History of Columbiana County, Ohio and representative citizens, Part 19

Author: McCord, William B., b. 1844
Publication date: 1905
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 912

USA > Ohio > Columbiana County > History of Columbiana County, Ohio and representative citizens > Part 19

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In Leetonia, also, a number of the early metal trades ventures failed to achieve prosper- ity. The Leetonia Iron & Coal Company built a nail-mill in 1871. but discontinued opera- tions the year following. Davis Brothers es- tablished a foundry for making stoves and light castings in 1871, and the business later passed into the hands of a company, of which Perry Byard was president. The works burned in 1876, and were not rebuilt. J. D. Chamber- lain headed the Leetonia Automatic Fire Alarm Company, which built in 1869, but it discon- tinued operations five years later. being bought out by the Telegraph Supply Company, of Cleveland.

In May, 1875. however, the Leetonia Tool

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Company was organized, for the manufacture of mining and railroad tools. The original capital was $10,000, and Zachariah Tetlow was president of the concern, which prospered from the start. In the fall of 1902 the con- cern removed to Salem and continued the busi- ness with increased capacity. In 1905 the of- ficers were: H. S. Wilson, president; Frank Trotter, secretary and treasurer ; C. M. Day, vice-president ; and Henry T. Collins, manager. Their output in 1904 was about $25,000.

The Leetonia Boiler Company was organ- ized in 1871 by Garver & Reeves. In the fall of the same year this firm sold to J. C. Thullen. Some years after, Thullen sold to Woodward Brothers, who in January, 1901, organized the Leetonia Boiler Company. In 1905 the company was doing a good business in the manufacture of boilers and tanks. The officers were : E. M. Peters, president; S. M. Garlach, secretary ; and John Woodward, treasurer.

OLD FOUNDRIES OF WELLSVILLE.

In 1836, Philip F. Geisse, a practical ma- chinist and foundryman who had come to Wellsville from Philadelphia about a year earlier, formed a partnership with Levi Botten- berg, and built a small plant, which later de- veloped into the extensive Fulton Foundry & Machine Works, and was for upwards of 70 years one of the chief industries of the town. Mr. Geisse a few years later purchased the Bottenberg interest and for more than 30 years was the sole proprietor. However, in 1840 he opened a general store and warehouse to be conducted in connection with his growing business and transferred an interest in the new branch of business to Wallace Fogo, who while in his employ had lost an eye at the blacksmith forge. The store and warehouse was operated as a side issue under the name of Geisse & Fogo. But up until 1871 the foundry and machine works-an industry which continued from year to year to grow in the now thriving community-were operated by Mr. Geisse. Starting with the manufacture of stoves, plows, plowshares and some other specialties of the founder's craft, the business

grew until it embraced the manufacture of steam engines, car axles, car wheels, etc., and along in the '50's and early '60's boat-building was added. When the railroad which after- ward became the Tuscarawas branch of the Cleveland & Pittsburg, was built, Mr. Geisse took a heavy contract to furnish the rolling stock equipment of the line-an enterprise in which he lost heavily, through the failure of the original company which built the branch road. For many years prior to the establish- ment of the Cleveland & Pittsburg shops at Wellsville, the Geisse foundry gave employ- ment to more men than all the other Wells- ville manufacturing concerns combined.

In 1871 Mr. Geisse sold the foundry and machine works to Samuel and T. B. Steven- son (brothers ), who had learned the trade with him-the senior brother having been superin- tendent for some years. In 1876, Thomas B. Stevenson having withdrawn from the firm, Alexander Denham, a retired dry goods mer- chant, secured an interest, forming the partner- ship known as Stevenson & Denham. This firm continued until 1898, when the firm of Stevenson Company was incorporated, with Samuel Stevenson, Charles and William Stevenson (sons), Mrs. Susie Sweitzer (a daughter ), and F. M. Hawley as stockholders. In 1905 the plant had been practically rebuilt and considerably enlarged, two traveling cranes and other modern machinery having been in- stalled. The monthly pay-roll amounted to $2,400, and the output was about $100,000. per annum.

In the '50's Joseph Ady started a small machine shop near the old Wellsville Ceme- tery, and just north of Cleveland & Pittsburg Railroad shops and yards. Ady went out of the business in 1864. In that year the Menough Brothers - William J. and George W. Menough-started a foundry on the Ady site. In 1868 the partnership was dissolved, George W. continuing the business alone until 1901, when the Menough Foundry Company was or- ganized, George W. Menough and his sons being the stockholders. The foundry had a capacity of five tons a day of general castings, and in 1905 there were 23 men on the pay-roll.

