USA > Ohio > Clark County > The history of Clark County, Ohio, containing a history of the county; its cities, towns, etc.; general and local statistics; portraits of early settlers and prominent men, V. 2 > Part 2
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The shops of this company were almost totally destroyed by fire June 2, 1873, just when most needed to get out work for the fall trade. They were re- built at once, and newly equipped in the very best manner. They manufacture grain drills, cultivators and cider-mills.
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J. H. Thomas & Sons, mamifacturers of hay-rakes and portable engines, built their shops at the corner of Monroe and Limestone streets, in 1874. They removed from this site the frame shops long used by different companies for plow shops, brass foundry and general job work. Mr. J. H. Thomas, for- merly senior partner of Thomas & Mast, has been long connected with the man- ufacturing interests of this city. When, in 1871, he withdrew from Thomas & Mast, it was only to look for a new business site for himself and sons, who are now connected with him in his present business.
J. H. Thomas & Sons have, from vear to year, built additions to their shops, until now they cover almost half a block. Their horse hay-rakes and portable engines. like all other agricultural implements manufactured in Springfield, are champions of the world.
The Buckeve Agricultural Works is one of the mammoth manufacturing establishments of the great interior of the United States. It is owned by Messrs. P. P. Mast & Co., and it is located on both sides of Warder street, in Springfield, Ohio. The structures are compactly built, varying from one to three and tive stories in height, and cover two acres of ground.
The concern had its birth nineteen years ago, the original proprietors being Mr. Phineas P. Mast, who came to this city from Urbana in 1856, and Mr. John H. Thomas, who was at that time a rising young lawyer.
In a very few years, the firm of Thomas & Mast became famous throughout the country. They invented and manufactured the Buckeye Grain Drill, the Buckeye Cultivator and the Buckeye Cider Mill, making improvements each season and enlarging their operations each year.
In 1871. Mr. John H. Thomas withdrew from the firm, his interest passing into the hands of Mr. P. P. Mast, who at once gathered about him a number of the leading and most efficient men, who, as travelers, or as designers or artisans. had been connected with the establishment, and organized the firm of P. P. Mast & Co. The machines from time to time were radically improved, the pur- pose of Mr. Mast and his associates being to produce the very best possible results, and to put into the market the best-made and the most useful, servicea-
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ble machines that ingenuity could devise and that cunning and efficient work- men could construct of wood, iron and steel.
Year by year the works grew to their present dimensions, and now the sey eral departments constitute one of the grandest mechanical and manufacturing enterprises of the day.
In the season of 1875 was erected, between Main and Columbia streets, in the West End of Springfield, Ohio, near the Institute buildings, one of the finest manufacturing establishments ever erected in the city. These buildings were erected by Messrs. Mast, Foos & Co., for the manufacture of tubular boilers and portable boilers and engines. This company furnished a 400-horse. power boiler to make steam for the engines of the Industrial Exposition at Philadelphia in 1876, since when the company has been incorporated as a stock company, and now manufactures Buckeye and lawn mowers, iron turbine wind engines, and Buckeye force pumps.
The old shop of James Leffel & Co., that stood on the corner of Limestone street and the C., S. & C. R. R., was one of the first manufacturing interests of the place, built as it was in 1852, by Winger & Anderson in the wood work, and Whiteley & Hatch in iron work. These two firms built box and flat cars, and in the season of 1852 they built twenty-one of the Jackson Cook reapers, the first ever built in this city. One of these reapers was sold to Mr. Andrew Whiteley. They did not prove a success as harvesting machines. After many changes in management, John Pitts, Jr., bought the greater part of the build- ings, and sold his entire interest to Mr. James Leffel. In 1861, Mr. Winger also sold his interest to Mr. Leffel. These shops at that time stood on ground leased of Mr. William Whiteley.
James Leffel, the pioneer foundryman of Springfield, built his first foundry west of Springfield, on the south side of the National Road, near the Buck Creek bridge. This foundry was completed in January, 1840. These build- ings are now in a very dilapidated condition. In 1846, as before stated, he and Mr. Richards built a cotton-mill on Warder street. In 1858, the founda- tion of the present extensive business of James Leffel & Co. was laid. At this time, Mr. Leffel was busy on a water-wheel, which he completed and had pat. ented in 1862. This proved to be the very best turbine water- wheel ever in- vented, and a vast improvement over the old style of wheels.
