USA > Pennsylvania > Lehigh County > History of the counties of Lehigh and Carbon, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Pt. 1 > Part 39
USA > Pennsylvania > Carbon County > History of the counties of Lehigh and Carbon, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Pt. 1 > Part 39
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154
HISTORY OF LEHIGH COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
In 1855, about a year after the death of his father, being then about twenty years old, he removed to Lehigh County, where he was also engaged a portion of the time in teaching while pursuing his legal studies. These he completed in the office of Hon. R. E. Wright, of Allentown, and was admitted to the bar in that eity Jan. 6, 1857, opening an office there soon after. He devoted himself closely and suecess- fully to the practice of his profession for the next three years, when he became desirous of opening a larger field for his active temperament than was af- forded by the practice of the law in Allentown.
Aeeordingly, in 1860, he organized the Allentown Savings Institution, and was chosen its president. The institution opened for business at No. 542 Ham- ilton Street, opposite the American Hotel. It pros- pered beyond the most sanguine hopes of its friends, and two years later a new banking-house was erected for it at No. 532 Hamilton Street, to which place he also removed his law-office. Here he gave his close personal attention to the business of the institution, which grew rapidly, enlisting and retaining the confi- dence and favor of the public until it was soon re- garded as one of the best-managed savings-banks in the State.
In 1862 he bought the Lehigh Register, and edited it in connection with his other business duties. A ready, vigorous writer, and a Republican of pro- nounced views, the Register, under his charge, was an able advocate of progressive doctrines and advanced Republican views on all the great questions of that day. He was several times chosen to represent his distriet as delegate to the Republican State Conven- tions; was senatorial delegate to, and chairman of contested seats in, the convention of 1863, when two sets of' delegates were cach claiming admission from several of the Philadelphia districts. He succeeded in harmonizing the factions on a basis of future union alike satisfactory to both. The following year he served on the State Central Committee, and was elected one of the executive or managing committee of nine to conduct the campaign.
In 1863-64 the Second National Bank of Allentown was organized, and he was elected its president, a position he has continuously held ever since, by the unanimous vote of the stockholders and directors at every annual election for the past twenty years. IFis management of this bank has been conservative, but highly successful. In addition to regular dividends of eight to twelve per cent. yearly, it has accumulated the largest proportionate surplus reserve-fund held by any bank in the Lehigh Valley.
In 1867 he projected and organized the Lehigh Iron Company (anthracite blast-furnace), and was chosen its president, which position he still holds. The same successful management has characterized his control of these large works. He presides over its entire affairs, supervising its sales and purchases (to- gether amounting to over one hundred thousand dol-
lars per month when in full operation), directing in a general way its every-day operations at the works, and managing its finances.
In 1872 he was nominated by the Republican State Convention, and subsequently elected on the Repub- liean State ticket as one of the fourteen members of the Constitutional Convention of 1872-73 for the State at large, a body of men whom posterity will regard as having been called from the foremost and best men of the commonwealth. It framed our pres- ent admirable Constitution, introducing many needed and excellent reforms, which have since been copied and adopted as part of the fundamental law of other States. He was an. earnest advocate of reform, and one of the most praetieal and useful members of that distinguished body. As one of the many occurring instances during the year's session illustrating his re- markable readiness and practical ability, mention may be made of the following: The Democrats and Republicans were in hostile array over Section 5 of the Declaration of Rights offered and pending in the following form : " Elections shall be free and equal, and no power, civil or military, shall at any time interfere with the free exercise of the right of suf- frage." .The Democrats demanded it; the Republi- cans opposed it. The debate had become bitter, and party lines were closely drawn. Up to this time political measures had been sedulously avoided as likely to prove fatal to the work of the Convention, but it seemed as if there was no way to avoid it in this instance. But at this juncture Mr. Ainey offered to amend by striking out " with" and inserting "to prevent," so as to read, " No power, civil or military, shall interfere to prevent the free exercise," etc. This was immediately accepted by both parties and adopted, and a dreaded political division happily avoided. He is the author of the proviso giving cities of sufficient population separate legislative representation, and many other praetieal and useful reforms, of which space will not permit particular mention.
In 1879 he was elected treasurer of the Coplay Iron Company (anthracite blast furnaces), at Coplay, Pa., having at the instance and request of friends who were involved by the failure of the Lehigh Valley Iron Company, the formerowner, reorganized or rather formed a new company from the stockholders and ereditors of the old company. He is still treasurer and one of its board of managers.
