USA > Pennsylvania > Lehigh County > Catasauqua > A history of Catasauqua in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania > Part 5
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The dates of construction and sizes of remaining furnaces are as follows :-
No. 4, 1849 55 x 171/2
No. 5,1850 60 x 171/2
No. 6, 1868 60 x 1712
Of these, No. 4 requires to be relined ; No. 5 (which has fire-briek hot stoves erected in the year 1877) is in blast; and No. 6 is ready to be blown in when desired. The capacity of the five furnaces is about 1800 tons weekly, or 90,000 tons a year."
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OF CATASAUQUA
It will be seen therefore that in 1884, five furnaces remained as follows: -
No. 1, 1880 75 × 18 No. 3, 1881 65 × 17
No. 4, 1849 55 × 1712 No. 5, 1850 60 × 1712 No. 6, 1868 60 × 1712
In 1889 No. 3 furnace was raised to the height of 75 feet and continued standing until the latter part of 1913 when it was dismantled. No. 4 furnace was blown out in July, 1890, and several years later was dismantled. No. 5 furnace was torn down in 1908 and a furnace known as No. 2, size 80 x 1712. was erected on this site. No. 6 was torn down in 1904, and the plant therefore consists of only two furnaces at this time known as Nos. 1 and 2, the combined annual capacity of which is about 130,000 tons.
EMPIRE STEEL & IRON COMPANY.
The Empire Steel & Iron Company was in- corporated under the laws of the State of New Jersey, March 13, 1899, acquiring and operating blast furnaces in Penn- sylvania, New Jersey, Virginia and North Car- olina. The Company has disposed of its holdings in the South and now operates furnaces at Topton and Macungie, Pennsylvania, and Ox- ford, New Jersey, and extensive magnetie ore mines at Oxford and Mount Hope, New Jer- sey.
EMPIRE OFFICE.
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THE HISTORY
The Company also controls, through stock ownership, the Crane Iron Works. Catasauqua. Pa., the Crane Railroad Company, Catasauqua, Pa., Mount Hope Mineral Railroad Company in New Jersey, and the Victoria Coal & Coke Com- pany in West Virginia.
From its New Jersey Ore Mines is supplied a large proportion of the ore used in the operation of its furnaces, and the development of these mining prop- erties has been carried forward along modern lines in the past few years, result- ing in a largely increased output.
The General Offices of the Company have been located at Catasauqua since June 1, 1900.
THIE THOMAS IRON COMPANY.
Eighteen interested people attended an initial meeting called to discuss plans for the organization of an Iron Company. This meeting was held February 14, 1854, at Mrs. White's tavern on Centre Square, Easton, Pa. The building is now used by the United States Government as the Post Office of the city of Easton. A resolution was adopted calling the Company "The Thomas Tron Com- pany" in honor of David Thomas who projected it, and in recognition of his work as pioneer in the successful manufacture of iron by the use of anthra- cite coal.
The capital stock was fixed at two hundred thousand ($200,000) dollars, steps taken to procure a charter and a committee appointed to select and pur- chase a site for the works. David Thomas was authorized to purchase the Thomas Butz farm situated on the west bank of the Lehigh River, about a mile above Catasauqua, as the most elegible site for the works. The farm contained 185 acres 90 perches and the price paid for it was $37,112.50. The deed passed July 7, 1854.
The Board of Managers resolved, March 14, 1854, to construct two blast furnaces, known as Nos. 1 and 2. Contraet for the mason work was given May 10th to Samuel MeHose of Allentown, Pa. Samuel Kinsey was employed as the first bookkeeper and his services continued for twenty-four years.
A contract for the first two boilers was made April 7, 1854, at a cost of $9,353 on the wharf at Brooklyn; and for two beam blowing engines on boat
--
THE THOMAS IRON COMPANY PLANT.
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THE HISTORY
at Cold Springs, N. Y., at $42,600. The engines had steam cylinders of 56 inches diameter, and blowing cylinders of 84 inches diameter by nine feet stroke.
At a meeting of the Board of Directors, June 8. 1854, the name of the place of the furnaces was selected and adopted. The suggestion had been made to call it Coplay-the town above it being called "Sehriber's" at this time. But after some discussion the suggestion of Hokendanqua, by David Thomas, was adopted.
"Hokendanqua derives its name from a small creek which empties into the Lehigh on the eastern side, about half a mile above the village. It is an Indian word. 'Hockin' in the Delaware Indian language signifying 'Landing.' The name, in fact, was not given to a stream of water, but was an exclamation used by the Indians at the time the first Trish settlers located there in 1730. It was probably made use of in speaking to the surveyors; a large portion of the streams were named in this manner by the surveyors." (See Henry's "History of the Lehigh Valley," page 300.)
