History of Columbiana County, Ohio and representative citizens, Part 24

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

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the outgrowth of the $12,500 plant put in oper- ation only 18 years before. The firm early en- tered the field of semi-porcelain manufacture.

THE POTTERIES OF WELLSVILLE.

Other towns in the county followed East Liverpool's .example in plunging into the pot- tery industry as early as the '60's and '70's, and as a result mainly of the enterprise of East Liverpool men who desired to "spread out" in the industry, a number of substantial plants were put in operation through the county, Wellsville, East Palestine, Salineville, Leetonia Lisbon and Salem all securing white ware fac- tories during the closing years of the century. The manufacture of Rockingham and yellow ware had been attempted in Wellsville before 1850, but never with success. In 1878, how- ever, George Morley, who had been a member of the firm of Morley, Godwin & Flentke at East Liverpool since 1857, came to Wellsville, and, with Harmar Michaels and I. B. Clark or- ganized a company and built the Pioneer Pot- tery. The plant had originally a capacity of two kilns, but was before many years increased to six kilns and white granite was manufactured from the start. The buildings were completed early in 1879, the factory employing, when it opened in July of that year, 60 persons. Mor- ley retired from the management of the factory in 1884, and Michaels, with I. B. Clark, con- tinued its operation, the company later becom- ing the Pioneer Pottery Company. The com- pany went to the wall about 1890, and for the 10 years ensuing figured largely in litigation in the county courts, being run spasmodically, part of the time by Clark as receiver. In 1902 the Wellsville China Company, headed by Monroe Patterson, of East Liverpool, purchased the plant, and began its operation.

The second firm in Wellsville was that of J. Patterson & Sons, who started in the yellow ware trade in 1883, with a capacity of two kilns. This was later increased to four kilns, and the company ran without change of man- agement for nearly 20 years, becoming the Pat- terson Brothers Company in 1900.

The "School House Pottery," built on the

174

HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY

site of the old Union schoolhouse at the foot of Fifth street in Wellsville, was first operated by Samuel J. Fisher and others in 1888. It had a capacity at the start of four kilns. It operated only a year, and was then idle for some time. Finally it was taken over by James H. Baum, of East Liverpool, who for a time manufactured white ware. During the early '90's, when the potteries of Trenton, New Jersey, were making their first great success in the manufacture of ·sanitary porcelain goods, Baum changed his pottery to sanitary manufacture, but owing to insufficient financial backing the venture proved a failure. In 1896 the plant was bought in by Will L. Smith and D. E. McNicol, of East Liverpool, and passed under the control of the D. E. McNicol Pottery Company, which com- pany operated it thereafter.

John J. Purinton, Robert Hall and S. M. Ferguson, of East Liverpool, in 1898 organ-, ized the United States Pottery Company, of Wellsville, and built a handsome plant of six kilns at the western end of the town, below the railroad shops. The company successfully operated the factory in the white ware trade un- til 1903, when it was absorbed by the East Liverpool Potteries Company. Wellsville therefore boasted in 1905 of four prosperous earthenware plants, with a total capacity of 21 ware kilns.

ELSEWHERE IN THE COUNTY.

L. Keister & Son ran a stoneware pottery in the town of Columbiana during the '70's, but the first general ware factory on the north side of the county was built at Leetonia. The Leetonia Pottery Manufacturing Company or- ganized in March, 1875, with a capital of $15,000, and erected a 2-kiln pottery at that place, for the manufacture of yellow ware. William Schweitzer was president of the com- pany, and J. S. Greenamyer, manager. The concern operated for 20 years with varying suc- cess, Cartwright & Green, of East Liverpool. being owners for a number of years during the '90's. It had been idle for seven vears prior to 1905.

East Palestine's first pottery venture was

launched in 1880, by Herman Feustel, an East Liverpool operative, who built a 3-kiln plant there. Benjamin Nowling joined him a few years later, and the firm became Feustel & Nowling, and later, on the advent of John T. Chamberlin, of East Palestine, into the com- pany, Fuestel, Nowling & Company. In 1884 the property was sold to a number of operatives from East Liverpool, but the firm attained in- different success, and in 1889 the East Pales- tine Pottery Company was incorporated, backed by East Palestine capital, with W. C. Chamber- lin as president. The company operated the plant till 1893, when the Sebring Pottery Com- pany, of East Liverpool, took its management on a commission basis, continuing its operation until 1898. W. S. George took the manage- ment under the old company at the expiration of the arrangement with the Sebrings, in Janu- ary, 1898, and in 1901 the company absorbed the plant of the Canonsburg Pottery Company, at Canonsburg, Pennsylvania. In 1904 a sec- ond plant was built adjoining the original fac- tory, at East Palestine, with a capacity of seven kilns, giving the company a total capacity at the three plants of 21 kilns, 14 kilns being lo- cated at East Palestine.

