USA > Pennsylvania > Erie County > A twentieth century history of Erie County, Pennsylvania : a narrative account of its historic progress, its people, and its principal interests, Volume I > Part 75
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96
CHAPTER IX .- ERIE'S INDUSTRIES.
SMELTING IRON FROM BOG ORE .- THE OLD FURNACE AND THE NEW .- ENGINE BUILDING BEGUN .- DEVELOPMENT INTO MANY LINES.
Mingling with the evensong of the thrushes among the tall hem- locks that bordered each side of the road just beyond the boundary of what was then the town of Erie; accentuating the music of the wind sighing through the stiff foliage of these trees that dominated the forest for long distances upon either side of the flat, low ground that is now State street at the junction of Turnpike, comes the tinkle of bells, that is momentarily becoming more distinct. Presently the call of the driver is heard and the crack of his whip and pretty soon there swings into view a splendid team of six horses, driven by a Jehu, whose ex- pertness with the reins and skill with the long-lashed whip. proclaim him an old hand at the business. The two leaders of the team of six are provided with open-mouthed bells that hang below the collar and make music as the cavalcade proceeds and, standing by the roadside until the outfit has come opposite us, we can satisfy ourselves what manner of vehicle it is. The wagon is an old-time freighter. It is stout of build, and empty would alone be a pretty good load for a span of horses. The box is, like the rest of the wagon, strongly built, and it is rather deeper than the ordinary wagon-box of the present. With its diagonal braces on the sides and its flaring top and canvas cover, it proclaims at once the substantial qualities it possesses and its ca- pacity. It is on its way toward the city and if we could climb high enough to see over its edge we might make note of some of the con- tents. These would be found to consist of various cases, casks and bales-in short, a general assortment of the heavy merchandise of the time, for this wagon was engaged in the freighting trade which was conducted between this city and Pittsburg.
During the first years of the century the carrying of freight be- tween Erie and Pittsburg was a very important business, the chief commodity for a long time being salt, which was conveyed at the start by ox-teams, from the harbor of Erie to Waterford, where quite extensive warehouses and landings had been constructed to accom- modate the business. The salt was made at Salina, New York, reached Erie by way of the lake upon small vessels, was teamed across
689
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
to Waterford and there loaded upon flat-boats that conveyed it down the streams to Pittsburg. This trade continued for many years, at length-between 1812 and 1815-beginning to diminish by reason of the discovery of salt springs in the vicinity of Pittsburg, until at length it ceased entirely.
The business of freighting, however, did not cease with the dis- continuance of the trade in salt. The period of the six-horse teams was a good many years subsequent to the epoch of salt. A more im- portant commodity had replaced salt as the chief item of freight, and the team that swung into State street from the Turnpike road was engaged in the transportation of this newer and more important pro- duct.
This particular freighter had for its outgoing cargo pig iron, and the iron was shipped from Erie to Pittsburg! Nor did these wagons laden with iron always stop at Waterford. As the country developed the stage of water was not always to be relied upon ; and, as business grew, there also arose a demand for service more prompt. Delays. tolerated in the olden time, began to be looked upon as irksome and therefore it became necessary to drive farther in order to find a more constant and dependable means of transportation; one that even in the summer could be relied upon. Therefore, for a time the teaming was extended as far as to Franklin, where the Allegheny river ensured better boat service. Our driver with the long whip and the belled horses was coming in from Franklin.
But how about the pig iron that Erie was shipping to Pittsburg? That was made in Erie.
The first furnace established at this place was set up by a firm styled Hinkley, Jarvis & Co., who came here from Westfield. That was in 1833, and the works were erected on State street, near the corner of Eleventh, the land occupied extending from about where the Claus block now stands to the corner of Eleventh and back on the latter street three-fourths of the way to Peach street. At first it was a small affair, and consisted of one or two frame buildings. The power employed was obtained from one blind horse that walked in a circle, turning the main driving wheel.