Later the same year (1879) he, in connection with George Brooke, president of the First National Bank of Reading, and of the E. & G. Brooke Iron Com- pany, II. S. Eckert, president of the Farmers' Na- tional Bank of Reading, and of the Henry Clay Fur- naces, and several other prominent business men, obtained control of the extensive pipe works at Reading, Pa., and he was elected president of the company then organized, and is still its official head. Under his direction the establishment was reorganized and its operations systematized and perfected until
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Hola Stimery
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THE CITY OF ALLENTOWN.
what had previously been a losing business soon be- setting up the engine, and has ever retained an interest in the little piece of machinery. This engine was : built by Rush & Muhlenberg, of Philadelphia. It is eame a paying one. These works employ three hun- dred to four hundred men. Pipe are made of all sizes from three to forty-eight inehes diameter. They . still in existence, and having served well for a number furnished New York city alone season before last over five miles of the forty-eight inch size, costing over a quarter of a million dollars.
To the casual observer it is difficult to understand how it is possible to direct and successfully manage these several great industrial establishments besides the bank and his own private affairs. He is greatly aided in this by full, accurate weekly and monthly reports, giving him a comprehensive knowledge of what is done in every department, and how it is done. From these he ean see what needs his personal atten- tion.
In 1860 lie was married to Miss Anna C. Unger, eldest daughter of the late E. P. Unger, artist, of Allentown, whose occupation, however, was chiefly that of a portrait painter in the South.
Other Banking Institutions .- About the time the Dime Savings-Bank was started, C. M. Runk and Henry J. Saeger formed a partnership under which they carried on a banking business for several years.
The Macungie Savings-Bank was established in 1867, did a large business for a number of years, but made an assignment in 1878. Its president was David Schall. William C. Lichtenwallner was the first cashier, and was succeeded by John F. Weida.
The Girard Savings-Bank, of which Phaon Al- bright was the president, and H. K. and F. K. Hart- zell, successively, the cashiers, was organized in 1868, and went into voluntary liquidation in 1877.
The Franklin Savings-Bank was in existence ten years from 1868, making an assignment in 1878. Its president was B. H. Miller, and cashier, J. E. Zim- merman.
The Empire Life Insurance and Trust Company, of which A. G. Reninger was president and Morgan F. Medlar cashier, began business in 1869 and closed in 1878.
T. 11. Good and Edward Ruhe, in partnership, car- ried on a banking business during the period that the houses already mentioned were flourishing.
The Erin Savings-Bank, of which William L. Yohn was the proprietor, was established in 1870, and went into voluntary liquidation about five years later.
of years the purpose for which it was designed, was finally relegated to what may be called a subordinate position among the ponderous modern engines and other machinery of the Thomas Iron Company of Hokendanqua. This pioneer memento of manufae- turing enterprise is, however, not to be lost, for its present owners have signified their intention of mounting it upon a pedestal and thus making it a unique monument which shall perpetuate the inaugu- ration of the more advanced mechanical industries in Lehigh County. The little engine looks quite quaint, particularly because, though very small, it is a beam engine. The introduction of this engine has no close connection with the establishment of the extensive iron-works of which we shall speak first among the manufacturing interests of the city, but we have in- troduced it as an interesting isolated fact, and for the purpose of calling attention to the great contrast pre- sented by the conditions of the town and county in 1837 and in 1884.
FIRST ENGINE IN LEHIGH COUNTY.
