TOLEDO AND LUCAS COUNTY - 425 manufactures bridges and bridge materials, which are shipped to all parts of the United States. It also makes electric traveling cranes and coal and ore handling machinery. The United States Malleable Iron Company was incorporated in August, 1903, with a capital stock of $100,000, which was increased to $150,000 a few years later. Several concrete buildings were erected on the Terminal Railway near the Woodville road and the company made a specialty of malleable castings for automobile manufacturers, which product was shipped to most of the automobile factories throughout the Middle West. The Toledo Machine and Tool Company is one of the large concerns working in iron and steel. It was incorporated in 1890 with a capital stock of $3,000,000, and from the start was a successful concern. The main part of the plant is located at Dorr Street and New York Central Railroad, covering several acres, but the company owns a large tract of land beyond the city limits on Dorr Street on which a modern foundry, at a cost approximating a million dollars, has been erected, and where there is room for large expansion, adjacent to ample transportation facilities. In October, 1922, control of this company passed out of the hands of its founders and into those of interests which promise to expand its operations to very respectable proportions. Its products are presses and dies, sheet metal working machinery and dies. METAL WHEEL INDUSTRIES Toledo, thanks to Peter Gendron, has become prominent throughout the world for its .development of the manufacture of metal wheels and for the quantity and quality of its output of that class of products. Mr. Gendron came to the city at the age of twenty-one and found employment as a pattern maker in the Toledo Novelty Works, then conducted by Russell & Thayer. In 1871 he went to Detroit as a pattern maker for the Detroit Safe Company.. As a boy he had worked in his father's wagon shop and while in Detroit he conceived the idea of a wire wheel. In 1875 he returned to Toledo, perfected his invention, first using the wire wheel on children's carriages. In 1877, with three associates, he began the manufacture of wheels, but the company lacked sufficient capital to put the product on the market and consequently failed. Mr. Gendron did not lose faith in his invention, however, and after three years of persistent effort established a market for his wheels. The Gendron Wheel Company was incorporated in 1880 and a small factory was started at 218 Summit Street. Within three years the business increased to such proportions that larger quarters became necessary. A site at the corner of Orange and Superior streets was purchased and a four-story building 100 feet square was erected.. In 1890, the capital stock was increased to $300,000 and a few years later it was increased to $500,000. This company was not only the originator of the wire wheel, but it has always been the recognized leader in the manufacture of goods of that class. It makes bicycles, tricycles, invalid chairs, go-carts, baby carriages, doll carriages, coaster wagons, toy wheelbarrows, etc. The Toledo Metal Wheel Company, whose works are located at Smead and Bancroft streets, was incorporated in 1887 by Frank E. Southard and his associates. It has a capital stock of $500,000 and manufactures children's vehicles of. all kinds, reed and fibre baby carriages, sleds, go-carts, etc. 426 - TOLEDO AND LUCAS COUNTY GLASS FACTORIES Probably no manufacturing enterprises have added more to Toledo's fame and industrial growth than its glass factories. Back in 1850 William Libbey entered the employ of a firm of glass manufacturers and importers in South Boston, Massachusetts. Deming Jarvis, the senior member of this firm, was the pioneer glass manufacturer of New England. In 1853 Mr. Libbey purchased the interests of his employers and conducted the factory for about ten years. He then sold out and entered the employ of the New England Glass Company at East Cambridge, Massachusetts, as general manager. In 1880 he purchased this plant and took in his son, Edward D. Libbey, as a partner. William Libbey died in 1883 and Edward D. became the sole proprietor. When natural gas was discovered in Northwestern Ohio, a citizens' committee was organized in Toledo to advertise the city's advantages and secure the location of new factories. They advertised in the eastern papers and one Of the advertisements attracted the attention of Mr. Libbey. William H. Maher, of the committee, went east and presented inducements which brought the Libbey Glass Manufacturing Company to Toledo. The company was incorporated under the laws of Ohio in 1888, with a capital stock of $125,000. This has since been increased to $2,000,000. The factory of this company is located at Ash Street and the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railroad. Its principal products are blanks for cut glass, cut glass, incandescent light bulbs, glass tubing for electrical use, gauge tubing, signal lenses and lanterns for the use of railroad companies. At the Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893 this company erected a building at an expense. of $100,000, in which the public was shown the methods of cutting glass. A similar demonstration was made at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition at St. Louis in 1904. These exhibitions not only educated the visitors to the expositions as to the manner of making cut glass, but they also advertised Toledo far and wide as a manufacturing center. About the middle of the nineteenth century John Ford, who has been called the father of the plate glass industry in the United States, established the Star Glass Company at New Albany, Indiana. There his son, Edward Ford, learned the details of glass making. In 1873 the son went to Columbus, Ohio, and started the Columbus -Window Glass Company. Three years later he