History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Part 137

Author: Bean, Theodore Weber, 1833-1891, [from old catalog] ed; Buck, William J. (William Joseph), 1825-1901
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1534

USA > Pennsylvania > Montgomery County > History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania > Part 137

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).

BRIDGEPORT.

JAMES LEES & SONS .- The history of this firm is well worthy of note, demonstrating practically what skill, backed up by industry and energy, has accom- plished in Montgomery County.

In the year 1852, James Lees and Joseph Schofield

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

entered into partnership for the manufacture of car- pet-yarn at Robinson's mill, on Mill Creek. They had one mule spinning-frame, three condenser cards and twelve hands. For two years they struggled on, and then rented the Nippes Mill, on Mill Creek. Two years later the partnership was dissolved, Mr. Schofield drawing out of the firm. The next firm's title was that of James Lees & Co., when they went to Mana- yunk, and engaged in the manufacture of carpet- varn.

In 1856, Joseph Lees, son of James, was admitted as a member of the firm, the same title being retained. They then returned to Mill Creek, to Deringer's mill. In October, 1860, Mr. Schofield's interest was bought out, and the firm became James Lees & Son.

Two years later Dr. John Lees was admitted into partnership, and the firm took the title which it now holds,-James Lees & Sons.

In February, 1864, they were burned out of Dering- er's mill, and in the next month, March, 1864, bought the old mill building which was the first occupied by them at Bridgeport. There was nothing but the building standing; they put in the machinery them- selves, and in August of the same year they com- menced the manufacture of carpet-yarn.

From that date to the present it has been an un- interrupted march of progress, as the following figures will show :

The small mill, with ten hands, has developed into five mills, with one thousand hands. No. 1 Mill is forty-six by one hundred and forty fect, four stories high; No. 2 Mill is forty-eight by one hundred and forty-eight feet, five stories high; No. 3 is fifty by one hundred feet, five stories high ; No. 4 is seventy-two by one hundred and thirty-seven feet, four stories ; and No. 5 is fifty by seventy-five feet, four stories in height. In addition to these are dry-rooms, store- rooms and a number of other minor buildings.

The machinery consists of two hundred and ninety narrow looms, twenty-six broad looms, eighteen sets of woolen machinery and ninety-five worsted-spinning frames. The worsted yarn for ingrain and Brussels car- pet produced per week is forty thousand pounds, the woolen carpet-yarn per week is thirty-two thousand two hundred pounds, and the jeans produced by the looms amount to thirty thousand yards a week. One thousand hands are employed, the wages per month amount to seventeen thousand dollars, and the value of the entire plant is estimated at six hundred thon- sand dollars.

WORRALL & RATCLIFFE'S MILL .- Better known in local parlanee as the Brick Mill. It was founded by Saville Schofield, now a wealthy manufacturer of Manayunk, during war-times, and was purchased by the firm of Worrall, Rateliffe & Smith in 1869. Of the original members of the firm but one is now liv- ing, but he drew out of the business years before the death of the other two. The firm now consists of Thomas W. Worrall and Isaac Taylor, but the old

title of Worrall & Ratcliffe is still retained. The mill is located on Front Street, having a frontage of one hundred and sixty fect, two stories in height, with a depth of forty-four feet, close to the Schuylkill Canal. It commenced with thirty-two hands, work- ing upon low-class jeans, but now employs seventy- two hands, the capacity for production being more than doubled. The machinery in operation consists of three sets of sixty-inch cards, three self-acting mules, eighty-eight looms, one sixty horse-power engine, one one hundred and twenty horse-power boiler, with the full proportion of dyeing, warping and finishing machinery. The productive capacity of the mill is five hundred thousand yards per annum of jeans and doeskins.