The business of James Leffel & Co. was conducted, up to 1878, by Mr. William Foos, Mrs. Leffel and Mr. John W. Bookwalter, when Mr. Foos retired and Mr. Bookwalter took full control of the business, and in 1879 commeneed the erection of new shops in East Springfield, where he now manufactures tur. bine water-wheels and the Bookwalter engines. The shops first occupied by James Leffel & Co., corner of C., S. & C. R. R. and Limestone street, was built by Mr. Jacob Winger in 1852, and used as a car-shop and planing-mill. Large additions were made to this building by the Leffel company, until no more ground was left to build on, and Mr. Bookwalter was compelled to move his shops, as he has done, just outside of the corporation limits of Springfield.
The vast manufacturing interest known as the Champion Reaper manufac- turers of Springfield, is, when taken as a whole, by far the largest industry of our city. This interest has five very large factories, and employ many hundred men in building their reapers and mowers.
The Champion machine was invented by William N. Whiteley, a native of Clark County, Ohio, who was raised a farmer-or at least he speut his boyhood days with his father on a farm near Springfield. At a very early age, he man- ifested remarkable mechanical talent, together with inventive genius, and soon determined to abandon the farm for mechanical pursuits, which were better suited to his taste, and to that end he served an apprenticeship as a machinist.
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At about the age of eighteen, while he was alternating between the work-shop and the farm, his attention was especially directed to harvesting machinery.
In the year 1852, an exhibition of reaping and mowing machines was held, under the auspices of the State, on the farm of J. T. Warder, near Spring- field, and all of the reaping and mowing machines then manufactured were rep- resented. It may be safely said that no one present at that exhibition, not even the inventors or manufacturers of the respective machines, took more interest in the exhibition than did Mr. Whiteley. Immediately thereafter, he began a series of experiments, which were continued through the years 1852, 1853 and 1854. during which time the different factors of the machine were conceived, machines made. placed in the field and tried, improvements made and further tested, and, in the year 1855. the first successful Champion machine was pro- duced. The manufacture of the Champion machines for the trade was com- menced by Mr. Whiteley in 1856, at which time be associated with Mr. Jerome Fassler, who, like Mr. Whiteley, was without capital, but he possessed great mechanical ability, and together they commenced, under the firm name of Whiteley & Fassler, the manufacture of the Champion machines with their own hands. The shop, or factory, first occupied by them, was a wooden structure 20x35 feet, consequently the first production of machines was on a very limited scale.
The manufacture and sales of the first season aggregated about twenty machines, which was increased each successive year. In the fall of 1857, Mr. O. S. Kelly, a skilled mechanic, with limited means, was associated with White- lev & Fassler, under the firm name of Whiteley, Fassler & Kelly, which name , has been maintained for nearly a quarter of a century, up to the present time.
As is usually the case in building up new enterprises, they met with many reverses and passed through many "hard trials and tribulations." In fact, to depict the vicissitudes through which they passed while the business was in its infancy would be too great a task. However, not excessively elated with appar- ent success, or daunted by discouragements, but with unanimity of mind and determined to succeed, they overcame all obstacles, and the results arising from their perseverance will be readily noticed as we pass along, endeavoring to fol- low them, ster by step, to the present time.
In the year 1860, the firm had overcome inany of the obstacles encountered, and succeeded so far as to establish the reputation of the machine, and increase their business to that extent that greater facilities for manufacturing were im- peratively necessary. Accordingly, the original establishment, together with adjacent rooms which had been temporarily loased, were abandoned for a part of their present location, a two-story brick building, 50x80 feet, which was equipped with machinery, and to which additions were made yearly, until their main building encompassed the extensive proportions of 400 feet in length by 52 feet wide. A portion of the building is four stories; and the remainder three stories high. with wings attached, embracing foundry, blacksmith-shop and material rooms, all thoroughly equipped with machinery. But, notwithstanding the firm ha i increased their facilities yearly, they had been unable, up to this time, to supply the demand for machines, and having occupied all the available space that could be procured in that locality, and in order to make further pro- visions to supply the rapidly increasing demand for the Champion, in the fall of 1867 an arrangement was entered into with Warder, Mitchell & Co. to man- ufacture the Champion machines for a Northern district of territory. The last- named firm. having been for several years engaged in the manufacture of various reaping and mowing machines, embracing the Ketchum mower. Densmore self. raker, New York reaper, Ohio harvester. Buckeye, Marsh harvester, etc., had large shops, which were situated abont one and a half miles from the city, at a
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HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY.