established the Plate Glass Company of Jeffersonville, Indiana, and in 1884 he built the plant of the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company at Creighton, Pennsylvania. He remained with that company as general manager and president for over twelve years, when he disposed of his interest and went to Wyandotte, Michigan, in connection with the alkali works owned by his father. But Edward Ford away from a glass factory was like the proverbial fish out of water. In 1898, attracted by the cheap fuel offered in natural gas and the splendid Shipping facilities, he came to Toledo and organized the Edward Ford Plate Glass Company, which was incorporated early the following year and now has a capital stock of $2,000,000. A tract of 160 acres of land was purchased in Wood County adjacent to the city limits, the plant erected and the company began active operations in the spring of 1899. The suburb of Rossford has been built up around the Ford Glass Works. Within ten years from the beginning, the company had about fifteen acres under roof and was turning out over six million square feet of high grade plate glass annually, shipped to all parts of the United States. In 1922 this company TOLEDO AND LUCAS COUNTY - 429 had taken foremost rank in the plate glass industry of the United States, making over 12,000,000 "square feet of the best plate. Enlargements planned, and about to be executed to involve an expenditure of about two million dollars, will increase the plant's capacity forty percent. As the offices of the company are in Toledo, wherein also reside the principal officers and stockholders, the factory should be considered a Toledo institution. On December 16, 1967, the Owens Bottle Company was incorporated with a capital of $48,000,000. This company is the outgrowth of the invention of Michael J. Owens—a machine for blowing bottles. Mr. Owens began his business career as a glass blower. While working at his trade he conceived the idea of a machine to blow bottles, fruit jars, etc. About 1899 Edward D. Libbey became interested in the project and assisted Mr. Owens financially. The first machines were installed in the plant of the MacBeth-Evans Glass Company at Toledo and proved to be a success. The success of the Owens bottle machine stimulated invention in glass-making machinery until the outcome was the Libbey-Owens sheet glass machine. This machine and the Owens bottle making machine, with their improvements and supplemental inventions, brought about a revolution in their line of industry, comparable with the invention of the cotton gin. The uncertain, slow and laborious process of hand-blowing of bottles and jars, with its variation of results in the product, has given place over the world to machine work upon such receptacles whose processes are rapid and whose product is standardized. By glass-making machines old processes are also entirely discarded, and from the molten material glass is produced directly into Sheets by automatic machinery, economically, rapidly, and with none of the defects and uncertainties of result due to the old method of blowing into cylinders and straightening. So successful are these inventions that any other method of making glass receptacles or sheet glass, other than heavy plate, is out of date. These Toledo inventions are now found in use throughout the world. The MacBeth-Evans Glass works above mentioned are located at the corner of Westlake Street and Delaware Avenue, near the tracks of the New York Central Railroad. This company makes tumblers for table use, lamp globes and lamp chimneys for kerosene lamps, etc. The Toledo plant is a branch of the MacBeth-Evans Company of Pittsburgh. The Ohio Plate and Window Glass Company, whose plant is at 313-319 Morris Street, was incorporated in March, 1915. It makes a specialty of beveled plate glass and mirrors. In 1920 the Tri-State Glass Company was incorporated with a capital stock of S300,000 for the manufacture of bottles. Buildings were erected at Oakdale Avenue and the Terminal Railroad, East Toledo. The Royal Cut Glass Company, although not a large concern, turns out some very fine specimens of cut glass. It is located at 1301 Dorr Street. The Swinton Art Glass Works, Fifteenth and Lucas streets, manufactures beveled plate and art glass windows for churches, public buildings and fine resi dences, mirrors, etc. Toledo Stone and Glass Sand Company.—This industry came into being because of the demand of the glass factories for raw material. Mention is made in the first chapter of the shipment of glass sand from the deposits in Sylvania Township in the early '60s, and of the suspension of the business updn the death of Mr. Card. 430 - TOLEDO AND LUCAS COUNTY In 1902 The Toledo Stone and Glass Sand Company was incorporated, with a capital of $100,000 for the further development of the deposits. This company built the Toledo, Angola & Western Railroad in order to get the sand to market (see railroads). The sand was used for a time by the Toledo glass factories, when it developed impurities, or at least an element that ,rendered it unfit for glass making. About that time it was discovered that the sand contained qualities that made it valuable as a fertilizer for certain kinds of soil and a fertilizer works was established. In the spring of 1922 experiments proved that the rock deposits at Silica contained all the constituent elements for making a high grade hydraulic cement. The Sandusky Portland Cement Company acquired a large interest in the deposits and in May, 1922, began the erection of a plant which will ultimately cost $1,500,000. It is said that the supply of cement rock at Silica is sufficient to keep the plant in operation for seventy-five years. PAINTS, VARNISHES, ETC. Toledo has a number of concerns producing paints and varnishes. The oldest of these is the Buckeye Paint and Varnish Company, which was started in the late '70s