The civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the county of Kings and the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., from 1683 to 1884 Volume I, Part 180

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed. cn; Brockett, L. P. (Linus Pierpont), 1820-1893; Proctor, L. B. (Lucien Brock), 1830-1900. 1n
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York : W. W. Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1114

USA > New York > Kings County > Brooklyn > The civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the county of Kings and the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., from 1683 to 1884 Volume I > Part 180

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Some years since, he established a house in Leeds for the manufacture of his machinery there. The firm name there is Samuel Lawson & Sons, and they are working under a license of his patents, and are doing about the same amount of business as his Brooklyn works. He is the leading manu- facturer of ropemaking machinery in the world. His busi-

ness is now largely done by contracts. Parties who are desirous of establishing ropewalks, in any part of the world, can contract with him for every part of the work, from buying the land and erecting the buildings, to the com- pletion, with all the latest and best machinery in perfect running order, and, if needed, skillful and competent ma- chinists to superintend the running. Many of these estab- lishments, thus built and furnished by him, are now doing excellent work in different States; and he has acquired so high a reputation for the perfection of his work and his integrity in dealing, that he has all the contracts he can fill.

SECTION XIV. /

Paper Hangings, Window Shades, and Fresco and Ceiling Papers.

W. H. MAIRS & CO.'S PAPER-HANGINGS MANUFACTORY.

The manufacture which gives to each establishment the largest annual product is that of paper hangings. The census reports, in 1880, but three manufactories- those of William H. Mairs & Co., Robert Graves & Co., and Robert S. Hobbs & Co. These three establish- ments were reported as having a capital of $285,000; employing 427 hands; paying $175,733 of wages; using $783,753 of material, and producing $1,382,862 of paper hangings, window shades and fresco papers.

The number of these establishments is now four, Mr. William N. Peak having commenced business since 1880. At present these houses manufacture more than thirty per cent. of all the paper hangings made in the United States, and the quality of their finer goods is not surpassed anywhere. A few of their designs are based upon English or French patterns, though these are usually materially modified; but the greater part, and those of the most artistic character, are either from designs of their own artists, or workmen in the factor- ies, or designs made outside and brought to them for sale. A very considerable trade has sprung up in these designs, of which they require very many; they are generally brought to the factories by men, but many are believed to be the work of young women and girls who have been trained in the Schools of Design for women. Aside from skill in the art of drawing, and tact in the forming of such combinations as will pro- duce a pleasing and graceful effect, there is needed a

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THE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES.

practical knowledge of the actual working of these combinations; for designs which may be graceful and beautiful in themselves, will not always produce a good effect when printed from the roller or block. The de- mand for these fine papers is rapidly increasing, and is now more than double what it was in 1880.

Messrs. W. H. Mairs & Co. are the largest manufac- turers in the United States, and produce almost all grades of papers and paper shades of beautiful and va- ried designs. Their annual production exceeds nine millions of rolls, of eight yards each.

Messrs. Robert Graves & Co. are next in the amount of production in Brooklyn, turning out about 2,500,000 rolls annually, besides large quantities of fresco and ceiling papers. They confine themselves almost exclu- sively to the production of the highest grade of papers.

Messrs. Robert S. Hobbs & Co., though third in the amount of their production, are a large and long estab- lished house, and their papers rank as high in quality and finish as those of any of the other houses in the trade. We believe they do not make window shades or ceiling papers. Their processes of manufacture are similar to those of Messrs. William H. Mairs & Co., already described.

Messrs. William M. Peak & Co. are a young house, having commenced business in 1882, but their goods are of excellent quality, and they are building up a good trade.

A brief account of the processes of wall paper manu- facture will be of interest to our readers.

Forty or fifty years ago the manufacture of paper hangings in this country was confined to the production of plain colored papers for paper window-shades, and cheap papers on a brown or slate-colored stock, on which rude designs were printed by a hand press from blocks, in, perhaps, three or four colors. The register of these was imperfect, and the best patterns would not now be considered fit to be used in papering the plain- est or roughest shanty. All the better classes of paper hangings were imported from England or France; and some low-priced papers, but of better designs than the American, came from Germany.

