USA > Wisconsin > Milwaukee County > Memoirs of Milwaukee County : from the earliest historical times down to the present, including a genealogical and biographical record of representative families in Milwaukee County, Volume I > Part 61
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Two banks were organized under the state law in 1906, viz : The Merchants' and Manufacturers' and the Mitchell Street State Bank. The capital stock of the former is $250,000, L. M. Alex- ander was president and M. A. Graetlinger cashier in May, 1908, at which time the resources were reported as being nearly $1,200,- 000. The bank is located at the corner of Grand avenue and Sec- ond street. The Mitchell Street Bank is located at No. 450 Mitch- ell street. The capital stock is $50,000, the resources something over $315,000, and the president, and cashier are Valentine Zim- mermann and J. F. Egerton, respectively.
The Badger State Bank opened in 1907 with a capital stock of $50,000 and in May, 1908, reported resources amounting in round numbers to $157,500, Gustav Reinke is president and F. E. Wall- ber cashier. The Italian Mutual Savings Bank also opened in 1907 with Michael Cesaro as president and Arminio Conte as cashier. Its patronage comes chiefly from the Italian portion of the city's population.
Of the trust companies the oldest is the Citizens'. About 1857
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Nathan Pereles, attorney-at-law, began making loans, looking after the settlement of estates, and transacting other lines of business than now come within the province of the trust company. In 1897 the business was incorporated as the Citizens' Trust Company un- der the Wisconsin law regulating such corporations. The offices are located in the Pereles Building on the City Hall square, the capital stock is $300,000, J. M. Pereles is president and Richard Jefferson secretary.
The Milwaukee Trust Company, organized in 1894, with a capital stock of $300,000, is located in the Camp Building on the northeast corner of East Water and Wisconsin streets, where it maintains a fire-proof vault for storing valuable packages too large to be placed in the usual safe deposit boxes, and conducts all the various lines of business authorized by law. In May, 1908, the president was Robert Camp and the secretary was Scranton Stock- dale.
The Fidelity Trust Company, whose quarters are in the Wells Building, 120 Wisconsin street, was organized in 1901 with a capi- tal stock of $250,000. The president in May, 1908, was Howard Greene, and the secretary was J. G. Hickcox.
The Wisconsin Trust Company, organized in 1903 with a capital stock of $500,000, is located in the Wisconsin National Bank Building at the northwest corner of East Water and Wisconsin streets. Oliver C. Fuller is president and Fred C. Best is secretary.
The Merchants' Loan and Safe Deposit Company is of com- paratively recent origin. The American Bank Reporter for May, 1908, from which much of the information in this chapter has been obtained, gives no report of its capital stock or the date of its or- ganization, the only definite statement being the names of E. P. Hackett and S. H. Hoff as president and secretary.
According to the same authority the combined capital of the thirteen banks and four trust companies reported was $8,500,000; the surplus and undivided profits, $4,753,700; loans and discounts, $51.255,000 ; and deposits, $72,590,000. This report does not in- clude the Italian Mutual Savings Bank, the Milwaukee Savings Bank, and the Merchants' Loan and Safe Deposit Company. There are also in the city about forty firms of brokers who do more or less of a banking business, none of whom made detailed reports. The oldest of these brokerage firms is that of Charles Schley & Co., which was established in 1850.
The Milwaukee Clearing House Association is composed of the six national banks, the Marshall & Ilsley, German-American,
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Merchants' and Manufacturers', the Second Ward Savings, and the West Side banks-eleven institutions in all. The officers of the association in 1908 were: J. W. P. Lombard, president : James K. Ilsley, vice-president ; George W. Strohmeyer, secretary and man- ager. According to the report of the Milwaukee Chamber of Com- merce. the bank clearings for the year 1907 were $562,163.848.11. an increase over the preceding year of $68.747.962.78.
PANICS AND FAILURES.
The effects of the panic of 1857 have already been noted in the early part of this chapter. In 1865 the Germania Savings Bank of . Milwaukee was incorporated by act of the legislature, but the en- abling act was never submitted to a vote of the people and the bank never transacted any business. It can therefore hardly be classed with bank failures, as it really had no legal existence at any time. In 1866 Louis Scheffer succeeded James L. Spink as cashier of the Milwaukee County Bank and used the funds of the institu- tion in speculation. His ventures proved unlucky and on March 9. 1868, while temporarily insane, he committed suicide. The presi- dent, John Armstrong, then appropriated to his personal use such funds of the bank as he could get hold of and absconded, forcing the bank to close its doors in the early part of 1869.