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In 1850 the Wellsville Manufacturing Com- pany was organized by Messrs. Finch and Har- vey, for the manufacture of stove castings, etc., but the enterprise did not prove profitable, and was discontinued after an experience of about eight years.

Hugh Alexander, in 1865, started a small foundry in Wellsville, for the manufacure of iron amalgam (bronzéd) bells ; also plows, and wheels and axles for coal cars. Owing to strong competition and the panic times of the early "70's, his business had proved less profit- able than formerly, and by 1880 it had been abandoned altogether.

N. and O. Cope opened a foundry and ma- chine shop in Salineville in 1849, and continued it until 1869, when it came into the possession of W. W. Orr. Mr. Orr in 1873 converted it into a planing-mill, which he operated until 1878, when the works were abandoned.

SALEM'S ENGINE BUILDERS.

Four brothers, sons of Joel Sharp, Sr., a Quaker who had come over from Pennsylvania with his parents and settled near Salem in 1808, established for Salem early in the cen- tury a reputation for the making of steam en- gines. All four brothers, Thomas, Simeon, Clayton and Joel, were natural mechanics, and first worked at carpentering. Thomas went to Cleveland during the '30's, became a machinist and about 1840 established a ,sawmill there, his brother Joel, the youngest of the family, following him there in 1841, and working in his mill for a time. In 1842 Thomas arranged to return to Salem, while the younger brother went into the plant of the Cuyahoga Furnace Company to learn his trade.

Thomas Sharp announced on his return to Salem that he would open a shop for the build- ing of steam engines. The same year, 1842, he turned out his first steam engine. The cast- ings used for it were brought to Salem in wagons from a Cleveland foundry, and were deposited in Sharp's little shop-an abandoned foundry- on what was then known as "Foun- dry Hill."

In a year or two Thomas Sharp was joined

in his new enterprise by two of his brothers, Simeon and Clayton, and in 1848 the fourth brother, Joel, returned from Cleveland and en- tered the firm. Between 1848 and 1850, the four brothers took from the Ohio & Pennsyl- vania Railroad projectors the contract for furnishing the ties and stringers for II miles of the railroad, then building between Alliance and Pittsburg, and to fulfill this contract the Sharps built a sawmill, still continuing the en- gine works, however.

In 1851 the brothers separated, and Thomas Sharp leaving the firm shortly afterward and established himself in a shop on West Main street, which he continued for many years, the firm name undergoing many changes. From this shop went out during the next 25 years marly men who afterward stood at the head of some of the largest manufacturing establish- ments in the country. The shop on West Main street burned in April, 1894, and Thomas Sharp died in 1896, aged 88 years.

On Thomas Sharp's withdrawal from the original partnership in 1851, the brothers re- organized as Sharp, Davis & Bonsall, the mem- bers of the firm being Simeon and Joel Sharp, Milton Davis and Joel S. Bonsall, and the con- cern becoming known as the Buckeye Engine Works. In that year the total working force was only 12 employees. The new firm quickly achieved fame, however, through the improve- ments introduced on the early steam engines. On April 27, 1865, the works burned to the ground, inflicting a loss on the owners of be- tween $50,000 and $75,000, with no insurance The plant .in that day was probably the largest in any line of manufacturing in the county. It was quickly rebuilt, and the business resumed within less than a year-notwithstanding the loss of immensely valuable patterns in the fire. In December, 1870, the concern incorporated as the Buckeye Engine Company, with a capital of $250,000, the following being the officers : President, Joel Sharp; vice-president, Milton Davis; secretary and treasurer, T. C. Boone; superintendent, Joel S. Bonsall; assistant super- intendent, Simeon Sharp. The establishment became in the succeeding 30 years the most widely known of all the metal trades concerns

WELLSVILLE

PLANT OF THE AMERICAN SHEET & TIN PLATE COMPANY,

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in the county, and in 1904 had an annual out- put exceeding $500,000, with over $500,000 in- vested. The plant was, in 1905, running at full capacity, "single turn." For a number of years prior to 1903 the plant had been'operated "double turn," with a proportionate output.

Milton Davis and Simeon Sharp retired from active business in 1892, and Davis' son, D. M. Davis, became vice-president of the com- pany. Later, on Col. T. C. Boone's death, his position as secretary and treasurer was taken by Stephen B. Richards. Joel Sharp died July 28, 1898, and Joel S. Bonsall succeeded him in that year as president, Mr. Bonsall's son, C. S. Bonsall becoming superintendent. Joel S. Bonsall died June 2, 1902, and was suc- ceeded as president by H. H. Sharp. In 1905 the officers of the Buckeye. Engine Company were: H. H. Sharp, president ; C. H. Weeks, vice-president ; F! A. Pope, secretary and treasurer ; and C. S. Bonsall, superintendent. Commencing in 1900 new buildings were erected and a series of improvements inaugur- ated which almost doubled the capacity of the entire plant. The Buckeye Engine Company was in 1905 employing, when running "double turn," in round numbers 400 men, or 300 on "single turn." A new style of gas engine was being built, which was introduced in 1905. The product of the Buckeye Engine Company has long had a national, and even international, reputation.

