USA > Pennsylvania > Venango County > History of Venango County, Pennsylvania : its past and present, including > Part 47
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The Union Building and Loan Association began in March of that year under Directors Merritt, Guernsey, McIntosh, Vandergrift, Jr., Loomis, Lay, Grant, Chickering, Ormston, Hays, and Buchanan, with an authorized capital of three thousand shares of two hundred dollars each. The officers chosen at first have for the most part been continued to the present; they were B. H. Carnahan, president; D. L. Trax, vice- president; B. C. Simp- son, secretary; Charles H. Lay, Jr., treasurer; Mr. Buchanan, auditor, and F. W. Hays, solicitor. There have been no losses from the first; the aver- age premiums have been about twenty per cent., and the value of shares so increased that by the end of the first five years a second association was formed.
This was the Home Building and Loan Association whose five hundred stockholders organized in April, 1886, with the following officers: Pres- ident, M. Lowentritt; vice-president, C. M. Loomis; secretary, G. W. Parker; treasurer, W. W. Davis; solicitor, F. W. Hays, and directors: Brown, Simpson, Guernsey, Carnahan, Young, Stephenson, Berry, Welch, Meals, and Hays. The leading officers have been retained, while the pre- miums on their authorized stock of eight hundred thousand dollars, divided into shares of two hundred dollars each, have averaged similar to the Union. Neither association has had any losses, and the steady prosperity of both has been the means of building over a thousand houses in less than a decade, and chiefly in the last three years. This is due no less to the good management of its officers than to the excellence of the plan itself.
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OIL CITY.
NEWSPAPERS.
The first newspaper at Oil City, the Weekly Register, was issued for the first time on the 14th of January, 1862, by W. R. Johns. It has been fol- lowed successfully by the Monitor, Petroleum Monthly, Sand Pump, Bul- letin, Semi- Weekly Petrolian, Republican, Times, Derrick, Sunday Call, Bliz- zard, Critic, and Democrat; the Derrick, founded in 1881, and Blizzard, founded in 1882, are issued both daily and weekly, and the Critic, founded in 1886, is published weekly.
HOTELS AND HALLS.
So much of a community's history is associated with its hotels, public halls, and theaters that an attempt is here made to trace out the most im- portant early ones.
The Halyday, Bannon, Moran, Red Lion, and Dickey taverns have been mentioned as on the west side. The Petroleum house, one of the most noted, and which still stands between Main street and the creek, followed the Dickey tavern, with James Colgan and afterward Charles Pither as pro- prietor. The Mead house and the Parker house were two others that sprung up in the first two years of the sixties.
On the east side the Edmonds hotel on the site of the Transit block, corner of Center and Seneca streets, was the first. Its name was afterward changed to the Ohio hotel, and on the corner diagonally opposite arose the Philadelphia hotel. Many others followed, chiefly on Center and Main streets, frequently changing names and proprietors. It was almost as pay- ing a business then as that of the teamster, which is saying a great deal.
On the south side the first was the Laytonia house, corner of Central avenue and Front street.
Probably the first hall was a frame building on Main below Bridge street as early as 1860-61. The Halyday run school house was used as early as 1862, and a little later " the old banking house," built by A. J. Wright & Company, but never used for banking as intended.
On the east side the first hall was in the block on the Derrick office site, owned by Reynolds and Williams. The school house on the site of the Oil Well Supply Company's office was used, and the old Methodist Episcopal church just opposite, and also the successor of the latter after the fire of 1866. After that date the present halls were erected from year to year.
On the south side Lee's hall was the first, about 1863-64, and is still standing on the banks of the run on Front below Petroleum street. Smith & Allison's hall was built a year or so later.
The first theater that was generally recognized as such was called Bas- com's hall. It was a large frame building erected on the hill where Main street turns to the west. It was opened in 1865 under the management of O'Hara & Blake, and afterward became known as O'Hara's hall. It was used for various purposes and finally fell into decay.
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HISTORY OF VENANGO COUNTY.
The first opera house was built in 1872 at the head of Center street by . John Love, and although managed by General John A. Wiley, it proved unsuitable so that it was entirely remodeled, and in September, 1878, was reopened under the management of Samuel T. Jack. This was used until in February, 1884, when, one night after a performance by the Edwin Thorn Black Flag Company, it was burned to the ground.
During the succeeding autumn the south side rink on Front street, corner of Central avenue, was fitted up by Kane & Tracy, and opened on Novem- ber 18th.
