A history of Cleveland, Ohio, Volume I, Part 81

Author: Orth, Samuel Peter, 1873-1922; Clarke, S.J., publishing company
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Chicago-Cleveland : The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1262


USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cleveland, Ohio, Volume I > Part 81


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7,427,553


Confectionery


8


511,386


26


43,654


412


105,943


1,715,100


Cooperage


9


209,250


22,720


167


89,050


392,195


Electrical machinery, appar- atus and supplies


30


1,893,422


210


217,853


1,235


547,894


2,652,987


Foundry and machine shop products


134


21,864,859


1,078


1,480,022


9,782


5,539,366


18,832,487


Furniture


26


605.732


53


63,591


543


345,457


961,473


Gas and lamp fixtures.


7


391,307


51


65,650


289


III,607


569,454


Glass, cutting, staining and ornamenting


7


52,875


IO


10,920


80


47,759


232,400


Hardware


8


2,320,804


I33


169,356


2,027


968,377


2,206,42I


Hosiery and knit goods.


6


926,049


40


48,600


1,025


374,914


1,957,350


Iron and steel, blast furnaces


3


7,100,022


89


111,762


94I


627,065


6,118,685


Iron and steel, steel works and rolling mills


9


23,920,596


533


574,092


8,577


4,956,088


32,279,437


No.


Salaries


0.


Wages


Value of


Product


Including


Custom


Repairing


All industries


1,617 $156,509,252


6,883


Chemicals


5


808,683


199


300,799


506


307,950


1,372,57I


Clothing, men's buttonholes.


3


9,800


19


7,748


20,435


IO


1,877,288


1,750


370,909


6,759,023


7,514,470


Architectural & ornamental


II


467,528


517


295,013


458,124


Annual


Work and


3


Bread and other bakery


Brick and tile


ALEXANDER


59.00


E OIL FLATFORN


From an old cut


OIL REFINERIES, 1866, KINGSBURY'S RUN The beginning of a world-wide industry


637


HISTORY OF CLEVELAND


Iron and steel, bolts, nuts,


washers and rivets not


made in rolling mills or steel works .


8


3,745,155


II4


193,7II


1,962


807,379


3,620,854


Iron and steel forgings.


7


884,169


30


37,403


479


264,487


912,019


Liquors, malt ..