The improvement was very gradual for many years; the paper and printing were better, though both were far below the poorest of the present time. France sup- plied the finest papers and the English manufacturers followed. A manufacturer of long experience tells us that, so lately as twelve or fifteen years ago, they would look sadly at the samples of English and French papers as they came in, and would say, "Oh, if we could only equal this !" Now, the same samples would excite their derision, for they can far surpass even the highest productions of the foreign manufacturers. The first item in the manufacture of paper hangings is the paper. We believe none of the manufacturers make their own paper, and probably they could not do so to advantage. Several of the large paper mills in Sara-

toga, Washington and Herkimer counties, and some of those in New England, run exclusively on this paper. It is mostly made of old newspaper stock, and it does not require very great strength and tenacity, and straw would be too brittle, wood-pulp too fine, and rags too costly. There are two or three grades, though the difference in quality is not great. All are sized at the paper mills, and are furnished to the wall paper manu- facturers in rolls of about 1,600 yards each. A house like that of Messrs. W. II. Mairs & Co. will use from 70,000 to 80,000 of these monster rolls, which weigh not far from 100 pounds each, in a year-about 3,600 tons. In the basement of the great factory, side by side with the stock of paper, are the barrels and casks of colors, ground in water. The aniline colors play an important part among these, and there are also large quantities of gold and silver leaf, and some of the Dutch bronzes- with their appropriate sizes.

But to return to the paper. If it is to be of the grade known as satin papers, it is first passed through a grounding machine which puts on a coating of clay. This is then reeled up and passes through a polishing machine, so arranged that, as the paper passes over the cylinder, its surface comes in contact with roller brushes of tampico, running at great speed, which gives it a fine gloss or satin finish. This ground work may be of any desired color, the clay being tinted with a light cream shade, pale or deep yellow, buff or ecru, brown, olive, light or dark green, blue, or even black.

Those papers which are not satin finished do not un- dergo this process, but are fed directly upon the print- ing machine, the sizing of the paper at the mill where it is manufactured being sufficient to prevent the colors from striking through. At the present time, however, all the better classes of papers are satined or grounded before printing. In either case, as the paper passes from the printing machine a rod or lath with rounded edges, about a yard in length, is, by an in- genious device, slipped under the paper at intervals of about 16 feet, and drawn up the inclined rails on either side, till it reaches a height of perhaps seven and a half feet when it drops into a slot in the slowly travelling frame, and the paper is thus sus- pended, in loops measuring about 16 feet. The frame on which they are suspended, travels forward slowly, closing up to a distance of perhaps six inches between the loops, and the temperature of the roora is sufficiently high to dry this colored surface in a few hours. . When dry, the paper is ready for the printing of the pattern. The printing, which was originally done from wooden blocks, usually of cherry or beech, with carved figures, which did not always register accurately, is now mostly done from cylinders of maple, the process of making which we will presently describe. Each cylinder or roller prints only a single color, and all of the pattern which is of that color. The number of colors in a pat- tern may be anywhere from one to twelve; and if gold

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HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

printing is introduced, the portions to be in gold have cylinders charged at those points with gold size, the gold leaf being afterward applied by another machine. The arrangements for registering are perfect; every part of the pattern, on each roller, fits absolutely into every other, and when the cylinders are put in their places on the great printing machine, whatever the number of colors, they are all printed by the same revolutions of the machine, and the long roll of paper comes out completed, so far as the pattern is concerned. For the drying, the same process as before is necessary of hanging it in loops, and when fully dried it is lightly calendered, and then passed along an inclined plane, where, by automatic machinery, it is cut off in lengths of sixteen yards, the end turned over, and, by another automatic arrangement, a girl is able to turn off about five rolls a minute, the outer edge or end of the roll being folded inward like a hem. The rolls are carried from this room to the receiving room, examined, num- bered, and after sampling, are ready for packing. While roller or cylinder printing of wall-papers is the process most in use, some of the very finest patterns are printed from wooden blocks, with raised figures, upon a different kind of press, the impressions being made on a flat surface, instead of by cylindrical rollers, somewhat after the style of the printing machines which print from wood engravings in colors. The method of making the cylinders or rollers for printing the wall-papers merits description. The cylinders, turned very smoothly and of uniform size, have, first, the entire pattern pasted or cemented upon them. This pattern is on tracing paper or cloth, and is transferred from the original design, which has the design drawn and colored as it will appear when finished. The trans- fers made by tracing paper of this design are not colored, but there are as many transfers as there are colors, and the artist, by a colored tracing pencil, marks every line of a particular color upon the tracing paper for each roller, before it is carefully pasted upon the roller. The rollers for the different colors constitute a set, each having that portion of the design only per- taining to its particular color, and the whole number making up the entire pattern. The rollers having these patterns of the design marked are next put into the hands of workmen, who work out the design by insert- ing in the lines brass-plates-what the printers would call their brass rule-about one-fourth of an inch wide. The brass is very hard, and the pieces are skilfully in- serted, after being hammered or filed into shape, so as to give the outline of a flower, or vine, or any other figure. The lines are first cut slightly by a suitable tool, and then the brass figures are settled into them to a uniform depth by a slight tap of a hammer. The in- terstices of each figure are filled with a very heavy and dense felt, of a thickness nearly equal to the elevation of the brass figures. When each roller of a set is com- pleted, they are taken to a lathe, and a gauge being

