Columbiana County, Ohio - Chapter 12: Growth of Clay Manufactures, 1905 (part 2 of 2)

launched in 1880, by Herman Feustel, an East Liverpool operative, who built a 3-kiln plant there. Henjamin Nowling joined him a few years later, and the firm became Feustel & Nowling, and later, on the advent of John T. Chamberlin, of East Palestine, into the com- I>any, Fuestel, Nowling & Company. In 1884 the property was sold to a numlier of operatives from East Liverpool, but the firm attained indifTerertt success, and in 1889 the East Palestine Pottery Company was incorporated, backed by East Palestine capital, with W. C. Chamberlin as president. The company operated the plant till 1893, when the Sebring Pottery Company, of East Liverpool, took its management on a commission basis, continuing its operation until 1898. W. S. George took the management under the old company at the expiration of the arrangement with the Sebrings, in January, 1898, and in 1901 the company absorbed the plant of the Canonsburg Pottery Company, at Canonsburg, Pennsylvania. In 1904 a second plant was built adjoining the original factory, at East Palestine, with a cajweity of seven kilns, giving the company a total capacity at the three plants of 21 kilns, 14 kilns being located at East Palestine.

In 1896, three years after their advent in East Palestine, the Sebrings, who at that time were managing the original East Palestine pottery, secured a bonus in land and cash ami built the Ohio China Works, a 5-kiln plant. When they relinquished contro^ of this factory, in 1902, the Ohio China Company, headed by O. C. Walker, took charge and continued to operate it in white ware. The potteries of East Palestine therefore had a total capacity in 1905 of 19 kilns.

The Salem China Company was organized in 189S by six Liverpool men - E. J. Smith, William Smith. Patrick McN'icol, T. A. Mc- Nicol. Cornelius Cronin and Daniel P. Cronin. T. A. McNicol was president. The company built in that year a o-kiln pottery at Salem, and conducted a remarkably successful business in white ware during the seven years succeeding.

A.Vd Representative Citizen'S

lying idle a few years was converted into an electric light plant for the village. In 1901 the Salineville China Company was organized hy \V. H. Deidrick, of Hast Liverpool, and H. A. Thompson and other Salineville people, and a 4-kiln plant built at Salineville. Litigation followed internal differences in the company, and the factory did not run regularly until 1904, when it was leased to the Carrollton Pottery Company, a concern organized by a party of East Liverpool men at Carrollton, Carroll County, which had built a white ware jittery there several years before.

In 1905, the 25 pottery companies making general ware in East Liverpool and Wellsville had an estimated annual output of $7,170,000, and the potteries elsewhere in the county - including those at Sebring - $1,650,000 more, making a total for the district of $8,820,000. The value of all the general ware made in the United States during 1903'was given as $14,- 577.000, and the estimate for the entire country for 1905 was about $16,000,000. The general ware factories of the county, given with their capacity by kilns in 1005. was :

The United States Potters' Association, which includes in its organization nearly all the general and sanitary ware manufacturers of the United States, was formed in Philadelphia in January, 1875. Us president in 1905 was W. E. Wells, of the Homer Laughlin China Company. East Liverpool ; its secretary. H. A. Kefter, of the Sevres China Company, East Liverpool, and its treasurer George S. Goodwin, of the Goodwin Pottery Company. East Liverpool. Various associations were formed by the manufacturing potters during the latter part of the century for mutual l>enerit, and from 1894 to December, 1904, an organization was maintained known by various appellations, but generally termed the "White Ware Compact," for the purpose of maintaining prices. This was broken December i, 1904.

While the manufacture of domestic earthenwares and porcelains had made immense gains in the first few years of the new century, the increased demands in America for art gotxls had also swelled the volume of imports. Government reports give an instructive comparison

From Door-Knobs To Electric Fixtl Kes

The door-knoh industry, which became a factor during the early development of pottery manufacture in Hast Liverpool, underwent a curious transformation during the latter years of the century, as the manufacturers kept pace with the demands of the market. Before 1850, William Brunt, Sr., and later his son, Henry Brunt, made door-knobs at the Riverside Knob Works, the little plant established by the elder Brunt on the Ohio River bank in East Liverpool. Those were the first earthenware knobs ever made in this country. For 20 years Henry Brunt continued in almost sole possession of this curious market. In 1869, however, John Thomas and his son Richard Thomas, who were old Staffordshire potters and had worked for Brunt in the knob business, went to Beaver Falls. Pennsylvania, and with Klijah Webster, established a small knob factory there. Richard Thomas returned in 1873, and, on land owned by his father, started a modest knob pottery of one kiln, taking his son, George W., into partnership, the firm being known as R. Thomas & Son.

