USA > Ohio > History of Ohio; the rise and progress of an American state, Volume Five > Part 22
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Passing over the Civil War and the ten years follow- ing, we take 1876 as the next year for a detailed view. The interests of the manufacturers of Cincin- nati, as well as the community generally, were much promoted by the Industrial Expositions, which began in 1870 and continued annually. All Cincinnatians whose recollections go back to the early expositions, especially those who were then of youthful age and corresponding impressionability, remember them with enthusiasm and affection. They were eminently cred- itable and useful affairs.
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THE RISE AND PROGRESS
The industrial situation in 1876-77 was the subject 'of an elaborate address delivered in 1878 by Colonel Sidney D. Maxwell, superintendent of the Chamber of Commerce. ("The Manufactures of Cincinnati and Their Relation to the Future of the Capital City." Robert Clark and Company, 1878.) Most of Colonel Maxwell's statistics are for the year 1876.
The aggregate value of manufactured articles was $140,583,960. These were embraced in one hundred and eighty-two general classes, employed the labor of 62,218 persons, and represented an invested capital (exclusive of real estate) of $51,550,936. In the respect of value of products, Cincinnati was about on an equality with Boston and St. Louis, according to reliable statistics for those cities in 1875.
First in importance were the food products :- value, $27,841,537; employes, 4,631. The leading industry in this department was pork packing, Mr. Maxwell's figures being for the year ending March 1, 1878, in which about 800,000 hogs were packed, of a value of $9,500,000. The bakery products came next, followed by starch, flour, spices, canned goods, baking powder, vinegar, confectionery, etc.
Liquors had a gross valuation of $23,615,588. Separate values are not given for malt and distilled beverages, but from calculations made it appears that these stood in about the ratio of one to two.
The iron manufactures of all kinds were valued at $13,143,191, and gave employment to 7,341 persons. Of the machine-shop products, all made in large quan- tities and extensively in demand throughout the coun- try and in many instances all over the world, Mr.
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Maxwell mentions stationary and portable engines, wood-working machinery, sugar mills, steam fire engines, steam gauges, hydraulic and steam elevators, and various articles of equipment. In the production of safes Cincinnati was "second to no city in the world," twelve thousand having been made in 1877, and the total value of safes, safe vaults, burglar-proof locks, etc., for 1876 having been $1,730,000. "These not only went to all parts of the United States, but to some extent have found sale in China, Japan, Germany, Belgium, Russia, Central and South America, Canada, the Sandwich Islands, and Australia." The value of stoves (1877) was $1,358,500, and seven thousand tons of pig metal were consumed in their production. Railway supplies had a value of $1,000,000; hardware proper, $419,000; steam boilers, $225,000; plows, $300,000; cutlery and edge tools, $107,300; gas meters and machinery, $111,000; bolts and nuts, $175,000; castings (not embraced under stoves, machinery, etc.), $1,011,300. There were six rolling mills, which in 1877 produced 25,800 tons of manufactured iron and steel.
In the production of articles from wood 7,788 persons were employed and the value was $12,990,716, more than half of which was under the item of furniture. Other leading wood manufactures were doors, sash, etc., picture frames and mouldings, cooperage wares, cigar boxes, boats, and billiard tables. The boat- building industry, formerly so important in Cincinnati, had very much declined during the war, and, though revived later, its products in 1877 were of only $226,000 value.
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Clothing of all kinds was valued at $12,331,610, the number engaged being 15,128.
Candles, soaps, and oils had the large value of $7,895,030. "The production of soap in 1877 was, approximately, 425,000 boxes, equivalent to 25,500,000 pounds. Cincinnati could thus furnish a half-pound bar of soap each year to every inhabitant, young and old, of the United States, and have enough left to do her own washing for a year."
The leather goods were worth $7,729,818, of which $4,317,000 was in boots and shoes.
Book and newspaper publishing and job printing produced a value of $5,418,149. Mr. Maxwell alludes to the conspicuous position of Cincinnati in the publi- cation of school books, of which 4,000,000 copies were issued annually. The city was also one of the leading centers for law books and for the music publishing business. In the latter department an important item was hymn books, a million in number in 1877.
