History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Part 143

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 143

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BRICK-YARD .- Within a mile of North Wales, on the West Point turnpike, are the brick-kilns and yard of William Constantine, who has operated them for fourteen years. Seven hands are employed, and about five hundred thousand bricks a year are manufac- tured.

NORTII WALES BOROUGH.

THE NORTH WALES STEAM MILLS, ELIAS K. FREED & Co .- The original mill was built by J. H. Egner, of Philadelphia, in 1860, and was then operated as a grist-mill and distillery. It was forty by sixty fect, three stories in height, with an attic. The size of the lot was two hundred by one hundred and twenty-five feet, and fronts on the Spring House and Sumneytown turnpike. About the time the mill was finished the proprietor had to sell out, when it was purchased by Jonas D. Moyer, David Moyer and Elias K. Freed. The new firm removed the machinery connected with the distillery and changed that part of the building into a planing-mill, the other part as a enstom mill. In March, 1862, the building was destroyed by fire, but it was quickly rebuilt for a merchant and grist-mill, with five run of stones and a forty horse-power engine. In 1866, Jonas D. Moyer withdrew from the firm. In 1868, Mr. David Moyer withdrew also, having sold his interest to Henry W. Moyer. A copartnership was formed under the title of Elias K. Freed & Co., who operated the mill upon the old plan until 1876, when they changed the ma- chinery, and now work upon what is known as the new process. In 1881, Mr. Moyer sold his interest to Mr. Freed, who gave a third interest in the business to Frank S. Kriebel. Mr. Freed took down the old

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

mill and rebuilt it for manufacturing flour by the roller process, increasing the capacity of the mill to one hundred and fifty barrels a day. The mill is now one hundred by forty feet, three stories and an attic in height, with a two-story warehouse. The entire works have a frontage of one hundred and twenty feet. The storage capacity is twenty thousand bushels of wheat and one thousand barrels of flour. When the roller process came into operation the firm em- | ployed double their former number of hands, and worked day and night. This was the first roller-mill in Montgomery County and the third in the State. Mr. Freed has given his son, R. Russel Freed, a third interest in the business. There are eight pairs of iron rolls and eight pairs of porcelain rolls, and this roller process has doubled their productive capacity.

MESSRS. LUKENS & SHEARER'S PLANING-MILL .- This mill was built in 1865 by Elwood Shearer. The firms have been Shearer & Hendricks, Baker & Har- din, and is now Lukens & Shearer. The building is seventy-six by forty feet and two stories in height. From four to ten hands are employed, with a pay-roll of upwards of ninety dollars a month. The amount of finished work per year is about twelve thousand dollars. The value of the property is about six thou- sand dollars, stock included.

THE NORTH WALES MARBLE-WORKS were estab- lished in 1878 by the present proprietor, James Bil- liard. He conduets a successful business in dealing in and manufacturing monuments, headstones, man- tels, bracket-shelves, terra-cotta chimneys, flues, sewer- pipes and building work in all its branches of marble, granite or brown stone. Mr. Billiard has also abranch marble-yard at Lansdale.

BELL-FOUNDRY .- The bell-foundry of Thomas Dunn & Son is located on Fourth Street, and is in- creasing every year in importance. They cast bells from the size of a small office signal bell to the church bell of four thousand pounds. Some of the best-toned bells in this section of the State have been cast at this foundry.

TIN-WARE FACTORY .- On Main Street, North Wales, Jacob H. Leister has for twenty years con- ducted the manufacture of tin-ware in all its branches. He employs five hands, and produces about thirty-five thousand pounds of finished work a year.

NORTH WALES KNITTING COMPANY .- This small industry was established in 1883, and employs nine hands, producing one hundred and fifty dozen pairs of stockings per week. The superintendent is Isaac G. Freas, Esq. The company propose to extend their operations in the near future.

JOIIN WEINGARTEN & SONS have conducted the manufacture of cigars and tobacco at Second and Church Streets since 1869. His establishment is twenty-eight by thirty feet. He produces annually, with the assistance of his son and three journeymen, about one hundred and fifty thousand cigars, mostly mannfactured from imported tobacco.

SYLVESTER BRIGHIT has very successfully conducted the business of carriage-making for thirteen years on Washington Street. The buikling is ninety feet front by one hundred and fifty deep, two and a half stories in height. Mr. Bright employs about ten hands, and transaets business to the amount of twenty- five thousand dollars a year.

WHITEMARSH TOWNSHIP.

