USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cleveland and its environs; the heart of new Connecticut > Part 89
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This commission, as constituted by the com- mittee and approved by the congress, was as follows: Rev. J. Edward Kirbye, Medina, Rev. C. L. Smith, D. D., Canton, F. R. Root, Medina, J. N. Gamble, Cincinnati, James A. Rice, Canton, Rev. W. W. Bustard, D. D., Cleveland, J. H. Miller, Newark, Rev. F. N. McMillin, D. D., Dayton, Hon. Hiram B. Swartz, Wooster, Miss Frances E. Ensign, Madison, and Mrs. Sarah K. Meredith, Canton,
This commission met at the Hollenden Hotel in Cleveland, December 31, 1910, prepared papers for a charter and drafted a consti- tution and by-laws The charter was issued by Hon. Charles H. Graves, secretary of state, January 31, 1911.
At a meeting in Columbus February 1, 1911, the officers chosen were: President, Rev. J. Edward Kirbye of Medina; vice president, Miss Frances H. Ensign of Madison; secre- tary-treasurer, A. L. Boyden of Medina; su- perintendent, Rev. A. S. Gregg of Cleveland.
In the following April headquarters were opened in the Caxton Building, Cleveland. A field force of speakers, investigators and legislative workers was organized and many meetings held in the interest of good govern- ment. In carrying out the principles of the organization the trustees arranged for free legal advice to reform workers in any part of the country, free literature, and expert aid for those interested in suppressing white slav- ery, gambling, cigarettes, the saloon, or in matters involving the inactivity of public of- ficials. .
Soon after the organization began its opera- tions Doctor Kirbye removed to Des Moines,
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Iowa, and Dr. Bustard was elected president in his stead. He held that office until July, 1917, at which time Mr. E. R. Root became president.
The activities of the Reform Union have ex- tended in many directions and the member- ship now includes people of various denomina- tions and parties in nearly all the states. One of the chief objects has been the suppression of white slavery and allied evils and in addi- tion to the various individuals and agencies engaged in the work and co-operating with it the Union publishes an official organ known as The American Searchlight. In the six years since it was organized over 1,000 cases of various kinds have been handled through the facilities afforded by the Union. Many of these cases have involved the tracing of a missing girl, the location of a recreant lover, the imprisonment of a white slaver, the closing of vice resorts and aid given to local reform organizations. Over 2,000 lectures have been given, thousands of books sold or given away, and literature distributed, while inquiries for legal advice, information or special help have been received from all over the United States.
Reform Union men have had a part in in- vestigating the police department of Chicago, removing a Cleveland chief of police for gross immorality, securing a new law against white slavery in Ohio, a new law in Pennsylvania against cigarettes, and in promoting a variety of bills to prevent vice and degeneracy. Many of the leading ministers and social reform leaders of America are connected with the Union either as members or as trustees and members of the advisory committee.
REV. ALBERT SIDNEY GREGG is general sn- perintendent of The American Civic Reform Union, a brief history of which has been else- where published. Rev. Mr. Gregg devotes all his time to the supervision of Reform Union activities under the direction of the trustees. Ile has been superintendent sinee the Union was organized, about eight years ago, and in that time he has performed mul- tifarious duties and looked after many heavy responsibilities, involving the delivery of lec- tures, the initiation and management of investigations, supervision of legislation in different states, and writing for the press, and with the aid of his associates, handling individual cases that arise from time to time. Mr. Gregg has been heard as a lecturer in many of the states and larger cities of the Vol. II-30
Union, especially upon moral reform topics and particularly those subjects connected with the integrity of social life.
Mr. Gregg is a native of lowa, born near Riverton, December 15, 1866, son of John and Ruth Gregg. At the age of fourteen he left publie school and spent six months learn- ing the printing trade at Maquon, Illinois. For two years he worked as a compositor on the Plain Dealer at Galesburg, Illinois, and did similar work on the Omaha Bee. While there he began newspaper writing, and represented the Omaha Bee in Arkansas. In 1889 he was made a reporter on the staff of the Arkansas Democrat of Little Rock, and was assigned duties in the House of Representatives in that city. In 1890 he joined the Arkansas State Register and also acted as correspondent for the St. Louis Globe-Democrat. In 1892 he became a staff reporter on the St. Louis Star, and a year later went to Olympia, Washing- ton, where for six months he was secretary of the Young Men's Christian Associa- tion. In that northwest city he was city editor of an evening paper and also eorre- spondent for eight newspapers outside of Olympia until 1893.
