USA > Pennsylvania > Northampton County > History of Northampton County [Pennsylvania] and the grand valley of the Lehigh, Volume I > Part 37
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The history of the manufacture of Portland cement in Northampton county is one of progressive inventions and improvements. Perhaps the greatest among these is the substitution of the rotary kiln for the old sta- tionary dome kiln. The Atlas Portland Cement Company about twenty-five years ago began experimenting with and rapidly developed the rotary kiln process. This is today being used in every mill in the United States, and has been adopted in foreign countries. From time to time the Atlas Portland Cement Company has been called upon to furnish Atlas Portland Cement for many industrial developments throughout the States, and the largest contract of the kind ever undertaken is the Panama Canal; for the purpose of developing this waterway and further fortifying the same, the Atlas Company has shipped to date approximately eight million barrels of cement. During the period of the recent war the Atlas Company has supplied a large portion of the cement required by the United States Government. Atlas Portland Cement is also in strong demand by and is being shipped to South American countries in large quantities, The company employs at the North- ampton mills about 1,800 men. The executive offices of the company are located at No. 30 Broad street, New York. The officers are : John R. Morron, president; A. de Navarro, vice-president; H. W. Maxwell, vice-president; W. E. Miner, secretary-treasurer; J. L. Medler, assistant treasurer; H. E. Harding, assistant secretary. The local plant is under the management of H. T. Raisbeck of Northampton. One hundred and thirty-seven of the employes were in the service of the country during the war. The war gar- dens on the Atlas farms covered more than sixty acres and formed one of the largest clusters of war gardens in the State, if not the nation. In 1918 practically the entire output of the Northampton mills went to the govern- ment.
The Alpha Portland Cement Company is located at Alpha, New Jersey. It was in 1892 that Thomas D. Whitaker commenced the manufacture of Portland cement in two small kilns, which was afterwards increased to four ;
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the company was known as the Whitaker Cement Company. Fire devastated the entire works in 1894, and a year later the Alpha Portland Cement Com- pany was organized. The output of this new organization, in 1898, was 1,000 to 1,200 barrels of Portland cement daily, which was the product of ten kilns. In 1900 the product was increased to 2,000 barrels ; a second mill of ten kilns was built the following year, and in 1903 four more kilns were added. In addition to this the company operated under a lease the Martin's Creek Cement Company works, which consisted of ten kilns, which was increased, in 1905, to thirty-four kilns, with a capacity of 7,500 barrels daily.
The Alpha Portland Cement Company was incorporated under the laws of the State of New Jersey, April 9, 1895. The outstanding capital stock is $10,000,000. The company maintains an office in Easton, and its officers, in 1919, are: G. S. Brown, president; F. G. McKelvy, first vice-president ; F. M. Coogan, second vice-president; John J. Matthes, secretary and treas- urer. The annual capacity of the company is 7,500,000 barrels, which are produced at Alpha, New Jersey, two plants at Martin's Creek, Pennsylvania, and one plant at each of the following places: Cementon and Jamesville, New York, and Manheim, West Virginia. Besides the domestic consump- tion of the product shipments are made to West Indies, the various republics of South America, and to points in Africa. In addition to operating the various cement plants the company owns and operates a bituminous coal mine located at Reynoldsville, West Virginia. When the plants are all in operation employment is given to fifteen hundred employes.
The Nazareth Portland Cement Company was incorporated February 27, 1898, with a capital stock of $300,000. The property of the company is located just outside of the southern borough line of Nazareth. The first officials of the company were Dr. James P. Barnes, president; E. T. Belden, secretary and treasurer. The office of vice-president and active manager was filled by Dr. Irving A. Bachman, of Nazareth. Buildings were erected at a cost of $210,000, and at the time of its organization it was the second largest Portland cement plant in the United States, being only exceeded by the Atlas Portland Cement Company. Since its organization the company's business has been extended and employment is now given to 284 wage earners.
The Dexter Portland Cement Company of Nazareth was incorporated June 2, 1899, with capital stock of $300,000; its investments in 1919 repre- sented $1,200,000. The company owns about 380 acres of land, of which the plant covers about fifty acres. The annual product is about 1,000,000 barrels of Portland cement, and employment is given to about two hundred men.
