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 II, Part 26

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co
Number of Pages: 1345

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 II > Part 26

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The remainder of the ground is occupied by one large mill building containing 13 moulding machines, capable of producing 130,000 feet of worked mouldings a day ; 3 large planing machines, band, jig, circular and other saws, and the necessary belting and shafting for driving them; in the centre of the mill, the " knife room," where the moulding cutters are made and where, on shelves, each numbered in order, the knives or cut- ters are stored after their manufacture or repair. Two men are constantly at work making new knives. The shop is fitted up with a portable forge, anvils, tanite emery wheels, etc. In this same mill are also the sand-

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HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

papering machines, invented by Mr. Loomis, and used exclusively in this establishment. On these machines the mouldings receive the smooth finish for which Loomis' mouldings are noted in the trade. Two of these ma- chines now do the work of from 60 to 80 boys, and ac- complish it much more skillfully and satisfactorily, preserving all sharp corners intact, and finishing uni- formly, and without injury, all surfaces and delicate members of the moulding.

Mr. Loomis also owns and occupies a lumber yard 100x225 feet, on the canal, at the corner of Carroll and Nevins streets, for receiving and piling his lumber, and another yard 100x100 feet, opposite his mill on Nevins street, where he keeps for sale all descriptions of

Court from 1675 to 1687, and died in 1688 at the age of 66 years. The son of Thomas Loomis, of Windsor, was Thomas Loomis, of Hatfield, Mass., born in 1653. His son was Thomas Loomis, of Lebanon, Conn., born in 1684; and his son Lieu- tenant Thomas Loomis, also of Lebanon, born in 1714, Captain Isaiah Loomis, also of Lebanon, was a son of the lieutenant, and a soldier of the Revolution; he was born in 1749. Sherman Loomis, of Centremoreland, Penn., was the son of Captain Isaiah, born in 1787, and was the father of John Sharp Loomis.

In 1846, John S. Loomis went from Wilkesbarre, where he had learned his trade as a carpenter, to South Carolina, and was engaged, under A. W. Craven, in building the Camden & Gadsden Railroad, one of the last links in the first railroad connection between the North and the South. In 1847, he came to Brooklyn, and entered the shop of Thomas Baylis,

PLANING

LOOMIS

MOLDING& PLANING

MILLS.

SCROLL

ISAI

LUMBER

U.S.LOOMIS!

LUMBER YARD

J. S. LOOMIS' MOULDING AND PLANING MILLS.

dressed lumber for the local trade. Mr. Loomis re- quires annually for his business about 6,000,000 feet of pine lumber and 750,000 feet of hard-wood.

Mr. Loomis does also a very considerable business in the production of hard wood trimmings in addition to his mouldings manufacture. He employs about 120 hands; paying annually about $92,000 wages, and pro- ducing annually mouldings, &c., to the value of about $350,000.

JOHN SHARP LOOMIS .- The subject of this sketch was born in Centremoreland, Wyoming county, Penn., June 12, 1825. He is of strictly Puritan stock, his first direct ancestor in this country having been Joseph Loomis, a woollen draper, of Essex county, England, who came to Boston in 1638, and re- moved to Windsor, in the Connecticut Colony, in 1639. One of his five sons was John Loomis or Loomys, another Thomas Loomis, both of Windsor, and both men of substance and distinction, Thomas Loomis was a deputy to the General

who was at that time one of the leading builders in the city. About a year later he formed a partnership with James Mc- Cammann, a fellow workman, and started a small mill in Tompkins place for the manufacture of sash, doors and blinds. Their mill was only 25 feet square, was run by horse- power, and contained a very few machines.

They were compelled, by the increase of their business, to remove to larger quarters in Wyckoff street, near Smith, at the end of two years, where they had nearly three times as much room and a steam-engine of five horse power. In 1855, the partnership was dissolved, Mr. McCammann going out, and thenceforward Mr. Loomis continued the business alone. He now turned his attention to the extension of his trade with the south. He had added mouldings to his products, and in five years had created so large a market for his work in the southern states, that he sold out his sash, door and blind interest, and confined himself exclusively to the manu- facture of mouldings and turned work. Notwithstanding the derangement of business consequent upon the war, his trade constantly increased, and he was in the height of a prosperous and growing business, when, on the 6th of June, 1868, his

THE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES.

