USA > Tennessee > Davidson County > Nashville > History of Nashville, Tenn. > Part 23
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Mr. Anson Nelson was elected Treasurer and Tax Collector under Mr. Bass, and John L. Glenn, Collector of the Water Taxes; and they, with a few other of the officers under Receiver Bass, were continued under the new regime.
In the latter part of the year Mr. Bass made a detailed statement of all his transactions to the Chancery Court, turned over every thing to the proper city authorities, and was honorably discharged.
Too much credit cannot be given Colonel A. S. Colyar for his success- ful efforts in securing the appointment of a receiver.
Anson Nelson, as Treasurer, and Captain William Stockell, as Chief of the Fire Department, served the city through all changes of Boards of Councilmen and Aldermen from 1869 to 1883, which are noted as. rare instances of popular favor.
CHAPTER X.
MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES.
Early Manufacturers-Distress Caused from Their Small Number-Mechanics' Association- Manufactures before the War-Flouring Mills-Prewitt, Spurr & Co .- Phillips, Buttorff & Co .- B. G. Wood-Rankin Manufacturing Company-Nashville Trunk Factory-Edge- field and Nashville Manufacturing Company -- Tennessee Manufacturing Company-Na- tional Manufacturing Company-Nashville Cotton Mills-Nashville Woolen Mills-Nash- ville Cotton Seed Oil Company-Cherry-Morrow Manufacturing Company-Lieberman, Loveman & O'Brien-Indiana Lumber Company-Cumberland Iron and Wire Works- Terry Show-case Company-Nashville Ice Company- Excelsior Ice and Cold Storage Company-Waters-Allen Foundry and Machine Works-Nashville Gaslight Company- Brush Electric Light and Power Company-Capital Electric Company-Publishing House of the M. E. Church, South-Cumberland Presbyterian Board of Publication-Summary of Manufacturing Establishments-Conclusion.
TN the "History of Davidson County," written by W. W. Clayton, the following list of manufactures is given as being in Nashville in 1802:
" George Poyzer, cotton-spinning factory; James & Isaac W. Titler, coppersmiths; David C. Snow, tinsmith; Jesse Collins, cotton-gins; John & Thomas Detherage, cabinet furniture ; William Sientz, boots and shoes ; Robert Smiley and James Condon, tailors; William Y. Probart, ready- made clothing; Peter Bass, tan-yard; William Sneed, E. W. Brookshire, and Temple, Gaines & Co., carpenters; Thomas Shackleford, Solomon Clark, and - Lard, brick-masons; Ellis Maddox, blacksmith; William Carroll, nail-factory; John & Thomas Williamson, saddlers; Joseph T. Elliston and Egbert Raworth, silversmiths; Joseph Engelman, butcher; and Samuel Chapman, stone-mason."
Of course during the immediately succeeding years other manufactur- ers located here, and carried on a business of greater or lesser magnitude. In 1806 Fisher & Gallatin were the copper and tinsmiths of the town. Thomas S. King, on July 25, 1815, had a very attractive advertisement in the papers. It was as follows :
" Look here, citizens of Tennessee, at the Republican Loom! You now have it in your power to greatly facilitate the manufacturing of cloth at home. I have lately purchased Job Root's patent loom for the State of Tennessee, a loom that very far surpasses any thing in America, par- ticularly for families. It is designed for weaving all kinds of cloth. Forty or fifty yards may be woven on this loom in a day, of good shirt- ing. The loom may be seen in complete operation by applying to the
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subscriber in Nashville, on College Street, next door below the Nashville Bank, where you can judge for yourselves. No person is by any means solicited to purchase until he has seen it in operation. The patent ma- chinery can be put on the old machinery," etc.
John L. Allen was at this time carrying on the wool-carding business, near the tan-yard. He had just put in operation four new wool-carding machines, two of which were made in Baltimore, and the other two he had made himself. Isaac & James W. Sittler were manufacturing stills of the best quality. They were also manufacturing brass andirons and all kinds of copper and brass work. J. B. West had just put his cotton- spinning machinery in operation, at his factory on Upper Street, about two hundred yards from Bass's tan-yard.
George Poyzer's cotton factory was described as follows: One mule of one hundred and forty-four spindles, a double throttle of seventy-two spindles, and two single throttles of thirty-six spindles each, with the necessary carding-machines, etc. The factory was for rent.
