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 76
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The National Foundry Co. was incorporated in 1899, but it is the legitimate successor of the Erie Car Wheel Works, organized by W. R. Davenport and John Fairbairn about 1866 or 1868. The same firm was interested, with others, in the Erie Car Works organized in
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1868, and at one time the principal industry in Erie. It was burned in 1894. The manufacture of car wheels was discontinued when the car works of Davenport, Fairbairn & Co. ceased business, but the foundry business continued ; the Davenport interest in it continuing and being at the present time represented by Charles W. Davenport, a son of W. R., and president of the National Foundry Co. In 1906 plans were perfected for the manufacture of steel castings by the open hearth process, and a large addition to the plant was built.
One of the largest manufacturing concerns in the city and one that, under a single name, though with some variations upon it, has been continuously in business longer than any other that ever did business in Erie, is the Jarecki Manufacturing Co. The corporation manufactures brass and iron goods for plumbers and steamfitters, radiators, and goods of that kind, and the brass works of the Jarecki Mfg. Co., if not the largest in its line in the country, is one of the largest. The business was founded in 1852 by Henry Jarecki, who in the directory of a year or two later advertised his place on State street between Eighth and Ninth streets (it is a Greek confectionery storc now) as an "iron fence, brass foundry and gun shop," and catalogued his specialties to be: "Iron fence, railings, fire-proof doors and shut- ters, awning frames, etc. Keys made, locks repaired and bell hanging attended to. All kinds of blacksmith work done in rear of the foun- dry." Evidently he was the handiest man in Erie at that time. The discovery of oil came shortly afterwards. The discovery of Henry Jarecki occurred at about the same time, for his was the nearest man- ufactory of brass fittings to the Oil Creek field, and brass fittings were demanded. In 1865, the style of the manufactory was different, and the advertisement read: "Petroleum Brass & Iron Works, Henry Jarecki & Co., Ninth and Holland, manufacturers of drilling tools (a superior article). We are using the best charcoal hammered iron for the jars; the best Norwegian iron for pins and sockets, and the best English steel for drills and rimmers, all of which are made by first class workmen. Gas pipe and fittings; seamless brass chamber oil pumps ; plunger rods with stuffing boxes and tees, and quite a cata- logue of brass pipe fittings." That first shop is still standing-added to and built upon, but still discernable in the great collection of build- ings, filling most of the square, that compose the brass department of today. Large additions were made in 1872 and 1888, and repeatedly, up to the present time, new construction has been added. In 1886 an iron foundry was built at Twelfth and Chestnut, extending to the railroad and occupying half a city square, while in 1909 another large addition was begun. In 1873 the Jarecki Manufacturing Co., Limited. was organized, and in 1897 a new charter for the Jarecki Manufactur- ing Co. was granted by the state.
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In 1868 the Erie Car Works was organized out of a car-building concern, started as a branch of the Erie City Iron Works at State and Twelfth streets. At first a shop on Sassafras and Twelfth, afterwards the Erie & Pittsburg railroad shops, was used, but immediately a new site was selected at Cascade and Sixteenth streets where, in the course of time, thirteen acres of ground was covered by the plant, nearly 1,000 men were employed and twenty box freight cars were com- pleted in a day. William R. Davenport was the president and mana- ger, and W. A. Galbraith secretary and treasurer. During the panicky times of the early nineties it was shut down, and on the night of Sep- tember 24, 1894, it was completely destroyed by fire. Mr. Davenport had died suddenly at Buffalo in 1888. The Erie Car Works, Limited, did not resume after the fire. However, there was a resurrection. Two members of the original force, foremen named William Hamilton and Julius C. Knoll, though with a limited amount of capital at their com- mand, embarked in the business, undertaking repairs for the railroad companies as well. Their courage and faith won out. The business steadily grew. Shops were erected on the next square, directly west of the old car works, and enlarged from time to time. New labor sav- ing devices were introduced and new lines taken on, to be in keeping with the developments of the day, and at the present time the Erie Car Works is one of the leading industries of Erie.