by Peter F. Whalen and Alfred Collins in a small building on the corner of Fifteenth and Lucas streets. For several years these two men would make a few gallons, go out and sell the product, then make another supply. In 1882 they consolidated their business with another small concern, known as the Buckeye Paint Works, owned by C. P. Whitwham, and the new organization took the name of the Buckeye Paint and Varnish Company. Mr. Whitwham sold his interest to his partners in 1886 and the next year the plant was moved into larger quarters across the street. The company was incorporated in 1888 with a capital stock of $50,000, which has since been increased to $100,000. Within a few years after the incorporation the company had a tank storage of 150,000 gallons, branch offices were established in Chicago and St. Paul, and traveling salesmen were placing Toledo paints and varnishes on the market throughout Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois and Pennsylvania. This company made a large shipment to the Panama Canal a short time before it was completed. In 1893 the Toledo White Lead Company began business at Hoag Street and Oakwood Avenue, near the tracks of the Michigan Central Railroad. The Hardy Paint and Varnish Company was incorporated in November, 1907, and took over the plant. The original stock of the new company was $75,000, which has been increased to $250,000. This company manufactures ready mixed house paints. carriage, automobile, steamboat and railroad paints, etc. The Dolphin White Lead and Color Company was incorporated in March, 1917, with an authorized capital of $50,000. The plant of this company is located at 922 Locust Street and its products include mixed house paints, barrel, graphite and flat wall paints, colors ground in oil and japan, baking and air drying enamels, liquid and paste fillers, oil and varnish stains and putty. At 641 Spencer Street is the plant of the Blayz Paint and Varnish Company, which was incorporated in June, 1919, with a capital stock of $200,000. This company manufactures a full line of paints, varnishes, enamels, fillers, stains and putty. The Mountain Varnish and Color Company is a new concern, whose works are located at the Tremainesville Road and the Terminal Railway. It makes a complete TOLEDO AND LUCAS COUNTY - 431 line of flat wall-paints, metal protective paints, enamels and fillers, but specializes in architectural, automobile, carriage, coach, furniture and railway varnishes. The Royal Varnish Company, located on Sylvania Avenue near the New York Central Railroad, was incorporated in July, 1903, with a capital stock of $50,000. It makes a full line of varnishes, paint oils, japans, etc. As linseed oil is an important ingredient in the manufacture of paints, a few words may be said here regarding the linseed oil industry in Toledo. In 1885 the firm of Taylor, Major & Company began the manufacture of linseed oil and its by products, with Guy G. Major as the active manager. A little later this company was merged with the American Linseed Oil Company and Mr. Major was elected president. While he remained at the head of the American Linseed Oil Company he resided in New York, but in 1907 he returned to Toledo and organized the Guy G. Major Oil Company. The new plant was established on East Broadway, at the crossing of the Lake Shore (now the New York Central) Railroad, and began the manufacture of linseed and castor oil. Subsequently the name was changed to the Toledo Lead and Oil Company. The business is now conducted under the name of the Midland Linseed Products Company. The Toledo Seed and Oil Company was incorporated in November, 1907, and has a capital stock of $500,000. The plant of this company is located at the southeast corner of Hanson Street and Industrial Avenue, East Toledo. Besides linseed oil, the company makes castor oil, cocoanut and other vegetable oils and oil meal. The principal officers of the company reside in Minneapolis, Minnesota. OIL REFINERIES The Paragon Refining Company was established in 1888, soon after the oil industry in Northwestern Ohio began to attract general attention. The work of refining was commenced early in 1889. Ohio crude oil was at that time hard to refine and to the Paragon Company belongs the credit of being the first to produce a refined oil that could successfully compete with the Pennsylvania product. On November 1, 1916, the company was re-organized and the capital stock 'was increased to $750,000. The refinery is located in Ironville, near the intersection of Front and Bandot streets. In 1890 the Craig Oil Company was incorporated, with Joseph W. Craig, of Pittsburgh, president ; A. J. Minke, of Wheeling, vice-president ; Presley T. Craig, of Toledo, secretary and treasurer. The capital stock of the company was fixed at $250,000 and a refinery was built at the junction of the Wheeling & Lake Erie and Terminal railways. At first the capacity was 15,000 barrels Per month, but within a short time it was increased to 40,000 barrels. Another refinery that commenced operations in 1890 was that of the Sun Oil Company, the principal promoters of which were Pittsburgh men. It started on fifteen acres of ground near the Woodville road and the city limits, with only a few tanks, but the plant was increased until it covered sixty-five acres. The supply of crude oil was piped from Ohio and Pennsylvania fields and the products were shipped to practically all parts of the United States and Canada, some going to South America and European countries. The company was re-incorporated in 1900, with a capital stock of $500,000. The Standard Oil Company, besides conducting a large number of service 432 - TOLEDO AND LUCAS COUNTY stations for automobiles throughout the city, is developing at this point its refining business on a very large scale, its plant on Otter Creek, East Toledo, being one of the largest in the middle west. VEHICLE