History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Part 142

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 142

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).

TODD'S MILL. - Such is the name by which this mill is popularly known, but the title is the Glen- cairn Factory, and is owned by G. R. Fox, of Norris- town. It is situated on Mill Creek, Lower Merion, adjoining Booth & Brothers on the north and Seth Humphrys on the south. The factory is built on the site of the ancient works at which Henry Derringer for a long series of years manufactured arms for the United States. It is situated in a beautiful valley, abounding in springs of the purest water in the county. The factory building, of stone, is three stories and attic, one hundred and ten by fifty-five feet, with picker-house adjoining, forty-five by twenty feet, and boiler-house, thirty by fifteen feet. The water-power is thirty-five horse ; steam-power, eighty to one hundred horse. There are two first- class boilers and engine, and best modern machinery for making cotton yarns, running three thousand spindles. One hundred acres are in the tract, on which are a large mansion-house, a farmer's house, nine other dwellings, ete. The State road from Conshohocken to Philadelphia, three miles distant, passes through it, also the Mill Creek road, leading to Rose Glen Station, on the Reading Railroad, about | three quarters of a mile distant.

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MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES.

ROSE GLEN MILL. - This mill is also popularly known as the Nippes Mill, and is situated on Mill Creek, in Lower Merion township. It is operated by William Booth and Thomas H. Barker, under the firm- name of Booth & Brother, for the manufacture of carpet-yarn. The building was erected about the year 1814, and was for a considerable time used as a manufactory for guns for the United States govern- ment, by Samuel Nippes. It was used as a carpet- yarn factory by James Ledward in 1861, and was operated for the same purpose by Thomas Schofield. In 1872 it came into the possession of the present firm. At that time they employed bnt ten hands, and made about three thousand pounds of yarn a week. To-day they employ forty hands, and make twenty thousand four hundred pounds a week, paying one thousand dollars a month in wages. There are three sets of machines, nine hundred spindles, which are driven by water-power and steam. The building is fifty by sixty-five feet, three and a half stories high, and the property is valued at fifty thousand dollars.

MERION FLOUR-MILES, EVAN G. JONES, PRO- PRIETOR,-This famous old mill, located on Mill Creek, lays claim to remote antiquity, having been one of the first paper-mills in the State of Penn- sylvania, being used as such about the year 1798. Peter Wałever operated it for several years, but . the property was seized by Sheriff' Scheetz, of Mont-

gomery County, and sold to Evan Jones, father built, the front one hundred and fifty-six feet on

of the present proprietor. It was a paper-mill up to the year 1848, when it was changed to a cotton and woolen-mill, and was run by John Shaw, and subse- quently by his son, Joseph Shaw, for some years. The present proprietor changed it again, and fitted it

MORRIS MILL .- This mill is located on the Gult road, and is now occupied by Mr. Pyle. The property belongs to Mrs. Levi Morris. The building is about . are constantly extending their business to all quarters forty-five by sixty feet, three stories in height, is oper- ated by water-power and has a capacity of about fifty barrels of flour per day.

LANSDALE BOROUGII.

HEEBNER & SONS, MANUFACTURERS OF LEVEL- TREAD HORSE-POWERS, LITTLE GIANT THRESHING MACHINES, ETC .- Such is the title of this industrial establishment, now famous in every eivilized country on both sides of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. David S. Heebner, the senior member of the firm, now in his seventy-fifth year, commenced the manu- facture of agricultural machines in the year 1840, opening his works on the 1st of April that year, and

sold his first machine to Joseph Allebach, of Worees- ter township. In 1841, Mr. Heebner made new im- provements on his machines, and some of those made at that date are still in use amongst the farmers of Bueks and Montgomery Counties. In those days MIr. Heebner had no help, but in his second year employed Mr, Daniel Shuler, now (1884) holding the office of director of the poor. At that time it took about six weeks to build a machine; now two complete machines are made in one day. In 1862, Isaac and Josiah, sons of the proprietor, were admitted to partnership. In 1868 the firm dissolved partnership, David S. Heebner and Josiah purchasing the interest of Isaac, who re- moved to Lansdale, and started a small repair-shop on the site of the present splendid range of buildings. Here Isaac Heebner opened an agency for the sale of agricultural implements. In 1870, William D. Heeb- ner, now the junior member of the firm, came over from Worcester township to Lansdale, and entered into partnership with Isaae, and the name of the firm was Heebner & Brother. In January, 1872, David S. and Josiah Heebner dissolved partnership in Wor- cester, and the father moved to Lansdale, uniting with his sons, Isaae and William, under the firm-name of Heebner Sons & Co. In 1873 the firm resolved itself into the name which it at present bears, and from that day a new impetus was given to the work. In 1874 the brick warehouse at the southern end was Broad Street, with one wing of one hundred feet and one of eighty feet, three stories in height, and sur- mounted by a beautiful dome.

