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 80
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has held until the present, save a period from 1904 to 1905, when Glenn C. Page was cashier. Mr. Gunnison died September 5, 1909, and was succeeded by William B. Trask as president, the other officers re- maining as before: Henry Beckman, vice-president; W. E. Beckwith, cashier ; Henry Beckman, W. B. Trask, W. J. Hostettler, H. L. Moore, C. L. Thompson and R. E. Clemens, directors.
On April 16, 1866, the Erie Dime Savings & Loan Company was chartered by special act of the legislature, and fully organized June 8, 1867, with Selden Marvin as president and John H. Bliss as secre- tary. These officers resigned in April, 1868, when L. L. Lamb was chosen president, George WV. Colton secretary and treasurer, and Selden Marvin attorney. The office of the company was in the base- ment of the Keystone bank building until 1876, when it moved into the new building erected for its use on the site of the old American Hotel, corner of North Park and State streets. Mr. Lamb resigned as president December 8, 1873, and was succeeded by William A. Gal- braith. Mr. Colton was followed as secretary and treasurer by George E. Barger, and he by F. F. Curtze, who, in turn, was succeeded by F. H. Schutte. In 1902 the bank was reorganized under the name of the Erie Trust Co., under a state charter dated August 25 of that year, with J. F. Downing as president ; F. H. Schutte, secretary and treas- urer ; F. E. Mosher, assistant treasurer, and J. F. Downing, Daven- port Galbraith, F. H. Schutte, H. L. Moore (all of Erie), Joseph A. Langfitt, Roland H. Smith, Jr., and Charles L. Netting (all of Pitts- burg), directors.
The private banking firm of Ball & Colt was organized in July, 1867, and successfully conducted business until 1908, when the death of Mr. George P. Colt, the surviving partner, brought it to a close. Mr. P. H. Ball, who died in April, 1907, at the age of 94 years, was believed to be the oldest man in the state actively engaged in business. The capital of the firm was $50,000, and no financial concern ever held the confidence of the people in greater degree. For many years Mr. Colt was treasurer of the school board. Upon the death of Mr. Colt, November 5, 1908, John S. Goodwin was appointed, with Otto A. Koe- nig, bookkeeper of the bank, to close up the business, which was suc- cessfully accomplished within a year of the closing of the bank.
The Security Savings and Trust Co. was chartered October 3, 1903, with Robert J. Moorhead, president ; W. C. Culbertson and E. D. Carter, vice-presidents ; A. B. McDonald, secretary and treasurer, and E. D. Carter, R. J. Moorhead, \V. C. Culbertson, A. W. Walker, Isaac Baker, M. Liebel, Jr., and W. J. Sands, Jr., directors. The quarters occupied by the old Keystone National Bank, at State and Eighth streets, were fitted up for this new banking institution, and business began with immediate evidences of popular favor.
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The People's Bank of Erie was chartered by the Commonwealth in October, 1905, with a capital of $200,000, and the following officers : John W. Little, president ; Byron A. Walker, vice-president; Glenn C. Page, cashier. The first board of directors were: John W. Little, Hon. A. L. Bates, Z. T. Brindley, W. S. Calderwood, F. L. Cleveland, O. E. Crouch, J. Davis, E. J. Howard, J. C. Hoffstetter, J. Miles Hall, Maxwell G. Mayo, H. A. Niemeyer. M. W. Shreve, Benj. J. Walker, Byron A. Walker. A handsome banking office was fitted out at Nos. 811-13 State street, in the Penn building, and from the start it was favored with evidences of public confidence.
In February, 1903, the bankers of Erie organized a clearing house for the better dispatch of business, a provision to meet what had, in this instance, been a "long felt want." The first officers were, C. F. Allis, chairman ; John R. McDonald, manager.
Banks organized under state charters that have failed within com- paratively recent years are: The German Savings Institution, incor- porated in 1867 with $200,000 capital, that erected the building now occupied by the Western Union Telegraph Company, but which failed in 1885 ; The Humboldt Safe Deposit & Trust Co., which did business from July, 1869, at the corner of State and Ninth streets, but became insolvent in 1885, and the Erie County Savings Bank, Fourteen and Peach streets, organized in 1871, but failed in 1884.
The Erie County Mutual Fire Insurance Company was incorpor- ated March 26, 1839, and continues to do business.
