USA > Ohio > Franklin County > Columbus > History of the city of Columbus, Ohio, from the founding of Franklinton in 1797, through the World War period to the year 1920 > Part 38
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The Brown, Hinman & Huntington Co. dates back to the early 1850's when it was known as Hall, Brown & Co., later as Brown, Hinman & Co. In 1885 the company was incor- porated, capital $200,000, for the manufacture of agricultural hand implements.
On December 29, 1866, the Columbus Rolling Mill Co. was incorporated by J. F. Bartlit, R. E. Neil, Theodore Comstock, P. W. Huntington and Wm. Dennison, with a capital stock of $400,000. The mill began operation in 1872. B. S. Brown, H. A. Lanman and Samuel Thomas were interested in it and made a success of it while the railroads were using iron rails. When the change was made to steel and the raw material could not be readily ob- tained, the business languished and was finally discontinued, about 1884.
The M. C. Lilley & Co., manufacturers of regalia, dates back to 1865. The business sprang in a small way from the publication of the Odd Fellows Companion and the request from subscribers for manufactured regalia. When some of these patrons had been supplied by the publishers it appeared that there was an opportunity for a successful manufacturing business. So a company was formed by Captain M. C. Lilley, John Siebert, Charles H. Lindenberg and Henry Lindenberg, and the business has been so successfully conducted that the manufactory has long been one of the largest of its kind in the country. The factory, which began in the homes of the partners later occupied a building at Gay and Front and then was moved to an imposing structure on East Long street erected for the purpose. Henry Lindenberg died in the early stage of the business, but John Siebert, Charles H. Linden- berg, Philip Lindenberg, with Carl R. Lindenberg, Robert Lindenberg and others, carried on the great business.
According to the report of the Board of Trade for 1888, when the population was approx- imately 88,000, the manufacturing establishments large and small numbered 915, employing 14,804 persons with a payroll of $6.368,392. The amount of capital invested was $11,310,277, and the value of the annual product was $26,075,215. Columbus had already begun to loom up as a manufacturing center. It was a natural result of the city's central location in the State, its position near the center of the nation's manufacturing area, its nearness to neces- sary raw materials such as iron, limestone and coal, its excellent transportation facilities, and its nearness to the great markets for manufactured products. The discovery of natural gas and its use, through the enterprise of Columbus men, as fuel and the development of electricity as a motive power, as elsewhere narrated, gave a new impetus to industrial en- terprises which have grown in individual magnitude and in variety until, according to a recent Chamber of Commerce report, of the forty-three leading industries in the United States, Columbus lacks representation in but eight, and the output of the factories just out- side of the city limits, to say nothing of the output of those within, exceeds in value the total output of the factories thirty years ago. The total product for 1918 is estimated in excess of $100,000,000.
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HISTORY OF COLUMBUS, OHIO
For nearly a century now the manufacture of implements and useful articles of iron has been prosecuted in Columbus. The pioneers were the Ridgways, Peter Hayden and John L. Gill. Following these has come a long line of manufacturers of iron and steel products, whose efforts have given the eity a large group of labor-employing factories such as the Jeffrey Manufacturing Co., the Kilbourne-Jacobs Manufacturing Co., the Ralston Steel Car Co., the Buckeye Steel Castings Co., the Carnegie Steel Co., the Hayden-Corbett Chain Co., the Bonney-Floyd Co., the Columbus Malleable Iron Co., the American Chain Co., the American Rolling Mill Co., the Columbus-Mckinnon Chain Co., the Union Fork & Hoe Co., the Kinnear & Gager Manufacturing Co., the Ohio Malleable Iron Co., the U. S. Cast Iron Pipe and Foundry Co., the Borger Brothers' Boiler Works, the Case Crane and Engineering Co., the Ohio Elevator and Machine Co., the Columbus Bolt Works, James Ohlen & Sons, saw manu- facturers.
With the passage of years and the shifting of manufacturing possibilities and human desires, the iron and steel product changed to include with agricultural implements, wood- working machinery, stoves, and boilers, such articles as machines for mining coal, chains, steel ceilings, anvils, bolts, metal burial easkets and vaults, steel cars, structural steel, drop forg- ings, railway car couplers, etc.