9


5,949,399


II2


216,758


601


503,417


3,986,059


Lumber, planing mill prod- ucts, including sash, doors and blinds


27


1,267,918


72


93,159


636


410,318


2,744,847


Paints


II


2,185,566


I4I


135,348


478


248,649


2,599,793


Plumbers' supplies


II


491,654


60


65,457


386


182,910


681,963


book and job


89


1,626,150


222


249,484


1,273


724,776


2,366,858


Printing and publishing,


1,993,657


580


602,178


¥748


538,314


3,350,688


Shoddy


4


731,247


18


30,888


367


136,908


1,084,594


Slaughtering and meat pack- ing, wholesale


8


2,203,486


I35


121,403


924


532,738


10,317,494


Stoves and furnaces, not in-


cluding gas and oil stoves. IO


690,898


44


46,522


503


272,608


840,673


Stoves, gas and oil


7


3,209,495


95


122,822


1,024


584,192


2,164,290


Structural ironwork


II


1,486,03I


77


87,774


823


410,797


2,012,130


Tobacco, cigars and cigarets.253


I,III,114


73


69,308


1,38I


578,570


1,875,914


Tools, not elsewhere specified 8 Varnishes


9


975,814


74


109,519


97


55,656


1,000,674


Wirework,


including wire


rope and cable


15


1,784,529


I19


104,190


817


368,019


1,606,967


1,887,412


57


80,990


807


388,502


1,224,223


Printing and publishing,


newspapers and periodicals 73


The astonishing development of the automobile adds the largest single item to this list. This industry is so important that a word as to its beginning will not be out of place. On March 24, 1898, Alexander Winton sold the first gasoline auto- mobile made in Cleveland, and one of the first ever manufactured in the United States. This was the beginning of an industry that in 1909 made 5,800 cars, valued at $18,750,000. In 1896 Frank Stearns manufactured his first machine from a patent he had carefully wrought out. About the same time the Gaeth machine was manu- factured on West Twenty-fifth street. In 1898 the Stearns Company was organ- ized and cars put on the market. The Baker Company was organized at this time for the making of electric machines, by R. C. White, F. R. White and Walter C. Baker. Their first factory was a small building on Jessie street. In the fall of 1898 the first White Steamer was made at the factory of the White Sewing Ma- chine Company on Champlain street. The machine was designed by Rollin White. In 1901 the Peerless Company began the manufacture of their car, in the old Peerless bicycle plant where they had previously manufactured motors for the DeDion-Bouton Moterette Company, which failed in 1900, the Peerless Company taking their business. In 1903 the Royal car was first made, when E. D. Sherman, president of the Royal Company, purchased the old Hoffmann Automobile Com- pany. In 1904 the Rauch & Lang Electric Automobile Company was started. Within this decade the development has been marvelous. All of the factories have been compelled to increase their capacities until now they are among the largest and finest in the United States.


There are many important subsidiary factories developing by the side of the more important such as the making of buttons, of cloth sponging and finishing and of shoddy, following in the wake of the manufacture of clothing and cloth ; making flavoring extracts for the confectioners ; lamp fixtures and glass staining ; millinery, models and patterns. The variety of things made in Cleveland covers


638


HISTORY OF CLEVELAND


almost every human want. In the range of its manufacture our city stands unique among the important manufacturing centers in the country.


The following table shows the large steps in the industrial development of Cleveland :


Year


No. of


Estab.


No. of


Hands


Capital


Invested


Wages Paid


Value of


Materials


Value of


Productst


Population


1840* ·


5431


$ 155,982


$


$.


$


** 7,648


1850ttt


17,034


1860*


387


4,455


2,676,963


1,333,118


4,029,015 16,861,357


6,973,737 27,049,012 84,860,405


92,829


1880


1055


21,754


19,430,989


8,502,935


31,629,737


160,146


1890ttt


....


261,353


1900


2927


64,220


98,303,682


33,624,834


71,597,595


139,849,806 172,115,10I


*** 381,768


1905


1617


70,978


156,509,252


41,780,612


Graphically the steps have been as follows: Two decades of hand industry, two decades of primitive manufacture, preparing the products of the farm for the market, followed by two decades of the development of iron and steel, which de- velopment is continued to the present day. The decade of 1870 was the decade of oil; the decade of 1880 that of meat packing and electrical appliances ; the decade of 1890 that of clothing and paints; and the decade of 1900 has been the decade of the automobile.


With her splendid lead in so many diversified industries Cleveland ought not to suffer retardation in her industrial growth.


An excellent summary of Cleveland's industries was prepared for the "Geo- graphical Journal“ by Professor W. M. Gregory, of the Normal School. It is partly reproduced, by permission.


"The commodities used in Cleveland's industries are handled with great facil- ity, by the seven trunk-lines of railroads, the belt line, freight and passenger boats, the five electric lines and the one hundred and twenty-nine miles of paved road leading into the city. The city's transportation advantages and its location near the coal fields make it the greatest inland shipper of coal on the Great Lakes. What Newcastle is to the European coasts, so is Cleveland to Ontario and the Northwest. The boats are loaded with coal at the rate of a car a minute. The car being handled by an unloader which is made in Cleveland shops.


"Cleveland produces annually product of nearly $200,000,000 in value. There are more than 2,000 kind of these manufactured articles, from the 1,617 factories, in which over 65,000 wage earners toil.


"The most important industry is iron and steel which is almost one-half of the entire production, and more than twice as large as any other industry. Andrew Carnegie, who loves Pittsburg has nevertheless pointed out, that for the manufac- ture of iron and steel products, Cleveland is the ideal city on the American con- tinent. In justification of his idea, the statistics already indicate a migration of the steel center to the south shore of Lake Erie. Many smaller industries have


* County.


t Manufactures and trades.


