USA > Ohio > Jefferson County > Steubenville > Century History of Steubenville and Jefferson County, Ohio and Representative Citizens, 20th > Part 40
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The S. Keighley Metal Ceiling & Manu- facturing Company is another industry re- cently removed from Pittsburgh to Fol- lansbee. The building is a fine concrete structure, and the product metal ceilings, window frames, etc., of various designs. Their sheet steel is mostly procured from the Follanshee Steel and Tin Plate Com- pany adjoining the works, and over a hun- dred skilled workmen are employed here.
Five miles above Steubenville the Clover- dale plow works were inaugurated in 1888. After leading a somewhat checkered career for several years the property was pur- chased in 1891 by George L. Conn, who has since conducted a foundry business there. The property occupies four acres of ground with suitable buildings where are manufac- tured stoves of all kinds, grate fronts and everything in that line. The enterprise which had been very successful from the start, was operated under the name of George 1 .. Foundry Company, but burned down recently.
In 1869 the Pioneer Iron Company, at a cost of $130,000, built a rolling mill at the little town of Huntersville, now Irondale, on the C. & P. Railroad in Saline Town- ship, which gave employment to 150 men. It was followed in 1871 by the Morgan Iron & Coal Company, which erected a large blast furnace costing $162,000, giving employment to 200 men. Both concerns were operated nntil after the panic of 1873 when they shut down. It was afterwards run on a lease for about a year and then shut down, never to resume. A sheet mill
was afterwards started in the rolling mill building which was converted into a tin mill, the only successful one in the United States at that time. The property was afterwards acquired by the American Sheet and Tin Company and by them shut down and afterwards dismantled. W. H. Banfield, the manager, subsequently be- came interested in the Follansbee mill.
A new tin mill is now building in the Steubenville district which will doubtless be in operation when this book reaches its readers. It is located on the river bank six miles above the city, and Weir City, a suburb, is already springing up around it.
The cannon balls used in the Battle of Lake Erie, won by Oliver Perry, were made in a crude furnace by a Scotchman named Grant, near Steubenville, bnt on the east side of the river, and were conveyed to the lake on pack-mules.
POTTERIES, FIRE CLAY, SEWER PIPE AND TERRA COTTA.
If the manufacture of iron was ancient the art of pottery antedates it by a long period. That tribe is savage, indeed, which has not learned to fashion clay and burn it into utensils more or less crude. So onr forefathers found this craft among the In- dian tribes where it had existed from pre- historic times. But it is as the work of civilized man in manufactories that we have to do. The first pottery in the county seems to have been opened in 1806 by J. C. Fisher on Market Street, Steubenville, near the present crossing of the Pan Handle Railroad. The clay was, of course, domes- tic and the production was common red ware, glazed and unglazed. Mr. Fisher died in about a year and was succeeded by his son, Thomas, who removed to Adams Street, and taking Samuel Tarr into part- nership, started a second enterprise on Market Street between Third and High, on what became part of the Means estate. He died shortly after' and the potteries died with him. Subsequently, about 1830, Jesse Holder conducted one on Fourth Street,
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site of Lindsey livery stable, but it finally followed the first, and Steubenville was without a pottery for many years, although there were developments elsewhere along the river.
Finally, on November 17, 1879, the Sten- benville Pottery Company was organized with a capital of $25,000, subsequently in- creased to $100,000. The first board of di- rectors was composed of W. B. Donaldson. president; James Marion, secretary and treasurer; W. R. E. Elliott, Alfred Day and J. B. Salmon. The old batten factory property was purchased on South Street, and the erection of a three-kiln pottery with two small decorating kilns was begun. Additional kilns were added in 1883, 1886 und 1889, until it had seven large kils and six decorating kilns. Sidetracks from the railroad extend into the buildings and the company has four acres of floor space. The company is extensively engaged in the manufacture of dinner and toilet sets in semi-vitrons Canton china, plain and hand- somely decorated, a specialty being made of fancy shapes and unique designs. The demand for the product of this plant throughout the United States increases with the years, and at this time it is taxed to its utmost capacity and still unable to supply all the orders. Three hundred and fifty expert workmen are kept busy the en- tire year, who are paid the highest prevail- ing wages. The company has its own cooperage plant where all the casks and barrels for the shipping room are made. The ontput exceeds $350,000 annually. The present board of directors is made up of H. D. Wintringer, president and general manager; R. L. Freudenberger, secretary and treasurer; B. L. JJoyce, H. E. Bu- chanan, D. W. Donaldson.