The Farmers' Mutual Insurance Co. of Harborcreek, was char- tered May 6, 1857. Under its charter it was required to have $100,000 of insurance before issuing any policies. This condition was com- plied with, so that in August, 1858, the first fire insurance policy was written. In 1894 the company decided to accept risks on town and city property, and this business policy continues, the company being regarded as sound and solvent.
The German Insurance Company, organized in 1867, and the Alps Insurance Co., founded in 1868, were both stock companies, and start- ed life with high prospects. Both failed in 1874, due to losses incurred principally in the conflagrations of a few years previous at Chicago and Boston.
It would be an endless task to give anything like a detailed history of the mercantile enterprises of Erie, many of them important in their day and the source of wealth to those engaged, the great majority long since gone out of existence. Nor is it possible in the space available in a single book to even give a list of the merchants of today-that, the annual directory will furnish. But there are some mercantile houses that, still prominent in business affairs, have a history worth
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HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
glancing at, and those that have endured for thirty years or more are entitled to place. The only reliable source of information is the city directory, but that, extending no further into the past than 1853, after all, puts an unfair limit upon some.
An example of this is found in the business of the Erhart Saddlery house. It was founded by Stephen Erhart. He was one of the first German immigrants to Erie-came here in 1832-and it is reasonable to presume, embarked in business not long afterwards. He was among the leading merchants in 1853, and the business is still continued with- out a break, by Joseph Erhart.
The next oldest house in Erie is Warner Brothers. In the case of this also the date of the beginning is in the hazy past. The tangi- ble beginning was in the firm of Cadwell & Bennett, that in 1853, in the Empire Stores, now Isaac Baker & Son's block, sold dry goods, hardware and crockery. In 1853 W. S. and Edwin Warner were clerks in that store. In 1857 the successors were Griswold, Warner & Co. In 1860 W. A. Griswold succeeded, moving to the Moore building, where Henry Beckman & Son's grocery now is. In 1861 John Moore succeeded and in 1862 Wm. Bell, the Warners serving as clerks. In 1864 the firm of Bell & Warner was formed and in 1867 Warner Broth- ers, which has been the name of the firm ever since, their location grad- ually moving uptown from the "Marble Front" to Tenth and State streets.
The name of Walther has been as long on the business rolls. Jacob F. Walther in 1853 began in the American Hotel building- where the Erie Trust Co.'s building now stands-and in 1867 was moved into the Walther block at Eighth and State. In 1871 F. G. Walther was a partner until 1875 when he set up for himself in the Noble block, and his brother took for a partner Emil Streuber. F. G. Walther moved to Peach street above the railroad in 1877, and died in 1899, but the business is continued by his daughters.
Valentine Ulrich began the harness and saddlery business in South Erie in 1860.
The Mayo house, in the same line of business, was begun in 1861 by Lantz & Mayo, and continued by Henry Mayo in 1862, Maxwell G. Mayo of the present time being the successor of his father.
In 1853 William F. Rindernecht was in the grocery business at Fifth and State streets, and in 1865 took Henry Beckman as a part- ner. In 1867 Henry Beckman succeeded to the business, which con- tinues to this day, the present firm Henry Beckman & Son.
The business now conducted by John Shields, over in Jerusalem, is the legitimate continuation of that begun on the Public dock before 1853 by Jacob Dreisigaker. Removed to Fourth and Myrtle, in the seventies, it was turned over to his son-in-law, F. A. Sawdey, who
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HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
admitted John Shields as a partner, and he became sole proprietor on Mr. Sawdey's death.
P. A. Becker engaged in the grocery business in an old frame building at the corner of Sixth and French streets in 1854. It was the southern boundary of Cheapside, and having one of the town pumps before the door, was an excellent stand for a grocery. A brick building replaced the old one in 1871, but from 1854 to the present the name over the door is P. A. Becker, his sons Emil and Otto continuing the business.
In 1856 Neuberger & Baker were clothing merchants in Brown's Hotel building, but in 1860, Mr. Neuberger having retired, B. Baker continued the business, and when the Cadwell building, the Empire Block, was vacated, he became its owner. His son Isaac became his partner (J. Ostheimer for a time was also a partner) and upon his death Isaac succeeded. Now Isaac Baker and his son Alfred continue the business founded in 1856.
Peter Minnig began business as a retail grocer in 1857, and for a time had a store at the outlet lock of the canal. For a while John Banyard, an Englishman, was his partner in Wright's block, but in 1865 he engaged in the wholesale grocery business at 419 State street, where the P. Minnig Company is still located.