In the summer of 1885 a desire to rebuild the opera house led M. Geary, president, W. J. Young, Thomas B. Simpson, C. M. Loomis, and M. Lowentritt to purchase the old site at the head of Center street, and in July construction was begun. Meanwhile Kane & Rogers had become man- agers of the south side rink, and on the completion of the new opera house leased it. Their grand opening occurred on the evening of December 21, 1885, W. E. Sheridan appearing as Louis XI. The audience room on the second floor has a stage thirty-three feet deep and fifty-eight feet wide, with all the appointments of a metropolitan opera house. The seating ca- pacity is about one thousand, and the popular stars frequently greet full houses. The south and west sides have no other theater.
MANUFACTURES.
Besides the furnace period, there have been two other eras in Oil City manufactures, the petroleum and natural gas periods, the advent of the latter in 1883, giving greater promise of a permanent future for Oil City than any previous development. The character of the manufactures has been largely that connected with the oil industry, so that everything from the drill point to the finest gasoline is made within the city limits, but other branches of manufacture are now coming in. This chapter attempts to sketch only the most important and distinct manufactures, and in the order of their establishment.
Charles Robson & Company began in a small way, in 1860, near the site of the pipe lines' shops, in the Third ward, the first manufactory of the new Oil City. About 1863 they bought Hasson's hardware, on the corner of Center and Seneca, opposite the Exchange site. F. Giegel and George Porter joined the firm in 1864, and, after the fire of 1866, they built on the Oil Exchange site, where business increased so that they employed twenty- four men at one time. They closed the business in 1871.
Cummings Brothers' Machine Shops were probably the next. They flour- ished during the latter part of the sixties, and gradually ceased doing business, as the old shops on Seneca street, near the new Transit block, are still standing idle, with the machinery in them. The brothers were Alexan- der, William, and John.
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OIL CITY.
The Saltzmann Brewery was built in 1862, on Charley run. In 1881 the firm of J. J. Saltzmann & Sons erected one on Palace Hill, which was burned in March, 1887. This was rebuilt at once, on a larger scale, and now has a daily capacity of fifty barrels.
The Imperial Barrel Works were ready for business in March, 1873, with a daily capacity of one thousand barrels and a force of two hundred and fifty men and boys. This force and capacity have more than trebled since. The first officers were I. I. Wagner, president; C. A. Cooper, vice-president; and C. W. Owston, secretary and general manager. It was afterward bought by the Imperial Refining Company, and the present name assumed.
The Imperial Refining Company, Limited, with works at Siverly and general offices over the Oil City Savings Bank, was organized in 1871. Their officers were: President, J. J. Vandergrift; treasurer, John Pitcairn, Jr .; general manager, John Gracie, who, with J. J. Lawrence and G. V. Forman, constituted the directory. It has since become a limited company, with B. F. Brundred, chairman, and G. H. Vilas, secretary and treasurer, and now has the following departments: The gasoline plant, with a capacity of one thousand barrels of naphtha daily; the refinery proper, with daily capacity of two thousand barrels of crude oil; the barrel works, with an annual capacity of three hundred thousand barrels; and the paraffine works, formerly owned by C. C. Beggs & Company, having a monthly capacity of five thousand barrels of paraffine oil.
The Oil Well Supply Company, Limited, is a firm which has grown from the needs of the oil development. Early in the sixties New York supply firms began to have their western departments cover the new oil fields. Eaton & Cole were one of these about 1867 and by about 1873 it had be- come the Eaton, Cole & Burnham Company. Meanwhile, in 1869, Mr. Eaton had located at Titusville; in January, 1870, Mr. Chickering came on, and in 1873 they opened their first Oil City store on Elm street. They afterward moved into the Hukill block on Sycamore street and in 1877 built the nucleus of their factory near the Union depot. At this time they had about fourteen stores at various points, while Kerr, Geider & Company, another firm, had about ten, and W. C. Allison & Company, J. D. Wolf & Company, J. D. Lupher & Company, and others had one each.
These were all absorbed or bought out sooner or later and March 14, 1878, the present company was organized with John Eaton, president, and John A. Hinkley, secretary and treasurer. The capital stock was three hundred thousand dollars. The official changes have been as follows: On the resignation of Mr. Hinkley in January, 1880, Kenton Chickering was elected secretary; E. T. Howes, treasurer; and in November, 1885, K. Saul- nier became assistant treasurer. The paid-up capital is now five hundred thousand dollars.