THOMAS RATCLIFFE .- James Ratcliffe, the father of the subject of this biography, was united in marriage to Grace Hoyle, whose home was in the vicinity of Halifax, England. Their children were Thomas, Mary and James. By a second marriage, to a Miss Roberts, were born sons, David and John. The birth of Thomas occurred near Halifax on the 3d of September, 1820, and his early life was spent in Manchester. He emigrated, when a youth, to Amer- ica, and immediately found employment in a cotton- mill, and became thoroughly versed in the various departments of manufacturing. After being engaged for some years with his father-in-law, John Maxson, of Manayunk, he, in 1868, made Bridgeport his home, and, in connection with George Worrall, established a woolen-mill. Here he continued actively engaged until his death, which occurred in September, 1883. Mr. Ratcliffe was married to Miss Deborah Maxson, of Wissahickon. Their surviving daughter is Mary, married to Isaac Taylor, an enterprising manufac- turer of Bridgeport. Another daughter, Margaret, is deceased. Mr. Ratcliffe was a strong Republican in his political sentiments, and was for several terms a member of the Borough Council of Bridgeport. He was educated in and always adhered to the faith of the Church of England. He was a man of modest de- meanor, possessing integrity of character and a repu- tation for probity and honor which won nuiversal regard.

RIDGEWAY & CARR, MANUFACTURERS OF WOOL- EN YARN .- These gentlemen occupy the building on Front Street the property of William Potts, of Swedeland. In 1874 it was fitted up as a manufactory of stoue-cars for the limestone quarries of Upper and Lower Merion. The business failing, the building was occupied by Messrs Ridgeway & Carr, who man- ufacture woolen yarn, and it is also adapted for the manufacture of hosiery and woolen jackets. The machinery consists of two sets of cards, one self- acting mule and one hand-mule, with a thirty horse- power engine and boiler. Seventeen hands are em- ployed in the mill, producing about two thousand pounds of yarn per week.

COX & DAGER'S PAPER-MILL .- Messrs. Cox &

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Dager, both of Norristown, fitted up the old saw-mill is fifty-eight feet front, one hundred and forty-five feet long and two stories in height. The machinery consists of two sets of cards, two self-actors, one one hundred and twenty horse-power engine, and eighty formerly occupied by John C. Richardson as a paper- mill in 1881. It was a large frame building, and was destroyed by fire on the 23d of May, 1884. They immediately erected the present building of stone, | horse-power boiler. The business consists of the and it is now one of the best-fitted and most substan- tial mills in the State.

The machinery-room is one hundred and eighteen by forty-two feet ; beater-room, eighty-five by thirty- five feet ; eutter-room, fifty by thirty feet ; rag-boiling house, thirty by forty-five feet. There are two en- gines, one of one hundred and twenty horse-power and one of forty. The capacity of production is

manufacture of doeskins, jeans, diagonals and flannels, of which about forty-five thousand yards per month are produced. There are sixty hands employed, and the aggregate of wages per annum will amount to about twenty-two thousand dollars. The mill is located in a beautiful spot near the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad track, on Third Street, above De Kalb, and cost thirty-four thousand dollars.

Thomas Ratcliffe

about fifteen tons a week of Manilla paper. Twenty hands are employed, and about eight hundred dollars a month are distributed in wages. The value of the property, plant included, is about fifty thousand dollars.

SMITH'S WOOLEN-MILLS. - This tine establish- ment is the newest acquisition to the industries of Bridgeport, and probably of the county, for it has only been built and put into operation during the last few months. It was opened on December 1, 1883. Isaac W. Smith, Esq., the proprietor, is au exper- ienced manufacturer, who, for a long term of years, operated the woolen-mill at Valley Forge. This mill

ISAAC W. SMITHI .- Mr. Smith is of Welsh descent, his father, Aaron Smith, having been a resident of Lower Merion township, where he cultivated a farm and also followed his trade as a shoemaker. He married Sarah Free, whose children were William F. (of Ogden, Utah), John Alvin (of Lower Merion), Sarah A. (wife of Joseph Shaw, deceased), and one who died in youth. By a second marriage, to Mary Watkin, of Delaware County, were born children,- George (deceased), Isaac W., Aaron and Mary Emily. The birth of Isaac W. occurred July 29, 1839, in Lower Merion, where he received in youth such education as the public schools afforded. At the age

