USA > Ohio > Montgomery County > Dayton > History of the city of Dayton and Montgomery County, Ohio, Volume I > Part 70
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This new department has largely increased the volume of business and there is a rapidly growing demand for an auto-cycle such as the New Era.
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This company now have their model for 1910 on the market. It is a great improvement over their 1909 model, although the principle of their auto-cycle (that is the two speeds and the free motor) is the same precisely as on their 1909 model.
The New Era auto-cycle is the first successful machine ever placed on the market with a two speed and large free motor, and opens up a field for not only the auto-cycle alone, but for the auto-cycle with the side car attachment, with the two speed arrangement, doing away with pedaling. The motor is started by means of a crank, and runs while the auto-cycle stands still.
The officers of the company are: President, James Turpin; Vice-President, J. S. Crowell ; Secretary and Treasurer, A. M. Sullivan.
In November 1909, three companies took the place of the company above described .- The old New Era Company as before organized continuing in the manufacture of gas engines; the New Era Auto-Cycle Company capitalized at $300,000 ; and the Dayton Brass Casting Company engaged in the general business of producing brass and aluminum castings.
The officers of the second named company are: President, J. D. Platt, Sr .; Vice-President, Pierce Schenck; Treasurer, J. D. Platt, Jr .; Secretary, James Turpin ; the officers of the last named company are: President and Treasurer, J. D. Platt, Jr. ; Secretary and General Manager, T. F. McDonald.
THE DAYTON RUBBER MANUFACTURING COMPANY.
THE DAYTON RUBBER MANUFACTURING COMPANY was organized in 1905 for the manufacture of mechanical rubber goods. On account of its unassuming methods Dayton as well as outside territory heard very little of the company.
In February, 1908, the company was reorganized and since that time it has become known not only in Dayton but from one end of the country to the other.
This wonderful progress has been brought about because of its invention of the Dayton airless automobile tire.
Dayton has become famous because of its manufacture of articles that have in character been distinctly revolutionary. But few have caused such surprise as the Dayton airless tire. It was thought that no one could manufacture an auto- mobile tire to replace a pneumatic, but the Dayton Rubber Manufacturing Com- pany have done that. Present indications are that this will soon be one of Day- ton's largest manufacturing concerns.
The company is located in North Dayton, on North Kiser street. The of- ficers are: President, E. P. Hooven ; Vice-President, J. C. Hooven, Hamilton, Ohio ; Secretary-Treasurer, C. E. Hooven ; General Manager, J. A. MacMillan.
THE KRAMER BROTHERS' FOUNDRY COMPANY.
THE KRAMER BROTHERS' FOUNDRY COMPANY started in business in the sum- mer of 1893, during the panic, by purchasing six lots for twelve hundred dollars. They paid one hundred dollars down an 1 gave a mortgage for the balance.
Mr. George Kramer being a practical foundryman, and an all-around me-
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chanic, put up the building which was about 30x40 feet ; installed and set up the furnace and all machinery.
After getting the plant in running order, the late B. H. Kramer, Sr., made cores and ran the furnace. George and Henry Kramer did the moulding, and Joe Kramer did the office work and sold the output, traveling on a bicycle.
That was the start of the Kramer Brothers' Foundry Company. In 1897 and 1898, their entire plant was flooded, which was surely a serious handicap to a firm struggling for its very existence. However, they survived, and in 1904 the company was incorporated with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars.
They are manufacturers of hardware specialties and are among the largest in the United States for flower vases, settees, window boxes, cement tools, stove trucks, chimney caps and swing chimney tops. They are the only exclusive stove carrier manufacturers in the United States, and have one of the largest stove repair houses in the United States. They are also large manufacturers of sewer castings, grate bars, sash weights, gutter crossings, lamp posts, and an endless variety of casting work. They have their own pattern plant, and the entire plant will cover about two city blocks.
Their products are sold all over the United States and a part of Europe. They have numerous agents and several traveling men, always pushing business.
THE COMPUTING SCALE COMPANY.
This company was incorporated March 19, 1891. Its capital stock is one hundred and sixty thousand dollars. The officers are: President, S. M. Hast- ings ; Treasurer, Edward Canby ; Secretary and General Manager, O. O. Ozias. This company was one of the leaders of Dayton. On the 20th of October, 1909, the entire equipment and stock of the company occupying the large manufactur- ing building of the Schwind Realty Company, at the northwest corner of First and Foundry streets, were destroyed by fire. The decision and energy of the company in immediately resuming business and adopting enlarged plans for the future will make the calamity but an incident in the progress of the company.