At the age of twenty-six Mr. Gregg became a Methodist preacher, and he is still a mem- ber of the New England Methodist Confer- ence. In 1893. he joined the Puget Sound Methodist Conference and for a year was pastor of the church at Oakville and was then transferred to the Swansea Church at South Tacoma. While there he also attended the Puget Sound. University. For a period of two years he was pastor of a church in South Seattle and for three years and a half pastor of the Madison Street Church of Seattle.
From the Pacific Coast Mr. Gregg went to Boston and was on the editorial staff of Zion's Herald until April, 1903, in which month he accepted the pastorate of the Laurel Street Methodist Episcopal Church of Worcester, Massachusetts. It was while pastor of that church during 1903-04 that he had his first aetive experience in reform. In the fall of 1905 he was released from the pastorate to give his entire time to promoting civic wel- fare. In April of the same year he was elected president of the Worcester Anti-Saloon League. In October he became one of the field secretaries of the International Reform Bureau of Washington, D. C., and in 1906-08 concentrated his energies at Albany, New York, during the historic fight against race
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tract gambling during the administration of Governor Charles E. Hughes. That was his chief work until June, 1908. He remained with the International Reform Bureau as cor- responding secretary at Cleveland until he became general superintendent of the Ameri- can Civic Reform Union.
His duties have taken him into many cities in the eastern states and he has been instru- mental in enlisting the co-operation of high officials in city, state and national govern- ment and has also secured the backing of nu- merous church and business leaders through- out the United States in the prosecution of those reforms which are the chief object of his organization and of his own career. Rev. Mr. Gregg stands today as one of the chief leaders of moral and social reform in the United States.
While at Little Rock, Arkansas, September 1, 1889, he married Miss Sadie Earle Cov- ington. They are the parents of eight chil- dren : Mrs. Ernest O. Williams of Cleveland ; Mrs. G. W. Pontius of Cleveland; Earl C., of- fice manager of the National Lamp Works: Calista E., Francis W., Charlotte T., Albert S., Jr., and Dorothy A. Albert S. and Dor- othy are still students in the Cleveland pub- lic schools.
BENJAMIN F. BRUSSTAR, a chemical engineer and a man of wide and varied experience in metal products lines, is one of the founders of an important new industry at Cleveland, the Cleveland Brass & Copper Mills, Incorporated, of which he is vice president and general man- ager.
Mr. Brusstar was born at Birdsboro in Berks County, Pennsylvania, July 10, 1868, a son of James Suter and Amanda (Smith) Brusstar. His work in the grammar and high schools was completed by graduation in 1888, and during the next three and a half years he gained a thorough knowledge and experi- ence in practical and commercial chemistry in the laboratories of the E. & G. Brooke Iron Company. Following this he was employed as a chemist a year and a half by the Edgar Thompson Steel Company at Braddock, Penn- sylvania, but gave up that position to go to Pittsburgh and learn the brass and copper in- dustry. For four years he was connected with Park Brothers & Company, brass and copper mills. He then took charge of the brass and copper rolling mills of Randolph & Clowes at Waterbury, Connecticut, six years, following
which he was general superintendent of a brass and copper mill of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company at New Haven, Connecticut, This position he resigned January 1, 1911, to become general superintendent and manager of the Michigan Copper & Brass Company at Detroit.
It was from Detroit that Mr. Brusstar came to Cleveland to take charge of the technical processes involved in the establishment and operation of the Cleveland Brass & Copper Mills, Incorporated. Though established only in February, 1917, the company already has three buildings in operation, one 230x436 feet in dimensions, a second 74x200 feet, and a third 40x90 feet. This company manufac- tures brass and copper sheets, rods and wires. Obviously the business sustains an important relation to the manufacture of war supplies, and many contracts of great value and importance have been placed with the company, which in 1918 necessitated the employment of from six hundred to seven hundred men, which number will be largely augmented later as necessity requires.
Mr. Brusstar is a member of the Union Club, Cleveland Athletic Club, Chamber of Com- merce, Automobile Club, is a York and Scottish Rite Mason and a member of the Sons of the American Revolution. In politics he is identi- fied with the republican party and his church is the Episcopal.