SPRING MILL FLOURING-MILL. - This ancient building has an especial interest for the lovers of an- tiquarian relics, dating back among the misty records of the Revolutionary times, and is said to be the oldest grist-mill in the State. Tradition gives its age as one hundred and sixty years, although documentary evi- dence of the fact is wanting. During the encamp- ment of the American troops in the township in 1777 this mill supplied them with flour and corn-meal, and it is alleged that the illustrious commander-in-chief, Washington, frequently purchased flour for his mili- tary family and corn for his horses at this mill. It has passed through many hands in its long career of usefulness, and still, notwithstanding its time-worn walls and venerable appearance, is capable of doing good service, producing thirty barrels of flour a day, and prides itself upon the superior quality of its flour. It is now run by A. F. Jarrett, who has held it for two years. Forsixteen years previous the mill was operated by James Burnett. Going back further, Dut- ton & Delaney ran it for some years. Still earlier, Simeon Matlack, Casper Robb, Enos Tolan, Reuben Williams, Aaron Bowker, Joseph D. Corson, a brother of Dr. Hiram Corson, Joseph Potts, and in 1830 we find it in the possession of Thomas Livezey, who had held it from the year 1780 up to that time. For nearly half a century it was the the only mill in this section. It is solidly built of stone, and was put up in sections, in accordance with the rough customs and scanty means of the men of those days. The machinery is driven by an overshot wheel of forty horse-power, and the old stone fabric looks as if it would stand the storms of another hundred years. There is another peculiar advantage belonging to this ancient mill, which no other we have ever heard of can claim, and to which may be attributed the superior grade of flour it produces,-in floods or droughts the same uniform flow of water runs the mill, reaching it from the grand sources which gives to the locality its name of Spring Mill.

THE RIVERSIDE PAPER-MILL, owned and oper- ated by W. C. Hamilton & Sons, is situated at La- fayette Station, on the Norristown Branch of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, and also at about the same distance from the station of the same name on the Schuylkill Division of the Pennsylvania Rail- road. The mill was built in 1856-57, and first put in operation in the latter year by E. R. Cope, previously of the firm of Magarge & Cope, paper manufacturers. When the Riverside Mill was first put in operation

P. C. Hamilton

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MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES.

Mr. W. C. Hamilton (the present owner) had a small interest in it with Mr. Cope, and also employed in the mill as manager, a position in which he continued for about six years, when the connection was severed.

On the Ist of October, 1865, Mr. Hamilton, who, in the mean time, had been employed in the paper business elsewhere, purchased the entire Riverside Mill property and stock. The farm attached was afterwards purchased by him. At the time of his pur- chase the mill was equipped with one sixty-two inch Fourdrinier machine, one washer and two beater- engines, one set of super-calenders and the other machinery necessary for manufacturing book and envelope-papers. The capacity was then one and one-fourth tons in twelve hours. Its motive-power was furnished by a Corliss steam-engine of one hun- dred and fifty horse-power, and another engine of twenty horse-power for driving the paper-machine. The mill building was of stone, two stories high, with basement, as it stands at present, surrounded by the several buildings, all of stone, which have since been added to the establishment at different times.

In 1872 an additional building was erected on the north side, about seventy by eighty feet in size, the lower part for use as a calendering and finishing-room and the upper part for storage. At the same time, another building of about the same dimensions was added on the south side for a bleaching-room, and a third building, three stories high. and about thirty by fifty feet, for the storage ofstock. Besides these addi- tions to the mill establishment, twelve dwelling-houses were built for occupation by the workmen. To theequip- ment of the mill Mr. Hamilton then added a second Fourdrinier (sixty-five inch) machine, with a corre- sponding addition to the other machinery of the mill, bringing its capacity up to ten thousand pounds in twenty-four hours. The motive-power was also in- creased by the addition of another engine and boilers.

For ten years succeeding that time the mill was in operation to its full capacity, a great part of the time running night and day. In 1882 further extensive additions were made to the power and equipment of the mill. An eight hundred and fifty horse-power Porter & Allen engine was put in, also an eighty horse-power Corliss engine and eight Babcock & Wilcox boilers. A third Fourdrinier machine (eighty-six inches) was added, and the mill was furnished with new shafting throughout. By these improvements and additions the capacity of the mill was increased, and brought to its present figure,-fifteen thousand pounds in twelve hours. The prodnet is fine book, card and envelope- papers. The offices of the firm of W. C. Hamilton & Sons are at the mill and at 1001 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia.