The first year the firm sold fifteen horse-powers and threshers, ten mowers and reapers, and a few up as a grist-mill, which it has remained up to the fodder-cutters. In 1883 they sold four hundred and present date. It is beautifully located in the midst of a farm of seventy acres of fertile soil, belonging to the proprietor of the mill. The building is in excel- lent condition, notwithstanding its great age. It is sixty-five hy forty-five feet, three stories in height ; has an engiue of forty-five horse-power and a capacity of fifty barrels a day. fifty horse-powers, over one hundred mowers and reapers, and two hundred feed-cutters. The first year the business amounted to five thousand dollars; in 1883 it reached two hundred thousand dollars. Then the trade was only for local farmers; to day these machines are found from Maine to Georgia, in Canada, Russia, Australia and New Zealand. In fact, Heebner & Sons, of Lansdale, manufacture more tread railway horse-powers than any establishment in the world, and of the globe. The value of the plant is at least seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

ISAAC D. HEEBNER is the great-great-grandson of David (Iluebner) Heebner, who, with his wife, Maria, immigrated to Pennsylvania in 1734. David died December 27, 1784, and his wife, Maria, died June 11, 1793.

Their children were Christoph, Susanna, Rosanna (born May 9, 1738), George (born June 21, 1744)/

George, son of David, married Miss Susanna, daughter of Balthasar Heydriek, April 26, 1769. His wife, Susanna, died June 19, 1770. The issuc from this union was one son, Balthasar, born June 12 , 1770. George was married a second time, November 12,

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY,

1771, to Anna, daughter of David Shubert, and died August 18, 1783, aged thirty-nine years and two months. His wife, Anna, died August 23, 1784, aged thirty-five years. Their children were Maria (born April 28, 1773), Salome (born October 18, 1774, died March 31, 1776), Regina (born January 13, 1777), Henry (born December 1, 1778), Barbara (born March 13, 1780, died May 16, 1786), Catharine (born July 17, 1782, died May 14, 1786).

Balthasar, eldest son of George Heebner, married, May 20, 1794, Susanna, daughter of Christopher Schultz. Susanna died March 22, 1848, aged seventy- two years, four months and eighteen days. Balthasar lived in Worcester township, this county, and owned the farm subsequently purchased by Abraham An- ders, Sr. He was a minister of the Schwenkfelder Society, for whom he preached many years, and up to the time of his death, which occurred April 29, 1848, at the age of seventy-seven years, ten months and twenty-one days. The children of Balthasar and Susanna Hecbner were George (born July 22, 1795, died April 10, 1796), infant daughter (born January 7, 1796, died two days after), Anthony S. (born No- vember 23, 1798), Anna (born August 9, 1800), Maria (born October 26, 1803, died September 10, 1815), Catharine (born October 12, 1806), David S. (father of Isaac D., was born June 25, 1810), Lydia (born September 8, 1812).

David S., youngest son of Rev. Balthasar Heebner, married. May 3, 1832, for his first wife, Anna, daugh- ter of -- Derstein. She died June 8, 1853.

The children resulting from the union are Joseph (born June 11, 1833, died April 3, 1838), James (born August 6, 1836, died April 8, 1838), Mary Ann (born April 2, 1839), Isaac D. (the subject of this sketch, born January 18, 1841), Addison (born June 18, 1843, died August 23, 1843), Jonah (born July 5, 1844), Jacob (born August 10, 1846), William D. (born Sep- tember 27, 1848). David S. Heebner married, in 1852, for his second wife, Regina, daughter of Rev. Christo- pher Schultz. The issue from this union was one son, Abram S., born May 22, 1857, died October 6, 1862. Mr. Heebner is a resident of Lansdale, and senior member of the firm of Heebner & Sons.

Isaac D. Heebner, son of David S., married, Octo- ber 26, 1865, Catharine, daughter of Jacob Grater. Their children are Mary Jane (born March 7, 1870), Charles G. (born October 18, 1874), Wilmer (born February 6, 1882), David S., Jr. (boru January 26, 1884).