point called Lagonda, now a suburban village of Springfield, and in 1868 the firm of Warder, Mitchell & Co. first began the manufacture of the Champion machine, and abandoned the manufacture of all other machines previously man- ufactured by them. During each successive year, they have been compelled to greatly increase their facilities, until their manufactory is now one of the larg est in the country. The capacity of their shops, warehouses, etc., has been more than doubled since they commenced the manufacture of the Champion machines.
About the same time, during the fall of 1867, and in order to provide further facilities for supplying the prospective demand for the Champion machines, the Champion Machine Company was formed for the purpose of man- ufacturing machines for the Southern and Western States and Territories.
The company was organized and placed under the management of Amos Whiteley. its President (who had been for ten years prior connected with the firms of Whiteley & Fassler and Whiteley, Fassler & Kelly, as their principal business manager). Mr. Robert Johnson, the Secretary and Superintendent, is a skillful mechanic, who was formerly successfully engaged in the business of contracting and building in this city. His indomitable energy and persever- ance eminently quality him for the position he occupies. Mr. William W. Wil- sou, the Vice President, formerly resided at Cadiz, Ohio, where he was largely engaged in milling, mining, merchandising, etc., and was noted for his sound judgment, perseverance and sterling character.
Immediately after the organization of the company, suitable grounds were purchased and buildings erected and equipped with first-class machinery. The buildings were the largest in the country at that time, but proved inadequate to the wants of the company. Hence, large additions were added, embracing one warehouse covering 65,000 square feet of floor space, erected for the purpose of storing machines to economize space in the manufactory: and an office building, 50x100 feet, with repair warehouse attached, the main part of the first floor of which is used for offices, and the second floor for sample rooms, printing rooms, etc.
Thus the manufacturing was conducted up to 1874 by the three firms com- posed of Whiteley. Fassler & Kelly, Warder, Mitchell & Co., and Champion Machine Company, known as the "Champion Interest." All manufacture the same machines from the same patterns, so that the duplicate parts made by one firm could be used on the machines made by either of the other parties, which forms a system of exact duplication, which has ever since been maintained.
A large amount of malleable iron having been adopted in the construction of the Champion machines, it was found necessary to provide for the manufact- ure of same, and in 1874 the Champion Malleable Iron Company was formed by the three firms (before referred to) as equal partners. This company pur- chased the factory and fixtures originally owned by the Springfield Malleable Iron Company, and, by the purchase of additional grounds and the erection of very large additional buildings, have increased the capacity of the works until they are now the largest malleable iron works in the world, producing annually over three thousand tons of the best quality of malleable iron. The officers of the company are: Jerome Fassler, President: O. S. Kelly, Vice President : Robert Johnson, Secretary. The business of this company is skillfully managed by Mr. Fassler, its President and Superintendent, and O. W. Kelly, his assist- ant.
The manufacturers referred to, further realizing the importance of provid- ing for the manufacture of all the component parts which enter into and are used in connection with the Champion machines, especially the knives, sickles and sections, under their own supervision, decided to make such provision by
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building a separate manufactory for that purpose, and to that end the Cham- pion Bar & Knife Company was formed in 1874, on the same common basis of contribution and ownership as the Champion Malleable Iron Company. Dur- ing the years 1874 and 1875, grounds were purchased, extensive buildings erected and equipped with the most approved machinery for the manufacture of cutter bars, guards, knives, sickles, sections, etc. The buildings were planned and erected, and the machinery purchased and manufactured, under the imme- diate supervision of Mr. Jerome Fassler.