The Erie Forge was an outgrowth of the original Erie Car Works. but a separate enterprise. In the manufacture of car axles it found no small item of its business for a number of years. It was devoted to the manufacture of heavy forgings. It was organized in 1872, through the efforts of John P. Harrington, and located on the site of the present Forge, on Cascade street, then alongside the canal. The works were burned in December, 1879, but were at once rebuilt on a much larger scale. Business was continued by the old corporation until 1903, when a reorganization was effected and a new charter obtained for the Erie Forge Company, of which Robert F. Devine is president. A second fire, in May, 1903, destroyed a large part of the works, and again, upon rebuilding, the works were much enlarged. In fact expansion became continuous, the corporation in 1909 adding. besides other facilities to increase the capacity, an open hearth furnace for the conversion of scrap metal into steel to be employed in the manufacture of steel forgings.
The Erie Malleable Iron Co. was organized in 1880, by Prescott Metcalf, John Clemens and others and engaged, with success from the very beginning, in the manufacture of malleable and gray iron cast- ings. The original shop on Cherry street, extended from Twelfth street to the railroad, occupying, with its grounds and outbuildings. probably a quarter of the square. Additions and enlargements have, however, been so numerous as to be regarded almost as a regular
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thing, until at the present time the entire square is practically under one roof, while a considerable portion of the square west of Cherry street is already occupied by buildings. From the time of its inception it has had a Metcalf for president. In 1900 there was a reorganization, when the Erie Malleable Iron Co. was chartered with George R. Met- calf as president, C. A. McSparren secretary, and B. J. Walker vice- president and treasurer.
In 1871 there was organized in Erie a manufacturing concern called the Derrick & Felgemaker Pipe Organ Co., a large building was erect- ed on Twenty-fifth street near Ash, and the business was begun, the plant or the principal part of the outfit being brought from Buffalo, where Messrs. Derrick and Felgemaker had been in business. The Erie enterprise fell through, however, by reason of someone's misman- agement probably. At any rate Mr. Felgemaker withdrew and set up for himself at No. 1313 State street. He was successful, and continued to be so. In 1888, more room being required, a lot was bought at the corner of Nineteenth and Sassafras and a building was erected the same year. The Felgemaker church organs are well known north and south, and the middle west is in a sense filled with them. The A. B. Felge- maker Erie Organ Co. was incorporated in 1905, Mr. Felgemaker hav- ing died that year.
The Henry Shenk Co. was incorporated in 1901, but the business was begun by Henry Shenk in 1863. He first came into prominence by securing the contract for erecting the State Reformatory at Hunt- ingdon, in the construction of which he introduced methods that proved to be innovations in the building line, and notwithstanding he under- bid the rest of the state, made a handsome profit. When they grew to manhood his sons, trained in every detail of the business, became his partners, and at length it was decided to form a corporation. Among the many large buildings built by the Shenks are the P. & L. E. station, the Carnegie library, the Hotel Schenley, the Jos. A. Horne building and many other large and costly structures in Pittsburg. The mill at the corner of Twelfth and Sassafras streets furnishes all the finished woodwork for any contract undertaken. It was built in 1887.
In 1866 Andrew Voelk & Co. opened a small machine shop in a frame building on State street above Twelfth and called it the Hum- boldt Iron Works. From time to time there were changes in the firm, and at length Mr. Voelk retired and Capt. Davis and Ezra Diefendorf were at the head of affairs. Finally in 1886, it became the property of Leonard D. Davis, son of the captain, and in 1891 there was formed the Davis-Farrar Co. (C. W. and W. T. Farrar) that built a shop on Front street near State. In 1900 there was a reorganization, when the Erie Pump and Engine Co. was chartered. In 1908 the Erie Ma- chine Shop was consolidated with the Pump & Engine Co.
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The Brown Folding Machine Co. organized as a limited copart- nership in 1884, engaged in the manufacture of newspaper and book folding machines in what had been the foundry building of Black & Germer on West Eleventh street. The machines manufactured were from patents obtained by Mr. Brown, and Wellington Downing was manager, his father and he being large stockholders. Mr. Brown severed his connection with the firm in 1894. In 1903 the Brown Fold- ing Machine Co. was chartered by the state. In 1908 a new and very complete shop was erected on the corner of Eleventh and French streets.
