THE difference between the mode of wagon and carriage making
now and that of half a century ago is not more marked than in the present
improved machinery as compared with the rude tools of our forefathers.
How many of the present generation have seen, or, seeing, know the use
of, hand spinning wheels, clock reels, and swifts? Yet less than
fifty years ago the wagon maker was often the provider of those articles,
then household necessities, every part of which was made by hand.
So also with the other products of his skill; he must be master of his
trade, to do good work, and able to fashion every portion from the raw
material into the finished vehicle; though perhaps the result of his labor
sometimes would be an article of curiosity rather than of use. Now,
he goes to the supply store and picks out, ready-shaped, nearly every piece
needed in the construction of his work, and, fitting them together, behold
one man has done the work of ten!
In a work of this nature two things may be said to be nearly impossible
-first, to make no mistake; and second, to mention every one connected
with any particular industry. In the first case, the absence of reliable
information may cause unauthenticated rumors or traditions to be taken
as facts. In the second case, "out of sight, out of mind" - how many
persons in any particular trade, today, could twenty-five, or even five,
years hence name all or half of those now engaged in the same business,
even though constantly meeting them at the various institutions in the
city, unless brought very closely in contact? Prominent ones might
be recalled, peculiar ones might be remembered, but the mass of the rank
and file are like the vague and shadowy impressions of a dream, in memory.
A FEW CUTTERS.
The pioneer who needed a sleigh, if he had some carpenters' tools, generally
managed to hew out a rough and rather heavy one for himself, and with a
little aid from the nearest blacksmith made it serviceable; though sometimes
a "pung" was constructed with no ironing. Undoubtedly the first cutters
made and marketed here were built by a cabinet maker - William Haldane.
Wishing to take a winter trip to Ohio, in the fall of 1837, he made for
himself a "gooseneck" cutter, with a square box, and tall knees the better
to get over low bushes or stumps. But immediately came along the
young man who kept the first bookstore in Kent and wanted to buy it.
Haldane sold it, and proceeded to make another. This caught the eye
of another ambitious young merchant, near the Eagle Hotel, who purchased
it, giving $5 extra for a little nicer finish. A third cutter was
disposed of similarly, each buyer advancing the price, to outdo his predecessor.
Those were sold at $75 each and upward - such vehicles as now, if they
were fashionable, would be marketed for perhaps $20 or $25.
EARLY SPOKESHAVERS.
A few carpenters or other workers in wood managed to do the little
repairing in wagons that was necessary during the first six or eight years
of this settlement, and perhaps among them were one or two skilled wagon
makers by trade. In 1842, it seems, there was not enough of exclusive
carriage work to keep a shop busy, if one may judge by the following advertisement,
then the only one of its kind which appeared in the newspaper here, the
Grand Rapids Enquirer:
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It appears that, in addition to carriage work, several articles
of household use (known in few houses, if any, nowadays) were among the
manufactures of this wagon shop. It stood on Ionia street, a little
South of Fountain. Joseph J. Baxter and Hezekiah Green composed the
firm. Within two or three years, several other wagonmakers came.
One named O'Flynn had a small shop near the junction of Ionia and Fulton
streets. Luman Powers, after 1845, and Benjamin F. Martindale, from
1844 to 1850, worked at the trade. The firm of Baxter & Green
lasted but a year or two. The former built a new shop, a little south
of the old, and formed a partnership with William H. Stewart, which was
also short-lived. At that shop, in 1846, was put up for Canton Smith
the first covered cab or barouche built in this city. In 1847, Albert
Baxter and Jesse Newsom, and in the following year John Roost, were at
work in this shop. In 1848 came George C. Fitch, and opened business
at the corner of Monroe and Ionia streets. In 1849, L. G. & A.
Baxter (Leonard G. and Albert) bought the shop and succeeded to the business
of Joseph J. Baxter. After a few months John L. Baxter purchased
the interest of Albert Baxter, the firm name being changed to L. G. &
J. L. Baxter. In 1852 Leonard G. retired and was succeeded by Albert.
Blacksmithing and painting were carried on with this business from 1848
till 1854. Other early wagon makers were: Alphonso W. Almy, in 1849,
on the corner of Canal and Erie streets; and William Edmondson in 1853,
near Bridge street. A considerable number of carriage makers and
factories are mentioned more at length elsewhere.
GEORGE C. FITCH.
Among the early carriage makers in the city is George C. Fitch,
still in the business, who came from Vermont in 1848 and began work on
the south corner of Monroe and Ionia streets, and a little later moved
down toward the then new Catholic Church building, to a lot of 66 feet
front which cost $500. In 1850 his brother James 0. Fitch entered
into partnership with him, which relation continued as G. C. & J. 0.