The Phoenix Portland Cement Company is located about three miles west of the borough of Nazareth. The company was incorporated in 1901, the original capitalization being $860,000. A tract of land was purchased consisting of four hundred acres, of which only about ten per cent. has been opened for cement rock. The capacity of the plant is about 4,500 barrels of Portland cement daily, and employment is given to about 250 wage earners, the monthly payroll aggregating $20,000.
The Penn-Allen Portland Cement Company was organized in November, 1902. The company lighted their first fire just one year later, their buildings
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being erected in nine months. The capacity of the works was 1,000 barrels daily, and the plant was equipped with all the modern improvements of cement machinery. The works are situated on the Lehigh and New England Railroad; the Bath trolley line passes through their property. The officers of the company at the time of its organization were Avon Barnes, president; W. H. Ganewer, vice-president, and William R. Yeager, treasurer. Employ- ment is given to about one hundred and fifty hands. There is also located near Bath the Pennsylvania Portland Cement Company that employs about two hundred and fifty wage earners, and the Bath Portland Cement Com- pany, which gives employment to about one hundred and fifty men.
The Quaker Portland Cement Company acquired property.in Lower Mt. Bethel township in 1903. A charter was granted by the State department, March 5, 1906, to the Atlantic Portland Cement Company, with a capital stock of $100,000. The incorporators were H. D. Maxwell, president ; R. A. Hamilton, treasurer, and F. P. McCloskey, all of Easton. The purpose of the company was to purchase the Alsten Pennsylvania Portland Cement Company properties located in Lower Nazareth, Palmer and Bushkill town- ships, and it erected a cement plant on the same. The Alsten Company of Hamburg, Germany, purchased the properties several years previous to organization of the Atlantic Portland Cement Company, but had never erected a plant.
An organization of the cement manufacturers was consummated at Easton, January 21, 1908, under the name of the "Association of the Li- censed Cement Manufacturers." It included the North American Portland Cement Company, the Atlas, Alpha, American, Lehigh, Lawrence and Vul- canite companies, and other important concerns in the east and west. The association was to control the patents owned by individual concerns, includ- ing the Hurry and Seaman kilns for substituting pulverized coal for oil as fuel, which was controlled by the Alpha Portland Cement Company, which had been a subject of litigation for six years. The officers elected at the time of the organization were A. F. Gerstell of Easton, president and man- ager; Conrad Mller of Nazareth, vice-president, and A. De Navarro, secre- tary and general manager. The growth of the Portland cement industry in the Lehigh Valley district is one of phenomenal increase; in 1890 there were 204,000 barrels of Portland cement shipped ; in 1914 it reached 24,614,933 barrels.
CHAPTER XXVII
THE PRESS
Journalism is recognized at the present day as one of the arts. It has been added to the curriculum of a number of the universities of the country. The early efforts of the colonial days, in which Franklin, Bradford and others of like distinction were the pioneers, have been surpassed by their followers in the twentieth century. The news not only of domestic affairs but the daily occur- rences in foreign lands is placed before the reading mind of the public in a comprehensive and detailed form. The inventions in the art of printing have been so advanced that millions of copies of a single publication are placed before their readers. By the exertions of the editorial and reportorial staffs even the minutest item of public importance is daily recorded. The pioneers of mining and other earth producing products, even in the fields of carnage, are hardly located before the enterprising editor by the whirling of his printing press is issuing broadcast a local newspaper of the daily events, and placing the isolated parts of the country in touch with the world at large. All hail to the worthy representatives of The Fourth Estate, to whose ambition and enterprise we are so largely indebted.
The early adventures in journalism in Northampton county were confined to Easton. There was in the nineteenth century over fifty attempts to establish newspapers in that locality ; many of them, however, were of transitory growth. At the time of the incorporation of Easton as a borough, which created a demand for the news of the outside world, newspapers from outside localities reached the town, mostly in the English language, though the Germantown Zeitung, which had a wide circulation, undoubtedly had a few subscribers in Easton. The first paper printed in Northampton county was the Eastoner Bothe and Northampton Kundschafter (The Easton Messenger and Northampton Intelligencer). Its natal day was September 18, 1793, the day made memorable for the laying of the cornerstone of the Capitol at Washington. It was a folio sheet 17 x II inches, three columns to the page, printed on heavy hand-made paper; its circulation was about three hundred, issued weekly, at one dollar per annum. The first page was devoted to foreign news a month old, the second page to political extracts from other newspapers, the third and fourth pages to advertisements. Domestic news was not printed, owing to the fact that it was fully digested at the post office and taverns in the way of gossip, therefore it was not necessary to repeat it.