Manufacturing-First Engine in Lehigh County -The Iron Interest .- In connection with the his- The people of Allentown were quite early astir to A meeting of citizens was held at the hotel of George Wetherhold on Jan. 23, 1845, "for the purpose of adopting measures for forming a company to erect an anthracite furnace for the mannfacture of iron at or tory of industrial enterprises in Allentown we note . secure the benefits of iron manufacture in their midst. the interesting fact that the first engine in the town or county was introduced in the year 1837 by Joseph K. Saeger. He came here from North Whitehall to establish a foundry and machine-shop, and carried on such an establishment successfully for about twelve . near Allentown." J. W. Horubeck was elected pres- years, when he retired from the business, though he ident, and S. A. Bridges secretary. A committee of five persons was appointed to draft resolutions ex- pressive of the sense of the meeting. One of these resolutions stated that it was "considered of vast im- continued to reside in Allentown until his death, in . 1855. Ilis son, Eli J. Saeger, now one of the fore- most citizens of Allentown, took an active part in
156
HISTORY OF LEHIGH COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
portance to this community that an anthracite fur- nace for the manufacture of iron should be estab- lished among us," and it was therefore resolved that. a committee of five should be appointed to solicit. subscriptions of stock under the general provisions of the law of ISSO. This committee was duly appointed, und consisted of William H. Bhuner, William Sac- ger, William Edelman, George Probst, and George Keck. It was expressed as the opinion of the men who drew up the resolutions that a capital of forty thousand dollars would be sufficient to carry out the project. Nothing whatever resulted from this move- ment, but it would doubtless have borne fruit had not the object aimed at been reached very speedily by the enterprise of others. The latter action was that which brought into existence the Allentown Iron- Works, one of the most prominent and successful es- tablishments of the valley. Samuel Lewis, after- wards the superintendent of the works, a native of Chester County (born in 1805), was indirectly, but none the less surely, the means of bringing into op- eration at Allentown this industry. He had been reared in the iron trade by his father, had worked under that celebrated ironmaster, James Colemans, at Elizabeth Furnace, in Lebanon County, and also at the Lehigh by the Blue Mountains, and later became engaged in the coal trade at Broad Mountain, back of Port Carbon, above Pottsville. He had thus become not only familiar with iron manufacture, but obtained a wide knowledge of the mineral region of Eastern Pennsylvania. In 1845 he was employed by Bevan & Humphries, a prominent and wealthy shipping firm of Philadelphia, who were on the alert for investments, to make an examination of the Lehigh Valley with es- peeial reference to the location of an anthracite fur- nace, for the making of iron with anthracite had by this time been demonstrated as entirely safe and suc- cessful by the five years' operation of the Crane works at Catasauqua. In the winter of 1845-46 he reported to Messrs. Bevan & Humphries in favor of Allentown as a location for the proposed furnaces, bis decision being induced by the close proximity of ore- beds and the transportation facilities offered by the canal. He had not long lett the capitalists' office when he chaneed to meet Benjamin Parry, a noted foundryman, and Messrs, Haywood & Snyder, no less noted as cugine-builders. He told them of the project under discussion, advising them to go to Messrs. Bevan & Humphries. They were not slow to act upon this advice, and before their conference had ended Mr. Parry had promised his assistance in build- ing the furnaces, and Messrs. Haywood & Snyder had received a heavy contract for building engines and making other machinery, with a check for five thon- sand dollars to bind the bargain. Such was the method of the firm when they once decided on a course of action. Bevan & Humphries bought on the Ist of April, 1846, seventy-two aeres of land from Adam Sterner, paying therefor one hundred dollars an
aere. The title-papers were received on the 9th of April, and on election day in October the company produced its first pig-iron. This was very quick work. The furnace, to be sure, was small as compared with those now in use. It was thirty-five feet in height, and had twelve feet bosh or diameter. Furnace No. 2, built the following year, was of the same size. To- gether they had a capacity of about two hundred and fifty tons of iron per week. In 1851 the works were sold to a corporation, chartered, with two hundred thousand dollars eapital, as the Allentown Iron Com- pany, and composed of David E. Wilson, Henry King, Esq., Christian Pretz, and Samuel Lewis, of Allentown, and Joseph Cabot, Nalbro Frazier, Ben- jamin W. Frazier, and Charles Cabot, of Philadel- phia. Of this company Joseph Cabot, who had been associated with Bevan & Humphries, was elected president, and held that office until his death, in 1878, when John Lawler Welsh succeeded him. He in turn was succeeded, in 1881, by Mr. Fred. Prime, Sr., the present incumbent. After the change in the company, Nos. 3 and 4 Furnaces were built in 1853 and 1854, and No. 5 Furnace in 1872, and Nos. 1 and 2 enlarged, so that the present capacity of the fur- naces is about fifty thousand gross tons pig-iron per annum. Nos. 3 and 4 were each fifty-five feet in height, with sixteen feet bosh, and No. 5 was sixty- five feet in height, with seventeen feet bosh. Samuel Lewis, of Allentown, was the superintendent of the works from the start until 1878, and to him was very largely due their wonderful success, for few furnaces in the country have yielded greater returns than have these. Ilis successor was Stephen B. Neumoyer, the present superintendent. The ores used by the com- pany since its inception were obtained, the hematites from Berks and Lehigh Counties, and the magnetie from New Jersey principally, and the iron made from them has always had a high reputation. The works when running at full capacity have employed a very large number of men, and have been a potent factor in Allentown's prosperity.