The first business of this company was conducted in the manufacturing build- ing at the rear of the Callahan building on Main street, where earlier the National Cash Register plant was located and where now the Ohmer Fare Register Com- pany is located.
The products of the Dayton Computing Scale Company are the result of inventions and improvements made by those immediately connected with the company and of devices purchased from inventors elsewhere. They have become a necessity in every part of the commercial world. The progress of the company has been only a more marked example of the development of a large number of companies that have sprung up in the recent past.
THE AETNA PAPER COMPANY.
THE AETNA PAPER COMPANY was established in 1893 by W. W. White. The officers of the company are: President, H. H. Hoffman ; Secretary, Treasurer and Manager, H. M. Howard. The goods manufactured are writing paper and
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government envelope paper, the latter being supplied to the Mercantile Com- pany in Dayton, which has the contract for the manufacture of all of the stamped envelopes and wrappers in the United States. The number of employees is five hundred. The value of the finished product is one hundred thousand dollars. The value of physical property is seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The approximate floor space is sixty thousand square feet.
THE REYNOLD'S "AERTITE" CARTON COMPANY.
This company was established in 1903 by Louis G. Reynolds who is the presi- dent of the company. The secretary is W. L. Caten. L. D. Reynolds is treas- urer. The goods manufactured are folding paper boxes. Goods are sold in every state in the Union and in foreign countries. The business has had a very rapid growth necessitating the installing of new machinery to meet the growing de- mands.
THE MERCANTILE CORPORATION.
This company was incorporated in 1908. The officers are : President, Myron C. Taylor; Vice-President, Joseph F. Knapp; Secretary and Treasurer, C. B. Warner. The factory includes fifty-seven thousand four hundred square feet of floor space. The company manufactures all of the United States stamped envelopes and wrappers. Their average daily output is five million envelopes and two hundred thousand wrappers. At times the envelopes and wrappers together, manufactured daily amount to ten million. It is the largest factory of its kind in the world.
The factory is located at the southeast corner of Second and Front streets.
THE RICE ELECTRIC DISPLAY COMPANY.
This company was incorporated July 30, 1908, with a capital stock of five hundred thousand dollars. Elwood E. Rice is the president of the company. The directors are the following : Walter Worman, A. M. Kittredge, Frank T. Huff- man, Harvey G. Kittredge.
The first model constructed by the company, a chariot race, is located in Day- ton. The second model is in Detroit. The company is now fulfilling contracts for erecting similar displays in New York city. Though so recently formed the company's displays have attracted the widest attention and the highest admiration.
The executive offices are maintained in Dayton at 1001 and 1002 Conover building. Other offices are maintained in Detroit and New York.
THE SPEEDWELL MOTOR CAR COMPANY.
On April 12, 1907, the Speedwell Motor Car Company was incorporated. Mr. Pierce D. Schenck was elected president of the company. His efforts and those of Mr. G. J. Loomis are responsible for the sound foundation laid for the Speed- well product.
Mr. Loomis, an engineer of extended experience in motor car designing, designed the Speedwell with the object of producing a car of the very highest
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type. The 1907 output was only fifty cars. These cars were carefully watched, and in every case, gave eminent satisfaction.
In 1908, the Speedwell output was increased, and increased still more in 1909.
The 1910 output was trebled over that of 1909, and the Speedwell car now stands as a product with national recognition.
The factory has been enlarged from time to time and two large brick and cement structures of most modern construction, have just been completed. The factory now covers six acres, with every facility for producing motor cars of the finest type on a large scale.
The popularity of the Speedwell may be best shown by the fact that the entire 1910 output has already been disposed of. In fact, orders are pouring in daily and are being turned down. With present facilities, though large, there is a limit to the number of cars that can be built and built right.
For 1911, the factory will be still further enlarged and the output again increased. Mr. Harry Stoddard, well-known in manufacturing circles, is now secretary of the company and giving the management of the plant, his entire time and attention.
Edgmont, that section of Dayton in which the Speedwell factory is located, is fortunate in attracting the attention of several of Dayton's largest manufac- turing interests as an ideal location for a factory site.