The Bothe was published until October, 1804, and was succeeded by Der Eastoner Deutsche Patriot und Landmanns Wochenblatt ( Easton German Patriot and Country-Man's Weekly Paper). Its moto was "where liberty dwells there is my country-Franklin." The first issue was March 22, 1805, and it continued until January, 1813. Both of these papers espoused the cause of the Demo- cratic and Jeffersonian party in opposition to the Federalists, and they exerted a wide political influence in the community.
The founder, publisher and editor of both these journals was Jacob Wey-
NORTH .- 1-19.
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gandt, born in Germantown, Pennsylvania, December 13, 1742, a son of Cornelius and Maria Agneta (Bechtel) Weygant. He received a thorough education and a strict religious training, and early showed a fondness for literature, which was an inherited characteristic, as his mother was the daughter of Rev. John Bechtel, a graduate of Heidelberg University, who came to America in 1726, and was one of the Fathers of the Reformed Church of America, prominently known in the ecclesiastical history of Pennsylvania. Jacob's parents removed, in 1755, to Bethlehem, and in 1762 to what is now Tatamy Station. In this locality he was engaged at his father's trade of wood-turner. Espousing the cause of the patriots in the Revolution, he joined the Northampton County Associates, was captured at Fort Washington, subsequently became a captain in the militia, and was in active service a number of times. Soon after the close of the war he removed to Easton, and was one of the first burgesses of the borough, member of the State House of Representatives, also one of the first vestry of the German Lutheran Church. He married, in 1767, Catharine, daughter of John and Ger- trude Nowland, and at his death, July 11, 1828, was survived by his widow, six daughters and a son. His eldest son, Cornelius Nowland Weygandt, was an associate publisher and founder of the first newspaper. He was born in Forks township, Northampton county, November 1, 1770; was actively engaged in the politics of the county, and assisted his father in journalism until his death, May 3, 1806. He married Susan Grunmyer, who survived him, also two sons and three daughters, all of whom lived to an advanced age.
The first newspaper printed in Easton in the English language was the American Eagle, its initial number being published by Samuel Longcope, May 10, 1799. The earliest numbers displayed its name in plain open block type, but beginning with the issue of August 8, 1799, the title was emblazoned by an eagle perched upon a shield, with the following motto: "Respect for the authority of our government, compliance with its laws, and acquiescence in its measures and duties, enjoined by the fundamental maxims of liberty .- Washington." It was the same size as the Bothe and was issued weekly at two dollars a year. The Eagle commenced its career at a period of great political excitement in Pennsyl- vania, the gubernatorial contest, which ended in the election of Thomas McKean. It advocated the election of James Ross, consequently was Federalistic in its principles. The American Eagle continued to be published under many adverse circumstances until about the close of the year 1805; its lack of patronage was due to the fact that the community was largely a German-speaking population and Democratic in their political affiliations.
The next candidate for journalism was the Northampton Farmer and Easton Weekly Advertiser, which was born December 21, 1805, and was the fourth paper to be published in Northampton county. In January, 1807, its name was changed to the Northampton Farmer. It was a folio 1072 x 17 inches, four columns to the page, and displayed the motto, "Equal and exact justice to all men of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political .- Jefferson." Its editor was Thomas J. Rogers, a brilliant journalist, who afterwards became distin- guished in military and national affairs. The dissolution of the American Eagle in 1805 left the Farmer without a competitor until August, 1808, when the Pennsylvania and Easton Intelligencer was established by Christian Jacob Hutter. It advocated the candidacy of John Spayd for governor in opposition to Simon
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Snyder, the regular Democratic nominee, and James Ross, the Federalist candi- date. The two Democratic tickets were headed as follows :
Republican Ticket Motto Spayd and Free Trade Liberty and the Constitution
Aristocratic Ticket Motto Snyder and Embargo Anarchy and a Convention
The introduction of a second Democratic candidate was viewed with sus- picion by the honest Democracy of Northampton county. They saw the possi- bility of a Federalist governor, and they recalled the days when the windows in their houses were numbered and their dwellings were measured by a set of Federalist officials, therefore they voted the straight Democratic ticket, and 2,817 votes were cast for Governor Snyder, that number being only twenty-three less than was received for any candidate, therefore the loss was to the Federalist and not the Aristocratic Democrats, as was anticipated by the Spayd adherents.