The main building is of brick, two stories and basement in height; is up- ward of 200 feet in length. The northern wing extends east a distance of 400 feet, in two rooms, one of which is occupied as a machine-shop and the other as a blacksmith-shop. The southern wing is divided into six rooms, used for grinding guards, tempering sections, case-hardening guards, machine-shop, ete., extending a distance of 500 feet. The machinery with which it is equipped. which is the very best that can be procured, is driven by a low-pressure engine of 275 horse-power capacity. The simple manufacture of knives may not appear, at first sight, as a field for the exercise of much ingenuity. But an examination of the different shapes and different processes through which they pass, and the skill and care necessary to insure success, will readily produce a contrary opinion.
This manufactory is perhaps more complete, in all its appointments, than any establishment in the United States.
In addition to the manufacture of cutter bars, guards, knives, sickles and sections, the necessary machinery has been added for the manufacture of rivets of all kinds, shapes and sizes, and a new line of machinery is now being added for the manufacture of nuts and washers, chains, etc., so that in the future every factor of the Champion machines will be manufactured from the raw material by one of the firms or companies referred to.
Springfield Southern Railroad. extends from Springfield through South Charleston, Jeffersonville, Washington C. H., Greenfield, Bainbridge and Waverly (a distance of 110 miles), to Jackson, Ohio, which latter point is lo- cated almost in the center of the Jackson County coal-fields, from which the best coal in Ohio, and perhaps the best bituminous coal in the world, is mined: also, the central portion of what is known as the Hanging-Rock region of Ohio. which introduces the best charcoal foundry iron and also the best mill iron in the country. Hence, it will be seen that the manufacturers of the Champion have assured to themselves an unlimited supply of the best quality of materials.
The capital stock of said Springfield Southern Railroad is $1,000.000. owned almost exclusively bymembers of the "Champion Interest." The officers of the company are William N. Whiteley, of Springfield, Ohio, President: H. L. Chapman, of Jackson, Vice President: George A. Barnes, of Springfield. Secretary; Amos Whiteley, of Springfield, Treasurer; William Thornburgh, of Springfield, Superintendent.
The road has connections at Jackson, Ohio, with the Portsmouth Branch of the Marietta & Cincinnati road: at Waverly, Ohio, with the Scioto Valley road: at Greenfield, Ohio, with the main line of the Marietta & Cincinnati road; at Washington C. H., Ohio, with the Muskingum Valley road; at South Charleston, Ohio, with the Little Miami division of the Pan Handle road: and at Springfield, with the Springfield & Columbus: Cleveland, Columbus, Cincin- nati & Indianapolis: Cincinnati. Sandusky & Cleveland: Atlantic & Great Western and Pan Handle roads, which furnish a ready market for all of the surplus coal and iron. The company also contemplate extending their line of road from Jackson. Ohio, to Huntington, W. Va., connecting at that point with the Chesapeake & Ohio road, which connection would make the Springfield
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HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY.
Southern a part of a Grand Trunk line from the southeastern seaboard to Chi cago and the Northwest.
Whiteley, Fassler & Kelly also have a large shop on North street, used for experimental work only. Here much time is spent improving and inventing either new machines entire or parts for those already in use. The most exten- sive shops ever built in this city are now being erected on East street for this company, and when finished will be the largest, finest and best-equipped agri- cultural factory in the whole country.
In the year 1806, Simon Kenton moved from his home on the Urbana Pike, near the present Hunt farm, to the rapids of Buck Creek, at the point where the village of Lagonda now stands. Here Kenton built a grist-mill, and attached thereto a carding machine, which did not prove a success for want of perfect machinery.
The grist-mill was a small and rather inferior concern. The bolting machine was run by hand-power, which was usually furnished by those waiting for meal. Kenton left this mill and his home in 1812 to join the army of this country, then at war with England. This property belonged to William Ward, Sr., in 1814, at which time Nicholas Pricket and William Breezely bought the same and built what was known as the Pricket Mill. This was a woolen-mill, and the first one in this county of any pretensions. With regard to this, Mr J. T. Warder has kindly furnished the following:
SPRINGFIELD, Ohio, Dec. 25, 1880.