He has a family of interesting attainments. Leon Mark, his oldest son, is a graduate of the University of Michigan and is department foreman of the Cleveland Brass & Copper Mills. James Suter has been a student of elec- trical engineering at the University of Michi- gan, but is now a petty officer in the Great Lakes Training School at Chicago. Clara Vir- ginia attends a private school at Monroe, Mich- igan, and William De Bolia is a student of law in Detroit University.
Mr. Brusstar married at Detroit, Michigan, Mrs. Renee Travers, a native of the state of New York and a descendant of the Chamber- lain family . of Woburn, Massachusetts, founded by Sir Thomas Chamberlain, who came to America in 1632. Through her pater- nal grandmother Mrs. Brusstar descends from the Lee family of Virginia. During her resi- dence in Detroit Mrs. Brusstar was an active figure in women's social and philanthropic or- ganizations as well as a member of the Louisa St. Clair Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution.
Jeny. F: Sustav
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FELIX GUENTHER is one of the oldest busi- ness men and merchants of Cleveland, having been a resident of this eity over sixty-four years and most of the time engaged in some productive work or occupation. He is best known as a merchant in art goods, and his shops in the high elass trade distriets of the city have always been centers for people de- manding the best in those lines.
Mr. Guenther was born in Nassau, Germany, May 8, 1843, a son of Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Guenther. He lived in Germany until he was eleven years of age and began his training in the publie schools of that country. In 1854 he accompanied his parents to Cleveland, and after that attended the English schools of this eity for one year. His early vocation was that of a printer. At this trade he has worked as compositor for nearly fifteen years.
Finally giving up the work of his trade Mr. Guenther invested his modest capital and his experience in an art store at the corner of Eagle and Woodland Avenue. He sold goods at that location for eleven years and for a similar period following his place of business was on the publie square. The shop has had a steady patronage and a growing appreciation in Cleveland, sinee it left the publie square it has occupied sev- eral increasingly eligible locations along Euelid Avenue, this being the largest business house in the city of its kind having main- tained this reputation for fifty years. It is now located at 1303 Euelid Avenue. Mr. Guenther handles a general line of high class art goods and is considered an authority on what constitutes good taste as well as good art.
Mr. Guenther is affiliated with Concordia Lodge of Masons. He was married in Cleve- land May 20, 1865, fifty-three years ago, to Miss Mary Stoll. They have five children : Mrs. Hattie Uchling of Cleveland; Henry, now an active partner with his father in the art goods business; Felix, Jr., a construction engineer and general superintendent with the Tidewater Cement Works at Baltimore, Mary- land ; Elsie, still at home; and Edward, also a business partner with his father.
ROBERT F. GOULDER, SR. There are turn- ing points in every man's life ealled oppor- tunity. Taken advantage of they mean nlti- mate success. The career of Robert F. Goul- der, Sr., is a striking illustration of the latter statement. Diligent and ever alert for his ehanee of advancement, he has progressed
steadily until he is recognized today as one of the foremost business men of Cleveland. Here he is held in high esteem by his fellow citizens, who honor him for his native ability and for his straightforward career.
Robert F. Goulder, Sr., was born in the City of Cleveland, November 13, 1849, and he is a son of Christopher and Barbara (Freeland) Goulder, the former a native of England and the latter of Scotland. Robert F. Goukler attended the old Brownell Street School until the age of fourteen years, at which time, in 1863, he enlisted as a soldier in the service of the Union army. He became a member of Company C, Eleventh Ohio Volunteer Infan- try, and under the command of General Sher- man made the famous mareh through Georgia to the sea. This was a thrilling experience for a lad of his tender years and incidents of that mareh have made an indelible impres- sion on his memory. He was mustered out of service June 20, 1865, and he then re- turned home to Cleveland. Not content with the adventure of war times he became a sea- man on the Great Lakes and worked on various sailing vessels during the ensuing five years. Though not edneated in a bookish way, he reached his majority with a thorough knowledge of life's hardships and a tried ability to shift for himself. In 1870 he entered the service of Aleott, Horton & Company, a wholesale dry-goods eoneern, as stoekkeeper. Six months later he engaged with Beekwitlı- Sterling & Company, at 189 Superior Street, a carpet and lace-eurtain house, as stock- keeper, remaining there for three years, at the end of which time he was a full-fledged salesman. In 1874 this fira moved into the old rink at No. 12 and 14 Evelid Avenue, and in 1880 the name was changed to Sterling & Company. In 1892 it became Sterling, Welch & Company, and in 1901 it was in- corporated as The Sterling & Welch Com- pany. In the latter year Mr. Goulder was eleeted a member of the board of directors, with the position of manager of the whole- sale carpet department, and he is still identi- fied with the organization in those capacities. In May, 1909, The Sterling & Weleh Company moved into its present quarters, a beautiful five story building at 1225 Euelid Avenue, and the business was extended to include fur- niture and several other departments. En- tirely through his own efforts Mr. Goulder has reached the high position he now holds with
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this concern and for that reason his success is the more gratifying to contemplate.