In 1896, three years after their advent in East Palestine, the Sebrings, who at that time were managing the original East Palestine pot- tery, secured a bonus in land and cash and built the Ohio China Works, a 5-kiln plant. When they relinquished control of this factory, in 1902, the Ohio China Company, headed by O. C. Walker, took charge and continued to oper- ate it in white ware. The potteries of East Palestine therefore had a total capacity in 1905 of 19 kilns.

The Salem China Company was organized in 1898 by six Liverpool men-E. J. Smith, William Smith, Patrick McNicol, T. A. Mc- Nicol. Cornelius Cronin and Daniel P. Cronin. T. A. McNicol was president. The company built in that year a 6-kiln pottery at Salem, and conducted a remarkably successful business in white ware during the seven years succeeding.

William Hill built a stoneware plant at Salineville about 1889, which operated for a year or two, but was not a success, and after

175

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS.

lying idle a few years was converted into an electric light plant for the village. In 1901 the Salineville China Company was organized by W. H. Deidrick, of East Liverpool, and H. A. Thompson and other Salineville people, and a 4-kiln plant built at Salineville. Litigation followed internal differences in the company, and the factory did not run regularly until 1904, when it was leased to the Carrollton Pottery Company, a concern organized by a party of East Liverpool men at Carrollton, Carroll County, which had built a white ware pottery there several years before.

THE INDUSTRY IN 1905.

In 1905, the 25 pottery companies making general ware in East Liverpool and Wellsville had an estimated annual output of $7,170,000, and the potteries elsewhere in the county-in- cluding those at Sebring-$1,650,000 more, making a total for the district of $8,820,000. The value of all the general ware made in the United States during 1903 was given as $14,- 577,000, and the estimate for the entire coun- try for 1905 was about $16,000,000. The gen- eral ware factories of the county, given with their capacity by kilns in 1905, was :

EAST LIVERPOOL AND WELLSVILLE.

Kilns.

William Brunt Pottery Co. 7

Colonial Company, Potters 6

East Liverpool Potteries Co. (two plants) 12

East End Pottery Co.

Goodwin Pottery Co. 8

Hall China Co. 5

Harker Pottery Co. 7

Edwin M. Knowles Pottery Co. 6

Knowles, Taylor & Knowles Co. 32

Homer Laughlin China Co. 32

D. E. McNicol Pottery Co. 14

National China Co.

Potters' Co-Operative Co. II

Smith-Phillips China Co. 6

Sevres China Co. (two plants) 13

Standard Pottery Co. (two plants) 12

Taylor, Smith & Taylor Co. 9

C. C. Thompson Pottery Co. 14

Vodrey Pottery Co. 6

West End Pottery Co. 5

Kilns.

Croxall Pottery Co.

Union Potteries Co. 4

Patterson Brothers Co. (Wellsville) 4

Wellsville China Co. (Wellsville) 6

Cartwright Brothers Co.

Total .239

ELSEWHERE IN COUNTY AND DISTRICT.

Kilns.

Carrollton China Co. (Salineville plant) 4

East Palestine Pottery Co. 15

Ohio China Co., E. Palestine. 5 Sebring Potteries, Sebring, O. 25

Salem China Co., Salem

Grand total in county

294

Total in the United States 647

The United States Potters' Association, which includes in its organization nearly all the general and sanitary ware manufacturers of the United States, was formed in Philadelphia in January, 1875. Its president in 1905 was W. E. Wells, of the Homer Laughlin China Com- pany, East Liverpool ; its secretary, H. A. Kef- fer, of the Sevres China Company, East Liver- pool, and its treasurer George S. Goodwin, of the Goodwin Pottery Company, East Liver- pool. Various associations were formed by the manufacturing potters during the latter part of the century for mutual benefit, and from 1894 to December, 1904, an organization was main- tained known by various appellations, but gen- erally termed the "White Ware Compact," for the purpose of maintaining prices. This was broken December 1, 1904.

While the manufacture of domestic earthen- wares and porcelains had made immense gains in the first few years of the new century, the increased demands in America for art goods had also swelled the volume of imports. Gov- ernment reports give an instructive comparison in the matter of imported wares:

Foreign Value

Duty

Total Cost

American Production $12,000,000

1900

$8,646,223

$5,043,426 5,455,819

14,806,739

12,975,000 13,801,000

1902

9,680,156

5,646,434

15,326,590 16,714,162

14,577,000

1903

. 10,512,052

6,202,1IO

$13,689,649

1901

9,350,920

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HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY

For the two years ending respectively June 30, 1903, and June 30, 1904, the imports from foreign countries are shown to be :

1903.