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

of twelve years he entered the carpet-yarn fac- tory of his brother-in-law, Joseph Shaw, and served an apprenticeship to the business, subsequently remov- ing with him to Valley Forge, and acting in the ca- pacity of manager until the death of Mr. Shaw, in 1863. Mr. Smith continued, in behalf of the widow, the superintendence of the interests of the estate until 1872, when he became lessee of the mill and machinery for three years. He later purchased the machinery and continued to operate the mill until 1882, when, having disposed of his property at public sale, he made Norristown his home. In the spring of

REBECCA PAPER-MILLS, HUGH MCINNES, PRO- PRIETOR .- The Rebecca Paper-Mills are located on Front Street, with a frontage of two hundred and sixty-seven feet, and reaching back to the river. The buildings were erected as an oil refinery, in 1868, by Dr. H. T. Slemmer, and were afterwards leased to George Zinne as ice-houses. The present proprietor purchased the property from the Standard Oil Com- pany, and, in partnership with Mr. Robert Dager, commenced the manufacture of Manilla paper. In a short time Mr. Dager left the firm, and since then Mr. MeInnes has run the mill himself. Twenty-three

Samo M. Smith

1883, Mr. Smith purchased ground and erected a mill in Bridgeport, where he began the manufacture of cloths, flannels and ladies' dress goods, in which he is now actively engaged. Isaac W. Smith was married, in June, 1867, to Miss Mary Ella, daughter of the late George Grow, a farmer of Lower Merion town- ship. Their children are Joseph S., Isaac A., Mary K., Emma L., Louis Y., J. Futhey and one who is deceased. Mr. Smith is in politics a Republican, and though not active in the political field has held various offices in the county and township. His reli- gious affiliations are with the Presbyterian Church, of which he is a member.

hands are employed steadily, with a pay-sheet of one thousand dollars a month. Two engines furnish the motive-power, one of one hundred and twenty and one of thirty horse-power. Three hoilers, of one hun- dred horse-power each, furnish the steam. The mill is furnished with the best machinery known to the trade, and produces thirty thousand pounds of Manilla paper per week. The mill and plant is estimated in value at seventy-five thousand dollars.

DE KALB STREET ROLLER FLOURING-MILLS .- This substantial old stone building stands near the south end of the De Kalb Street bridge, close to the edge of the canal, and has a history of its own. It was built.

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in 1824 as a saw-mill by Jaeob Pastorius, and was superintended by Mr. Cadwalader Evans. In 1826 it was changed to a grist-mill, Mr. Evans assisting in arranging the machinery, dressing the burrs, and for two years more superintended it as a flouring-mill for country trade. It was put up at sheriff's sale and bought in by the Schuylkill Navigation Company, whose property it still remains. For two years it was run by John Gorgas, who erected a drying-mill and ground corn for shipping.

The late Christopher Heebner run the mill for some years, and was followed by John Tyson and others, who worked it occasionally. Henry and Israel Newbury leased the mill for a time, and added new and improved machinery. They failed, and in March, 1880, it was taken by the present lessees, Messrs. Hibbert & Brook, under whose management it has been a complete success. It has a capacity of one hundred and twenty-five barrels of flour a day, and two hundred bushels of choppings.

The machinery consists of nine pairs of steel rol- lers. The first pair of rollers merely crushes the grain, which, in its broken condition, is carried by elevators to a bolting roll, where the flour is shaken out. The crushed grains then pass through the sec- ond pair of rolls and again to the bolting roll, and so on continuously until it has been broken and ground between each pair of the nine rollers, the particles becoming finer with each break. The middlings re- maining after this process has been gone through with passes to the only remaining run of stones, and more flour is extracted.

