Knox County, Illinois - Chapter 22: Manufactories, 1878

Frost Manufacturing Company

J. P. Frost first came to Henderson, Knox county, Jul}7 7, 1837, among the pioneers who came to build up Knox College; and like Mr. G. W. Brown, he commenced with a small field of operation, which has since grown to gigantic proportions. He first put up a saw-mill in Henderson Grove, and after running it about six years, he took a farm, and while working that, he did what machine work was to be done in Galesburg and vicinity. He put in the engine and work at the old brick grist-mill on Broad street, - the first work of the kind in the place. In 1855-56 he erected a small shop in Galesburg, on the north side of Simmons street, between Cedar and West streets, and formed a partnership with W. S. Bellows and Andrew Harrington, under the name of "J. P. Frost & Co."

After running for six or eight years under the above name, they reorganized into a joint-stock company under the name and style of "Frost Manufacturing Company," L. C. Field president, and H. M. Hale secretary. Messrs. Bellows and Field have died within a few years, and Messrs. P. H. and C. M. Avery have bought the interest of Mr. Field. J. P. Frost is now president, T. !N. Ayres secretary, and P. H. Avery treasurer.

This company has been the leading one in Western Illinois in all kinds of iron work connected with steam-engines, mills and heavy machinery, having a foundry 60 by 120 feet in size, wood shop for patterns and wood work 40 by 100 feet, a machine-shop and engine room, blacksmith shop, ware-house, and two buildings, each two stories high, containing patterns. It is scarcely worth while to detail the extent of this pattern work, for it covers almost everything from a 150-horse-power engine down to the smallest casting. Time would fail us to tell of the pulleys, cog-wheels, shafting, rollers, pinions, boxes, engine beds, fiy-wheels. castings for buildings, hoisting apparatus for coal mines, etc., and castings for sugar mills, hay-presses, stalkcutters, etc., which the company has patterns for, and are prepared to make on the shortest notice. Of course they also manufacture and repair boilers, and deal in and repair gas and steam pipe, and the fixtures connected with them. But the most important branch of this establishment is the department for the manufacture of cornstalk-cutters and corn-planters. The Spiral-knife Stalk-cutter was invented by R. H. & C. M. Avery, who commenced their manufacture at Galesburg in 1872. They were afterwards made for a number of years by Geo. W. Brown, but are now manufactured extensively by the Frost Company. These cutters find their way into fields all over tjie Northwest, and the demand for them is rapidly increasing, which is the best of evidence of their superiority. Their manufacture is becoming one of the large business interests of Knox county.

The various buildings of this extensive concern, which are well represented in the accompanying engraving, occupy the south half of the square bounded by Main, Simmons, Cedar and West streets, Galesburg.

The Steel Plow

It is but justice to this county to perpetuate in history the fact that it furnished the first steel plow in America, thus imparting unappreciated pleasure to the present tillers of this soil and increasing the material wealth of the Mississippi valley alone many millions of dollars yearly; for now the same team power will plow more land in one dav and do it better, than in two days prior to 1842. Then, except along some water courses and strips of sandy land, all plowmen had to stop about every 10 rods and scrape the soil off the moldboard, which would pack so quickly again as to make very bad and very slow work.

On moving to Galesburg among entire strangers, in 1837, H. H. May began experiments at once in trying to make a plow that would scour bright. In this, one disappointment, followed another, and sneers followed jeers. A prominent man called Mr. May a fool publicly for " trying to do an impossibility." Nearly every man supposed it impossible ever to make a plow that would scour bright :in this adhesive soil. But some gave noble encouragements for try i noit. Several offered Mr. May $100 each for such a plow; and Maj. Butler offered to give him his choice among 30 excellent horses for such a plow. A plate of wrought iron cut in the shape of a diamond, and stocked like a shovel plow, did scour bright, when set very square to the ground, but when turned back to an angle suitable for turninothe soil, it would not scour. But after five years of discouraging experiments, on May 6th, 1842, Mr. May noticed that the cavities in fine steel were many times less than in cast or wrought iron, and concluded at once to try fine steel for plows, and within two days lie had a plow running, made of one of Win. Rowland's best saw-mill saw plates, and it would scour bright in any soil, which made that day one of great rejoicing in Galesburg. H. Ii. May's first application for letters patent for this invention was filed Aug. 20, 3 842. It was rejected Sept. 8, 1842, for want of novelty. Being sure the acting Commissioner understood the word "' novel " in the law to mean wonderful or strange, Mr. May argued in several letters that " novel " there means new, or not so used before, and quoted the action of his predecessors in granting patents for substituting one material for another; and he finally invited Mr. May to make a new application, which he did. But a new Commissioner rejected that also Aug. 19, 1844, and in nearly the same words as his predecessor, and he said May could appeal; but the severe and protracted sickness of Mr. May forbade his appeal, and also impelled him under decided medical advice to sell out bis plow factory.