In the later '80s the increase in electric lighting antl all sorts of electric wiring created the market for porcelain electric fixtures. The two East Liverpool firms were quick to see and sieze the opportunity. Henry Brunt & Son antl

R. Thomas & Son entered the new field at about the same time - in 1888. The business grew amazingly, for during the first few years the two East Liverpool concerns supplied almost the entire world with the product. Goods were shipped to all points of Europe; to Afghanistan and India, and the interior countries of Asia. In 1890 out of the enterprise of the old Brunt firm was born the George F. Brunt Porcelain Company, and in 1892 the K. Thomas & Sons Company, was incorporated by the three sons of Richard Thomas - George \\\, who was president: Lawrence M. and At wood W. - with J. W. Boch as general manager. Richard 'Thomas died in 1896, just as the porcelain supply business had reached its height. During the years 1903-04 two more concerns built plants at East Liverpool - the Anderson Porcelain Company, with T. F. Anderson, president, and the Iiast Liverpool Electric Porcelain Company, with William Erlanger, president, and Harry Peach, secretary and treasurer.

The capital engaged in the manufacture of the product at East Liverpool in 1904 was alwut $2,000,000. The output of the plants in that city for the year was estimated at $480,000. The cajweities of the various plants were as follows : Thomas works. 9 kilns; Brunt works, 5 kilns; Anderson works. 2 kilns; East Liverpool works. 2 kilns. This industry, it should be noted, is not included in the figures given aliove on the general ware jx>tteries of the county.

In addition to the lour plants at East Liverpool, a fifth went into the trade in October, 1903. The Thomas China Company was organized at Lisbon in January . 1902, and a 6- kiln pottery built for the manufacture of general ware. In the fall of 1903. however, the plant was converted into the manufacture of electric porcelain supplies.

ing, the founder of the western plant of the Golding & Sons Company, which grinds flint and sjxar used in the manufacture of earthenware, established the mills of the company in the West End of the city in 1876. The flint works of the potters' Mining & Milling Company, in the East End, were established by a stock company of manufacturers in 1887. Several plants manufactured potter's supplies, the oldest being that of Burgess & Co., established in 1878 by William Burgess and Henry Moore. The largest of these in 1905 was the Putters' Supply Company, established about 1802. of which E. M. Knowles is the head. Mountford & Son were making potters' supplies in 1905 at the historic old Baggott plant, first operated by John Goodwin in 1846. Edwin O'Connors' supply plant also had a good capacity.

Following the rapid increase of the clay manufactories also came the machine shops which had made a specialty of clay-working machinery. Andrew J. Boyce was the pioneer among the machinists who toiled hand in hand with the early manufacturers in producing: the early labor-saving machinery. Boyce cstal>- lished his foundry in i86y. He had learned his trade in the Fulton Foundry & Machine Works in Wellsville, under Philip F. Geisse, at the lime when the building of Ohio River steamboats was an industry of importance in Wellsville. His was the first machine shop in the country to make a specialty of clay-working machinery. Morley, Dixsmi &: Patterson established the Patterson machine shop in 1878. A. J. Boyce died in 1898. after struggling in vain against financial difficulties ; and on the settlement of his estate the old foundry passed into the hands of the Patterson Foundry G >mpany which had become a stock concern.

In 1882 a comjiany with George W. Frcy as president and Fred Hendricks, secretary, organized and built the Specialty Glass W orks in the West End, East Liverpool, for the manufacture of table and blown ware. The company assigned, March 10. 1883. A new company was formed, in which X. G. Macrum. John G. Quay, Fred Laufenberger and Thomas Darrah were interested. Under this company. John G. Quay, Giarles Macrum and John Manor were managers at different periods, and an output of $175,000 per annum was reached. The plant was destroyed by fire March 21, 1898, and was not rebuilt.

