A history of Cleveland and its environs; the heart of new Connecticut, Part 38

Author: Avery, Elroy McKendree, 1844-1935; Lewis Publishing Company
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: Chicago, New York The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 904

USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cleveland and its environs; the heart of new Connecticut > Part 38

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Earl T. Shannon as a boy attended the old Kentucky Street School on the west side, and from school he went to work earning his living as a runner or bill boy with the Erie Railroad offices. While in that work Mr. Shannon first gained the acquaintance of Thomas E. Monks, who presided at the bill desk of the Eric offices, and who is now president of the Cleve- land National Bank. Mr. Shannon worked in the Erie offices altogether for eight years and later for two years was assistant to the treas- urer of the old C. L. & W. Railway.

On March 17, 1902, he became a bookkeeper in the National Commercial Bank, and has ever since been one of that bank's most capable and dependable men. For two years he was as- sistant cashier and on January 31, 1917, was promoted to the existing vacancy of cashier, having filled all the intermediary positions through the grades of bookkeeper, teller, etc. He is thoroughly familiar with all the tech- nique of banking and this technical knowledge is fortified by unusual attributes of person- ality, so that he is accounted one of the Na- tional Commercial's best assets.

Mr. Shannon is a member of the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce, the Exchange Club, Lakewood Lodge No. 601 Free and Accepted Masons, Cunningham Chapter No. 187 Royal Arch Masons. While he is in the National Commercial Bank practically every day of the year he is a man of broad interests, is a pub- lic spirited citizen of Cleveland and keeps in close touch with the performances of the Cleveland baseball team and enjoys nothing better than a good game of that sport. Mr. Shannon and family reside at 1220 Virginia Avenue in Lakewood. June 27, 1901, he mar- ried Miss Bertha L. Coburn, who was born at Malvern, Ohio, and was educated partly there and in the Cleveland grammar and high schools. Her parents, William B. and Cora Eliza (Slentz) Coburn, are now living in Cleveland. Mr. and Mrs. Shannon have one son, Harlan C., born at Cleveland March 31, 1905.

EDWARD A. NOLL. Cleveland's bulk and importance in the world of today is largely due to the work and works which supply so much of the service and commodities indis- pensable to the industrial needs of men and nations. Of the larger institutions that give industrial character to Cleveland one is The National Tool Company, which was organized here in May, 1905, and started with a capital

of fifty thousand dollars. The working force at first comprised twelve men. The output was milling cutters and special tools. The first quarters were a single floor, 50x100 feet, at 9500 West Madison Avenue. The business was kept growing and prospering on a modest scale, and in 1912 there came the first big addi- tion, when a new plant was constructed at 112th and Madison Avenue, comprising three floors, each 31x150 feet in dimensions. In 1916 the capital was raised to $1,800,000, and in the same year a new building replaced the old one, this also being three stories, each floor being 31x150 feet. A one-story addition was constructed the same year, 60x150 feet, and in 1917 a three-story office building, 40x80 feet, was erected. Today four hundred men find employment within these shops and offices, and the business is an important and growing unit in Cleveland's industrial prosperity. The president and executive head of this business is Edward A. Noll. There are perhaps a few old-timers in Cleveland who have a dim recol- lection of this modern day industrial leader as an office boy in the local Y. M. C. A. building. That was perhaps his first real position in Cleveland, and he filled it about a year, when he was fifteen years old. Mr. Noll has been a resident of Cleveland most of his life, but was born in Cumberland, Maryland, May 19, 1867, son of Henry and Elizabeth (Sheermeeser) Noll. In 1877, when he was ten years of age, his parents moved to Cleveland, and his educa- tion begun in the schools of his native place, was continued here until he went to work for the Y. M. C. A. His next employment was also as an office boy with Warner & Swasey Company. At the end of eight months he apprenticed himself to learn the machinist trade, and he spent his years learning it thor- oughly and in detail until 1887. Therefore, the president of The National Tool Company is not only a business administrator, but has a complete knowledge of all the technical proc- esses involved in the conduct of such a busi- ness as he is now the head of. After finishing his apprenticeship he worked as a machinist and tool-maker for the National Tube Com- pany at Mckeesport, Pennsylvania, about a year, but returned to Cleveland in 1888, and was machinist and tool-maker with The Cleve- land Rubber Company until 1890. In a simi- lar capacity he was with the Cleveland Auto- matic Machinery Company until 1892, at which date he became foreman of the Standard Tool Company. He remained with that old established Cleveland corporation for thirteen

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years, only withdrawing from it in May, 1905, to organize The National Tool Company, of which he has since been president and general manager. The other original officers were: H. A. Dustemeyer, vice president; Henry Vogel, secretary, and George J. Meyer, treas- urer. The present officers, besides Mr. Noll as president and general manager, are Charles L. Bradley, vice president ; Samuel J. Korn- hauser, secretary and treasurer.