There can be no doubt whatever that H. H. May was the original inventor of the steel plow. This question was well ventilated during the famous trade-mark suit between Deere & Co. and the Moline Plow Company during the years from 1867 to 1871 inclusive, when the case was decided by the Supreme Court of the State. Justice Sidney Breese, in summing up the evidence, refers especially to that given by Robert N. Tate, a former partner of Deere, and of whom the Judge says: "We should judge from his testimony that he was a man of some mechanical skill, and well informed generally, and particularly upon the subject of plows. He says the history of this plow goes back to 1841." In rehearsing some of the historical evidence submitted by Mr. Tate the Judge says: "A person by the name of Hitchcock commenced what he called the diamond plow, in Princeton, Bureau county; afterwards May, of Galesburg, manufactured a plow, in shape nearly the form that is manufactured now. This is the earliest he recollects of seeing a steel moldboard. The share and moldboard were combined at that time, and May was the first man that laid any claim to the improved steel plow." In speaking of the improvements of the steel plow the Judge deduces from the evidence still further facts that go to show the perfectness of the plow invented by Ii. H. May. He refers to this point in the following language: " There is no improvement on the May steel plow as made in 1843, or later, perhaps, up to this time. In the plow afterward made at Palestine, in Lee county, by a person named Doan ; afterward at Grand De Tour by W. Denney and Deere and Andrus; afterward in Moline by Deere, Tate and Gould, in the fall of 1848; afterwards by Buford <& Tate in 1856, the working models are all copied strictly after the

May plow. I essentially consider May the sole constructor in form of the western steel plow." Thus it will be seen that beyond a shadow of doubt to H. PI. May, of Galesburg, the honor, the credit belongs for giving to the world this most useful of all agricultural implements.

The Novelty Machine Works

During the year 1857 Mr. G. D. Colton purchased the lot on the corner of Cherry and Depot streets and proceeded to erect thereon a large frame building for a planing mill and sash factory. In 1864 an additional building was erected for the purpose of manufacturing: hay presses, to which Mr. C. for a time devoted some attention. He had just iinished paying for his property, and started upon what augured a successful career, when the fire fiend made its unwelcome advent, "Nov. 17, 1864, and leveled the buildings to the ground. There being no insurance on the property, the loss, which was about $10,000, was total. Not to be discouraged by this dire calamity, Mr. Colton started to rebuild on the same site with no capital except his trade and a good name; and by March 1, 1865, he had completed a new building more ample and better adapted to his business. In September, 1865, he formed a partnership with S. S. Cheeney and Wm. P. Frailey, and added a foundry and machine shop. The new firm took the name of G. D. Colton & Co., and denominated their manufactory " The Novelty Machine Works." In the spring of 1867 Mr. C. S. Colton became a partner, succeeding Mr. Cheeney and Mr. Frailey.

The manufactory was started in 1865 with a capital of $7,500. Fourteen hands were employed the first year, and the current business amounted to $21,400. The amount of capital now employed is over $35,000; from forty to fifty men are worked, and the average annual product exceeds $60,000. The establishment makes all kinds of machinery and does an extensive foundry and repairing business; and the work is uniformly considered first-class.

These works have attained a magnitude that claims for them more than local importance. The most extensive and important business interest of Knox county, and even in the west, is that connected with the manufacture and sale of Brown's corn-planter. This is also the largest establishment engaged in the manufacture of corn-planters ex. isting in any quarter of the globe, and, like almost all worthy and extensive enterprises, has grown to its present vast proportions from a little beginning.

