USA > Ohio > Sketches and statistics of Cincinnati in 1859 > Part 25
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I. C. Baum, Plum street, below the Mohawk bridge, over the Miami canal, makes prussian blue and prussiate of potash, works fifteen hands, employs hydraulic power, and uses cracklings mainly as his raw material. This is the only establishment in the United States, if not in the world, in which machinery is applied to this manufacture. Produces sixty thousand lbs. prussiate of potash ; value, twenty-five thousand dollars.
Proctor & Gamble have recently commenced the manufacturing of glycerine, and expect to make two hundred and fifty lbs. per day.
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F. W. Meyer & Co., at their Buckeye lard oil works, No. 15 Buckeye street, also make glycerine to the extent already of one hundred and twenty-four lbs. per day, a quantity they expect soon greatly to increase. These glycerines are made under the agency of J. F. Wisnewski, a practical and thoroughly educated chemist, who produces a purer article than can be obtained in any of the foreign markets. The London glycerine is made from palm oil, ours from lard, which is a better material in the degree of strength that the animal surpasses the vegetable basis. In a few years Cin- cinnati will become the great centre of production of glycerine for foreign as well as domestic markets.
Win. J. M Gordon & Brother, chemists and druggists, north- east corner Western Row and Eighth streets, who have been for several years past supplying of their own manufacture various rare and new chemical and pharmaceutical preparations of a quality and purity which has won the confidence of professional men, have been compelled by the enlarging character of this branch of their business, to erect a laboratory by which they might be enabled to carry it on to increased advantage, and successfully compete with eastern and foreign establishments. Here are manufactured chem ical and pharmaceutical preparations of all kinds, reliable for pu- rity as well as accuracy in their components for medical or other uses ; also, photographic and analytical chemicals, extracts and other concentrated principles of vegetable substances. For the purpose of manufacturing to the best advantage, and obtaining re- liable products, they have fitted up vacuum pans for the concen- tration of their vegetable preparations.
It is obvious that advantages for carrying on these operations exist in Cincinnati that can be found at no point eastward, or in any foreign market, owing to the fact that alcohol and the native vegetable substances are nowhere to be procured as cheaply as here. They anticipate supplying chemical and pharmaceutical preparations, from syrups, ointments and plasters, to the finest veg- etable alkaloid and the rarest chemical compounds. With its local advantages, their manufactory will doubtless be, in a few years, onc of the most extensive in the country.
W. J. M. Gordon, the senior of the firm, has been for twenty years past engaged in the study and pursuits of chemistry and pharmacy, and brings to the business a large share of experience,
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as well as a naturally sound judgment, which has inspired past, and will inspire future confidence in a high degree.
Cloaks, Mantillas, etc .- There are five establishments which manufacture largely of these articles. They employ two hundred and forty girls, working nine months of the year, for spring and fall sales, and produce a value of two hundred and eighty thou- sand dollars. The smaller factories in this line will swell this amount to four hundred and fifty thousand dollars ; raw material, 50 per cent.
Clothing Manufactories .- This is the largest business carried on in Cincinnati, comprehending, as it does, forty-eight wholesale, and eighty-six retail establishments. It gives employment to seven thousand and eighty seamstresses, who use ten hundred and six- teen sewing machines, besides seven thousand five hundred more, who sew by hand. Every year, by increasing the use of sewing machines, will lessen the proportion of hand sewing, and add to that by the machine. Value of product, fifteen millions dollars. Six of the heaviest of these shops, or stores, alone make up four millions in value of clothing ; raw material, 60 per cent. Cincin- nati is the largest market for ready made clothing in the country, east or west.
Coffee Roasting and Grinding, Spice Mills, etc .- Two estab- lishments in this line. Harrison & Wilson, successors to Harrison & Eaton, Nos. 99 and 101 Walnut street, and Geo. R. Dixon & Co., Nos. 243 and 245 Sycamore. The first named is the longest established house, but there is no great difference in the character, and amount of business done in these factories. They roast and grind coffee for the grocery trade, and grind mustard, pepper, all- spice, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, etc. Make baking powders, and roast peanuts, all on an extensive scale. Employ forty-five hands, and produce a value of two hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars.
Cooper Ware .- There are one hundred and thirty shops, with seventeen hundred and fifty-six work hands. Value of produc- tion, one million five hundred and ten thousand dollars ; raw ma- terial, 30 per cent. A large share of this enlargement of cooper business during the past eight years has been furnished by the in- crease in breweries and of lager beer, which, besides requiring large numbers of casks in its sales, demands an extensive stock of vessels in which it is kept to ripen after being made. Of this last
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class of casks, the Cincinnati brewers are obliged to keep a stock on hand of more than six hundred thousand dollars in value.