THE DAYTON MOTOR CAR COMPANY.
In 1869 the partnership of John Dodds and Company, consisting of John Dodds and John W. Stoddard, was formed with a capital of thirty thousand dollars, to manufacture horse hay rakes. They commenced business on the present site of The Dayton Motor Car Company, in small frame shops, which were destroyed by fire in 1873, and were immediately rebuilt with brick on a larger scale. This firm continued in business six years. The business steadily grew and was prosperous.
In 1875 J. W. Stoddard purchased the interest of Mr. Dodds, and associated with him E. F. Stoddard and W. A. Scott and continued the business under the firm name of J. W. Stoddard and Company, with a paid up capital of sixty thou- sand dollars. The business continued to grow and prosper requiring almost every year an enlargement of the works.
As was stated, the business was originally started to manufacture horse hay rakes. It was afterwards found desirable and profitable to undertake the manu- facture of other lines of farm machinery, embracing the following: hay rakes, disc plows, disc harrows, corn planters, corn cultivators, corn drills, grain drills, broadcast seeders, hay tedders and transplanters.
In 1884 the business had reached such large proportions that it was deemed advisable to form a joint stock company and in November, 1884, The Stoddard Manufacturing Company, succeeded John W. Stoddard and Company, with a paid up capital stock of five hundred thousand dollars, and continued to do a large and prosperous business until 1903, when they commenced the manufacture of automobiles, which proved so successful, that it rapidly crowded out the farm
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DAYTON AND MONTGOMERY COUNTY
machinery line and it was determined to retire it altogether and make only automobiles.
In 1904 The Dayton Motor Car Co., was organized and they succeeded The Stoddard Manufacturing Company, purchasing their plant and more than doubling its capacity in buildings and machinery. Its capital stock is five hundred thousand dollars. The officers are: President, John W. Stoddard; Vice-President and General Manager, C. G. Stoddard; Secretary and Treasurer, John F. Campbell; Factory Manager and Chief Engineer, H. J. Edwards.
Its annual output is about four million dollars.
THE LORENZ PUBLISHING COMPANY.
This company does a large business in a field developed by itself, in the publication of sacred music for churches and Sunday-schools. E. S. Lorenz is president and general manager, and Karl Lorenz is secretary-treasurer. The company began business in 1890 and was regularly incorporated in 1901.
THE WRIGHT AEROPLANE COMPANY.
This company was formed in November 1909, with one million dollars capital, for the manufacture of aeroplanes. New York and Detroit capitalists are inter- ested in the company. The officers are: President, Wilbur Wright; Vice-Presi- dent, Orville Wright; Secretary and Treasurer, Clinton R. Peterkin. At first a temporary location will be used at Dayton, where it is expected a large permanent plant will be established.
THE COURIER CAR COMPANY.
This company for the manufacture of automobiles was incorporated June 2, 1909, with a capital stock of two hundred thousand dollars. The officers are: President, Charles G. Stoddard; Vice-President, H. J. Edwards; Secretary and Treasurer, R. S. Fowler. The company is manufacturing automobiles at prices within reach of the ordinary purse. The company occupies the building made vacant by the Kinsey Manufacturing Company, at the corner of Wayne avenue and State street.
As a partial reparation for the many manufacturing establishments unnoticed in the foregoing sketches the following summaries may be given :
MANUFACTURING AND MECHANICAL TRADES.
Nearly three thousand firms, individuals, and corporations are engaged in manufacturing and mechanical trades in Dayton. The appended table indicates the number of concerns represented in the various lines :
Automobiles, bicycles, locksmiths and gunsmiths
44
Bakers and confectioners I22
Beer, bottling, mineral waters, ice. 33
Blacksmithing and wheelwrighting 53
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DAYTON AND MONTGOMERY COUNTY
Boots and shoes, manufacturing and repairing 88 Boxes, barrels, paper, twine, bags I3
Bricks, granite, tile, marble, stone, glass 59
Carpentering, contractors, builders, plastering 5.56 Carriages, wagons, carts, street-cars, etc.