Tii.E, Brick A No Fike-Clav

Brick and tile were made in a crude way at several points in Columbiana County during the early years. There were brickmakers at Lisbon during the period of 1830-40, and cement was made there in 1836, during the building of the Sandy and Beaver canal through the center of the county. Mack's "History of Columbiana County'' says that about the year 1836 cement was discovered in large quantities along the banks of the middle fork of the Little Beaver, and that in the construction of the locks for the canal a great deal of it was used. Engineers and contractors pronounced it of the best quality, and as one proof of its excellence, when it became necessary to remove one or more of these locks some 30 years afterwards, the mortar was often found more solid than the stone.

The pioneer in the manufacture of sewcrpij>e and fire-clav products in the countv. however, was the late X. U. Walker, of' Wellsville. who died June 6, 1904. aged 81 years, after a lifetime spent in developing the fireclay resources of the Upper Ohio Valley. The Walker Works were situated on the right bank of the Ohio River, midway between East Liverpool and Wellsville.

Andrew Russell Iwgan making brick near the site of the Walker plant in 1841, and about the same time George McCullough began turning out a kind of tile. The two were bought out in 1846 by Philip F. Geisse, who even at tliat time was operating a large foundry at Wellsville. and he made brick there for several years. In 1852 he sold to \. U. Walker, and Walker at once l>egan plans for an entire new factory. For a number of years the chief product of the plant was brick, but in 1870 Walker added a factory for the manufacture of sewerpipe. chimuey-to])s and grate tiles. In 1878 he added <till another factory for the manufacture of tile, including lawn vases, flower-pots and statuarv. For a numlicr of years these works were the largest in the country. The Walker tract covered over 300 acres of land rich in clay and coai. and the deposits of clay w ere considered the largest in Ohio, yielding a great variety of clays suitable for tire-hrick, sewerpipe and terra-cotta goods. The site was especially picturesque, at the foot of the highest bluff along the Ohio River between Pittsburg and Cairo. The Walker works long held a very high reputation tor the excellence of its goods, the Ohio Geological Report for 1885 declaring:

"Nearly all the river works made terracotta, but at N. U. Walker's the best ware of this district and most of it is made. His daily product would amount to alxnit 24 tons of ware - about 20 in Hues, etc., four in statuary and the finer grades of work."

Late in the '90's the concern became the X . U. Walker Clay Manufacturing Comi>any. ami its absorption was one of the main objects of several of the earlier attempts to form a "sewerpipe combine." It was finally taken over by the American Scw'cr Pipe Company, of New Jersey, on the organization of that concern in 1899, and has since been controlled by the various successors to the original "trust."' Mr. Walker was one of the pioneers in the use of improved machinery in the making of sewer-pipe and terra-cotta.

In 1867 George Jones established the Wellsville Terra Cotta Works, on Third street, on the site also later occupied by the Wellsvillc Soap Works. He continued the operation of the works for a number of years, making sewerpipe, drain tile and fancy terra-cotta, the firm later becoming I^amond & Jones. The business was continued until the latter part of the -o's. About 1880 John Lyth & Sons came to Wcllsville from Xew York State, and built the John Lyth works, east of the town, near the Wellsville rolling-mill. The plant employed upwards of 200 hands at one time, and the firm devoted nearly its whole attention to sewerpipe. The plant figured in all of the early attempts to form a "sewer-pipe combine." ami was finally included in the organization of the American Sewer Pipe Company, in 1899. The new owners promptly furnished the anti-trust agitators of Wellsville with an argument against "combines" by dismantling the plant, and removing the machinery elsewhere. The buildings and kilns, as well as the valuable clay deposits in the hills adjoining, were allowed to stand idle.

Wellsville during the same period was becoming a well-known center in the manufacture of fire-brick and vitriried-ctay products. In 1886 Thomas 11. Silver founded the Champion Brick Works, in the West Fnd of the town, ami a few years later Clark & Michaels built and began the operation of the Buckeye Brick Works, nearby. Clark & Michaels realized a substantial bonus on their plant by the sale of building lots around the site. The Vulcan Clay Company, started about 1890 in the same locality for the manufacture of brick, was still in 1905 doing a tine business. P. M. Smith was president. The Champion Clay Company liad also established a plant just east of Wellsville corporation, where red and fire-brick were made.