Conrad Mandle, in June, 1816, commenced the "turning business " in Nashville, doing all kinds of turning in steel, iron, brass, ivory, and wood. D. Robertson was engaged in the manufacture of blank books.
S. Williams & Co., in June, 1817, were manufacturing fancy and Wind- sor chairs. They had recently purchased the stock of C. M. Kerrahan. Mr. Williams had recently returned from the Eastern States, and was therefore in possession of the latest fashions. David Irwin had a tin fac- tory, in which he manufactured every article in the tinware line. He was located on Market Street. The Nashville Steam Flour Mill was put in operation on Thursday, July 17, 1817, and " moved off with the great- est ease." The building, machinery, and every thing about the mill was put up and together in the most substantial manner, and it was con- fidently predicted that the surrounding country would soon be supplied with the best flour that could be made. A direct encouragement would thus be given to the great farming interest in the culture of wheat. The proprietors of this first flouring mill built in Nashville were Jenkins Whiteside, Kingsley, Hall, and Balch. The superintendent was a Mr. Brown.
John L. Allen, in March, 1818, completed a large stone building, a short distance south of Bass's tan-yard, and placed in it machinery for the manufacture of sheeting, shirting, bed-ticking, linsey, counterpanes, etc. James B. Houston, in April, 1818, commenced the manufacture of furniture; and John C. Hicks had just returned from Philadelphia, bringing with him two of the best cabinet-makers to be found in the Unit-
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ed States, one of them from New York City and the other from Philadel- phia. He also brought a quantity of St. Domingo mahogany, which he intended to make into furniture. William Pamplin was carrying on the manufacture of coaches, gigs, and harness, and he had on hand an as- sortment of London springs. John L. Allen in July advertised that he had engaged a European to card wool. Great interest was awakened about this time in domestic manufactures, on account of the general dis- tress then experienced. This species of industry was looked upon by some as the only means of affording relief.
James Irwin, in October, 1820, was engaged in the manufacture of hats of every description. The bell-crowned hat, however, appears to have been the one principally worn at that time, as a cut of it was used by him in his advertisement. J. H. Taylor, then lately from London, was carrying on the manufacture of piano-fortes, next door to James Irwin's. Every description of piano was made by him. B. Walsh was manufacturing Spanish cigars and fine chewing tobacco. David Love was carrying on the manufacture of saddles and harness, as were also W. A. Eichbaum & Co. Snow, Johnson & Moore were engaged in the manufacture of tinware, sheet-iron stoves, and stove-pipe; and J. W. McCombs and W. L. Ward were manufacturing furniture.
In June, 1828, John Hall was proprietor of the Nashville Iron Foundry,. on Market Street, a short distance from Spring Street, where he carried on the construction of steam-engines, boilers, etc. N. S. Anderson owned a brass, iron, and bell foundry, located just below the jail, between Water and Market Streets, where he cast all kinds of brass and iron work for machinery, hatters' and tailors' flat-irons, scale weights and waffle- irons, gun mountings, clock mountings, etc. T. Brown was then en- gaged in manufacturing spinning machinery, and he said that he was pre- pared to manufacture town clocks upon order. Hall & Monohan, in November, 1830, were making coaches and harness, just below the Unit- ed States Branch Bank. William Keys & Co. were manufacturing har- ness, saddles, and trunks.
Up to this time manufactures had made but little progress in Nashville. This fact was keenly felt by the mechanics, as well as by other classes of the people.
On May 10, 1831, a mechanic suggested the formation of a Mechan- ics' Association in Nashville. Approving of the suggestion, the editor of the Nashville Republican, on the 19th of the same month, edito- rially said in substance that in looking around Nashville an observer was forcibly struck with the numerical disproportion between the me- chanical and trading classes of the community, when compared with the.