# Includes value of repairing and custom work.


** With Ohio City.


*** Estimated.


ttt No data.


. .


43,417


1870


1149


10,063


13,645,018


4,539,065


*** 450,000


Employed


S. V. Harkness


D. W. Cross


John Huntington


D. P. Rhodes


PIONEERS IN COAL AND OIL INTERESTS


639


HISTORY OF CLEVELAND


developed here because of the great supply of iron and steel. Some of these de- pendent industries, are : eleven bridge and building steel plants, 134 foundries ; ten wire plants; multitudes of machine shops.


"The products of these shops are second in value to the major iron industry. The vast output of nails, spikes, screws, tacks, drills and bolts has given the title of the 'Sheffield of America,' to Cleveland.


"The manufacture of clothing, knit goods, etc., is the third industry of the city ; more than 148 establishments are devoted entirely to clothing for men and women; there are eleven cloak and suit houses, a dozen skirt factories and over 15,000 finished garments are made each day. The factories are remarkable for their sanitation, skill of the workman, and the quality of the articles.


"The products of the slaughtering and packing houses are fourth in value, eight concerns consuming over 3,000 animals each day, while eleven institutions cater solely to the city's demand for sausage. The electrical curing of meats, a Cleveland invention, will bring some radical changes in the packing house business.


"The blast furnaces produce nearly 2,000,000 tons of pig iron each year, and its value ranks fifth with the other industries. There are more than ten of these iron furnaces, and their annual consumption of coke, limestone and ore keeps busily employed an army of men and a fleet of boats.


"The manufacture of automobiles is a new industry that has developed far beyond the dreams of the originators. Cleveland is the second largest producer of automobiles in the United States and many of the high grade machines which are manufactured in the seven shops of the city have been gradually developed by the numerous inventions of home men. From the factories of this city, more than ten complete machines pass out each day and the total value of these machines is sixth in rank with the other industries. The malt liquor business is the seventh industry of this city and the production is ample for the home demand.


"Cleveland produces such a large number of different articles, that in the com- mercial world it is the 'City of Varied Industries.' Metal working machinery is one of the various specialties. A great many kinds of steam hammers, lathes, slotters, punches, benders, rolls, drills, chisels, shears, and forges are built for home use and many of these machines are exported to France, Germany and Eng- land. The finer mechanics of the city have constructed the delicate mountings on the great Lick and Yerkes telescopes, as well as those of many of the smaller observatories in this country and abroad.


"In direct contrast to the delicate instruments of precision of the observatories, are the hoisting, dredging, conveying and ship unloading machines. The latter of these are built only in Cleveland and are distributed to all parts of the world. The two most successful types of the unloaders are the Brown Hoist and the Heulett. One of the machines will take 628 tons of ore out of the hold of a boat in one hour and place it in the stock piles and several of them working on the same boat at once can take a cargo of 12,000 tons out of an ore freighter in four or five hours.


"Cleveland is a great ship building port, and some authorities consider it the 'Clyde of America.' The old river bed of the Cuyahoga is the site of the present


640


HISTORY OF CLEVELAND


ship yards. This is the cradle of the steel ore boats. Here may be seen the lake giants in all stages of construction.


"Among the smaller industries are several which supply the builder with the indispensable materials of stone and lumber. The building stone is obtained from the largest sandstone quarries in the world which are located near Cleveland, in Cuyahoga and Lorain counties. They were first operated nearly seventy-five years ago, and since then, enough stone has been quarried to build several American cities. The stone has been used to build thousands of blocks, bridges, churches, and buildings in all parts of the United States and is exported to Canada. The Berea, Amherst and 'Gray Canyon' are some of the various grades of building stone obtained from the quarries which cover thousands of acres and are from thirty to two hundred feet in depth. These various quarries about Cleveland have a daily capacity of over 300 cars of stone and Cleveland is the center of the sand- stone industry of the United States.