MAKING The industry of Toledo most noteworthy at the present time and occupying by far the greatest portion of the city's interests is that of vehicle .making, and this has distinguished the city for many years. Some years before the Civil war George and John Milburn began making wagons on a small scale at Mishawaka, Indiana, as the Mishawaka Wagon Company. In 1858 George Milburn obtained control of the business and changed the name to the Milburn Wagon Company. During the war the company built a large number of wagons for the United States Government, In 1873, the business having outgrown the little town of Mishawaka, the citizens of Toledo raised $300,000 to induce Mr. Milburn to remove to that city. Thirty-two acres of ground on Monroe Street, near the Detroit branch of the Lake Shore (New York Central) Railroad were purchased, buildings were erected and the factory began operations in the spring of 1875. This is said to have been the first really big factory in Toledo. Around it grew up the suburb of Auburndale, now a part of the city. The factory was seriously damaged by fire on September 29, 1876, and again in December, 1877, but each time it was rebuilt and within a few years had the reputation of being the largest manufacturer of farm wagons in the world. In 1877, after the second fire, the company began making buggies and light spring wagons. With the advent of the automobiles and the consequent decline of the wagon business, the company adapted itself to the changed conditions and commenced the manufacture of electric trucks. A few years ago the company began to specialize in the manufacture of an electric passenger car known as the Milburn electric, which is enjoying a very wide acceptance. Early in 1923 the company sold its main factory and grounds on Monroe Street to the General. Motors Company, having decided to restrict its operations entirely to the manufacture of electric cars for which purpose this plant was unnecessary. Early in 1922 a large portion of the plant, afterwards sold to the General Motors Company, was destroyed by fire and the company adapted to car manufacture a location elsewhere. As noted elsewhere in this chapter, in 1907 the Pope Motor Car Company, manufacturing the Pope-Toledo automobile, went into receivership in the United States court and early in 1909 its properties came into the ownership of the Willys-Overland Company, which has grown so that it has become one of the most important automobile factories in the world. Its equipment on West Central Avenue constitutes the largest single automobile factory known. This is Toledo's most important industry. In March, 1923, its factory employed over twelve thousand workmen, and its output for the month was over 22,000 cars. It makes models of automobiles in the several popular styles known as the Overland 4 and the Willys-Knight 20 and 20-A, the cars at the present writing enjoying an unusual measure of popularity. The principal building bought as part of the Pope Motor Car factory was that originally erected for the Jewell Sewing Machine Company. The development of the automobile industry brought about the establishment of TOLEDO AND LUCAS COUNTY - 435 factories making automobile accessories, and Toledo has several of these of much more than local importance. The Champion Spark Plug Company is located at Avondale and Upton avenues. It has become the largest manufacturer of spark plugs in the world. The Tillotson Manufacturing Company on City Boulevard makes carburetors and brass parts for automobiles. It has already made over one million carburetors or more than ten percent of those equipping the automobiles of the United States. The Electric Auto Lite Corporation, at one time known as the Willys Corporation, and once part of the Willys interests, with its principal factory on Champlain and Chestnut streets, and another on Cherry Street, near the bridge, occupies a commanding position in the automotive industry as the maker of electrical equipment of all kinds.. It also makes farm lighting equipments. The Mather Spring Company, located at Castle Boulevard and the New York Central Railroad, makes automobile springs. It was, incorporated in 1911, with a capital stock of $1,000,000, and is a very important factor in its line of industry. As part of the development of The Willys-Overland Company came to Toledo The Warner Manufacturing Company, making automobile parts in the first instance specially for Overland cars ; now, as The Toledo-Chevrolet Motor Company at West Central Avenue and. Michigan Central Railroad, it manufactures automobile transmissions and differentials, and is an important element in the manufacture and equipment of the well-known Chevrolet automobile. This company contemplates immediate enlargements which may cause an expenditure of about a million dollars. Other institutions making parts used in the automotive industry are listed later. MISCELLANEOUS FACTORIES The first springless, automatic, computing scale, showing the weight and value of an article was invented and made in Toledo in 1898. The inventor was Allen DeVilbiss, a young man who had a small shop on the corner of Thirteenth and Jackson streets, where he made machine tools, dies, etc., and did nickel plating. A company was formed for the manufacture of the scale, but in July, 1901, the patents were purchased by the Toledo Scale and Cash Register Company, which then had a capital stock of $600,000. During the period from 1898 to 1902, about five thousand scales were made and sold. By 1910 over seventy-five thousand had been placed on the market, branch sales offices had been established in fifty cities in the United States and a branch factory had been opened at Windsor, Canada. The capital stock of the company has been increased to $900,000 and the name of Toledo Scale Company has been adopted. It advertises "more than one hundred styles and sizes, to weigh anything from