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 79
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The cause of the decline of the oil refining industry at Erie may, however, have been something different. As one gentleman, formerly engaged in the industry, suggests, it may have been the fault of Erie itself. The time of which I am writing was considerably anterior to the rise of Rockefeller and the Standard Oil Company. The real prob- lem of the time was how to obtain direct connection with the oil field. Then pipe lines existed, if at all, as a dream. Mort M. Moore once stated that he had conceived the idea of pumping oil through pipes from Titusville to Erie, but the people laughed at him. It would have been the salvation of Erie if it had been put into operation. But peo- ple had no faith in it. The only plan that commended itself was the building of a railroad. It was feasible. Indeed it was not a very dif- ficult undertaking. A line could have been built from Petroleum Cen- tre to Erie, a distance of only 45 miles, that would have put this city in a commanding position. As a matter of fact the feasibility of the plan was seen and Hon. Morrow B. Lowry proceeded at once to or- ganize a company called the Pennsylvania Petroleum Railroad. The stock was subscribed, the first 10 per cent. was paid in and grading was begun. In Erie excavation of the road bed was pushed up Liberty
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street from Eighth to Twenty-sixth street, and work of a similar kind was done on different portions of the surveyed route. Then suddenly the whole project failed. For what reason? Who can tell? Did rival railroad interests interfere to crush the enterprise, or was it for lack of faith by Erie people? Whatever the reason, work stopped and the Pennsylvania Petroleum Railroad died before it even had existence. Meanwhile a direct route between the oil region and Cleveland was established. It was three times as long as the Pennsylvania Petroleum would have been, but it built up an industry that built up Cleveland. It developed a Rockefeller, who in time controlled the entire oil busi- ness of the country.
Gradually the refining industry at Erie died out. It was not through the work of the Standard Oil Company either-that is to say, there was no buying up of plants here and closing them. One by one they fell away. It may be true as some say that by this time railroad discrimination was against Erie. It is not to be doubted that there may have been truth in the statement that oil was shipped through Erie from the oil region to Cleveland for less than it would be carried to Erie, for if the Lake Shore Railroad wanted to carry oil at all it would have to do so in competition with the regular Cleveland route. It is said that for a time some refiners had crude oil billed to Cleveland from Bradford and other oil region points and by stopping the cars at Erie by some special arrangement, they succeeded in reducing their freight bills. But there was little of it done, if it was done at all. Fi- nally, in the '70s the last of them went under. They were the refineries of David T. Jones and W. J. Watkins. The story of the oil industry was closed.
Today we can appreciate what might have been. Possibly if there had been more faith and energy and enterprise-if Erie people had had the courage to dare, and mayhap to hazard, there would have been Rockefellers right here. Forty-five miles of railroad might have made many Erie millionaires and built a city of hundreds of thousands-if the people had but risen to the occasion. But they did not, and oil re- fining is now among Erie's vanquished industries.
And there was another industry, dependent upon oil production, which once thrived in Erie, but is now no more. That was the manu- facture of oil barrels. For a time it was of great importance, and large plants gave employment to many men. There were two of espe- cially large proportions. One was located at the harbor, on Front street, between State and French, operated by Finn & Stearns. An- other stood on the east side of the canal against the Sixth street bridge. This was the Selden & Bliss factory. There was a third at about the corner of Sixteenth and Sassafras streets, the property of Heitzman & Liebel. I cannot tell what the output of these several
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cooperages amounted to during the hey-dey of their existence, but it was very large. The barrels were made of oak with glued seams, and they found a market not only in Erie, but throughout the oil region. It was no uncommon thing for an Erie refiner to give an order for hundreds of barrels at a time, and the constantly increasing demand which made it impossible with hand work to keep up with orders re- sulted in the installation of machines which took the place of many coopers.
Of course, with the decline of the refining industry in Erie the cooperages suffered. But there were other influences at work. Com- petition, of course, arose and interfered with the outside market, but in time there came a revolution in methods. Tank cars and pipe lines gave the coup de grace to the oil barrel industry. The Erie fac- tories, however, did not live long enough for that. In 1866, or about then, the organization of the Erie City Iron Works took Selden & Bliss from wood working into the iron trade and they became suc- cessors in direct line of the New Furnace, and by steady advance grew to be what this great industry is today. Finn & Stearns survived but a short time.