PORK-PACKING .- Several years ago Charles Whit- man established a large butchering and pork-packing business on Front Street. Since his death it has passed through several hands, and has been most suc- cessfully operated since the year 1882 by the present proprietor, John B. Horn. Since taking possession Mr. Horn expended about four thousand dollars in improvements, and it is now one of the most complete pork-packing and butchering establishments in the State, having all the newest and most approved ma- chinery for slaughtering and curing pork and beef. The proprietor has inereased the business to an enor- mous extent since he took hold. From the Ist of January up to the last day of July during the year 1884 he shipped of hams and shoulders alone, by rail, four hundred and thirty-two thousand pounds, and this was exclusive of home trade or his large shipments of beef. Seven hands are employed at the works, which extend one hundred and sixty-five feet in front and ninety-five feet deep, with an ice-house one hundred feet square.

W. S. RICHARDS, ELEVATORS, AUTOMATIC DOORS, ETc .- In the year 1880, W. S. Richards, Esq., a skilled mechanic in wood and iron, leased the build- ing on Fourth Street the property of Joel Andrews, Esq., of Norristown, and established a manufactory of dumb-waiters, automatic doors, elevators and

other labor-saving mechanical appliances for hotels, public buildings and private residences. The build- ing is twenty-five by seventy feet, three stories in height. There are thirteen hands employed on the premises. The property, with the machinery, stock, etc., is valued at about seven thousand dollars.

JACOB ANDREWS, BRICK MANUFACTURER .- Mr. Andrews is a well-known citizen of Norristown, residing on De Kalb Street, near Spruee. He engaged in the manufacture of bricks on his property at Fourth Street, Bridgeport, in 1844, and has conducted the business successfully since that period. The capacity of his kilus and yards is two million bricks annually.

SCHUYLKILL VALLEY CREAMERY .- This estab- lishment was erected and adapted as a creamery on Fifth Street, in 1880, by Mr. Jacob Tripler, of Nor- ristown. It is now operated by Mr. John Kinze, and has a capacity of making one hundred and sixty pounds of butter and thirty cheeses daily, provided they could obtain a sufficient quantity of milk. The machinery and appliances are kept in beautiful order, and the whole is evidently under skillful manage- ment.

CONSHOHOCKEN.

ALAN WOOD & Co .- These well-known iron- works and rolling-mills were established in 1856, and front on Washington Street about one thousand feet, from Poplar to Ash Street, the buildings and lots covering fifteen acres of ground. The firm employ five hundred hands, with a monthly pay-roll of twenty thousand dollars. The monthly produet is one thousand tons of finished iron. There are twelve engines, thirty-four boilers and seven trains of rolls. The value of the plant is a million and a half of dollars.

JOHN WOOD & BROTHERS' SHEET AND PLATE-IRON MILLS .- The business of this firm was first established by James Wood, father of the present proprietors, in 1832.

The firm now runs three mills. Two of them are situated on Washington Street; the other is near Matson's Ford bridge, on a strip of land between the eanal and the river. This latter is driven by two fifty-four-inch turbine wheels, the water from the canal being used for that purpose. Three hundred hands are employed, producing about seven thou- sand tons a year of finished work, with a pay-roll of twelve thousand dollars a month. The Washing- ton Street mills were burned down in 1882, but were soon rebuilt in a more substantial and convenient form than before. The frontage on Washington Street is six hundred feet ; depth, two hundred and fifty feet. There are ten engines, eighteen boilers and seven roll-trains. The property is valued at seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

JOHN WOOD, JR .- The titles of these works are the Conshohocken Car-Works and the Schuylkill Foundry and Machine-Works. Engine-boilers and

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

rolling-mill machinery are a specialty. The proprie- tor is a son of Ilon. John Wood, and commenced operations in 1867, with ten hands, doing business the first year to the amount of about ten thousand dollars. In 1873 he built the foundry, machine and pattern- shops, and in 1880 erected the car-works. There are

JAMES WOOD.

now eighty-five hands employed. The mill has a front on Washington Street of four hundred feet, with a depth of five hundred and forty feet. There is a full plant of most valuable machinery, and the whole is in splendid working order.

