USA > Ohio > Columbiana County > Salem in Columbiana County > A souvenir history of ye old town of Salem, Ohio, with some pictures and brief references to ye people and things of ye olden time > Part 7
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"The Industrial Works" were established in Salem in 1872 by Edwards & Morlan. In 1875 M. L. Edwards became sole proprietor. He was a practical machinist, having been for
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Joel Sharp
about eighteen years, from 1854 to 1872, con- nected with the Silver & Deming establishment, of which he was foreman for a period of eight
years. Among the products of the Edwards shops were meat choppers, lard and tallow presses, sausage stuffers, blacksmiths' tools of various kinds, etc. Edwards was inventor of many of the articles which he manufactured. He still continues the business, making a num- ber of specialties, and doing a jobbing line of work as a machinist.
In 1875 William J. Clark & Co. established a factory for making novelty oil tanks, shipping tanks, elevator buckets, hose couplings, and gen- eral plate and sheet metal work. In 1885 other specialties in the line of hardware and wooden- ware, including door and window screens, were added, and a very widely extended trade was se- cured. In 1896 the company was incorporated as The W. J. Clark Company. In 1906 the capacity of the plant had been further increased and some new specialties added to the production of the concern. Among the leading articles manufactured, in which the company has a large trade, are the "Quick-as-Wink" couplers, pressed plate steel wheels, elevator buckets, and the Lane patent joist hanger. W. H. Clark is president and treasurer, W. J. Clark vice presi-
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dent and general manager, and I. A. Clark sec- retary.
In the early '80's Carl Barckhoff established a church organ factory in Salem, which at one time in its history employed thirty to forty men. About 1896 Barckhoff retired from the business, after building many high-class instruments which were installed in churches in various cities of the country.
The Wirsching Church Organ Company of Salem was established in 1887, with the follow- ing officers : Charles C. Snyder, president ; Philip Wirsching, vice-president and general manager ; Warren W. Hole, secretary, and Sheldon Park, treasurer. Mr. Wirsching had been employed for some years in Wurzburg, Bavaria, and in other European countries, and had therefore, a thoroughly practical knowledge of the business. After the company had operated about ten years Mr. Wirsching took over the business and con- tinued it in his own name, until 1904, when the factory was destroyed by fire. After this a stock company was organized, which was incorporated February 6, 1905, with a capital stock of $30,000, the officers being as follows: William L. Deming,
Furman Gee.
president ; Philip Wirsching, vice-president and superintendent ; W. W. Mulford, secretary and treasurer. The company erected new buildings, and early in the summer of 1905 was again in
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operation. The company builds church and chamber pipe organs of a high grade, and have supplied many large and fine city churches with instruments.
The Salem China Company was organized in 1898 by six practical pottery manufacturers of East Liverpool-E. J. Smith, William Smith, Patrick McNicol, T. A. McNicol, Cornelius Cronin and Daniel P. Cronin. T. A. McNicol was president. That year the company built a six-kiln pottery in this city, and a very success- ful business in the manufacture of white ware has been since conducted.
Among the later manufacturing plants to locate upon "The Flats" the district of Salem which for years has been largely devoted to these industrial enterprises, are "The Salem Tool Co." and "The Pittsburg Foundry and Machine Co." which occupy adjoining properties on lower Depot street. "The Salem Tool Co." was established in 1900, and manufactures miners' tools, and employs about fifteen men. Henry Wilson is president, Frank Trotter secre- tary and treasurer, and C. M, Day general man- ager.
"The Pittsburg Foundry and Machine Co." was also established here in 1902. Its home office is in Pittsburg. Thomas Maxwell, of Pittsburg, is president, and Wm. A. Smith, also of Pittsburg, is secretary and treasurer. A general line of job castings is here made, and much more than a local trade is enjoyed. An average of twenty men are employed.
J. B. McNab in 1875 embarked in the fruit canning business, and in 1891 added the manu- facture of artificial ice. For several years past he has operated largely in the mining of coal, and in 1906 continued the latter and the manu- facture of ice.
H. A. Tolerton & Sons, in the fall of 1905 built and equipped a large, up to date artificial ice plant, which was successfully put into com- mission this season in time to keep cool Salem's thousands of Centennial visitors.