set, cach is turned down to precisely the same diame- ter, a difference of a hair's breadth being sufficient to materially damage the printing. The manufacture of window shades, which are produced in large quantitics by Messrs. Mairs & Co., and of fresco and ceiling papers, which are a specialty of Messrs. Graves & Co., requires a somewhat different process, owing to the greater width and different form of these papers and shades. The shades are printed on gigantic cylinder presses, the diameter of the cylinders being from 15 to 18 feet. The rolls of paper-three feet in width-from which the presses are fed, are about five feet in circum- ference. The ceiling papers are printed, we believe, on a very large press, but we are not familiar with the details of the work.

This industry has passed through great changes in the last twenty-five years, not only in Kings county and the state of New York, but throughout the whole country. In 1860, the first census in which it was reported, there were 26 establishments in the whole country, employing 1,294 hands, and $1,037,600 cap- ital, and producing goods valued at $2,148,800. These all consisted of what would now be called cheap papers.

In 1870, the number of establishments had fallen to 19, but these were employing 869 hands, and $1,415,- 500 capital, and produced goods to the value of $2,165,510. These were better goods, though not yet of the highest quality. In 1880 there were reported 25 establishments, employing a capital of $3,560,500 and 2,487 hands, and producing goods valued at $6,261,303. Among these were the finest patterns, equal if not superior to any of the European papers. Of these 25 paper hangings factories, 16 were in the state of New York (11 in New York city, 3 in Brook- lyn, 1 in Staten Island, and 1 in Buffalo), 6 in Phila- delphia, and 3 in New Jersey.

In 1870, one-fourth of all the paper hangings made in the state of New York were made in Kings county, and three-fourths in New York city. About two- thirds of all the manufactories, and more than one- half the wall paper produced in the United States were made in the two counties of New York and Kings. The statistics of the census of the business in Kings county in 1870 were: 5 establishments, 332 hands employed, $300,000 capital, $149,500 wages, $996,000 products.

In 1880, there had been another change, both in Kings and New York counties; the production in the former, as we have already seen, had increased, though the number of establishments had decreased from five to three; the quality of the goods had also greatly improved.

In New York city there were 11 establishments; $196,500 capital; 1,359 hands; $415,120 paid in wages; $2,054,104 value of raw material; $3,499,143 of an- nual products. At that time those two counties had three-fifths of all the manufactories, and produced

LAHET

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THE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES.

four-fifths of all the paper hangings made in the United States.

Both cities (New York and Brooklyn), have made great progress in the manufacture of thesc goods in three years, 1880-'83, and their present relation to the entire production of the country is that of 83 to 100, or five-sixths of the whole. The number of establish- ments remains (with some local changes), three-fifths of the whole, but some of the establishments in the two cities are larger than any others in the United States (one, in Brooklyn, is said to be the largest in the world). Of the 83 per cent. of production, Brooklyn has about 31 per cent., and New York 52 per cent., and each year increases largely the aggregate produc- tion. The actual amount and value of the Brooklyn product for the year ending July 1, 1883, was, in round numbers, 13,632,000 rolls, value, $2,175,556; of this amount Messrs. William H. Mairs & Co. made 8,882,- 000 rolls, or their equivalent, valued at $1,125,376.

The great improvement in these papers dates back only to 1875. There are yet considerable quantities of the cheaper papers manufactured, for there is a de- mand for them; but even the cheapest have tasteful designs, and are superior to many of the best designs of fifteen years ago. A small quantity of the cheaper qualities is imported from Germany, where poor paper and cheap work are united, but the importation is de- creasing every year.