Mr. Noll is also a director of the City Sav- ings and Loan Company, president of the Western Reserve Chemical Company, director of the Ilsheck Tool Company. In earlier years he was quite active in local military affairs. He first joined the Euclid Light Infantry, which finally became Company I of the Fifth Regiment Ohio National Guard. He was first sergeant in that organization. Later he or- ganized Company K of the Fifth Regiment, becoming second lieutenant and later was its captain, and had command of the company during the Spanish-American war, being sta- tioned at Tampa, Florida. After close of Spanish-American war was elected major, which position he resigned and was placed on retired list of officers of the Ohio National Guard. Mr. Noll is a member of the Knights of Pythias, the Cleveland Athletic Club, the East Shore Country Club, Westwood Country Club, Automobile Club, Cleveland Chamber of Commerce and Cleveland Chamber of Indus- try, and Chamber of Commerce of the United States, and as a voter uses his independent judgment to direct his ballot. In March, 1893, he married at Cleveland Lulu Miller. They have one son, Edward Leonard, a student in the West Technical High School.

WESLEY C. RICHARDSON. From the time it was founded over a century ago to the present Cleveland has been favored, in addition to the remarkable enterprise of its citizenship, by its location at a point where the commerce of the Great Lakes and the vast hinterland meet and concentrate. The presence of Lake Erie at its doors has influenced practically every phase of Cleveland's progress and prosperity. Natu- rally, many of the men who have been justly called the makers of Cleveland have been di- rectly or indirectly identified with the business of Great Lakes transportation and in this group there is hardly a more noteworthy fig- ure than Wesley C. Richardson who more than sixty years ago had his first experience "be- fore the mast" on Lake Erie. Mr. Richardson is head of W. C. Richardson & Company, ves-

sel owners and brokers, and is also manager of several lake transportation companies.

His birth occurred at Unionville, Ohio, June 10, 1840, a son of Henry and Mary (Cunning- ham) Richardson. His father was not only a merchant but also at one time light house keeper, and in 1844 kept the light house at Madison dock. Madison was then a port of entry for all the steamboats and vessels plying on Lake Erie. Mr. Richardson both through his father and mother is of English ancestry.

His early life was spent at Ashtabula, where he attended the public schools. Having re- moved from Unionville to Ashtabula when ten years old he well remembers the old stage coaches that stopped at Unionville for break- fast at the old Stage House of which Spencer Shears was proprietor. In 1856 at the age of sixteen he became a common sailor on a sail- ing vessel, and in 1863 rose to the dignity and responsibilities of first mate. A year later he left the lake and from 1864 to 1866 was con- nected with Wells & Faulkner, wholesale and retail grocers, who were the largest handlers of cheese, wool and fruit in the United States at that time at Ashtabula. He then made his first venture as a vessel owner, purchasing the schooner Transport, and sailed on it as first mate until 1880. Once more becoming a lands- man he spent fifteen years as traveling repre- sentative for Brigg, Hathaway & Garrettson in the wholesale grocery trade.

Mr. Richardson then formed a partnership with Mr. H. J. Webb, to manage and operate vessels. At the death of Mr. Webb the firm name was changed to W. C. Richardson & Company. This company, as a matter of inci- dental interest, was the first tenant to move into the Leader-News Building after it was completed, and the offices of the company are there to the present time. Prior to that the company maintained offices in the Perry Paine Building.

Captain Richardson knows and is known by prominent men in transportation circles all around the Great Lakes and is one of the most highly esteemed members of Cleveland's busi- ness fraternity. His loyalty and affection for old friends is well known and is the source of a pleasing practice which he has cultivated for many years and which has adorned the walls of his private office in the Leader-News Building with framed photographs of men whose friendship he enjoys, and from these frames there look out upon him faces of many of Cleveland's best known and most promi-

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nent citizens. Many have pronounced it the largest and the most interesting collection of the kind in Cleveland. The outer offices are also adorned with many other photographs.