737

& S Loomis

mill was entirely destroyed by fire. He instantly made tem- porary arrangements for continuing his business, and pur- chased the site which his present mill occupies, at the head of Gowanus canal, on Nevins street. Here, by the first of December, 1868, he had completed a very large manufactory, replete with every convenience, for his business. Here the increase of his trade surpassed all his former anticipations. It would seem that Mr. Loomis would be justified in calling his manufactory the "Phoenix" works, for, since his re- moval to Nevins street, he has three times seen his buildings and machinery and stock destroyed by fire. These fires occurred in 1870, 1876 and in August, 1881. The last fire was especially destructive, sweeping away another factory as well as his own. But three months later he had finished a new factory, larger, and every way more complete in all its appointments, than any of its predecessors had been. Else- where we describe this new factory, with its numerous buildings. Suffice it to say, that it is fully supplied with machines of the latest and most approved patterns, many of them of Mr. Loomis' own invention, and that the extensive machine shop connected with it is constantly making addi- tions to its appliances for turning out perfect work. There ars other moulding and turning mills in Brooklyn, of great extent and capable of turning out excellent work; but none, in all respects, equal to this. He is now also occupied quite largely in what is known as the "hard-wood department" of the moulding and trimming business. This consists in the manufacture of ornamental door and window frames, rails, Newel posts, etc., etc., which are richly veneered, in- laid, carved, etc., for halls, theatres, opera houses, hotels,

steamboats and private dwellings. The industry is a com- paratively new one, but is rapidly growing.

Mr. Loomis' business, which began with the Brooklyn trade, now extends throughout the eastern, middle, south- ern and southwestern states, and he is also frequently re- ceiving orders from the West Indies, South America, Eng- land, Scotland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and other countries.

Mr. Loomis is a thorough-going business man, and pos- sesses a genial and sunny temper, which has drawn around him a host of friends. His generous and social disposition; his undaunted pluck and self-poise in the midst of disaster, his confident leadership in perilous enterprises, his courage, hopefulness and perfect self-control amid the wild and chaotic excitement of the great fires which have so often de- stroyed his property; the quiet firmness and resolution with which he has retrieved his fortunes; and the constancy of his friendships, render him a man to be admired and loved by all who know him.

Mr. Loomis' family consists of his wife and three grown-up sons, two of whom are in the business with their father. He hasalways been a republican in his political relations, though not a partisan. He was one of the original stockholders and directors of the Sprague National Bank.

Mr. Loomis has always held that the eye of the master is the best guaranty of the perfection and excellence of the work which he offers to the public; and, acting on this con- viction, he may be seen, at almost any hour of the day, over- looking, inspecting and directing the work on which some of his 120 workmen are engaged.

738

HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

The manufacture of sash, doors and blinds describes itself. It is constantly increasing, and these goods, we believe, owing in part to the strong competition, are better made, and of more thoroughly seasoned lumber, than formerly. The trade is almost entirely local, as every city and large village has its factories for the production of these articles, so necessary for the build- er's use. Of late, even hard-wood doors, of the best quality, carved and ornamented, are made in these factories. The census of 1880 reported 24 of these es- tablishments with a capital of $368,350, employing 637 hands, and paying $190,509 wages; using $398,679 of material and producing $738,722 annually. As the census makes no separate mention of mouldings or hard-wood trimmings, it is probable that these were in- cluded. Now, the business directory of 1883 reports eight houses engaged in making mouldings, etc. (there are really twelve), and in the county 38 manufacturers of sash, doors and blinds. The number of hands em- ployed exceeds 750, and the production, aside from mouldings is over $1,000,000. The largest houses in the business are Louis Bossert, Alexander Dugan, Good- win, Cross & Co., Stanley & Unckles, R. F. Whipple, H. Kirk & Morgenthaler, Welsh d. Little, Long Island Saw and Planing Mills, South Brooklyn Saw Mills Company, William Skidmore, etc., etc.

SUBSECTION VI .- Mattresses, Spring Beds and Bed- ding.