The Hays Manufacturing Co. was incorporated in 1898, but dates its beginning back to 1865 when G. and F. Jarecki began the manu- facture of brass goods on Eleventh street between State and Peach. The Messrs. Hays were admitted to the firm in 1870, when the name was changed to Jarecki, Hays & Co., which continued until 1887, when the name Hays Manufacturing Co. was adopted. The business grew steadily until in 1898 a charter was obtained from the state after a reorganization had been effected. In 1907, to meet the demands for more space, new buildings were erected at the corner of Twelfth and Liberty, and these were materially enlarged in 1909.
The flouring mills of today, with one exception, date back into the misty past, for the milling business as it is commonly understood, was one of the first necessities of the early settlers. The first of the flour, or grist mills was that built by John Cochran in 1801, and what remains of it and its reconstructed buildings still stands at the corner of State street and Eliot avenue, near Glenwood Park. It became known successively as the Eliot mill and the Densmore mill, and the Densmore name is still associated with the milling business in Erie, Fred Densmore, a son of the original (William) Densmore, being engaged in milling at Sixteenth and State, in the old Erie City mill, his company chartered in 1907 as the William Densmore Co. The Reed mill, near Fifth and Parade, and the Robert Large mill, Eleventh and French, long ago passed from existence. In 1834-5 the Fairmount flouring mill, on East Eighth street was built by E. D. Gunnison and Abraham Johnson, Jehiel Towner being long chief miller. This mill was bought by P. & O. E. Crouch in 1859, and has been operated suc- cessively by that firm, J. B. Crouch & Co., H. L. Crouch & Co., and now by N. Seymour Crouch. The Hopedale mill, still standing on State street and Hill road, was built in 1850 by Henry Gingrich, operated for a time by Oliver & Bacon, who left it to become owners of the Canal mill on Myrtle street (torn down in 1908), and then was again oper- ated by Mr. Gingrich and later by W. H. Gingrich and J. J. Omer. It is now idle. The Merchant mills on Holland street and the railroad was built in 1858 as a feed mill. It was converted into a flour mill by O. E. and Phineas Crouch in 1873. The mill was twice burned, in
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1868, before the Crouch Brothers were makers of flour, and again in 1891. It was rebuilt in 1893. Crouch Bros. & Co. became a corpora- tion in 1892.
The brewing industry began in Erie in 1815, when Major David McNair began to make beer on the Turnpike near where the railroad was afterwards built. Soon after the Germans became an important constituent of the population Jacob Diefenthaler began the brewing business and later sold to John Knobloch. It was located on French street between Third and Fourth. A Mr. Jacobi started another brew- ery hard by which was sold to G. L. Baker, who converted it into an ale brewery, when, in the sixties Jacobi built a large brew-house on Fourth street, west of Cherry on the edge of the big ravine. The Eagle brewery on State street near Twenty-second, was started by Fry & Schaaf in 1846, and later sold to Henry Kalvelage; the National on Fifth, near Parade, in 1848 by Jacob Fuess, and the present F. Koehler brewery about the same time by Jacob Dietz. In 1867 there were eleven beer breweries in Erie with an average capacity of 200 barrels per day. The mutations of business have changed matters, so that there are now in operation six, if the Vogt brewery is included, though two of them do little, if any, business. Of these breweries three were united under one corporate management, the Erie Brewing Co., char- tered in 1899, including the National brewery of C. M. Conrad, the brewery of Fred Koehler & Co., and the Eagle Brewery of Jackson Koehler & Co. The Consumers Brewing Co., incorporated in 1899, which in 1907 changed its name to the Wayne Brewing Co., was the direct successor of Downer & Howard, ale brewers, and that suc- ceeded Alfred King, who for years conducted the business at Seven- teenth and. Parade.
Allied to the brewing business was that of the manufacture of malt, the pioneer in which was Alfred King. It was begun in 1841, and introduced the cultivation of barley in Erie county, which was engaged in to a very large extent for many years. The first large malt house built by Mr. King still stands, a picturesque ruin on Paradc street near Eighteenth, and another owned by him that stood on the canal near the weigh lock basin, was burned in 1865. Men and firms prominent in malting in the past were Birdsall & Parsons, J. S. Riddle, and Jacob Weschler, the latter operating two large houses, on Ninth street, built by the side of the canal and the other on Parade street at the railroad. Both of these last named passed under the control of . the American Malting Co., and were abandoned about 1906.