The Quaker Manufacturing Company was established by Charles R. and J. Oscar Taber in 1854, for the manufacture of stationary engines, The firm in 1856 became Taber, Pope & Street, and a large brick building was erected near the railroad, fronting on Depot street. The Taber
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Brothers eventually became sole proprietors, and upon the death of Charles R. Taber, in 1869, The Quaker Manufacturing Company was incor- porated, with Leonard Schilling as president, the capital stock being $80,000. The company made a specialty, during the later years of its existence, of the manufacture of the "Quaker " mower and reaper, but finally suspended business shortly after 1870. Attempts to mine the coal and iron ore in the southern part of Perry township re- sulted in the organization of The Salem Coal and Iron Company, on December 17th, 1869, the in- corporators being Joel Sharp, Leonard Schilling, Amos Park, James Woodruff and John Baker. Samuel Chessman was elected president of the new company, Leonard Schilling secretary, and T. C. Boone treasurer. The company was capi- talized at $100,000, and attempts were made at mining coal and iron ore, but the lack of adequate transportation facilities proved a large factor in bringing about the failure of the project. The Etna Manufacturing Company was also organ- ized about 1864, J. T. Brooks being largely interested in the enterprise. The company car- ried on a large business in the manufacture of
Philip Evans
mowers and reapers for a number of years, the annual product at one time being 1,500 machines. The company discontinued business about 1872.
Among the permanent and stable manufac- turing improvements of Salem is that which was
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Samuel Grove, Sr.
organized as the Salem Wire Nail Mill Com- pany, which was incorporated in August, 1885,
with a capital of $300,000 (which was after- wards increased to $500,000), and the plant at Salem started on the last day of that year. The original company was headed by Joel Sharp, who was the first president of the concern. The plant employed over 200 men from the start, and in 1889 the company absorbed a plant of the same capacity at Findlay, Ohio. The Salem mill was one of the first taken into the original wire combine-The American Steel and Wire Company-upon its formation in 1898; and on the absorption of the "wire combine" by The United Steel Corporation in 1901, the Salem plant became a part of the larger concern. The "combine " continued to run the Salem plant, however, at the expense of properties in other cities, which in some cases lay idle for years, and, as the Salem mill had never been organized by the iron workers, it was never affected by the labor troubles that in later years beset various mills under control of the Steel Corporation. The capacity of the Salem plant is from 550,000 to 600,000 kegs of nails a year, and it employs upwards of 300 men. Joseph Q. Riddel is the superintendent of the local plant. Improve-
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ments commenced in the fall of 1905 were com- pleted early in the Centennial year. They in- cluded a new warehouse 110 feet long and also a new blacksmith shop and carpenter shop.
The Grove Company, manufacturers of chew- ing gum, organized in 1890, and built a fine three- story building on lower Broadway, where the business is conducted with marked success. The company employs about 150 people. S. Grove, Jr., is president and secretary ; P. L. Grove is vice-president, and E. Grove, treasurer.
Fifteen years ago the present great gum business of The Grove Company was started in a very small way, at which time all goods were wrapped by hand.
Recently they installed twenty wrapping machines, each machine wrapping twenty-four thousand packages of gum per day.
The business has been very prosperous and is today one of Salme's largest industries.
189;
THE GROVE COMPANY
CHEWING
THE GROVE COMPANY Manufacturers of Chewing Gum.
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Salem was incorporated as a town by an act of the General Assembly of Ohio, passed January 8, 1830. In 1842 the village contained a popula- sion of 1,000. The village government then consisted of a president, a recorder and five trus- tees. John Campbell was the first president, (in 1830, ) and Alfred Wright the first mayor (in 1852), when the town became an incorporated village. According to the federal census in 1900 Salem had a population of 7,582; but the belief being general that that figure was below the true one, the Council, upon solicitation, ordered a new census, which gave the city a population of 8,260. A conservative estimate now, in the Centennial year, gives the city a population of 10,000 in round numbers.
