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 39

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 39

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The magnitude of Mr. Hawley's business entitles him to a somewhat full description. The Hawley family have been engaged in the manufacture of packing boxes in New York and Brooklyn for about forty-four years. The father of the present manufacturer, O. F. Hawley, Sr., was by trade a carpenter, in New York, and commenced making packing boxes as a part of his business in 1840, at first in New street, and, afterward, also in Gold street, New York, Messrs. Foster & Lowerre being his partners at different times till 1861. In 1858, they had removed to their new mill, 128 Church street, corner Thomas, New York, five stories high, still retaining their Gold street place, but selling that in New street. In 1861, Mr. Hawley, Sr., and C. Corley were the proprietors, and O. F. Hawley, Jr., was in the employ of the firm, beginning at the large wages of two dollars per week. He remained in the factory for four years, passing through every depart- ment and working at every machine in the works, till he had mastered the business in all its details; and then for four years more, had charge of the lumber yard, which the firm had maintained, since 1845, on Thirteenth avenue, corner West Twelfth street, New York. They bought what is known as the "product of the log," and, using the coarser lumber for their boxes, sold the better grades for commercial purposes.

In 1870, Mr. O. F. Hawley, Jr., became a member of the firm, which then consisted of O. F. Hawley, Sr.,

797

THE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES.

PLANING

LUMBL

LUME

AWILLY O. F. HAWLEY

0. F. HAWLEY'S MANUFACTORY.

William H. Wright and O. F. Hawley, Jr. About this time there began to be some falling off in the de- mand for packing boxes from the dry goods jobbing houses, many of the jobbers removing to the West, and the goods being sent to them in the original pack- ages, and distributed by them from Chicago, St. Louis, and other points, in packing boxes made there. But a new business was found in the manufacture of petro- leum oil cases for export. These cases were of pecu- liar construction, and each held two five-gallon cans of petroleum oil. The demand for these increased so fast that in 1873 the firm of O. F. Hawley & Co. resolved to move their box factory to Brooklyn, and put up machinery for manufacturing these goods. Their new location was on Rodney, Ross and Keap streets, and Kent avenue and the Wallabout canal. At this time they were manufacturing over 3,000 boxes a day, a very decided advance from the 50 boxes a day with which they had begun. At their new works in Brooklyn, they had made provision for making 3,000 oil boxes and 1,000 of the other sizes daily, but the demand for the oil boxes increased beyond their capacity to supply it, and a new firm and new buildings were required to extend it. The new firm was known as Hawley, Johnson & Wright, and consisted of O. F. Hawley, Sr., a special partner, and his sons, O. F., Jr., and E. C .; Russell Johnson an old lumber merchant, and William H. Wright. The increase in the oil business in 1877, had brought the demand for oil cases up to 8,000 a day, and about 3,000 other packing boxes were re- quired. The firm expired by its own limitation in 1877. O. F. Hawley, Sr., and W. H. Wright retired; Russell Johnson, and E. C. Hawley, as R. Johnson & | put cannot be less than $5,000,000.

Co. took the Brooklyn business, and O. F. Hawley, Jr. the New York business, at 40 Gold street, and the lumber yard was removed to Corlear's Hook, N. Y. On the 20th of August, 1879, the Brooklyn mill was burned down, and on the 23d of August, O. F. Hawley, Sr., died very suddenly, aged 59 years.

R. Johnson & Co. re-built the Brooklyn mill, and sold out their interest in it to O. F. Hawley, Jr., April 1, 1880, who has since conducted the business, both in New York and Brooklyn alone. Both mills have been thoroughly overhauled, and new and com- plete labor-saving machinery put in throughout. The oil cases are made almost entirely by machinery; the nailing them together being accomplished entirely by machines, and wire nails being used in the place of cut nails. Three machines constitute a set for the oil cases, and turn out the boxes complete. Four sets are now running with a capacity for turning out 18,000 of these cases in a day. Boxes for other purposes are also made to the extent of 2,500 to 3,000 daily, and there is also an immense business done in "shooks," that is, boxes ready to be nailed together, but packed in parts to save room in shipping. These are sent to different parts of our own country, and all over the globe.