The Farmer was continued under the same management until June 2, 1815, when its publication was discontinued. The editor and publisher of the Farmer, Thomas Jones Rogers, was a son of Joseph Rogers, who came from Ireland to America in 1786 and settled at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Thomas J. was born in Waterford, Ireland, in 1780. In his early youth he learned the art of printing and was employed for many years on the National Intelligencer, pub- lished at Washington, District of Columbia. At the time of the foundation of the Farmer he removed to Easton. During his residence in that borough he published a work entitled "A New American Biographical Dictionary on the Remembrance of the Departed Heroes, Sages, and Statesmen of America." During the war of 1812 he was a brigade major in the Pennsylvania troops, and in 1818 was elected to Congress and re-elected to the Sixteenth, Seventeenth and Eighteenth Congresses. He resigned from the latter and was appointed Register of Wills and Recorder of Deeds of Northampton county, which position he held until 1830, when he removed to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was an officer in the United States Revenue Customs. His death occurred December 7, 1832.
The next paper to be founded in Easton was The Northampton Corre- spondent, printed in German. There is no definite date when it was first issued obtainable, but indications show it was February 7, 1806. Its motto was "Free, Resolute and Dispassionate." The founder, Christian Jacob Hutter, had previ- ously published The Lancaster Correspondent, the last number of which was issued September 3, 1803, when Mr. Hutter removed to Easton. He resigned the control of the paper to his two sons, Henry Augustus and Frederick William Hutter, in 1821. They both died a few years later, and the paper was continued by their father and his son-in-law, Frederick William Muller. This manage- ment continued several years, when the elder Hutter again assumed control, and in the spring of 1839 he disposed of his interests to Abraham H. Senseman, who was its editor and publisher until November, 1860, when the paper was consolidated with the Independent Democrat, by which name it was known
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until 1875, when the original name was resumed, and it became the property of the publisher of the Easton Argus, and is now issued from that office.
The Pennsylvania Herald and Easton Intelligencer was first issued August 10, 1808, and bore the motto: "Historic Truth, the Herald shall proclaim the law its guide-the public good its aim." The editor published his valedictory in the issue of August 1, 1810, when it was suspended. The following week the editor of the Herald, Christian Jacob Hutter, issued the People's Instructor, the advertisements and articles appeared in opposite columns in English and German, and it pledged itself to take no part in political contentions. Its life, however, was of short duration.
The Spirit of Pennsylvania was first issued June 16, 1815, by George Desh- ler and Samuel Moore, who had purchased the good will and equipment of the Farmer. They were both youthful journalists, Deshler being twenty years of age, and Moore still younger. They, however, experienced the same difficulty as their predecessors and contemporaries-the chronic forgetfulness of sub- scribers to pay for their papers. Mr. Moore withdrew from the paper after several years, and Mr. Deshler on February 18, 1820, issued an initial number of Volume I of a new series. He sold his interests May 27, 1823 to L. Byllesby ; however, on April 24, 1824, the paper was again transferred to its former owner by Mr. Byllesby, on the plea that the considerations under which he became the purchaser were contrary to his first expectations. The last number of the Spirit of Pennsylvania was issued in the latter part of 1824. Mr. Deshler was a practical printer and an able newspaper writer; he afterwards founded The Warren Advocate, a weekly publication in Phillipsburg, New Jersey.
