A history of Cleveland and its environs; the heart of new Connecticut, Part 92

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 92

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mercial school should be, and two years ago, after years of work and preparation, secured the state charter for the normal department.

The Rufus Ranney Law School is connected with the Spencerian College and gives a four- year course with the degree of LL. B. Mr. Merville, with Mr. W. H. Brook, an account- ant and auditor of twenty-five years' ex- perience, have developed the courses of higher accounting, auditing, cost accounting and advanced commercial law to such an extent that they are fast being put on the same plane as law. The school is the first that has given a special course for private secretaryship. This extension work is being developed by the Brook-Merville Institute of Commerce and Accounts. The Spencerian College em- ploys books in the pamphlet form as a stu- dent's interest is maintained by having a small amount of matter put into his hands at one time, and Mr. Merville believes that the day is not far distant when all stu- dent books will be in this form for the reason given. The Spencerian College, since Mr. Merville took charge, has cared for approxi- mately 20,000 pupils, and in all his school work Mr. Merville has had fully 25,000 pu- pils, many of whom are today occupying high positions. At the present time the school has about 1,000 pupils.

Mr. Merville is interested in a number of other prominent enterprises at Cleveland, but, naturally, his main interests lie in the development and success of the college. He is a republican, but not active. He was slated for the secretaryship of the Buffalo Civil Service Commission, but left that city to take up his present work; and when the Cleve- land Civil Service Commission was organized acted in an advisory capacity for two years. He was appointed to George Proctor's staff on the civil service to prepare examinations in large centers, but refused the office, as he did also to serve as statistician of the Inter- state Commission, to which he had been ap- pointed. Mr. Merville assisted in organizing a camp of the Sons of Veterans at Buffalo and served in various offices, including that of commander. He was active in the work of the Young Men's Christian Association for many years until recently, and during the last six years has been superintendent of the Euclid Avenue Methodist Sunday School. Fraternally he is connected with Woodward Lodge No. 508, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and Mount Olive Chapter No. 189, Royal Arch Masons, and also holds member-

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ship in the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce, the Cleveland Advertising Club, the Cleve- land Rotary Club and the Tippecanoe Club.

Mr. Merville was married June 28, 1893, to Marietta Merville, a distant relative, a na- tive of New York, and a daughter of Charles K. Merville, a carpenter and school teacher of the Empire State. To this union there has been born one daughter, Miss Pauline Barton, who lives with her parents.

MISS CAROLINE T. ARNOLD. In educational circles of Cleveland there are few names bet- ter known, and deservedly so, than that of Miss Caroline T. Arnold, one of the propri- etors of the Spencerian College. It had not been her intention to follow the career of an educator, but once launched upon her work in that profession, when still in young wom- anhood, she found it so fascinating and that it. offered so broad a field for usefulness that she decided to make it her life work and has continued with constantly increasing success to contribute to the instruction of the youth of the city.

Miss Arnold was born just prior to the beginning of the Civil war, at Elizabethport, New Jersey, her father being Jared Arnold, who served through that struggle as a nurse in field hospitals and was assistant to Dr. Julius F. Miner, of Buffalo, one of the most famous surgeons in the world. Mr. Arnold's ancestors were of Revolutionary stock, the family having come from England in 1628 and located at Haddam, Connecticut. The mother of Miss Arnold, Caroline (Tyrell) Arnold, a native of Vermont, served at her husband's side as a nurse during the Civil war, and gave her life to the cause, her death being directly due to her extreme exertions in behalf of the wounded soldiers. It was said by Doctor Miner that her worth to the Union army was that of any two surgeons on his staff. Her ancestors were very early set- tlers of Massachusetts, many of whom died in the attack on Deerfield, that state, but had originally settled in Vermont, about 1675 or 1676, and were of English-Belgian descent.

Miss Caroline T. Arnold was educated in the graded, high and normal schools of Buf- falo, New York, and almost immediately after her graduation from the latter became an assistant in the offices of the Bryant & Strat- ton Business College in that city, subsequent- ly becoming a member of the teacher's staff. Taking up teaching was a matter of acci- dent, as she had originally had no idea of Vol. II-31

following that vocation when she left school; but, as before noted, she came to love the work and has retained her affection for it throughout the years that have followed. During this time her work has carried her to a number of places and through some decid- edly interesting experiences. She went to Juneau, Alaska, to establish a school at that point, until it was possible to persuade the Government to provide a combined grammar and high school. It was hard work to con- vince the United States Government that the school was a necessity, and it was through the efforts of United States Senator Shoup of Idaho that consent was finally received from Washington, and the school was estab- lished in 1900, being the first high school in all that part of the world.