The value of the lumber used for boxes by Mr. Hawley is $750,000 a year; and they sell of lumber, not needed for this purpose, 6,000,000 feet per year. The trade in oil cases when the export demand is active, amounts to over one million dollars a year; in other boxes and shooks, to over half a million. He prints his own labels, trade marks and circulars, in colors or plain as required; nses $30,000 worth of nails annually; em- ploys two hundred men and boys and ten or fifteen clerks, etc., in his offices; pays $140,000 annually in salaries and wages, and has a working capital of $250,- 000. The manufacture of oil cases is too large a busi- ness to be done by one firm, and several of the great petroleum refiners, have their own manufactories for making both these and the five-gallon oil cans which are packed in them. In a busy season of export, the demand from the Brooklyn refineries alone, amounts to between 50,000 and 60,000 cases a day; one house (Devoe Mfg. Co.) using from 25,000 to 30,000, and another (Charles Pratt & Co.), from 15,000 to 18,000. Both these houses, we believe, make most of their own cases.

Aside from these, the other packing-box makers in Brooklyn and Kings county are: Rogers & Co., Bond and Third streets; James H. Dykeman, 501 Union street; A. B. Dobbs & Co., 128 Freeman; Jeremiah Close, 350 S. 3d; Edward C. Smith, 420 Oakland, Reeves & Church, 127 Greene, with an office also in N. Y., E. H. Barnes & Co., 26 Court street, and works also at Oswego, N. Y. and Zephaniah Wood, 325 Ewen street. The total number of hands employed in box- making considerably exceeds 1,200, and the total out-

798

HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

SUBSECTION I .- Ship Timber and Lumber.

The achievements of the eminent and patriotic ship- builder, surveyor of shipping, and civil and military en- gineer, Mr. JAMES D. LEARY, whose steel portrait graces the opposite page, and whose biography will be read with deep interest by all, have been so various, and all of them of such service to the city, to commerce, and to the nation, that we have been at a loss to decide in which connection he would be most fitly placed. He might have been appropriately honored under "Com- merce," to which his services, both as surveyor for the British Lloyds, and as the builder of some of the staunchest steamships from our port, and very many of the best government vessels, fully entitled him; his great deeds in connection with naval and military en- gineering would have given him a place with the most eminent of our engineers; he might have taken rank with our other great ship-builders, for he is the peer of the most eminent of them-and if we have elected to place him as a dealer in and a manufacturer of ship timber and lumber, it is only because we could place him there without a competitor, for the honor which is due to him. His extensive yards, at North Fourth and First streets, are stocked with the best timber and lum- ber for ship-building purposes to be found anywhere; and those who have had occasion to build or thoroughly repair their vessels, have always found that his ship- yard and lumber yard could furnish the best lumber and the best hands for the work required.

Mr. Leary reports that he commenced his present business in 1867; that he has invested in it a capital of $100,000; employs 225 hands; pays about $150,000 for wages; and has an annual production of $450,000, of which the sales of lumber amount to $75,000 annually.

JAMES D. LEARY .- There is not in Brooklyn a more exten- sively or more favorably known citizen than James D. Leary; and there are few of his contemporaries, an account of whose lives would be more interesting to the general reader, or more encouraging to the rising generation, as showing that perseverance, unyielding energy and undeviating fidelity to a life purpose, together with personal honor and commercial integrity, will ultimately win their legitimate rewards.

A son of Daniel and Catharine (Stack) Leary, James D. Leary was born in Montreal, Canada, September 25th, 1837. He attended a private school there during his childhood and boyhood. In 1852, he came to Williamsburgh, and began to serve an apprenticeship of four years at the trade of ship- builder with his uncle, Thomas Stack, who was, for many years, one of the leading ship-builders of the city of Brook- lyn, as now bounded, with a ship-yard between where is now the foot of North Fourth street and the foot of North Sixth street. At the expiration of his term of apprenticeship, dur- ing a portion of which he attended night schools, Mr. Leary was made foreman of his uncle's ship-yard, and held that position until 1866, when he established a ship-yard at the foot of North Thirteenth street.

The same aptitude for his chosen work, and the character- istic diligence and thoroughness which had rendered him a very valuable assistant in his uncle's business, insured his

success when he embarked in the same line of enterprise on his own account, and his business thrived, even beyond bis expectations. In 1871, he removed to the foot of North Sixth street, and occupied the former ship-yard of Mr. Stack, who had, a few years previously, withdrawn from business. Here he has since built many vessels of all kinds, and, for years, has given constant employment to from 100 to 225 men. In 1876, he bought the lumber yard and mill formerly owned by the Williamsburg Mill and Lumber Company, and has since manufactured lumber very extensively, both for consump- tion at his ship-yard and for the general market.