George W. Brown,* the inventor of the corn-planter, is a practical mechanic; and when the invention was conceived in his mind, he was working at his trade, - that of carpenter, - going home to his farm, between jobs, to cultivate his crops; and while there he was called upon by his neighbors to make and repair the rude farm implements used prior to 1850. Being both a mechanic and a farmer, his mind was directed to improvements in farming machinery. He studied a great deal and made many plans and models. John S. Winter, Esq., remembers being at his house in 1846, near Tylerville, a small log building. He found Mr. Brown barefoot, his only clothing a straw hat, shirt and jeans pants, literally in a "brown" study upon farm implements. » Among the implements used were cultivators, and in 1848 Mr. Brown conceived the plan of turning a cultivator into a corn-planter. His first idea was to drop three rows at once, placing the shovels of the cultivator as wide apart as he wished to have the corn rows, and boxes of corn on the beams back of the shovels, so fixed that the centre of each box would be over the middle of the furrows made by the shovels. A slide was so adjusted that by moving it there would be an aperture at the centre of the bottom of each box large enough for three to five kernels of corn to slip through, which would of course fall into the middle of each furrow behind the shovel. This slide was to be operated by a man walking behind the machine. He attached heavy wheels to the cultivator back of the boxes, which were made of sections sawed off from logs, and which would roll the ground after the corn was dropped in, filling and leveling the furrow.

Out of these simple experiments upon a cultivator came the perfected corn-planter, with which two men and a team can plant from 16 to 20 acres of corn in a day. Mr. Brown had a strong brain, a strong arm and a strong purpose to aid him; the latter was to invent and construct the best corn-planter that the ingenuity and muscle of man could make out of wood and iron. He had little or no capital in money, but he had a better capital than that of gold, silver or currency, in the qualities we have just mentioned. He had a wonderful degree of faith in the ultimate embodiment, in a machine of his idea, of a perfect planter. Whether or not he thought he should achieve this idea in two or three years, we cannot say; but he had the patience possessed always by all great inventors, to labor and to wait.

In the spring of 1851 Mr. Brown made the first complete cornplanter of the present style, and planted corn with it the following May. Prior to that he was experimenting, but it was his cornplanter drop attached to a cultivator, already described. In 1852, he * See Biographical Sketch.

planted with his improved machine 16 acres for himself and 8 acres for Alfred Brown. That same spring he commenced the manufacture often machines, but on account of poverty and embarrassments, completed only one. About this time he determined to stake all he possessed upon the success of his invention. He had already sold everything about the place, including his last horse, to furnish means to secure his patents. He then sold his little farm for what he could get, went deeply into debt for more money, and took the chances of success. Times were hard, and the facilities for manufacturing poor. He had no such machinery as he now has; but everything had to be done by hand. Yery soon he was so much involved that, had he been called upon to pay, he would not have been worth a dollar. But he was an upright man, had a good name, was full of enthusiasm for his new invention, and his largest creditors were willing to give him a fair trial. But he frequently was obliged to pay exorbitant rates of interest, sometimes from one to two per cent, a month, and once three per cent, for one month, and a short month at that. He commenced manufacturing at Shanghai, and in 1853 completed twelve machines, one of which that season planted three hundred acres of corn. In 1S51 he made a hundred machines, and in 1855 he made three hundred machines, after which he removed to G-alesburg. In 1856 he made six hundred machines, and in 1857 he made a thousand machines. It is not necessary to give the number of machines, in detail, manufactured since that time. It is enough to say that latterly Mr. Brown manufactures eight thousand machines per annum, which find a ready sale.

These machines are now operated in all of the United States where corn is raised, - on the Atlantic and Pacific slopes, as well as in the Mississippi Yalley. Applications have come for them from Europe; they have been sent to Brazil and the Argentine Republic; and a short time ago an order was made from Japan, by the government authority, which was filled.

Like all great discoveries and inventions, Mr. Brown experienced great trouble in having the new mode of planting corn accepted. So great was the expense of introducing his machines, that alter ten years of manufacturing in Galesburg he was not'worth a dollar; and at the same time his business was so extensive that he paid nearly $6,000 a year to the government, as income tax; and at present, his city, county and State taxes are about $5,000 per annum. The war closed; the boys had come from tented fields to work upon the farm; the cornplanter had become generally appreciated; orders came in from all

But new obstacles now appeared. It had become known that the corn-planter was a success, and so valuable that men in different parts of the country commenced its manufacture. After considerable delay and a desire to compromise with those infringing upon his patents, and meeting with refusals, he commenced proceedings in the federal courts against them. In May, 1874, after hearing all the evidence and arguments, the Supreme Court of the United States, the highest tribunal on this continent, declared that George "W. Brown was the inventor of the corn-planter. This entitled him to a royalty upon all such machines made by others. During July of the present year the U. S. Circuit Court rendered a decision in his favor, against the Keystone Manufacturing Company of Rock Falls, to an amount involving about $200,000.