After the completion of the work in Alaska, Miss Arnold returned to Buffalo and taught for one year, and then, with E. E. Merville, took over the Spencerian School, at Cleve- land, to the conduct of which she has since been devoting her best efforts. Miss Arnold has always had an ideal of what a school might be, and took up the work at the Spen- cerian School in the hope that some of her ideals might find realization. She modestly makes the statement that she and her part- ner have partially succeeded and are still striving toward the goal of perfection. She is still teaching in both the day and night schools, largely in mathematics and short- hand, as she has for thirty-three years, and in the occupation finds an outlet for her ener- gies, as well as pleasure and recreation. The story of the Spencerian School, its wonderful success and all it stands for, will be found at length in the sketch of E. E. Merville, elsewhere in this work.

Miss Arnold is a member of Trinity Ca- thedral and is interested in all branches of church work. For a long time she acted in the capacity of secretary of the Council of Women, and is now taking a great interest and giving close attention to the work of the Red Cross, and particularly to the branch connected with the Spencerian School.

TOM LOFTIN JOHNSON, born Georgetown, Kentucky, July 18, 1854, son of Albert L. and Helen (Loftin) Johnson. Went to In- diana in boyhood; educated there; clerk in street railway office, Louisville, Kentucky, 1869-75; invented several street railway de- vices; bought a street railway in Indian- apolis ; later acquired large street railway in-

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terests in Cleveland, Detroit and Brooklyn. Also an iron manufacturer in Cleveland; member of Congress 1891-95; democrat; prominent advocate of the "single tax" theories of late Henry George. Mayor of Cleveland four terms, 1901-10. He died April 10, 1911.

Unless all hopes and aspirations, and the extremities of sacrifice in life and all that life holds dear, count for naught, the world is moving nearer to democracy-a democracy that is not a political catchword but an ap- proximation of equality of opportunity, wherein no arbitrary groups and special in- terests shall be "permitted to control the destinies and daily fortunes of men and na- tions."

In the intense preoccupation of war it is perhaps inevitable that a temporary oblivion should obscure those lantern-bearers who hopefully and bravely illuminated a path of progress from age old conventions and re- strictions of human liberty.

But in all historic justice, such obscuration is not due Tom L. Johnson for he was em- phatically not only a force and factor in his own time but a man of tomorrow-the real lantern-bearer of progress. The libraries are filled with books depicting men and meas- ures, systems and philosophies, current and respected ten years ago, and yet as strange and far away to the present perspective as are the constitutional debates of Webster and Clay. In contrast, the pages of "My Story" by Tom L. Johnson seem to contain in a smaller setting, a concise exposition of many of the forces and problems that on an im- mense stage grip the nations of the world in struggle.

As revealed in his book Tom L. Johnson was one of a group of Ohio men in public life who rang a defiant challenge to the reaction- aries of their generation and set in motion forces that have not yet come to equilibrium. While Tom L. Johnson was a successful busi- ness man he saw the light in the philosophy of Henry George and in his own experiences with the "invisible government" of "Big Business," and gave up his work as a street railway magnate and manufacturer to devote time and means to his ideals. While he was an idealist of the highest type, he was only content to be in the vanguard of action and to the very last was concerned with hard practical results though he viewed them as a part of the forward movement.

Tom L. Johnson had the magnetic qualities

of all great leaders, also the faculty of sur- rounding himself with able men. He had as his chief lieutenant Newton D. Baker who after his death followed his footsteps, into the mayor's chair and is now Secretary of War under Woodrow Wilson. There are thousands of men in Cleveland-many of un- doubted power and influence-to whom the name Tom L. Johnson is sacred and who carry in their hearts the fire of civic right- eousness and common justice kindled by their indomitable chief.