Chemicals, medicines, paints, varnishes, etc., amount- ed to $4,278,048; tobacco manufactures, $5,214,614; metals other than iron, $4,351,413. An old and interesting industry was the making of gold pens, Cincinnati sharing "the honors with New York in having given the production its first business impetus." The manufactures in this department comprised, with cases, holders, pencils, etc., about twelve hundred different articles.
Products of stone and earth were valued at $2,805,835 and employed 2,075 workers. A marked advance had been made in pottery, classed in those times as "earthen and queensware," of which the value was $297,800.
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Carriages and other vehicles were worth $1,943,757; productions from cotton, wool, hemp, etc., $1,532,165; miscellaneous manufactures of all sorts not included under any of the foregoing heads, $4,489,618. A leading business classed as miscellaneous was the pro- duction of burial cases, caskets, coffins, and hearses, in which Cincinnati stood at the head of American cities, the output in 1876 being of $725,000 value. Another unique industry was the preparation of hog bristles for brushes and other purposes; value, $300,000.
The census of 1910, which makes the latest detailed showing for Cincinnati manufactures, will be analyzed without classification in special groups. Such a classi- fication would doubtless involve important omissions, for the census figures available when this is written (July, 1912), give only fifty selected lines of manu- facture, and the large amount of $26,637,000 value for "all other industries" is not reduced to analysis.
Totals for the city, all industries :- value of products, $194,516,000; establishments, 2,184; persons engaged, 72,488; wageworkers, 60,192; primary horsepower, 88,597; capital, $150,254,000; wages, $31,101,000.
Over $15,000,000 value :- slaughtering and meat packing, $19,320,000; foundry and machine-shop prod- ucts, $18,380,000; men's clothing, including shirts, $16,975,000.
From $10,000,000 to $15,000,000 value :- boots and shoes, including cut stock and findings, $14,999,000; printing and publishing, $11,519,000.
From $5,000,000 to $10,000,000 value :- malt liquors, $8,874,000; distilled liquors, $8,745,000; carriages and wagons and materials, $6,825,000; bread and other
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bakery products, $5,103,000; leather, tanned, curried, and finished, $5,059,000; lumber and timber products, $5,021,000.
From $1,000,000 to $5,000,000 value :- tobacco manufactures, $4,153,000; furniture and refrigerators, $4,062,000; paint and varnish, $3,880,000; women's clothing, $2,913,000; copper, tin, and sheet iron prod- ucts, $2,775,000; stoves and furnaces, including gas and oil stoves, $2,325,000; coffee and spice, roasting and grinding, $2,110,000; confectionery, $2,029,000; music- al instruments, pianos and organs and materials, $1,753,000; leather goods, $1,449,000; cooperage and wooden goods, not elsewhere specified, $1,232,000; patent medicines and compounds and druggists' prep- arations, $1,230,000; paper bags, $1,088,000; flour mill and gristmill products, $1,083,000.
From $500,000 to $1,000,000 value :- brass and bronze products $996,000; jewelry, $936,000; chem- icals, $899,000; flags, banners, regalia, society badges, and emblems, $888,000; electrical machinery, appara- tus, and supplies, $836,000; canning and preserving, $825,000; fancy and paper boxes, $679,000; marble and stone work, $632,000; millinery and lace goods, $547,000; hats and caps, other than felt, straw and wool, $532,000.
From $250,000 to $500,000 value :- hosiery- and knit goods, $442,000; mattresses and spring beds, $394,000; manufactured ice, $385,000; pottery, terra cotta, and fire-clay products, $370,000; cigar boxes, $347,000; paper goods, not elsewhere specified, $346, 000; cars and general shop construction and repairs
BENJAMIN HEAD WARDER
Pioneer manufacturer, of Springfield; his firm (then Warder and Brokaw) began making reaping machines in 1850; this firm became Warder, Bushnell and Glessner; died January 13, 1894.
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THE RISE AND PROGRESS
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From bigupco to $500,000 value :- hosiery- al kmt goods, 5413,200; mattresses and spring bed 6994,000; mamaluctard ice, $385,000; pottery, ter cotta, and fire-clay products, $370,000; cigar box $347/000; paper goods, not elsewhere specified, $34 000, care and general shop construction and repal
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by steam railroad companies, $328,000; blacking and cleansing and polishing preparations, $255,000.