During the last twelve years Mr. Brown has employed from 130 to 230 men, paying out in wages alone per annum from $50,000 to $100,000. The shops consume nearly 2,000 tons of coal annually, 500 tons of castings, 250 tons of wrought, iron and steel, 15 tons of paints and oils, and 500,000 feet of lumber.

For his remarkable success Mr. Brown is largely indebted to the efficient corps of assistants he has called around him. His fine judgment led him to select men eminently qualified for the important positions assigned them. Among these are Isaac S. Perkins, the general manager of the outside business; Loren Stevens, one of the chiefs in the office, and M. D. Hebbard and Adam Dick, under whose immediate supervision are the shops.

The various buildings, as shown in the accompanying engraving, are all of modern and substantial style of architecture. In their construction no means are spared to make them both durable and elegant, and within the limits of the United States are to be found no factories superior in these respects to those of G. W. Brown. The buildings comprise wood-working department, machine shops, blacksmith shops, pattern rooms, construction department, painting and finishing rooms, storage departments or ware-rooms, and at present there is just finished another building containing more commodious warerooms. This building, which is 60 by 120 feet, is of the same architectural style and height as the main structure. All buildings together contain about 100,000 square feet of flooring. These buildings involved an expenditure of about $150,000, and in addition to this vast amount there is about $50,000 invested in tools and

Mr. Brown has constructed a railroad, for his own private use, from the main line of' the Chicago, Burlington & Quincv road to his shops, a distance of 2,000 feet, by which he is enabled to have the cars run down to his storage rooms, and there load them in that manner, avoiding handling the planters many times, and also saving most of the time that it would consume to take teams and draw the machines to the cars; and although the construction of the railroad has now involved considerable expense, it will in time prove itself a very saving expenditure.

Broom Factory

Aaron Boyer, who has for 28 years been blind, after having been some years engaged in the manufacture of brooms, started business in Galesburg, in the year 1867, with $5 worth of stock. He purchased two lots on the corner of Prairie and Berrien streets, on which he erected a two-story frame building, 60 by 90 feet. This building is supplied with the most approved modern machinery, including steam motive power, and every appliance for expeditious and perfect work. One of the most important pieces of machinery in the manufactory is the Adjustable Lever Broom Press, an invention of Mr. Boyer's own fertile brain, and a very ingenious and- nicely constructed piece of mechanism, perfectly adapted to the purpose for which it is designed, which he has had patented, and has sold a large number of them to manufacturers in various parts of the country. When his solicitor sent his application to the Commissioner of Patents he incidentally remarked that it was the invention of a blind man, to which a reply was sent from the Patent Office that it was the first instance on record of a man devoid of sight inventing a piece of machinery.

Under the careful management of Mr. B., his business has gradually grown from the small beginning until he now employs some twentyfive men, who with the aid of the superior facilities at hand manufacture 9,000 dozen brooms per year. He makes every style and grade of brooms and corn brushes; and so carefully is every part of the work performed that his goods are equal in quality to any made in this country, and find a market in several States. Until very recently Mr. B. has been his own traveling man, and done all of his own selling. Although the proprietor is deprived of the inestimable blessing of vision, his place is a model of order and system, and is a speaking monument of the possibilities of human energy and enterprise, in the absence of man's chief source of knowledge and pleasure, heaven's sunlight.

Hemstreet Carriage Manufactory

We believe we are right in saying that the carriage manufactory of the above named gentleman is the oldest of its kind in the city of Galesbnrg. It was first started in 1862 by P. P. Hemstreet, who, being a workman of large experience, soon began to turn out of his then small shops work of a first-class character. Tims he continued, gradually increasing his business, until orders accumulated so fast that single-handed he was unable to fill them, mostly for want of capital. But his resources have grown, and he now manufactures very extensively.