In 1861 Herman T. Jarecki began business as a jeweler, the part- ner of A. Drodzewski, which has been continued since about 1864 by Mr. Jarecki himself.
William Nick, a graduate of Dr. Carter's drug store, began busi- ness for himself at Seventh and State streets in 1862 and to this day there is a Nick's drug store in Erie, conducted now by William F. Nick, his son.
The Carter drug business has been conducted in Erie ever since this became a chartered city. Dr. J. S. Carter had for a time as a partner J. B. Carver, and in 1883 G. W. Brown was associated with him. When Dr. Carter retired, two years later, Mr. Brown succeeded to the business but at length gave it up to engage exclusively in the manufacture of the Doctor's medicines, which he continues to the present, in the Carter building on North Park Row.
J. F. Decker, long the leading grocer on West Eighteenth street, began business in 1860, and the Decker stores, still doing business, are under the management of his son, Charles F. Decker.
Jacob Strauss was a merchant in 1862. His sons are still clothing merchants on State street.
A. J. Mayer & Sons came into existence as a firm in 1895, but the house is the legitimate successor of C. Engelhart, begun in 1865, Mr. Mayer the senior, becoming a partner of Mr. Engelhart in 1867.
Christian Kessler first engaged in business at Fourth and State streets, the present Kessler store, in 1865.
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HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
The real estate business of W. P. Hayes & Son began in 1865, under the name of Hayes & Keplar.
The Dickinson drug store of the present dates from 1866 when Dr. S. Dickinson & Son opened in the Perry Block.
A. Simon, clothier, began in 1867.
Sell's bookstore was opened in 1868 by May & Sell, and continued under Mr. Sell's management to 1909, when J. Marcus Stearns became proprietor.
The firm of Marks & Meyer began business in 1868, and the part- nership, continued until 1883, when, upon dissolution, C. S. Marks and P. A. Meyer engaged separately as clothing merchants.
Solomon Loeb, jeweler, first began business in one of the small stores of the original Wittich block, in 1868.
Byron A. Smith started in business at the corner of Eighteenth and Peach streets in 1874.
John C. Mackintosh, the druggist, opened at 730 State street in 1879.
The firm of Trost & Lacey dates from 1904, but the business was begun by J. Adam Eichenlaub in 1867 on Ninth street between Ger- man and Parade. A year later he was at 628 State street; in 1878 he built at 828 State and removed there : in 1895 admitted Mr. Trost as a partner, and upon his retirement the present firm was organized.
The Jacob Haller wholesale grocery house began in 1873, when Minnig & Haller opened a retail store at 624 State. In 1874, having parted company with Mr. Minnig, he opened at 1235 State street, and, in 1887, occupying his own building, 1225 State, worked into the whole- sale business now under the management of his son, C. J. Haller.
The C. A. Curtze wholesale grocery house was begun in the Becker building on Cheapside by Curtze & Rice in the year 1878. Burned out when the Mayer block was destroyed by fire in 1908, the new fire-proof building on Sassafras street was begun in 1909.
J. G. Krug began business in 1878 on Parade street as the partner of J. A. Eichenlaub (the latter had been in the shoe business from 1867), but in 1879 Mr. Krug, upon the dissolution of the partnership, became sole proprietor. He is one of the oldest and leading merchants on the street, and probably has been longer in business as an indi- vidual than any other Erie shoe dealer.
In 1882 J. H. Davie opened a dry goods store at Seventh and State streets which was continued until 1908 when the Davie Dry Goods Co. was formed with E. C. Osborne as manager.
Nathan Cohen began in 1868 as a maker of hoop-skirts; in the seventies dealt in buttons and knick-knacks, as "Cheap John"; in 1880, opened a variety store at 904-906 State and in 1891 occu- pied his new building 1024-28 State street.
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The Trask, Prescott & Richardson Co. dates back to 1868, when Locke & Co. opened at Nos. 6 and 7 Noble block in dry goods and groceries. In1 1874, W. B. Trask appeared as partner in dry goods only, and the next year removed to 817-19 State street. In 1878 Mr. Locke retired and the firm became Trask & Prescott, and in 1887 Trask, Pres- cott & Richardson. Upon the completion of the Downing building in 1892, the firm moved to the corner of Ninth street, and in 1902 the Trask, Prescott & Richardson Co. was chartered.