Aside from the care of the large and growing man- wfacturing establishment of Heebner & Sons, of which he is the business manager, he finds time to take an active part in the progressive enterprises of the beautiful town of Lansdale, in which Heebner & Sons' shops are located. He was one of the origina- tors of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Lansdale, and assisted in building the church edifice, the first in the town. He is a trustec and organist of the

Methodist Episcopal Church, and for the last cight years superintendent of the Methodist Sunday-school, and an active worker in the cause of temperance. He also assisted in building the pioneer school-house of Lansdale, and has been president of the school board since that town has been a separate school district. He was one of the originators of, and is vice-president and superintendent of, the Lansdale Water-Works.

He has also been an active member of the Town Council, and in whatever capacity he is engaged his enthusiasm and sound judgment are imparted to those with whom he is associated. The following sketch will fairly exhibit not only the manufacturing indus- try, but the business tact of the Heebner family :

In 1868, Isaac D. Heebner, the elder of the sons, located in Lansdale and started business in a little shop still standing, the size of which was twelve by twenty-six feet, and upon the old shop now used as a carriage-house stands the spire that was first placed upon the pioneer building in what is now Lansdale. In this shop Isaac worked by hand at such employ- ment as was afforded by the repairing and jobbing of the neighborhood, and by industrious labor the in- come amounted to less than one thousand dollars the first year.

In 1840, David S. Heebner, father of Isaac D., had opened a shop in Worcester township, this county, for the manufacture of the old-fashioned sweep horse-power threshers, and the first machine built was sold to Joseph Allebach, of that township, and the second was sold to a Mr. Swartzlander, of Bucks County. The first year Mr. Heebner employed no help, and the second year only one person was em- ployed, viz., Daniel Shuler, now one of the directors of the poor of Montgomery County. About 1850 the tread-power thresher made its appearance, but was slow in gaining favor with the farmers of the county. In 1862, Isaac D. and Josiah, two sons of David S., were admitted as partners in the business, and en- gaged extensively in the manufacture of mowing- machines, as well as threshers aud other harvesting- machines, which they continued till 1870, when a patent was obtained for, and the first level-tread power-thresher manufactured by David S. Heebner, in Worcester township, which proved a partial suc- cess, and the business continued till 1872.

In 1868, as above stated, Isaac D., having sold his interest, moved to Lansdale and purchased of Joel Wertz the lots upon which is now located the manu- facturing establishment of Heebner & Sons, and, in 1870, William D. Heebner, now a member of the State Legislature, brother of Isaac D., was taken into the business as a partner, when the business began to in- crease rapidly, Isaac, however, having made arrange- ments with the railroad company, and laid the founda- tion for the present successful business. At that time Isaac's house and little shop were the only buildings in the town east of the railroad, except the old Jenkins farm-house, which stands near the borough linc.

Isae. G. Heelner

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MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES.

January 1, 1872, David S. Heebner, the father, was admitted as a partner with his sons, Isaac D. and William D., when the constant increase in business made it necessary to have more room for the manu- facture of their machines, and in 1874 the firm, which had become Heebner & Sons, built the balance of their extensive shops and warehouses, into which a side-track of the North Pennsylvania Branch of the Reading Railroad is laid to accommodate the firm in the large shipments of manufactures they are con- stantly making.

Thus from an obscure and insignificant beginning has grown an important and prosperous business, ex- tending beyond the borders of our own country to the opposite sides of the world. The Heebners are unas- suming, gentlemanly men, who have built up their extensive interests by industry and attention to busi- ness, all being natural mechanies, neither one having served an apprenticeship, yet both are masters of the mechanic's art.

A. D. RUTH, AGENT .- The manufacture of agri- cultural implements has taken deep root in Lans- dale. A. D. Rnth commenced operations about five years ago, and does a large business in the making of Champion horse-powers, threshers, cleaners and sepa- rators, Union feed-cutters, etc. The business also in- cludes iron and brass castings made to order and all kinds of repairing done. Mr. Ruth gener- ally employs from twelve to fourteen hands, and is a well-skilled mechanic. Ile also has an agency for the sale of implements manufactured by other parties.

S. EFFRIG & Co., PORK-PACKERS .- Messrs. Effrig & Co. have been about nine years in the business of pork-packing, and have, by strict honesty, per- sistent energy and untiring industry, increased it to its present condition. Situated on Broad Street, Lansdale, within a short distance from the railroad, it has a frontage of two hundred and thirty feet, with all its departments in the most perfect work- ing order,-ice-houses for cooling, smoke-houses for curing, killing-room, cutting-up room, kettle-houses, boilers, engine, sausage-cutters and stuffers, and everything in the cleanest and very best order and condition. Indeed, cleanliness and order reign su- preme, and all are under intelligent supervision.