The Salem Village Register, in its first issue dated April 12, 1842, gives the following description of the town as it was then : "Salem is situated about sixty miles West of Pittsburg, and near the same distance South of Lake Erie. It contains a population of more than 1,000, and is located in the midst of a well-improved farm- ing district. It is pleasantly situated on a slight elevation, but the country around is for the most
part comparatively level. It was laid out some 35 years since, but has improved more rapidly of late than formerly. Most of the houses are frame, but a considerable number are of brick. It contains two woolen manufactories, one foundry, stores (mostly extensive), six or seven drug shops and groceries, three taverns, one tin- shop, one watch-maker shop, two hatter-shops, seven tailor shops, one coverlet-weaver, one stocking-weaver and other weaving establish- ments; four cabinet-maker shops, nine boot and shoe shops, five coach-maker shops, ten black- smith shops, twenty-five or thirty carpenters, two chairmakers, and numerous other work- shops and mechanics of various kinds; also three lawyers and four physicians, six houses of worship and five schools." An omission in the first number of the paper was supplied in the second by the addition to the list of industries of an extensive plow-making establishment, three saddlery and harness-making shops, affording employment to six or seven hands; one white- smith, one dentist, one cooper-shop, one mow- ing-machine establishment, one of the woolen manufactories furnishing employment to near
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forty hands." This was truly a goodly array of industries, both as to number and variety of pro- ducts, when it is remembered that the town had then an entire population of but a little over 1,000 souls.
Coming down to 1887, when the town had a population of between 4,000 and 5,000, a report to the Auditor of State of that year gives the following statistics of Salem manufactories and employes "for the preceding year-the figures representing the number of men employed in each case :" J. Woodruff & Sons, stoves, 72 ; Victor Stove Company, stoves, 52 ; W. J. Clark & Com- pany, step-ladders, screens, etc., 12; Boyle & Carey, stoves, 26; Bakewell & Mullins, sheet . metal, 100 ; W. J. Clark & Company, sheet metal works, 32; Purdey, Baird & Company, sewer- pipe, 6; Salem Lumber Company, sash, doors, etc., 16; Salem Steel Wire Company. steel wire, etc., 350 ; Silver & Deming Manufacturing Com- pany, pumps, feed cutters, etc., 170; Buckeye Mills, 4; S. L. Shanks & Co., steam boilers, 17 ; Buckeye Engine Company, engines, etc., 181; Salem Plow Company, 12 ; M. L. Edwards Manu- facturing Company, butchers' and blacksmiths'
East Main Street in 1906.
tools, 15; Stanley & Company, flour, etc., 6; Carl Barckhoff, church organs, 35."
To carry out the comparison as between the early days, the mid-century and the present day (1906) industries in Salem, the leading manufact- uring industries of Salem in its Centennial year may be here noted, with at least a close approxi- mate (in many cases the actual number) of em-
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Henry Siple
Betsey Siple
ployes, including the office force connected with each : The Buckeye Engine Company, 500 people; The American Steel and Wire Company, 285 ; The Deming Company, 300; The Silver Manu- facturing Company, 125; The W. H. Mullins Company, 225; The W. J. Clark Company, 45;
The Grove Company (chewing gum), 150 ; J. B. McNab (canning and artificial ice), 20; The Salem China Company, 135; The Wirsching Organ Company, 10; Woodruff & Sons (stoves), 50; The Victor Stove Company, 60; The Pitts- burgh Foundry Company and the Salem Tool Company, each about 20 men ; Moore & Donald- son (Broadway Laundry), 11; Kirkbride's Laun- dry, 11 ; Geo. S. Foltz, steam flour mill, 4; City Mills (J. B. Kay), 5; People's Lumber Company, 18; The Salem Lumber Company, 18; The An- dalusia Dairy Company, 16. Few cities of the size and importance of Salem have as finely equipped printing establishments and do as large a line of book, commercial, label and general job printing as this city. On the first day of May, 1906, the five printing plants in the city had on their pay rolls the number of employes designated as follows : The Salem Publishing Company, 35 ; The Herald Publishing Company, 16 ; The T. J. Walton Printing Company, 20; Harris & Com- pany, 10; The Lyle Printing Company, 6.
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Chapter VI .- Utilities and Institutions
Some of the Organizations Which Have Focused the Energies and Given Direction to the Thought of a Conservative Community-Salem as a Residence City-The Carnegie Library-Cemeteries, Homes, Etc.
The wise home-seeker looks first of all for a location which, by nature, is healthful. In ele- vation it must not be too high above sea-level, nor must it be too low. Between 1,000 and 1,500 feet above sea-level will be found the most con- genial and desirable elevation for the most per- fect conditions for physical and mental develop- ment. The elevation of Salem above sea is about 1,200 feet. The latitude of Salem is about 40°-54' North, and near the center of a thermal belt encircling the earth, which is about twenty degrees in width, within which belt all of the great minds of modern history, with few exceptions, have been produced. Great men do not grow on high mountains, nor in frigid zones, nor under tropical suns.