In the great panic of 1873 not a single one of Milwaukee's financial institutions failed or suspended. On Nov. 1, 1873, while the conditions were still very much unsettled, the Manufacturers' Bank began business, and notwithstanding the adverse influences at the time of its birth it continued to do business until June 16, 1884, when it closed its doors. Albert Conro, then president of the bank, assumed the obligations of the concern and paid every dollar of its indebtedness from his private resources, so that the depositors lost nothing by the failure.
Five banks went down in the panic of 1893, three of them never to rise again. The Plankinton Bank opened for business on Feb. 9. 1887, with John Plankinton president and John P. Mur- phy cashier. the capital stock being $200,000. Both Mr. Plankin- ton and Mr. Murphy were succeeded by other officers, under whom the institution failed on June 1, 1893. The Commercial Bank. which was organized on July 20, 1885, with a capital of $100,000, closed its doors on July 19, 1893, but it was reorganized with new officers and an increase of capital and reopened on March 1, 1894. Later in the year it went into voluntary liquidation and its af- .
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fairs were wound up without loss to any one concerned. The most disastrous failure was that of the South Side Savings Bank, which went down on July 22, 1893. This bank was originally opened as the Fifth Ward Bank on Feb. 15, 1866. About two years later it was changed to the South Side Savings Bank, with Gustav C. Trumpff president and John B. Koetting cashier. Its capital was $25,000. On the same day that the South Side Bank failed the Mil- waukee National Bank also closed its doors, but the suspension was only temporary, as on Sept. 25, 1893, it reopened with an in- crease of capital and is today one of the solid financial concerns of Milwaukee. The Wisconsin Marine and Fire Insurance Com- pany Bank closed on July 25, 1893, but new capital to the amount of $500,000 was subscribed, all the old obligations were paid in full, and on Jan. 15, 1894, the bank opened again under the name of the Marine National. Its resources in 1908 amounted to over $5,500,- 000.
In the panic of 1907 the Milwaukee banks suffered no loss, either financially or in the confidence of their patrons, though there was some falling off in the deposits. The deposits for October amounted nearly to $195,000,000, while those of November-the month following the flurry-reached only a little over $151,000,000. As a precautionary measure the banks adopted the plan of the Eastern banks in giving out clearing house certificates instead of currency until the worst was past, thus saving the currency in their vaults for an emergency which fortunately did not present itself. In the reports of the banks on Dec. 3. 1907. the liabilities in- cluded $2,679,820 in clearing house certificates, but in the reports for May 14, 1908, this item had entirely disappeared, indicating that all the certificates had been redeemed in lawful money.
MANUFACTURING.
Milwaukee is pre-eminently a manufacturing city. According to the year book of the Merchants' and Manufacturers' Association for 1908 there were in operation at the beginning of that year 3,470 manufacturing establishments, with an invested capital of $214.725,269, employing 95,287 persons who received in wages dur- ing the year $55,810,370, and the value of the output for the year was $322,814,923. These figures-great as they may appear-are the result of almost three-quarters of a century of steady develop- ment.
The early manufacturing enterprises of Milwaukee were primi-
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tive in character and confined chiefly to the production of articles for home consumption. Lumber was one of the great necessities of the pioneer town, and the first manufacturing concern in Mil- waukee is believed to have been the saw-mill of Dr. Bigelow, es- tablished in 1834 on what is now Humboldt avenue. The follow- ing year Hubbard & Botsford erected another saw-mill, near the Rock River canal dam, Solomon Juneau started a brickyard under the supervision of a Canadian named Nelson Olin, and D. W. Pat- terson opened a blacksmith shop, which was the first "iron works" in Milwaukee.
By 1842 two tanneries, two breweries, and an iron foundry had been added to the list of factories. In 1844 a flour mill with two sets of stones was built by John Anderson at the foot of the canal. The Empire and Cream City mills and an axe factory were also started this year, though the last named was purchased by Jacob Straub in 1855 and converted into a flour mill. In 1847 Easton & Goodrich built the first steam flour mill, and Langworthy, Decker & Lavelle founded the concern that has since developed into the Reliance Iron Works, one of the greatest institutions of its kind in the country.