There are other vanished industries, such for example as the manu- facture of starch in which Richard Gaggin was the head, and of woolen cloth (I need not tell about making of hoop-skirts). Each might de- serve a chapter. Meanwhile it is worth considering that the people of Erie are rather more interested in securing new and the enlarge- ment of the present industries than in what was, and it is gratifying to note that the prospects ahead are very rosy indeed. Might-have- been is very well, and retrospection is useful in its way. As a rule Erie of today is looking ahead.
For more than thirty years one of the leading industries in Erie, and among the most prosperous was that of the Burdett Organ Co., manufacturers of parlor organs. The acquisition of this industry for Erie was one of the most picturesque in its details of any incident in the history of manufacturing in Erie. The Burdett organ was devel- oped by Riley Burdett, was built in Chicago, and the Burdett Celeste organ advertised in nearly every publication in the land, was known from one end of the country to the other. The factory was destroyed in the great fire at Chicago in 1871. Immediately Prescott Metcalf of Erie got into communication with the burned out Burdett people and made a proposition, which was accepted with the provision that a new shop be built at once. Not an hour's time was wasted. A new company was organized; work was begun on the new building and, notwithstanding the winter season, operations continued even through zero weather, which compelled the masons to keep fires going on their
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mortar boards to keep the mortar from freezing. The four-story build- ing was completed early in 1822; in six months' time the force trans- planted from Chicago, was at work in Erie. More than one fortune was made out of the Burdett organ factory, which was closed in 1875, when the short-lived Burdett Piano Co. was organized. The old fac- tory gave place in 1907 to an enlargement of the Malleable Iron Works.
In the manufacture of bicycles Erie held a very important posi- tion during several years of the period when the popularity of this vehicle was at its height. The Black Manufacturing Co. was organ- ized in 1894 and began the manufacture of the Tribune bicycle. It was from the beginning classed among those of the highest grade, and the business grew with rapidity. Large brick shops were erected on the corner of Liberty and Nineteenth streets, and hundreds of men found steady employment, for the product of the factory found ready sale. In the year 1899, however, there came the organization of what was popularly called the bicycle trust, and of this the Black Mfg. Co. became a part. Within a year the business of manufacturing bicycles in Erie had about come to a close, saved from utter extinction by the Roths, who continued their Pennsylvania bicycle shop, until their automobile business interfering with it in Erie, the "wheels" were made elsewhere.
Other Erie industries, prominent for a time, that have been aban- doned, are the Oliver & Bacon flouring mills, the Erie Torsion Spring Co., the Forsyth scale works, the Bauschard planing mills, the Olds and the Gunnison wooden pump manufactories, the malt industry begun by Alfred King in the forties and developed to its height by the Weschlers; the Shaw Piano Co., and the Taper Sleeve Pulley works.
CHAPTER XI .- BUSINESS AFFAIRS.
BOARD OF TRADE AND CHAMBER OF COMMERCE .- OTHER ORGANIZA- TIONS .- BANKS, OLD AND NEW .- MERCHANTS, EARLY AND LATE.
For nearly seventy years Erie merchants and manufacturers con- ducted their business affairs entirely independent of one another, and with no regard whatever to general results nor to the welfare of the community at large. Enterprises originated, to be sure, and were forwarded, not a few with success, but there had never been an or- ganization that afforded an opportunity for men to get together to dis- cuss matters of general interest and devise plans for improvements in business or in public matters. In 1874, however, a number of the leading men got together and decided to form an association which, if it did nothing more, would enable its members to occasionally touch elbows and gather together facts with relation to the business of the city that at least would be informing, even if it did not suggest new avenues for business or industry that might be opened. And so the Board of Trade was formed. A lease was made for a suite of rooms on the second floor of the Opera House building on North Park Row, and the Board was organized with William L. Scott as president and John J. Wadsworth as secretary, and about ninety members, including the leading business men of the time. It soon came to be that whatever of a character to interest or affect the city came forward, the Board of Trade took it up in some way or another, at least to the extent of in- formally discussing it as the members sat around the tables of the board rooms. The city was really benefited from the start by the organization of the Board of Trade.
The first project of any weight to have the attention of the Board was the railroad proposition that after a few meetings blossomed out into the Erie Southern Railroad Company. For many years Erie be- lieved it wanted, and thought it needed, a line of railroad to connect with the New York & Erie, or the Atlantic & Great Western, as it was then called, and the scheme that came up during the beginning of the Board of Trade's career was to effect the building of a branch road from Erie to Mill Village. The company organized and received sub- scriptions, and part of the money subscribed was paid in, but the
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project failed before long, for reasons that at the time appeared good and sufficient. The Board of Trade, however, long ago justified its existence, and became in a multitude of ways useful to the city of Erie. The annual compilation of facts pertaining to the business of the city was, from the very start, popular, and always regarded as highly beneficial. It was looked upon as the periodical reading of the business pulse, and, being perfectly reliable, the greatest dependence was put in it.