an ounce of spice to thirty tons of steel." The factory, located at the corner of Monroe and Albion streets, is conceded to be the largest in the world for the manufacture of automatic scales. The company has 106 branch offices in the United States and Canada, and a number in thirty-four foreign countries. In 1888 Dr. Allen DeVilbiss, a Toledo nose and throat specialist, unable to obtain a satisfactory atomizer, invented and made one of his own. The success attending the use of the instrument soon became known and he began to receive orders. During the next ten years these orders increased to such an extent that he 436 - TOLEDO AND LUCAS COUNTY found it necessary to embark in the manufacturing business on a larger scale. In 1900 Thomas A. DeVilbiss was taken into partnership and a factory was established at 1200 Jackson Street. In June, 1905, the DeVilbiss Manufacturing Company was incorporated with a capital stock of $25,000. Four years later, owing to the growth of the business, larger quarters at 1304-1310 Dorr Street were obtained. In June, 1909, the capital. stock was increased to $150,000 and the manufacture of certain lines of surgical instruments was added. Again more room became necessary and the company acquired the buildings formerly occupied by The Lenk Wine Company at Detroit and Phillips avenues. This "company not only sends its products to all parts of the United States, but it also does a considerable export business ; and it is entering immediately into improvements and enlargements of facilities which will ultimately involve the expenditure of a million dollars, thus emphasizing the commanding position it occupies in its line. About the beginning of the present century Charles F. Meilink began the manufacture of steel office safes on a small scale. A little later The Meilink Manufacturing Company was incorporated, with a modest capital of $5,000. In August, 1902, the capital stock was increased. to $50,000, and the company began making steel filing cases and office equipment.. The factory is located at Oakwood Avenue and the New York Central Railroad and is supplied with the most modern type of machinery. This company has 'filled a number of important orders for the United States Government, and its safes and office fixtures find a market in all parts of the country. As early as 1836 a man named Hettrick began making sails at Philadelphia. His son, E. C. Hettrick, succeeded to the business, and during the Civil war filled many orders for tents, knapsacks, etc., for the army and navy. In 1893 William E. Hettrick, .a grandson of the original sail maker, came to Toledo and started the manufacture of canvas; goods in a small frame building on Norwood Avenue. That was the beginning of the present Hettrick Manufacturing Company, which was incorporated on August 8, 1900. The location of the factory has been moved several times, and is now at 1401 to 1439 Summit Street. The capital stock of the company has been greatly increased. It manufactures all classes of canvas goods, such as awnings, tents, hammocks, transmission belts, machine covers, overalls, tarpaulins, grain sacking, etc. Branch offices have been established in several of the principal cities. In 1850 Minot I. Wilcox and his brother-in-law, S. S. Read, came to Toledo from Black Rock, New York. After occupying themselves in various ways for several years, including milling in 1854, these men bought Brown's vessel supply store on Water Street. This partnership of Read & Wilcox was dissolved in 1860 when the firm of Wilcox Brothers took over the business, the new partner being Leonard Wilcox. After several changes of business title, in March, 1886, The M. I. Wilcox Company, located at 210-216 Water Street, was incorporated with an authorized capital of $125,000, for the purpose of supplying lake vessels with canvas, tar, ropes, etc. The company delivered these supplies to vessels with its own boat, the "M. I. Wilcox." This company has filled many orders from the United States Government for tents, etc. In recent years it has become also extensively interested in the manufacture of mill and railroad supplies. Another large concern in the canvas goods business is The Towar Textile Mills TOLEDO AND LUCAS COUNTY - 437 Corporation, which was incorporated in March, 1918, with a capital stock of $500,000. Its plant is located at 2929 Dorr Street and is well equipped for the manufacture of cotton cluck and tire fabrics. The Buckeye Canvas Company, located at 539 South St. Clair Street, makes awnings, tarpaulins, etc., and the National Tent and Awning Company, 660 Sylvania Avenue, does a large business in the manufacture of automobile and truck tops and curtains, tents, awnings, etc. In 1915, the Landers Brothers Company was incorporated with a capital stock of $500,000. The factory of this concern is located at Blucher and Buckingham streets. It turns out buckram, burlaps, gimp, jute webbing and rubber cloth and its trade extends over a large territory. The Hull Brothers Umbrella Company began business in 1905, with a comparatively small capacity. Since then the capital stock has been increased to $350,000, and the Hull umbrella is known "wherever it rains." The factory is located at 1447 to 1457 Summit Street. Toledo has nine glove factories with a combined capital of nearly two million dollars. These concerns make canvas gloves, plain or leather faced, four manufacture leather gloves, six make jersey gloves, and one—the Joseph Roth Company—makes knit gloves exclusively. These factories employ several hundred people and their gloves are shipped to all parts of the country. A few years ago Toledo reached fourth place among the cities of the United States in the manufacture of women's cloaks and suits. This line of business was started by Alexander Black in 1861, though for about twelve years he was chiefly interested in handling-the product of other factories. In 1873 