On November 9, 1854, the town was laid ont, and the streets named. Homes were built in 1868 for the General Superintendent, the Superintendent and other members of the staff. Rows of brick houses were also erected for the employees of the Company. The town has been supplied with spring water, pumped from a spring on the river bank, since 1855. The Company also donated land for a school house and for the Presbyterian Church.
The following list shows the date when each of the six furnaces at Hoken- danqua first produced pig iron (list made in 1904).
Furnace Date Present Size
No. 1
June 3, 1855
17 by 80 feet
No. 2 October 27, 1855 Abandoned
No. 3 July 18, 1862
17 by 80 feet
No. 4 April 29, 1863 Abandoned
No. 5 September 15, 1873 17 by 60 feet
No. 6 January 19, 1874 17 by 60 feet
The Thomas Iron Company owns furnace properties whose vahies run into millions. Besides Hokendauqua, plants are located at Alburtis, Pa., Island
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OF CATASAUQUA
Park, Pa. ; Hellertown, Pa. ; and their holdings in ore lands and lime stone beds are almost endless. They own properties in New Jersey, and in Pennsylvania near Hellertown, Rittenhouse Gap, Red Lion, Bingen, and in North and South Whitehall, Salisbury, Upper and Lower Macungie and Longswamp Townships. They own the Ironton Railroad which is noted in this volume. The Thomas Iron Company also subscribed 40 per cent. of the original cost of the Catasauqua and Fogelsville Railroad.
At the opening of the current century, the iron market was good. Nine furnaces were in full blast, producing an output of 260,000 tons. At present but one furnace is in operation in Hokendauqna. The affairs of the Company have always been well managed. Thomas Iron Company stocks have been con- sidered gilt-edged investments. During the first fifty years of its history, the Company paid dividends amounting to 560.91 per cent.
In Hokendanqua the Company established a Church, gave $3500 towards the erection of a building and donated the land. At Alburtis they donated prop- erty for a church and $1000 for a cemetery. They also gave $500 toward the Hokendauqua parsonage. In honor of five employees who gave their lives for their country during the Civil War, the Company made a generous gift of money toward the soldiers' monument erected in Fairview Cemetery. The war tax on pig iron alone paid to the United States Government from July, 1864. to July, 1866, was $200,423.83.
THE GRIST MILL.
The original mill on the site of the present Mauser and Cressman mill prop- erty was established in 1752, five years before the ford across the Lehigh River was built.
It would be interesting to reproduce the harmonies of the splashing old mill- wheel, with the intermedes of the fulling mill that stood near by, and the obli- gato strains of the glittering saw that sliced the parent stem of many a denizon of the forest into building material for the new palaces of the burg.
The mill race, along whose brush grown edge the morning lays of a thousand throats of the harbingers of spring were the daily inspiration of men and maidens
50
THIE HISTORY
wending their way to toil, ran from the Catasauqua Creek elose by the Race Street bridge at the Davies and Thomas foundry, through the site of the Dery silk mill and the front yard of the Mauser home.
Tradition affords us no information of the proprietorship of the old mill until the beginning of the nineteenth century, when Frederick and Henry Biery bought the place. Solomon Biery succeeded his father Frederick and continued
KLIMENUKM
HATS
LAPS
605 ** *
MAUSER & CRESSMAN FLOUR MILLS
in business until toward the close of the fifties, when Milton Berger and William Younger secured the property. Upon Mr. Berger's death, Mr. Younger carried on the trade until 1891 when it fell into the hands of the National Bank of Catasauqua.
Uriah Kurtz operated the mill for the Bank until 1895, when it was bought by George Mauser.
The old fulling mill was discontinued during the days of Solomon Biery and the saw mill cut its last slabs some time during the eighties.
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OF CATASAUQUA
Upon the death of George D. Mauser, in 1898, the property naturally fell into the hands of Frank B. Mauser and Allen H. Cressman, who have operated the mill since. As soon as Mr. Mauser took possession of the mill. he installed new machinery in every department and doubled her capacity. He abandoned the use of water from the intermittent Catasauqua creek and secured all his power from the canal. A railroad side track was also introdneed along the rear of the mill, and a power shovel for unloading grain shipped in bulk.
Fire destroyed the entire mill in 1898, after which it was rebuilt with an- other doubling of its capacity and the installation of the most improved and up-to-date machinery.