A few years after the organization of the Steubenville Pottery, W. A. Long, who kept a drugstore on Market Street. on the site of the town's original pottery, formed a company, composed of himself, Alfred Day and William H. Hunter, for the pur- pose of making artistic ware similar to the Rookwood, of Cincinnati. A kiln and build-
ing were erected on the rear of the lot, and considerable ware was produced which in design, glaze and finish would stand com- parison with any other. The firm em- ployed quite a number of artists and it looked as though Steubenville might be- come a centre for this industry. Some Zanesville parties offered Mr. Long special inducements to go to that city which he, thinking to better his financial condition, accepted. A pottery was built there but shortly after it was destroyed by a fire which it was said burned the formula which Mr. Loug guarded carefully in his desk. The pottery was rebuilt, but Mr. Long was no longer a partner.
Somewhat ont of chronological order, but in line with what immediately precedes, we here refer to the American China Com- pany's pottery, which is the largest single industry in Toronto. It was built in 1889, and is one of the best equipped plants in America. The three-story brick buildings contain an area of one and one-fourth acres. There are seven large ware and six decorating kilns, The product consists of a high grade white granite and semi-porce- lain table and toilet ware, both white and decorated. One of their dinner and tea de- signs. "Evangeline," has attained a wide popularity, with others that might be men- tioned. The company has offices in all the leading centres of the country. Thomas Price is manager.
Abont the year 1880 James Gisey and some other Wheeling potters organized a co-operative company and built a pottery at Tiltonville, this county, for the manu- facture of yellow and Rockingham ware. They ran a couple of years when the works were taken over by The Tiltonville Pottery Company, composed of Wilbur L. Medil and a number of Wheeling gentlemen. They added a line of novelties to the out- put, and operated a couple of years when the works were leased to John Schneider & Co., who kept them about a year when the plant was sold to Francis J. Torrance, of Pittsburgh, and John and Alfred Roe and Alfred Mason, of Wheeling, who or-
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ganized the Western Sanitary Ware Com- pany, and ran until the plant burned down in 1893. They built a new structure, 280 by 80 feet, but the bard times of 1894 put them into the hands of a receiver, and Mr. Medill took charge and operated about six months when the old company secured an extension of five years and operated until the fall of 1897, when it went under again. Mr. Medill again ran it for six months when it lay idle until 1900 when it was sold to John Don Passos, of New York, who in turn in 1901 sold it to J. N. Vanee & Sons, Wheeling, who organized the Faience Pot- tery Company, and for a year and a half turned out a most artistie line of fine ware. It was then disposed of to The Wheeling Potteries Company, which has made a great success in the way of sanitary ware, bath tubs, etc., employing sixty hands.
The greatest development of the local elay industry in its various forms has been in the section beginning five or six miles north of Steubenville and extending to the upper end of the county, Toronto being the centre. Thomas Freeman made the first fire brick in this section previous to 1850, and George Carlyle and John Francy may be considered the fathers of the sewer pipe business. In the later eighties the New Cumberland Fire Clay Company opened a fire brick mannfactory below present Cos- tonia station, which turned out 10,000 vit- rified brick per day, employing twenty men. It was popularly known as the Island Sid- ing Works, and operated until its territory was exhausted. The Markle works at Jeddo station were built by The Markle Fire Clay Company abont 1894, and short- ly after passed into the hands of The Ken- nedy-Kling Company, which was asso- ciated with the Toronto Fire Clay Manu- facturing Company. The buildings are three stories high and cover a large area. They were fitted with all modern improve- ments employing seventy-five men with a monthly payroll of $3,000. All kinds of elay products were manufactured and the shipments reached 1,200 cars per year. The works were purchased by the Amer-