Fitch until 1854. In 1858 he removed his shop to Division street
between Fountain and Monroe where he continued for several years in partnership
with M. P. Brown. In 1885, chiefly to get out of the business and
devote his time to real estate interests, he moved to 488 South Division
street, where he has a three story building, in which five men work, earning
nearly $180 a month and turning out several thousand dollars worth of carriages
annually. Mr. Fitch has $2,000 invested in his shop. His reminiscences
of the changes in the business during his forty years of experience in
Grand Rapids would of themselves make an interesting chapter. At
one time he had made twelve lumber wagons and exposed them for sale in
front of his shop. Warren P. Mills, passing along and seeing the
large stock, for those times, asked in astonishment when he expected to
sell them. In 1858 Mr. Fitch was working from twenty to twenty-five
men, most of the time, with very little more product than he now gets with
five, one of whom - Patrick Fennell - has been with him since 1854.
James 0. Fitch, who came to Grand Rapids in 1850, has (with the
exception of a year or two in grocery trade) followed carriage making ever
since. In 1859 he was in a shop at the corner of Bridge and Canal
streets where the Hermitage building now stands. Afterward for some
thirteen years prior to 1880, his factory was on Waterloo a short distance
north of Fulton; and later has been on South Division street. The
brothers Fitch are among the quiet and unostentatious but thorough-going,
trusty, and highly prized citizens of this community.
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THE HARRISON WAGON FACTORY.
In August, 1856, William Harrison laid the foundation for the
present mammoth Harrison Wagon Works by erecting a substantial stone building
on Front Street of such solid proportions that it was soon familiarly known
as "The Old Fort," though now it would not be considered a very great undertaking,
the shop being only forty by eighty feet, two, stories and basement.
At that time many people regarded it as a daring business enterprise, that
being the largest and most substantial factory of the kind in the State.
When he moved his stock from Kalamazoo, where he had been engaged in the
same business three years, the long train of wagons loaded with materials
coming in over the plank road and crossing the bridge attracted nearly
as much attention as would now the street pageant of a Barnum. Before
the building was completed, all commercial and manufacturing enterprises
were sadly crippled, and many of them driven to the wall, by the financial
crash and business panic of 1857. Among the sufferers was the man
who was under contract to put in and furnish the factory with water power.
This made it necessary for Mr. Harrison to procure power from the East
Side canal, and cramped his new enterprise, in spite of the twenty thousand
dollars worth of stock on hand, to such an extent that matters progressed
slowly. Mr. Harrison arranged for the use of part of the basement
of a sash, door and blind factory on Mill street, of which he took a five-years
lease. Soon, needing more room, he threw up the lease, and purchased
a building on Mill lots F and G - that for some years had been used as
a sawmill - which he occupied until 1879, doing a large business compared
with the size of the shop and the conveniences for turning out work.
In 1867 water power was made available on the West Side, and the "Old Fort"
soon shared the benefit therefrom. In the spring of that year the
building stood a test that showed it had not been misnamed. A freshet
occurred before the owner had sufficiently strengthened the guard gates
at the head of the canal, and they were swept away. This threw a
heavy current of the high water, loaded with logs and ice cakes from above
the dam, directly against the walls of the factory, which withstood the
shock with only small damage. About 1867 Mr. Harrison had so far
recovered from the effects of the panic that he was able to build seven
hundred wagons, which he sent from Grand Rapids to Ionia, Muir, Saranac
and other central points, where he peddled them out to farmers; in some
cases taking their notes for the purchases. In June, 1879, the buildings
on the East Side with their contents were destroyed by fire. Mr.
Harrison had meanwhile purchased land near the Detroit and Milwaukee junction,
at the North end of the city, with the intention of erecting a larger and
more convenient factory. The new works were occupied in the fall
of 1879, and then consisted of only two buildings, two stories high; one
40 by 210 feet, the other 180 by 48 feet; wood frames veneered with brick.
In 1869 commenced shipment of the Harrison Wagon into the Western States.