At different times in his career Mr. Rich- ardson has served as an executive officer in the Miller Transit Company, the Hanna Transit Company, Norton Transit Company, Rich- ardson Transportation Company, Hubbard Steamship Company, Jackson Transit Com- panv, treasurer Great Lakes Protective Asso- ciation, of which he was one of the founders in 1909, and Lake Carriers Association.

In the fall of 1915 Captain Richardson bought six ships for Oglebay, Norton & Com- pany and the mines they own and represent, and is now closely associated with Oglebay, Norton & Company as manager of the Mon- treal Transit Company, Castile Transit Com- pany, Bristol Transit Company, Fort Henry Transit Company, and Yosemite Transit Com- pany. He is also manager of the Mentor Tran- sit Company and the Crescent Transit Com- pany, and now has twenty boats in his fleet, and as a broker his company handles a large number of boats for other owners.

Captain Richardson is well known socially, is a member of the Union Club, Roadside Club, Clifton Club and the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce. His home is at 11309 Wade Park Avenue. In 1863 he married Calista M. Sykes of Ashtabula. Their one daughter, Cara Lonise, is Mrs. Tracy H. Paine of Ashtabula.

CLARENCE EDWARD RICHARDSON. A hard and consistent worker in various lines of busi- ness in the Cleveland district for many years, Clarence E. Richardson is most widely known in Great Lakes transportation circles, as a member of the firm W. C. Richardson & Com- pany, vessel owners and brokers, and marine insurance agents. Mr. Richardson comes of a family that has been more or less closely identified with the Great Lakes shipping in- terests through three generations.

Mr. Richardson was born on Christmas Day December 25, 1856, at Ashtabula, Ohio, son of Capt. Channcey and Eliza (Scoville) Richard- son. His grandfather, Henry Richardson, was a pioneer of the Northern Ohio Lake Shore region, was a merchant, and at one time was . light house keeper at Madison dock. It was at Madison dock that Capt. Chauncey Rich- ardson was born in 1832. Capt. Chauncey Richardson was a brother of Capt. W. C. Richardson, head of the business W. C. Rich-

ardson & Company, and one of the most prom- inent vessel owners and managers of the Great Lakes. Captain Channeey was also prominent in lake shipping circles, was captain of a vessel many years, and for five years during Grover Cleveland's administration was collector of enstoms at Ashtabula Harbor. In politics he was a democrat. Captain Chauncey died sud- denly while on a pleasure trip with his wife and friends. His death occurred just at noon while the steamer Samuel Mitchell was oppo- site Marquette on Lake Superior bound for Duluth. His wife, who was born at Ashtabula in 1832, died in that city in 1902. They were the parents of two sons, Clarence E. and Charles Henry. The latter resides at Ashta- bula, has had an active career as a banker and merchant and for the past twenty-five years has been associated with Richards Brothers, wholesale grocers of Ashtabula, being buyer for the firm.

While a member of an old and substantial family of Ashtabula, Clarence E. Richard- son from youth up has made his own abilities his badge of merit and the chief source and reliance for success. After an education in the public schools of his native city he went to work for the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway, and was in the Ashtabula offices for nine years, the last six being spent as cashier. For five years he was secretary of the Bradley Company, manufacturers of shafts and poles at Ashtabula. When this company was taken over by the Pioneer Pole & Shaft Company he went on the road as salesman for the MeCart- Cristy Company of Cleveland. In 1901 he en- tered the office of his uncle, Capt. W. C. Rich- ardson, and since that time his energies have been completely absorbed in the extensive con- nections of this firm with Great Lakes trans- portation and the ownership and management of vessels. His work made him a valuable member of the firm and now for a number of years he has been one of the partners. Ref- erence to the extensive interests combined under the name W. C. Richardson & Company will be found in the sketch of Capt. W. C. Richardson.