The Boston Store came to Erie in 1884, when Mellon, Elliott & Quigley opened at No. 1604 Peach street. The firm came from Roch- ester, New York, but failing to make good, the business was taken over by Sibley, Lindsay & Curr, the principles, who placed E. H. Mack, Jr., in charge. In 1887 the management was in the name of Mack, Hum- burch & Corbett, who took the store No. 718 State street, in the Olds block, that had just been vacated by Warner Brothers. In 1889 the managing firm was Mack, Spittal & Roy, and in 1890, Mack and Spit- tal, which has continued up to the present time. In 1902 the man- agement was incorporated under the name of The Erie Dry Goods Co., with E. H. Mack as president, and Robert Spittal, treasurer. Mean- while the business had grown so that it fronted upon State, Seventh and Eighth streets, including new buildings built and purchased.
Other merchants who have been in business for 35 years or more are R. Beer, Sixteenth and Sassafras; WVm. Beckman, Fourth and Cas- cade ; John Demuling, West Twelfth; Jacob Fritz, Peach and Seven- teenth ; Blass Brothers, and A. Foht-organized as Melzer & Foht.
CHAPTER XII .- ELECTRICITY ENTERS.
WHEN THE TELEPHONE CAME .- RIVAL INTERESTS .- MUTUAL COMPANY CHARTERED .- ELECTRIC LIGHT COMPANIES AND MANUFACTORIES.
The culminating discovery of the Nineteenth century (perhaps it should be said, series of discoveries) was that which led up to the management and utilization of the force or energy we know as elec- tricity, so that it could be applied to the useful arts. The electric tele- graph was in use for a long time before it came to be appreciated that out of the same force there might be derived light, of a degree of fixed- ness sufficient to be serviceable as an illuminant. And when the an- nouncement was made that by the aid of electricity and wires it was possible, by the use of an instrument, for two individuals widely sep- arated to converse, there were more skeptics than believers. It is interesting to know, or be informed, that Erie was among the first com- munities on the continent to become believers in all the innovations in which electricity played a part-for the transmission of speech, for lighting, and for supplying power, either by stationary motors or for vehicles-for Erie was among the very first to have practical demon- stration, and that in a matter of business. In the chapter on the trolley car service the facts with relation to that particular application of elec- tricity to the needs of the age are set forth.
The telephone came in at the beginning of the last quarter of the Nineteenth century. It was a novelty about which the people had be- gun to talk during Centennial year. In 1878 a telephone company was organized in Erie. It was one of the first companies formed in the world in that interest-perhaps there were not more than three or four earlier telephone companies in existence when that of Erie was formed. The real beginnings of the telephone in Erie were in the efforts put forth by George W. Moore, at the time employed as tele- graph line repairer for the Pennsylvania Railroad. Let it be stated right here, that then, as now, there was telephone rivalry. It appeared that two men or more had independently invented the instrument, and directly afterwards there were set up priority claims, contentions about infringement of patents, and disputes about proprietary rights. All of these came into Erie with the telephone. Mr. Moore's connec-
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tion was with the Gray and Edison telephone, and the development of his business in Erie was by the American District Telegraph Co. There was an organization under this name in Erie that included in its membership William Spencer of the First National Bank, Charles M. Reed, George W. Moore and others, and the Western Union Tele- graph Company was also interested. About the same time the Bell interest obtained a footing through J. S. Scobell, then superintendent of telegraph for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company at Erie, who was made agent of the Bell Telephone Company for the counties of Erie and Warren in Pennsylvania and Ashtabula in Ohio. Both companies proceeded with installation as rapidly as the circumstances would allow.
The telephone of that day, compared with what is now in use, was a crude affair. The receiver and transmitter were not then sep- arate, the telephone being passed from ear to lips during conversa- tion, and, the application of the current being then of a rudimentary character, with no devices to overcome induction from contiguous wires, the service obtained left a good deal to be desired. Moreover, the best that could then be done was to connect two points on one wire and these stood independent and alone. Mr. Scobell relates that when he undertook to interest the late Capt. J. S. Richards in the telephone, the Captain very promptly declined, saying he had no use for such a toy-and it is interesting, also, to relate that when Mr. Spencer, of the other local company, writing to his business correspondents in Lon- don, stated that he was engaged in introducing the telephone, so that conversations might be had with people at a distance, received a reply almost identical with that of Capt. Richards, the statement being that the telephone could never be anything more than a toy.