In barrels and hogsheads for pork and bacon packers, one estab- lishment alone works one hundred hands, and produces to the value of one hundred and twenty thousand dollars yearly.
Copper, Tin and Sheet Iron Workers .- One hundred and fifteen shops; seven hundred and sixty hands; value of products, six hundred and ten thousand dollars. Of raw material, 60 per cent., tin and sheet iron ware, 30 per cent .; average value of raw ma- terial, 48 per cent.
G. A. Shaddinger, 123 and 125 east Pearl street, manufactures engine and distillery work, pumps of all kinds, and every descrip- tion of work belonging to either alcohol or whisky distilleries; alcohol stills, columns, etc. Works twenty-eight hands, and pro- duces a value of forty-eight thousand dollars; raw material, 60 per cent.
Copper and Steel Plate Engravers and Printers .- Two estab- lishments, employ twenty-two hands; labor product, forty-eight thousand dollars; raw material, 10 per cent.
Cordage, Hemp, Manilla, etc .- Six factories, one hundred and forty hands, with a product of two hundred and thirty-four thou- sand dollars ; raw material, 40 per cent.
Kennett, Dudley & Co., manufacturers of machine bale rope, will turn out during this year, seventy-six thousand lbs. of baling rope; work four men and twenty boys ; value of product, sixty- five thousand five hundred and twenty dollars. G
Cotton Yarn, Batting, Candle- Wick, Cordage, Twine, etc .- Five establishments, employ five hundred and eighty hands, and pro- duce a value of six hundred thousand dollars; raw material, 70 per cent.
Covington Cotton Factory, R. Buchanan & Son, 26 east Front street, agents, manufacture three hundred and fifty thousand lbs. yarn, besides largely of candle-wick, carpet warp, batting and twine.
Gould, Pearce & Co., manufacturers of star and chandlers' can- dle-wick, twine, cotton cordage, carpet warp, coverlet yarn, calk- ing, batting, etc .; also of Pearce's plantation spinning machines. Factory, corner Fifth and Lock streets, on the Miami canal; store and office, No. 48 Walnut street. Gould, Pearce & Co., manufac- ture two thousand bales of cotton per annum, into cotton cordage,
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different varieties of star and chandlers' wick, twine, batting, car- pet warp, etc., etc .; also, plantation spinning machines, work four thousand spindles, besides batting, machinery, and machine shop; use steam and water power, about sixty horse power. Value of product, one hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
Gould & Wells, dealers in cotton and cotton goods, manufactu- rers of cotton cordage, seamless bags, twine, yarns, colored and white carpet warp, coverlet yarn, candle wick, batting, etc. Fac- tory at Wellsburg, Va .; office, 48 Walnut street, between Front and Second streets. Employ one hundred and twenty hands, and manufacture a value of one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars.
Franklin Cotton Factory, Harkness, Strader & Fosdick, corner Third and Smith. Number of hands, two hundred and thirty. Cotton used per annum, seventeen hundred bales, manufactured into coarse sheetings, No. 14 yarn. They turn out two millions two hundred and fifty thousand yards ; use about sixty thousand bush- els of coal ; and three hundred and twenty-five barrels of flour annually.
Cured Beef, Tongues, Etc .- Fourteen establishments, one half of which are on a small scale. One million seven hundred and eighty thousand lbs. beef, and sixty-three thousand tongues are the product of this business, in value two hundred twenty-five thou- sand five hundred dollars. Employ three hundred hands ; raw material, 62 per cent.
Cutlery, Surgical and Dental Instruments, Tailors' Shears, etc. -Ten workshops and depots, fifty hands: value of product, eighty thousand dollars ; raw material, 20 per cent.
John Luther, manufacturer of tailors' shears, scissors, sheep- shears, knives, pruners' shears and knives, and almost every kind of cutlery, No. 16 Fifth street, north side, between Main and Syc- amore streets. Shears, sheep-shears, scissors, razors and knives ground in the best manner and at the shortest notice. Employs ten hands with a product of nine thousand dollars. ,
Dental Furniture .- One shop, which makes every article re- quired for the equipment of a dental establishment ; employs nine hands, with a product of ten thousand dollars.