This establishment has, too, the very great advan- tage of being situated in a healthy location,-plenty of pure air and water. Near the railroad, it has all the advantages of ready and rapid transit. The hogs killed here are mostly from the far West, corn-fed and of good breeds. The facilities for work at the establishment of Messrs. Effrig & Co. are such that they can kill and dress completely about thirty hogs an hour. In the seasou they generally slaughter about two hundred a week, and twelve hands do the work with ease.

Godshall & Brother, merchant millers and dealers in flour, feed, grain, coal, hay, etc.

The mill was built in 1876, and at that time it was forty by sixty-two feet, with six run of stones, seventy horse-power engine, and a capacity of ninety barrels of flour a day, with choppings.

In 1881 an addition of twenty-two by sixty-two feet was erected, which made the building sixty-two feet square and five stories in height. In the same year the mill was refitted by E. P. Allis & Co., of Milwaukee, Wis., and changed to a full roller- process mill, with a capacity of two hundred barrels of flour a day, and choppings. There are twenty hands employed at the mill, and last year the business done amounted to four hundred thousand dollars. The warehouse rooms are twenty-eight by sixty feet and twenty-six by ninety feet. This establishment is one of the neatest and most complete grist-mills in the State of Pennsylvania, and is known far and wide for the superior quality of its produce.

A. C. GODSHALL was born in 1839 in Franconia, Montgomery Co., Pa. His early life was spent upon his father's farm, where he remained until eighteen years of age, when he left home and was engaged as clerk in a store for three years. Hethen (1861) located in the young and growing village of Lans- dale, where he engaged in the flour and feed business with Henry Derstine, which they carried on for two years, when the firm was dissolved, after which, for a short time, Mr. Godshall conducted the business alone, building, in the mean time, a large warehouse. He then admitted as a partner in the business Mr. An- drew B. Hackman. Their partnership continued until 1867, when this firm was also dissolved, Mr. Godsball then continuing the business (lumber, coal, etc.) alone until 1872, when he admitted his brother, John C. Godshall, as a partner in the business, which part- nership still continues. Iu 1876 they built their pres- ent large and extensive flouring and custom mill at Lansdale, located opposite the railroad station. The mill built in 1876 had a daily capacity of one hundred barrels. An addition was built in 1881, making it sixty-three feet square and five stories in height, with an engine-house thirty by forty feet attached. The mill was changed to a full roller process, gradual re- duetion, the machinery of which was furnished and put up by Messrs. Edward P. Allis & Co., of Milwau- kee, Wis. The mill is operated by a one hundred and five horse-power engine, and has a capacity of one thousand bushels of grain per day, making two hundred barrels of flour, while his extensive business gives employment to eighteen or twenty men.

Mr. Godshall is one of those quiet, unassuming gentlemen who attend strictly to their business, yet finds time to lend a helping hand in every enterprise tending to the development and improvement of the borough of Lansdale and its business interests. He

CENTENNIAL STEAM FLOUR-MILLS .- The firm owning and operating these fine mills is that of A. C. | has been a member of the Town Council since the

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

incorporation of the borough, except one or two short intervals. He was one of the originators of the Lansdale Water-Works, and has since then held the honorable and responsible position of director and treasurer of the company. lle was one of the build- ing committee of St. John's Reformed Church of Lansdale. He is also a member of the board of «directors of the Schuylkill Valley Fire Insurance Com- pany, a director in the Lansdale Turnpike Company, also one of the directors and vice-president of the First National Bank of Lansdale.

He was married, first in 1861, to Miss Anna O., daughter of Henry Derstine, of Lansdale. She died

GWYNEDD TOWNSHIP.

WEST POINT ENGINE AND MACHINE COMPANY .- The works of this company are located in the village of West Point, a thriving village along the line of the Stony Creek Railroad, eight miles north of Norris- town, Montgomery Co., Pa.

At a meeting of the citizens on January 6, 1880, called for the purpose, the project to organize a com- pany and establish works to manufacture the Kriebel engines was favorably considered. On January 26, 1880, the subscribers to the capital stock of the com- pany convened and elected Joseph Anders, Jr., John S. Ileebner, Frederick Light, Sr., I. R. Cassel, Charles

AGoodshall.

in 1866, leaving two children,-William Henry D., K. Kriebel, Aaron Kriebel and William L. Heebner born in 1863, and Lincoln D., born in 1865.