Two years later E. D. Holton compiled a report from which it is learned that at that time there were thirty-nine manufactories in the city, turning out edge tools, foundry machinery, vehicles, woolen goods, leather, lumber, sash, doors and blinds, furniture, wooden ware, tin, sheet iron and copper ware, soap, candles, mill- stones, brick, beer, farm implements, and a variety of other ar- ticles, the value of the year's output being $1,714,200. In 1853 the board of trade gathered statistics relative to the manufacturing in- terests, and at that time the output had increased in value to more than $2,000,000. The five leading products, with the value of each, were as follows: Flour, $300,000; leather, $175,000; ale and beer, $169,000 ; iron goods, $137,000 ; and boots and shoes, $103,000. None of the others turned out as much as $100,000, though distilled li- quors came close to that mark, the value being a little over $91,000.
From 1850 to 1870 the new factories introduced consisted mainly of a number of small shops, very few large enterprises be- ing founded during this period, though some of the older concerns increased their capacity to a considerable extent. Between 1870 and 1880 the capital invested in manufacturing increased, accord- ing to the United States census, from $7,605,449 to $18,766,914. Census reports prior to 1880 had always given flour the first place in the list of manufactured products, but in 1880 the five leading products in their order of importance were: meats, leather, flour, malt liquors and clothing.
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Since then Milwaukee has come to the front with rapid strides as a manufacturing center, until the figures given at the beginning of this subject were reached in 1907. Not only has the total value of the output increased, but the list of articles produced has been multiplied until almost everything is turned out by Mil- waukee's factories.
Referring again to the figures of the year book of the Mer- chants' and Manufacturers' Association, there were in 1907 six industries that turned out a product of over $10,000,000 each, to- wit : Iron and steel (including heavy machinery), $49,519,790; beer and malt tonics, $26,710,985; leather, $24,831,304; packed meats, $24,198,236; railroad equipment and supplies, $12,319,000; build- ing materials (including structures erected in the city), $11,669,- 944.
Following these were eleven other industries that reported products of from $5,000,000 to $9,000,000 or over. They were in order: Agricultural implements, men's and boys' clothing, malt (exclusive of breweries), electric and telephone supplies, flour and feed, boots and shoes, malleable iron and hardware, distilled and rectified liquors, tin and sheet metals, plumbers' supplies, and women's clothing. Thirty-two other industries reported outputs of over $1,000,000 each.
Milwaukee has been called by the people of other cities the "City of Bricks and Beer," but a mere glance at the above figures will show that she could be just as appropriately called the "City of Iron and Leather," or the "City of Bread and Meat," as her iron, tanning, packing and milling interests all stand in the list far above that of brick, which is thirty-eighth in importance, and beer has been relegated to second place.
Of the six leading industries, the development of iron and steel manufacture to its present gigantic proportions is due mainly to the city's favorable location. Being within easy reach of the Lake Superior mines, the ore of which is unusually rich in metallic iron, and profiting by the favorable freight tariffs on coal and coke, it is not surprising that Milwaukee has become a great producer of iron and steel goods. The Reliance Iron Works, mention of which has already been made, began to acquire prominence about the time of the Civil war, under the management of the late Edward P. Al- lis. The concern, now known as the Allis-Chalmers Company, is today one of the greatest, if not the greatest, machinery construct- ing shops in the world.
In 1866 the Milwaukee Iron Company started its furnaces and
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rolling mills at Bay View. Subsequently they became the property of the North Chicago Rolling Mill Company, and in 1889 were merged into the Illinois Steel Company. These two concerns are still the leading manufactories of the city, though there are a num- ber of others only slightly secondary in importance. The year book of the Merchants' and Manufacturers' Association for 1908 includes reports from forty establishments, employing 9.560 men, the capital invested amounting to $28,731,082.