Dentistry .- There are forty dentists, with as many more en- gaged as assistants. The value of dental operations here, annu- ally, will reach to one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars.
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Five alone of these establishments do a business of forty thou- sand dollars of the amount. The delicacy and accuracy of first rate operations here are not surpassed in the United States. It is not necessary to include Europe, as it is a conceded point that the best operations in the world are executed in this country. All the principal dentists in Paris are Americans ; and the family dentist of the last sovereign of France had removed to Paris from this city. Among the most thoroughly qualified in this line of business here are Drs. Taylor & Irwin, and Taft & Roudebush, both resident on Fourth street, west of Walnut, and Drs. Hamlin & Smith, oppo- site the First Presbyterian Church, Fourth street, west of Main street.
Die Sinkers .- Three shops, six hands ; value of product, seven thousand five hundred dollars ; raw material, 10 per cent.
Drain Pipe, Stone .- The article of drain pipe is now being ex- tensively used in the city and vicinity. The best pipe for pur- poses of drainage is brought from northern Ohio. The clay in our limestone region not being suited for making this article. A. W. Gilbert, 200 Vine street, has a variety of kinds. The glazed stoneware pipe is a superior article, the inside surface being glazed so as to present quite a high polish. Keeps every size, from one and a quarter to eighteen inches. It is being much used by our builders for soil pipes, and for conveying water from the spouts of houses to cisterns.
Drugs .- Two drug grinding establishments ; employ twelve hands, and produce a value of sixty thousand dollars annually ; raw material, 50 per cent.
J. C. Shroyer, Phoenix Steam Drug and Spice Mills, 17, 19 and 21 Home street, grinds mustard and spices of all kinds. Also manufactures marble dust for mineral water factories, of which he turns out six hundred barrels yearly. Makes more of this last ar- ticle than any other establishment in the West. He also grinds or powders every species of drugs to order, and prepares concen- trated extracts of vegetable medical articles, such as podophyllin or mandrake, sanguinarin or blood-root, macrotin or black cohosh, leptandrin or black-root extracts.
These articles are so highly concentrated by chemical processes, that the active principle of an article worth not more than ten or fifteen cents the pound, acquires a value of one dollar per ounce.
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These preparations are sent out the whole length and breadth of the United States, and even into Canada.
The vegetables whose roots furnish these extracts are indige- nous to the West, abounding especially in Indiana and Missouri.
This is a rapidly growing establishment, whose operations must . become in a few years very extensive ; value of products, twenty thousand dollars.
Dyeing .-- Fifteen dye and scouring establishments, forty-five hands ; value of work done, sixty thousand dollars ; raw material, 25 per cent.
Wm. Teasdale, New York Dye House, Walnut street, west side, between Sixth and Seventh. Dyeing, scouring, steam finishing, etc., etc. Particular attention will be given to cleaning white crape, broche and printed shawls. Also, damask curtains, carpets, rugs, druggets, etc., etc. Orders from the country promptly at- tended to.
Mr. Teasdale carries on an extensive business in this line. He has invariably received premiums and diplomas at the respective State exhibitions and mechanics' fairs, when competing with other dyers.
Edge Tool Making and Grinding .- Nineteen factories, prin- cipally on a small scale. Seventy-two hards ; value of products, one hundred and thirty thousand dollars ; raw material, 35 per cent.
A visit to the workshop of A. Cunningham, on Eighth, near Main street, will deeply interest a judge of edge tools. Here are made every variety in this line, of a pattern and finish scarcely to be found elsewhere. Such as coopers', carpenters', and wagon makers' draw knives; foot, gutter, ship and coopers' adzes; socket chisels and drivers, millwright and corner chisels; coopers' and carpenters' broad axes ; hand, ship and chopping axes ; froes, hatchets, pump and spout augers ; tanners' and fleshers' knives ; pork and ham cleavers ; plane bitts, stone hammers, post-hole au- gers, railroad tools of all descriptions, machine knives of all sorts; also, grinds edge tools. There are specimens of work here, espe- cially of currying knives, which cannot be surpassed, if equaled, anywhere. Cunningham works sixteen hands, with a product of twenty thousand dollars.
Engraving, Seal Presses, etc .- Eight establishments, employ twenty hands, product thirty thousand dollars.
C. F. Hall, 14 west Fourth street, engraver. State, court, no-
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tarial, lodge and other seals ; makes lever and percussion presses. Twelve highest premiums and diplomas have been awarded him within the last two years, by various State, county and mechanics' fairs. Value of product, fifteen thousand dollars.