The wise home-seeker will weigh, carefully,
the adaptability of the location for economic liv- ing, congenial surroundings and such conditions as make for comfort, health and happiness. If he be a man of culture and refinement, and a lover of the beautiful, he will not neglect these features of nature which appeal to the sensibili- ties, which are found so bountifully present in and around Salem.
This latitude is especially conducive to lon- gevity, strong muscle, firm spirit, even tempera- ment, high physical development, mental acumen, strong minds, brave hearts, and true patriot- ism ; all of which have been exemplified in the various activities of Salem's citizens. Modern science has revealed much that was but mystery a few years since. Typhoid fever, one of the most dreaded of diseases, was regarded as con-
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William Heald
tagious. It is a water-born disease. The germs of typhoid are found mainly in drinking water. When there is a pure water supply for domestic uses, typhoid fever does not exist. At present Salem has an exceptionally pure water supply,
as shown by chemical analyses. Very few public water supplies can compare with that of Salem. This alone, with other things equal, should give Salem the preference to the home-seeker. Aside from what nature furnishes, and what man has done, there are other inducements which will appeal to the home-seeker, when carefully con- sidered. Another important improvement is at present assuming tangible shape : that is, a com- plete up to date sewerage system, when all the sewage of the city will be collected into one trunk-line sewer which will convey the sewage to a disposal plant which will be located about one and a half miles northwest of the city, where the sewage will be purified, and the effluent delivered into a stream clear and pure. Already surveys have been made for the trunk-line sewer; and extensive examinations and tests have been made with reference to details and material. This work will be continued, and final determination as to the most practical system of disposal de- cided upon at the earliest possible date. When this work is completed the sanitary conditions of Salem should be all that could be desired so far as public improvements can furnish.
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Salem, too, is fortunate in having well paved streets and sidewalks. There are in all fully fifteen miles of paved streets in its borders, and the abounding shade, in streets and private grounds, is the subject of remark of all visitors.
An institution of which Salem is justly proud is her Carnegie Library ; not more for the hand- some building on McKinley avenue, which was the gift of Andrew Carnegie, than because of the public spirit and devotion of a few women and men of Salem, which culminated in the establish- ment and maintenance for many years of a library for the benefit of Salem people. The idea origin- ated back in 1895, when forty men and women met statedly as "The Monday Night Club," for self-improvement. The need of books of refer- ence was felt, and a movement was started to secure a nucleus of a library. A stock company was organized and a charter secured. Shares were placed at $25 each, and in a short time $1,700 was raised. The plan was to expend all the money thus secured for books, interested per- sons giving their services to the cause of estab- lishing and perpetuating the work. At the outset about 1,200 volumes were bought at a cost
Benjamin Hawley
of $1,200. A room was secured in the Gurney Block, the furniture for which was donated. In 1899 the library was removed to the rooms in the Pioneer Block, which were occupied until the removal into the permanent home in August,
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1905. Under the original plan the subscribers to the stock were to enjoy the advantages of the library perpetually without the payment of membership fees, while other members were to pay each an annual fee of $2. The limited number of membership fees, small amounts from fines and a few cash donations (one anonymous friend contributing $100 annually for three years) covered the actual running expenses. The ladies who were back of and actually supporting the movement alternated in giving attention to the library when it was open to patrons and the public, which was at the first but one day and later two days a week. In 1898 it was made a free public library, and advantage was taken of the state law which, upon proper application to the county auditor, imposed a levy of from three-tenths to five-tenths of a mill for the support of a library. The maximum levy was made, and from this source from $1,000 to $1,200 a year was obtained, which up to 1905 was the only fixed source of revenue, aside from that already mentioned. In 1899 the rooms in the Pioneer Block were secured and the number of volumes had increased from 1,200 in the first year of the existence of the
library, to 6,500 at the time of removal into the new Carnegie building in 1905. The personnel of the original board of directors was: Walter F. Deming, president; Mrs. C. Carey, vice- president ; Elizabeth Brooks, secretary ; Alice McMillan, treasurer ; Prof. G. C. S. Southworth, Josephine Taylor and F. J. Mullins. The board in 1905 was constituted as follows : F. J. Mullins, president ; W. W. Hole, vice-president ; Mrs. Elizabeth Emeny, secretary ; W. B. Carey, treas- urer ; Mrs. W. L. Deming and Dr. James Anderson.