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towns and cities of the West, to the northward of this city. An inquiry into the cause naturally resulted from observation of and reflection upon the fact of such disparity. The subject was highly worthy of attention from those who had the leisure and the talents to pursue it. His opin- ion was that the strictest scrutiny into the question would result in the conviction that the influence of slavery was the main source of the evil; for it was an evil of sufficient magnitude to constitute the principal imped- iment to the growth of the city in a ratio commensurate with that of the population and wealth of the country at large. The observer, in looking around on the Southern section of the United States, finds the same cause existing, and as a general thing the same consequences were the result, except perhaps in a few instances where there was plainly a countervailing cause in local advantages or something else that was special and sufficient to sustain the prosperity of the place, despite the baneful influence of the baneful evil; and which, while it did this for its special locality, only served to make the demonstration of the general proposition more clear, and to impress it more forcibly on the mind and judgment. And so far as the cause suggested was concerned in producing the evil complained of, it was entirely irremediable until public opinion should undergo a rad- ical change upon the subject; and this change could not be reasonably expected while the agricultural products of the South found so little com- petition in the market-a state of things which from appearances would not soon come to an end-and while these agricultural products were es- teemed more valuable than those of the North. But while this state of things would be looked upon as hopelessly irremediable, was there not justification in the hope that the adverse circumstances in which the me- chanic found himself situated, or by which he found himself surrounded, might be evaded or to some extent neutralized ?
The proposition to support the mechanics of Nashville, instead of pur- chasing manufactured articles imported from abroad, could not, it was thought, be objected to by the merchants who were then procuring their supplies of the same articles from the North, and finding a handsome profit in the sale, for the simple reason that thereby their profits would be increased fourfold or more by the sale of the unmanufactured materials to the artizans, and by the increased sale of the necessaries of life in supplying the wants of the new population which would throng to the city. The principle of self-interest, which despotically influences the conduct of men, might be brought to bear with weight on the subject, etc.
Thus did the editor of the Nashville Republican reason upon this sub- ject. In response to this and similar appeals, a Mechanics' Association
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was formed on the IIth of June, 1831, at Masonic Hall. A Constitution was adopted and the following officers elected: James C. Robinson, President; John P. Erwin and Wilkins Tannehill, Vice-presidents; John M. Bass, Secretary; and Thomas Welsh, Treasurer. A committee was appointed to draft by-laws for the Association, and another committee to make a report on the duties of the hour and the course of the Associa- tion. This committee made its report on the 17th of June. In this re- port they said:
"Associations of all kinds are the result of a conviction derived from the experience of ages, that objects are accomplished and benefits ob- tained by a combination of means and resources, which individual and separate effort could not affect. It is this conviction which has originat- ed societies of every class and grade, and it is indeed the leading princi- ple and characteristic feature of government itself."
The report went on to say that the committee had for a long time seen with regret that the mechanics of the city were languishing for want of employment; that the industry of the most laborious and useful popula- tion was almost entirely unemployed; and consequently while those who remained at home were deprived of that emolument which should be de- rived from a regular and permanent course of honest exertion, many oth- ers, despairing of better times, had changed their residences and sought elsewhere situations more congenial to their interests and more propitious to their efforts of laborious industry. While they had seen even those branches of mechanics which from their nature admit of no serious com- petition from abroad languishing and inactive on account of the general dearth of employment, they had also witnessed with reference to others not only foreign competition, but almost total suppression by reason of the preference and encouragement given to those things which come from afar off. While the carpenter, the brick-layer, the painter, the plasterer, the glazier, the blacksmith, and perhaps a few others of the mechanic arts, are but slightly affected by any competition which can be intro- duced from a distance; they found that the tailors, shoe-makers, sad- dlers, and tanners, and many other branches, were almost overwhelmed by the mass of foreign competition which was poured in upon them from the prisons and workshops of Eastern cities; and hatters a useful, con- venient, and valuable class of citizens, had been completely absorbed and withdrawn from existence in the city.
"Let us suppose for a moment," they said, " that every article sold in Nashville, and capable of being made here, was in fact the product of our own industry; that instead of bringing hats, shoes, bridles, tinware, and the innumerable other articles from abroad, they were, as they might
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be, made at home. How great would be the change! We should then find our population too small to answer the demands upon their labor and industry. Useful and valuable citizens would be tempted to come and locate themselves among us, and those here would find regular and profit- able employment, and we should no longer see houses empty and going to waste for want of occupants, but on the contrary builders would be in req- uisition for the construction of new ones, and every class of society would feel the enlivening and pervading influence of domestic industry. The property-holder in town and the farmer in the country would respectively receive their full share of the benefits of this renewed prosperity; for if our population is not sustained, the value of property must also recede, not only in the town itself, but also in the adjoining country," etc. The report filled a column and a half of the Republican, and was signed by the following gentlemen, as members of the committee: W. G. Hunt, E. Welborn, H. Roland, I. C. Benson, and John P. Erwin.