The establishment of P. Evens, Jr., 187 Walnut street, and his different agencies in Cincinnati, has supplied the great majority of seals and presses used in the United States, Havana and Can- ada. His work rooms are of great completeness. Every part of the seal presses has a distinct machine or tool for its manufacture. The lettering and designs of seals are elegantly engraved by labor- saving tools, everything requisite having been provided to cheapen and improve this article of merchandise. Mr. Evens' order book exhibits more than thirty thousand seal impressions, such as State, notary, lodge, court, society and business seals, and no two alike, ordered from every city and village in the country, and many from Europe. All the principal seal engravers of this and other cities are supplied by him with press and seal complete.
Mr. Evens, in connection with the above, manufactures sewing machines, models for patents, and every variety of light machinery.
Engraving, wood -Twelve establishments ; value of work, sev- enty-five thousand dollars ; raw material, 10 per cent.
Stillman & Crump, No. 8 Carlisle building, employ twelve en- gravers, and produce a value of twenty thousand dollars. Mr. Stillman, of this firm, has been long known and appreciated pro- fessionally, and the present firm maintains the reputation of the past for first class performances. They employ machinery in the execution of certain parts of their operations, which, of course, insures accuracy more perfectly than can be obtained by the hand aided by the eye, while they bring the highest skill into service, for the artistic residue. This facility enables them to execute or- ders upon short notice and with unexampled rapidity. A number of the engravings in this volume, it may be seen, were executed at their office.
Files .- Two factories, in which rasps and files are cut in the very best style. They employ nineteen hands ; value of product, eighteen thousand dollars ; raw material, 50 per cent. These es- tablishments import their own steel from Sheffield, England.
Florists, Nurserymen und Seed Dealers .- A large amount of plants, etc., are disposed of in this market. Strawberry plants by the million or more can be readily filled in the proper season, oll
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orders. There are twenty-five sale gardens and depositories here, whose sales annually reach three hundred thousand dollars. Among the best of these establishments are those of
M. Kelly, Clifton nursery. Sale flower garden, shadc and fruit tree nursery. Occupies fifty acres in four separate lots in this vicinity, the principal one of which is in Clifton on the bank of the Miami canal, two miles from Cincinnati. This has been occu- pied and under fine improvement for the past twelve years. The ground slopes handsomely to the west and south, mainly to the west, and the flower and shrubbery garden in the season of veg- etation makes a charming appearance. His extensive and varied catalogue composes everything that a lover of flowers or fruit could desire. The choicest and newest varieties, as well as the old standard favorites, are sure to be found at this establishment.
D. M'Avoy, Fifth street, near the Dennison House, is prepared to furnish at shortest notice, in the proper season, all the popular and standard trees, shrubbery of every description, gooseberry, strawberry and currant bushes of all varieties, and the best quality, asparagus roots, grape vine roots and cuttings, ornamental trees and green house plants, etc.
Wm. Heaver, proprietor of the Reading Road Nursery. Fruit and ornamental trees, shrubs and plants ; bouquets at all seasons. Orders through the post office, or left at Suire, Eckstein & Co.'s, Fourth street, promptly attended to. Employs twelve hands in the . cultivation of about fifty acres; annual sales, fifteen thousand dollars.
S. W. Haseltine has recently opened, at No. 171 Walnut street, opposite the Cincinnati College, an extensive suite of rooms for the display and sale of choice articles in the horticultural line. There can be little doubt, from his excellent taste and his advantageous location, so easily accessible to the business community, and the throng of ladies who make Fourth street in fine weather a daily promenade, that he will make a decidedly favorable impression on the public.
Anthony Pfeiffer, ornamental flower gardener, Lebanon and Reading turnpike, two and a half miles from Cincinnati ; store, 201 Walnut street, between Fifth and Sixth streets. Roses of every variety, hyacinths, tulips and other bulbs. Bouquets at all seasons.
Flour and Feed Mills -Twenty-one. Six of these grind flour
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only, or principally, of which they turn out one thousand barrels daily. They employ forty-five hands. The feed mills grind corn, oats, barley, etc., to the extent of seventy-five hundred bushels daily. Annual value of product of flour and feed, three million two hundred and sixteen thousand dollars ; raw material, 75 per cent.
Kauffman & Co., 157 Clay street, grind wheat and rye flour principally ; also grind corn and chopped feed. Value of product, one hundred thousand dollars.