"Lumber business is important to a city of rapid growth. The Cuyahoga river is of value in the lumber trade because of the facility with which lumber boats can discharge cargoes. The lumber yard interests control and operate more of the available river front than any other industry on the flats. There are more than forty-two lumber yards in the city, two-thirds of these are along the river. One Cleveland concern is the largest importer of foreign woods in the middle West. The lumber is consumed by hundreds of industries and is the backbone of the building trades. Furniture, window sashes, automobile bodies, boxes and sewing machine cabinets are among the important consumers, one factory having a ca- pacity of ten thousand boxes daily.


"For the housewife, Cleveland makes more vapor stoves and gas ranges than any other city of the country. It stands first in sewing machines and chewing gum. It is a great distributing point for millinery furbelows, and face massage preparations. The oil refineries of the city supply kerosene, gasoline, paraffine, dyes, disinfectants, lubricants, flavoring extracts, floor oils and soaps. For the home beautiful, paints and varnishes are made daily by the ton and car load, in many establishments, one of which is the largest paint factory in the world."


CHAPTER LXVI.


BANKS.


The Commercial Bank of Lake Erie was Cleveland's first bank. The first record books of this bank are in the collections of the Western Reserve Historical Society. On the fly leaf of one of these ancient volumes the following entry is made: "This ledger, with the two journals and letter book, are the first books used for banking in Cleveland. They were made by Peter Burtsell, in New York, for the Commercial Bank of Lake Erie, which commenced business in August, 1816, Alfred Kelley, president and Leonard Case, cashier. The bank failed in 1820. On the 2nd day of April, 1832, it was reorganized and resumed business, after paying off its existing liabilities, consisting of less than ten thousand dollars


The Great Viaduct, from a point near Pearl St., looking North-From the Cleveland Lender.


From an old cut


A VIEW OF THE RIVER AND THE SUPERIOR VIADUCT, 187S The first picture of the Superior viaduct


-


641


HISTORY OF CLEVELAND


due the treasurer of the United States. Leonard Case was chosen president and Truman P. Handy, cashier. The following gentlemen constitute its directory : Leonard Case, Samuel Williamson, Edward Clark, Peter M. Weddell, Heman Oviatt, Charles M. Giddings, John Blair, Alfred Kelley, David King, James Dun- can, Roswell Kent. T. P. Handy, John W. Allen. Its charter expired in 1842. The legislature of Ohio refusing to extend the charter of existing banks its affairs were placed by the courts, in the hands of T. P. Handy, Henry B. Payne and Dud- ley Baldwin, as official commissioners who proceeded to pay off its liabilities, and wind up its affairs. They paid over to its stockholders the balance of its assets in lands and money, in June, 1844. T. P. Handy was then appointed trustee of the stockholders, who, under their orders, distributed to them the remaining assets in June, 1845. Its capital was five hundred thousand dollars. The books were prior to 1832, kept by Leonard Case, cashier." 1


The incorporators of this bank were John H. Strong, Samuel William- son, Philo Taylor, George Wallace, David Long, Erastus Miles, Seth Doan, Alfred Kelley. They represented the largest financial interests of the village in 1816. Its first habitation of the bank was a small building on the corner of Superior and Bank street. Alfred Kelley, the first president of this first bank, in what is today a city of banks, was from the time of his arrival in Cleve- land in 1810, one of the city's forceful men. He was born in Middletown, Connec- ticut, November 7, 1789, educated in Fairfield academy New York, read law, came to Cleveland and was admitted to practice on his twentieth birthday and the same day was appointed public prosecutor. He was the first lawyer to hang out his shingle in the county. While Samuel Huntington was the first lawyer to make his residence in Cleveland he never actively engaged in practice here. Alfred Kelley was the first president of the incorporated village of Cleveland. He represented the county in the legislature almost continuously from 1814 to 1822. In the latter year he was appointed a canal commissioner and in 1830 he moved to Columbus, where he died December 2, 1859. He was the Father of the Ohio canals, was the promoter of many railroads, including the Cleveland. Columbus & Cincinnati rail- way, of which he was the first president, and the Cleveland, Painesville & Ashta- bula railway, of which he was a director and was interested largely in the financial affairs of the city.