The firm at first did not intend to manufacture, but during 1878 a single
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OIL CITY.
and Mr. Kent, treasurer and superintendent. The capital stock was seventy- five thousand dollars. The use of natural gas, after undergoing prepara- tion, has been the chief change, together with the use of oil instead of coal about 1886. This has been since connected with the Fuel Supply company.
The Joseph Reid Foundry and Machine Works, on Seneca street, began in a one-story building, thirty-seven feet square, in 1876, as a machine shop. Increasing business gradually enlarged this to one hundred and fifty feet by thirty-seven, and two stories, and iron and brass foundries were added. En- gines and locomotives were soon made after Mr. Reid's own plans, the first of the locomotives built in Oil City (1882). The manufacture was from time to time extended so as to make the Stover pumping rig, log-dogs, etc. The increase was such that in 1887, when twenty-two hands were employed, they removed to new quarters in the rink building, one hundred and eighty by forty-eight feet.
The Oil City Boiler Works were established in 1876 by M. Geary, B. W. Vandergrift, and Daniel O'Day with a small capital, in a building located on the corner of Duncan street, now used as a store room for various wares. One year after the establishment of the business, J. J. Vandergrift and J. J. Vandergrift, Jr., purchased the interest of B. W. Vandergrift and continued to be members of the firm until 1882, when M. Geary and Daniel O'Day became sole owners. In 1881 the plant was located in its present quarters and has grown with wonderful rapidity, the business having varied so widely that as high as six hundred men have been employed and the expenditures for a single year have been as high as one million two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. At the present time employment is given to about two hundred men, and an average of sixty boilers and from seventy-five to one hundred engines are manufactured per month, which find ready markets all over the world. The company is now erecting a large brick building, at a cost of some fifty thousand dollars, with sufficient room for every depart- ment of the works.
The Logan Repair Shops are in the hands of the Logan Brothers, A. and R. Logan, the former being at the head of the machinery department and the latter the financial manager. Their works are located near the head of Center street, comprising machine shops, wood-turning shops, scroll sawing, and dealing stores. They began business here in 1879.
The Kramer Wagon Company occupy two buildings from Elm to Rail- road street-the blacksmithing and painting departments being a three story brick, thirty-eight feet by one hundred and fifteen feet, the wood working department being a two-story building covering an area forty by two hun- dred feet. The firm had grown from smaller beginnings until it was formed on its present basis in 1880, since which it has grown in system and trade under the able management of Messrs. W. J. Kramer and D. L. Trax. Of their specialties, implements and heavy road-wagons, they had sold over
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HISTORY OF VENANGO COUNTY.
two thousand of the latter up to 1888, and in 1889 averaged one hundred per month. A new three-story brick, thirty-six by one hundred feet, was erected on Elm street in 1888, and the loss of an eight thousand dollar fire replaced in another building.
Hunt & Hallett, manufacturers and dealers in lumber and brick, hard and soft coal, etc., have yards and offices in the Third ward, between Main street and the river. This firm was organized in 1878 as wholesale shippers and dealers in coal and lumber, and in 1887 it purchased an old plant and began to manufacture. Beginning in a very small way they now have a manufacturing capacity of about three million feet per annum, and a ready market for their product in the vicinity of Oil City. The United States government is also an extensive patron in the item of heavy lumber used in Allegheny river improvements, and Oil City proper buys from them all the material for internal improvements and repairs. The introduction of nat- ural gas has about driven out the coal business while it has had a tendency to improve the lumber traffic. This firm is composed of W. G. Hunt, J. F. Hallett, and Thomas H. Nicholson.
The Innis Manufacturing Company grew from the connection of W. J. Innis with the oil region, which began in 1865. He continued for several years in the manufacture of his patent sucker-rod for oil wells, and grad- ually extended into the making of other machinery. His excellent inven- tions in the steam engine line led to the formation of the present company in 1880, which includes his son, W. C. Innis, the superintendent in charge, since which time they have confined themselves to engine building. They erected shops on upper Seneca street occupying an area one hundred and seventy-five by two hundred and ten feet, embracing a two-story machine shop sixty by one hundred, a one-story " L," forty by sixty, and iron foundry fifty by eighty, and other buildings. The popularity of their fifteen horse- power engines so increased that by 1887 they had sold over three thousand to the trade in all parts of the world, and their works, with a capacity of one hundred and twenty-five engines per month, employed one hundred and thirty-five men. Probably Mr. Innis' greatest invention is the recently perfected high speed automatic single valve engine, so highly recommended by Charles T. Porter, the well-known engine scientist. These works were purchased in January, 1889, by the Oil Well Supply Company, Limited, and are mentioned in that connection.