Foundery Castings. - This, one of our heaviest branches of manufacture, is carried on in every variety in which iron can be cast, from a butt hinge to a burial case. A number of these foun- deries include finishing shops. A few of them supply castings in the rough ; others finish work to the highest degree of polish ap- plicable to its use. A share of these confine their manufacture to a great staple product or two, and in the case of others a thousand different articles are the industrial result. It is difficult to re- duce these founderies, therefore, to distinct and separate classes. The aggregate being first stated, the operations of a few will be given, as samples of each class. In making out the general state- ment, the products which are comprehended earlier in these pages, as agricultural machinery, are not included.
There are forty-two founderies, generally on a large scale. Of these, one fourth are mainly or entirely in the stove line, which is a heavy department in castings, one thousand having been made here in one day alone.
The value of foundery products is six millions three hundred and fifty-three thousand four hundred dollars. Number of hands employed, five thousand two hundred and eighteen; average value of raw material, 22 per cent.
Miles Greenwood's manufactory, well known as the Eagle Iron Works, on the corner of Canal and Walnut streets, extending north- wardly to Twelfth street, eastwardly to Main, and on the west to Jackson street, embraces in its operations, besides its iron and brass founderies, machine shops. a steam heating department, etc., and gives constant employment to about five hundred hands, its op- crations having never been suspended for a single business day since its establishment in 1832.
Extensive as are the manufactures and business of this house, perhaps its most noticeable feature is the great and increasing va-
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riety of its products, which vary from machine castings of ten tons each, to the minutest article that weighs but the twentieth part of an ounce ; and it is doubtless this variety that enables Mr. Green- . wood to congratulate himself on the fact that his works have been enabled at all times, even in the severest seasons, and when busi- ness was most depressed, to give employment to their many me- chanics and laborers.
All articles made here are manufactured also as largely, and most of them in much greater quantities, than in any other estab- lishment in the West.
THE MACHINE DEPARTMENT turns out every variety of stationary and portable stcam engines, planing and saw mills, hydraulic presses, mill machinery, printing presses, and hundreds of other articles of this description.
IRON HOUSE FRONTS and architectural castings have been manu- factured by Mr. Greenwood since 1843, and been put up through- out the north-west and south. Some of the best buildings in St. Louis, New Orleans, Chicago, Memphis, Nashville, and the prin- cipal cities of Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, etc., are adorned with specimens of iron work from this establishment, and entire fronts for one, three, four and five story buildings of the finest style and finish, are constantly and rapidly produced. An iron front for the first story of a building has been manufactured, fitted and put up in less than a week from receipt of the order, while a five-story block of the finest architectural design, with basement and sub- cellar piers also of iron, has been made and put up, including the making of patterns for nearly the whole of the work, in about three months.
STOVES are made here in very large quantities, and under the name of S. H. Burton & Co., are widely known throughout the western country for their fine design and finish, and the excellence of their manufacture.
BUTT HINGES, until 1840 exclusively imported from Europe, were first successfully made in the United States, in that year, by Mr. Greenwood, and by their good quality soon drove the imported article out of the market. Now, no hinges of this kind are im- ported into our country, while of all made in the United States, Mr. Greenwood's are still preferred, and command the highest price.
STEAM HEATING DEPARTMENT .- The business of heating build-
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ings by steam, but a few years ago one of the novelties of the day, has now become of great importance, and has, in Mr. Green- wood's hands, been made one of the heaviest branches of his bu- siness. Two modes are now in general use-that known as high steam, or heating by dried radiation from the steam pipe itself, ar- ranged in convenient coils ; and the other introduced much more lately, and termed low steam, in which the steam is conducted to radiators or metallic cases of such various forms as convenience or taste may demand. The former is more adapted to large build- ings, which will warrant the employment of a practical engineer, while the latter, which requires no more attention than a parlor stove, is more suited to the business house or private residence. Here again the spirit of western improvement has displayed itself, in the introduction of cast instead of sheet iron radiators. The latter have been used by all the eastern heating works, while the cast iron radiators are in this establishment rapidly superseding them, being of much more elegant design, and infinitely superior, both in durability and in the more regular distribution of heat. Many of them are finely ornamented, and when covered with slabs of marble, add to the furnishing and appearance of the drawing- room. A very large portion of the western and southern country visit us for the heating apparatus of their best buildings, and Mr. Greenwood has introduced them largely into the capitals and principal cities of Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Tennessee, and through the West and South generally. The price varies from two hundred and fifty to thirty thousand dollars, and more, accord- ing to size and arrangement of the building.
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