His second wife, whom he married in 1867, was Miss Lydia K., daughter of Philip Hartcell, of Tylersport, Pa. The children from this union now living are Martha H., born in 1868; Harvey H., born in 1872; and Elisabeth H., born in 1878.

Jacob, the father of A. C. Godshall, now in his eighty-sixth year, is one of the prominent and snc- cessful farmers of Franconia township, Montgomery Co., Pa. His wife was a Miss Clemens, of Lower Salford township. They are the parents of eight children, five sons and three daughters all living except the first-born.

to constitute a board of directors. Of the above- named stockholders, Charles K. Kriebel resigned in 1883, and William S. Schultz was elected to fill the vacancy in the board.

HI. K. Kriebel was selected as general agent, and Frederick Light, JJr., as general superintendent.

Application through the proper channel was made for a charter, and the same granted by Governor Henry M. Hoyt on March 13, 1880, with an authorized capital of eight thousand dollars. A building twenty- five by fifty feet was erected, containing office, draw- ing-room and pattern-shop.

Increasing business demanded increased facilities,

623

MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES.

and the management erected, in March, 1881, a two- story building, the first floor used for an office and the second floor for dranghting-rooms. In Septem- ber of the same year, finding the room inadequate, a two-story briek shop, thirty by seventy feet, with boiler-house attached, fourteen by fourteen feet, was built, and all machinery transferred, and new and improved machinery purchased to facilitate the work- ings of the company. The first shop was remodeled for a boiler-shop, and an addition, twenty-five by twenty-five feet, added thereto, making the building twenty-five by seventy-five feet; also a blacksmith- shop, twelve by fifteen feet.

In March, 1883, an addition was put to the machine- shop, thirty by twenty-five feet, adjoining the office, making a total frontage of one hundred and forty-five feet.

The capital stock of the company was increased in December, 1882, to twenty-five thousand dollars, and again, by a vote of the stockholders, to an authorized capital of one hundred thousand dollars in February, 1883.

The working force of the shop in its infancy was two men, and when the boiler-shop was completed the pay-roll called for two additional names, and by the energies of landable ambition the force was increased to thirty-four men,-twenty in the machine department and fourteen in the boiler-shop.

The company added the manufacture of portable engines in July, 1881, and to-day the Kriebel en- gines are known far and near as the most durable, most simple in construction, as well as the most eco- nomical engines in the market.

The prospects are unusually bright, and the de- mand for these justly-celebrated engines is so steadily on the increase that, if so continued, the company will be necessitated to add additional buildings and ang- ment the working force to meet their increasing trade.

The success of the company is mainly due to the determination to do nanght else but first-class work.

The company is likewise manufacturing mounted engines of two and a half, four, six, eight and ten horse-power, and for beauty of design, combined with strength and simplicity, are destined to stand in the foremost rank of that class of engines.

To the boiler department the manufacture of sub- merge boilers has been added ; the superheating steam chamber, lately invented by Mr. Il. K. Krichel, and used in the vertical boilers, adds greatly to the safety and durability of the same. By the peculiar construc- tion of these boilers steam is superheated, which pro- duees dry steam, the benefit of which is well-known to all practical engineers. The company has been awarded a bronze medal at the Pennsylvania State Fair, a gold medal at the Alabama State Fair, first pre- mium at the Louisville Exposition, at North Carolina State Fair, International Cotton Exposition, Atlanta, Ga., and Media Agricultural Society.

The buildings now occupy an area of nine thou- sand nine hundred and ninety-five square feet. The floor space originally was twelve hundred and fifty square feet. A yard-track has been constructed, large scales put in and all goods are moved around the works on the company's own trucks. A large derrick to facilitate the loading and unloading of goods has also been erected, and the railroad com- pany lately constructed a side-track along the works, thus aiding materially their shipping facilities.

WEST POINT STEAM SAW-MILL .- On the turn- pike road from West Point to North Wales, in Upper Gwynedd, stands West Point Steam Saw-Mill, Alan Thomas, proprietor. Everything about this old place supports its claim to antiquity, for tradition gives the date as 1717. It has been frequently repaired and partially rebuilt, and still bears all the marks of great, but sound and healthy, old age. The mill property formerly belonged to the Dannehower estate, and was operated for several years by Jonathan Lukens pre- vious to becoming the property of the present pro- prietor. The power is furnished by a fifteen-horse engine, and with two saws the old mill still produces ten thousand feet a week of sawn timber, oak and hickory, principally grown in Gwynedd town- ship.

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History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Part 142

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