Clothing (men's), merchant tailors, shirts. 85
Clothing (women's), dressmakers, millinery
391
Dairy products, pickles, vinegar
49
Dyeing and cleaning
59
Drugs, medicines, perfumery, florists I25
Electrical, typewriters, wire-makers
53
Fertilizers, chemical, cement, lime, grease, tallow, roofing 34
Flour, corn meal, yeast powders, flavorings, bluing
I8
Foundry, machine shops, agricultural implements. 97
Furniture, mattresses, upholstery, picture frames, awnings, cabinet-makers .. 46 Jewelers, hair work, photography, decorators IOI Lumber, sash, doors, blinds 19
Packers, curers, butchers 3I
Painters, varnish, paper hangings
262
Plumbing, gas, steam fitting, tin, coppersmiths, sheet iron. II5.
Printing and publishing, book and job, bookbinding, blank books, lithography, engraving
69
Saddlery, harness, hides, leather 28 Tobacco, cigars, and cigarets I26
Wooden ware, willow ware, trunks, brooms, brushes.
19
Cash register, car register, sewing machines, etc. I8
Engines (gas and steam), boilers, motors 27
Gas, electricity 5
IO
Heaters, stoves 8
8
WORLD LEADERS. 2,827
The following concerns, all of which are located in Dayton, are the largest of their kind in the world :
Autographic Registers.
The Egry Register Company
Automatic Indicating, Recording, and Printing Car Registers.
Ohmer Fare Register Co.
'Automatic Toys
The D. P. Clark, Toy Co.
Bookbinders' Machinery The Seybold Machine Co.
Building and Loan Association The Mutual Home and Savings Ass'n
Cash Registers. The National Cash Register Co.
Clay Working Machinery The C. W. Raymond Co.
Collections.
The International Law and Collection Co.
Computing Scales
The Computing Scale Co.
Paper, envelopes, carbons
Miscellaneous
53
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Cast Iron Vases and Cement Tools The Kramer Bros. Foundry Co.
Filters The Pasteur-Chamberland Filter Co.
Fine-Cut Tobacco-Cutting Machinery The Buckeye Iron and Brass Works
Hoisting Jacks The Joyce-Cridland Co.
Railway Cars. The Barney & Smith Car Co.
Sewing Machines The Davis Sewing Machine Co. Shoe Lasts and Golf Clubs The Crawford, McGregor & Canby Co.
U. S. Stamped Envelopes The Mercantile Corporation
U. S. Stamped Envelope Paper The Aetna Paper Co.
To the above list might be added the Dayton Malleable Iron Works as a leader, if value of output because of the number of smaller castings produced should be taken into account ; and the Rice Electric Display Company.
Two hundred and seventy-eight Dayton manufactories reporting to the State Bureau of Labor Statistics for the year 1907 reported an output valued at fifty- six million and seventy-six thousand six hundred and forty-three dollars and fifty- four cents, and wages paid to the amount of twelve million eighty-six thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine dollars and eighty cents.
It is claimed that the total amount of money invested in manufacturing in Dayton is nearly one hundred and thirty million dollars.
INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATIONS.
In Dayton the relations of capital and labor have generally been friendly. And why should they not be? Wealth has been defined to be "stored up energy." Labor should not overlook the end to be reached and capital should not forget the source from which it has come.
The first labor organization in Dayton was an organization of mechanics March 15, 1813, at McCullum's tavern. Later there was an organization of "house carpenters and joiners" which in 1830 published its constitution in a pamphlet. In the same pamphlet prices were given for every kind of work down to the minutest detail.
In 1833 the Mechanics Institute was organized, the object of which was de- scribed to be "moral, literary and scientific improvement." A library and reading rooms were connected with it and for many years a course of lectures was given each winter. With some interruptions the organization continued for a number of years.
With the coming in of the era of labor unions, such organizations began to be formed in Dayton. At the present time there are in the different trades more than fifty unions. The United Trades and Labor Council is a general organiza- tion representing the local unions.
Dayton has been and still is a center for associations of employers. The Dayton Employers Association was formed in 1900 two years before the forma- tion of any similar organization in other cities of the country. John Kirby, Jr., was the president of the association. The Citizens' Industrial Association of America was formed in 1905, from Dayton, as a center. This is the organization of employers corresponding to the Federation of Labor as representing employees. At the time of the organization D. M. Parry was president and A. C. Marshall, of
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Dayton, was secretary. C. W. Post is the present president, and James A. Emery is the present secretary.
John Kirby, Jr., of Dayton, is the present president of the National Manufac- turers' Association, following in that office D. M. Parry and James W. Van Cleve.