At this time the manufactories in Nashville were, some of them, as fol- lows: A cotton-gin factory at the south end of the city, owned by Harde- man Harman. A rope and bagging factory owned by Monks & Johnson. A grist-mill erected by John Hall in 1834, in connection with his machine- shop. In the latter part of 1834 Baxter, Hicks & Ewing erected a roll- ing-mill near the upper ferry-boat landing. The building was one hun- dred and twenty feet square, and the machinery was propelled by steam. There were six boilers, each twenty-two feet long by thirty-eight inches in diameter. The cylinder was twenty-seven inches in diameter, and the stroke five and one-half feet. The rim of the fly-wheel was thirty-two feet in diameter, and weighed twenty-seven thousand pounds. The works were erected by Morris B. Belknap.
A paper mill was erected in 1836 by McEwen, Hayes & Hill. C. F. Bristow was at that time engaged in the manufacture of silk hats. The Nashville Machine Works were located on College Street near Broad. Here portable mills, horse-powers, threshing machines, clover hullers, corn shellers, etc., were manufactured. D. C. Logan was the proprie- tor. Thomas E. Sumner was manufacturing saddles and harness in 1842. The Tennessee Silk Manufacturing Company was organized early in this year. The company was chartered with a capital of $30,000. On April 2, 1842, the company was organized by the election of the follow- ing officers: J. B. McFerrin, President; Robert I. Moore, Treasurer; and G. D. Fullmer, Secretary. The directors, aside from the officers, were A. D. Carden, Dr. Dorris, and N. Cross. A committee was ap- pointed to ascertain upon what terms a competent person could be ob- tained to superintend a silk factory. In order to encourage the silk in-
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HISTORY OF NASHVILLE.
dustry in Tennessee, the Legislature of the previous winter had offered a bounty of ten cents per pound on cocoons and fifty cents per pound on reeled silk. The Directors therefore considered it their first duty to es- tablish a market at Nashville where cocoons and reeled silk could be dis- posed of for cash. The silk industry of Nashville, however, was not a success. In February, 1843, the stockholders failed to pay their assess- ments, and for want of funds the business was compelled to cease.
Adams & McKibbin in 1843 and later were proprietors of the Nash- ville Foundry, located on College Street, and turned out castings, mill gearings, engines, stoves, cooking utensils, corn shellers, patent straw cutters, etc. The introduction of manufacturing establishments was slow before the war, notwithstanding many of the leading and most in- telligent of the people could clearly see the necessary connection of such industries with the permanent prosperity of the place; for these estab- lishments create and sustain a market for all kinds of goods in propor- tion to their number, size, and success. In 1860 there were three flour- ing mills in operation: the Rock City Mills, at the corner of Line and Cherry Streets, owned by John E. Bauman & Co., the City Mills, and the Nashville Mills. One of the largest manufacturing establishments in existence when the war broke out was the Southern Planing Mill, locat- ed on Broad Street, near the tunnel, and owned by Jackson & Adams. This mill furnished employment for about twenty men, and its twelve machines were propelled by steam. Capitol Hill Sash, Door, and Blind Factory was located at the corner of Line and Vine Streets, and was owned by Mccullough & Huff. It had been in existence seven years, and had employed machinery three years. This establishment is still in existence, and is owned by Mr. J. W. Mccullough, who employs about forty hands. McFarland's Steam Manufactory was another of this kind of establishments, located on College Street north of the public square, which also manufactured various kinds of packing boxes. Cumberland Planing Mill was owned by R. McClay & Co., and located in Edgefield between the railroad and suspension bridges. Ready-made houses con- stituted a leading part of this company's business. The company was composed of R. McClay, James Millinger, and Charles Ferguson. Van- noy & Turbiville were proprietors of the Nashville Car Manufactory, sit- uated near the Nashville and Chattanooga railroad. They had for sev- eral years been engaged in the manufacture of passenger and freight cars, and did all kinds of carpenters' work. At the corner of Fillmore and Castleman Streets there was a steam furniture factory owned by Groomes, Cavert & Co., which in 1860 was said to be turning out each year furniture worth $80,000. At the corner of Jefferson and Cherry
.
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Streets was located the Phoenix Furniture Factory, employing about thirty hands.