The Allentown Rolling-Mill, second in age and first in importance among the iron-works of the city, dates, as an organized industry, trom 1860, but it has absorbed an establishment five years older, as well as two others started soon after its own origin. To begin with the institution antedating the rolling-mill we will say that, in 1855, Samuel A. Bridges, Nathan German, and James W. Wilson bought from Henry Nonnemacher eighty-five acres of land in what is now the Sixth Ward, with a view of establishing a foundry and laying ont a plat of lots as an addition to Allentown. Both projects may be described as successful. The company laid out streets and soll off one hundred thousand dollars worth of lots, and still have some left. Their foundry was carried on sule- cessfully for a number of years, and finally, Mr. Ger- man having retired and Messrs. Thayer and Erdman | becoming partners, sold, in 1878, to the Allentown
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THE CITY OF ALLENTOWN.
Rolling-Mill Company for one hundred thousand dol- built in 1868, and that as No. 2 in 1872. No. 1 is six- teen by fifty-five feet, and No. 2 seventeen by sixty feet. The motive power for running the works con- sists of two large condensing engines, both built by I. P. Morris & Co., of Philadelphia, and possessing a capacity of about two hundred and fifty horse-power each. The blast is heated by two large modern-built hot blasts or ovens to a temperature of eight hundred to nine hundred degrees Fahrenheit, the pressure of the blast required varying from seven to nine pounds to the square inch. The enterprise was projected by Ilon. William H. Aincy, president of the Second Na- tional Bank of Allentown, and the business and finan- cial inanagement of the concern has been under his control and direction from its organization to the present time. After Mr. Ainey, Mr. E. J. Hart, a wealthy merchant of New Orleans and a former resi- dent of Allentown, holds the next largest interest. The balance of the stock is held almost entirely in Lehigh County. This is not the case with the other important industrial establishments in Lehigh County, they being generally owned by non resi- dents. The first directors of the Lehigh Iron Com- pany were William II. Ainey, Asa Balliet, Aaron Balliet, Thomas Barber, and Hiram Balliet, three of whom are now dead, viz. : Asa Balliet, Thomas Bar- ber, and Hiram Balliet. The present board consists of William H. Ainey, Aaron Balliet, Martin Kem- merer, Benjamin J. Hagenbuch, and Milton Appel. The first-named gentleman is president and treasurer of the company. Harrison Bortz is the practical man- ager of the immediate operations at the furnaces and mines. The product of these furnaces amounts an- nually from twenty-two thousand to twenty-five thou- saud gross tons of pig metal, mostly No. 1 x, and No. 2 x, which is sold to the foundries, being in especial demand by the hardware and stove manufacturers of the Eastern and Middle States. The company own and operate a large number of hematite ore mines in Lehigh County, which give employment to between two hundred and three hundred men in mining, weighing, hauling, and shipping the same by railroad to the furnaces. The company also has upon its premises, within a stone's throw of its furnaces, large deposits or beds of magnesian limestouc. These are used in the furnaces for fluxing the ores. The quar- ries are very extensive, and when in full operation from one hundred to one hundred and fifty tous are daily taken out, broken, and delivered in the stock- houses for daily consumption. This furnishes en- lars. This company, as we have said, was organized in 1860. Benjamin Haywood, of Pottsville, was one of the leading spirits in the enterprise, and Christian Pretz, Samuel A. Bridges, John D. Stiles, and others, of Allentown, were heavy stockholders. The Lehigh Rolling-Mill had been started in 1861 by Samuel Lewis. Merchant bar-iron was the original product of this mill, but a year after it was established the manufacture of railroad-spikes and boiler-rivets- the latter made by the Butterworth solid die process -was added. Joseph B. Lewis was superintendent of the mill from the start until July, 1866, and after that time it was carried on under Francis S. Kent and Thomas C. Brainerd, managers. It became, in 1864, the property of an incorporated company, con- sisting of Samuel Lewis, president; Charles Cabot, John Cabot, Edward W. Etting, Joseph Cabot, Frank S. Kent, and Thomas C. Brainerd. Through the mis- appropriation of funds by a member of the New York and Philadelphia firms through whom the product of the Lehigh mills was put in the market, the company failed and the works were soll at sheriff's sale, being bidden in by Henry Schnurman, who leased them for one year to Reuben S. Shimer and Thomas J. Saeger. These gentlemen earried them on for a time, and they then passed into the hands of a receiver, by whom they were transferred to the Allentown Rolling-Mill Company in 1868. The property is still called by this company the Lehigh Mill. The Roberts Iron Company was organized in 1862, the principal stock- holders being George B. Roberts, Algernon Roberts, and Edward Roberts, Sr., of Philadelphia; A. Par- dee and George B. Markle, of Hazleton ; William Lilley, of Mauch Chunk ; Eli J. Saeger and Samuel Mellose, of Allentown. This company built two blast-furnaces and operated them until 1871, when they were merged with the property of the Allentown Rolling-Mill Company. This organization carried on business until 1882, when a charter was obtained for the Allentown Rolling-Mills, under which the present corporation succeeded to the property and business of the Allentown Rolling-Mill Company. The products of the works are pig-metal, iron rails, merchant bar-iron, rolled shafting and car-axles, rolled beams and angles, railroad chairs and fish- plates, bolts, nuts, rivets, locomotive turn-tables, steam-engines and shafting, mill-gearing, blast-fur- nace and rolling-mill castings, mining.pumps, etc. When in full operation the works give employment to twelve hundred men and produce about twenty-five | ployment to upwards of fifty men. There are also thousand tons of pig-metal and thirty thousand tons of rails, merchant iron, and other finished irons per annum. The officers of the corporation are: Presi- dent, A. Pardee, Jr .; Secretary and Treasurer, H. W. Allison ; General Superintendent, C. II. Nimson.
