Decatur County, Indiana - Chapter 22: Decatur County Industries, Past and Present, 1915

Chapter 22: Decatur County Industries, Past and Present

During pioneer days in the Middle West, when transportation facihties were limited and communities were more dependent upon their own resources, industrial enterprises of a county often outnumbered those of the present, since steam and electricity have been harnessed to bring in commodities from every quarter of the globe. Small mills and shops sprung up apace. There was grain to be ground, saddles and harness to be made, cloth to be manufactured and brick to be burned. Civilization had supplanted the Indian, and the never-ceasing wheels of industry had received their impetus.

In 1823 John House built the first saw-mill and water grist-mill just back of where South Park cemetery is located. House, besides operating these mills, earned a little extra money by gunsmithing and blacksmithing. His son, Isaac, operated the mill for about twenty-five years. The miller in this case took one-eighth of the grain for grinding it. This mill ground mostly corn, but some wheat was raised by the early settlers and taken there to be made into flour.

William Ross built the first horse grist-mill in the same year, one-half mile north of McCoy's. In 1832 Elijah Mitchell built the first oil-mill. It located one mile west of Greensburg. The following year he built the first steam saw- and grist-mill, on the lot just east of the Garland mills.

The first water-power saw-mill was started by John Forsythe, two miles east of Greensburg, in 1824. Another industry in the same neighborhood was that operated by John Layton, who made flax brakes, plow woods, ox yokes and other articles. Layton also made rope and twine from the fiber of a variety of nettles which was very common at that time.

The first water-mill in Sand Creek township was owned by Elijah Davis and the first horse-mill, by William Robbins. Robbins built one of the first water-mills located in Slabtown, six miles east of Greensburg. This mill, which is called Layton's mill, is still running, but steam is now used to operate it. (32)

In 1836 or 1837 Edward Warthin introduced the first steam engine in Clay township. It was used to run a mill on Clifty creek, below Milford, and is supposed to have been the first steam-mill with a bolting apparatus in the county. However, the first millers of the township were the Critzers, who owned several mills on Clifty creek, one of which is still in use a few miles south of Milford. One of their later competitors was William W. Burton, who operated a horse-mill in the same neighborhood.

The first mill in Marion township was owned by a man named Brush and was located on Sand creek. William Evans owned the first horse-mill in Jackson township. The first grist-mill in Clinton township was built by John and William Hamilton, two brothers, who had emigrated from Virginia in 1822. This mill was placed on Clifty creek. All traces of it disappeared years ago.

Some time later, William Buchanan built a corn cracker for Thomas Lanham, which stood on the south fork of Clifty creek. About the same time, the first saw-mill in the neighborhood was built by a man named Douglass, who was later killed in its machinery.

At an early day, the Hamilton brothers changed one of their gristmills into a bark-mill and used in to pulverize slippery elm, dogwood and sassafras bark for shipment to Eastern markets. One of the first grist-mills, carding machines and distilleries, combined, in Fugit township was operated by William Henderson, who lived near what is now Springhill. Another mill was operated near Kingston by a man named Smith.

The first tanyard in Fugit township was built by Lewis Lacker on the farm now owned by Everett Hamilton. In 1841 H. C. Cowles, of Milford, was manufacturing fanning mills for cleaning wheat, rye and oats. These fans were capable of clearing three or four hundred bushels of grain in a day.

Anthony Degant purchased the tanyard owned by Benjamin Martin, two miles from Millhousen, near the Ripley county line, in 1847. He had learned the trade in Germany and operated the establishment on a toll basis, taking a certain per cent of hides tanned for his pay.

Blacksmiths, in the early days, manufactured all plows and other farm implements used. The smiths made plows during the winter, when business was not very brisk, and sold them in the spring when farming activities started. There were two shops in Greensburg which were well known about the county. One was owned by Squires & Johnson and the other by John Roszell.

which was located on East Washington street. This estabhshment was doing business as far back as 1825. In addition, there were, of course, the usual number of shoemakers, chairmakers and other workers in wood.

A man from Cincinnati started an oil-mill, for the extraction of oil from flax seed, in 1840. Just a 3'ear or two later a Scotchman named Craig began the manufacture of coverlids on the site of the First Methodist church. James Connor started a wagon and buggy shop in 1850 on West Main street and managed it very successfully for a number of years. Seven years later a chair factory was located on the west side of the public square. Ezra Conner, in i860, began the manufacture of wagons of excellent design which had a wide demand. He sold them for one hundred and twenty-five dollars each. They were, of course, hand-made throughout.

Early Woolen Mills

Decatur county pioneers were very industrious people. While the men were clearing the forest and planting the crops, their wives and daughters found plenty to do in spinning, carding, fulling, dyeing and weaving the wool from the flock of sheep which each householder possessed. These processes were the only means by which the early settlers could obtain cloth, unless they had money with which to purchase it from some trader. After a time, small shops were set up and people pursued this sort of work as a trade, and gradually home spinning was abandoned.