The excellence and durability of Mr. Leary's work, and the fidelity and promptness with which he fulfilled all contracts awarded to him, many years ago brought him to the attention of those who looked after the shipping interests of the United States Government, and during the late war his services were secured to superintend the keeping in order of twenty- seven steamers in the United States service; and, during a portion of the period of the Civil War, he was Assistant Superintendent of Construction of the United States Revenue Marine; and at the close of the war he built a revenue cutter at Tonawanda, N. Y., for use on the upper lakes.

Even while yet a foreman in the employ of Mr. Stack, his power to successfully manage heavy contracts had been recognized by that gentleman, with whom he was a silent partner in a government contract of considerable import- ance, and was the active manager of the building of between forty and fifty vessels thus constructed. If any further evidence of his ability to perform brilliant achievements as a ship-builder, or of his right to take rank among the foremost ship-builders of the United States, was thereafter necessary, it was forthcoming in the signal success with which he ful- filled the important contracts above referred to. That his fame, long since, reached foreign shores, may be inferred from the fact that he was for nine years the only surveyor in New York, for Lloyd's Register of British and Foreign Shipping, his duties being to keep all British and other vessels, classed in Lloyd's, up to the standard required by the rules. It de- volved upon him, in this capacity, to visit all vessels dam- aged, or supposed to be damaged; to see all necessary repairs properly made, and to certify to all bills for the same. A higher compliment than was paid to Mr. Leary for honor and integrity, by his appointment to, and long continuance in this position, can scarcely be imagined by one who has an idea of the inducements to dishonesty and bad faith with his employers, which are made to its incumbent, from time to time, by vessel owners, to whom a delay for repairs, neces- sary when the lives of their seamen are considered, but not de- sirable to themselves, often means a loss of thousands of dol- lars, beyond the actual expense incurred in putting their ves- sels in condition, and by unscrupulous ship-builders, who are ever ready to avail themselves of the surveyor's favor in attempts to obtain more than an equitable price for services rendered.

Mr. Leary has also been awarded many extensive contracts by the United States Government, other than such as natur- ally belonged to his regular business; and he has built, in various places, piers, dikes and gun-pits, besides doing con- siderable dredging; he has also constructed all of the gun- beds in use for heavy ordnance, in all of the United States fortifications, from Maine to California New York being the great purchasing depot of supplies for the United States Army, Mr. Leary, under successive administrations, from 1868 to 1880, held the contract for all of the local transporta- tion, incident to the purchase and distribution of the supplies to the various military posts in all parts of the Union, em- ploying many men and teams, From 1873 to 1882, he was

James D Leary

799

THE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES.

extensively engaged in the wholesale and retail coal trade in New York, during a greater part of the time supplying all of the public schools and station houses, and all of the govern- ment posts and fortifications about New York, and several in other parts of the United States.

Mr. Leary was married September 28th, 1859, to Mary C., daughter of James Fallon, a builder and dealer in brown stone and marble, long well known in Brooklyn, by whom he has had eight sons and one daughter, four of whom are living: Daniel J., aged 22 years; Sylvester, aged 16; George, aged 14; and Marie C., aged 4. Daniel J., a graduate of Co- lumbia College, is a civil and mining engineer, and is now in charge of the engineering and contracting department of his father's business. Sylvester and George are students at the Polytechnic Institute. Marie C. is a bright little miss, who christened the " City of Gloucester," the last steamer built by her father, launched May 22d, 1883. Thorough man of busi- ness as he is, carefully looking after even the details of his immense enterprises; wide as is his acquaintance with public men, and numerous and pressing as are the demands for his presence abroad, Mr. Leary finds his greatest happiness in his home, where, in the companionship of wife and children, he passes the hours of rest which follow his days of care. Though he is not one to refer boastfully to his achievements, he is entitled to regard them with pride. Setting out on the journey of life as an humble but earnest apprentice, he has- as the result of his business capacity, his perseverance and the honorable policy which he has always pursued toward all with, whom his numerous enterprises have brought him in contact-attained to a position among the most prominent men of the Brooklyn of his day and generation.

We think we are fully justified in estimating the number of hands employed in the manufactures of this section at about 2,300, and the total annual production at more than $9,000,000.