At the time Mr. Harrison began in the business, a clumsy vehicle, frequently
unpainted, was considered a triumph for the wagon maker and a great boon
for the farmer, and commanded a price which, if ruling today, would make
fortunes for all in the trade. While the manufacturer has steadily
advanced, with the march of science, the farmer has not been idle, and,
not satisfied with the former rude article christened a wagon, demands
the latest improved, and receives that which would astonish and delight
his worthy ancestors, were they alive to behold it. Since opening
his trade Mr. Harrison has steadily pushed the work, devoting his energy
to the effort of furnishing farm and freight wagons only. A great
difference in the manner of doing the business now is seen, as compared
with that of twenty years ago. Then wagons were sold for cash or
short time notes, amply secured. Now the great competition makes
profits small, and often forces the manufacturer, in order to secure his
proportion of the trade, to sell on long time or ship to the agricultural
depots to be sold on commission. Finding it difficult at first to
procure help in his new location, on account of the scarcity of houses
and convenient boarding places, Mr. Harrison devoted a portion of his time
to overseeing the erection of a large number of comfortable cottages for
the workmen, until in the spring of 1880 he was able to run his works at
full blast, and now Harrisonville, as the ninety-three acre plat around
the factory is called, contains several hundred inhabitants. In the
mean time, improvement in the factory has progressed, until the plant consists
of an enclosure of ten acres, containing three large factory buildings
from 200 to 300 feet in length, and from 40 to 68 feet in width, and with
ten large warehouses, covering over 120,000 square feet of shop room, concentering
all the energies of an industrial hamlet toward the one object of making
a perfect farm and freight wagon. These works are now giving steady
employment to an average of 150 workmen; with a capacity equal to turning
out a finished wagon every fifteen minutes during the day. Still
this is not a very young enterprise. In age it covers almost two-thirds
of the period since the first frame dwelling was erected in the Grand River
Valley.
WILLIAM HARRISON is a native of Lincolnshire, England, born Jan.
10, 1824. He attended school in his boyhood at Sibsey, also a select
school at Cambridgeshire. At fifteen years of age his father gave
him his choice between education for a profession and learning a mechanical
trade. He chose the latter, and accordingly he was apprenticed in
1839, for six years, to learn the trade of joiner and wheelwright; his
father paying for his instruction £20, and furnishing everything
except board. His uncle became his bondsman upon the articles of
indenture. After serving his time as an apprentice, he worked four
years longer for the same employer; his, wages much of the time being not
more than twenty cents a day and board. The eight-hour day was not
fashionable then; working hours lasted from six o'clock in the morning
until eight at night, with half an hour allowed for breakfast and an hour
for dinner. Nevertheless at the end of four years he had managed
to save about $100 (£20) which he loaned to two friends at five per
cent interest, but lost it all. In 1849 he again attended school
for a short time, and then determined to come to America. Before
leaving he had a conference with his father, and asked if the latter would
furnish him some funds. The reply was that he would not if the son
was going to the United States, but would help start him in business if
he would stay in England. Thereupon the young man started without
aid and reached New York May 1850. Stopping there but a few days,
he proceeded to Kalamazoo, Mich., and on arriving there had but half a
sovereign and a few shillings left. He soon found work at his trade,
his wages being nearly two dollars a day - something better than he had
been accustomed to in England. Most of his pay, however, was in barter,
on account of the great scarcity of sound money in Michigan at the time,
which most people of mature years well remember. With the net proceeds
of his labor, which included one dollar in money, he went the next year
to Galesburg, Mich., where he worked seven months. He then returned
to Kalamazoo and entered upon a contract to make fifty sets of wagon wheels,
for which he was to receive cash, but the other party failed to fulfill
the agreement. In 1852 Mr. Harrison went to Schoolcraft and began
business there for himself, at which he worked for about a year.
Returning then to Kalamazoo, he bought a shop where he carried on business
for several years, in the mean time making some investments in real estate
which proved profitable. In 1856 Mr. Harrision came to Grand Rapids
and at once established himself anew in his favorite occupation; opening
a career as an enterprising and successful wagon manufacturer, the course
of which has been steadily onward and upward in the front rank of that
business. The history of the Harrison Wagon Works is given in these
pages. In October, 1852, Mr. Harrison married Rebecca McCullough,
a native of Ireland. Of five children born to them only three - Mrs.
George I. Davidson, Mrs. James Curtis and George E. Harrison are living.
Mrs. Harrison died May 5, 1869. February 5, 1870, he married Frances
Adelaide, daughter of Samuel H. Gilbert, formerly of Canterbury, England.
Of five children by this union four are living - Bertha L., Roy G., William
and Morton. Mrs. Harrison is a devout and esteemed member of the
Second Street M. E. Church, and Mr. Harrison has been for forty-five years
an active member of that religious denomination. In politics he has
ever been a stanch Republican since the organization of that party.
As a citizen Mr. Harrison is known and appreciated for his industry, enterprise
and integrity. He is methodical and thorough in his business, and
candid, companionable and obliging in social and domestic circles.