WILLIAM C. HAMILTON owner of the Riverside Mill is a native of Chester Co., Pa., born near West Grove, September 1, 1819. His only means of education were such as he found in the common schools, which he attended until he reached the age of eleven years,

and a subsequent teriu of three months. When he left school, at the age mentioned, he commenced work- i ing in a small carding and fulling-mill, and remained there until sixteeen years of age, when he entered as an apprentice in a one-vat hand paper-mill about three miles from West Grove, on a branch of White Clay Creek. It was owned by Robert Lisle, and operated by MeCall & Wardell. He remained there two years and then entered the Wagontown hand-mill of Stead- man & Markle, where he also remained two years, including the commencement of the great panic of 1837, when the mill was temporarily shut down. In the spring of 1838 he went to work in a small machine- mill, called the Beaver Dam Mill, on Buck Run, in Chester County. There he remained less than one year. In the winter of 1838-39 he worked for Jessup & Brothers in their two-vat hand-mill, located in Westfield, Mass., which was then running on fine writing-papers. In 1839, Mr. Hamilton left Mass- achusetts and went to Newark, Del., where he worked a short time in a small machine-mill. Thence he went to the two-vat hand-mill of John Eckstein, on Darby Creek, where he was employed on very fine work (bank-note and heavy ledger-paper), under the then widely-known manager, Joseph Robinson. He remained there during 1839-40. In the spring of 1841 he commenced work in the Glen Mills of James M. Wilcox & Co., on Chester Creek, Delaware Co. This mill, then running on fine book-papers, was somewhat l'amed because using a Fourdrinier machine, one of the first used in the State. Mr. Hamilton worked in the mill of the Messrs. Wilcox & Co., until the fall of 1844, when he went to start a machine in the new Wis- sahiekon l'aper-Mill of Charles Magarge & Co., where, at the end of a few months, he was promoted to the posi- tion of manager. Ile remained in that capacity at the Wissahickon Mill twelve years, until 1856, when he took an interest in the new Riverside Mill, and re- mained six years, as has already been mentioned. After leaving the Riverside he was again engaged at Charles Magarge's Wissahickon Mill, where he re- mained in exceedingly remunerative employment until the fall of 1865. His purchase, at that time, of the mill property at Lafayette Station, as also bis subse- quent business history, is embraced in the preceding account of the Riverside Mill.

Mr. Hamilton was married, May 16, 1845, to Eliza- beth W. Gregg, daughter of Herman Gregg, of Del- aware County. Their children are Rebecca J. (now the wife of Frank W. Lockwood, of Philadelphia), Charles 1., Wilbur F. and Edwin E. Hamilton. The three sons are associated with their father in the firm of W. C. Hamilton & Sons.

HITNER'S FURNACES .- These old and well-known furnaces were established in 1835 by Farr & Kunzie, of Philadelphia, then the only practical chemists in the State. D. O. and Ilenry S. Hitner bought the property from these gentlemen, and in 1837 the Fur- naces No. 1 and 2, William Penn, were in full opera-

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tion. William Penn, No. I, was partially destroyed by fire some years ago. No. 2 is torn down, and the Pennsylvania Schuylkill Valley Railroad now runs through the property. The old Louisa Furnace, located in the centre of the village of Spring Mill, had its name changed to William Penn No. 3, and all three have been idle since the year 1873. In the old times when the iron trade was brisk these furnaces gave employment to a hundred men around the furnaces and to fully fifteen hundred in all their connections. Six thousand dollars a month were paid to the furnace-men and their helpers. No. 1 Furnace produced one hundred and twenty-five tons of iron per week; No. 2, one hundred and seventy-five tons a week ; and the Louisa, or No. 3, one hundred and thirty tons a week.

SCHARFF TERRA-COTTA WORKS .- Louis Scharff and William Gilinger commenced the business of making terra-cotta here in 1856, in a small building thirty by seventy-five feet. Their modes of manufac- ture were of the most rude and primitive kind. For a considerable time the clay was ground and manipulated by hand, and it was considered a great advance when horse-power was substituted. Abont 1861, Mr. Gilin - ger withdrew and the firm became Scharff & MeIntyre. In 1863 the firm changed to Scharff & Poyntzell, and some years later toLouis Scharff alone. At his death the firm-name became what it is at present, A. Scharff & Brother. Very great improvements have recently been made in this establishment. The main building is fifty-two by one hundred feet, two stories high, and all the old machinery has been discarded, being re- placed with the newest and most improved appliances. An eighteen horse-power engine has supplanted the old five horse-power upon which they had to depend for so many years. About seven men are employed steadily at the works, and the value of the whole plant, buildings and stock included, is estimated at $50,000.