SECTION XXXIV. Carriages, Cars, Wagons and Trucks.

The census of 1880 gives the following statistics concerning these industries: Carriages and wagons- 90 establishments; $484,350 capital; 492 hands; $289,- 155 wages; $328,425 material; $829,492 annual pro- duct. Cars, railroad, street and repairs-7 establish- ments; $61,774 capital; 92 hands; $65,329 wages; $59,266 material, and $137,055 product. To any one acquainted with the statistics of the manufactures of our city and county, these figures bear on their face the evidence of their inaccuracy.

The directory for 1883 numbers 110 of all classes, -- carriage builders, wagon and truck builders, and wheel- wrights; but the wheelwrights are for the most part blacksmiths, with whom the ironing of wheels is an incident of their work, or they are finishers of wheels, which have been manufactured in the rough at some hamlet in the wooded districts, and sent here to be finished. There are four axle and spring makers in Brooklyn; whether they make the patent or other hubs also we are not certain, but they have a better claim to the title of wheelwrights than any of the 25 or 30 who claim that name.

The wagon and truck makers are also, many of them, originally blacksmiths, who have added the manufac- ture of strong and heavy wood-work to the iron por- tions of the trucks and heavy wagons which they made at first. Of one of thesc it is expressly noted that he is a skillful horse-shoer ; yet he has adver- tised as a wagon maker for 17 years.

A few of these manufacturers do make very good wagons and trucks, and their grocery wagons, milk wagons and bread carts, are, through the painters' skill, made very attractive.

Among these, Mr. Joseph F. Clark, whose specialty is grocers', bakers' and other business wagons, employs about 20 workmen, and has an establishment covering 7 or 8 city lots, in Concord street. William Conrady makes trucks, and his skill as a blacksmith enables him to produce those which will stand heavy wear; he started in Ridgewood, in 1867, and did not remove to Brooklyn till 1880; his place is in Marion street. A. W. Shadboldt & Son, 68 Flushing avenue; in 1853 the senior member of the firm commenced the manufac- ture of trucks and heavy wagons on Norfolk street, New York city. He began on a small scale, but enlarged his business continually, and ten years later removed to Brooklyn, locating first in Concord street, and in 1866, at 68 Flushing avenue. In 1873, he erected a new shop, and added a 20-horse power steam engine to drive the machinery. Soon after his son was admitted to partnership, other additions were made to the buildings from time to time, and greater facilities provided for manufacturing. Their product averages about $100,000 in value annually, giving em- ployment to 25 men.

Several of the carriage builders make wagons also. Among these are Hand & Fallesen, of Third avenue, and 22d street, who employ 14 men, pay about $8,500 for wages and salaries, and turn out $13,500 of work; Joseph Statler, of Forest place, between 4th and 5th avenues, and who started in Fort Hamilton, in 1876 ; Robert Jones, corner of Nassau and Bridge (first at 133 Nassau, in 1865, the firm being then Jones & Burke. He came to his present location in 1880), employs 35 men; specialty, business wagons; yearly turn-out, $75,- 000. This is one of the oldest firms in the city.

Of the carriage makers proper, John Curley, of 242 State street, is probably the largest; he has an exten- sive factory, and turns out a large amount of excel- lent work. William B. Davis, of 16-20 Henry street, is also a successful manufacturer. Coe & Merritt, of 242 Bedford avenue, established in 1855 on South Seventh street, erected their present building in 1876; they employ, on an average, 30 hands, and turn out $50,000 worth of carriages annually. James E. Wheeler, of 131 Third street. Duhamel & Singer, of 169 Clymer street, employ 16 hands, pay nearly $10,000 for sal- aries and wages, and produce annually nearly $20,000. Reynolds & Elliott, 371 and 373 Pacific street; Cal-

800

HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

vin Witty, 'of 53 and 57 Flatbush avenue; Augus Kaseman, 66 Montrose avenue; Joseph E. Cavanagh,45 Flatbush avenue; Hand & Fallesen, Third avenue and 22d street, etc., etc., are other manufacturers of car- riages with a fair reputation.

There are no great houses in this business like the Brewsters, Flandreaus, and others of New York, or the extensive carriage works of New Haven, Conn., and Newark, N. J .; but these houses suffice for our local business and repairing.