Few, if any, have contributed more than he to the upbuilding and material
progress of Grand Rapids. As a fruit of his energetic operations
in manufacturing, he has become the holder of extensive properties in real
estate; owning in several parcels within the city 130 acres, and 100 acres
outside of and adjoining the municipality. A plat of 93 acres, by
his wagon works, on which a large number of his workmen have excellent
living quarters, is popularly known as Harrisonville. His is a notable
example of steady success in the business life of our city.
HEINZELMANN AND OTHERS.
Charles F. Heinzelmann opened a horseshoeing and general repair
shop on Bronson street in 1859. After a few years he entered into
partnership in wagonmaking with Frederick Osterle and Valentine Schaake,
the new firm of Heinzelmann, Osterle & Co. hanging up their sign on
Canal between Bridge and Hastings streets. Heinzelmann & Rathman
was the next announcement, Julius Rathman purchasing Mr. Osterle's interest.
In 1865 the business again changed hands, Henry Fiebig purchasing Mr. Heinzelmann's
interest and changing the firm to Fiebig & Rathman. They erected
a brick block in 1872, and dissolved the relation in 1877, each taking
half of the building. Mr. Heinzelmann then entered into partnership
with John Gelock and built a large brick shop on the southwest corner of
Waterloo and Louis streets. This firm did a good business until 1874,
when the partnership was dissolved, Mr. Gelock retaining the rear of the
building as a carriage shop. Mr. Heinzelmann then moved to Oakes
street, near Ellsworth avenue, and building a large shop, again showed
his ability to cater to the public in producing an honest and serviceable
wagon or carriage. In the fall of 1887 he finished a portion of his
factory for a dwelling, and retired from the business, which on a smaller
scale has since been carried on by his son, in partnership with Martin
Gelock.
ARTHUR WOOD'S FACTORY.
In 1865 H. P. Colby, with James H. McKee, started a carriage factory,
and October 1, 1867, Arthur Wood was induced to purchase the McKee interest
in the business of Colby, Sons & Co., and the firm was changed to Colby,
Wood & Co. February 1, 1868, Mr. Wood bought out the other partners,
and the business has since been handled by himself. The plant on
Waterloo street gives employment to from fifteen to twenty men. His
annual output averages about $50,000, and is sent to all parts of the country,
but principally the Southern and Western States. It consists of buggies,
road carts, sleighs and family carriages. Since 1868 there has been
a gradual dropping of prices, until now better articles can be made for
one third the prices which ruled then. As an offset to this, the
increasing demand for vehicles and the improvements in machinery, with
specialties in all kinds of materials used, enables the wagon shop of today
with ten men to turn out more and better work than it could twenty years
ago with nearly 100 men. He then thought he was doing well with thirty-five
jobs turned out the first year, and fixed his highest ambition at 200 a
year; yet in 1877 he reached 1,381 jobs, and in the two years ending August,
1888, put out 2,500; and still he is struggling for more, with fair prospects
ahead.
BELKNAP WAGONS AND SLEIGHS.
"Merit wins" is an old saw which seems to be verified in this
case. In 1871 we find Charles E. Belknap blowing the bellows at the
forge and shoeing horses. Shortly afterward wagons are made at this
smithy. In 1884 we find the Belknap Wagon and Sleigh Company organized,
with an authorized capital of $100,000, for the manufacture of Farm, Freight
and Express Wagons; Lumber, Mill and Farm Carts, and Logging Carts and
Trucks, with Chas. E. Belknap, President and Manager, and H. P. Belknap,
Secretary and Treasurer. The present works on North Front street,
give employment to about fifty men. Of the annual output of $125,000
some $2,100 comes back each month to the men employed, as compensation
for their labor.
CHARLES EUGENE BELKNAP was born at Massena, St. Lawrence county,
N. Y., October 17, 1846. The family moved to Grand Rapids in 1855.
His educational opportunities were those of the city schools. At
twelve years he joined a theatrical company, with which he remained about
one year. He then served one summer as cabin boy on a Grand River
steamer. August 12, 1862, being then not quite sixteen years old,
he enlisted as a private in Company H of the Twenty-first Michigan Infantry.
Thereafter he was promoted to be Fourth Sergeant, September 1, 1862; First
Sergeant, January 1, 1863; Sergeant Major of the Regiment, February 1,
1863; Second Lieutenant, April 1, 1863; First Lieutenant, September 22,
1863, for gallant service at the battle of Chickamauga, by special order
of General P. H. Sheridan; Captain, January 8, 1864, in recognition of
services rendered at and near Chattanooga, Tennessee. He served in
the Army of the Cumberland during the Atlanta campaign, and with General
Sherman's army in the "march to the sea" and through the Carolinas.
He was mustered out of service June 8, 1865. At the battles of Stone
River and Chickamauga he received seven wounds, none of them very serious.