The Easton Centinal was first issued July 1, 1817, and was founded by Christian Jacob Hutter. It advocated the principles of Jeffersonian Democracy, and had for its motto: "Faithful, Active, Vigilant and Steady." Owing to financial embarrassments, Mr. Hutter, on October 19, 1821, transferred the publication to his sons. On their death his son-in-law, Frederick William Muller, became publisher, and the orthography of the title was changed to the Sentinel. In the spring of 1839 Abraham Henry Senseman became proprietor, and five years later the ownership of the paper passed to E. L. Wolf, a son of Governor Wolf, who remained in control of the property until December 19, 1851, when Daniel H. Neiman acquired his interests and issued the paper for thirty-one years, when, on the last week of April, 1883, J. Peter Correll became its owner. In politics the paper has always been Democratic, and has always retained the confidence of the public in its over a century existence. This concludes the history of journalism in Easton for the first quarter of a century of its existence.
A newspaper called The Mountainer was born January 7, 1820, and bore the motto : "All Power Is Inherent in the People." It espoused the cause of Democracy, though it frequently opposed the choice of the party's candidates. Its death occurred August 17, 1821, and during its brief career James A. Pater- . son, Jacob Weygandt, Jr., and John David Weiss were publishers and pro- prietors. The Exposita was a campaign paper that first appeared August 19, 1822. It was printed weekly on the press of The Spirit of Pennsylvania, and about fifteen numbers were issued. Der Republicanishe Bauer and The Gridiron were political sheets of short duration.
The Pennsylvania Argus was the creation of Jacob Weygandt, Jr., and was
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founded in Easton, February 15, 1827. About the same time Samuel Innes announced his intentions of publishing The Easton Gazette, and the two news- paper enterprisers combined their patronage and jointly founded the Easton Argus. In politics it announced it would be Democratic, and was an advocate of General Jackson's election to the presidency, with coherence to the principles that power should originate in the people. After a few years Mr. Weygandt retired, and Mr. Innes continued the paper, changing its name to The Democrat and Argus. The death of Mr. Innes occurred in 1841, and the business was taken charge or by the father and a brother of the brilliant associate founder. In 1844 William H. Hutter, a grandson of Col. Christian J. Hutter, became proprietor, and changed the name of the paper to The Easton Argus. He was at this time but a youth of nineteen years, and for a quarter of a century his ability as a political writer made the Argus one of the leading advocates of Democracy in Pennsylvania. Upon the retirement of Mr. Hutter in 1869, James Findlay Shunk, son of a governor of Pennsylvania, in partnership with William Eichman, conducted the paper. The following year, however, the latter retired from the firm, his interests having been secured by Josiah Cole and Dr. E. Morwitz, proprietors of The Correspondent and Democrat. Mr. Shunk retained the editorial management of the two journals. In December, 1871, Mr. Shunk disposed of his interests in the paper to his partners, and Mr. Eichman became editor, continuing for several years, when J. Peter Correll and Oliver L. Fehr became successive editors. The Argus changed from a weekly to a semi-weekly on January 1, 1892, the publication of the paper on the lines originally formed continuing to the present day.
Upon the day which the Argus was first issued, February 15, 1827, a German edition of the paper appeared, called the Republikanishe Presse, which was published regularly until February 5, 1830. The Delaware and Easton Gazette, which first made its appearance in the month of May, 1827, was established to advocate the election of General Andrew Jackson to the presidency, and ceased to exist in the fall of that year. The Northern Whig was first issued April 4, 1828, with John Mulloy as its first editor. Its owners were James M. Porter and others. At the close of the first year of its existence a change was made in the editorial department; Josiah P. Hetrick, a youth of eighteen years, was made editor, and continued in that capacity for forty years. In July, 1840, Mr. Hetrick formed a partnership with William Maxwell of Easton, which continued until the later part of 1844, when Mr. Maxwell retired. In the early fifties the name of the paper was changed to the Easton Whig, and in the early sixties it was rechristened as the Northampton County Journal, which name it retained until the issue of its last number, September 16, 1868. The Freyheits Fahne (Freedom's Banner), was published in 1828, but it had only a brief existence.
The Jeffersonian and Northampton, Bucks, Pike and Lehigh Telegraph first saw the light of day July 28, 1831 ; it was a weekly newspaper, and its founder, publisher and editor was Aaron F. Cox. It gave its support to Andrew Jackson, and from its first issue was unpopular with the people, the editor disliked, assaulted in the streets, and arrested for libel. The end of the year saw the Jeffersonian with its kite-tail appendages extinct and its editor sought more congenial surroundings.
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