With the outbreak of the war with Germany in 1917, most of these iron and steel factories were promptly mobilized for the national defense. Anehor chains for battleships and a great variety of chains for the Fleet Corporation were manufactured; anvils were produced for the use of the artillery of America and France; there was a great output of structural steel for the Fleet Corporation, and bolts, which had been made for the manufacturing of peace, were now turned out in large quantities for factories and shipyards. Steel cars were also manu- factured under contract with the United States Railroad Administration.
In the quarrying and preparation of stone for building purposes, Wm. H. Fish was the pioneer, the coneern which he established being now enlarged and known as the Fish Stone Co. A similar business has long been carried on by Fred Wittenmeier. In recent years arti- ficial stone for sidewalks and cement blocks for building purposes has come into popularity and a number of concerns have been engaged in producing them.
Ohio is the leading state in clay and elay products. This industry was promoted by the studies of Dr. Edward Orton, State Geologist, in clay deposits and his work and that of his son, Dr. Edward Orton, jr., of the department of ceramics, Ohio State University. Due largely to this influence, the old-fashioned brick yards producing the early crude bricks have given place to the briek-making plants in which highly specialized machinery turn out wire-cut and face bricks of great variety of shades and texture. Columbus concerns also early turned their energy to the production of fireproof partition walls and flue linings. The sewer pipe and drain tile industry has also flourished. Among the Columbus companies in this business are the Hoeking Valley Products Co., the Ironclay Brick Co., the Hallwood Briek and Tile Co., the Clayeraft Brick Co., and the Nelsonville Brick Co.
The lumber industry has been prominent in the industrial life of Columbus since the middle of the last century. Among the pioneers were A. Carlisle, Hershiser & Adams, the Hildreth & Martin Lumber Co., Slade & Kelton, the Door, Sash & Lumber Co., all of whom dealt in lumber and mill work. Later came Tom Dundon, M. J. Bergin, E. Doddington, J. J. Snider and J. H. Zinn, the Powell Lumber and Construction Co., the Central Avenue Lumber Co., and others. The last-named company is to be credited with the introduction of ready-made garages, cottages and factory buildings. The Wm. M. Ritter Lumber Co. main- tains manufacturing plants in various states and does a large wholesale business, much of its product being exported to other countries.
The shoe industry in Columbus, begun in 1819, was revitalized when H. C. Godman began in 1880 the manufacture of high class shoes. The enterprise was entered upon with some misgivings because of the general impression that good shoes could not be manufactured west of Lynn, Mass., but there was such a success that the business rapidly developed and a sub- stantial company was soon organized. The years have brought to this concern increasing success and it is now one of the greatest shoe manufacturing concerns in the West. Other shoe manufacturing companies were soon organized and are now operating as follows: The Wolfe Brothers Shoe Co., the Riley Shoe Co., the Kropp Shoe Co., the G. Edwin Smith Shoe Co., the Fenton Shoe Co., the Bradford Shoe Co., and the C. & E. Shoe Co. These concerns have made a name for Columbus as a shoe manufacturing center by reason of their readiness
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to adopt in their work the latest improved machinery and in every way to meet the demands of the trade.
Columbus is also a recognized glass center both in the number of plants and variety of output. Glass food containers of all kinds and fruit jars are manufactured in large quantities, and there is a considerable production of window glass, portrait glass, optical lenses, microscopic glass and many varieties of laboratory glass, glass for automobile lamps and goggles, cathedral glass. Among the manufacturers are the Buckeye Window Glass Co., the Federal Glass Co., the Winslow Glass Co., W. R. Jones & Co., the Von Gerichten Art Glass Co., and the Superior Glass Products Co.
Following the quarrying by the State of Ohio on the bank of the river for stone for the present Capitol, there grew up a stone industry which within the last few years has assumed large proportions. S. Casparis was the first to have the vision of a great industry and to make contracts with the railroads for stone for the roadbed. The growth of the steel business made further demand for limestone to be used as flux in the operation of blast fur- naces and for concrete work. Good roads also made a large demand for crushed stone. Later came the Marble Cliff Quarries Co., which has engaged in practically the same line of production.
The manufacture of horse-drawn vehicles, which was begun in 1828, continued for many years to be a growing industry, being represented, besides those already mentioned, by E. and H. F. Booth, M. and E. K. Hayes. The industry was maintained until 1919, its chief representatives being the U. S. Carriage Co., the Keystone Vehicle Co., the Poste Brothers' Buggy Co., and the Ohio Carriage Manufacturing Co. John Immel was a pioneer wagon builder, and the business which he established is continued by the John Immel & Sons Co. Other concerns followed along this line and later turned their attention to the construction of bodies for motor trucks. Fire apparatus has for years been manufactured by the Seagrave Co., which has sold its motorized hose wagons and engines in many cities, including New York City.