Thus it appears that he was where the bullets fell thickly. After
the war, from the fall of 1865 to 1871, Captain Belknap lived on a farm
in the town of Sparta. He then returned to this city, and in a moderate
way entered upon the manufacture of wagons, which, has been his principal
business pursuit since. Further mention of his wagon and sleigh factory
precedes this sketch. In 1872 he joined No. 3 Fire Company of which
he soon became foreman. Afterward in the fire service he was Assistant
Chief under General I. C. Smith, with whom he served upward of four years.
During this period a change was made in the Department from the volunteer
to the pay system. In 1878 he was appointed a member of the Board
of Education, and served seven years. In 1880 he was elected Alderman
from the Seventh Ward for the term of two years. In 1884 he was elected
Mayor of Grand Rapids, for the term of one year, receiving a majority of
753 votes. February 1, 1885, he was appointed by the Governor a Trustee
of the Institution for the Deaf and Dumb at Flint, for the term which expires
in February, 1891. At the general election in November, 1888, he
was elected; on the Republican ticket, Representative in Congress for the
Fifth District of Michigan, receiving 26,309 votes to 23,642 for his leading
competitor. Mr. Belknap married, December 25, 1866, Chloe M. Caswell,
a resident of this city. They have a family of four daughters.
In domestic and social circles he exhibits genial affability and kindness
of disposition that win him friends everywhere. He has come to his
present high estate in popular esteem and confidence by persistent, straight-forward
industry and perseverance, through upright and manly dealing and conduct,
and faithfulness in all public trusts. Therein lies the promise of
much future usefulness and success. Quick of perception and prompt
in execution, with untiring zeal, he carries the elements of a yet more
notable career.
MACK'S BENT WORK.
John Mack thinks he made the first bent logging runners in this
part of the country, in 1868, at Tallmadge, Ottawa County, that being his
start in manufacturing bent wood work for the wagon and sleigh trade.
He carried on the business there until 1872, doing the work by hand, disposing
of his product, about $7,000 annually, to Marcus P. Brown. In 1872
Mr. Mack came to Grand Rapids, renting room and power of the Grand Rapids
Manufacturing Company for a year, after which he entered a partnership
with George T. Kendall on Canal and Fairbanks streets, which continued
until the death of Mr. Kendall in 1878, at which time Charles, A. Boynton
& Co. purchased the plant. Shortly after this Mr. Mack started
the manufacture of buggy bodies and cutters in a small way, in the third
story of Mechanics Block, corner of Louis and Campau streets, where he
remained until the completion of the Raniville Block, on Pearl street,
near the east end of the bridge, in the fall of 1883, into which he moved.
He there occupied two, upper floors, employing in 1888 eighteen men, at
a monthly pay rate of about $800. His annual product amounts to about
$25,000, for which he has an invested capital of $5,000. He makes
a specialty of one of his own patents, consisting of a bob sleigh made
of selected material and having bent knees, set bracing in grooved benches,
thus giving more strength with less weight than the ordinary bob-sled.
SPIRAL SPRING BUGGIES.
In July, 1881, George Smith procured letters patent on a carriage
spring consisting of a spiral coil of spring steel rod about five-eighths
of an inch square, adjusted underneath the seat and directly in the center
of the body, attached to two steel bars, from which are four steel arms
or levers leading to the side bars, and so constructed that by the simple
turn of a nut the tension is adjusted to any desired point. For years
inventors and manufacturers had been taxing their ingenuity in efforts
to devise some means by which a carriage body could be kept approximately
level when unevenly loaded, but nothing satisfactory had resulted until
this invention. The general introduction of the spiral spring was
considerably delayed by want of capital on the part of the inventor to
push it, but enough were built to attract the attention of men with sufficient
means, and at the little shop, No. 44 East Bridge street, in May, 1881,
was organized the Spiral Spring Buggy Company, with a capital of $100,000,
of which Norman Cummings was President, George Smith, Vice President; and
Charles Cummings Secretary and Treasurer. The sales increased to
such an extent as to render the shop too small, and in January, 1885, they
occupied new quarters in a four story brick block on Kent street, where
they claim to have the largest strictly hand-made-carriage factory in the
world; turning out only carriages and buggies made to order, by hand work.
Up to 1885 the spiral springs used were all made in Grand Rapids; but to
facilitate the filling of orders, factories have been started at Chicago,
Ill.; Rochester, N. Y.; Hammond, Ind., and other convenient points for
their distribution; while the Grand Rapids factory controls the sale of
all carriages having these springs. The annual output is now estimated
at $100,000 from the home factory, and this is claimed to represent only
about twenty per cent of the whole amount which the company put upon the
market in the United States.