The Claiborne Machine Works were located on Front Street near Broad, and owned by T. M. Brennan. The establishment was said to be the largest of the kind in the South, giving employment to nearly one hundred men. All kinds of steam-engines and boilers were manufact- ured, as also saw-mills, mill gearings, ornamental and plain castings, and architectural iron work. Anderson's foundry and machine-shop was a similar though smaller establishment located at the corner of Broad and Cherry Streets. Its proprietor was Andrew Anderson. Ellis & Moore were also proprietors of a foundry and machine-shop, located at Nos. 96 to 100 South Market Street. This establishment employed about sixty hands, and was the most extensive boiler-yard in the city. The Nash- ville Stove Foundry was located on Broad Street, west of the Nashville and Chattanooga railroad, and manufactured several styles of stoves. There were also several smaller establishments of similar kinds. The Tennessee Plow Factory was established in 1856 by A. W. Putnam. Soon afterward Sharp & Hamilton became part proprietors, and were carrying it on when the war broke out. The factory had a capacity of 150 plows per week. Nashville City Tannery was located on the No- lensville Pike just outside the city limits. It was considered the largest tannery in the Southern States. Its proprietors were J. Lumsden & Co. It employed a capital of over $200,000, and gave steady work to a large number of men. There were two extensive tobacco manufactories and three breweries in the city or in its vicinity. The above is a tolerably complete list of the manufacturing establishments of Nashville at the breaking out of the war.
It is a remarkable fact that as early probably as 1830 there was a cot- ton seed oil mill in Nashville. This is stated on the authority of a map of the city now owned by Thomas Callender, on North Cherry Street, published in 1831 by J. P. Ayre, at one time a resident of Nashville. According to this map the oil mill was located on the north-west corner of Market Street and the first alley south of Spring ( Church ) Street. By whom it was established and owned could not be ascertained, though Mr. Thomas L. Marshall, an old citizen of Nashville, who was living here at that time, and Dr. William D. Dorris, who was then a shoe-maker in Nashville, both think that John Beaty, who had a soap and candle fac- tory here then, located on Water (Front) Street about two hundred yards north of Spring Street, had some connection with it. Mr. Alexander Nichol distinctly remembers the mill, but does not remember the owner- ship. It was here probably about three years, but was obliged to sus-
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HISTORY OF NASHVILLE.
pend operations either from want of capital or from lack of demand for its oil, most probably the latter.
The flouring mill industry has since the war been a leading and im- portant one in the history of Nashville. The Rock City Mills, estab- lished in 1855 and burned down in 1868, have already been mentioned. Reservoir Mills were erected in 1860 by John J. McCann, who sold them in 1865 to Douglas & Bruner. They were owned by Massengale, Douglas & Co. from 1867 to 1871, when they were again managed by John J. McCann, in connection with S. B. Spurlock & Co. Mr. McCann was proprietor from 1873 to 1876, when they passed to the ownership of Holding, Wilkes & Hancock, and in 1878 to that of Huggings & Finch. Mr. McCann ran them in 1878 and retired in 1879, after which time the mills were never operated. These mills had a capacity of 200 barrels of flour per day.
The Jackson Mills were built in 1868, and located at the corner of Market and Elm Streets, on the site of the home of Andrew Jackson when he lived in Nashville. They were erected by John J. McCann. They were owned by Noel & Plater during 1870 and 1871, and then be- came the property of O. F. Noel. E. T. Noel became the proprietor in 1877, and in 1880 they passed to the ownership of the Noel Mill and Ele- vator Company, who converted them into roller process mills a short time before their abandonment in 1882.
The Church Street Mills were erected at the corner of Church and Front Streets in 1870, and were run by D. D. Dickey, as agent, until 1872, when P. B. Kelly became proprietor and ran them until 1876, when he sold them to Mullin & Shane. Mr. Mullin bought out Mr. Shane's interest in 1880, and ran them until they were burned down in I88I.
The West Nashville Mills, afterward named the Shamrock Mills, were erected in 1870, at the corner of Cedar and Park Streets. J. Gibson was the first proprietor. William Parrish owned them in 1871 and for some time afterward. The next proprietor was Chris Power. John J. McCann became proprietor in 1879, and remained so until 1884, when Douglas Bros. became the proprietors. Beazley & Brady owned them in 1885, and James A. Waldie and W. A. and C. F. Hardy in 1886 and 1887, in the latter year the mills being burned down. They had a ca- pacity of 75 barrels per day.
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