"The Mauser and Cressman" is a household motto for four in countless homes in all our Eastern States.
F. W. WINT COMPANY, LIMITED.
The firm of F. W. Wint Company, Limited, is engaged in the sale of Lumber, Coal and Planing Mill Work. A certain proportion of several grades of their lumber is sawed directly from the logs in their various tracts of timber. The following is a short sketch of the history of the concern.
After Nathan Fegley of Mauch Chunk abandoned his lumber-yard, where the Town Hall of Catasauqua is now located, and went back to Mauch Chunk, John Stoddard of White Haven leased a track of land from Owen Swartz at Front and Spring Streets. He shipped lumber here from White Haven on boats. and had Owen Swartz as his agent to sell the lumber. This was as early as 1853. Some years prior to the Civil War. he sold his interest to Owen Swartz, who carried on his business of selling humber until 1863, when he took in Horatio D. Yeager as partner and carried on the business as Swartz and Yeager. In 1870. Owen Swartz sold his interest to Ferdinand W. Wint, who conducted the business as Yeager and Wint until 1872. Then Geo. W. Cyphers purchased an interest and the firm was conducted as Yeager. Wint and Cyphers. Upon the death of Cyphers, about 1873. the interest was purchased by Yeager and Wint, and for a time the business was carried on as H. D. Yeager and Co. In 1874, Yeager sold out to F. W. Wint, Owen F. Fatzinger and James P. Wint, who conducted the business as F. W. Wint.& Co. Upon the death of F. W. Wint in 1882, Rufus M.
52
THE HISTORY
Wint became a member of the firm. These men traded under the same firm name until October, 1900, when the said partners organized a stock corporation under the Limited Partnership Laws, Frank J. Fatzinger and Owen A. Fatzinger becoming stock-holders. Since this time the business has been carried on as F. W. Wint Company, Limited.
In the early history of the firm, logs were purchased at Easton and rafted here where the logs were sawed into lumber by a steam saw mill. This lasted as
F. W. WINT CO.
long as it proved a commercial proposition. At present their saw mills are located on their various tracts. A planing-mill and coal-yard have been added to their business.
The plant has been enlarged at various times, particularly by the purchase in 1902, of the ground of the Catasauqua Rolling Mills.
The concern is capitalized at $50,000, carries a stock of about 21% millions of feet of lumber, and is equipped to furnish anything made from wood. The
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OF CATASAUQUA
sales cover a wide territory and their business has been gradually on the increase. They employ from 60 to 75 hands.
PINE OLEIN MANUFACTURING COMPANY.
A secret process for the manufacture of a sweeping compound and general disinfectant was bought in 1909, by F. C. Smith and Franklin Trumbauer of Allentown, which they named " Pine Olein."
After experimenting for about a year, they perfected the produet, and then admitted Frank J. Fatzinger and Owen A. Fatzinger into the project. Shortly after this. F. C. Smith retired and in 1912 Rufus W. G. Wint succeeded Franklin Trumbaner in the venture.
The manufacture of the product has been carried on with marked success and it bids fair to become an industry of importance. P. J. MeNally is the local representative. The plant is located at the foot of Spring Street.
DAVIES AAND THOMAS COMPANY.
In 1865 Daniel Davies bought an old planing mill in East Catasauqua and fitted it up as a foundry and machine shop. He had as a partner William Thomas (no relation to the present Thomases), and they traded under the name of Davies and Thomas. This partnership continued for two years, when William Thomas retired from the firm and returned to Wales, and Daniel Thomas & Son continued the business until 1876, when Daniel Thomas died.
The works were then shut down until February, 1879, when James Thomas bought a half interest in the business and with George Davies, the son of Daniel Davies, formed the new firm of Davies & Thomas, and did business under a partnership agreement until the death of George Davies on October 1st. 1894.
On December 21st, 1894, the firm of Davies & Thomas Company was organ- ized into a chartered company, with a capital of $100,000. The stock was afterwards increased to $300.000.
James Thomas was president of the last named company until his death on December 18th, 1906, and was succeeded as president of the company by his son Rowland D. Thomas at the meeting of the company in January, 1907. who con-
84
DAVIES & THOMAS COMPANY PLANT
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OF CATASAUQUA
tinued as president of the company until November, 1911, when Leonard Peckitt was elected to the presidency and continues in that office to the present date.
The following persons have served as directors of the company during its lifetime as a chartered company :
JAMES THOMAS,
ROWLAND T. DAVIES,
ROWLAND D. THOMAS,
GEORGE DAVIES,
HOPKIN THOMAS,
JAMES T. DAVIES,
D. H. THOMAS,
HARRY E. GRAFFIN.