However, the business went on in Erie, and here there was a re- markable thing occurred. Mr. Moore was a practical electrician. He was at the head of the A. D. T. Co.'s business, and in his office, where the few telephone lines of the day centered, conceived the idea of effect- ing connections between two separate lines, and successfully carried the idea into practice. In short, he really invented the telephone ex- change. It was a device until that time unknown to either of the parent companies : at least, it was no part of any equipment or system provid- ed by those higher up; but, once it was introduced at Erie. it quickly became known and was immediately adopted. In Erie it was a consid- erable while later before the Bell interest established an exchange, although Mr. Scobell, as the agent or manager of the Bell Telephone Co. established exchanges at Warren and Corry.
After a time the Bell interests set about supplanting the other company in Erie. The stockholders in the A. D. T. Co. were induced to dispose of their holdings, and Mr. Scobell also yielded to circum- stances that had arisen and was succeeded by men who had come on
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HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
from New England to develop the business of the Bell Telephone Co. He was not out of the telephone business, however, but, becoming con- nected with another company, served for years as president of what came to be known as the Union Telephone & Telegraph Co. The Bell Telephone Company immediately set about establishing itself. As rapidly as improvements were made in the instruments and apparatus they were introduced in Erie; an exchange was established in the Noble block (it is now the Penn building) and patronage increased.
This condition of affairs obtained until 1892, when, the belief being prevalent that the charges were too high, a company was formed to enter the telephone business, and it was chartered as the Mutual Telephone Company, in February, 1897, with these directors: F. F. Adams, William Hardwick, W. B. Trask, J. F. Downing and J. P. Metcalf. P. H. Adams, of Baltimore, was called in consultation and in the early fall of 1897 work was begun on the construction of the Mutual Telephone Co.'s exchange, W. S. Paca, of Baltimore, being consulting engineer and John Z. Miller, also of Baltimore, engineer in charge of installation. In November, 1897, the first subscribers were connected up with a 400-drop switch board that had been set up in the company's exchange on the fourth floor of the Downing building. In six months an additional 400-drop board was installed, and in April, 1899, the capacity was increased to 1,000.
On the first of November, 1899, ground was broken for the Mu- tual Telephone Co.'s building on Ninth street east of State, and the building was finished, with a multiple switch board for 2,000 tele- phones, and with the subscribers all cut over on October 27, 1900. Eventually the capital stock was increased to $500,000 and the capac- ity of the exchange to 6,400 telephones. the building having been en- larged in the meantime so as to afford accommodations for whatever increase might be demanded in years to come. In addition to all these increases and enlargements there had come improvements in the in- struments and apparatus, bringing about better service and more sat- isfactory results.
During all this time the rival company was not idle. The advance- ments in electrical science were not unknown to the Bell people nor refused to their patrons. A fine new exchange building was erected on Ninth street between State and French streets and pay stations in every section of the city extended the convenience of telephony to transients, whoever or wherever they might be.
Let it not be understood as vainglorious boasting when a state- ment is made in this work that Erie, in new inventions or new dis- coveries, has always been among the leaders. It is only a statement of fact when such an assertion is made, and the dates will serve to verify the statements. As it was with the telephone and the trolley
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
car, so it was with electric lighting: Erie was in line with the very first when lighting by electricity was introduced. Electric lighting followed close on the heels of the telephone. It was at the time when the decade of the seventies was fading into the eighties that a stir was made in the world by the novel and spectacular illumination of the city of Cleveland, effected by the aid of electricity. Numerous lofty masts had been erected from the tops of which were hung groups of lamps that shone out in the darkness of the blue heavens like so many new constellations, and it was said, rather extravagantly, that night had been turned into day in the Forest City. Erie is a neigboring munici- pality, and Erie came to know about this new illumination in the beginning. The effect was-electrical. At once a number of the most prominent citizens, to whom the subject was broached, decided that Erie conid not afford to be behind the times, and prompted chiefly by public spirit formed a company to provide electric lighting for Erie. The company included John C. and George Selden, WV. L. Cleveland, George V. Maus, J. F. Downing, Matthew Griswold, C. C. Shirk and others. George V. Maus was president and C. C. Shirk secretary and treasurer. A contract was made with the Brush Electric Co. of Cleve- land, and a power plant, consisting of a Ball engine and one dynamo was installed in a corner of the old Erie City Iron Works, at the inter- section of Twelfth and State streets. A contract was secured with the city for a limited number of lamps, and these were in due season swung in place and Erie took its place as the second or third city in the country to be supplied with the new method of street lighting.
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