The Lehigh Iron Company was organized in the ! latter part of 1867. The works comprise two anthra- eite blast-furnaces. The furnace known as No. 1 was
upwards of one hundred men employed at the fur- naces in handling the stock, filling the material, and as keepers, helpers, cindermen, engineers, carpenters, blacksmiths, repairmen, etc. The works are located at Aineyville, on the west bank of the river Lehigh, about one-quarter of a mile beyond the southeast boundary of the city of Allentown, and near the . junction of the Lehigh Valley and East Penn Rail-
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HISTORY OF LEHIGH COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
roads. This location furnishes excellent railroad fa- eilities for receiving material and shipping the prod- uet, its own railroad tracks making direet connec- tion with both these roads. It is also connected with the Lehigh Canal by an iron railroad bridge over the Lehigh River, by which the Lehigh and Schuylkill Railroad ean also be reached for shipping purposes when necessary. In addition to the hematite, large quantities of magnetic ores are daily used. These are received from New Jersey, New York, and Pennsyl- vania. It requires upwards of one hundred tons of coal daily to run the two furnaces. The monthly re- ceipts and expenditures together aggregate, when in full operation, from $75,000 to $100,000, and annually from $900,000 to $1,200,000, according to market priee of produet and cost of materials, which varies mate- rially from year to year. The company has upwards of fifty aeres of land immediately about the works, and a number of houses which are occupied by its workmen. Though the manufacture of pig-iron has been generally unprofitable in the Lehigh Valley for the past ten years, the Lehigh Iron Company has been one of the very few which has earned and de- clared dividends to its stockholders.
Harrison Bortz, for a long term manager and secre- tary of the works, is the descendant of a German family who were among the earliest settlers in Berks County, Pa., his grandfather having been a native of Roekland township, and later a resident of Long Swamp township in the same eounty, where he was first a miller, and subsequently a farmer until the event of his death. He married Miss Mary Hoffinan, and had children,-Gideon, Owen, Jonas, William, Nathan, Benneville, Edwin, and two daughters, Fianna and Caroline. Owen was born in Rockland township, Berks Co., and remained at home until he had learned the trade of a miller, when he removed to Lehigh County, and for seven years conducted a mill. IIe later became a farmer, and is now engaged in the coal business at Allentown. He was united in marriage to Miss Hannah Wenner, of South White- hall township, Lehigh Co., whose children are Har- rison, Lewis F., William (deceased), and Mary ( Mrs. Emerson Schock ). Harrison Bortz was born Nov. 15, 1844, in South Whitehall, now Whitehall township. In early youth he removed to Macungie, and varied the time between farm labor and attendance at the school of the neighborhood. At the age of fifteen he became a pupil of the classical school at Quakertown, and later of the Excelsior Normal School at Carvers- ville, Pa. He then engaged for a period in teaching, and subsequently entered Muhlenberg College. He meanwhile joined a corps of engineers, and for a year practiced surveying, after which, in 1869, he entered the employ of the Lehigh Iron Company as outside superintendent. From this position he was sueces- sively promoted until he became manager and secre- tary of the works, having proved by years of service his thorough knowledge of the ironmaster's craft, and
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