THE ANCHOR-CIRCLE WAGON.
William John Russell started his wagon shop in 1884, and in January,
1885, Edward M. Simmons purchased a half interest in the business, at which
time the firm of Russell & Simmons was formed. After some experiments,
March 23, 1886, the firm secured letters patent on an invention of Mr.
Simmons, of which they now make a specialty in their work. It consists
of an anchor circle for high wheeled wagons. In making a short turn
the body of the wagon travels outward. Dispensing with the fifth
wheel, the kingbolt enters seven and a half inches back of the center of
the axle. It makes an easy running gear, and as the body of the wagon
is kept in equilibrium by this device, it is almost impossible to upset
the carriage in making a short turn. Their shop on south Waterloo
street gives employment to eight men, mostly on ordered work and general
repairing for the home trade. They estimate their annual output at
$10,000 while the capital invested is $10,000. A first prize was
awarded to the firm, on this style of wagon, in the fall of 1888 at the
annual fair of the Western Michigan Agricultural and Industrial Society.
CHILDREN'S CARRIAGES.
The Priestley Express Wagon and Sleigh Company contribute to the
amusement of the rising generation by the manufacture of children's sleighs
and express wagons. In 1880 Charles R. Bacon and Forrest M. Priestley
started in the business and, after a struggle of a few years, financial
embarrassment on their part gave Gurdon Corning possession in 1884, and
April 21, 1885, he was succeeded by the present combination of brain and
skill, with an authorized capital of $20,000, of which when incorporated
$11,000 was paid in, with the following official board: Theodore F. Richards,
President; James A. Hunt, Vice President; Forrest M. Priestley, Secretary,
and George Arnott, Treasurer. The offices of Secretary and Treasurer
have since been consolidated and the position held by Mr. Arnott.
The factory is on Front street south of Fulton. Their output consists
of all kinds of children's sleighs and coasters, for the manufacture of
which they have improved special machinery and ample facilities, and which
are sent to all parts of the Western States and Territories; amounting
to over $50,000 yearly. In their employ are some fifty operatives,
mostly boys, whose wages range from five to ten dollars a week, the pay
roll averaging over $1,200 monthly.
A FEW MORE OF THEM.
Of the many other wagon shops that are or have been operated here
it is scarcely possible, even were it desirable, to give a full list, with
separate descriptions in detail. Some have only the investment of
an anvil, a forge and a few tools and yet manage to hold their own, while
on the other hand a few that are fully equipped do but little more than
pay expenses.
Bennett Pierce came here in 1855 and opened his shop in a building
on Lyon street, near Kent. In 1859 we find him on Kent street between
Lyon and Bronson, and next on the corner of Bridge and Canal. In
1865 we hear of him on Waterloo street nearly opposite the Eagle Hotel,
then again in 1873 in partnership with Frank F. Jeffres new the Grand Rapids
and Indiana Railroad station; and
of late still at work, moderately, like a mechanic of the old school,
on north Waterloo street.
Among others who were making wagons thirty years ago or thereabout
were William Edmondson, Sebra Rathbun, George Jennings, John Gelock, Cook
& Seymour, Charles B. Dean and D. Aspinwall. A considerable number
now in the business have been at work almost a quarter of a century.
Valentine Schaake now (1889) on East Bridge street, started in
1863 on Canal street, and after various changes runs a small shop with
three workmen, and with but a moderate investment turns out about $7,500
worth of wagons and other carriages annually for the local custom trade.
Charles Dawson, 12 South Ionia, started with John, Cummings in
1881, and the next year branched out for himself; keeps seven men busy;
turns out fine carriages and Russian sleighs, the forging and scroll work
on which is all done by hand. His annual output, is about $15,000.
While the work now is more elaborate on fine goods than it was some years
ago, the facilities for obtaining most articles, used has reduced the cost,
leaving the net profit about the same.
John Cummings, 42 North Division street, employs twelve men making
a specialty of carriages, sulkies and light road wagons, turns out about
$15,000 worth of ordered work yearly, and is called one of the finest workmen
in his line in the city.
Brechting Brothers have been in their present place on West Bridge
street for fourteen years. Their output, consisting mostly of heavy
work, gives employment to eight men, and represents $8,000 capital invested.
Henry W. Fiebig started in 1858 with Robert Rasch, under the firm
name of Fiebig & Rasch, with their shop on Canal street, between Bridge
and Hastings. In 1862 the partnership was dissolved, Mr. Rasch leaving
and Mr. Fiebig opening a shop where now is Redmond's Opera House, remaining
there until 1865, when he bought out Charles F. Heinzelmann and entered
into a partnership with Julius Rathman, which continued till 1877, since
which Mr. Fiebig has worked alone. His capital invested is about
$2,500, and with four men he puts out about $6,000 a year. His shop
is the half of a three-story brick building at 148 Canal street.