EARLY FOUNDRIES IN SALEM.

Before Thomas Sharp built his historic en- gine, Salem had boasted a struggling foundry, established some time prior to 1834, by one Nicholas Johnson. In 1834 or 1835 Zadok Street bought the place, which was located on Dry street, and gave to that locality the name "Foundry Hill," which it bore for many years afterward. Street conducted the business in a small way for a number of years. and in 1847 the foundry was purchased by Snyder & Wood- ruff, who commenced casting stoves. Isaac Snyder was a designer and pattern-maker, and his skill and taste helped to make the wares

popular. The establishment was burned in the fall of 1856, but the firm bought a site on lower Depot street and continued the business. The new buildings were substantial brick structures, and in 1871 extensive additions were built. In 1868 Messrs. Snyder and Woodruff each took a son into the firm, and the business con- tinued under' the name of Snyder, Woodruff & Company. The firm became widely known, and its annual sales aggregated at this time 5,000 stoves. Fourteen varieties of cooking and 20 kinds of parlor and dining room stoves were turned out, and nearly 1,000 tons of iron were consumed yearly in the manufacture. In May, 1871, the Snyders retired from the part- nership, and the firm became J. Woodruff & Sons, with a capital of $52,500. In 1905 the works had been increased one-third in capacity, employing 55 to 60 men. James Woodruff, the head of the company, had died in 1903, at the age of 86. J. S. Woodruff became presi- dent and J. M. Woodruff, secretary and treasurer.

In 1854 Levi A. Dole invented a hub- boxing machine. A. R. Silver, who was then foreman of the Woodruff carriage shop, be- came interested in the invention, and the two men in the fall of the same year rented a part of a little shop on High street, in which a lathe and blacksmith forge were placed-and thus was born what later became the Silver & Dem- ing Manufacturing Company, of Salem. Dole perfected other patents, and the business grew.

THE SILVERS AND THE DEMINGS.

In 1856 the firm moved into one wing of the Buckeye shop. Two years later they were again compelled to seek more room, and bought a warehouse where W. J. Clark & Com- pany were afterwards located. In 1865 Jolin Deming bought a third interest, and Dole died in 1866. In that year the firm became Silver & Deming. In 1874 the company bought the buildings formerly owned and occupied by the Etna Manufacturing Company, the same year being incorporated as the Silver & Deming Manufacturing Company, with an authorized

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capital of $150,000. Early in 1890 Albert R. Silver and his sons retired (to organize a new 'enterprise), and the Demings in the summer of that year reorganized as the Deming Com- pany. The first officers of the reorganized company were: John Deming, president; A. H. Harris, vice-president ; W. L. Deming, sec- retary ; W. F. Deming, treasurer; and Andrew Potter, superintendent. In 1905 the officers were: W. F. Deming, president ; W. L. Dem- ing, secretary ; F. J. Emeny, chief, engineer.

In. 1880 the concern commenced the manu- facture of hand and power pumps. They en- larged their line of goods after 1890, making a much larger and heavier line of pumps. In 1905 the company was manufacturing the fol- lowing articles : Pumps and hydraulic machin- ery, well and pump fixtures, including cistern, well and wind-mill pumps; iron and brass cyl- indėrs, well supplies, hydraulic rams, spray pumps and nozzles, triplex power pumps, arte- sian-well pumping engines, etc. The com- pany's plant is located on Depot street, Broad- way and Etna street. They employ about 250 men, and their goods are sold in all parts of this as well as in many foreign countries. During 1904-05 the capacity of the plant was almost doubled by the erection of new buildings and the installment of new machinery.

Just prior to the withdrawal of the Silvers from the Silver & Deming' Manufacturing Company, the officers of the latter company were: A. R. Silver, president ; John Deming, vice-president ; Walter F. Deming, secretary ; William Silver, treasurer; and E. W. Silver, superintendent.

In 1890 the Silver Manufacturing Con- pany was organized, locating northeast of the Deming Company's plant, where large build- ings were erected. During the next 15 years the company entered on a large scale upon the manufacture of the following articles: Car- riage-maker and blacksmith tools, band saws, butchers' tools, "Ohio" hand and power feed cutters, "Ohio" self feed ensilage cutters and blowers, metal bucket chain elevators, feed mills, steam cookers and root cutters.