Probably there is not another city in the country in which there is a larger proportion of highly skilled laborers or in which the labor conditions are more favorable, both from the standpoint of the laborer and the employer than they are in Dayton.
PART THIRD
MONTGOMERY COUNTY
CHAPTER I.
GEOLOGY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
BY AUGUST F. FOERSTE.
GEOLOGY-SOIL.
GEOLOGY. The hills are not everlasting. Every heavy rain carries soil from the hills into the streams. The creeks and rivers become yellow, and, where they spread beyond their banks, a layer of mud is left on the fields. After the streams retreat, a film of mud covers all the leaves and trunks of trees as far up as the greatest height reached by the flooded waters. Sometimes several inches of mud accumulate on the floors of inundated houses in the low lands, and mud spreads over the walls and furniture. However small the quantity of soil removed from the hills during any one rain may be, the final effect of continued removal during thousands of years is stupendous. It suggests that verse in the bible : "Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low."
All the mud does not remain in the valleys. A part of it is carried by the rivers as far as the sea, where it spreads out and covers the sea bottom for many miles. It is estimated that the Mississippi river carries into the Gulf of Mexico every year so much mud that, if all of this mud were deposited evenly on one square mile of sea bottom, it would cover this to a depth of two hundred and sixty-eight feet. But, as a matter of fact, the mud brought by the Mississippi river, and numerous other streams, into the sea is not deposited at one spot but is distributed as a thin film over thousands of square miles of sea bottom. Here the mud settles on dead sea shells, and the bones remaining from decaying fish, and other animals. Slowly the deposition of mud continues, covering and engulfing whatever inert, solid material remains behind on the sea bottom, until locally considerable thicknesses of mud accumulate. This accumulation continually settles and becomes cemented together, so that in the course of time it changes into rock. The less readily decaying remains of animals found imbedded in this rock now are known as fossils.
Even the solid land does not remain at rest. The buried forests found be- low the level of the sea, from New Jersey, along the Atlantic coast, southward toward Florida, suggest that the land here has been subsiding. It is estimated
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DAYTON AND MONTGOMERY COUNTY
that the coast of New Jersey is subsiding at a rate of two feet per century. On the other hand, in other parts of the world, sea beaches are found far above sea level, indicating elevation of the land. While depressed, these lands receive sea deposits. When again elevated, these deposits are exposed to view.
The question arises : Has Ohio ever been below sea level, and do the rocks of this state contain any evidences of sea life?
It is not necessary to leave the boundaries of Montgomery county to obtain evidences bearing upon this question. The remains of hundreds of species of animals have been found in the rocks of this county, and all of these fossils are the remains of sea animals. Not a single fossil of a land animal or plant has been found in the rocks of Montgomery county ; not even any fresh water animals and plants, only sea life.
This fossil sea life is peculiar. No remains of fish are found, nor traces of birds, or four footed animals which might have lived and died along the coast. and then have been swept out into the sea. Only various kinds of sea shells, corals. and other low forms of sea life are found. This indicates that the period during which the rocks now exposed in Montgomery county were deposited belongs to the very remote past, before fish, snakes, turtles, birds and four-footed animals had been created.
The central and eastern parts of Ohio remained below sea level long after the southwestern part of the state became dry land. At Sandusky, Columbus, and Delaware, the remains of numerous varieties of marine fish have been found, some of which were very peculiar, being of large size and possessing a protective covering of hard, bony plates. Further eastward, in rocks deposited at a later age, the remains of sharks, some of them of large size, have been found. Near the Pennsylvania boundary, rocks of still later origin include numerous remains of batrachians. These batrachians are of interest chiefly because they are the earliest air-breathing animals known to have lived within the present boundaries of our state. Like the salamanders and newts still found in our forests and streams, they began their existence as water-animals, their young living entirely in the water ; but in later life they lived more or less upon the land, especially in moist places.
Only a single reptile, resembling a lizard in form, has been found in the rocks of our state. This is the highest form of life known from the rocks of Ohio, and was found among the latest rocks. At a later age, reptiles of many kinds became numerous in North America, but by this time all of Ohio was above sea level and no rocks including these later remains were deposited within the boundaries of our state.
No birds or four footed animals covered with hair or fur have been found in the rocks of Ohio. These are among the latest created types of animals known on our globe and were not yet in existence when the rocks now found in Ohio were deposited.
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