They smelted iron in those days, and it was obtained from ore mined in this county. The ore was of the kind known as bog ore and was got near the head of the bay, on the Laird farm, now one of the Scott properties. The mining. quarrying or digging of this ore was a very considerable industry for a time, and it is recorded that a ma- terial amount of the ore was loaded on lighters or flat-bottomed craft at the head of the bay and in that way carried down to the land- ings at the foot of Peach and French streets. Most of it, however, was teamed in.
690
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
It was this bog iron that was convedted into pigs and shipped to Pittsburg and in process of time the trade amounted to considerable. It is not known today how long the pig iron trade continued. Perhaps not more than two or three years. But the business of the furnace steadily grew. There were changes at various times, and when the pig iron trade was at its best the firm was known as Lester, Sennett & Chester. Afterwards, by various transitions the business passed through the hands of Sennett & Co., Sennett, Barr & Co., Barr & John- son, Johnson, Black & Co., Black & Germer, until it has become what is known today as the Germer Stove Co.
In its early days the "Old Furnace," as it came to be known, made castings of every kind that there was demand for, but the principal product was stoves and plows. From time to time changes and bet- terments were added, until at length the whole area was occupied with buildings and in time-that, however, not so very long ago-a new site was chosen beside the railroad where the great industry of today is located.
There was development in another direction from the Old Fur- nace. It was in the nature of a swarming. In 1840 W. H. Johnson withdrew from the Old Furnace company, and, associating with him William and David Himrod and B. B. Vincent, organized what came to be known as the New Furnace. This concern went across State street and one square further up town, establishing itself in the square between Eleventh and Twelfth. east of State street. Like its pro- genitor, the New Furnace grew and prospered and raised up children to succeed it. The original firm was succeeded by Vincent, Himrod & Co., Tibbals, Shirk & Whitehead and at length the Chicago & Erie Stove Co., the last named at length going out of business.
But from the New Furnace, as from the old, there sprang a giant. An offshoot from the New Furnace was a firm that engaged in a new line of manufacture, that of engines, and in this Liddell, the Seldens, Col. Bliss, Joseph McCarter and others were engaged, one outcome being the present Erie City Iron Works, and another the old Erie Car Works. The Erie Engine Co. is also a pretty direct outgrowth of the New Foundry, and even the big Nagle industries are not improperly in a measure traced back to the common origin, the Old Foundry.
In the days when Lester, Sennett & Chester smelted bog iron and freighted it by six-horse team to the river on its way to Pittsburg, there was one very important factor, necessary to the proper and con- venient conduct of business, entirely lacking. That essential factor was money. There was none. They employed a force of skilled arti- sans and laborers-the men who mined and teamed the ore, the fur- nace men who smelted it, the moulders who worked it into form, the finishers and fitters who put the work together-these had all been
691
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
hired and their wages were due them. But there was no money. How, then, were they to be paid?
There was only one way, and that was to provide a substitute for money. This the employers were compelled to resort to, and they therefore paid their men in a sort of scrip that was exchangeable for goods at certain stores or castings at the foundry. Whether such a system would prove convenient or not needs no guessing. It was not convenient. It was a hardship of the worst kind and was endured only because there was no escape from it. Skilled labor might have found employment elsewhere, but how was skilled labor to effect its escape with no money to pay for its passage? In some instances men did tramp the long distances necessary to reach other points where work might be obtained, but the trouble was they were not sure they would be any better off elsewhere than in Erie. Money was scarce everywhere and what was to be had was, after all, not much, if any, better than the scrip in use in Erie, for it was not current anywhere else, much of it of no value in another part of the same state and prac- tically none of it of any use in another state.
In Erie there were men who worked year after year for a long time without ever receiving a dollar of real money. The late Mat- thew Barr used to relate an incident that occurred in the office of the Old Furnace. The bookkeeper came to Mr. Chester, then the treas- urer of the firm, one day, and, representing that one of the hands needed money to pay taxes on his farm, asked if it should be given him.
"How much does he want?"
"Six dollars," was the reply.
"Oh, no," said Mr. Chester, "we cannot give him so much as that at one time."
The bookkeeper, however, who had promised to do his best for the man, urged the claim, saying that he had not had any money since he had been serving as bookkeeper. This made an impression on the treasurer and the man was called in. As Mr. Chester handed the six dollars to the man he inquired :
"How long have you been working for this firm?"