MONTGOMERY BOILER AND MACHINE -WORKS, WILLIAM T. BATE & SON, are located on Washing- ton Street. The firm commenced business in 1865, but built the shops they now occupy in 1868. The works consist of three buildings, divided into boiler, black- smith and foundry, and machine and pattern depart- ments. From very small beginnings in 1865 they have increased their business in the manufacture of boilers and steam generators, their own patents, to an enormous extent, their boilers being sent to almost every State in the Union, while their home trade has been firmly established. They employ thirty skilled workmen. In 1879 the finished work produced was 153,974 pounds in boilers, while 400,000 pounds of pig iron were used in other castings. The patents belonging to this firm have been most favorably men- tioned in every scientific journal of America.

In 1882 the weight of the castings produced was 646,617 pounds, and of plate-iron used 264,672 pounds,- total, 911,289 pounds. In 1883 the plate-iron used was 106,783 pounds, and of bar-iron 350,025 pounds,- total, 456,808 pounds, a decrease of 454,481 pounds,

owing to the obstruction of their business by the building of the Pennsylvania Schuylkill Valley Rail- road, which deprives them of proper means of receiv- ing and delivering goods. The firm paid in wages last year $13,962.05. The property is valued at $100,- 000.

WILLIAM T. BATE, grandson of William and Mary Bate and son of William and Mary Bennett Bate, was born October 25, 1818, at Tywardreth, Corn- wall, England, where he remained uutil six years of age. He then removed with his parents to Liver- pool, and subsequently to Manchester and other points in Lancashire. His father having been a blacksmith and boiler-maker, after a period spent at school he entered the shops under his supervision and acquired a general knowledge of the business. In 1835 he began at Parconsoles, Cornwall, England, an appren- ticeship under Richard Terrell and William West, the latter a mechanical engineer. He followed for twelve years his trade of blacksmith and boiler-maker in various portions of the country, and having concluded to seek a more attractive field in America, embarked for New York July 13, 1847, arriving after a long and tedious passage of eight weeks. He found employ- ment soon after in Belleville, N. J., and from that point worked in various localities in New Jersey, and subsequently in Connecticut, from whence he removed to Baltimore.

In 1856 he was solicited to assume charge of the boiler and blacksmith-shops of the Norris Works, located at Norristown; he accepted the offer, and remained until these works were closed. After a brief interval at Easton, Pa., Mr. Bate returned to Norristown, where he resided until 1866, when Conshohocken be- came his home. Here the firm of William T. Bate & Co. was established for the building of boilers and general machinery, the partners being the subject of the sketch, John Wood, Jr., and Richard H. Bate. This partnership was dissolved in 1868, when Mr. Bate, in connection with his son, erected their pres- ent extensive works, in which they manufacture boilers, castings, all kinds of machine-work and steam-fitting. In 1883 the completion of the Penn- sylvania Schuylkill Valley Railroad rendered the removal of the shops necessary, and Mr. Bate pur- ehased six acres of land in Bridgeport, Montgomery Co., where he, in October, 1884, began the erection of suitable buildings, which they expect soon to oceupy.

Mr. Bate was married, January 18, 1839, to Miss Elizabeth, daughter of William George, of Corn- wall, England. They have had fourteen children, of whom the surviving ones are William, Edward (who served during the late war, in which he was wounded), Mary (wife of Charles Fairburn), Richard, Elizabeth Jane (wife of Cadwallader Brook), Ellen (wife of William Johnson), John S. and Clara. In politics Mr. Bate is an earnest and enthusiastic Republican, as are all his sons, but he has neither sought nor ac-

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MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES.

cepted office. He was educated in the faith of the ! Church of England, as was also his wife, and their allegiance is still to that faith.