he devoted his attention exclusively to manufacturing. In 1889 S. L. Schoenfield and Henry Streetman were taken in as partners. Mr. Black retired in 1905 and the business was continued as a partnership until 1915, when the Alexander Black Cloak Company was incorporated with a capital stock of $150,000. In 1897 the Cohen, Friedlander and Martin Company was started as a partnership affair for the manufacture of women's cloaks, suits and skirts. The business was started in a two-story building at 418 Huron Street. Although this building was enlarged and an annex built, the quarters were outgrown by 1906, when a new factory was erected at Erie and Orange streets. In the meantime the business had been incorporated in January, 1903, with a capital stock of $100,000. Soon after the removal into the new building branch sales offices were established in St. Louis, Chicago and Spokane, Washington. The Conde Cloak Company, incorporated in 1913, and the Toledo Suit and Cloak Company, incorporated in 1920, are smaller concerns, but both make a good line of garments and are rapidly growing- in popularity. Then there are several concerns which make aprons, wash dresses, shirt waists, etc. Prominent among these are the Dresser Company, the Gould Specialty Manufacturing Company, the King Manufacturing Company and the Toledo Apron Company. In 1872 A. L. Sonn came to Toledo, formed a partnership with Lyman J. Robinson and started the city's first brush factory.. Mr. Sonn was a nephew of John Ames, who began making brushes at Lansingburg, New York, in 1845, and had learned the trade with his uncle. In 1880 John Ames, Jr., and Joseph C. Bonner became interested in the enterprise and in 1890 the business was incor- 438 - TOLEDO AND LUCAS COUNTY porated under the name of the Ames-Bonner Company with a capital stock of $400,000. For some time the factory was located on Ottawa Street. When the facilities there were outgrown, the company removed to Buckingham and Miller streets. This concern makes brushes of all kinds and specialties in hand mirrors, shaving mirrors, etc. The Allen Manufacturing Company, located at 3005-3007 Detroit Avenue, was incorporated in 1901 with a capital stock of only $10,000. In 1898 Willard E. Allen began the manufacture of several articles included in the general term of "Allen Bath Apparatus." The factory was located on Erie Street, between Adams and Jackson, until after the incorporation, when it was removed to Adams Street near Twentieth. In 1910 the capital stock was increased to $50,000, and soon after that the new factory on Detroit Avenue was occupied. The company specializes in portable bath outfits and does a large mail order business. The Frederic Bissell Company, located at 226-230 Huron Street, was incorporated in 1901 and has a capital stock of $250,000. It is the largest jobber in electrical supplies in the city and manufactures almost everything for lighting, power, electric railway supplies, dynamos, motors, switch-boards, etc. The Conklin Pen Manufacturing Company, 447 Huron Street, started in business to manufacture the invention of the Crescent Filler fountain pen, and is one of the most prominent manufacturers of fountain pens and automatic pencils in the United States. It was incorporated in 1908 and its authorized capital stock is $1,500,000. The Rathbun-Jones Engineering Company on Spencer Street, founded by the late S. M. Jones, and incorporated in 1907 with $240,000 of capitalization, is noted for its product of oil well supplies; including sucker rods which were the principal articles of its manufacture when established, and gasoline engines. The Bunting Brass & Bronze Company, with a large factory on the seven hundred block of Spencer Street, is prominent in its specialties of bronze bushings and babbitt lined bearings and kindred accessories. The Doehler Die Castings Company at the corner of Smead and Prospect avenues makes a specialty of aluminum, brass and bronze white metal alloy die castings, babbitt lined bearings, etc. In December, 1912, The Kent-Owens Machine Company was incorporated, for the purpose of building the Owens bottle making machines, with an authorized capital stock of $500,000. The plant is located on Wall Street near the Michigan Central Railroad. While the company was organized primarily for the manufacture of automatic bottle making machinery, the scope has been enlarged to include machines for making electric light bulbs and sheet glass, and of hand-milling machines, machine tools and general machine work, and has become an institution of very great importance. The Shaw-Kendall Engineering Company is one of the oldest concerns in Toledo, although its present corporate name dates only from 1896, Its capitalization is $240,000, and its manufactures are steam-power house equipment, pipe bends, weld headers, etc. Its place of business is at 120-130 South Superior Street. The Ransom & Randolph Company, thirty-five years ago a partnership making barbers' supplies and furniture, is located at 514-518 Jefferson Avenue in the manufacture of dental supplies and instruments. It was incorporated in 1916, TOLEDO AND LUCAS COUNTY - 439 with an authorized capital stock of $1,200,000, and is a leading house of its line in the country. Thirty years ago the city had several factories devoted to the manufacture of agricultural implements, reapers, mowers, threshing machinery and the like, some of the surviving industries once having been also so engaged. Before 1890 sewing machines were made here in large numbers, principally by The Union Manufacturing Company, and The Jewell Sewing Machine Company, the latter having a large factory whose building is the first unit of The Willys-Overland Company's plant. The Toledo Sugar Company's plant is partly in Toledo and partly in Rossford and is situated on Miami Street and the Perrysburg road just across from the premises of the Ford Glass Company. It was