Julius Rathman in 1863 went into partnership with C. F. Heinzelmann,
who in 1865 sold out to Henry Fiebig, and the firm of Fiebig & Rathman
continued till 1877, when it was dissolved, and Mr. Rathman carried on
the business alone. With a capital of $2,500 his annual output is
about $6,000, giving employment to four men.
Felix Gissler and Philip Fritz formed a partnership July 19, 1882.
Their wagon and sleigh factory, on the corner of Bridge and Alabama streets,
with an investment, of $12,000, gives employment to six men, and turns
out from $15,000 annually, mostly heavy work.
Colby, Craig & Company make a specialty of fine display and
delivery wagons. The business was started April 15, 1887, by H. P.
Colby, H. J. Craig and H. L. Colby, with a capital of $700, which has since
been increased to $5,000. They manufacture to order special wagons
of all kinds, and place $15,000 worth of ordered work in the hands of their
patrons yearly, giving employment to a dozen men. The shop is by
the west end of Fulton street bridge.
WHEELBARROWS.
Among the very early mechanics here was James Thompson, who came
in 1835 and worked at making wheelbarrows for the use of Nathaniel 0. Sargeant
and his men in digging the first canal or race to develop the water power.
After that nearly every wagon maker or repairer, in the village days, made
wheelbarrow construction part of his business. For the excavating
when the east side canal was finished down to the foot of the basin a large
number of "Irish buggies" were brought from Illinois, to be used by the
Holland immigrants who were employed in that work. Not until recent
years in Grand Rapids has the making of wheelbarrows been carried on as
a specialty of sufficient magnitude to keep a factory busy, or to be a
part of the export trade.
The Grand Rapids Wheelbarrow Company was organized March 31, 1882,
with a capital Stock Of $15,450 - John Broadfoot, President; Frank P. McGraw,
Vice President, David L. Stiven, Secretary and Treasurer. The official
board was changed in 1884 by the election of William Hake, President; Adolph
Leitelt, Jr., Vice President, and Frank P. McGraw Secretary and Treasurer.
The factory, on Front street near the west end of the Grand Rapids and
Indiana Railroad bridge, furnishes employment for about twenty-five men.
The company claim that they have a larger trade and greater capacity for
production than any other establishment of the kind in the United States.
Their shipments go wherever wheelbarrows are in demand in our own and other
countries.
A CO-OPERATIVE VENTURE.
In May 1888 a number of workmen thought co-operation would be
to their mutual benefit, and their councils resulted in the formation of
the Continental Wagon Works: John Burrows, President; John B. Bonser, Vice
President; Lorenzo D. Field, Secretary and Treasurer; Charles A. Bissonette,
Superintendent. The institution breathed long enough to start a shop
on the corner of Spring and Goodrich streets which with the remains of
the corporation was taken charge of by John Burrows on September 1, 1888,
and run by him as a job shop for repairs and the manufacture of wagons.
FARMING IMPLEMENTS.
During eight or ten years after the establishment of foundries
here, the manufacture of farm implements was confined chiefly to plow and
wagon making. Of wooden farming instruments there was not much variety
of home manufacture. Two or three small shops were engaged a portion
of the time in the wooding of plows. Plow making was carried on to
some extent as early as 1841, and from that time for several years, by
Henry Stone and his son Henry G. Stone. The making of fanning mills
was begun as a business at the corner of Canal and Bridge streets, in June,
1848, by Renwick & Graves. Horse-power machines for threshing,
wood or other similar farm work, a few of them, soon came upon the market,
but were not manufactured here until several years later. In 1852
Jonathan F. Chubb opened a store for the sale of farming implements, and
in the same year P. R. Jarvis began the manufacture of straw cutters.
Stone, Chubb & Co., about 1854, opened a factory and sales rooms at
the corner of Canal and Huron streets, and about the same time Deane &
Atwater were carrying on a similar business north of Bridge street.