In February, 1893, application was made to Andrew Carnegie for a library building. He readily responded with a tender of $17,500, which was later increased to $20,000. The site on Mc- Kinley avenue near Lincoln avenue was pur- chased, the deed being dated June 19, 1903. A building committee consisting of W. B. Carey and Dr. T. T. Church, was chosen, plans adopted, and the work of building commenced in the spring of 1904. The structure was completed, occupied and ready for dedication in August, 1905. On August 31st the library was dedicated, the Rev.
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S. F. Scovel of the University of Wooster making the address.
The Home for Aged Women is one of Salem's very worthy institutions. The inception of the movement which culminated in the establishment of the Home was largely due to the active inter- est, in the class to be benefitted, of Mrs. Joseph Koll. Through her influence to a large extent a movement was set on foot in 1886, which resulted in 1887 in the purchase of the Evans Homestead, a large and substantial brick building with spacious grounds on East Main street-now Mc- Kinley avenue. Mrs. Eliza Jennings made the first donation, she subscribing $1,000 to the cause. The Home was opened in October, 1888, and has since, up to 1906, furnished a comfortable abode for an average of from ten to twelve inmates. It is understood that the home will be enlarged, and its facilities for usefulness increased commensur- ately with the demands upon it, and as the revenue of the institution will permit. In 1900 the building was enlarged to the extent of four rooms, and other improvements were made at the same time. The first matron was Phebe Gruell, and she was succeeded by Mrs. Lucy Pettit, who
Thos. Spencer.
Betsy Spencer.
served in the capacity for eleven years, or until August 1, 1905. Her successor was Mrs. Brokenshire.
As Salem has been prosperous industrially, so her financial institutions have been character- ized by stability. The oldest of these institu- tions in the city is the Farmers' National Bank,
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which dates its inception, or rather of its parent institution, back to the year 1846. The Farmers' Bank of Salem was chartered in conformity with the laws of the State in that year, with a capital of $100,000, and 103 stockholders. £ Simeon Jennings was the first president. He was succeeded by J. J. Brooks, and the latter in turn by his son, J. Twing Brooks, in 1862. In 1855, when the Farmers' Bank was a branch of the State Bank of Ohio, its report shows a a return valuat- ion, for purposes of Taxation, on notes and bills discounted, moneys and other taxable property, $348,224 ; penalty added by auditor, $174,112 ; total taxable valuation, $522,336 ; and a total of taxes thereon, $6,999.30. This was the year following the one in which the treasurer and sheriff of the county visited this bank to de- mand the payment of taxes assessed under a law afterwards set aside as unconstitutional, and finally repealed. The demand being refused by
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Canregie Library Building ...
the cashier, the county officers used a crowbar to unlock the safe. Failing to find any money in the safe, they made a search and found some bags of coin in a flue of the building, from which they secured the amount of taxes. This resulted in a suit which culminated in favor of the offi- cers of the bank. In 1865 the Farmers' Bank
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was re-organized as a National bank, with J. Twing Brooks as president and R. V. Hampson cashier. Mr. Hampson had entered the Farmers' Bank in 1855 as the teller, became cashier in 1858, and upon the death of Mr. Brooks in 1901 succeeded the latter as president of the Farmers' National Bank, and continued to hold that po- sition in 1906. Thus the Farmers' Bank, during its existence of 60 years has had but four presi- dents. In 1906 the officers of the bank are, R. V. Hampson, president ; W. B. Carey, cashier. The statement of the bank, at the close of busi- ness April 6, 1906, showed its condition as fol- lows: Capital stock paid in, $200,000 ; surplus fund, $40,000 ; total resources, $666,733.34. The directors are : R. V. Hampson, L. L. Gilbert, M. L. Young, J. R. Carey and W. F. Deming.
The First National Bank of Salem had its original organization in 1862. The first president was Alexander Pow, the first cashier Henry J. Stauffer. At Mr. Pow's death in 1879, Furman Gee was chosen president and served until his death, which occurred January 2, 1901, when Richard Pow succeeded him, and continues in 1906 to hold the position. And so, the First
Residence of Mrs. J. T. Brooks.
National Bank, during its existence of 44 years, has had but three presidents. Richard Pow had been cashier of the bank from 1870 to 1901, and when he succeeded to the presidency of the insti- tution, his son, Frederic R. Pow, became cashier. The directors of the First National Bank in 1906 are as follows : Richard Pow, J. A. Ambler, W. H. Mullins, J. R. Vernon and J. M. Woodruff. The officers : Richard Pow, president : J. A. Ambler, vice-president; Frederic R. Pow, cashier.
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