The reorganization of this bank, in 1832, was due to the distinguished histo- rian, George Bancroft, who was then in Washington where he heard that its char- ter was good for several years and that the prospects for a bank in Cleveland were of the best. He provided, with others, capital of two hundred thousand dollars and sent Truman P. Handy, one of Cleveland's ablest and wisest bankers, to be its cashier. Cleveland has thus become a double debtor to this national historian .*


In 1834 The Bank of Cleveland was established.2 It had a capital of $300,000. In 1837 its place of business was No. 7 Superior street. Its officers were: President, Norman C. Baldwin; cashier, Alexander Seymour; teller, T. C. Severance; bookkeeper, H. F. Brayton ; and the directors were: Samuel Cowles, Lyman Kendall, Fredrick Wadsworth, John M. Wollsey, Joel Scran-


1 Presented to the Historical Society of Cleveland by T. P. Handy, January, 1877.


* "Annals Early Settlers Association," Vol. V, p. 212.


2 "Herald," No. 761.


642


HISTORY OF CLEVELAND


ton, Charles Denison, Benjamin F. Tyler, D. C. Van Tine, N. C. Baldwin, A. Seymour, Joseph Lyman. In 1837 the directory gives the "banking hours, 9 till I a. m. and 2 till 4 p. m."


Banks met all manner of vicissitudes in those earlier years. These banks were organized under Ohio's first banking act, passed in 1816. The law was not ade- quate, especially was it weak when their stability was doubted. People refused to believe them to be as safe as the family stocking. There were not adequate laws to protect the conservative banker. There was not a stable banking currency and the air was surcharged with the wild optimism of speculation. In the papers are given lists of "Bank Notes Exchange," listing various notes of the state banks, also of "bad banks" and of others that "may be considered good."


"In April, 1836, the banks of Cincinnati refused to receive the notes of any bank outside of the city. 'Wild cat,' 'red dog,' 'coon box' and such titles were com- mon. Some companies were chartered by the legislature for manufacturing and mercantile purposes and proceeded to flood the country with their notes and others issued them in quantity without any charter. * * If you wished to go a hun- dred miles from home, the money to defray your expenses would cost two, five or perhaps ten per cent in exchange for the local currency, and it required an ex- pert to avoid taking counterfeit notes, which abounded." 3


The panic of 1837 swept nearly all the banks of the west into ruin. The Bank of Cleveland that year issued "post notes." Shippers issued notes payable on de- mand to be received for charges of transportation. The canal shippers of Cleve- land combined under the name of "The Ohio Canal Towing Company," pledging themselves to the redemption of their notes. Rumors concerning the insolvency of the banks became current early in the year but were denied persistently by the papers. On May 19, 1837, a meeting of citizens was held to consider measures rel- ative to the suspension of specie payments by the banks. Frederick Whittlesey presided at this meeting, which resolved that it "cordially approved of the deter- mination of the banks in this city to suspend specie payment for the present, while we sincerely regret that circumstances have rendered such a cause expedient." 4 A committee was sent to the banks to secure a statement from them and the fol- lowing report was given to the committee :


Commercial Bank of Lake Erie-


Loans and Discounts


$1,306,600.69


Liabilities 768,567.16


Surplus $ 538,033.43


Bank of Cleveland-


Loans and Discounts $ 718,983.00


Liabilities 634,919.64


Surplus


$ 34,264.36


By August of this fatal year "shin plasters" had made their appearance as sub- stitutes for specie. They were "little dirty printed due bills, payable in meat,


3 J. J. Jouney, "State Bank of Ohio," "Magazine of Western History," Vol 2, p. 157.


* "Herald," Vol. 19, No. I.