In 1919 the Allen Motor Co. moved from Fostoria to Columbus and began the manu- facture of automobiles in the plant formerly occupied by the Columbus Buggy Co. on Dublin avenue. The company which has been in existence for five years, in the war years 1917-18 turned out 7,150 cars and expected in its first year of operation in Columbus to produce 5.000 cars. Its authorized capital was $3,000,000, some of which was subscribed in Columbus.
Other concerns manufacturing automobiles, tires or parts are the Monitor Motor Car Co., which, after a five-years existence, is quadrupling its product in the factory at Fifth avenue and the Big Four tracks; the C. A. S. Products Co., Second avenue, manufacturing steering gears : the Henderson Tire & Rubber Co., and the Columbus Tire & Rubber Co., on West Goodale street, and the Timken Roller Bearing Co., which at this writing is constructing large buildings at Fifth and Cleveland avenues. These manufacturing concerns promise to make Columbus to the automobile business what it was so long with respect to the carriage industry.
The Capital City Dairy Co. has for many years carried on an extensive business in the manufacture of oleomargarine. An effort to evade the government tax on its product resulted in prosecutions which interrupted the business for a time, but there has now been a reorgani- zation and in 1918 the manufacture was again successfully under way, the number of em- ployes then numbering 175.
The flour and grist mill industry is represented by several companies, the largest of which is the Gwinn Milling Co .. East Main street, employing 33 persons and producing a flour well known on the markets. The Krumm Milling Co. has a plant east of the city at the T. & O. C. tracks. The Capitol Milling Co., employing 16 persons, is located on West Mound street.
The brewing of beer was from about 1830 to 1919, when prohibiton became effective, an important industry. Louis Hoster established his brewery on South Front street in 1836. Conrad Born, sr., entered the business on his own account in 1859. These breweries were operated by the founders or their descendants with great financial success until the last, and large fortunes resulted which were invested in Columbus buildings and banking institutions. Columbus had eight breweries when the law went into effect, and some of them turned at once to the manufacture of soft drinks and carbonated beverages, a business in which Peter Schille was, long before, the pioneer.
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Columbus was for a time the headquarters of the John Wildi Evaporated Milk Co., now moved to New York as a part of the Nestle's Co., an international coneern.
The Hallwood cash register was manufactured here for a time and much Columbus money had been invested in it when, in competition with the National Cash Register Co. of Dayton, the company collapsed.
L. B. Davies, a machinist with a shop on West Broad street, late in the 1850's invented the cowcatcher for locomotives, but realized little or nothing from that useful attaelment.
Some of the many industries that have come up from small beginnings and the men who were early identified with them are as follows: Paper boxes, the Frankenberg Brothers; brooms, E. B. Gager and E. D. Howard; tinware, E. B. Armstrong; jewelry manufacturers, D. L. Auld; iron fences, M. Krumm; mantels and grates, Wm. M. Taylor; soap, Thomas Ross & Brother; theatrical seenery, M. Armbruster; theatrical costumes, Karl Kampmann; wholesale paper, O. A. Miller; window shades, Schroth & Potter; dies and stencils, L. B. Cherington; crackers and cakes, S. P. Elliott and Jaeob Felber; trunks, John R. Hughes ; butchers' edge tools, Philip Kinnel; piano stools, Henry Holtzman; pianos, the Lindenberg Co .; automobile lamps, John W. Brown; harness, Wm. Burdell; stareh, Julius J. Wood; coffee and spiees, Andrus & Scofield ; screens, A. L. Yardley. Some of these fathers of business are still living; their associates and successors are far too numerous to be mentioned here.
The Ohio Industrial Commission which by law receives information from all industrial establishments employing five or more persons reported in 1918, in Franklin county, 1,557 such establishments paying to wage-earners $37,802,813; to bookkeepers, stenographers and clerks $6,611,126; to salespeople not traveling, $2,788,318; to superintendents and managers, $3,675,059-a total of wages and salaries of $50,877,616. The industrial establishments re- porting in 1917 numbered 1331, with a total wage and salary payment of $10,815,456. The increase in payments, largely due to the war, was $10,062,190, of which $941,944 went to superintendents and managers, and $9,120,246 went to wage-earners, bookkeepers, stenog- raphers, clerks and salespeople.