Marble Works

Mr. James A. Judson established his marble works in G-alesburg in 1859, which he conducted successfully to 1869, the time of his death. He was one of the few successful marble dealers of his day. He was succeeded in the business by John Greenwood, who continued in a small way for two years. He then gave way to A. W. Anderson, who at one time was engaged in the business in Galesburg, but not meeting with the desired success, moved his works to Monmouth. He returned to Galesburg in 1872, and established his works in the old Judson stand, where he continued to carry on the business up to June of the present year, when he gave up the business entirely, which now leaves G. A. Stevens' works the only one of the kind in the county. Mr. Stevens, for three years, was Mr. Anderson's salesman. He established his works in May, 1877, but has lately moved to the old Judson stand on Prairie street. Although Mr. Stevens has not been engaged in the business for himself quite eighteen months, yet his success is apparent. Notwithstanding the present hard times, he has sold this year to the amount of over $30,000. His sales of fine monuments is unsurpassed in the history of the marble trade in this section of the country. Among the number of fine monuments from his works is one for Mrs. Sarah Laferty, of Monmouth, - a beautiful monument of Scotch granite; when completed will be unsurpassed by any work of the kind west of Chicago; standing over 18 feet high, and costing over $4,000.

May Bros., Wind-Mills

S. W. May, the patentee of May Bros., celebrated wind-mills, is well known, by reputation at least, by a majority of the citizens of the county. Not to have heard of S. W. May, or the farming or manufacturing operations of himself and brother, is to confess ignorance on a point few desire to acknowledge. S. W. May is a native of New York, having been born in the county of Genesee, in the year 1838.

His parents were II. II. and D. D. May, likewise natives of New York, who were possessed of an ordinary amount of this world's goods. His parents settled in Galesburg, in the year 1839, and the subject of our sketch enjoyed the advantages offered in the Academy and Knox College, where he received a liberal education. He passed his early life with his parents, until of age. At a very early age he manifested a business-like disposition, " teaming it " from Galesburg to Peoria, occasionally making trips to Oquawka, as that was then the only mode of carrying on an inland commercial trade, in connection with the steamboat transportation of the day. While yet a small boy he was engaged in peddling his father's plows, in various parts of the State, which were the first steel scouring plows made in this country. A few years later he purchased a large tract of land near the center of Rio township, began farming and raising broom corn quite extensively, having annually from two to four hundred acres, in which he was eminently successful. During the summer of 1871 he invented what is now universally known as the "May wind-mill," for pumping purposes; and during the summer and fall of 1871 made at his farm-shop over 2,000 of these mills- and put them into successful operation. During the winter of the same year a partnership was made with Candee & Co., of Oneida, 111., to manufacture his mills. Soon after, another partnership was effected with JSTelson & Co., of Bushnell, 111., for the same purpose. These partnerships existed near two years. The business was then permanently located in Galesburg, the inventor and patentee taken in as partner, - his brother, H. L. May, - and to-day May Bros.' celebrated mills are running in nearly every state in the Union, also in Canada and Russia ; the business being now exclusively carried on by H. L. May, the present capacity for manufacturing being one of the largest in the State.

Cheese Factories

A. J. Miller began cheese-making in Ontario township, about 1871, with about 100 cows. The business being new to that locality, but little interest was taken in it. Each year it has grown gradually, until several new factories have started. There are at present 30 men furnishing milk for this factory. A daily average of 16 cheeses, of 45 pounds each, are made, and 100 pounds of butter. To the present year full cream cheese were made.

The " Ontario Cheese Company " was organized in the spring of 1S77. The following persons compose the company: Ezra Shedd, F. M. Doolittle, C. C. Moore, L. G. Wetmore, Joseph Fisher and W. G. Mosher ; with E. Shedd President, C. C. Moore Yice

President, and W. J. Mosher Secretary and Treasurer; E. Shedd, C. C. Moore and F. M. Doolittle, Executive Committee. They entered into an agreement to run not less than three years, and rented the building formerly used by Samuel Chapman for the same purpose; bought the tools and fixtures. They use the milk from about 125 cows, most of the time. The total amount of milk used for the season was about 380,000 gallons; cheese made for the season, 38,000 lbs. The venture was considered quite successful, and began its second year with an increased patronage. Owing to the depressions in prices, it is not as profitable as in former years. The present indications are that it will become an important branch of industry, and cheese factories spring up all over the country.