In 1886 Isaac W. and Homer S. Knowles. and John X. Taylor, of the pottery firm of Knowles. Taylor & Knowles in East Liverpool, with Thomas F. Anderson, a practical sewerpipe man. who had had experience as general manager of the N. U. Walker works for several years, and whose father before him had operated a brick and pijw works at Anderson, West Virginia, organized the Knowles, Taylor & Anderson Company, and built a modern plant in the East End, East Liverpool, which was at the time of its opening the largest in the county. The plant ran successfully for a number of years, and at the time of the organization of the "sewer-pipe combine," which absorbed it in 1899. had the reputation for being the most economical plant in that line in the West. Mr. Anderson was manager of the "combine" for a number of years after its organization, retir-^p ing in 1902.

Surlcs & Gamble for several years prior to 1885 conducted a brick works in the northern part of East Liverpool, and during the latter part of the century a number of smaller brickyards were o])erated in that city.

many years to exist under the hills along the middle fork of the Little Beaver, in the vicinity of Lislion; but it was not until the early '80 s that they began to be utilized largely. In 1882 F. C. Coleman, of Dunkirk. New York, with several associates, purchased the clay privilege of a large tract east of Lislxni. and formed the United States Fire Clay Company, for the manufacture of sewer-pipe, building what was later known as the "upper" works. Five years later the "lower" works were erected by certain of the stockholders of the original company. In 1890 the two concerns were consolidated, and formed the United States Fire Clay Manufacturing Company. In 1900 Ixrth works were sold to the American Sewer Pipe Company, of New Jersey, the "upper" works were closed down and the "lower" continued in operation. Eugene Evans was superintendent under the "trust" management up to 1905. when he was succeeded by G. O. Freeman. The product was continued as it had been from the beginning, namely, sewer-pipe and terra-cotta. and the works had a capacity of 1,000 cars |kt annum.

The Eagle Brick Works were established' in 1870 in the Western suburb of Lisbon by Herron & Rates. For several years prior to 1882 the concern was not a financial success, and in that year it was taken over by Ezra Frost, of Lisbon, and the manufacture of sewer-pipe commenced. The business was continued until 1898. when a company was formed with Dr. T. B. Marquis as president and W. L. Ogden as secretary and treasurer. This was styled the Excelsior Fire Clay Company, the product being chimney-tops, flue linings and fire-clay products generally. The business continued under the same management in 1905.

In 1892 Card & Prosscr began the mining of coal on a large scale just west of Lisbon, and in 1902 the firm organized the Saratoga Fire Clay Company, to utilize the large bed of tine clay underlying the coal vein they had l>cen working. They established a grinding works, which in 1905 had a caj>acity of 200 tons of ground clay daily.

on by Lisbon people, and in 1875 the Ohio Cement Company was organized with Cleveland capital, and began developing the tine IkmIs of cement clay. The mines for years have been

The Empire Fire Clay Company, of Leetonia, was organized in the summer of 1875 by A. Nold, G. Hehn and A. Steckberger, and the manufacture of stoneware and ornamental terra cotta begun in 1876. The business passed through several hands during the next fewyears, and in January. 1879. a stock company was organized with A. Nold. president ' and Solomon E. Nold, secretary and general manager. This company o[>erated for a number of years, but the little factory was closed down about the beginning of the new century.

« tile and building blocks were made in 1862, and. on the death of R. S. Baird, the factory was sold in 1865 to Clemmer & Deming. In 1874 it was purchased by Purdy & Baird, who continued to make stoneware, drain tile and specialties, the firm ticcoming Purdy, Baird & Company, in 1883. Tile and building blocks were the product in later years. The concern went out of business in 1898.

J the figures on the total production in the county available. The output of the Columbiana County factories has steadily increased, however, since the absorption of the principal plants by the "sewer-pipe combine" in 1899. notwithstanding the abandonment of one or two of the plants purchased. In 1903. according to the State mining statistics. Columbiana County was fifth in the State in. the amount of fire-clay mined. Jefferson leading the list of Ohio counties, with Stark second. Tuscarawas third and Summit fourth. Columbiana County mined 171.395 tons of fire-clay in 1902, and 121,911 tors in 1903. Sev en companies were engaged in mining the clay. The nnmlier of companies engaged in the manufacture, large and small, was reported at more than a score.