Clarence E. Richardson is a man of versa- tile tastes and interests. In younger days he was a lover of amusements and theatricals and for some time acted as treasurer of the Walter Maines shows. His home is in East Cleveland. He is a member of the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce and the Shipmasters Association. His Masonic record is an interesting one. He

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is member and past master of Rising Sun Lodge No. 22 Free and Accepted Masons at Ashtabula, a member of Western Reserve Chapter Royal Arch Masons at Ashtabula, Columbian Commandery No. 52 Knights Templar, Cleveland Council Royal and Select Masons, is a life member of the Scottish Rite in the Lake Erie Consistory, life member of Al Koran Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Cleveland. In 1890 twenty-seven years ago Mr. Richardson was a prime mover in the founding of the first Elks Lodge at Ashtabula, known as Ashtabula Lodge No. 208 Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. This lodge to- day has 500 members and Mr. Richardson has a life membership and is past exalted ruler. He also belongs to the Ashtabula County So- ciety of Cleveland.

On March 10, 1885, at Ashtabula he married Miss Caroline E. King of Youngstown, daugh- ter of Wallace B. aud Eliza (McHugh) King, both now deceased. Mrs. Richardson was born at Racine, Wisconsin, but was educated in the public schools of Youngstown, Ohio, and at Hiram College. She is a member of the Hiram Club of Cleveland, of several other social or- ganizations and an active club worker.

DAVID HARRIS HOPKINS, an attorney at law with offices in the Engineers' Building, is also principal and instructor in mathematics at the Cleveland Preparatory School, which he founded and which is now under the auspices of Baldwin-Wallace College.

The Cleveland Preparatory School occupies a rather unusual and a most useful place in the Cleveland educational system. "The pur- pose of the school," to quote the college Bul- letin, "is to give young men and women a chance to secure a high school education with- out interfering with their daily occupations. The school is planned to accommodate those who work during the daytime but who are de- ficient in their high school education and de- sire to complete the necessary work for the bar examination and other examinations where a high school education is the minimum re- quirement." Thus it performs a part which the much agitated "continuation school" movement contemplates and the experience of the last seven years shows that this school has more than proved its usefulness in affording opportunities to acquire a high school educa- tion by night study. Several hundred young men and women have been assisted to higher education, and many of them are found today

in the active walks of business and profes- sional life.

David Harris Hopkins was born at Granger, Medina County, Ohio, October 8, 1882, a son of Chauncey I. and Allie (Harris) Hopkins. One of his paternal ancestors, Stephen Hop- kins, was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and was descended from John Hopkins, who settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1630 and later removed to Hartford, Connecticut, in 1636. Stephen Hopkins was a brother of Esek Hopkins, the first commander-in-chief of the navy, and of the first American fleet, with rank of admiral. After his naval experiences he settled near Providence, Rhode Island, where he exerted great political influence, having been for many years a member of the Assembly. He grad- uated from the Granger High School in 1900 and the following year attended the Ohio Northern University at Ada and in 1911 re- ceived his law and Ph. B. degrees from Bald- win-Wallace College.

Mr. Hopkins opened a law office and began the practice of law in the Engineers' Building in November, 1911. In June of the same year he organized The Cleveland Preparatory School, which began with an enrollment of a few students, but has grown and prospered until it enjoys an established place in the educational system of the city. In August, 1914, the school became an organic part of Baldwin-Wallace College, and is an extension department of the academy proper and di- rectly under the supervision and control of the college.

Mr. Hopkins is a man of many interests and successful in them all. He is interested in farming, owning a splendid stock farm where he is breeding Holstein-Friesian cattle, Po- land-China hogs and fancy poultry. He was formerly a director of the Cleveland Poultry Breeders' Association. Mr. Hopkins is af- filiated with the Masonic Order, the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of the Maccabees and with the Sigma Kappa Phi college fraternity. His home is at Berea, seat of Baldwin-Wallace College.

At Granger, Ohio, January 16, 1904, he married Vira Marie Kerstetter, the daughter of William J. and Amelia (Turner) Kerstet- ter. On her mother's side she is a descendant of Revolutionary stock and a long line of ·

teachers and ministers. Her father was a soldier in the Civil war, a scientist and a lec- turer. Mrs. Hopkins is a singer, and an active

D.N. Hopkins

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club woman. She was president of the Berea Literary Club, is now treasurer of Commo- dore Perry Chapter, United States Daughters of 1812, and a Red Cross worker.