Erie's development is due almost entirely to manufacturing. Al- ready the history of those that have endured for a generation or more and that have attained to great proportions has been reviewed. It would be impossible within a single volume to take up separately the
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numerous and diversified industries that flourish in Erie today and present them as they each deserve. It is not well, however, to ignore any of them. Many of them are yet small, but, looking back at the beginnings of those that are today great, scarcely one can be named that did not have a modest beginning. It may be so with scores of enterprises that today in Erie are in their novitiate, and may in the course of time take rank among the largest in the land.
No enterprise could have had a more modest start than the big Watson Paper Mills. When the late H. F. Watson, in 1874, without capital began the business of distilling coal tar, the most optimistic seer would not have ventured to prophesy the result. From tar, to the treatment of paper for roofing, and then to the manufacture of the paper ; later to making different kinds of paper and for varied nses ; to combining asbestos with paper, and then to meeting every demand along the particular line he had opened up, adding building to building until a full square was occupied, and then extending to other squares -there is an example in this of what the small things of today may grow to be tomorrow. The latest addition to this mammoth concern, built at the harbor in 1902, is itself a large manufacturing plant, though but a fraction of the whole.
Another example is the Lovell Manufacturing Co., started by M. N. Lovell in 1879. Then it was spring beds that were made-"the best bed on earth," he called it-and the workshop was on two floors of a building on Cheapside, as French street at the Park used to be called. In 1883 the first building was erected on Thirteenth street near French, and the manufacture of clothes wringers was begun, and the business developed so that a large addition was made in 1889; another and larger, extending to French street in 1899, and yet an- other, almost doubling the shop space in 1909. It is today the largest manufactory of wringers and rubber rolls in existence, is entirely in- dependent of the "combination," and sends its product to every part of the world.
There are a few exceptions in Erie to the rule of small begin- nings. For example, there is the Hammermill Paper Co.'s mills, in which more than a million dollars is invested in the manufacture of writing papers out of wood. The company was organized in 1898 by Ernst R. Behrend & Co., who had learned the business in Germany, where the father of the Behrends was one of the leading paper manu- facturers of Europe. The business in Erie was started on a large scale, but in ten years it had increased to five times its original pro- portions and in 1909 steps to double is capacity were taken.
The United States Horse Shoe Co., incorporated in 1904, is an- other example. Its large mill on East Lake road was opened in March, 1905. During the winter of 1908 the plant was doubled in size. In 1907 the Federal Mfg. Co., which might be considered a subsidiary
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concern, was chartered, and manufactures toe-calks for horse and mule shoes. The horseshoe works had the advantage of having in Mr. L. A. McElroy, its president and manager, a man experienced in the particular line of business engaged in, and especially in the prac- tical details.
A third example of an enterprise starting in "full panoplied," is the Perry Iron Co., incorporated in 1906. The blast furnace of this corporation was built on the eastern end of the "pike ponds," utilizing in the construction of the buildings for the cement work, material from the old "sand beach," land once thought to be of no practical use. The furnace was lighted in June, 1907, operating a single stack, but. within a year, business pointed toward enlargement. The same in- terests organized the Erie Coke Co., incorporated in 1907, to manu- facture coke and other coal products, and secured land for the plant, but were halted by the "panic." This concern, also, has the advantage of practical men in Mr. Clark and Mr. Williams.
These came from without. They came because of Erie's position in the world of manufacturing, and also because of its advantageous situation with reference to railroads and the lake. It was the same ad- vantage which prompted the General Electric Co., to select Erie as the base of future operations and to secure by purchase a tract of 800 acres just east of the city, in 1908. This tract of land, one and a quarter square miles in area, extends from the shore of the lake to the L. S. & M. S. Railway, and plans for its occupancy already prepared, it is said, in- volve the expenditure of $10,000,000. The last named has to do with the future of Erie. The city of today was built up out of smaller things that originated within Erie itself, and these, being legion, in the ag- gregate of their efforts amount to other millions invested and millions expended in wages every year, that go toward the upbuilding of the city. The story of these is the history of the building of a city. Those that have been but now are not may have a chapter of their own. Those that still are, and continue their good work cannot be passed over without a place in the lists.