MOORHEAD'S TERRA-COTTA WORKS .- These works were established in 1866 by Messrs. W. L. Wilson and Alexander Moorhead on a small scale, and after they were partially destroyed by fire were rebuilt. The frontage on the railway is, for one building, fifty feet, with a depth of one hundred feet ; No. 2 is sixteen by one hundred feet, all two stories in height ; the kiln-house is fifty by one hundred and seventy-five feet. When in full operation sixty hands are employed, and the pay-roll amounts to one thou- sand dollars a month. The engine is seventy horse- power, and the value of the property is about one hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars.

ROYER'S FORD BOROUGH.

THE CONTINENTAL STOVE-WORKS, ROYER'S FORD, -The Continental Stove-Works were established Jan- uary 1, 1866, by the firm of Francis, Buckwalter & Co., consisting of the following members : C. S. Francis, Henry Francis, John Sheeler, H. L. Buckwalter and J. A. Buckwalter. The firm had only a small capital, |

but, full of perseverance and good business and me- chanical ability, they soon began to build up a trade which in a short time taxed the works to their full capacity. At this time they employed fifty men. Along with stoves, they manufactured agricultural implements; also the celebrated Buckwalter cherry- seeder, so universally known in the Eastern States. In 1871, C. S. Francis withdrew from the firm. The business, however, continued as before under the same firm-name. 1n 1872, finding their capacity too lim- ited for their growing trade, they built an addition to the works, thereby increasing their capacity about fifty per cent. In 1874, Mr. Henry Francis retired from the firm, the remaining partners being the pur- chasers of his interest. The firm-name was now changed to Sheeler, Buckwalter & Co. The business continued to grow, and the works again becoming too small, the firm coneluded to build new works, and acting on that conclusion, in 1876 they erected their present extensive establishment. About this time John Sheeler's health began to fail, and in the year 1880 he died. The remaining members, H. L. and J. A. Buckwalter, purchased his interest in the business, and the firm-name changed to Buckwalter & Co., which is the title at the present time. The business at this time had increased very fast, and in the course of two years they were employing one hundred and twenty-five men. In 1882, H. L. Buekwalter died, leaving J. A. Buckwalter the only surviving partner of the original company. H. L. Buekwalter's interest was disposed of, part to William M. Stauffer and I. N. Buckwalter, the family retaining the balance. The present output is about twenty-five thousand stoves per year, requiring the employment of two hundred men. They now have a capital employed of two hundred thousand dollars.

GRANDER, ROGERS & Co., ROYER'S FORD .- The firm of Grander, Rogers & Co. was established in 1870 for the manufacture of stoves, heaters, ranges and general job-work. The buildings front the railroad one hundred and fifty feet, with a depth of one hun- dred feet, three and one-half stories in height. Sixty- five hands are employed, with a monthly pay-roll of two thousand eight hundred dollars. The production is seven hundred tons a month.

PENN GLASS-WORKS .- Messrs. Harbison, Bartlett & Co. commeneed the manufacture of glass in Octo- ber of the present year (1884). The buildings are one of fifty-eight by fifty-six feet and one torty by twenty- four feet, one story high. The capacity is sixty thou- sand pounds a day of bottles and vials of all kinds. Forty-five hands are employed, with a pay-roll of two thousand dollars a month.

ROYER'S FORD CLAY-WORKS .- Messrs. Rogers & Benjamin conduct the manufacture of stove-tiles, flower-pots, fire-bricks, chimney-tops, etc. The build- ing is sixty feet front by five hundred in depth, two stories high. Six hands are employed, with a pay- roll of one hundred and fifty dollars a month.

freeph & Prop

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MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES.

FLOYD, WELLS & Co .- This firm are the successors of O. B. Keeley & Co., and are engaged in the manu- facture of stoves, heaters and ranges, commencing February, 1884. The buildings have a frontage of three hundred feet; depth, six hundred feet. Fifty hands are employed ; monthly wages, two thousand five hundred dollars; and about ten thousand stoves are manufactured annually.

PLYMOUTH TOWNSHIP.