A report for 1917 shows in the 1,331 industrial establishments there were 38,250 male wage-earners, approximately one-half of whom received a weekly wage of $18 or more, and 8,331 female wage-earners, of whom only 165 received as much as $18 a week; three-fourths of them were classified in wage groups beginning with $6 and ending with $12. There was in 1918 a great increase in the number of wage-earners and workers of small salary, as well as a notable inerease in wages.
CHAPTER XXVIII. THE RAILROADS.
Colonel Kilbourne's Vision of 1825-Many Paper Companies Early Incorporated-Construc- tion of the Columbus & Xenia Railroad in 1847-50-First Station-Road to Cleveland Completed in 1851-The Central Ohio and the Columbus, Piqua & Indiana in 1854- The Hocking I'alley and Its Troubles-The C., A. & C., the Cincinnati Midland, the Columbus & Toledo, the Columbus, Shawnee & Hocking and Other Roads-Favorable Situation of the City for Transportation and Travel-The Union Depot Company.
By Clarence Metters.
Even while canals were being built, railroads were in prospect, and there were far- sighted men here, among them Colonel James Kilbourne, sr., who had a vision of lines of rail- road, usable as well in winter as in summer. Colonel Kilbourne went so far as to suggest the location of desirable lines of railroad across the State and as early as 1825, in a pub- lished pamphlet, advocated a system of railroads instead of a system of canals. With a view to future possibilities many companies were incorporated for the construction of lines out of Columbus. The first of these was in 1832 for a Columbus, Marion and Sandusky rail- road-first by Lincoln Goodale, Gustavus Swan, Joseph Ridgway, Daniel Upson and Aurora Buttles, and later by William A. Neil, A. Chittenden, Orange Johnson, Daniel Kellogg, Charles Stanbery and William A. Platt. Another company for a road north to Milan was incorporated by James Robinson, John Bishop and A. V. Payne; and still another to be called the Columbus, Delaware, Marion and Upper Sandusky, was projected that year by William Neil, Joseph Ridgway, J. N. Champion, Lyne Starling, Wray Thomas, Robert Brotherton and Moses H. Kirby.
In 1836 Gustavus Swan and W. S. Sullivant associated themselves with men of other counties and secured a charter for a Columbus, London & Springfield railroad; and in the same year John MeElvain and men of other counties projected a Columbus & Marysville rail- road. A Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati railroad was incorporated in 1836; also an Urbana & Columbus railroad, and a Muskingum & Columbus railroad. In 1845 a Franklin & Ohio River railroad was proposed by W. S. Sullivant, Lincoln Goodale, Samuel Medary, Samuel Parsons, Leander Ransom and Orange Johnson. In 1846 there was another Colum- bus & Springfield Railroad Co., in which Michael Sullivant and Wray Thomas were the Columbus men interested. In 1847 came the Central Ohio Railroad Co., organized to build a road east to the Ohio river. Robert Neil, Samnel Medary, Joel Bottles, Joseph Ridgway and Bela Latham, of Franklin county, were interested in this, as were men of Licking and Muskingum counties. Then in 1849 came the incorporation by Joseph Ridgway, Joseph Sullivant and others of the Columbus, Piqua & Indiana Railroad Co.
These proceedings are interesting because .they show the purpose of Columbus men to get into the business of railroad construction as soon as possible, or at least a determination that no outsider should come in and seize the opportunity without paying for it. The plans and the charters looked like good investments; and such, indeed, some of them were.