The Board remained but a short time in the Opera House building, changing to a store room in the Reed House. This was found to be not altogether suitable, so that when Rosenzweig's block was trans- formed into the Exchange building, in 1886, a suite of rooms on the second floor of the State street front were taken and furnished. After nine years the board of trade, carried by the tide of business farther up town, becanie quartered on the second floor of the Penn building that, in 1895, had been reconstructed out of the Noble block. There have been many presidents of the Board of Trade, as many as the years of its existence, for it has been a rule to have this honor passed around. But there have been only two who filled the office of secre- tary, John J. Wadsworth, elected at the beginning, and continued until advanced to the post of president in 1881, when Douglas Benson was elected and has been secretary ever since.
The Erie Chamber of Commerce was launched March 6, 1902. The originators of this body were James M. Sherwin, Fred. L. Cleveland and F. S. Phelps, who got their heads together one evening and agreed in a week to have a meeting, at which there should be, besides them- selves, three persons invited by each. This dozen met on the date appointed, talked the matter over and on March 6, 1902. there was given at the Reed House a Greater Erie dinner, at which 260 sat down. It was a spirited affair, especially the talk-fest after the eating was over. Mr. Sherwin gave an outline of the plans. Mayor Hardwick spoke on "The Needs of the Hour"; D. W. Harper spoke on "The Councils"; George B. Taylor discussed the prospective "Boys' Club," and other speakers were C. F. Hummel, H. N. Fleming, William Walk- er, William E. Hayes, Willis Brown, Ernst R. Behrend, Joseph B. Campbell, W. P. Gifford and G. W. Brown. The organization of the Chamber of Commerce then was effected by the election of these direc- tors: J. M. Sherwin, J. W. Hardwick, W. J. Stern, Frank D. Schultz, F. L. Cleveland, George W. Brown, C. H. Kessler, M. Liebel, Jr., J. B. Arbuckle, D. W. Harper, E. A. Davis, Henry E. Fish, F. S. Phelps. The board of directors elected J. M. Sherwin president and J. B. Ar- buckle treasurer. Subsequently John T. Brew was chosen as secre- tary. The same year, 1902, the Chamber of Commerce was incorpor- ated.
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The place of meeting was on the third floor of the Marks building, which contained a large hall for the general and public gatherings, and business proceeded with a quickstep movement. From the commit- tees' reports and the president's annual message at the end of the first year, a summary showed that the following matters and things had been taken up and moved forward, some of them to accomplishment : A proposal or plan for a sewage disposal and filtration plant, by Mr. Behrend. That from the L. S. & M. S. Railroad privileges had been secured by which Erie passengers might be taken on the 6 o'clock west-bound train, including chair car and buffet privileges. That these conventions had been secured : Odd Fellows, Democratic State Con- vention, Pennsylvania Press Association, State Bar Association, League of Republican Clubs, Hibernian Convention, Teachers' Con- vention, Paper-makers; while the State Firemen's Convention had been secured for the next year. The improvement of Cascade Park had been secured. There had been a fitting celebration of the Fourth of July. Others matters begun were: For manual training in the schools ; good roads; East Side improvement. A recommendation made was to secure the location in Erie of a blast furnace.
It was a busy year, but interest continued right along, each suc- ceeding annual meeting bristling with reports of business accom- plished. The membership grew steadily until it had reached the 1,000 mark. Mr. Brew was succeeded in turn by R. H. Arbuckle, Frank McSparren, H. T. Leasure and the present secretary, Jacob Umnitz. In 1906 two store rooms in the Reed House were taken and the old dining room of the hotel was converted into an assembly hall in which meetings and expositions are held. Among the things accomplished, to the credit of the chamber of commerce, are these : The Perry Iron Co.'s blast furnace plant completed in 1907. The new public steam- boat landing at the foot of State street, built by the state and dedi- cated June 24, 1909. Public playgrounds established, the first one opened in 1908 and the second in 1909. Regular calls at Erie by the Cleveland and Buffalo line of passenger steamers. Besides, work has been begun to secure the abolition of telegraph poles, a chamber of commerce building, the abolition of grade crossings by the railroads, and public comfort stations.