ican Sewer Pipe Company and shut down in 1904. The machinery was removed but the buildings are still standing. Carlyle & McFadden built the first terra cotta works in Toronto in 1853. Connelly, Hood & Co. leased them in 1872, and in 1877 they were purchased by Carlyle, Connelly & Co., who operated until 1885, when the concern was incorporated under the name of Pen- sylvania Manufacturing & Supply Com- pany. This company made all kinds of sewer pipe, terra cotta, flue lining, vases, ete., occupying a large two-story frame building, employing fifty-five men and ship- ping 600 cars per annum. It was after- wards operated under the name of Jeffer- son works by W. V. B. Croskey, C. L. Young and others until 1893 when the property was bought by the Toronto Fire Clay Manufacturing Company, which made extensive improvements and shipped 1,000 carloads per annum. The march of im- provement, however, putting it out of date, it closed, and the property was afterwards acquired by the Steubenville & Toronto Railroad. as part of the right of way for the proposed extension of the Wabash sys- tem which was never carried out, but sold to the Pennsylvania Company. W. H. Gar- liek, Thomas M. Daniels and R. M. Francy inaugurated the Great Western Fire Clay Works in 1879. W. F. Dunspaugh pur- chased Mr. Garlick's interest in 1881, and two years later Dunspaugh & Francy bought out Mr. Daniels. They operated the works until abont six years ago, ent- ploying about a hundred and twenty-five hands, with a monthly payroll of $6.000, and turning out about 3,000 cars of all kinds of clay products per annum. Most extensive improvements were made, and the company owning its clay and coal mines, the plant was peculiarly valuable. At the time referred to a new factor ap- peared on the scene, The American Sewer- pipe Company, whose object was to com- bine all the clay factories of the country into a great corporation rivaling the United States Steel Company. The project was only partially carried out, but a num-
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ber of factories were purchased, among them the Great Western. The establish- ment was closed down for a number of years, but recently was overhauled and op- erations renewed. John Francy's Sons & Co. built the Forest City works in 1874. John Francy retired in 1883, leaving W. B. and E. E. Francy and J. W. Roller in con- trol. Successive enlargements and im- provements brought the works up to a ca- pacity of 2.000 cars per annum, employing 110 men with a payroll of $5,000 per month. They have their own clay and coal mines at their doors and the yards are provided with fifteen kilns, the buildings being large three and four-story structures. This con- cern was also absorbed by the American Sewer Pipe Company, which still operates it. Another plant taken over by the A. S. P. Co. was the Ohio Valley at the mouth of Croxton's Run, built by Myers, Moore, Me- Coy & Lysle. It was originally fire brick only but changed in 1888 to include sewer pipe and terra cotta. The mill employs seventy-five hands and has a payroll of $3,000 per month, the output being 1,500 cars per annum. Being well equipped in every way it has continued in operation. Just above this are the immense Calumet works established by Dr. W. H. Garlick and Henry Sizer. The original factory burned down in 1884, but the plant was re- built on a larger scale and opened in the spring of 1885, occupying immense four- story building equipped with the most ap- proved machinery for turning ont every size of sewer pipe from two inches up- wards, terra cotta work, etc., and also 1,500,000 fire briek per annum. There are twenty-three kilns and the coal and clay mines are in the yard. The works employ 150 men with a monthly payroll of $7,000 and an annual ontput of 3,000 cars. The A. S. P. Co. now operates this plant. Ahont 1870 Elliott & Young built a brick plant near where the Calumet now stands, the surrounding hamlet being named Elliotts- ville. Three years later it was changed into a sewer pipe manufactory, and in 1876. was acquired by Patrick Comor, who oper-
ated under the naine of Excelsior Sewer Pipe and Terra Cotta works. He made continuous enlargements and improve- ments until the establishment was absorbed by the trust, when it had 12 kilns, employed 85 hands with a monthly payroll of $3,000. The new owners operated the works about a month and then tore them down. The Freeman Fire Clay Company was inau- gurated in 1869 by the four Freeman Bros., J. L., S. D., J. M., and Charles A. They built two factories at what is now Free- man's Station about a mile north of Tor- onto which were opened in 1870, for manu- facture of all clay products. The firm was incorporated on March 31, 1881, under the name of Freeman Fire Clay Company with C. A. Freeman, president, and J. M. Free- man, secretary and treasurer. When they sold out to the Trust the factories had 19 kilns with a capacity of 2,500 cars per an- mum, and 80,000 square feet of drying floor area. They employed about 100 men with a monthly payroll approximating $5,000. The A. S. P. Co. dismantled the lower plant keeping the upper in operation, mainly on paving brick. In this connection we may notice the Empire Fire Clay Company or- ganized February 11, 1885, by W. H. Gar- lick, S. B. Goncher, Samuel McAdoo, Frank Bowles and W. Goucher, all of Toronto with a capital of $50,000. The works were lo- cated at Empire, three miles above, and soon had 75 men at work turning out sewer pipe, terra cotta, ete., at the rate of 1,800 carloads per annm. When the A. S. P. Company purchased these works they operated them for a while and then dis- mantled. To sum up when the American Sewer Pipe Company entered this terri- tory it acquired eight plants employing about 800 men, with a monthly pay roll ag- gregating $34,500 and an annual output of 16,800 cars. As noticed it closed some of the plants, but their output was probably made up by the others.