"Ten years," was the reply.
"And how much money have you received in that time?"
"Just what I hold in my hands this moment. This is the first money I ever received for my work."
Think of it! Six dollars in ten years. All the rest of the time he, and all his shopmates were compelled to dicker and trade with the shinplaster substitutes for money that had been issued, squeezed and shaved wherever they undertook to trade, and no remedy in sight. What wonder the scrip came to be generally known as "Blue Ruin!" which was its popular cognomen.
692
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
But there did come a change, and from a source that serves to prove the Old Furnace was not the sole offender in the matter of put- ting home-made money into circulation. The state legislature passed an act making it unlawful to issue these paper substitutes for money.
Probably the act was passed with the purpose of affording relief to the working people, who ought each man to receive his full wages for the work he performed and receive it in lawful currency of the country, and the act no doubt was to compel the employer to pay his men in money. But if there was no money! This was the real situa- tion of affairs. The best there was, the notes issued by the state banks, was only a shade better than the "blue ruin" of the Old Furnace, and there was mighty little to be got of even the state bank notes.
Therefore, while the new law put a stop to the issue of the scrip, it paved the way for another medium, which the New Furnace at once began to issue. It had something the appearance of coins, was of various denominations, the pieces being of as many different sizes as they were of professed value. They were made of some metallic com- position of which lead was a large part, and the new currency was promptly dubbed "pewterinktum." Almost immediately it became the principal substitute for money and did not stop its travels when, having been paid out to the furnace hands for wages it was by them paid to the grocer, the butcher and the tailor. It came back in change. it passed from the merchants to the farmers, to the laborers about town, to the mechanics in other trades, and, of course, back to the furnace whence it had been originally issued to be again set in motion. Great was "pewterinktum." and the one advantage it had over the "blue ruin" that had been retired from its nefarious business was that it looked a trifle like real money and had something of the feel of genuine ducats.
But "pewterinktum" was only a part of the abomination of the times. They had then the "company store." Now don't think too harshly of this mercantile side-show of the furnace business of those days, for you must remember the merchants of Erie were not all en- thusiastically in favor of "pewterinktum" pay. Most of them looked at it askance, and nearly all would accept but a limited amount. At the company store, however, it was different. It had to be. But, on the other hand. the company store had the advantage of being in a po- sition to charge higher prices than the other stores did. The men paid in the bastard coin had to trade there, no matter what the prices.
But conditions improved. The times were not always hard times nor the money forever of uncertain and unsatisfactory character. Moreover, in the general development of the country, gates and ave- nues were opened up so that Erie emerged from its isolation in its own particular corner of the great American forest and came to touching hands with other towns that had emerged from their cor-
693
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
ners. They all came to be a part of the big world instead of each a miniature self-contained world. Railroads had come, and railroads worked a revolution. Erie had made a splendid break toward opening up the world when it shipped salt and pig iron to Pittsburg. But that was as nothing when the railroad revolution came. Erie had, in the iron business, been making stoves and plow points or an occasional pot or sap kettle, and these had been exchanged for the produce of the farm, and dicker had been the rule in business. Now the world out- side was in communication, and the wants of the world outside became known, and instead of making a few castings for home use, the fur- naces became engineering shops, and the New Furnace, now the Erie City Iron Works, began to build engines.
The real beginnings of the Erie City Iron Works, as has been stated in the early part of this chapter, were in the Old Furnace estab- lished at State and Eleventh streets by Hinkley, Jarvis & Co. Dis- tinctively, however, it came into being in 1864, when the business was purchased from Liddell, Selden & Bliss by George Selden and J. H. Bliss, and was given the name of the Erie City Iron Works. At that time it was located at the corner of State and Twelfth streets, and its business was the building of steam engines, boilers and sawmills. For a time the foundry business was separate and was called the Erie City Foundry (it was organized in 1868), and its owners, Bliss, Selden, Cleveland & Son. This dual arrangement continued until about 1880, when, for need of more room and better facilities, a tract of land was bought on both sides of East avenue at the railroad. The same year buildings were erected there and occupied. Growth was rapid in the new location, and the history of the concern has been a record of con- stant additions to the plant. The Erie City Iron Works was incorpor- ated in 1894. Two years ago the extensive plant of the Stearns Mfg. Co. (built in 1888, the company organized in 1855) was acquired by the Erie City Iron Works. In 1909 the plant of the latter company occupied a space of 23 acres.