WILLIAM H. MAIRS, who is well known as the leading manufacturer of wall paper in the United States, was born in Utica, Oneida county, N. Y., June 29th, 1834. His father was John Mairs, who, for twenty-five years, was a merchant of Utica, and his mother was Rachel (Van Deusen) Mairs, a daughter of James Van Deusen, Esq., of Leeds, Greene county, N. Y.

Mr. Mairs' grandfather, Rev. James Mairs, was a Scotch Presbyterian clergyman, who came to this country from the North of Ireland, about 1790, and settled at Galway, Sara- toga county, N. Y.

On his mother's side he is a descendant of the seventh gen- eration of Jan Franse Van Hussam, who came from Holland with his family and settled at Fort Orange and Beverwyck (now Albany), as early as 1645, where he made several pur- chases of land; among others, the Claverack lands, made June 5, 1662, lying along the Hudson river, above, and in- cluding the site on which the city of Hudson now stands, which he bought of the Indians for the sum of five hundred guilders in beavers, as recorded in a book of deeds in the Albany county clerk's office. Mr. Mairs, consequently, comes of old Knickerbocker stock.

In 1845, his father closed up his business in Utica, and re- moved with his family to New York, where William H. Mairs received his education at the Mechanics' Institute.

In 1850, he commenced his mercantile education in the fancy goods trade, in which his father and brother were then engaged, and in that line of business he remained seven years.

Ambitious to start in business for himself, when but 23 years of age, in 1857, he began the manufacture of wall pa- per in a comparatively small way. His business grew rapidly and steadily, and now ranks as the most extensive of its

kind in the United States. His immense factory, located at the corner of Sackett and Van Brunt streets, is five stories high, and covers twenty-three lots, extending through the block to Union street ; its length on Sackett street is 256 feet, and it extends 200 feet along Union street, and 100 feet on Van Brunt street. Here all the various processes of wall paper manufacture are carried on, affording employment to a large number of skilled workmen. In the pages of this work, devoted to the manufacturing history of Brooklyn, these premises are described, and further mention is made of Mr. Mairs' great enterprise.

On June 13th, 1866, Mr. Mairs was married to Miss Ellen A., daughter of Danforth K. Olney, Esq., of Catskill, N. Y., a prominent member of the Greene county bar, and has a fam- ily of four sons and a daughter named in the order of their birth. James H., born July 31st, 1867; William A., born January 6th, 1870; John D., born March 2d, 1872; Olney B., born January 31st, 1876, and Ella Louise, born October 20th, 1878. Mr. Mairs is, in the best sense, one of the most prom- inent of the representative business men of Brooklyn; a man of much enterprise, energy and originality, and a large employer of labor. Taking no active part in politics or other interests, which might have a tendency to divert liis attention from his constantly increasing business, he has ap- plied himself unremittingly to the paper manufacture and trade, with all the various details of which he doubtless has a more thorough acquaintance than any other man in the country, until his name and reputation for fair and honorable dealing is known to the entire wall paper trade of the United States and Canada.

SUBSECTION I .- Paper-Making.

There is not, so far as we are aware, any paper mill in Kings County for the manufacture of fine writing or printing papers; perhaps none for white papers of any description; though on this latter point, we are not quite certain. These papers are generally made where there is ample water-power-good clear water being a necessity for making clear white papers-and cheap land, and extensive, low-priced buildings are also es- sential. The raw material is probably as cheap here as anywherc.

Straw paper and paper from wood pulp are also generally made in the country, and the former, espc- cially, in the west, where straw is a drug. But there are, certainly, two and perhaps three manufactories of paper in Kings county. One, the " Manila " paper, made of jute butts by Messrs. L. Waterbury & Co., we have already described; they manufacture 10 tons of it cvery 24 hours, equal to 3,000 tons per year. Messrs. Henry A. Philp & Co. (H. A. Philp and M. B. Carpenter), a house recently established, arc manu- facturing, at Carroll, corner of Nevins street, both news and wall paper. This paper is made from old news- paper stock and similar material. The paper is made on Fourdrinier machines, and in large rolls. They produce 4 tons of the wall paper in 24 hours, equal to about twelve hundred tons per year. It is mostly sold here. The quantity of news made is not reported. Lowell L. Palmer manufactures " Manila " paper, amount not stated.