The first railroad actually built into Columbus was the Columbus & Xenia. The com- pany was incorporated in 1844 by Joseph Ridgway, Samuel Medary and William Dennison of Franklin county and others from the counties through which the road was to run. When the Little Miami road had been completed from Cincinnati to Xenia, there was a great effort in Columbus to secure enough subscriptions to bring to road on to Columbus. When the sub- scriptions amounted to $200,000 the stockholders met and eleeted as directors: William Neil, Joseph Ridgway, sr., Joseph Ridgway, jr., W. S. Sullivant, D. W. Deshler, Samuel Medary, Charles H. Wing, A. F. Perry, Joshua Martin, R. E. Neil, Orange Johnson and William Dennison. William Neil was elected president; Joseph Ridgway, jr., secretary; D. W. Deshler, treasurer. Sylvester Medbery was appointed engineer and completed the survey in 1845. In 1847, under an act of the General Assembly passed in 1846, the people of Columbus voted-828 to 214-to authorize a subscription for $50,000 of the stock. Franklin county under the same act, subscribed for $50,000, and the eity and county were each given repre-
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sentation on the board. When there seemed to be doubt of success even with this help, the Little Miami Railroad Co. offered to build a Greene county branch and gave assurance of a return of 6% on the investment. The struggle to get the money was followed by a con- troversy as to the location of the station, each section of the city wanting the benefit, and this was finally settled by the choice of a site- that of the present Union Station-then at the extreme north end of High street. The rails for the road were bought in England and cost three cents a pound delivered here, the transportation charge being more than the origi- nal cost of the rails. A locomotive was shipped from Cincinnati by river and canal to assist in the track-laying. Alfred Kelley succeeded William Ncil as president of the road in 1847, and had direct charge of the construction during the next two years, completing the work early in 1850 at a cost for road and equipment of $1,403,145.99. On February 22, an ex- perimental trip was taken over the road to Xenia, 54 miles, on open platform cars, in three hours and five minutes. On March 2 following, the State officers and members of the Gen- eral Assembly took a trip over the line to Cincinnati and back. A station at Franklinton was first used, but in December, 1850, the High street station was ready and the first train entered it on the 14th. In 1853, a brick building for the offices of the company was erected on the west side of High street south of the tracks, where it still stands. In the same year, by a partnership contract, the Little Miami and the Columbus & Xenia roads were operated as a unit and so continued until 1869, when the C. & X. was perpetually leased to the Little Miami Co., which in turn, the following year, perpetually leased the entire line to the P., C. & St. L. Railroad Co., now one of the Pennsylvania Lines.
In 1845, men representing the several charters for a road to the northi met and decided to build a road under the charter to the Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati Railroad Co., which was revived for the purpose. The Franklin county representatives in this company were Lyne Starling, William Neil and John A. Bryan. Alfred Kelley was elected president and began the work of construction in 1848. Rails were bought in England, as for the Columbus & Xenia, and the last one was laid February 18, 1851. A train was waiting to come in from the north, at once came into the station and returned to Cleveland. On the 21st, the State officers and members of the General Assembly celebrated the achievement by taking a trip over the road to Cleveland and return. After completing the road Alfred Kelley resigned as president and was succeeded by Henry B. Payne. This road was a success from the very beginning; the next year a dividend of 7% was declared, and the Franklin County Com- missioners, who had bought $50,000 worth of the stock, sold it at a profit of $15,000. Two dividends were paid every year till 1868, when the road was consolidated with the Indian- apolis road as the C., C., C. & I., now Big Four.
A railroad east to Zanesville and the river-the Central Ohio-and a railroad west to Piqua and the Indiana line-the Columbus, Piqua & Indiana-were built almost contem- poraneously, from 1852 to 1854. There was an effort to secure city and county subscriptions to the former in 1850, but by that time the sentiment had turned against such participation and the people by a vote of 5 to 1 negatived the proposition. However, the private sub- scriptions were numerons, and by April, 1852, the road was under contract. R. W. McCoy, Robert Neil and William Dennison were the Columbus representatives on the board of directors. By January, 1853, the road was complete to Zanesville and the first train de- livered passengers here on the 20th. The building of the bridge over Big Walnut was a great job, interfered with by an attack of cholera which caused the death of more than 50 workmen. State officers and members of the General Assembly took a trip to Zanesville and return February 1, 1853. By June, 1854, the road was completed to Cambridge, and D. S. Gray was appointed Columbus agent. In October of that year, regular through trains began running in connection with through trains over the Baltimore & Ohio to the river. The Central Ohio had cost $6,200,000 and in 1855 fell into financial difficulties from which it never entirely escaped. H. J. Jewett was president and later receiver until the road was leased to the Baltimore & Ohio. Subsequent changes, which cannot here be enumerated, have resulted in the present arrangement of a double track over the original right of way from Columbus to Newark, operated jointly by the Baltimore & Ohio and the Pennsylvania Railroad Companies.
Track-laying on the Columbus, Piqua & Indiana line began at Columbus, November 20, 1852, and was completed as far as Pleasant Valley by the following Junc. The first passen- ger train was run from Columbus to Piqua October 16, 1851, and the first over the entire line,
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April 19, 1859. The road and its franchises were sold in 1863 for $500,000, over a million dollars of its original stock being sunk. That year B. E. Smith became president and later the road became a part of the Pennsylvania system.
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