The Erie Business Men's Exchange was chartered October 8, 1900. It was created for the encouragement and protection of trade and com- merce, the exchange of useful information, and mutual protection in regulating credits. Its first directors were W. E. Hayes, A. M. Howes, E. A. Davis, E. J. Riblet, P. A. Meyer, L. H. Russell. Conrad Fleck- inger, J. H. Birkenkamp and A. H. Knoll.
The Erie Builders' Exchange was incorporated May 2, 1901. Its purpose is the encouragement and protection of trade and commerce ;
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the exchange of useful information, views and sentiments, and the cultivation of agreeable business relations among those who may be- come members. The directors under the charter were Charles E. Shenk, George B. McIntyre, P. F. Rastatter, Jacob Malthaner, H. P. Weller, E. R. Carroll, A. Schroeck, James B. Yard, Henry C. Dunn, Robert T. Shank, U. S. Swiegard, John O. Jones, E. W. Constable.
The Retail Merchants' Association of Pennsylvania was organ- ized at Reading in 1899, its declared objects being: To maintain a state association and organize and unite organizations and individual retail merchants, and assist in furthering the aims sought to be ac- complished; to reform trade abuses; to disseminate useful informa- tion ; to influence legislation in the interests of retail merchants; to secure reasonable transportation charges; to assist in the collection of debts ; to cultivate a feeling of fraternity among business men ; to raise the standards of business methods; to assist in furthering such aims and objects as may hereafter be deemed desirable for the best interests of the retail merchant. Since its organization Archie M. Howes of Erie has been secretary of the association, with offices in the Lincoln building, this city. Connected with this association is the Retailers' Mutual Fire Insurance Co., of which A. M. Howes is also secretary, with his office in Erie. The insurance company was organized in 1903.
In July, 1906, the South Erie Improvement Association was or- ganized. On July 4th of that year the South Erie branch postoffice had been dedicated with considerable ceremony, and that acquisition by the southern part of the city suggested an effort toward the better- ment of that section, and a meeting of business men was called which resulted in organizing. The first officers were Morris Schaffner, pres- ident; Charles Nick and August H. Schaper, vice-presidents ; E. E. Bennett, secretary, and John P. Lorei, treasurer. The declared pur- poses of the association were, the advancement of the southern section as a part of the city at large, and the motto adopted was "Erie Al- ways." The most important improvement desired was the abolition of the railroad grade crossings, in which, through the prompting of ex-Judge J. B. Cessna, a later officer, aggressive action has been taken.
The first banking enterprise organized here was the Erie Bank, incorporated by the state legislature in 1828, business begun in 1829, with a capital of $50,000. Rufus S. Reed was president ; P. S. V. Hamot, cashier ; J. A. Tracy, Chas. M. Reed, Samuel Brown, William Fleming, Thomas Moorhead, E. D. Gunnison and D. Gillespie direc- tors. The bank suspended in 1848, but the losses were small, as Rufus S. Reed discounted the notes.
The United States Bank of Philadelphia established an Erie branch in 1836, with Thomas H. Sill as president, Peter Benson cashier ;
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Josiah Kellogg. C. M. Reed, William Kelley, G. A. Eliot. Samuel Hays, William Fleming, J. G. Williams and H. J. Huidekoper direc- tors. The marble building now known as the Old Custom House was erected for the bank in 1837. Upon the failure of the parent institu- tion the Erie Bank went down, and W. C. Curry was appointed to wind up its affairs. In 1849 the building that had cost $70,000 was sold to the United States government for $29,000, and the cashier's residence for $4,000, less than half its cost.
The Erie City Bank was incorporated in 1852, but suspended in 1857. Smith Jackson was president; J. P. Sherwin, cashier ; S. E. Neiler, teller; Bruce Cameron (son of Gen. Simon Cameron), book- keeper; C. M. Tibbals, W. A. Brown, D. S. Clark, C. Siegel, John Brawley, James Webster, J. H. Fullerton, Ira Sherwin, J. D. Clark, Charles Brandes and J. C. Beebe, directors.
The Bank of Commerce was opened in 1858 and closed in 1860. Benjamin Grant was its president ; C. B. Wright, vice-president ; G. J. Ball, cashier ; A. W. Guild, teller ; W. F. Rindernecht, James Hoskin- son, B. F. Sloan, Charles Metcalf, A. W. Blaine, G. F. King and J. W. Douglass, directors.