The National Transit Company's Pipe Line Shops were brought from Petrolia in 1881, under the old United Pipe Lines management. It was placed in the Third ward below the suspension bridge and began with machine shops, foundry and pump repairing, with a force of about twenty- five men. Their needs increased so rapidly that in the spring of 1889, new brick shops were added-a machine shop two hundred by sixty-four feet, a blacksmith and pattern shop one hundred and fifty by sixty-four feet, at
-
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OIL CITY.
a total cost of about twenty-five thousand dollars. With these are consol- idated the Tarport shops; a total force of about one hundred and thirty men is employed.
The Union Refining Company began in 1879 with works near the mouth of Cornplanter run. Marcus Hulings, John A. Wiley, B. F. Brund- red, and Wesley Chambers were the projectors. It has since become the gasoline plant of the Imperial Refining Company.
The Astral Refining Company, Limited, was organized about 1881 with works at Astral station on the Allegheny Valley railway. The com- pany has been twice reorganized, once in April, 1884, and latterly in December, 1888, when the present Astral Oil Refining Company secured it; the officers of the company chosen were: J. Manning, chairman; M. Braun- schweiger, treasurer, and J. B. Berry, secretary. Their works have a capacity of two hundred barrels of refined oil daily.
The Independent Refining Company, Limited, grew out of the Inde- pendent Oil Company, and was organized May 11, 1882, with the following officers: President, John Theobald; treasurer, L. Walt, and secretary, A. A. Rockwood. They began with works on Oil creek, a mile north of the postoffice at Oil City, having a still capacity of five hundred barrels, since increased to one thousand eight hundred barrels, and including also a gaso- line plant and high-test steam stills.
The Enterprise Milling Company's mills are located on Elm and Rail- way streets, and were established May 1, 1883, by L. R. Reed and W. W. McConnell. August 1, 1886, Mr. Reed purchased the entire interest, and in November, the present company was formed, so that by the following year their capacity was about three car-loads daily. After their great fire, in November, 1887, they rebuilt and put in rollers. Their plant and busi- ness is valued at about twenty-five thousand dollars.
The Oil City Fuel Supply Company bought the charter of an old com- pany which had drilled some and failed to find gas. This was done in the spring of 1883 by the new company, whose officers were: E. Strong, president; O. H. Strong, secretary, and R. W. Porterfield, treasurer. Drilling was begun at once in the fields, some miles distant, and by August, 1883. natural gas was supplied to Oil City for fuel, and the new era of heating began. The marvelous stimulation it has had upon the manufact- ures of the city is well known, and a new era of permanent prosperity has been opened. The company has its headquarters here in the McCollum block, on Center street, and from this field lines have been extended to supply Franklin, Meadville, Sharon, Mercer, Youngstown (Ohio), and numerous smaller places.
Two other companies, the Northwestern Pennsylvania Natural Gas Com- pany, which leases the supply privilege to Oil City, and the Manufacturers's
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HISTORY OF VENANGO COUNTY.
Gas Company, which supplies illuminating gas to the city, also, are con- nected with this company.
C. S. Cordie & Company's Planing Mill and Spoke Factory was brought from Emlenton in 1885 by Mr. Cordie and located near the railway, above Center street. Twelve men are employed.
The Continental Refining Company, Limited, was organized in 1885 un- der the following officers: Chairman, Louis Morris; treasurer, Louis Walt, and secretary, Thomas Anderton. Their works, located on Oil creek, a short distance above Oil City, began with a five hundred barrel capacity, and have since grown to one of one thousand five hundred barrels.
The Penn Refining Company, Limited, has large works along Oil creek just north of Oil city that are now of a capacity of one thousand eight hun- dred barrels, or six hundred barrels more than when they began in 1886. The first officers, who are still retained, were: H. Suhr, chairman; S. Justus, secretary and treasurer; and L. Walt, general manager.
The Keystone Refining Company was organized in the spring of 1886, with F. D. Cummer, president; C. A. Hotchkiss, vice-president; and J. Swartz, secretary. Their paraffine works were located about two miles above Oil City on the creek and the refinery had a capacity of seven hundred bar- rels. About a year later they failed and the works were bought by the Eclipse Company of Franklin.