incorporated in 1911, and has invested a half million dollars. In the factory active operations are confined to about four months after the beet harvest. Then about 500 wage earners are employed, the factory, of necessity, working continuously seven days in the week and throughout twenty-four hours of each day. The labor effort for these four months, then, on the eight hour basis, is equivalent to that of a full year in a factory operating in the usual way. The company is an important factor in the sugar beet industry. In the season of 1922 it manufactured 18,500,000 pounds of refined sugar. It's 1923 contracts involve 1,700 farms, with 14,000 acres of sugar beet lands under contract, most of them within a radius of thirty miles from Toledo. During the beet growing season, from eight hundred to a thousand experienced beet workers, mostly from the beet growing sections of Europe, are employed in the fields. The Larrowe Milling Company was formed in. 1890 in New York, and re-incorporated in 1920 in Ohio. It's business is the utilization of the waste products of beet sugar manufacturing. Its plant is adjacent to that of The Toledo Sugar Company, where its grounds cover thirty-three acres. It utilizes beet pulp, not only from the Toledo plant, but from distant plants and is •a pioneer in this line of reclamation. From these wastes stock feed is made. It's assets in 1923 were approximately $3,900,000, and its annual sales are about fifteen million dollars. While not strictly manufacturers, brief mention should here be made of two corporations which contribute very largely to the city's importance industrially as general building contractors. A very large number of the important buildings of the city, public and private, have been constructed _either by The A. Bentley Sons' Company, or by The Henry J. Spieker, Company, and both companies have done a very large amount of work in other places. The Bentley Company, especially, has extended its business in large volume to distant points, and the Spieker Company has monuments of construction to its credit in many towns throughout territory contributory to Toledo. The foregoing review is necessarily of a sketchy character only, whether of the past or present, and omissions of many important institutions are unavoidable for want of spice. Several large industries, whose principal .places of business are elsewhere, maintain extensive branch plants in Toledo. In the biographical volumes of this history many of the deficiencies of this chapter will be found made up in the accounts of the lives of individuals who contribute in a noteworthy way to the industrial prominence of the city. 440 - TOLEDO AND LUCAS COUNTY OTHER IMPORTANT FACTORIES Most of the important factories of the city are members of The Merchants' and Manufacturers' Association of Toledo. Those so listed and worthy of special mention but not noted above, are : The Acklin Stamping Company, 1645-1659 Dorr St. Metal Stampings, pressed steel parts. Air-Way Electric Appliance Corporation, 618 Broadway. Electric Suction cleaners, radio equipment, electric motors, bell transformers American Floor Surfacing Machine Co., 508-524 So. St. Clair St. Machines for surfacing wood floors, terrazo and marble floors, air-cooled air compressors. Baker-Brothers, Post and Westlake streets. Drilling and boring machines, keyseating machines, grey iron castings. The L. Beckmann Co., 1004 Jackson St. Surveying instruments, transits, levels. The Bingham Stamping & Tool Co., 1435 Dorr St. Machine tools, dies, metal stamping, special machinery. The Bock Bearing Co., Phillips Ave. and M. C. Railroad. Taper roller bearings. The Buckeye Clay Pot Co., Bassett & Ontario streets. Glass melting pots, glass melting tank blocks, glass melting refractories The Carey Company, 18 N. Erie St. Roofing, asbestos supplies, pipe and boiler coverings. Fred Christen & Sons, 714-26 George St. Sheet metal work, roofing, factory blow piping. The Collier-Barnett Co., Vance & 13th streets. Sash, wood doors, millwork. The Collingwood Brick & Clay Co., Stickney Ave. and M. C. Railroad. Building brick. The Container Co., 2604-2620 Albion St. Fibre pails, fibre drums, cheese boxes. Dersher, Joseph, 40 11th St. Sheet Metal work, fire doors, fire shutters. Detroit Range Boiler & Steel Barrel Co., 454 Earl St. Range boilers, steel barrels, acetylene welding, galvanizing. The Die Castings Company of Ohio, 514 Smith St. Aluminum castings, zinc base castings, lead and tin base castings. Donovan Wire & Iron Co., The. Chicago St. & W. & L. E. Tracks. Structural steel, grey iron castings. Dura Company, 2288 South Albion St. Automobile window regulators. Elliott-Wean Lumber Co., The. Summit & Ash streets. Lumber, roofing, lath and shingles. TOLEDO AND LUCAS COUNTY - 441 Ensign Foundry Co., The. W. Bancroft St. & N. Y. C. R. R. Grey iron, castings, semi-steel castings. The Etna Machine Co., 3400 Maplewood Ave. Machinery builders, tube making machinery, grey iron castings. Fiske Brothers Refining Co., 215 Pontiac St. Greases, oils, compounds. Freeman Supply Co., Hazelwood & Woodville streets. Foundry supplies and equipment, pattern shop supplies and equipment. Gartland-Toledo Foundry Co., 1817 Starr Ave. Grey Iron castings, wood and metal patterns, semi-steel castings. The J. D. Gerken Co., 25-29 Ontario St. Sheet metal work, heating and ventilating, radiator shields. Goulet & Company, 115-125 St. Clair St. Lumber, sash, interior and exterior finish, wood doors. The G. Hofer & Sons Co., 13-17 S. St. Clair St. Sheet Metal work. The Jaxon Co., 1014 Jackson St. Machine tools, dies, jigs. The Jeannin Electric Co. 110 11th St. Electric Motors. The Kelsey & Freeman Lumber Co. 3005 Summit St. Lumber, millwork, interior and exterior finish, lath, shingles. The J. G. Kuehnle Co., 1521 Ketcham Ave. Lumber, millwork, sash, wood doors. The Maumee Malleable Castings Co. Woodville St. & W. & L. E. Belt. Malleable