Beer manufacture was introduced in the spring of 1840, when the Milwaukee Brewery was established. Later in the year the Melms Brewery was started. What is known as the Pabst Brew- ery had its beginning in 1844, when Jacob Best & Sons started the Empire Brewery. Six years later Philip Best became sole pro- prietor, and in 1864 admitted his son-in-law, Fred Pabst, to part- nership. About a year later Mr. Best was succeeded in the firm by another son-in-law, Emil Schandein, and in 1869 the Melms Brewery was absorbed. The business was incorporated in March, 1873, as the Philip Best Brewing Company, and since 1889 it has been known as the Pabst Brewing Co. The Blatz Brewing Com- pany began in 1844, but under a different name. In 1851 Valen- tine Blatz became the owner of the business and since that time it has gone steadily forward. The Menominee Valley Brewery started in 1846, but it did not cut much of a figure until 1855, when it passed into the hands of Fred Miller, and is still in existence as the Fred Miller Brewing Company. In 1849 was laid the founda- tion of the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company, whose copyrighted advertising phrase-"the beer that made Milwaukee famous"- is known from coast to coast. Jacob Obermann in 1854 founded the J. Obermann Brewing Company; the Cream City Brewing Company had begun its career the year before ; the Bavarian Brew- ery started in 1856 and was subsequently absorbed by the Falk, Jung & Borchert brewing interests, and the A. Gettelman Brewing Company was founded in 1876. The Milwaukee Brewery, the first to be established in the city, went out of business in 1880, and in recent years the various breweries have been consolidated into nine great concerns with a capital of $49.710,000, employing 4,500 peo- ple, and turning out 3.828.484 barrels in 1907.
Leather stands third in importance in Milwaukee's manufactured products. The thirteen great tanneries in 1907 employed 4,626 per- sons, had an invested capital of $14.119,908. and turned out a product of nearly $25,000,000. Several of the largest tanneries maintain branch houses in the eastern cities, in the great shoe manufacturing 37
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district, in order to be in close touch with the demand. The name "Milwaukee grain leather" has become a synonym for excellence in the case of shoes designed for hard usage, though the finer grades of leather are of equal merit. Most of the Milwaukee tanners are of German extraction, and the majority of the great tanneries began in a small way and have been built up by the close attention of the pro- prietors and the determination to allow no inferior product to leave the factory.
The meat packing industry was introduced in Milwaukee in 1844 by John Plankinton, who conducted the business alone until 1850. when he formed a partnership with Frederick Layton. This partner- ship was dissolved in 1861, when Mr. Layton retired to start in the business for himself. The late Philip D. Armour, of Chicago, was for some time connected with Mr. Plankinton as a partner, retiring in 1884, at which time the business was reorganized under the name of John Plankinton & Co., Patrick Cudahy coming in as a partner. Four years later Mr. Plankinton retired from active business and the firm took the name of Cudahy Bros. The present Plankinton Packing Company is owned and operated by Chicago packers. Of the twenty packing concerns reported in the year book in 1908 the Bodden Pack- ing Company and the Gumz Bros. Company are large exporters, most of their meats finding a market in Europe. The Layton Company and Cudahy Bros. Company are also large exporters, though the greater part of their product is sold in this country. The twenty concerns en- ploy about 1.800 people and pay annually over $1,000,000 in wages.
The railroad equipment and supplies, which constitute the fifth manufactured product in importance, are turned out by four shops that have an invested capital of $10,355,000 and employ about 7,400 people. The greatest of these four establishments are the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company's shops, which employ con- stantly 4,000 persons, most of whom are skilled workmen. The com- pany builds here its own locomotives-about 130 annually-and turns out from 25 to 30 cars daily.
Lack of space forbids detailed mention of every individual indus- try in the city, but what has been said of the growth of the five indus- tries above is true in greater or less degree of every one in Milwaukee. Throughout the entire field of manufacturing activity, the heads of the various establishments seem to be actuated by the same motives, viz : to produce some standard article of superior merit, and to follow along conservative lines, never wasting capital and energy in uncertain ven- tures. To quote from the year book referred to-"It has been found by American cities that the enterprise and energy of individuals can be
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND MITCHELL BUILDING
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considerably augmented by co-operation of commercial, industrial and professional factors. There are opportunities for promotion of local interests in every community-opportunities which cannot be fostered by single individuals on the one hand, nor by the municipal govern- ment on the other."
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.