Perhaps the chief aim of Mr. Johnson's fight was an equitable distribution of the bur- dens of taxation. During his term as mayor of Cleveland he did more to the end that taxes were levied equally upon rich and poor alike than was ever done in the entire previous history of the city. After an intense and bitter struggle with "Big Business"-a strug- gle known as the "Nine Years' War"-he secured three cent fare for Cleveland. He was the first advocate of two cent steam rail- road fare in Ohio. At that time the idea was derided but he lived to see the day when two cent fare was the rate charged on the steam railroads of the state. Before his advent the steam railroads paid about as much taxes as they were willing to pay. As a result of his efforts they were compelled to pay on something like the real value of their prop- erty.

When he was mayor of Cleveland the people for the first time learned that they really owned the public parks. Almost his first official act was to order down all the "Keep Off the Grass" signs. Formerly the parks were only accessible to the rich and those who could afford to ride through them in vehicles. Citizens were not even allowed to walk on the grass. He changed all this. Play grounds, base ball diamonds, tennis courts and all sorts of proper amusements were provided and the people under him came into their own. He established play grounds all over the city, public bath houses, built a modern municipal garbage plant, inaugurated the fight for the municipal light plant and three cent light which became a reality under New- ton Baker, secured thirty cent natural gas against seventy-five cent artificial gas, con- ceived the idea of the Mall and grouping of public buildings which is now being worked out.

Mr. Johnson's whole time was devoted to the welfare of the common man. He worked to the end that justice might prevail between

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poor men and rich men. While his fight was essentially against "Big Business" he had no complaint against "Big Business" in its proper sense. What he complained about and what he fought against was the lack of vision on the part of "Big Business" that permitted it to attempt to take an unfair ad- vantage over those with whom it came in con- tact. Mr. Johnson was several times a mil- lionaire when he was elected mayor of Cleve- land in 1901. He devoted himself so whole- heartedly to his work in Cleveland that he neglected his private interests with the re- sult that he died in 1911 a comparatively poor man.

This article for the History of Cleveland is not written to boost the sale of "My Story," which is accessible in every public library, but if anyone is interested in knowing Tom L. Johnson as one of the most picturesque figures in American business and public life there is only one source to be recommended -- his own story.

ARCHI C. KLUMPH. Happy is the man who finds his work early in life and brings to it all the resources of a trained mind and gifted personality, for his career is certain to re- dound not only to his personal benefit but to the welfare of the world at large.

In 1884, when he was only fifteen years of age, Arch C. Klumph found his first place in the lumber business and that place has been growing year by year until he is today one of the most widely known lumber deal- ers in the Middle West. His first employ- ment was as a bookkeeper with the firm of Perry Young & Company in Cleveland, and from one thing to another he was promoted until he was made secretary and finally man- ager of the company. In 1898 the business was reorganized as the Cuyahoga Lumber Company and Mr. Klumph remained as man- ager. In 1912, on the death of Robert Jenks, the president of the company, Mr. Klumph acquired all the outstanding holdings and became sole owner and proprietor and retain- ing the corporate organization, is also presi- dent. The plant and offices are situated at 1948 Carter Road, and cover six acres of ground. It is easily one of the largest lum- ber plants in Cleveland and runs about fifth in size in volume of trade in the State of Ohio. Its business relations are largely with Cleveland and vicinity and about 150 people are on the payroll.

Mr. Klumph has been a resident of Cleve-

land since early boyhood. He was born at Conneautville, Pennsylvania, June 6, 1869. His ancestors a number of generations ago were colonial settlers from Germany in New York, locating on Otsego Lake about 1760. His father, Morton Klumph, born at Spring- field, New York, in 1841, was five years of age when in 1846 his parents moved to Con- neautville, Pennsylvania, where he was reared and where he married and where he followed the mercantile business. In 1883 he brought his family to Cleveland, and their old home was established on Euclid Avenue at the site of the present Halle store. Morton Klumph in Cleveland was connected with the Trav- elers Insurance Company until his death, which occurred in September, 1917. He was a democratic voter and a member of St. Paul's Episcopal Church. In 1862 he enlisted in a Pennsylvania Regiment of Infantry and gave a creditable service until honorably dis- charged. Morton Klumph married Emma Cooper, who was born at Conneautville, Penn- sylvania, in 1845 and is still living at Cleve- land. There are three children: R. Clyde, a lumber broker at Cleveland; Arch C .; and Maurice P., who is also in the lumber broker- age business at Cleveland.