More intimately connected with the furniture trade than the hard-wood trimmings, or the mouldings and the sashes, doors and blinds, are the mattresses, spring beds and bedding. Mattresses are made of exceedingly various materials. The material most valued by house- keepers is genuine, pure, curled horse-hair; and mat- tresses containing this article, and nothing else, always command a high price. There are many cheaper ma- terials, used either by themselves, or to cheapen hair mattresses, however, which have a considerable sale. Deer's hair is used by one manufacturer for ship mat- tresses, on account of its buoyant quality, as it is said that it cannot be made to sink; Russian felt is used for its freedom from vermin; curled husks, tow, excelsior, shavings, Spanish moss, curled palm leaf, hay, straw and moss are also used in the cheaper mattresses. There are also mattresses of woven wire, of spiral springs, upholstered and not upholstered, of coiled springs, and of almost every description of springs, and fastened in an almost infinite variety of ways. Then there are beds or mattresses of feathers, of down, of cotton, of wool, and of vegetable wool and woolly plants. Nearly every description of mattress named is manufactured here. The census reported but seven manufacturers of mattresses and spring beds, employ- ing 36 hands and producing $137,676 of goods; but this was a most remarkable under-estimate. Of the hundreds of upholsterers and furniture dealers, there

is hardly one who does not make mattresses of some kind, and most of them many kinds; while there are 24 houses, some of them large, who make the manu- facture of mattresses and spring beds their sole occu- pation. It is, of course, difficult, and perhaps impossi- ble, to come at any very near approximation to the amount of business done in these goods, but it is cer- tainly within bounds to say that, including the export of special spring beds and mattresses made here, the whole number of hands employed is not under 250, and the production above $500,000. The leading houses who are specially engaged in this manufacture are: the Brooklyn Spring Bed Co., who manufacture woven wire and other mattresses, at 56 Flatbush avenue; they employ ten men and turn out mattresses to the amount of about $50,000; John Wood, of 223 Fulton street, whose business was estabished in 1864, and who turns out about $60,000 of furniture and bedding annually; William S. Fogg & Son; the Metropolitan Manufactur- ing Company; J. & R. Ainslie, of 20-22 Broadway, E. D., who make a specialty of peculiar metallic spring mattresses of great excellence, employ 15 hands, and produce goods to the value of about $52,000 a year; K. C. Bradford; the Metallic Upholstering Company; L. Goodwin; Edwin P. Fowler; George S. Goodwin; L. Drew, whose house has been established for more than 56 years ; his business in this line is largely wholesale, and his customers are the best furniture dealers in Kings County; he connects feather dressing and renovating with his business, and also bedding in general; Samuel H. Mills, William T. Fish, etc., etc.

The census returns of all branches of the furniture and upholstering manufacture are somewhat more than $2,800,000 and 2,065 hands employed. Adding for mouldings and hard-wood trimmings, and the defective report of mattresses and spring beds, and the very great increase of the business within four years, and we have an aggregate of more than $4,500,000 in all branches of the business, and more than 3,000 hands employed.

SECTION XVI.

Publishing and Book Manufacture.

The item, " Printing and Publishing," in the census of 1880, is misleading in many respects. Sixty-four establishments were reported, with $889,284 capital, employing 1,299 hands, paying $522,075 wages, using $552,610 material, and producing $1,549, 743 of books, papers, pamphlets and job work. This enumeration included every little job office in the city; but it would seem to have omitted the three great book factories of Brooklyn-or, rather, two of them, as Messrs. Barnes' factory was not erected till 1880-for Mr. Froth- ingham's report, which did include these, gave 68 establishments, with $994,384 of capital, employ- ing 1,448 hands, paying $562,613 wages, using

THE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES.

739

$496,610 of raw material, and producing annually $2,062,293 of books, papers, &c. The census office, doubtless, concluded in these cases, as they have in many other Brooklyn manufactures, that since the goods were sold in New York city, Brooklyn was not entitled to the credit of their manufacture. But, as a matter of fact, the greater part of the product of these great book manufactories is shipped direct from the factories, by telegraphic and telephonic orders, and never enters the New York warehouses. The capital is invested here, the whole process of manufacture is

The Freie Press and The Brooklyn Daily Union, all do a very large business, and having job offices attached to them, turn out a vast amount of printing annually. These four newspapers, with their advertisements and their job offices, have an aggregate production of not less than $700,000 annually; adding to this the seven- teen or eighteen other newspapers, periodicals and magazines (not including the advertising sheets), and we have an aggregate annual production of not less than $1,050,000. Of the other forty-two or forty- three printing establishments, some are connected

ALWARREN

D. APPLETON & CO.'S BOOK MANUFACTORY.

conducted here, and the perfected product is stored here, ready for shipment to any point where it is needed. But, though Mr. Frothingham's annual product exceeds that of the census office by more than $500,000, it does not adequately represent the immense production of these great houses, as we shall see presently.