For a good many years Erie has been known as the center of the engine and boiler manufacturing industry-more boilers and engines are built in Erie than in any other city in the United States, and some say than in any other city in the world. The engines and boilers, too, are of high grade, Erie engines for several special uses being regarded as superior to any others.
The first builders of engines in Erie were Stearns, Clark & Co., of the Presque Isle Iron Works on East Tenth street. This concern was organized in 1855, and was incorporated in 1872, and built engines, boilers and sawmills. Its shops extended along Tenth street from Holland to German, occupying half of the square at length. In 1888, to obtain more room and better facilities a new shop was erected on Wayne street at the railroad, where the business was continued until
694
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
1905. Large interests in the stock of the corporation had changed hands, and the capital was from other cities, and in the year named it was decided to wind up its affairs. The extensive real estate, in- cluding the large shops, was purchased by the Erie City Iron Works. The business, consisting of the patents, patterns, good-will, etc., were secured by others in Erie, so that out of the old there was organized a new Stearns Co., that has taken the shop formerly of the Ball Engine Co., at Twelfth and French streets, and besides the Heisler Locomo- tive Works, located, with the Globe Iron Works, on Sixteenth street west of Myrtle. Both of these concerns were chartered in 1902.
The third manufactory of engines in Erie was started in 1865, by Charles H. Lovrein and named the Bay State Iron Works, for Mr. Lovrein was from Massachusetts. It began business when the oil boom was at its height and prospered immediately. Soon afterwards L. H. Hall became a partner and in 1868 or 1869 Orange Noble bought the Lovrein interest. The business grew to large proportions, but, by the death of the principals, changes came upon the concern that brought about its dissolution. The shops at Third and Peach were closed in 1900. The business had, however, been bought, including patterns, by E. L. Burch, who, retaining the name of the Bay State Iron Works, opened up in 1903 at 319 State street. The Bay State Iron Works of today was chartered in 1905.
The Skinner Engine Company had its origin in 1873, when L. G. Skinner moved to Erie from Chittenango, New York, and taking a corner of the small Liley machine shop on State street near Four- teenth, began the manufacture of portable engines. His machinery, built on honor, by a capable engineer, soon came to be known, and in a short time. to obtain more room. the shop of John Coates farther down the street, was taken and a partner as well-T. C. Wood. Skin- ner & Wood erected the frame machine shop, with foundry addition, at the corner of Twelfth and Chestnut streets. in 1880-81, and began to build larger and special service engines. In 1905 the Skinner En- gine Co. was incorporated ; and in 1904 the first large brick building was built ; a second brick building was built in 1906, and a third was added in 1909.
The beginning of the very extensive Nagle industries was the frame shop on the corner of Sixteenth and Holland streets, built by T. M. Nagle in 1879. Mr. Nagle had been superintendent of the Erie City Iron Works, but in the year named decided to engage in business on his own account. His business has had a marvelous growth. A foundry was built on Sixteenth street in 1883. Two years later a large machine shop and boiler works, occupying two-thirds of the square opposite were erected. Then, on the east side of East avenue a spa- cious brick building was erected. The Pennsylvania Boiler Works, another immense structure, was built on the extension of Twelfth
695
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
street in 1890. In 1907 the very large brick shop on the southwest cor- ner of Twelfth street and East avenue was erected-the Standard Sawmill Machinery Company building adjoining on the west, being a Nagle industry. In 1909 still another great addition to the plant was made at the eastern end of the property beyond East avenue, making the length of that series of shops more than an eighth of a mile. The Nagle Engine & Boiler Works was incorporated in 1896.
The Erie Engine Works, incorporated in 1893, is the legitimate successor of Cleveland & Co., founders, at one time connected with the Erie City Iron Works and occupying the building at Twelfth and French streets that was altered over into the electric light station. Cleveland & Co. was organized in 1868. The engine building concern was known, before the charter was obtained from the state, as Cleve- land & Hardwick, and their shop was erected on Walnut street along- side the railroad.