Arch C. Klumph received most of his edu- cation from the public schools of Conneaut- ville. He was only thirteen when he left school and at the same time came to Cleve- land and here went to work as a general of- fice boy with the Travelers Insurance Com- pany. He was with that firm about two years before he made his fortunate connection with the lumber business.

Mr. Klumph has a number of important af- filiations with Cleveland business affairs, is president of the Buckeye Box Company, presi- dent of the Security Savings and Trust Com- pany, president of the Monticello Realty Company and president of the Lake Steam- ship Company. His home is at 9400 Euclid Avenue, and for his summer residence he has a home and thirty-acre farm at Bay Village.

It is an assertion which could not be easily challenged that Mr. Klumph is probably the world's most distinguished rotarian, and when it is recalled that the Rotary clubs are made up of the highest and best class of business men that distinction is no slight one. Mr. Klumph was elected in 1916 president of the International Association of Rotary, one of the highest honors that could be conferred on any American business man. In Septem- ber, 1918, he goes to England as ambassador

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of the International Association to the Ro- tary Clubs of the British Isles, and is the first citizen of the United States to perform those functions. While abroad one of his tasks will be to establish a Rotary Club in Paris. Any man might take justifiable pride in such a testimonial as Mr. Klumph re- ceived recently, presented and signed by 400 of the leading business men of Cleveland. In slightly abbreviated form this reads as fol- lows :

"We, the committee of the Cleveland Ro- tary Club, are happy in having the privi- lege of offering for approval of the Club the following: Whereas, Arch C. Klumph was, more than five years ago, elected to membership in this club and during his first year of membership appointed delegate to the International Association of Rotary Clubs in annual convention assembled, the follow- ing year elected president of this club and in 1916 unanimously elected to the presi- dency of the International Association of Rotary Clubs; and, whereas : He has not only performed all duties appertaining to same in an excellent and acceptable manner but has set a standard of high order, or morality, business ethics and efficiency not excelled if ever equalled by any, and leaving for his suc- 'cessors in International Rotary a plainly marked guide to the ultimate success of Ro- tary in business, national and social inter- ests; therefore be it resolved: That we, the Cleveland Rotary Club, do by public acknowl- edgment approve of the work of our fellow member Arch C. Klumph, in both local and international Rotary, given at a great sacri- fice of time, effort and expense; that we rec- ommend his work to others both in official and membership life as an example of sacri- fice and devotion worthy of emulation and hereby express our pride and satisfaction in the work he has so ably performed, repre- senting as it does the high ideals that this Club has always endeavored to reach, and recommend his example to all members of Rotary wherever they may be; that we wish for him and all he holds dear long life, pros- perity and happiness." The committee sign- ing this consisted of C. F. Laughlin, John T. Wemple and John J. Wood.

In 1918 Mr. Klumph was appointed chief of the Cleveland Division of the American Protective League, an organization associ- ated with the Department of Justice, Bureau of Investigation.

In politics Mr. Klumph is a democrat and

is a member of St. Paul's Episcopal Church. In 1898, at Cleveland, he married Miss Eve- lyn M. Weideman, daughter of John J. and Mary (Matthews) Weideman. Her father is deceased and her mother lives with Mr. and Mrs. Klumph. The latter have two children, both daughters, Mary Weideman born Jan- uary 4, 1902; and Catherine Cooper, born October 20, 1903.

CAPT. HENRY J. JOHNSON. One of the vet- eran figures in lake transportation during the middle of the last century was the late Capt. Henry J. Johnson, who commanded a number of boats from Cleveland as the home port, and after retiring from the water iden- tified himself actively with real estate and other interests at Cleveland until his death.

Captain Johnson was born at Cleveland February 16, 1834. He lived past seventy years of age and died at his country home at Greenspring, fifty miles west of Cleveland, January 24, 1905.