We do not think from careful inquiry that the busi- ness is increasing in Kings county, and from the best information we can obtain, believe the census report decidedly beyond the actual production. We should hardly place that product higher than $800,000, or at the most, $850,000.

We can find no railroad or street cars manufactured in the county, unless some of the railroad repair shops of some of the Coney Island roads, or the Long Island road, may, in the stress of summer travel, have built some of the second-class or cheap cars. There are at these shops, as also at the terminal stables and car- houses of the street railroads, places for repairing the cars, and the great number of them which need repair- ing, as well as the motors and snow-scrapers, would be very likely to require an expenditure of nearly the amount specified by the census, though this is rather an outlay on the part of the roads, than a mannfactur- ing product.

SUBSECTION I .- Axles and Carriage Springs.

The F. W. Wurster Foundry, Spring and Axle Works, located near the foot of Broadway, at the corner of Ist and South 6th streets, Brooklyn, E. D., must be ranked among the most vigorous and produc- tive manufacturing enterprises in the city. Their rapid growth from so recent an origin is remarkable. Mr. Wurster first commenced here in 1875, with a foundry, having received his mechanical training in a mowing machine manufactory. This he continued for about three years, when, feeling a capacity and desire for more and larger business, he began making axles with one trip hammer, and a few men. Successful in this, he enlarged in buildings and machinery, and em- barked actively in the new department of making steel springs. The three co-ordinate branches developed so fast, individually and collectively, that their demands for more buildings and greater facilities, some became imperative, resulting in the erection, in 1880, of the large and imposing building shown in the accompany- ing cut. Mr. Wurster had previously rented, but now purchased, the premises he occupied, of David Jones, a large brewer of New York. The new building has a total frontage of 250 feet, standing 100 feet on 1st street, and 150 on South 6th street. It is six stories high, and has all possible adaptations of construction and machinery, to make it what it is, a model of its

F. W. WURSTER'S FOUNDRY.

kind. Besides this, Mr. Wurster leases an adjoining building on 1st street, 150 feet long, making his front- age 250 feet on this street. Then his foundry in the rear is 75x200 feet, in which all kinds of casting for build- ing and heavy machinery is done. Nor is this all. The spring shop is 50x150 feet in dimensions, where everything in demand, from a light buggy spring, up to the weightiest truck spring, is made. Two steam engines, one of 50, and the other of 150 horse power, furnish the motive propulsion required. Four trip- hammers, innumerable machines, and a force of 200 men, are the fashioning and perfecting forces, by which 10 tons of pig iron, 8 tons of refined wrought iron, and 3 tons of the best steel, are transferred into castings, axles, and springs, every twenty-four hours. Their annual sales are large. There is no similar establish- ment in Brooklyn.

Jan. 1st, 1884, Mr. Wurster received into copartner- ship his able assistant, Mr. C. W. Schlüchtner, who had been his salesman for the previous five years.

Mr. Wurster, with the assistance of a superintend. ent, and three foremen, attends to the mechanical direc- tion and details, and the finances, while Mr. Schluchtner gives his time to buying the raw material, and selling the manufactured product. Mr. Wurster, who has lived in the 19th ward of Brooklyn since about 1860, is but 32 years old, and his partner is but 27 years old.

With a record of such achievements, so early in life, they have only to preserve their powers of body and mind, and a most satisfactory future is assured.

SECTION XXXV.

Grinders and Wholesale Dealers in Coffees, Spices and Teas.

The large stores along the river front, between Fulton and Wall street ferries, receive three-fourths of

801

THE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES.

the coffee imported into the United States, including all whole cargoes, and a portion of that in mixed car- goes. Steamers now do more of the carrying trade in coffee than sailing vessels. Coffee from Arabia and the East Indies comes mostly in 300-lb. sacks, while that from South America and Mexico is in bags called "pickles," containing 131} lbs. each. The exact value of the coffee imported at the Brooklyn stores cannot be accurately ascertained, but would be about three- fourths of the annual importation, which for 1883 was valued at $42,050,513, about $4,000,000 less than for 1882. Coffee which becomes "rusty," or discolored, by the sea voyage, and thereby damaged in appearance more than in quality, is " polished " here by rapid revo- lution in cylinders, which restores its original color, but renders it more shiny, hence the name. The New York & Baltimore Coffee Polishing Company, are en- gaged in this business, also a few other firms.

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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 39

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