3. Columbus, third city. Population :- 1830, 2,435; 1840, 6,048; 1850, 17,882; 1860, 18,554; 1870, 31,274; 1880, 51,647; 1890, 88, 150; 1900, 125,560; 1910, 181,- 5II.
The growth of manufacturing enterprise, and cor- respondingly of population, in Columbus, is essentially due to its favorable situation with reference to the sources of supply of the principal raw materials. Iron, timber, and the stone of the quarries are delivered in Columbus at but slight cost, and the great coal and natural gas fields, affording cheap fuel, are imme- diately accessible. Another important factor of devel- lopment is its central location, which gives it a com- manding position as a distributing point. Though lacking the advantage of natural water communica- tion, the city participated from an early period in the benefits conferred by the canal system, a branch being constructed which entered the Ohio Canal at Lock- bourne. Columbus was one of the localities most favored in the original laying out of railway lines and their subsequent comprehensive development, and its national importance as a railway center has been long established.
Alfred E. Lee, the Columbus historian, mentions several mills built at various places before and shortly after the founding of Columbus proper. Associated with these primitive enterprises were the names of Robert Ballentine, John D. Rush, James Kilbourne, Lucas Sullivant, Richard Courtney, John Shields, Moses Jewett, Caleb Houston, John E. Baker, and
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others. The most noteworthy establishment was that of the Worthington Manufacturing Company, which was incorporated in 1811, with James Kilbourne as president and general manager. "It was the pioneer manufacturing enterprise of central Ohio, but was by no means limited to manufacturing. Besides under- taking to produce various articles in wool, leather, and other material, it circulated its notes as currency and engaged extensively in mercantile business and banking. Its factories were established at Worthing- ton and Steubenville and its stores opened at Worth- ington and Franklinton. When the War of 1812 broke out the company engaged extensively in the production of woolen fabrics for army and navy clothing. This part of the industrial department ceased, of course, with the conclusion of peace in 1815, after which the company lost heavily in its multiplied enterprises until it failed, in 1820, sweeping away the investments of its shareholders and the entire fortune of its president."
Joseph Ridgway, in 1822, started an iron foundry on Scioto Street, obtaining his pig metal from the Gran- ville furnace, to which three trips were made every week with a two-horse wagon. The principal article manufactured was Jethro Wood's patent plow, then considered the best in use. The business prospered under both Ridgway and his nephew, Joseph Ridgway, Jr. Steam power was introduced about 1830, where- upon the operations were much enlarged and machinery, steam engines, stoves, etc., were made. The concern was sold to Peter Hayden in 1854, and by him continued on a still larger scale.
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George W. Peters and his son, George M., were other men conspicuously identified with early Colum- bus industry. The father started the first trunk fac- tory in the city and one of the first in the State, and the son was the principal figure in the creation of a carriage manufacturing business, which he developed in con- junction with C. D. Firestone and which has since attained large proportions.
Iron in all its departments, furniture, carriages, rail- way cars, trunks and other leather goods, wooden ware, glass, products of earth and stone, and regalia were among the leading commodities which were suc- cessfully produced in Columbus by 1870. The rise of local manufacturing on a considerable scale and to a degree of marked variety dates from about that time. Some of the large industrial enterprises of the present day go back to an earlier period, but the great majority have sprung up in the last forty years.
The United States census returns for 1910, in the form available at the time of the compilation of this article, give detailed information for twenty-four Columbus industries, but make no analysis for the large total of $16,848,000 value of the city's manufac- tures.
The principal details for all industries were :- value of products, $49,032,000; number of establishments, 586; persons engaged, 20,523; wageworkers, 16,428; primary horsepower, 35,780; capital, $48,747,000; wages paid, $8,892,000. We take the chief items of reported production.
First of Columbus industries is that engaged in mak- ing foundry and machine-shop products. The total
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output in 1910 was valued at $7,744,000, and there were fifty-eight establishments with a capital of $9,956,000. An enumeration of the articles of manu- facture would require very extensive space. Heavy mining machinery, adapted to mining operations of every variety, is produced and shipped throughout the world. One concern makes a specialty of cranes, from those of ordinary carrying capacity to the largest in practical use. Another has a universal reputation and market for its wheelbarrows. The castings busi- ness is represented by a company which occupies a foremost position in the production of car couplers. This is one of the leading cities of the United States in the manufacture of chains. Elevating apparatus, dynamos, motors, steel ceilings, doors, shutters, cur- tains, and partitions, bolts and nuts, drills, and various mechanical appliances are turned out in large quantities.