CHRISTIAN GIRL. The stable foundations upon which commercial prosperity is built undoubtedly rest in the great manufacturing interests of a country and a successful develop- ment of interests in the manufacturing field determines a nation's importance both at home and abroad. Opportunity may be found on every hand and the time may seem advanta- geous for the launching of concerns in many di- rections, but without men of power, foresight and business acumen to recognize these oppor- tunities and grasp them, no progress is made and no favorable results attained. On the other hand, through the activities of individuals who seem naturally qualified for leadership, pos- sessing with other necessary qualities the cour- age which leads them to undertake and the patience which enables them to foster and nourish, enterprises are developed from small beginnings into vast aggregations of capital and efficiency. In the latter category is found Christian Girl, who, a resident of Cleveland for something short of a quarter of a century, has within the last eleven years assumed a powerful position in the manufacturing world of the city as the founder and president of the Perfection Spring Company and, more re- cently, as head of the Standard Parts Com- pany.

Christian Girl was born at Elkhart, Indiana, December 31, 1874, a son of Joseph and Cath- erine Girl. He received his education in the public schools of his native place, and so closely did he apply himself to his studies in high school that his health was affected and it was thought advisable that he seek outdoor employment. He came to Cleveland in the year 1895, at an inauspicious time, for busi- ness in a number of lines was almost at a standstill, there being 20,000 men idle in the city, and jobs of any kind were at a premium. Conditions were most discouraging and Mr. Girl sought in vain for employment until, with but 20 cents in his pockets, he succeeded in get- ting a private street cleaning company to give him employment at less than $6 per week. During the next two years he worked in this humble capacity, giving the best of his services to his employers, but always looking into the future and planning better things. He was constantly on the lookout for some means of advancing himself, and finally his oppor-

tunity came when he noticed an advertisement of government civil service examinations for letter carriers. He began to study nights for those examinations; and after passing the ex- amination with good marks was appointed a letter carrier and doffed the overalls of the laborer for the uniform of his country's mail service. During the next seven years, working at a salary of $1,000 per annum, he found time from his duties as a distributor of mail to engage in small real estate deals as a side line, to study land values and to perfect himself by practice in a small way in what seemed to be his particular talent, that of organizing. In 1906 he met a man who had a patent on an automobile spring, and immediately organized the Perfection Spring Company, with a capi- tal of $10,000. Up to that time spring making had not been considered a manufacturing business, and the spring makers who served the carriage trade did not have to evolve a high quality of the article produced. Springs for the carriage trade were handmade, and instead of being given heat treatment in the modern sense were "chilled." The require- ments for making automobile springs are much more exacting. In 1906, when the Per- fection Spring Company went into the auto- mobile spring business, despite the fact that the spring makers for the carriage tinde were doing work eminently satisfactory for the car- riage makers, their services for the automobile business were not satisfactory. Thus was an excellent opportunity opened up, and the new company immediately found a ready response to its high aims and aspirations for quality among the trade. When he started the busi- ness Mr. Girl's capital was small and his first plant was a small shop in the rear of the So- ciety for Savings Building. He spent the first $100 of the company in securing the charter patents and started business with himself and a stenographer acting in the capacity of office force. The idea at first had been to have some other spring company do the actual work of manufacturing this article, a beautiful and easy-riding spring, but the demand, after the first prejudices had been swept aside, grew to such proportions that the company was en- couraged to rent a small building at Viaduct and West Superior Avenue, with a floor space of 30x50 feet, where, employing three men, the firm began manufacturing. In 1911 it was again found necessary to enlarge, and the company now occupies two plants, covering three and one-half acres of ground, its new

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plant, admirably situated at the corner of Central Avenne and East Sixty-fifth Street, having a frontage of 400 feet on the former street and a depth 350 feet on the latter. It is built of pressed brick and is equipped with the most modern machinery and tools known for spring making. The buildings are well lighted and ventilated, looking to the comfort and convenience of its employes, and every detail for the prompt and efficient manufac- ture of its product has been carefully worked ont. It has been one of the aims of Mr. Girl and the policy of the company not only to supply quality automobile springs but to build and perfect an organization that would brush aside obsolete methods of spring manufacture ; and that could intelligently and successfully perpetuate the business as long as vehicles are used in transportation.

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A history of Cleveland and its environs; the heart of new Connecticut, Part 38

Author: Avery, Elroy McKendree, 1844-1935; Lewis Publishing Company Publication date: 1918 Publisher: Chicago, New York The Lewis Publishing Company Number of Pages: 904

Author: Avery, Elroy McKendree, 1844-1935; Lewis Publishing Company
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: Chicago, New York The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 904