The Ball Engine Co. was organized in 1881 and incorporated in 1883. The original Ball engine was the invention of F. H. Ball and for a time was built by the Stearns Mfg. Co. in their Tenth street shop. Upon the organization of the Ball Engine Co. a capacious machine shop and foundry was built on French street, extending from Twelfth to Thirteenth. Increasing business compelled a change, and in 1907 one of the finest shops in the city, located on Twelfth and Cranberry streets, built expressly for the company, was taken possession of. Almost immediately an enlarged foundry was built and in 1908 an extensive addition was made to the machine shop.
The Erie Manufacturing & Supply Co. was organized in 1890, doing a large mercantile business in mill and shop supplies at 1215-17 Peach street. In 1901 a machine shop was eretced on Raspberry street south of the railroad, where, besides other machine work, engines for special service are built. It was incorporated in 1894, and is a pros- perous and growing industry under the management of energetic and capable young men.
The Union Iron Works was established in 1890, for the manufac- ture of steel boilers. Its principal promoters were members of the Skinner Engine Co. and the Erie Engine Works, neither of these con- cerns having previously been in the business of manufacturing boilers. In 1893 a large shop was erected alongside the railroad at Raspberry street, and in 1908 an addition was built which doubled its capacity.
The direct descendant of the original "Old Furnace," started by Hinkley. Jarvis & Co., is the Germer Stove Co., incorporated in 1902, and today one of the largest manufacturing industries in Erie, while in its line, which is chiefly the manufacture of stoves, furnaces and ranges, it is among the leading in the country. The works were origin- ally at the corner of State and Eleventh streets, and during the period when the firm owning it was Barr, Johnson & Co., the name "Pioneer
696
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
Foundry" was applied to it in recognition of its place in local history. It grew with the growth of general business, and by dint of being up to the times. At first its "Morning Glory" base burning stove for hard coal and later the "Radiant Home," became deservedly popular. To obtain more room the large building on German street from the railroad to Sixteenth street was built in 1884. For a number of years the plant of the Chicago & Erie Stove Co. was occupied by the Lake- side Foundry Co., subsidiary to the Germer Stove Co., but in 1908 the extensive property of the American Malting Co., Sixteenth and Parade, was bought and altered over and added to. and in 1909 became a part of the Germer Company's plant, which now covers over five acres of ground, some of the buildings being five stories high.
Chronologically the South Erie Iron Works follows the Germer Stove Co., for it has been doing business since 1858, when it was or- ganized by Adam Acheson and William Henry. In a sense they were pioneers, for they ventured into the business without having had any sort of connection with what had been, and planted their shop a good long distance away in the country from the city of that time. It was in Millcreek township. In 1868 when South Erie was chartered as a borough, Acheson and Henry's foundry took the name of the new borough and was incorporated as the South Erie Iron Works. The brick buildings on Peach and Twentieth streets were erected 1871 to 1891, and a branch on Twenty-sixth and Maple streets in 1885. The latter was abandoned about ten years later. The corporation manufactures stoves, and does general foundry work.
The Griswold Manufacturing Co. is the successor of the "Butt Factory" as it was called, which was started on the bank of the canal west of Chestnut street in 1868, by J. C. and Samuel Selden and Mat- thew Griswold. The product was a separable door-butt-which was the specialty-and other articles of light hardware. In 1843 it had become known as the Selden & Griswold Mfg. Co., and its force of employes numbered twenty. When the closing of the canal had effected the opening of the streets, the Butt Factory was on Tenth street, but it had ceased to be called by that name for its product was greatly diversified, and in the course of time building succeeded build- ing until the plant extended to Walnut. In 1897 there was a reorgan- ization and the Griswold Mfg. Co. was chartered. In 1903 the old plant was abandoned and the building that had been the manufactory of the Shaw Piano Co. was taken possession of, and numerous other build- ings added, the plant now occupying an entire square bounded by Cascade, Twelfth, Raspberry and the railroad.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.