In the iron and steel business proper there are exten- sive plants, for which, however, the details are not supplied by the census reports which we have received.
Columbus has a large output of steel cars, and it is estimated that its car shops of all kinds, including those which do repair work, transact a business of $4,000,000 value annually. "The railway car shops of Columbus," says a recent writer, "were among the earliest in the West. In them were built the first cars for the transportation of a circus, and here also the first refrigerator cars ever used in the world were constructed. They were built for a Cincinnati brewer and used in the southern trade. No patents were taken out on them, and when they had proved their value in the transportation of perishable products it was not
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long before they were being turned out by hundreds in other shops." (W. B. Jackson, in the "Ohio Maga- zine," Vol. III, p. 462.)
In the manufacture of boots and shoes the city has in a very short time advanced to the front rank. This Columbus industry is practically the growth of the past fifteen years. In 1910 there were eight estab- lishments, employing 2,791 persons (of whom 2,479 were wage-earners), capitalized at $3,181,000, paying wages of $1,076,000, and having a production worth $5,436,000. Two of these are among the largest con- cerns in the country.
The beer business, as in the other leading Ohio cities, is extensive. The production of malt liquors in 1910 had a value of $2,728,000, made by four establishments.
The printing and publishing concerns were ninety- one in number and their products were valued at $2,- 660,000.
Slaughtering and meat packing amounted in value to $2,354,000, six establishments being engaged.
The bread and other bakery products showed a value of $1,765,000. In the manufacture of flour, Columbus has a leading place among the cities of Ohio; value in 1910, $384,000.
Carriages and wagons were produced to the value of $1,078,000 by fourteen establishments. The stand- ard of Columbus production in this industry continues as high as ever, but the aggregate valuation has been reduced more than one-half since 1900. One of the prominent carriage manufactories of the city has in recent years directed its energies in part to the making of automobiles. As yet, however, the automobile
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business has not assumed important dimensions in Columbus. On the other hand, there is a large out- put of carriage and automobile electric lamps and auto- mobile accessories.
Another department of manufacture in which there has been a marked decline is that of patent medicines. Nevertheless, the value produced is still large. The total for 1910 (including druggists' preparations) was $946,000, the returns being from thirteen establishments.
Lumber and timber products, as made by twenty- seven concerns, were worth $1,240,000; gas and elec- tric fixtures and lamps and reflectors (nine concerns), $770,000; furniture and refrigerators (eight concerns), $747,000; stoves and furnaces, including gas and oil stoves (ten concerns), $722,000; copper, tin, and sheet iron products (six concerns), $700,000; coffee and spice, roasted and ground (three concerns), $604,000; paint and varnish (five concerns), $602,000; leather goods (eleven concerns), $560,000; tobacco manufactures (thirty-five concerns), $436,000; manufactured ice (five concerns), $253,000; marble and stone work (six con- cerns), $169,000; brass and bronze products (five con- cerns), $124,000. The glass industry has in recent years grown to importance in Columbus, and is now represented by several considerable establishments. A department of manufacture for which the city has long been noted is that of regalia, military, and secret society goods. In this line it has the largest concern in the country.
4. Toledo, fourth city. Population :- 1840, 1,222; 1850, 3,829; 1860, 13,768; 1870, 31,584; 1880, 50,137; 1890, 81,434; 1900, 131,822; 1910, 168,497.
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The early progress of Toledo was mainly on com- mercial and shipping lines. As a Lake Erie port of primary importance it acquired steadily increasing development in the transfer of commodities between the East and West, and in the grain trade especially it took prominent rank. With its advantage as a terminal point of the canal system of the State, its early and always improving railway facilities, and its naturally large share in the commerce of the Lake, its future prosperity depended only on the adequate enterprise of its citizens. Toledo, as the exhibit of its more recent industrial activities shows, has profited fully from its strategic situation. It intercepts a considerable portion of the eastward-bound cargoes of Lake Superior ore for utilization in its own manu- factures. At no period, however, has there been noticeable any marked specialization of industrial energy; rather has there been evidenced a general distribution of enterprise to comprehend the whole scope of useful production within the availabilities of the natural materials at its command. In this respect it is a thoroughly representative American city of its size.