Under this heading, the census, undoubtedly, in- cludes the printing and publishing of the daily and weekly newspapers and the monthly publications. We describe these more at length under the head of " The Press and Journalism." Suffice it to say, that The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, The Brooklyn Daily Times,

with book-stores and stationery houses; some are jobbing offices, which have a good business in con- nection with large manufacturing, commercial or busi- ness houses; some are connected with banks, insurance and real estate offices, and draw their business mainly from them, printing the advertising sheets which are so common, and other jobbing work. Most of the great manufacturing houses have a printing office of their own. Taking these all together (and the number has probably increased since 1880 to about 60), and their annual production is not less than $500,000, and may considerably exceed that sum.

740

HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

But the production of the great book factories ex- ceeds that of the newspapers and job printers together.

The first of these in Brooklyn in the order of time, and probably the largest in extent, is that of Messrs. D. APPLETON & Co., at 201-219 Kent avenue. The Messrs. Appleton, booksellers in New York since 1825, and publishers since 1831, had found their publications becoming so numerous as to require facilities of their own for the manufacture of their publications. They commenced a bindery in New York city in 1854, a printing office with eight power presses, and 26 hands in Franklin street, New York city, in 1855, and a composition and electrotyping department in Greene street, New York, in 1864. Mr. Matthews was, and still is at the head of their bindery; Mr. Dunne at the head of the printing department, now enlarged to 21 Adams presses and 150 hands, and Mr. William H. S. Werry, deceased in 1875, and succeeded by his son, Edward Werry, was at the head of the composition and electrotyping department, which originally had twelve hands, and now has more than 100.

In December, 1867, Messrs. Appleton erected their present book factory in Kent street and consolidated all their departments under one building or series of buildings. This is said to be one of the largest and most completely appointed printing and binding estab- lishments in the world. The bindery alone is 250 feet long and five stories high, and has about 425 hands employed. The printing office and the composing and electrotyping rooms occupy another large building, and still another has been erected for the storage of books, as well as extensive vaults for plates. The firm now employs about 700 hands, pay out $325,000 annually for wages, and their annual product in this factory is between $700,000 and $800,000.

They have a restaurant for their hands in the build- ing, which furnishes meals at the bare cost; two sick benefit organizations have been organized; there is an excellent circulating library for the operatives, founded in memory of George S. Appleton, deceased, a former member of the firm, and the Appleton Mission, which provides religious services free of charge to all who choose to attend them.

Messrs. McLoughlin Brothers were the next of these book manufacturers to establish a large book factory in Brooklyn. They had been for many years engaged in the manufacture and publication of colored toy books, games and toys in New York at first, from 1840 to 1850, as Elton & Co., and from 1855 under the present firm name; but finding occasion for larger quarters, they removed to Brooklyn in 1870, and erected their present spacious factory at South Eleventh street, corner of Third. Here they employ about 350 hands, and produce a very large amount of toy books, colored and plain games, and toys. Their business has grown steadily from year to year. All their books, toys, etc., are sold in New York.

The third, in the order of time, of these great man- ufactories, is that of Messrs. A. S. BARNES & Co. This house has been in business as publishers since 1838, at first in Hartford, Conn .; afterward in Phila- delphia, and since 1845 in New York city, where they originally occupied a store and warehouse at the cor- ner of John and Dutch streets. Their quarters be- coming too strait for them, they purchased the five- story store and warehouse, on the corner of William and John streets, in 1868, reserving the old store and warehouse, as well as a part of the new, for manufac- turing purposes. In 1880, they had outgrown these quarters, and Mr. Barnes erected their present large manufactory in Brooklyn, on the corner of Liberty and Nassau streets, 75x100 feet, and six stories high. To this new building they removed their printing offices, bindery, packing, and in part, their storage rooms. Twenty power presses are kept continually running on the school-books and other publications of the firm, and most of their orders are shipped to their point of destination direct from the factory. Mr. Edwin M. Barnes, the third son of Mr. A. S. Barnes, is in charge of the manufactory.