The original officers of the company were : A. R. Silver, president; H. M. Silver, vice-

president; A. O. Silver, secretary; William Sil- ver, treasurer; E. W. Silver, superintendent. In 1905 E. W. Silver was president; H. M. Silver, vice-president; A. O. Silver, secretary, and William Silver, treasurer. That year, the capital stock was increased from $150,000 to $160,000. One hundred and twenty-five men ·were employed. A new' machine shop was built in 1905. This comparatively new manu- facturing concern in Salem was acquiring an almost world-wide fame and the demand for its product was constantly increasing.

Among the early establishments was the Eagle Foundry, first operated on Ellsworth avenue, Salem, by H. Kidd and G. Allison. In 1864 it passed into the hands of R. H. Garri- gues, who converted it into a machine shop, and for some years manufactured horse powers and threshing machines. His son, Norman B. Gar- rigues, continued the business for some time after the death of the father, and the shop fin- ally passed into the hands of the Sheehan Man- ufacturing Company, whose chief product was riveting machines, but some other novelties were made. In 1904 the works had closed down, a portion of the machinery having been removed to Ravenna, where it was understood the business was to be continued.

In 1868 a second stove foundry was estab- lished, adjoining the Woodruff stove works on Depot street, by Henry King, Furman Gee and Henry Schoffer, under the firm name of King, Gee & Company. In May, 1869, the company incorporated as the Victor Stove Company, with nine members. The smaller interests were absorbed by Daniel Koll and Furman Gee, who continued the business until 1879, when it passed into the hands of Daniel Koll and son. A third company built the Perry stove works in 1867, under the firm name of Baxter, Boyle & Company. The concern incorporated in 1870 as the Perry Stove Company, with $60,000 capital, but on August 12, 1872, the plant was visited by a disastrous fire. The works were rebuilt in the same year, and the plant added to greatly during the next few years. About 1881, however, the Perry Stove Company received a sufficiently liberal offer from Mansfield, Ohio, to cause the removal of

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the works to that city. The Victor stove works of Daniel Koll and son, subsequent to 1879, incorporated as the Victor Stove Company. In 1905 I. G. Tolerton was president; W. H. Koll, secretary and treasurer, and superintend- ent; and Charles Sweney, assistant superin- tendent. Their output was about 10,000 an- nually of ranges, heating stoves, cook and gas stoves, and they employed 70 men.

ORIGIN OF THE MULLINS COMPANY.

Decorative cornices, vases, busts and metal statuary were made as early as 1872 in Salem by Kittredge, Clark & Company, which firm laid the foundation for the immense business in later years of the W. H. Mullins Company. In the spring of 1872 Kittredge, Clark & Com- pany established a plant for the manufacture of galvanized iron cornices and ornamental archi- tectural novelties on Depot street, in the build- ings occupied some years previous by the Salem Manufacturing Company. The designs were modeled first in clay, then cast in plaster and then made into iron shapes. The business prospered, and a few years later the company absorbed the National Ornament Company, of Toledo, moving the Toledo works to Salem. So prominent was the company in the trade at this time, that it received a large contract for the decorative features of the buildings at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876. Mack's "History of Columbiana County" pub- lished in 1879, says of the company at that time :

"Much credit is due them for the introduc- tion of pure architectural forms in this day of mongrel architectural follies. The company possesses a well-filled library, composed of na- tive and foreign works on architecture, which furnishes the designers rare facilities in this department."

The Kittredge Cornice & Ornament Com- pany succeeded the original firm, and, in April. 1878, Thompson, Boyle & Company secured control of the plant. First as Thompson, Boyle & Company, then as Thompson & Bakewell, the business was carried on until February, 1882. 8

At that time W. H. Mullins, of Salem, pur- chased Thompson's interest, and the firm name became Bakewell & Mullins. Mullins bought out his partner in February, 1890, and contin- ued the Business in his own name, enlarging the plant and entering extensively into the manu- facture of statuary. January 15, 1905, the concern was incorporated as the W. H. Mul- lins Company, the officers being: W. H. Mul- lins, president ; R. J. Thomson, vice-president ; C. C. Gibson, secretary ; W. P. Carpenter, treas- urer ; W. C. Hare, general superintendent ; and J. H. Blackburn, purchasing agent. In 1905 the business had so increased as to give employ- ment to 250 to 300 men. The company's line of manufactures were, principally, sheet metal architectural ornaments, statuary, fire-proof window frames and sash, skylights, store fronts, cornices, building trimmings in general, rowboats and launches-in the latter of which (viz., rowboats and launches) a very large trade had been secured.