Mr. Goulder has been twice married. In April, 1873, was solemnized his marriage to Miss Rebecca Jacobs, who died in March, 1888. She is survived by two children : Vir- gil C., a salesman for The Sterling & Weleli Company ; and Julia B., now Mrs. H. H. Ma- son, of Cleveland. In April, 1889, he mar- ried Miss Elizabeth Herron, who died May 3, 1903. This latter union was prolific of three children, as follows: Jean B., a graduate of the Women's College; William Herron, a graduate of East High School and formerly traveling salesman for the Bigelow Hartford Carpet Company, of New York City, now a sergeant in Company I, Three Hundred Thir- ty-first Infantry, Camp Sherman, Chillicothe, Ohio; and Robert F., Jr., who was a student in Western Reserve University, until in com- pany with Dr. Darby he organized the S. S. U. No. 583, Convois Antomobiles, American Ex- peditionary Force, and is now in France.
Mr. Goulder retains a marked interest in his old comrades in arms and signifies the same by membership in the Grand Army of the Re- public, in which he is one of the youngest members, and he is also connected with the Old Settlers' Association. He is past mas- ter of Tris Lodge No. 229, Aneient Free & Accepted Masons ; past high priest of Cleve- land Chapter No. 148; past eminent com- mander of Ilolyrood Commandery No. 32, and a member of Al Koran Commandery, Ancient Arabie Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He is also a Thirty-second degree Mason in the Scottish Rite branch of Free Masonry. In politics he is a stalwart repub- lican and in religious faith is a devout Pres- byterian. As a citizen Mr. Goulder is worthy in every respect, always indorsing and giving his aid to movements projected for the good of the general welfare. He is an earnest and loyal friend and by reason of his upright, sterling manhood he commands the unalloyed confidence and esteem of all who know him.
THEODORE A. WILLARD, vice president and general manager of the Willard Storage Bat- tery Company, is the acknowledged pioneer in the development of a type of storage battery fitted and perfected for use in automobile starting and lighting.
His personal career furnishes some inter- esting side lights upon the history of the de- velopment of storage batteries in general. Mr. Willard was born at Castle Rock, near Min-
neapolis, Minnesota, December 10, 1862, his parents, Robert and Esther Willard, having gone to the far Northwest in pioneer times and settled on the frontier. Theodore A. Wil- lard as a boy attended public school at Farm- ington, Minnesota, and at the age of seven- teen went to Minneapolis, where during the day he worked as a mechanical draftsman for his brother Willis R., an engraver, and at night attended school to complete his electri- cal education. It was during this period of his carly life that he gained his first practi- cal knowledge of electrical engineering, and while at Minneapolis he also made his first battery.
In 1887 Mr. Willard came to Cleveland, and for several months studied with his uncle, Archibald M. Willard. This Archi- bald M. Willard, is the man who painted the famous patriotic picture, "The Spirit of '76." Going on to New York City, Theodore A. Wil- lard found employment for three years as draftsman with Bartlett & Company, this firm doing an extensive business in the making of illustrations and drawings for electrical and other machinery. It was while with that com- pany that Mr. Willard obtained his first idea for the original Willard battery, from watch- ing the operations of an engraving machine, of grooving a lead plate so as to produce a larger surface area for the action of the chemicals in a storage battery. Mr. Willard's abilities brought him substantial rewards and when he left New York he had accumulated a capital of several thousand dollars, but had to give up what promised to be a successful career there on account of ill health.