The truth of the above quotation seems to have been realized by some of Milwaukee's business men over half a century ago, for on March 1, 1849, a Board of Trade was organized, consisting of thirty- seven members, with E. D. Holton as president. For a time it held daily sessions for exchange purposes, but in 1851 its operations ceased. It was revived, however, in December, 1852, with about 100 members, but its sessions were held irregularly and were not always well at- tended.
The Corn Exchange, a rival organization, was formed in 1855 with Horatio Hill as president, and in October, 1858, the two bodies were consolidated as the Chamber of Commerce, with the following officers : L. J. Higby, president ; W. J. Whaling, vice-president ; L. L. Crounse, secretary ; O. E. Britt, treasurer. An exchange room was rented at No. I Spring street (now Grand avenue,) and from that time to the present the daily sessions have been held without intermission.
After some years the organization outgrew its quarters and rooms were leased of Ogden, Brown & Mitchell in the new building where the present Chamber of Commerce now stands. In 1876 an initiation fee was established and memberships were made transferable, the object being to create a building fund. In 1880 the building at the corner of Michigan street and Broadway was completed and here the Chamber of Commerce has since had its home. The same year a gratuity fund was started, the income of which is divided annually among the widows and heirs of the members who have died during the preceding year. In 1907 this fund amounted to $118,866.45. During the preceding year eleven members died, and each family received a dividend of $608.87 from the income of the fund.
The primary object of the Chamber of Commerce is to facilitate the grain trade, commission men appearing at each session to do the selling, the purchasers being the millers, brewers, malsters, etc. But at various times in its history the organization has shown the public spirit of its members outside of the regular channel. Working as an organized body during the Civil war, it raised money for the support of soldiers' families, thus encouraging many to enlist, and as the Wis- consin regiments, broken and warworn, reached Milwaukee on their re-
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turn home they were entertained and cared for by the Chamber of Commerce. It was one of the chief promoters of the Soldiers' Home fair, by means of which over $100.000 was raised for the purpose of securing the location of the National Soldiers' Home at Milwaukee. In 1908 the membership numbered a few over 600 and the officers were: Edward C. Wall, president ; Wallace M. Bell, first vice-president ; E. J. Furlong, second vice-president ; W. J. Langson, secretary and treas- urer.
MERCHANTS' AND MANUFACTURERS' ASSOCIATION.
Early in the year 1861 a movement was started by some of the Mil- waukee merchants for the formation of an organization to promote the mercantile interests of the city. After two preliminary meetings the Merchants' Association was organized on March 5, 1861, when twenty-three signed the membership roll and the following officers were elected: J. A. Nazro, president ; G. P. Hewitt, vice-president ; J. A. Dutcher, secretary; F. H. Terry, treasurer ; John T. Bradford, Lester Sexton, F. J. Bosworth, George Brumer and M. W. Sinclair, directors.
The organization continued as the Merchants' Association until May 18, 1894, when it absorbed the Manufacturers' Club, which had been formed about 1890, and the name of the Merchants' and Manu- facturers' Association was adopted. The first meeting of the new as- sociation was held on the date above named in the University Building, where the headquarters of the organization are still maintained. The chief aim of the association is to promote the mercantile and manufac- turing interests of Milwaukee by the location of new factories, the ex- tension of the wholesale trade, etc., though the constitution and by-laws are liberal enough to allow the association a wide scope in the exercise of its activities. Scarcely a factory has been located in Milwaukee in recent years that the association has not been instrumental in securing ; it indorses and supports worthy public charities and does what it can to protect the citizens against the unworthy ; it was an active patron of the school of trades until the latter became a part of the public school system in 1907 ; and has always been a potent factor in securing aid for the University of Wisconsin.
The rooms of the association in the University Building are a scene of activity, as an average of one committee meeting is held on every week day the year round. The association gives monthly smokers for the purpose of drawing the business men of the city closer together and stimulating general good feeling. At these smokers addresses on economic and civic topics are delivered, some of the most prominent
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men in the country having appeared before the association at various times. These addresses are usually followed by miscellaneous discus- sion and refresliments. formality being dispensed with for the time being. In 1908 the association had a membership of about 1.500, with the following officers: John H. Moss, president; William Berger, vice-president : William George Bruce, secretary; Frank X. Bodden, treasurer.
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