The Toronto Fire Clay Company con- trolled by Edward Nicholson manufac- tures a high grade of building and paving brick. Mr. Nicholson also controls plants
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at Port Homer and Steubenville. Rush Run has also been a favorite locality for manufacturing brick.
A comparatively recent Toronto estab- lishment was erected about six years ago by William and Frank Myers under the name of Myers Clay Manufacturing Company. Two years later it was acquired by the Kaul-Ober Kirk Company who further im- proved it, and the establishment is one of the largest and up-to-date in the town hav- ing 17 kilns and everything else in propor- tion.
Porter, Minor & Company about thirty years ago erected two buildings at the lower end of Empire, where they employed forty men and turned out about 7,000 brick per day. Samuel Minor succeeded the above firm, and the works burned down but were rebuilt. They subsequently passed into the hands of Stow, Fuller & Company, who have trebled their capacity, making a specialty of odd sizes of brick for cupola and other purposes requiring the finest grades.
The Congo works were another impor- tant factory here built in July, 1888, and turning out 15,000 to 20,000 brick per day. They are now on the opposite side of the river. Stratton, Hinkle & Stratton built the Nonesuch works in 1888, with a capacity of 36,000 brick per day. The concern has de- veloped into the Stratton Fire Clay Com- pany having three large plants.
Samuel and Adam Minor began fire clay operations at Hammondsville in the early fifties being soon joined by William H. Wallace. Then Adam Minor organized at Irondale, the Minor Fire Brick Company including John Williams, James McBane and Hugh MeBane. They operated a few years and then sold out to the Wallace Brothers, but the latter were not success- ful. The works burned down but were re- built under the management of William Downer, Sr. They operated a hand plant until 1893, when the Wallaces failed. Downer leased the plant in 1895 and ran it about a year when it was purchased by Adolph Pritchau, who also operated about
a year, when William Downer, James Pais- ley and James Baxter, under the name of the Furnace Fire Clay operated it for about two years, afterwards Capt. John Porter for three years. It was remodeled and greatly enlarged in 1903, and burned down just when the improvements were com- pleted. It is now controlled by the Stand- ard Fire Brick Company made up of Cap- tain Porter and Carnegie steel men. They then erected a clay grinding plant with a capacity of 500 tons per day, operated by Porter & McInteer, which still exists.
In 1890 the Wallaces erected fire brick works at Hammondsville employing fifteen men and turning out 4,000 to 8,000 brick per day. They also had an extensive coal mine and coking plant. In the former was found a stone with peculiar markings which the miners took to be of artificial or super- natural origin, and which for a time at- tracted the attention of scientists. It was probably a variety of sigillaria or stig- maria.
Capt. William Lacey set up brick works between Hunterville and Hammondsville about 1852, and operated the same about twelve years, when they were purchased by Adam Pritchau. They have been succeeded by E. S. McLane, who ships about 800 cars per annum.
In 1902, William H. Banfield, who was a large land owner at Irondale united with Frederick Owesney and Alfred Freeman of Steubenville, and organized the East Ohio Sewer Pipe Company. They started with eighteen kilns and now have twenty- three from which they ship about 1,500 cars per annum. The company has a su- perior bed of fire clay yet untouched twelve feet thick at a depth of ninety feet, and is preparing to make extensive improvements.
A small establishment was erected a few years ago on Wells's Run in Steubenville for making a superior fine brick from the grindings of spawls, but lack of capital caused the abandonment of the enterprise.
S. C. Pugh, of the Elastic Pulp Plaster Company, of Warren, O., came to Steuben- ville in 1903 and opened a branch estab-
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lishment on the Pan Handle Railroad north of Logan street. In 1905, Mr. Freeman having sold out his interest in the East Ohio Sewer Pipe Company, joined with others in purchasing the plaster works and a new corporation was formed under the name of Ohio Plaster & Supply Company, which has built up quite a business in fur- nishing modern house plastering and con- dneting a general jobbing business in builders' supplies, giving employment to ten men.