Returning to Cleveland, he lived for eight months with his uncle, and employed him- self on light experimental work during that time. From here he removed to Norwalk, Ohio, and there built a small laboratory for the purpose of developing a commercial type of battery, known as the Plante Type. He perfected that and at intervals also gave his services as a draftsman to the Lanning Print- ing Company, though most of his days and parts of his nights were spent in experimental work in his laboratory. In 1892 Mr. Willard formed a partnership with Dr. E. N. Hawley and Charles Suhr, of Norwalk, under the name Willard Electric & Battery Company. Their business soon outgrew its original quar- ters and in 1895 the plant was removed to Cleveland and located at 49 Wood Street. In 1899 other interests were incorporated, the Sipe & Sigler, manufacturing jewelers, and
M.Willand.
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the business was continued under the name Sipe & Sigler. Later John Sipe, Carl Sigler and Mr. Willard bought out the interests of Dr. Hawley and Suhr, and in 1900 the present Willard Storage Battery Company was es- tablished, Sipe and Sigler at that time turn- ing over their interests to the new company. Concerning this business a separate sketch will be found on other pages.
Mr. Willard was one of the founders of the Cleveland Automobile Club. December 3, 1906, he married at Cleveland Florence Lee Voorhees.
WILLARD STORAGE BATTERY COMPANY. This is a Cleveland industry which has grown and developed in a way to reflect the increasing importance of Cleveland as a center of the automobile business better than perhaps any other concern. The company was organized in 1900, and at that time its force of em- ployes numbered from fifteen to twenty men. Today there are 3,000 employes. Theodore A. Willard, the founder of the business, is a pioneer in the development of types of stor- age battery adapted for use on motor ve- hicles. For a number of years he and his associates manufactured exclusively the Plante Type of battery, chiefly used for rail- road car lighting and central power stations. This was the only product of the Willard Storage Battery Company up to 1902.
The problem of adapting electrical lighting and starting to the automobile is the result of long study and experimentation on the part of Mr. Willard and his associates. He spent months working in connection with electric lamp manufacturers to produce a satisfactory lamp for automobile lighting. This was only one item. The storage battery heing of the greatest importance, many more minutes were spent on a battery which would meet the re- quirements of the hard usage of an automo- bile. The company then began constructing batteries and electric lighting accessories in 1910, and for two years it was possible to sell the ontput only to individuals. Anto- mobile manufacturers were distrustful and declined to accept electric starting and light- ing as a regular part of their equipment. In 1912 the first contracts were filled with auto- mobile manufacturers, and since then the growth of the Willard Storage Battery Com- pany has kept apace with the development of the automobile industry itself and the com- pany has confined itself to the manufacture of storage batteries alone, other concerns now
making the accessories. At the present time this company manufactures more batteries for automobile use than all their competitors combined. They have contracts for the Wil- lard Battery with fully eighty-five per cent of the automobile factories in the United States. The outstanding features of the Wil- lard Battery are the solution of the several elements and problems to which Mr. Willard and his associates gave so much time. One of these is the high voltage for self-starting, combined with a satisfactory capacity for lighting service and a durability for all the rigorous tests employed in ordinary or extra- ordinary service on a car. The Willard Com- pany was pioneers in meeting these require- ments, and it was several years before their competitors succeeded in imitating them.
The new plant of the Willard Storage Bat- tery is on One Hundred and Thirty-first Street, near St. Clair Avenue, and covers ten acres of ground, furnishing 350,000 square feet of floor space.
The officers of the company are: Jacob H. Shaffer, president; Theodore A. Willard, vice president and general manager; H. J. Stiles, secretary and treasurer; R. C. Norberg, gen- eral sales manager and director; and T. R. Cook, chief engineer in charge of production.
THE CLEVELAND AUTOMOBILE SCHOOL COM- PANY. It is one of the traits of American character that for every new condition pre- sented there is a man and facilities developed to take care of it. Twenty years ago an auto- mobile was a rarcty, but in the course of a few years they were found in multiplying numbers on every street and highway of the country. To operate them and take care of them presented a test of practical mechanics such as had never been known. It was merely a problem involving the training of a special class of mechanics like railroad engineers and motor men, since in a great majority of the cases the running of an automobile was not a' business in itself but only incidental to a regular vocation. Thousands of motor en- thusiasts have learned the art, rather imper- fectly, from brief instruction by trained chauffeurs or from individual trial and experi- ence. Out of the general need for drivers, mechanies, repair men, outside the factories and shops of automobile building centers, there were developed, with the ready responsiveness of American ingenuity, schools of automobile instruction.
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