1904.

Not decorated or ornamented ..

$1,072,744

$1,337,376

Decorated or ornamented

9,003,852

10,193,077

All other

435,456

474,555

Total

$10,512,052

$12,005,008

Imported from-

United Kingdom of G't Britain $2,995,975

$3,212,47I

Austria-Hungary

714,13I

858,262

France

1,892,404

1,970,088

Germany

3,961,501

4,815,848

Other European countries

319,842

346,763

Japan

519,392

716,042

Other countries

108,807

85,534

Total

$10,512,052 $12,005,008

FROM DOOR-KNOBS TO ELECTRIC FIXTURES.

The door-knob industry, which became a factor during the early development of pottery manufacture in East Liverpool, underwent a curious transformation during the latter years of the century, as the manufacturers kept pace with the demands of the market. Before 1850, William Brunt, Sr., and later his son, Henry Brunt, made door-knobs at the Riverside Knob Works, the little plant established by the elder Brunt on the Ohio River bank in East Liver- pool. Those were the first earthenware knobs ever made in this country. For 20 years Henry Brunt continued in almost sole possession of this curious market. In 1869, however, John Thomas and his son Richard Thomas, who were old Staffordshire potters and had worked for Brunt in the knob business, went to Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, and with Elijah Webster, established a small knob factory there. Rich- ard Thomas returned in 1873, and, on land owned by his father, started a modest knob pottery of one kiln, taking his son, George W., into partnership, the firm being known as R. Thomas & Son.

In the later '80's the increase in electric lighting and all sorts of electric wiring created the market for porcelain electric fixtures. The two East Liverpool firms were quick to see and ·sieze the opportunity. Henry Brunt & Son and

R. Thomas & Son entered the new field at about the same time-in 1888. The business grew amazingly, for during the first few years the two East Liverpool concerns supplied al- most the entire world with the product. Goods were shipped to all points of Europe; to Af- ghanistan and India, and the interior countries of Asia. In 1890 out of the enterprise of the old Brunt firm was born the George F. Brunt Porcelain Company, and in 1892 the R. Thomas & Sons Company, was incorporated by the three sons of Richard Thomas-George W., who was president; Lawrence M. and Atwood W .- with J. W. Boch as general manager. Richard Thomas died in 1896, just as the porcelain sup- piy business had reached its height. During the years 1903-04 two more concerns built plants at East Liverpool-the Anderson Por- celain Company, with T. F. Anderson, presi- dent, and the East Liverpool Electric Porcelain Company, with William Erlanger, president, and Harry Peach, secretary and treasurer.

The capital engaged in the manufacture of the product at East Liverpool in 1904 was about $2,000,000. The output of the plants in that city for the year was estimated at $480,000. The capacities of the various plants were as follows: Thomas works, 9 kilns ; Brunt works, 5 kilns; Anderson works, 2 kilns; East Liver- pool works, 2 kilns. This industry, it should be noted, is not included in the figures given above on the general ware potteries of the county.

In addition to the four plants at East Liver- pool, a fifth went into the trade in October, 1903. The Thomas China Company was or- ganized at Lisbon in January, 1902, and a 6- kiln pottery built for the manufacture of gen- eral ware. In the fall of 1903, however, the plant was converted into the manufacture of electric porcelain supplies.

Fully four-fifths of the porcelain electric goods used in the United States in 1905 were made in Columbiana County.

ALLIED INDUSTRIES.

There are still other industries affiliated with the earthenware trade at East Liverpool, representing large investments. M. E. Gold-

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AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS.

ing, the founder of the western plant of the Golding & Sons Company, which grinds flint and spar used in the manufacture of earthen- ware, established the mills of the company in the West End of the city in 1876. The flint works of the potters' Mining & Milling Com- pany, in the East End, were established by a stock company of manufacturers in 1887. Sev- eral plants manufactured potter's supplies, the oldest being that of Burgess & Co., established in 1878 by William Burgess and Henry Moore. The largest of these in 1905 was the Potters' Supply Company, established about 1892, of which E. M. Knowles is the head. Mountford & Son were making potters4 supplies in 1905 at the historic old Baggott plant, first operated by John Goodwin in 1846. Edwin O'Connors' supply plant also had a good capacity.