It would be foreign to this work to go into detnils concerning the clay mannfactories on the West Virginia side of the river, but it is not putting it too strong to give Jeff- erson County ns the centre of the clay in- dustry of the United States. In this con- nection it may be of interest to state that the average Toronto sewer pipe has stood a erushing test of 12,600 pounds as against the average of others of 10,260 pomids. In a hydraulic test the Toronto pipe stood a test of 112 pounds per square inch as against other averages of 52 pounds which accounts for the fact that in twenty years the shipments grew from 500 cars per an- umm to over 20,000, and the demand is in- creasing each year from all parts of the country.
THE GLASS INDUSTRY.
Reference has already been made to the efforts of Hunter, Morris and Foster in the manufacture of window glass at Rockville, but their business closed in a few years. The pioneers in this industry seem to have been Kilgore and Hanna who built a fae- tory in 1830, but it ran only a short time. In 1845-46, Joseph Beatty and Edward Stillman built a glass factory on Benton street fronting the river. In a short time they sold out to David and Neill Hull, who were succeeded by Knowles & Company, after which the main building was con- verted into a private dwelling, which still stands. Messrs. Beatty and Stillman built a new establishment on Third street be- tween South and Slack, where they made all kinds of table ware. In 1852, the works
were purchased by A. J. Beatty under whom the business increased to such an extent that in 1862 the old buildings were torn down, and in place of them with their single stack new ones with two stacks and four times their capacity were erected. From miscellaneous ware they were di- verted exclusively to the manufacture of tumblers, employing about 160 hands, and turning ont 36,000 tumblers per day which was not only more than were made any- where else in the United States but equal to all the rest combined. They were shipped to all parts of the world, and competed sue- cessfully with English products in the lat- ter's own market. Upon the death of Mr. Beatty his sons Robert JJ .. and George suc- ceeded to the business and made of it even inore of a success than their father. About 1887, attracted by a bonus of $50,000 and other inducements with offer of free gas for full five years, the owners removed the works to Findlay, O., where they operated until the gas supply failed. The original factory stood until a couple of years ago. when it was torn down to make way for dwellings.
In 1870 a stranger arrived in Steuben- ville elaiming to have invented a mowing and reaping machine superior to anything of the kind then on the market, both in simplicity of construction and the work it was expected to perform. Hle desired to organize a stock company for the manu- facture of these machines, and the project meeting with favor, an organization was effected under the name of the Acme Mower and Reaper Company, ground pur- chased and works erected on Franklin av- enne adjoining the P. C. & St. L. Ry. At first the prospects were good, the new ma- chines appeared to be all that was claimed for them, and their market appeared to be all right. But litigation arose concerning the validity of the patent, and the works stopped. There was also litigation among the stockholders, and finally the works were dismantled, and in 1874 they were sold to a Pittsburgh glass company under the firm name of Reddick, MeKee & Com-
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pany. This company built a furnace ad- perienced managers, the quality of the glass joining, which stood on the site of the pres- turned out has been greatly improved since the firm started, and the Acme glass now has a reputation for high merit which ex- tends all over the world. Not only does the market for the Aeme product extend from one end of the country to the other, but a large export business has been built up, and the firm is shipping its wares to all parts of the world and competing with foreign manufacturers in their own mar- kets. The capacity of the works is from six to eight hundred thousand lamp chim- neys per week, and when running full about twelve hundred hands are employed. The employees have nearly all grown up in the factory and are not only good citizens but are known everywhere as the best glass makers in this country. ent extensive buildings. The factory was only operated by this firm about six weeks when they were obliged to shut down tem- porarily. In September of the same year the factory was purchased by the firm of Gill, Mitchell & Company,, composed of James W. Gill one of the present owners; M. C. Mitchell, and several of the original partners. The business was conducted un- der this name for several months, until the spring of 1875, Mr. Mitchell retired and Gill, Mitchell & Company were succeeded by Gill Brothers & Company, composed of Joseph J. Gill, Samuel C. Gill and James W. Gill. When they took possession, the Acme Glass Works consisted of one small eleven pot furnace and the old Aeme Mower and Reaper Works buildings, which were utilized for the other departments of the glass factory. In 1877 an additional furn- ace of thirteen pots was built and the build- ings were enlarged. From that time the business continued to increase steadily, and in 1887 it became necessary to erect another furnace of sixteen pots, which is one of the largest glass furnaces now in use in the United States.
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