In 1850 Toledo produced manufactures of $304,525 value, on an invested capital of $98,000, thirty-eight establishments being represented and 263 employes engaged.
In 1860 the totals were :- value, $1,568,390; estab- lishments, 100; employes, 885. The principal products at that time were, in their order of value, flour, clothing, planing mill manufactures, tobacco and cigars, beer, tin and sheet iron ware, sawmill products, cars, boots and shoes, and foundry and machine-shop products.
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The era of large enterprise cannot be said to have begun until after 1880, when the situation stood thus :- value, $10,600,074; capital, $5,534,285; establishments, 440; employes, 6,738. No department of manufacture had as high as a million dollars' value. The leading items were :- exceeding $500,000-tobacco, beer, lum- ber, sash, etc., and flour and gristmill products; from $250,000 to $500,000-foundry and machine-shop products, men's clothing, printing and publishing, carpentering, slaughtering and packing, and bakery products; from $100,000 to $250,000-coffee and spice, women's clothing, boots and shoes; tin, copper, and sheet iron; furniture, cooperage, drugs and chemicals, and shipbuilding.
The census of 1910 shows totals for all Toledo indus- tries as follows :- value, $61,230,000; capital, $58,- 319,000; establishments, 760; persons engaged, 22,900; wageworkers, 18,878; primary horsepower, 43,946; wages, $9,911,000. Twenty-six branches of manu- facture are given in detail, but the sum of $24,391,000 is not analyzed, being set down for "all other indus- tries."
Exceeding $5,000,000 value :- foundry and machine- shop products (seventy-five concerns), $7,024,000; flour and gristmill products (seven concerns), $5,662,000.
From $1,000,000 to $5,000,000 :- petroleum, refining (three concerns), $2,431,000; women's clothing (thir- teen concerns), $2,323,000; tobacco manufactures (forty- eight concerns), $2,129,000; printing and publishing (seventy-two concerns), $2,004,000; malt liquors (four concerns), $1,887,000; lumber and timber products (twenty-eight concerns), $1,793,000; bread and other
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bakery products (eighty-eight concerns), $1,598,000; cars and shop construction and repairs by steam rail- road companies (four concerns), $1,427,000; carriages and wagons and materials (eight concerns), $1,317,000; copper, tin, and sheet iron (thirty-seven concerns), $1,303,000; furniture and refrigerators (twenty-three concerns), $1,128,000.
From $500,000 to $1,000,000 :- electrical machinery, apparatus, and supplies (seven concerns), $932,000; patent medicines and compounds and druggists' prep- arations (fifty-one concerns), $540,000.
From $250,000 to $500,000 :- confectionery (twelve concerns), $411,000; slaughtering and meat packing (eleven concerns), $376,000; paint and varnish (five concerns), $252,000.
5. Dayton, fifth city. Population :- 1820, 1,000; 1830, 2,950; 1840, 6,067; 1850, 10,977; 1860, 20,081; 1870, 30,473 ; 1880, 38,678; 1890, 61,200; 1900, 85,333; 1910, 116,577.
The first industrial establishment in this city is said to have been the "tub mill" of William Hamer for grinding corn, the water being brought by a small race from the mouth of Mad River. It is supposed to have been erected before August, 1799, at which time D. C. Cooper started a distillery on his farm on Rubicon Creek. Mr. Cooper built a sawmill and tub mill in the same locality, and afterward began other milling enterprises in what became the town of Dayton. One of the mills of his construction, two miles from town, was purchased by the noted Colonel Robert Patterson and changed to a fulling mill. Colonel Patterson successfully operated the fulling mill, with
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a gristmill and two carding machines, until October, 1815, when the whole property was destroyed by fire. This was considered a great calamity, because of the severe loss to the proprietor and the destruction of a large quantity of cloth and wool belonging to his cus- tomers. The Patterson mills were promptly rebuilt, however.
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