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HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

Another large paper mill, finely fitted up, is now idle.

SUBSECTION II .- The Manufacture of Fancy and Colored Papers.

The statistics for the census gathered by Mr. Froth- ingham, in 1880, enumerate paper hangings and fancy papers together-giving 6 establishments; $597,000 capital; 622 hands; $237,133 wages paid annually; and $1,752,412 of annual product. The Census Office de- cided to separate the two industries, and gave the statistics of the paper hangings manufacture as 3 es- tablishments; $285,000 capital; 427 hands; $175,233 wages paid, and $1,382,862 of annual production.

The number of these establishments in 1880 was correctly stated; one has been added since; but how far short of accuracy they fell in the other particulars is very clearly shown in a preceding section.

But, unfortunately for the accuracy of the census returns, they forgot to put in the fancy papers at all ! The statistics of this industry (fancy papers), as col- lected by Mr. Frothingham, would seem to have been: 3 establishments; $312,000 capital; 195 hands; $61,400 paid for wages, and $369,550 total annual product. The business directory for 1883 gives the number of manu- facturers of fancy papers as four. The other particulars will, we think, show that, though Mr. Frothingham used all diligence in collecting his statistics, he either failed to obtain them accurately, or there has been a very great increase of the business within the past three and a half years.

The leading house in this business is, undoubtedly,

MESSRS. DOTY & MCFARLAN, whose manufactory of fancy papers, the largest of its kind in the country, stands at the corner of Willoughby avenue and Walworth street. They are the successors of Doty & Bergen, who commenced manu- facturing in Brooklyn about 1845. This firm was then com- posed of Warren S. Doty and Peter G. Bergen, the latter of whom will be remembered by old citizens as a prominent member of the Board of Education, a brother of Hon. Teunis G. Bergen, and father of the present Justice Garret Bergen. Previous to 1845, Mr. Doty had for several years manufac- tured fancy papers in a small way in New York city, in con- nection with a more considerable business in engraving and printing; but, upon the formation of the firm of Doty & Ber- gen, the manufacturing department was removed to Brooklyn, and carried on in a frame building on Eighteenth street, in the rear of the Bergen homestead, which stood at the corner of Third avenue and Eighteenth street, while the engraving and printing was continued in New York, in a building known as the old Rigging House, famous as the first meeting house of the Methodists in this country.

The Brooklyn manufactory, under the personal supervision of Mr. Bergen, remained thus, until a brick building on the opposite side of Eighteenth street, was built and occupied about 1853.

Warren S. Doty died in November, 1855, but the firm name was continued by previous arrangement, and his son Ethan Allen Doty entered at first as a clerk, but soon succeeded to an interest in the profits. The firm weathered the panics of 1857 and 1861, but found it difficult to compete with im-

portation of foreign goods, and made but slow headway un- til 1862, when Mr. Bergen retired, and the present firm of Doty & McFarlan was constituted. In 1864, the manufactory was removed to Willoughby avenue and Walworth street, since which time the buildings have been repeatedly enlarged and re-built, until now they occupy a space 100 by 200 feet, with brick buildings, five stories high, and extensions.

The specialties of the business are the printing of papers for trunk linings and box coverings, and manufacturing of surface-colored or coated papers for the use of paper box makers, printers, &c., and for use as wrappers of various articles.

This keeps in constant employment about 150 hands, while the outlay for machinery has not been less than $50,000.

The firm now consists of Ethan Allen Doty, who entered in 1855, Edward McFarlan, who entered in 1862, James Scrim- geour, who entered as a clerk in 1862, and was admitted to the firm in 1870, and Albin Gustave Pape, who entered the manufactory in 1866, and was admitted to the firm in 1880. The warehouse is at No. 70 Duane street, New York city.

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The civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the county of Kings and the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., from 1683 to 1884 Volume I, Part 180

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed. cn; Brockett, L. P. (Linus Pierpont), 1820-1893; Proctor, L. B. (Lucien Brock), 1830-1900. 1n Publication date: 1884 Publisher: New York : W. W. Munsell & Co. Number of Pages: 1114

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed. cn; Brockett, L. P. (Linus Pierpont), 1820-1893; Proctor, L. B. (Lucien Brock), 1830-1900. 1n
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York : W. W. Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1114