One of the solid manufacturing concerns of Salem, · doing a steadily increasing business from its establishment in 1875 up to 1905, has been. the Novelty Works of W. J. Clark & Company. At the first the manufacture of the "Novelty" oil-tank, shipping cans, measuring pumps, elevator buckets and patented novelties in sheet, wrought and cast metals, automatic fountains and metal spinning of all kinds was entered into. Trade in these articles extended to all parts of the United States, The company was incorporated 'in 1896, and beside the "Quick as Wink" hose-coupler, in the manu- facture of which a very large business had been established, many other articles had been added to their lines of manufacture. The company was employing from 35 to 40 men. The offi- cers of the company were: W. C. Clark, presi- dent and treasurer ; W. J. Clark, vice-president and manager ; and I. A. Clark, secretary.

What were known as "The Industrial Works" were established in Salem in 1872 by Edwards & Morlan. In 1875 the sole pro- prietorship was vested in M. L. Edwards. Mr. Edwards was a practical machinist, having been for about 18 years, from 1854 to 1872,

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connected with the Silver & Deming concern, during eight years of which period he was its foreman. Among the products of the Edward shop were meat choppers, lard and tallow presses, sausage stuffers, blacksmiths tools of various kinds, etc. Of many of the articles which he manufactures, he was the inventor. In 1905 Mr. Edwards still continued the old business, making a number of specialties and doing a general jobbing and new line of work as a machinist.

Several early enterprises in the history of the town, which gave promise of great things in their day, were almost forgotten with the events of the last quarter of the old century. One of these was the Quaker Manufacturing Company, first established by Charles R. and J. Oscar Taber in 1854, for the manufacture of stationary engines. The firm in 1856 be- came Taber, Pope & Street, and a large brick building was erected near the railroad, fronting on Depot street. Taber Brothers eventually be- came sole proprietors, and on the death of Charles R. Taber, in 1869, the Quaker Manu- facturing Company was incorporated, with Leonard Schilling as president, the capital stock being $80,000. The company made a specialty during the later years of its life of the manufacture of the "Quaker" mower and reaper, but it finally suspended business shortly after 1870.

Attempts to mine the coal and iron ore in the southern part of Perry township resulted in the organization of the Salem Coal & Iron Company, on December 17, 1869, the incorpo- rators being Joel Sharp, Leonard Schilling, Amos Raik, James Woodruff and John Baker. Samuel Chessman was elected president of tlie new company ; Leonard Schilling, secretary, and T. C. Boone, treasurer. The company was capitalized at $100,000 and attempts were made at mining coal and ore, but the lack of trans- portation facilities prevented the success of tlie project.

The Etna Manufacturing Company was also organized about 1864, J. T. Brooks being largely interested. The company carried on a large business in mowers and reapers for a number of years, the annual product at one

time being 1,500 machines. The company dis- continued business about 1872.

"STEEL COMBINE" INTERESTS IN COLUMBIANA COUNTY.

Columbiana County is unique in the fact that nearly all her great manufacturing inter- ests, have, during the years marked by the organization of the great "combines," escaped "trust" domination. This is true especially of the iron, steel and allied metal trades. The long arm of the United States Steel Corpora- tion and its subsidiary companies, which were organized during the seven years preceding 1905, enfolded only three of the iron and steel concerns in the county-the Salem Wire Nail Mill Company, organized in 1885; the Wells- ville rolling-mill, first established in 1874, and the Beaver tin plate mills of Lisbon, built in ›1894.

The Salem Wire Nail Mill Company was incorporated in August, 1885, with a capital of $300,000 (which was afterward increased to $500,000), and the plant at Salem started op- erations on the last day of that year. The orig- inal company was headed by Joel Sharp, of Salem, who was the first president of the con- cern. The plant. employed over 200 men from the start, and in 1889 the company absorbed a second plant of the same capacity at Findlay, Ohio. The Salem mill was one of the first concerns taken into the original wire combine, -The American Steel & Wire Company, on its formation in 1898; and, on the absorption of the "wire combine" by the United States Steel Corporation, in 1901, the Salem plant of course 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 the Steel Corporation. The capacity of the Salem plant in 1905 was given at from 550,000 to 600,000 kegs of nails a year, and it employed, when running full, about 300 men. That year a large new ware- house was built.

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History of Columbiana County, Ohio and representative citizens, Part 19

Author: McCord, William B., b. 1844 Publication date: 1905 Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : Biographical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 912

Author: McCord, William B., b. 1844
Publication date: 1905
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 912