In 1850, when sixteen years of age, he com- menced sailing on the Great Lakes. In 1853 he was mate of the "Wings of the Morning" with his cousin, Solon Rummage, as captam. In 1854, at the age of twenty, he took out his first boat with the rank of captain, this boat being the "T. P. Handy." Later he sailed the "N. C. Baldwin," "W. B. Ogden," "William Case" and the "Charles H. Walker." He was part owner of the "George H. Presley" and managing owner of the steamers "V. Swain," "H. B. Tuttle" and "Henry J. Johnson."

His last work as a navigator was done in 1872, and following that he actively prose- cuted his real estate interests. Besides con- siderable property within the city and in Lakewood Captain Johnson owned the Oak Ridge Health Resort at Greenspring, Ohio, and many thousands of people knew him as the genial proprietor of that property.

Captain Jolinson married in Cleveland An- nie Campbell, daughter of Alexander and An- nie (Nicholson) Campbell. Her parents were among the early residents of Cleveland. Mrs. Johnson's home is in the Oak Ridge Health Resort at Greenspring. This resort is still owned by the family. A brief record of their children is as follows: Winfield A., of Green- spring : Elwell L., who lives at Cleveland and is manager of the estate; Leslie H., of Green- spring; Everett C., of Greenspring; Alexan- der C., of Greenspring; Russell V., who is probably the best known member of the family

C. a Madman

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in Cleveland, where he is now serving as city treasurer; Annie N., of Greenspring; and Henrietta M., wife of C. H. Cobb, of Lake- wood.

JOHN N. GODMAN is vice president of the Cummer Products Company of Cleveland. The Cummer products are some of the wares by which the name of Cleveland is in in- creasing measure associated in the minds of thousands and millions of people in different parts of the country. The Cummer Products Company is not one of the largest industries of Cleveland but its business has added ma- terially to the aggregate assets of the city and its record one that reflects honor upon the Cleveland industrial community.

The business was established in 1906 by James W. Cummer. The present officers of the company are: Charles A. Godman, presi- dent; John N. Godman, vice president; Carl W. Schaefer, secretary ; and C. C. Smith, Jr., treasurer. The fine new office building and plant at 2150 West Fifteenth Street was crected for the express use and . convenience of the company in 1912. The Cummer prod- uets may be described in general as dry cleaning preparations for leather, clothing and other goods, and consist of a number of widely advertised household products such as dressings and cleanings for all types of shoes, gloves, other fabrics, and their shoe dressings, dyes and cleaners are in use in thousands of American homes and in various commercial cleaning establishments.

Mr. John N. Godman is one of the younger men in Cleveland's business affairs. He was born in this city December 28, 1892. His ancestors came out of England and settled in Virginia in colonial times. His father, Charles A. Godman, who is president of the Cnmmer Products Company, though not ac- tive in the business, was born at Cardington, Ohio, in 1858, and when he was about seven years of age his parents died and during the rest of his boyhood he lived in the home of his brother-in-law, W. H. Park. While there he attended public schools regularly, and at the age of seventeen, in 1875, started out to make his own way in the world. Coming to Cleveland, he entered the employ of the Strong-Cobb Company, wholesale druggists, and remained with that one house in faithful service and in varying responsibilities for twenty-seven years. His experience, his credit and his capital he then used to establish the Standard Drug Company of Cleveland, a

well known retail and wholesale house of which he was president for ten years. The offices and plant of the Standard Drug Com- pany were at Ninth Street and Bolivar Road. In 1914 Charles A. Godman retired from this business. He resides at 1861 East Seventy- fifth Street. Politically he is a republican. He married Minnie Shupe, who was born at Shiloh, Ohio, in 1867. Their children are Helen and John N. The danghter is the wife of William Wallace, who has the Cleveland agency for the Erie City Iron Works of Erie, Pennsylvania, and their home is at Overlook Road in Enclid Heights.

John N. Godman was educated in the Cleve- land public schools, and, like his father, his education was finished at the age of seven- teen, when he went to work for the Sherwin & Williams Paint Company. He was with that corporation two years, spent a year with The Cleveland Tool & Supply Company, and then pursned a business course in Lane's Business School of Cleveland, from which he graduated in April, 1916. On joining the Cummer Products Company Mr. Godman started at the bottom, learned all the technical processes as well as the business details, and in his office as vice president of the company has a thorough mastery of all branches of the business.

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A history of Cleveland and its environs; the heart of new Connecticut, Part 92

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