C. R. HORN,
The present Board of Directors is made up as follows :
LEONARD PECKITT, President,
ROWLAND D. THOMAS.
GEORGE DAVIES,
HOPKIN THOMAS,
HARRY E. GRAFFIN.
The officers of the company are as follows :
LEONARD PECKITT, President,
HARRY E. GRAFFIN, Treasurer,
CHARLES R. HORN, Sceretary.
The general agent of the company was A. R. MeHenry until his death in 1898, when C. R. Horn was appointed to succeed him, and fills the position to the present time, operating from the company's general offices in New York City, the centre of all big work.
The Davies & Thomas Company has been a furnisher of material for all the large contracts for underground railway and tunnel work requiring cast iron material for their constnetion in the cities of New York. Philadelphia. Washing- ton, Baltimore, etc.
For the various tunnels under the harbors of New York City, this company furnished eighty per cent. (80%) of the cast iron material used in their con- struction, and as these tunnels were of eight (8) different designs, it constantly necessitated changes in the patterns for the cast iron castings used in the various designs to meet the requirements.
The Davies & Thomas Company is considered the pioneer in the above line of work and their ideas and plans have almost universally been adopted and accepted by engineers constructing the same.
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THE HISTORY
When you ride through the various tunnels connecting New York with Jersey City, Brooklyn and Long Island City, you will pass through tunnels whose construction material is almost entirely the product of this company.
At the present time the company is engaged on a contraet for the manufac- ture of the lining of a large sewer tunnel for the Borough of Queens, Long Island, which work will keep the foundry very busy for an entire year.
The future of the company has a very bright outlook, as other large projects for tunnel work are expected to materialize in the near future, of which a goodly share no doubt will be awarded this company.
Another large activity of this company is the manufacturing of east iron material used in the construction of Water Gas Plants; and since 1880, and up to the present time, they have manufactured all the castings used, first, by A. O. Granger in this work, and later by the United Gas Improvement Company of Philadelphia, Pa., in the equipment of their water and coal gas plants; and ninety per cent. (90%) of the water gas plants operated in the United States show the product of the last named company. This work is continued, year in and year out, and keeps employed at the foundry from sixty to seventy-five men continually.
The plant, in 1876, was but a small stone foundry, employing very few men, but its growth has been steady and continued from year to year, until at the present time the Davies & Thomas Company have a foundry occupying over 16,000 square feet of floor space; equipped with electric and boom cranes and four cupolas; three machine shops fully equipped; a large power plant with boiler and engine room for the manufacture of electricity for the running of the entire works. The plant has a capacity of two hundred tons per day of finished eastings. They had employed over six hundred men at one time when the foundry was running full.
The plant at the present time is under the management of Mr. Hopkin Thomas as General Manager, who, with Leonard Peekitt, President, Harry E. Graffin, Treasurer, and C. R. Horn, General Agent, constitute the working force operating the plant.
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OF CATASAUQUA
LEHIGH CAR, WHEEL & AXLE WORKS.
On or about March 13, 1866, a co-partnership was formed by James W. Fuller, Charles D. Fuller, James HI. McKee, James Thomas and William A. Thomas under the name of McKee, Fuller and Company to engage in the manu- facture of Car Wheels. A tract of land was selected on the line of the C. & F. R. R., west of the Round House, but upon further investigation it was thought advisable to erect the plant on the main line of the L. V. R. R., and a tract of about eight acres of land was purchased from Jacob Lazarus, which is now a part of the operations of the present Company.
The plant originally had a capacity of fifteen wheels per day. The market for the output was limited and the railroad people were not anxious to try a new
LEHIGH CAR WHEEL AND AXLE WORKS
wheel which had not demonstrated a reputation, and Mr. Fuller in later years was heard to say that were he to live his life over, he would hesitate long before he would engage in an enterprise so fraught with danger to human life and destruction of property as a possible faulty wheel.
On account of the limited market and the panie of 1873-8, the returns were small, and it was also necessary to reinvest the net proceeds in the purchase of adjoining land and additional machinery. Some of the partners dropped out and ten years later James H. MeKee and James W. Fuller only remained as partners.