The tanning industry was one of the earliest here. As early as 1805 there were two, one built by Ezekiel Dunning on Holland street near Fifth and afterward known as the Sterrett tannery, the other by Samuel & Robert Hays on Eleventh near French. In 1820 William Arbuckle established one on Eighteenth street near Myrtle, and soon afterward Luther P. Searle built one on Ninth street, known for years as the J. J. Fuessler tannery. In 1840 John H. Walker built a tannery on Eighth street near Holland that was burned down in 1859, and in 1862 Joseph Richtscheit built one on Eleventh street near German. All of these were long since discontinued. Of the tanneries now in existence the Gunnison tannery, built in 1857 by C. E. Gunnison & Co., was enlarged in 1886, and continued under the original firm name un- Vol. I-45
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til 1897, the longest business period for any firm in Erie, and is now operated by Charles Gunnison & Co., sons of one of its founders. The Streuber tannery was started by John Streuber in 1861, greatly en- larged during the seventies, and is still operated, under the manage- ment and ownership of Emil Streuber.
The business of building vessels and boats dates back to the time of the Reeds and Richardses, when many of the large steamboats of the time were built here. In later years W. W. Loomis was exten- sively engaged, and in 1866 John D. Paasch began the business, at the same time conducting a boat livery. Mr. Paasch was succeeded by Paasch Brothers, his sons, in 1893, and they, greatly enlarging their scope, are now the principal builders of boats and vessels in Erie, being equipped with a mill and dry dock.
The manufacture of clothing was begun in 1869 by the Levi Brothers in a store room on State street in Wright's block on State street. There have been since that date several changes in the firm, the present style being Jacob Levi, Son & Co., doing business as the Standard Mfg. Co., and after various removals to meet the demands of a growing business, the Second Ward Market house property, cor- ner of Parade and Twelfth was bought and occupied in 1907. The Straus Manufacturing Co., now in the Schlosser block on State street, in the same line of business, was founded in 1882 at 510 and 512 State street by Neuberger & Straus, removed in 1898 to 1307 State and in 1902 to their present location.
The manufacture of bricks was first undertaken in 1803 by Isaac Austin and B. Rice, but the most famous of Erie brick yards was that of Emanuel Goodrich, which, started at an early date, continued until the seventies, and until the immense excavation that composes so prominent a feature of the landscape near Twenty-sixth and Peach streets was effected. There were many others that endured but for a time. Of those that remain, the Dudenhoefer yard was opened in 1872 in the vicinity of Kearsarge. H. C. Dunn engaged in business first in the Walnut Creek valley, but in 1892 moved to the East Lake road at Lighthouse run, and in 1895 set up extensive works on the extension of Twelfth street, beyond the city limits, the business being continued after his death by his daughter Jessie M. Dunn. Thomas J. Paradine & Son in 1892 opened a manufactory of pressed bricks from shale on the Waterford road near Glenwood Park.
The Exhibition Show Case Company, started by P. Henrichs in 1877 at Eighteenth and Peach streets built the new factory on Ger- man street and the Nickel Plate Railroad in 1892.
In 1878 the Reifel Pump Works was established and in 1888, built a large factory on West Twelfth street. At present the works are lo- cated on Twelfth street at the P. & E. railroad crossing.
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In 1880 the Keystone Carriage Works were established by Harri- son & Leemhuis, and in 1876 the firm became Leemhuis Bros. Other carriage manufactories are Fries Bros., established in 1891, and H. M. Totman in 1893.
In 1885, the Erie Machine Shop of P. W. Dietly, manufacturer of steam engines and road rollers was established, the shop on Thirteenth and Peach erected in 1894. N. A. Watson, manufacturer of steam specialties, began business in 1885, and opened the new shop at 2016 State street in 1904.
In 1887 the Johannesen Mfg. Co., manufacturers of fine cabinet work, began business at Eleventh and French, and in 1909 removed to the old Taper Sleeve Pulley Works building on West Twelfth. The same year the planing mill business of Lyman Felheim at Sixteenth and State streets, was begun.
In 1889 the Erie Oil Co. was established for the manufacture of lubricating oils and greases and a refinery was erected on Myrtle street near the railroad. The company is composed of Julius C. Siegel and Louis Streuber.
In 1890 the Hollands Mfg. Co. was incorporated, the line being gas burners and tools. The same year the E. M. Link Machinery Co. was chartered ; they make heating and ventilating appliances and sawmill machinery. Adolph Schroeck's planing mill was established in 1890.
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