BOOK BINDERY


STEAM


RIN


O.CUTTER & SON


MYGATT & BROWN BRAINERD& BUKRIDGE BANKERS. ENGRAVERS.


AUCTION STORE


From an old cut


The "Herald" Building, 132 Bank Street. near Superior, and private banking house of Mygatt and Brown


ATWATER BUILDINGS.


HOLLISTER & FELTON'S COMMERCIAL COLLEGE


CO


MERCIAL


COMM


UL. DANK.


TIBBITT9


ENG.


CLEV.


From an advertisement in the "Cleveland Herald." Original in Western Reserve Historical Society.


The Original Atwater Block as it appeared in 1858. This was the home of several Cleveland pioneer banks and one of the most important business blocks in the town.


From an old ent.


Society for Savings Building on the Public Square. Afterwards occupied by the West- ern Reserve Historical Society. Chamber of Commerce now ocenpies the site.


"Mauro top rá. Chicago.


From an old eut


National Bank Building. Superior and Water Streets, the most imposing business block of its day.


OLD BANKING HOUSES


643


HISTORY OF CLEVELAND


groceries and goods of all kinds, to provide for small transactions in the almost total absence of silver coins." 5 The end of the year saw the Bank of Cleveland close its doors. Harvey Rice, Benjamin Harrington, and William Williams were ap- pointed special commissioners to wind up its affairs. They were discharged in December, 1844, and turned over the remaining funds and assets to Zalmon Fitch as trustee for the stockholders. The remnants were small.


The Bank of Lake Erie weathered the storm but the majority of business houses in Cleveland succumbed to the panic. The newspapers are filled with the notices of foreclosures, sixty-one sheriff sales are advertised in one issue. There are also notices of many Cleveland business men, who availed themselves of the provisions of the bankruptcy law passed as an alleviative to the wounds caused by the disaster. Our struggling town was hard hit and for five years it made practically no progress.


In 1845, under the leadership of Alfred Kelley, senator from Cuyahoga county, a new and more carefully drawn banking law was passed by the legis- lature, providing a board of bank commissioners to examine all applicants for charters and making annual reports. This law with its crude safeguards was quite successful in eliminating the grosser evils of rash banking practices. The legislature, however, still took it for granted that banks are inherently weak and liable to collapse; that they were a sort of necessary evil. The prime weakness of the law was pointed out by a contemporary critic. "The Ohio law, as if ap- prehensive of a want of soundness in the issue it authorizes, ostensibly to facili- tate the business of the community, restricts the issues to an arbitrary amount, based on no real or pretended estimates of the wants of the community. By what process the idea is arrived at that Ohio requires $6,000,000 of bank capital and no more, is in no way made manifest." 6


A number of banks were soon chartered in Cleveland under this act.


The City Bank of Cleveland was incorporated May 17, 1845, as an indepen- dent bank with a twenty year charter. Its charter was really that of the Fire- men's Insurance Company, with the power to do a general banking business but not to issue notes. Reuben Sheldon was the first president and T. C. Severance, cashier. Its capital was $200,000, reduced to $150,000 in 1856. In 1848 it moved from its old quarters in 52 Superior street to 21 Superior street. George Mygatt and Lemuel Wick were successive presidents. Elisha Taylor and Melancthon Barnett, vice presidents, and W. H. Stanley, Albert Clark, J. B. Meriam and John F. Whitelaw, cashiers. On February 12, 1865, it closed its business and the fol- lowing day resumed as The National City Bank of Cleveland, with a capital of $200,000, and the same officers as the old bank. In 1875 W. P. Southworth was president and John F. Whitelaw, cashier. In 1890 Mr. Whitelaw became presi- dent ; P. H. Babcock, vice president ; and E. R. Date, cashier. In 1904 T. W. Burnham became vice president. The present capital is $250,000.




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