intercourse with neighbors, success and honor in business and society, and devoted head-ship of the family.
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JAMES J. LOGAN was born at No. 77 Smith Street, in this city in 1834. He is the great-grandson of Major Samuel Logan, a native of Ire- land, who, after a period of service in the English Army as Corporal in
JAMES J. LOGAN.
the Eightieth Regiment of Infantry during the French and Indian war of 1755-56,settled in New Windsor, and pursued the vocation of a hatter making those peculiar felts known as " continentals," seen so often in pictures representing the dress of that period. When the war of the Revolution broke out he was appointed captain of a company of minute men, and subsequently major in Colonel Dubois's Fifth New York Continental Regiment. At the battle of Fort Montgomery, in 1777, he was taken prisoner and was held captive for three years. On being ex- changed he returned to his regiment, served till the army was disbanded at the cantonment at New Windsor and became a member of the Society of the Cincinnati when it was organized in the Temple-a membership now held by the subject of this sketch. Samuel R. Logan, the father of James J., was in the freighting business in the early days of steamboat navigation, and was Captain of the Providence, the third steamer on the Newburgh and New York line (1833-34) up to the time of his death. He is spoken of by those who knew him as "a man of great energy and competency." James J. Logan was educated at the Glebe school, and at the Academy under the Rev. R. B. Hall. After leaving school he was employed first by Parmalee & Robinson and next by John C. Masters, merchants of this city, and then for a year he was in the railroad business in Kentucky. The next four years he was with James A. Tilford, the New York grocer, and then for a time in Virginia. He came back to Newburgh in 1857 and worked on the Newburgh Branch Railroad, of which Senator Ward was then Superintendent. The next year the firm of Ward & Leon- ard was formed, and Mr. Logan entered their office. 1n 1865 he
became a member of the firm of Ward, Leonard & Co .; on the death of Mr. Leonard, in 1874, the firm became Ward & Logan.
For many years Mr. Logan has been the executive head of this concern, and those having knowledge of the large business trans- acted by the firm are aware that the duties which he has performed require a well-trained business mind. Since Senator Ward's death the entire direction of affairs has devolved upon him. Mr. Logan finds time to give efficient aid to the work of those charities and religious societies with which he is connected, but not much to poli- tical discussion or the running of partisan machinery. Official rank in municipal affairs he has ever refused, though the highest offices in the gift of the city have been offered, which we need not say were in rec- ognition of the esteem with which he is held in the community. Mr. Logan has been a member of St. Paul's Episcopal Church since its or- ganization. For many years he has been its Senior Warden, and since 1871, also its Treasurer. He is also Treasurer of St. Luke's Home and Hospital, Treasurer of the Board of Trustees of the Academy of Music, a trustec of the Chadborn & Coldwell Manufacturing Company, and a trustee of the Newburgh Real Estate Company. At the Cen- tennial celebration of 1883 he was a member of the Reception Com- mittee, and marched in the parade with the Society of the Cincinnati. Mr. Logan married Mary E., daughter of George Mecklem, of Newburgh, and has one daughter.
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