PLYMOUTH ROLLING-MILL COMPANY .- These well-known mills are located near the upper end of the borough, close to the lines of the Philadelphia and Reading and the Plymouth Railroads. They were built in 1842 by Stephen Calwell. For many years they were operated by Samuel Fulton, and he is now the general manager. This company also owns a mill in Norristown, which we include in this sketch. The works, when in full operation, employ three hun- dred hands, and pay out in wages fifteen thousand

are seventy hands employed, the pay-roll being three thousand five hundred dollars a month. The produc- tion is about six thousand five hundred tons of muck- bar per annum. The building is in the lower part of the borough, fronting on Washington Street fonr hundred feet, with a depth of six hundred feet. There are three engines and three boilers; the latter are Babcock & Wilcox water-tube boilers, with a full plant of first-class modern machinery.

LEWIS A. LUKENS .- Jan Lukens, the progenitor of the family in America, sailed from Holland during the year 1683, and located in Philadelphia. Among his sons was Abraham Lukens, who became a farmer

Hm. J. Bate

dollars a month, producing fifty thousand tons a year of pig-iron, muck-bar, plate and sheet-iron. The works front on Washington Street eighteen hundred feet, with a depth of five hundred feet. There are three blast furnaces-No, 1, No. 2 and the Lucinda- and four trains of rolls. There are fifteen engines, six of them averaging over five hundred horse-power, and twenty-five boilers. These figures inelude the engines and boilers at the works in Norristown, the property of the company.

JAWOOD LUKENS' IRON-WORKS,-These works are quite modern, having been erected in 1882 by the proprietor, Jawood Lukens, Esq., formerly connected with the establishment of Alan Wood & Co. There

in Towamenein township, Montgomery Co. His son John, the grandfather of Lewis A. Lukens, though by occupation a farmer, was a man of scientific attain- ments, and won some reputation as a skillful surveyor. He married Miss Rachel Robinson, and became the father of children,-David, George, Joel and Edith (Mrs. Mordecai Davis). David Lukens was born on the 18th of October, 1761, in Towamencin township, where he continued the healthful pursuits of his ancestors, and married Miss Mary, daughter of William and Elizabeth Shepherd, whose birth oceurred November 16, 1760. Their children are Charles, born in 1790; William, in 1793; Elizabeth, in 1795 (who became Mrs. George Shoemaker) ; Aaron, in 1798; Maria, in

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

1801 (who became the wife of Robert Fowler) ; Rachel, in 1804 (who became the wife of Dr. Samuel Tyson) ; Lewis A .; Mark, born in 1810 ; and Edward, in 1812. The death of David Lukens occurred in 1828, and that of his wife in 1818. Their son, Lewis A., was born on the 8th of April, 1807, in Plymouth township, now a portion of Conshohocken, the half of the borough having been built upon land owned by his father. His youth, until eighteen, was spent in the pursuits peculiar to a farmer's son, with such educational oppor- tunities as the neighboring school afforded, after which he removed to Philadelphia and became proficient in the trade of a eabinet-maker. This field of action was,

leaving his interest in the hands of his sons, Charles and Jawood. Mr. Lukens was, on the 16th of Sep- tember, 1834, married to Miss Mary T., daughter of James Wood, of Conshohocken. Their children are Alan W., Charles, Jawood, Clara ( Mrs. Charles Heber ('lark), Frank and Mary, the last two being deceased. Mr. Lukens is a stanch Republican in politics, having been member of the board of school directors and of the Borough Council of Conshohocken, as also for several years its chief burgess. He is a director of the First National Bank of Conshohocken and one of the corporators of the Conshohocken Gas and Water Company, of which he was for ten years president.

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History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Part 137

Author: Bean, Theodore Weber, 1833-1891, [from old catalog] ed; Buck, William J. (William Joseph), 1825-1901 Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck Number of Pages: 1534

Author: Bean, Theodore Weber, 1833-1891, [from old catalog] ed; Buck, William J. (William Joseph), 1825-1901
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1534