Following the rapid increase of the clay manufactories also came the machine shops which had made a specialty of clay-working machinery. Andrew J. Boyce was the pioneer among the machinists who toiled hand in hand with the early manufacturers in producing the early labor-saving machinery. Boyce estab- lished his foundry in 1869. He had learned his trade in the Fulton Foundry & Machine Works in Wellsville, under Philip F. Geisse, at the time when the building of Ohio River steam- boats was an industry of importance in Wells- ville. His was the first machine shop in the country to make a specialty of clay-working machinery. Morley, Dixson & Patterson es- tablished the Patterson machine shop in 1878. A. J. Boyce died in 1898, after struggling in vain against financial difficulties; and on the settlement of his estate the old foundry passed into the hands of the Patterson Foundry Com- pany which had become a stock concern.

In 1882 a company with George W. Frey as president and Fred Hendricks, secretary, organized and built the Specialty Glass Works in the West End, East Liverpool, for the manu- facture of table and blown ware. The company assigned, March 10, 1883. A new company was formed, in which N. G. Macrum, John G. Quay, Fred Laufenberger and Thomas Darrah were interested. Under this company, John G. Quay, Charles Macrum and John Manor were

managers at different periods, and an output of $175,000 per annum was reached. The plant was destroyed by fire March 21, 1898, and was not rebuilt.

SEWER-PIPE, TILE, BRICK AND FIRE-CLAY PRODUCTS.

Brick and tile were made in a crude way at several points in Columbiana County during the early years. There were brickmakers at Lisbon during the period of 1830-40, and ce- ment was made there in 1836, during the build- ing of the Sandy and Beaver canal through the center of the county. Mack's "History of Col- umbiana County" says that about the year 1836 cement was discovered in large quantities along the banks of the middle fork of the Little Beaver, and that in the construction of the locks for the canal a great deal of it was used. En- gineers and contractors pronounced it of the best quality, and as one proof of its excellence, when it became necessary to remove one or more of these locks some 30 years afterwards, the mortar was often found more solid than the stone.

The pioneer in the manufacture of sewer- pipe and fire-clay products in the county, how- ever, was the late N. U. Walker, of Wells- ville, who died June 6, 1904, aged 81 years, after a lifetime spent in developing the fire- clay resources of the Upper Ohio Valley. The Walker Works were situated on the right bank of the Ohio River, midway between East Liver- pool and Wellsville.

Andrew Russell began making brick near the site of the Walker plant in 1841, and about the same time George Mccullough began turn- ing out a kind of tile. The two were bought out in 1846 by Philip F. Geisse, who even at that time was operating a large foundry at Wellsville, and he made brick there for several years. In 1852 he sold to N. U. Walker, and Walker at once began plans for an entire new factory. For a number of years the chief prod- uct of the plant was brick, but in 1870 Walker added a factory for the manufacture of sewer- pipe, chimney-tops and grate tiles. In 1878 he added still another factory for the manufacture of tile, including lawn vases, flower-pots and

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HISTORY OF COLUMBIANA COUNTY

statuary. For a number of years these works were the largest in the country. The Walker tract covered over 300 acres of land rich in clay and coal, and the deposits of clay were con- sidered the largest in Ohio, yielding a great variety of clays suitable for fire-brick, sewer- pipe and terra-cotta goods. The site was espe- cially picturesque, at the foot of the highest bluff along the Ohio River between Pittsburg and Cairo. The Walker works long held a very high reputation for the excellence of its goods, the Ohio Geological Report for 1885 declaring :

"Nearly all the river works made terra- cotta, but at N. U. Walker's the best ware of this district and most of it is made. His daily product would amount to about 24 tons of ware-about 20 in flues, etc., four in statuary and the finer grades of work."'

Late in the '90's the concern became the N. U. Walker Clay Manufacturing Company, and its absorption was one of the main objects of several of the earlier attempts to form a "sewer- pipe combine." It was finally taken over by the American Sewer Pipe Company, of New Jer- sey, on the organization of that concern in 1899, and has since been controlled by the various successors to the original "trust." Mr. Walker was one of the pioneers in the use of improved machinery in the making of sewer-pipe and terra-cotta.

In 1867 George Jones established the Wells- ville Terra Cotta Works, on Third street, on the site also later occupied by the Wellsville Soap Works. He continued the operation of the works for a number of years, making sewer- pipe, drain tile and fancy terra-cotta, the firm later becoming Lamond & Jones. The business was continued until the latter part of the '70's. About 1880 John Lyth & Sons came to Wells- ville from New York State, and built the John Lyth works, east of the town, near the Wells- ville rolling-mill. The plant employed up- wards of 200 hands at one time, and the firm devoted nearly its whole attention to sewer- pipe. The plant figured in all of the early at- tempts to form a "sewer-pipe combine," and was finally included in the organization of the American Sewer Pipe Company, in 1899. The new owners promptly furnished the anti-trust

agitators of Wellsville with an argument against "combines" by dismantling the plant, and removing the machinery elsewhere. The buildings and kilns, as well as the valuable clay deposits in the hills adjoining, were allowed to stand idle.