For a period of three years there was no bank of issue in Erie, the business being done by private firms. W. C. Curry, M. Sanford & Co., Vincent, Bailey & Co., Clark & Metcalf and Neiler & Warren, established as bankers and brokers at various earlier dates, filled the gap between the state banks and the national banks, the latter, in fact, being but an enlargement of the scope of as many of the private bank- ing firms that have been named.
The First National Bank organized in February, 1863, with a capital of $150,000, was the twelfth bank in the United States to re- ceive a charter under the act of Congress creating national banks. The real beginning of the First National, however, was the founding of the firm of M. Sanford & Co., private bankers, in 1852. The first presi- dent of the First National was Judah C. Spencer, a member of the firm just named from the beginning, and the first cashier, Myron San- ford. In February, 1883, the bank was re-organized with J. C. Spencer, president ; J. L. Sternberg, cashier, and William Spencer, C. M. Reed, Matthew Griswold, Wm. E. Marvin, Thomas C. Wood and J. L. Sternberg, directors. J. C. Spencer died in 1885, and was succeeded by his son, William Spencer, who has been president ever since. From its organization until 1886, the bank was located in the Reed House block, corner of South Park Row and French street, when it was re- moved to 717 State street into a handsome new building erected for its use. This was subsequently enlarged, by extending the building to cover No. 715 State street, and again, in 1908, when an addition was made in the rear to accommodate a large modern vault that had been provided. The latest reorganization was on July 8, 1902, when
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the officers were William Spencer, president; J. L. Sternberg, vice- president ; John R. McDonald, cashier, and William Spencer, J. L. Sternberg, James McBrier, C. L. Spencer, T. W. Shacklett, Frank H. Payne and John R. McDonald, directors.
The Second National Bank, organized December 12, 1864, with a capital of $300,000, was the successor of W. C. Curry, private banker, who had been doing business since the failure of the United States bank. The first officers were William L. Scott, president; Joseph McCarter, vice-president, and W. C. Curry, cashier. Mr. Curry lost his life February 6, 1871, in a railroad accident at New Hamburg, on the Hudson river, and was succeeded by C. F. Allis as cashier. Mr. Scott was succeeded as president in 1882 by Joseph McCarter; he by D. D. Tracy in 1896, and upon a reorganization the officers were, F. W. Wallace, president ; C. F. Allis, vice-president ; Harry J. Leslie, cashier, and the directors at the present time are, M. H. Taylor, C. F. Allis, John W. Walker, Alex Jarecki, F. M. Wallace, Frank Gunni- son, R. W. Potter, E. G. Germer, Frank Connell, G. R. Metcalf, H. J. Leslie. The bank located at the corner of State and Eighth streets in 1808, and subsequently enlarged its quarters, by additions, both on State and on Eighth streets.
The Keystone National Bank was chartered in the fall of 1864, with a paid-up capital of $250,000, Orange Noble being its first presi- dent and John J. Town cashier. In 1866 the building at the northeast corner of State and Eighth street was erected, and immediately upon its completion became the office of the bank. Mr. Town, the original cashier, removed to Des Moines, Iowa, in 1871, and was succeeded by his brother, J. I. Town. The bank was reorganized in 188, upon the renewal of its charter, when the capital stock was reduced to $150,000. In 1893 Mr. Town resigned as cashier and was succeeded by F. V. Kepler, with F. M. Lamb as assistant. The bank suspended in 189%, and Frank M. Hayes was appointed receiver.
The Marine National Bank was organized March 9, 1865, and was the successor of Vincent, Bailey & Co.'s banking house (organized the latter part of the fifties), opening for business at the corner of State street and North Park Row, in the Rosenzweig block, now the Ex- change building, where it continues to do business until the present time. The first officers were B. B. Vincent, president, and F. P. Bailey, cashier. Mr. Vincent died in 1867 and was succeeded by James C. Marshall, C. E. Gunnison at that time becoming assistant cashier. Mr. Marshall died in 1886, and was succeeded by his son, F. F. Mar- shall. Mr. Bailey died in 1888, and was succeeded by C. E. Gunnison as cashier. On the death of Mr. Marshall, Charles E. Gunnison was elected president, and his son, Harry Gunnison, was promoted to cashier, a position he held until his death in 1902, when William E. Beckwith was promoted from assistant to cashier, which position he
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