iron castings. The Maumee Pattern Co. 221-229 Vine St. Wood and metal patterns, brass castings, aluminum castings. Miami Machine Co. 609 Jefferson Ave. Machine tools, dies, jigs, special machinery. Modern Pattern Works, 19-21 N. St. Clair St. Wood and metal patterns, aluminum castings, bronze castings. The Motor Macultivator Co. 1308-10 Dorr St. Garden tractors. The W. G. Nagel Electric Co., 28-32 St. Clair St. Electrical supplies, electric motors, ammeters. The National Malleable Castings Co. Front & Paine streets. Malleable iron castings for automobiles and accessories, railroad cars and trucks, and for agricultural implements. The National Pattern Co., Henry & W. Bancroft streets. Wood and metal patterns. The Ohio Brick Co. 424 Spitzer Bldg. Building brick. The O'Neill Machine Co. Toledo Factories Bldg. Glass working machinery, special machinery. The Reliable Machine & Tool Co., 1214 Dorr St. Machine tools, dies, special machinery. 442 - TOLEDO AND LUCAS COUNTY Save Electric Corporation, Front & Main streets. Electric light bulbs. The Schmidlin Brothers Co. 410 Orange St. Sheet metal work, heating, ventilating. The Seiss Manufacturing Co. Phillips Ave. & N. Y. C. Ry. Automobile electric, hand and bicycle. horns, bicycle lamps, radio equipment. The Simplex Engineering Co. 2146 Sylvan Ave. Aluminum castings, brass castings, wood and metal patterns, general machine work. The Allen A. Smith Co. 1216 W. Bancroft St. Millwork, sash, wood doors, interior finish. The Smith-Kirk Candy Co. 42-48 S. Superior St. Candy. The Standard Steel Tube Co. Fitchland & Detroit avenues. Brazed steel tubes. The Stewart-Burgan Co., Inc. Toledo Factories Bldg. Automobile cylinder regrinding, general machine work and repairs, automotive parts. The Swan Creek Lumber & Supply Co. 226 City Park Ave. Lumber and millwork, builders' supplies. The Toledo Acme Tool Co. 500-502 S. St. Clair St. Machine tools, punching dies, special machinery. Toledo Armature Works, 1714-18 Canton St. Armatures. The Toledo Builders Supply Co. 424-431 Spitzer Bldg. Hard wall plaster, sand and gravel. Toledo Coldmaker Co. 1650-90 Fernwood Ave. Refrigerating machines and supplies, ice machines and supplies. The Toledo Cooker Co. 1501 W. Bancroft St. Fireless cookstoves, aluminum cooking utensils, steam pressure cookers. The Toledo Lumber & Millwork Co. 202 S. St. Clair St. Lumber and millwork, screens. The Toledo Milling Machine Co. 3640 Summit St. Belt driven milling machines. The Toledo Pipe Threading Machine Co. 1445 Summit St. Pipe threading machinery, pipe cutting machinery, pipe cutters and vises. The Toledo Plaster & Supply Co. 515 Madison Ave. Builders' supplies, fire brick, sand and gravel. The Toledo Rex Spray Co. Nebraska Ave. and New York Central Ry. Spray materials. The Toledo Saw & Supply Co. Washington & St. Clair streets. Circular saws, band saws, machine knives. The Toledo Steel Casting Co. Smead Ave. & W. Bancroft St. Steel castings, vanadium castings, wood and metal patterns. The Toledo Steel Products Co. 3300 Summit St. Automotive valves. TOLEDO AND LUCAS COUNTY - 443 The Toledo Tap & Die Co. 1810 Clinton St. Taps, die heads, screw machine products. The Toledo Wheelbarrow Co. Broadway & Wabash Ry. Wheelbarrows, concrete carts, drag scrapers. The Trotter Lumber Co. 2216-30 Consaul St. Lumber, millwork. The Valve Bag Company of America. 3444 Summit St. Paper bags for lime, cement, plaster, etc. ; packing machines for lime. John Vogeli. 1116 Washington St. Sheet metal work, roofing, furnaces. The Warnke Brothers Co. 27 N. Erie St Sheet metal work, fire doors, fire shutters. The Watson Mfg. Co. 1062-66 Post St. Screw Machine box tools, small bench lathes, contract machine work. The Welever Piston Ring Co. 1713-15 Canton St. Piston rings, cylinder and crankshaft grinding, gears—valves. TOLEDO FACTORIES BUILDING In the spring of 1911 the Chamber of Commerce set on foot a project to erect a building, in which space and power might be furnished to small manufacturers, for whom railroad connections were not essential. In August of that year the Toledo Factories Building Company was incorporated with a capital stock of $300,000. A site 228 by 596 feet, fronting on North Twelfth Street, Southard and Woodruff avenues, was purchased and a four-story building of reinforced concrete and glass—what is known as Maximum daylight construction—was opened for tenants on January 1, 1913. Some of the important Toledo manufactories received their start in this building. Among tenants of the building in 1922 were the following: C. J. Campbell & Company, electrotypers and engravers ; American Beet Harvester Company ; Bankers' Publishing Company ; City Machine and Tool Company ; General Lens Company ; The K-M Manufacturing Company, makers of windshields, spotlights, etc. ; Kaufman Confectionery Company ; Ohio Lithographing Company ; The O'Neill Machine Company ; Robinson Household Manufacturing Company, bath cabinets, folding bath tubs, etc. ; Ralph L. Seabury, maker of brushes and graphite products ; Toledo Bottle Cap Company, and the Toledo Chewing Gum Company. The Federal Census Bureau undertakes every five years to gather the manufacturing statistics of the country. The table herewith is the summary respecting Toledo industries. While the figures presented show to how great a degree Toledo expanded industrially since the war, yet those for 1919 may not adequately make the real picture, for in that year occurred the Overland strike, involving also the Electric Auto Lite Company and later in the year, The Toledo Tool and Machine Company. Beginning early in May, for at least five months the working forces of these three companies were depleted, on the average, by fully 5,000. Some other companies were not at their highest point of activity for a greater part of the year : 444 - TOLEDO AND LUCAS COUNTY SUMMARY OF INFORMATION ON TOLEDO. INDUSTRIES BASED ON CENSUS REPORT AS OF 1919 AND 1914