Wellsville during the same period was be- coming a well-known center in the manufacture of fire-brick and vitrified-clay products. In 1886 Thomas H. Silver founded the Champion Brick Works, in the West End of the town, and a few years later Clark & Michaels built and began the operation of the Buckeye Brick Works, nearby. Clark & Michaels realized a substantial bonus on their plant by the sale of building lots around the site. The Vulcan Clay Company, started about 1890 in the same lo- cality for the manufacture of brick, was still in 1905 doing a fine business. P. M. Smith was president. The Champion Clay Company had also established a plant just east of Wellsville corporation, where red and fire-brick were made.

In 1886 Isaac W. and Homer S. Knowles and John N. Taylor, of the pottery firm of Knowles, Taylor & Knowles in East Liverpool, with Thomas F. Anderson, a practical sewer- pipe man, who had had experience as general manager of the N. U. Walker works for several years, and whose father before him had op- erated a brick and pipe works at Anderson, West Virginia, organized the Knowles, Tay- lor & Anderson Company, and built a modern plant in the East End, East Liverpool, which was at the time of its opening the largest in the county. The plant ran successfully for a num- ber of years, and at the time of the organization of the "sewer-pipe combine," which absorbed it in 1899, had the reputation for being the most economical plant in that line in the West. Mr. Anderson was manager of the "combine" for a number of years after its organization, retir- ing in 1902.

Surles & Gamble for several years prior to 1885 conducted a brick works in the northern part of East Liverpool, and during the latter part of the century a number of smaller brick- yards were operated in that city.

Large beds of fire-clay were known for

179

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS.

many years to exist under the hills along the · middle fork of the Little Beaver, in the vicinity of Lisbon; but it was not until the early '80's that they began to be utilized largely. In 1882 F. C. Coleman,, of Dunkirk, New York, with several associates, purchased the clay privilege of a large tract east of Lisbon, and formed the United States Fire Clay Company, for the man- ufacture of sewer-pipe, building what was later known as the "upper" works. Five years later the "lower" works were erected by certain of the stockholders of the original company. In 1890 the two concerns were consolidated, and formed the United States Fire Clay Manufac- turing Company. In 1900 both works were sold to the American Sewer Pipe Company, of New Jersey, the "upper" works were closed down and the "lower," continued in operation. Eugene Evans was superintendent under the "trust" management up to 1905, when he was succeeded by G. O. Freeman. The product was continued as it had been from the beginning, namely, sewer-pipe and terra-cotta, and the works had a capacity of 1,000 cars per annum.

The Eagle Brick Works were established in 1870 in the Western suburb of Lisbon by Her- ron & Bates. For several years prior to 1882 the concern was not a financial success, and in that year it was taken over by Ezra Frost, of Lisbon, and the manufacture of sewer-pipe commenced. The business was continued until 1898, when a company was formed with Dr. T. B. Marquis as president and W. L. Ogden as secretary and treasurer. This was styled the Excelsior Fire Clay Company, the product being chimney-tops, flue linings and fire-clay products generally. The business continued under the same management in 1905.

In 1892 Card & Prosser began the mining of coal on a large scale just west of Lisbon, and in 1902 the firm organized the Saratoga Fire Clay Company, to utilize the large bed of fine clay underlying the coal vein they had been working. They established a grinding works, which in 1905 had a capacity of 200 tons of ground clay daily.

The cement deposits along the Little Beaver at Lisbon, which had been utilized in 1836 in the building of the locks for the Sandy and Beaver canal had long been exeprimented

on by, Lisbon people, and in 1875 the Ohio Ce- ment Company was organized with Cleveland capital, and began developing the fine beds of cement clay. The mines for years have been operated on an extensive scale, and the com- pany as early as 1880 had a capacity of 300 barrels of cement daily.

The Empire Fire Clay Company, of Lee- tonia, was organized in the summer of 1875 by A. Nold, G. Hehn and A. Steckberger, and the manufacture of stoneware and ornamental terra cotta begun in 1876. The business passed through several hands during the next few years, and in January, 1879, a stock company was organized with A. Nold, president and Solomon E. Nold, secretary and general man- ager. This company operated for a number of years, but the little factory was closed down about the beginning of the new century.

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History of Columbiana County, Ohio and representative citizens, Part 24

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