W. S. H. Welton was not a manufacturer but opened an agricultural warehouse
and seed store on Monroe street. Ebenezer M. Ball and A. Lamont Chubb
in 1858 were manufacturing plows, cultivators, grain cradles and a variety
of other farm implements, with warerooms on Canal street and foundry on
the west side of the river. In 1858 Wm. B. Renwick was manufacturing
fanning mills and milk safes on Mill street, a short distance above bridge
street. In the manufacture of these articles, a large business was
also carried on from 1855 to 1872, by Ledyard & Aldrich; their factory
was upon the ground where now stands St. Andrew's Cathedral, and they shipped
their products to nearly all points in Michigan and Wisconsin. The
wood working part of the establishment on Canal street, near Huron, was
kept in operation about twenty-five years. In 1867 it was managed
by Chubb, Stewart & Luther, and ten years later Luther & Sumner
were there. The latter removed their works and warerooms to South
Front street about 1881. Out of this thrifty enterprise in 1869 grew
the Grand Rapids Manufacturing Company, organized for the production of
almost every implement of wood and iron used by the farmer. The factory
which they started is still at work, by the corner of South Front and Earle
streets. A. L. Chubb was President and Sylvester Luther Secretary
and Treasurer of the company at its formation. The shops are capacious
and well supplied with the latest improved machinery for its class of work.
It uses a capital of $50,000 and turns out an annual product of nearly
$200,000, furnishing employment for about thirty mechanics.
Besides the above a few individuals with small shops are engaged
in the manufacture of special articles of wood for farm and domestic
use. In the city there is also a large amount of trade in farm implements
manufactured elsewhere and brought here for sale - plows, harrows, cultivators,
horse powers for farm machine work, windmills, pumps, "drive wells," reapers,
mowers, threshers, separators and a great variety of other articles and
tools. Prominent among the dealers in this line are W. C. Denison
and Hester & Fox, South Division street; Hanes & Higby, Ellsworth
avenue; Brown & Sehler, Front street, north of Bridge; and Adams &
North, West Bridge street. W. C. Denison began his trade in 1862,
on Monroe street, and for the past twenty years has done a thrifty business
as dealer in nearly every description of farm implements and machinery,
and in carriages, steam engines and mill apparatus, in stores at 88 to
92 South Division street.
WILLIAM C. DENISON was born October 1836, in Jefferson, Jackson
county, Michigan. His parents were Asa W. and Eliza R. Denison, and
the family moved in 1845 to Cascade, Kent County. There, in farm
life, the subject of this sketch passed his youth, and received a common
school education. In 1862 he came to Grand Rapids and entered business
life in the sale of agricultural implements, at first on Monroe street,
but seven, years later removed to South Division street, between Oakes
and Cherry streets, where he has since remained steadily in the trade,
with much better than an average degree of success. There he erected
a two story brick store with seventy-six feet front, and has constantly
carried a large stock of most kinds of farming implements and machinery,
together with wagons and buggies, and also mill equipments and steam engines.
Energetic and persevering, and in no sense rashly speculative, he has kept
the even tenor of a gainful business with such steady success as is realized
by but few, and won and retained general confidence in his integrity and
honorable trade, not only at home but with dealers elsewhere; as is illustrated
by the fact that he has the position of general manager for Michigan of
the Cortland and Auburn Wagon Companies of New York State, who have a large
trade in this State. He has recently worked gradually out of the
traffic in farm implements to devote more attention to that management
and to dealing in steam engines and boilers and their accompanying machinery.
He has lately placed a large engine - 100 horse power - for the Grand Rapids
and Reeds Lake Electric Railway Company; also a heavy mill engine for a
manufacturing company at Copemish, in Wexford County. At the high
tide of middle manhood he is alert and active in business enterprise.
Mr. Denison married, October 13, 1858, at Cascade, Mich., Frances E. Holt,
who died November 10, 1862, leaving a. son, Lavello A. Denison. He
again married in Grand Rapids, January 1, 1867, Minerva A. Davidson.
They have one child, a daughter, Bertie. He is a member of the Masonic
Fraternity. Besides his store and warehouse and a neat residence
on Lagrave street, he has other valuable real estate interests within the
city.
BENT WOOD STOCK.
The Grand Rapids Bending Works is an outgrowth from the firm of Kendall
& Mack (Geo. T. Kendall and John Mack). On the death of Mr. Kendall
a co-partnership was formed between Charles A. Boynton, Wm. H. Fowler and
Edward P. Chamberlin, under the firm name of C. A. Boynton & Company,
who purchased the plant, and for two years tarried on the business on Canal
street. In July, 1880, they moved to 102 Prescott street and in January,
1882, established a stock company, incorporated by C. A. Boynton, President;
E. P. Chamberlin, Treasurer; W. H. Fowler, Secretary, as the Grand Rapids
Bending Works, with a capital stock Of $50,000 authorized, of which $29,200
was paid in. The present works cover 23,650 square feet. In
their employ are about thirty men. The output, about $30,000 worth
annually, consisting chiefly of wagon and sleigh stock, is shipped mostly
to the Middle and Western States.