T. F. MCGREW, JR. :
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DEAR SIR-Your note received and contents noted. As I have understood, Simon Kenton built the first mill at Lagonda, on the north side of the creek, where. after several fruitless efforts to dam the creek at the gorge through the limestone formation at that point, he made a dam with logs and loose stones 100 rods to the east of the first location (a part of which still remains), and carried the water of the creek by race to the mill, which stood about the middle of the present main shop at Lagonda. He also built the first saw-mill upon the same site, being the first one in the county. This was understood to be a squatter's right, and, about 1810 or 1812, his friends induced Congress to donate to him for his known services to the Government, a tract of thirty acres laid out in a square, and covering all his improvements. The title was in some way in the hands of William Ward as trustee of Simon Kenton. Ward sold to Prickett & Beezley, who increased the size of the mill. Both of these parties died previous to 1830, in which year, after proceed- ings of the court, the property was sold by the heirs to Jeremiah Warder, who in the same year employed Oliver Armstrong, one of our most noted millw rights of that day, to con- struct a heavy timber dam just above the gore, still maintaining secure rock foundation. and build a three-story mill on the south side of the creck. This was one of the first mer- chant mills in the county, so styled from having two runs of buhrs and a separate set of bolting machinery, especially devoted to the manufacture of four for shipping.
There were also wheat and corn buhrs, with necessary bolting and cleaning machine- ery, devoted entirely to custom trade ; farmers then, as now, thinking their own grain superior to their neighbors', and the custom was to go with a load of wheat, often many miles, to some noted miller, and returning with the proceeds in flour and offal, less the toll for the grinding-one-eighth of corn and one-tenth of wheat. In 1849, the dam last men- tioned was washed out. and, with the view of obtaining more power, the Warder Brothers secured the right of Thomas Merrick to construct a race-way and dam through a part of his lands to the cast, to one they were constructing on the former mill property, on the north side of the stream, and carried the water over the creek in a wooden trunk. In 182, the present manufacturing of agricultural implements was begun in a very modest. way, and, after a few years of growth, this power being so much more valuable in this line, that the milling interest was given up, and the old structure was taken down and its timbers put to other uses. Truly, J. T. W.
The agricultural shops mentioned above were the start of the present ex- tensive business of Warder, Bushnell & Glessner, before mentioned as Warder. Mitchell & Co.
The collection of information in reference to the manufacturing business of a city, to be minute, requires much time and great space to present it in a proper shape, and the scope of this work will not allow more than has already been done.
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It will be proper to add that the following different kinds of business have all along been successfully prosecuted in Springfield, to wit: Brick-making, broom-making, carpet-weaving, cigar-making, cooperage, woolen goods, baking powder, plow-making and lime-burning.
The quality of both brick and lime is fully equal to any produced in the country, and the Whiteley plow was the pride of the farm, but, like other implements, had to give way to machine-made work.
THE PRINTING PRESS.
The inventive genius of mankind has been taxed to the utmost to supply the demand upon it for rapidity and accuracy in printing newspapers. From the old Franklin hand-press to the modern Hoe, there has been successive growths as marked as those we trace in geological formation. The first printing press used in Springfield, in the year 1820, was a clumsy, awkward machine, but a representative of the art then in its infancy. The press which printed the first newspaper here was worked by hand by two persons. One man stood by the side of the press holding in each hand a large ball covered with sheepskin, and fastened to a small handle. One of these balls was applied to the ink lying upon a board. The balls were then pounded together until the ink was evenly distributed on their surface, when the workmen commenced pounding the balls over the form of types until a sufficient amount of ink was applied for an impression. The pressman then placed the blank sheet of paper in a frame covered with stout linen cloth: this frame was then folded down upon the form in which the type were locked, and the whole was rolled with a crank under an upright screw, attached to a horizontal lever, similar to the cider press; this screw was then brought down upon the forms of type with the use of the lever, in doing which the pressman used both hands and seemed to bring into exercise all the muscles of his body. The lever was then shoved back, the form rolled out from under the screen by a reverse motion of the crank; the frame contain- ing the printed sheet thrown up: the paper taken up with the fingers of the pressman and laid aside as finished.
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