MOGEE'S LIME-QUARRIES .- Just over the eastern boundary of the borough of Norristown stands Mo- geetown, a neat and clean little village of about sixty tenement houses, clustered around the mansion- house of William Mogee, Esq., and the quarries and lime-kilns of which he is the proprietor. In the middle of the village is a neat little memorial church, thirty-two by fifty feet, erected to the memory of a favorite daughter, deceased some years ago. The quarries and the sixteen kilns which burn the lime are close to the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad track, with its station, so well known to the traveler on that branch of the road. The new Schuylkill Valley Railroad runs right through the property. Thirty-two years ago Mr. Mogee purchased this property, of twenty-two acres, from William A. Craw- ford, at a cost of twenty-two thousand dollars. He has run the kilns for about half that period, having leased the works for sixteen years to his brother, Mr. Daniel Mogee, who lives close at hand.

During the year 1880 the production of these quar- ries and kilns was 140,000 bushels of unslaked lime ; in 1881, 185,000 bushels; in 1882, 200,000 bushels ; in 1883, 236,000 bushels; and during the present year (1884), up to August 20th, the production was 150,000 bushels. But these figures by no means represent the capacity of these works.

In years past, when a rush of business pressed upon him, Mr. Mogee employed so large a number of men that his pay-list amounted to four hundred dollars a week. He had forty horses, sixteen boats and used thirty-six tons of coal per day, producing one million bushels of lime a year. The out-offices, stabling, etc., are on a grand scale. There is a coal- shed, thirty-six by one hundred and thirty-six feet, with a capacity of one thousand tons. The wharf and siding for the shipping of lime and receipt of coal cost five thousand dollars. The property is estimated to be worth one hundred and ten thousand dollars.

ABINGTON TOWNSHIP.

EDGE HILL IRON COMPANY .- The stack is sixty- three by seventeen feet, and was built from 1869 to 1872. The furnace was first blown in January, 1872, and has a closed top and closed front. The ores used are hematite from Montgomery County, and magnetic ore from Berks County and New Jersey. The annual capacity is fifteen thousand net tons ; the specialty is gray forge pig-iron. Joseph E. Thropp is the manager.

JOSEPH EARLSTON THROPP .- Joseph Earlston Thropp was born at Valley Forge, in Chester County. His father, Isaiah Thropp, the son of an English mer- chant and Sarah, sister of Sir William Wood, came to America at an early age, where he married Anna Vir- ginia, daughter of John Workizer, of IIowellville, and granddaughter of Colonel Christian Workizer, an ac- complished German officer, who served with distinc- tion on the staff of General Wolfe during the French and Indian war, which ended in 1763.

Mr. Thropp is the youngest member of the family. He was educated at the public schools, Friends' Cen- tral High School and the Pennsylvania Polytechnic College, and graduated from the latter institution in June, 1868, a civil engineer.

One of the papers reporting the college commence- ment said ; " Mr. Thropp spoke more like an old phil- osopher than a young man." In July following he went to Minnesota and was there offered the choice of two positions on the railroad connecting St. Paul and Du- Inth. The work on the St. Paul end was considered easy, that terminating at Duluth very difficult ; but he chose the latter, though the president and chief engi- neer looked upon his boyish appearance with some misgiving. The latter, however, soon wrote of Mr. Thropp: " I find him fitted for much more advanced positions than are usually occupied by those of his age." He superseded a man fifteen years his senior, and was transferred from one post to another, wherever the most complicated and important work was to be done. The death of his mother brought him East, and at the urgent request of his father he declined ad- vanced positions offered him to return, and accepted, in 1870, that of assistant manager at the Merion Fur- nace, West Conshohocken. Eighteen months later he was admitted to partnership. In 1873 he married Caroline F., daughter of his partner, Joel B. Moor- head, and twin sister of Mrs. Jay Cooke, Jr. The issne of this marriage is five children,-three sons and two daughters. In 1874, Mr. Thropp visited some of the extensive iron-works of Great Britain, and afterwards extended his tour through France, Switzerland, Ger- many and Belgium.

He remained a member of the firm of J. B. Moor- head & Co. until 1883. During this time he took an active part in church and Sunday-school work, and other matters of public interest. He was repeatedly elected a vestryman of the Calvary Protestant Epis- copal Church, and was superintendent of its Sunday- school and of that of the Mt. Pleasant Mission Sun- day-school. When but twenty-eight years of age a committee of his neighbors waited upon him and re- quested him to permit the use of his name as a candi- date for Congress. He thanked them, but declined, expressing the opinion that his time had not yet come. He represented his district in county and State con- ventions, always taking a prominent part. His lead- ership in the judiciary convention of 1881, where he espoused the cause of A. S. Swartz, Esq., who was not

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History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Part 143

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