They then struggled along with varying success and discouragements until 1880, when the Erie Railroad desired to purchase a large quantity of modern eight wheeled cars. Inasmuch as the successful contractor was obliged to finance the proposition by taking ear trust debentures in payment, there were few pro-
58
THE HISTORY
posals for the contract. Mr. Fuller undertook this immense proposition, and finally succeeded, after long negotiations, by pledging the private fortunes of the partners. A favorable contraet was made and the firm purchased the car plant of Frederick and Beek, which had been idle for some years, then owned by the National Bank of Catasauqua, and at onee became busy. At one time the lumber arrived so fast that every siding was blocked with laden cars between Allentown and Catasauqua, and for a time fifteen hundred men were employed and Fullerton became a thriving village.
At this time Mr. Fuller telegraphed to his brother-in-law, James Thomas, then residing in Alabama, if he would come north and re-open the Davies Foundry, he would give him an order for the small castings, sufficient to keep the foundry busy for one year. This offer was accepted and Mr. Thomas came north at once.
From this time on the success of the firm was assured and on February 13, 1883, William W. MeKee and B. Frank Swartz were admitted to the firm. At about the same time a forge to forge the axles was added, and the business in- creased so fast that in the first six months of 1883 they built, complete, eighteen hundred forty-nine eight-wheeled ears. This business amounted to $2,800,000 for the year. The capacity of the works in 1884 was sufficient to do a business of $4,000,000 per annum.
During these years James W. Fuller's application to his business was in- eessant, and for the first six years he was not only the Manager, but Traveling Salesman, working generally fifteen to eighteen hours in every twenty-four. It was nothing unusual for him to arrive from the west at East Penn Junction, and walk home at midnight, stopping at the works to see if his watchman was on duty and all was right at the plant.
It was this constant devotion to the business interests of the firm, and plnek and determination that wrested success from a failing enterprise.
After the death of James H. MeKee, the interest of his several heirs was placed on sale and acquired by the remaining members of the firm. It became a necessity, owing to the large interests involved, so as to prevent jeopardy to the interests of the others in case of the death of the remaining partner interested, to incorporate the plant. A charter was obtained February 5, 1901, and the out-
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OF CATASAUQUA
standing interests purchased, and the business continued under the name of "The Lehigh Car. Wheel & Axle Works."
For some years the business has changed. Wooden cars are no longer made and the railroads manufacture their own wheels. The plant is now principally engaged in manufacturing machinery for cement companies and has a large foreign trade.
The plant comprises sixty acres. The railroad tracks were removed to the eastern end of the plant, the old publie road was vacated and new roads were opened so as to form a continuous acreage. The company maintains a reputation as up-to-date in the business world, and employs a large force of competent mechanies and workmen of high intelligence and character.
THE EAGLE BREWERY.
Herman Kostenbader and Conrad Schaffer began to brew Lager Beer at what they called the Eagle Brewery, in 1867. In 1872 John Krentzer of Phila- delphia bought the interest of Conrad Schaffer after which the firm was known as
EAGLE BREWERY
I
THE EAGLE BREWERY
Kostenbader and Krentzer. Mr. Krentzer died in 1876, since which time Mr. Kostenbader, having bought his partner's share from his estate, was in business for and by himself. During the summer of 1902, Mr. Kostenbader took his
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THE HISTORY
sons, August F. and Herman A., into partnership with himself, and although the father died early in 1909, the sons continued under the firm title of H. Kosten- bader and Sons.
The Eagle Brewery has undergone many renovations since it was founded. A new ice house was built in 1886. After some failures of the ice crops due to mild winters Mr. Kostenbader installed a ten ton ice machine in 1892. Artificial ice was a novelty in those days. People almost went into ecstasy over beholding a bouquet of beautiful roses embedded in a fifty pound block of ice, clear as crystal. The firm also erected a new and enlarged brew house and boiler depart- ment. During 1900, Mr. Kostenbader greatly enlarged his storage cellars and, in order to maintain an even temperature during all seasons of the year, supplanted the old ice machine with a machine of a capacity of fifty tons. The storage cellars and facilities for cooling beers were again enlarged in March of 1914.
On account of repeated agitations regarding the absolute purity of the water supplied this town, and because of the water rates which were almost prohibitive to a plant that uses as much water as a brewery, Mr. Kostenbader determined to dig an artesian well. It was completed in 1896. The well is two hundred five feet deep and is fitted up with an airlift pump whose capacity is three hundred gallons per minute. The mean temperature of the water is fifty-two degrees. Mr. Kostenbader was fortunate in striking a vein out of which flows a soft clear and perfectly pure water.
The firm established a bottling plant during 1905. This plant, like the brewery, is fitted up with the most improved machinery. The thought of cleanli- ness and purity is written over every department. They who know how to use and properly appreciate good beer say "Kostenbader." The sales of the firm during 1913 amounted to 13,370 barrels.
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