The Oil City Tube Company is a corporation of recent date. It began in 1887 with a capital stock of one hundred thousand dollars, afterward doubled, and in charge of M. Lowentritt, president; N. F. Clark, vice- president; C. H. Duncan, secretary; W. J. Young, treasurer; John O'Shea, manager; George H. White, superintendent; directors: Lowentritt, Geary, Joseph Seip, R. G. Lamberton, and C. H. Duncan. The buildings erected include a lap-weld mill, three hundred and four by two hundred feet, of corrugated iron, containing four furnaces, with a daily capacity of one hundred tons of pipe, one and one-half to twelve inches by thirty feet; a battery of boilers of about six hundred horse power; eight engines ranging from twenty-five to one hundred and twenty-five horse power; a hydraulic testing pump, two steam hammers, two belt hammers, thirty pipe cutting and coupling machines, etc .; and a butt-weld mill, one hundred by two hundred and fifty feet, with three furnaces, and machinery to make one- eighth to one and one-half inch gas, steam, water, and hydraulic pipes, and motive power composed of boilers of two hundred horse power and two en- gines of one hundred horse power each. The site covers five acres front- ing on the railway and Seneca street and six hundred men are employed. The works have steadily grown to accommodate their great and rapidly formed trade. January 1, 1888, M. Geary became president, Joseph Seip, vice-president, and G. S. Oberly, secretary, and soon after the stock was increased to three hundred thousand dollars.
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OIL CITY.
The Hintermister Organ Company has its works on the south end of Front street. It was organized in 1887 by local capital to secure the re- moval of the works from Buffalo to Oil City. The business is under the management of the patentee, J. H. Hintermister. They now have a capac- ity of six organs per week.
The Crystal Oil Works, Limited, were established in May, 1887, by Thomas F. Wright. They began with a two hundred barrel still capacity and have since increased to four hundred." The works are three miles up Oil creek.
The Nonpareil Refining Company of Oil City, beginning with a capital stock of twenty-five thousand dollars, have since trebled it. The organiza- tion was effected in October, 1888, with John W. Davis, president; John Downes, vice-president; J. S. Henry, secretary, and W. H. Wise, treas- urer. The works are at Rouseville and have a still capacity of seven hun- dred and fifty barrels.
OIL OPERATIONS.
In all the phases of the oil industry this city has been prominent-in its production, sale, transportation, outfitting, and manufacture, but especially is this true of the last four, and pre-eminently so of its sale and transpor- tation.
The United Pipe Lines Division of the National Transit Company, with headquarters at Oil City, represents the transportation of crude oil, and is a part of probably the finest mechanical and commercial organization known. From the time that the pipe transportation idea occurred to J. L. Hutchinson of New York in 1860 to the time, in 1865, when Samuel Van Syckle, of Morris county, New Jersey, laid the first screw-and-thimble pipes from Miller Farm to Pithole, there were no organizations. In the spring of 1866 Henry Harley, a civil engineer and graduate of Renssaellaer Poly- technic Institute, laid more lines and secured control of the Pithole line. Then it became a success and during the next ten years companies organ- ized so fast that by 1876 there were ten pipe line companies in the oil region. Competition had also become so great that many companies failed, and the oil certificates were suspicioned quite as much as the issue of the old "wild-cat " banks. To this was added the burden of custodian as well as transporter, and the great loss by waste.
To remedy this, in 1877, a consolidation was effected between the (old) United Pipe Lines; the Antwerp and Oil City Pipe Company; the Atlantic Pipe Company; the American Transfer Company (in Clarion and Venango counties); the Sandy Pipe Line, and the Milton Pipe Line, under the name of the first mentioned. The incorporation was made in March with a capital of three million dollars. Officers were chosen as follows: J. J. Vander- grift, president; M. Hulings, vice-president; H. M. Hughes, secretary; J.
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HISTORY OF VENANGO COUNTY.
R. Campbell, treasurer; E. Hopkins, general manager; H. L. Taylor, J. Pitcairn, Jr., H. M. Hughes, J. J. Vandergrift, E. C. Bradley, M. Hulings, J. T. Jones, D. O'Day, H. M. Flagler. J. D. Rockefeller, and J. A. Bost- wick, directors. Messrs. Taylor and Pitcairn afterward resigned and were succeeded by E. D. Worcester and William Brough respectively as direct- ors. After the death of Mr. Hopkins W. T. Scheide succeeded him, but in May, 1889, failing health caused him to resign, and his place has not been filled; otherwise the same officers have served by re-election.
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