The number of hands employed in all departments of the factory is about 250, and they turn out over a million of school-books annually.

These three manufactories are, we believe, all, which are regularly engaged in the production of books in Brooklyn; certainly, they are all which are conducted solely for the account of the publishers who own them. Their aggregate production, as we have seen, is above $1,600,000, and the aggregate number of hands em- ployed about 1,350.

A. S. BARNES .- There is, perhaps, no department of enterprise and industry, which has been more marked in its development within the past few years, than that of the publication of school books.

The small store, with some dozens of spelling-books and readers, with copy-books and arithmetics, in still smaller quantities, has given place to the present mam- moth establishment, turning out from its immense power-presses, and well appointed bindery, its thousands -nay, millions-of volumes yearly, embracing every department of human learning for which a text book has been, or can be, prepared. In very few establishments in the world, probably, has this development from a small beginning to a great enterprise, been more fully exemplified than in the house deriving its name from, and owing its foundation and great success to, the subject of our sketch.

It has steadily grown, from its first modest quarters of twelve by twenty feet square in Hartford, in 1838, to the occupation of buildings in Brooklyn, New York and Chicago, whose floors may be measured by acres, and the product of whose presses goes out by tons and car-loads to every part of this and many foreign

coff Baruls

741

THE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES.

countries. ALFRED SMITH BARNES, the founder of this establishment, was born in New Haven, Conn., Jan. 28, 1817. His father, Eli Barnes, was a native of South- ington, Hartford county, and his mother, Susan Morris, of East Haven, Conn. Eli Barnes was originally a farmer, but subsequently became a merchant at New Haven, where he died in 1827, leaving a widow and five children. Of Mrs. Barnes, it is said that "she was the daughter of pious parents and a worthy member of a godly race. In her widowhood she was not alone. She trusted in pious confidence to Him who hears the prayers of the afflicted, and pours out the oil of gladness into sorrowing hearts ; her labors were crowned by the highest rewards. Her family grew up under her care, and under the influence of her pure and earnest life. She impressed upon them the convictions of a religious mind, and under these convictions not only guarded them from evil, but conducted them to honorable suc- cesses." Alfred was the second son, and at the age of 11 years he was placed under the care of an uncle at Hartford. He attended school during winter and labored on a farm during the summer months, thus combining manual labor and intellectual discipline in laying the foundation of future usefulness.

At the age of sixteen years he entered the store of D. F. Robinson & Co., of Hartford, Conn., at that time one of the leading publishing houses of the country, as a clerk, and, at the same time became a member of his employer's family. Here he received the advantages and influences of a christian home, which, added to the teach- ings of a pious mother, gave a decidedly religious bent to his mind, which has found development in later life in an active connection with church and Sabbath school, and all kindred work, and laid the foundation of those strict principles of integrity that have made his name respected in the business circles wherein he has moved. In 1835 Messrs. Robinson & Co. moved their business to New York city, where the young clerk caught his first glimpses of the methods of conducting the more extensive business of leading houses in the metropolis, and at the great centers of trade. This larger experi- ence was of great value to him, and finally determined his partially formed plans for the future. In February, 1838, being then just 21 years old, and having com- pleted the term of his clerkship, he entered into a partnership with Prof. Charles Davies, formerly of West Point, but then residing in Hartford. The first efforts of the new firm, then and thereafter to be known as A. S. Barnes & Co., were in the publication of Prof. Davies' admirable series of mathematical works, Prof. Davies receiving a portion of the profits in addition to a fixed copyright. The first quarters of the new firm consisted of a small room on Pearl street in Hartford; and here, without other capital than the intelligence and tireless energy of one partner and the intellectual ability and thorough knowledge of this subject and training for his work on the part of the other, began an

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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 II, Part 26

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed Publication date: 1884 Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co Number of Pages: 1345

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co
Number of Pages: 1345