For a number of years, these industries flourished, and then larger establishments drove the smaller concerns out of existence. So completely has the industry been wiped out, that it is now a rare thing to see a carding machine or even a spinning wheel in Decatur county.

John Thompson had a mill for carding wool one-half mile northwest of Greensburg, in 1844. Others who operated woolen mills at Greensburg were Peyton H. Barkley and John T. Hamilton. Hamilton had a shop where he carded wool, flax, linen and linsey. He also has a saddlery and harness shop.

In 1844 Michael Gilman started a shop for carding, fulling and dyeing on the mouth of Mill creek, near St. Omer. He had two sets of carding machines and the other necessary equipment. His terms were plain wool, five cents a pound and mixed wool, seven and one-half cents a pound. He took wheat and other farm products in payment.

chased, upon Paul's death in 1867, by Erastus Floyd, who had been in partnership with him for a number of years. They were also jointly interested in a flour-mill at that place.

Their woolen mill was equipped to handle the finest Merino and Saxony wool. They kept in stock a large amount of satinetts, blankets, cassimeres, full cloths, jeans and yarns to be exchanged for wool. They charged three dollars and a half a pair for making blankets, sixty cents a yard for cloth and thirty-five cents a yard for white flannel. The mill burned in 1877.

In 1845 William Shaner and Samuel Snyder rented the machinery owned by Michael Oilman, and commenced the manufacture of guaranteed products. They .stood responsible for all cloth they made, providing the wool they received was first class. They had fixed cash prices, or, in case the customer desired, took one-seventh of the wool in exchange for their preparation of the remainder.

The silk industry was once started in Decatur county, but never resulted in anything permanent. In 1842 W. B. Cobb cultivated four thousand mulberry trees for sale, to be used in cultivation of silk. He sold them at twenty dollars a thousand, which made them good investments for shade purposes, if nothing else.

Millhousen also boasted of a woolen mill, which was destroyed by fire on May 30, 1874. This mill had been very active in its output, but competition had begun to tell on its business and, although the loss at that time was estimated at twenty thousand dollars, this was only about one-third of its actual cost.

In 1852 Gageby and Siling ventured on the experiment of making furniture by machinery propelled by steam. This was the first real manufacturing venture with modern-day equipment in Greensburg. In five years this enterprise had increased and was employing fifteen men, with an annual output of twenty thousand dollars. One of their orders at that time was for the fixtures in the Shelby county court house. Their building was a five-story structure and fifty by seventy-five feet. It was operated until the latter part of the eighties, when it was destroyed by fire and never replaced.

In perusing the files of the Standard for 1874, it is found that the main industries which are listed and commented on in that paper are the marble works of J. & J. Pool and the carriage works of Hazelrigg, Pool & Company. The history of these two manufactories are written up in full, but whether these were all that Greensburg boasted of at this time or whether these were the only ones which made it worth the editor's while to visit and comment on, is not for us to say.

Greeley Limestone Company, At St. Paul

Limestone quarries of the Greeley Stone Company at St. Paul are the most extensive in the county that are operated by local capital. Operations of the plant cover a space of sixteen acres, three and one-half of which have already been excavated to a depth of thirty feet. It is planned to carry the work to a point fourteen feet lower before the end of the year.

The company owns a modern plant, built in 1908. It was a powerful crusher, the largest known, capable of handling seven and one-half tons of hfteen-inch stone at a time. The mill will produce fifteen carloads of crushed stone a day.

Power is supplied by a one hundred and fifty-horse-power engine, driven by steam from a two hundred and fifty-horse-power boiler. Drills are steam driven and the engine pulls cars from the quarry, by means of an endless chain, to the crusher.

A valuable by-product of the plant is pulverized limestone, which makes a valuable fertilizer and is readily sold to farmers wishing to correct the acidity of their soil. About a carload of this limestone dust is produced each day the plant is operated. Chemical analysis shows that this dust is ninetyfour per cent, calcium carbide and magnesium.

Twenty-five men are regularly employed at the plant, which is situated in a picturesque location upon the banks of Flat Rock. Cincinnati and a number of Indiana cities are regular customers of the company, taking about one thousand two hundred carloads of crushed stone a year for street construction and repair.

The company is capitalized for fifteen thousand dollars. Its officers are *&. E. Greeley, president and general manager; Albert Greeley, vice-president, and Clarence Greeley, secretary and treasurer. Albert Greeley is the father of the other two members of the company and is a prominent lumber man of Muncie, Indiana.

The most extensive constructive lousiness in the county is that of the firm of Pulse & Porter, Greensburg, general contractors. In December, 1887, Alex Porter and Will Pulse formed a partnership and bought the planing-mill and lumber yard on West Main street that had been operated by Edward and Charles A. Porter. At the same time they started in the general contracting business. Their first ventures were successful and they enlarged their field of operations. Since the firm was organized it has had

Two of the first contracts taken by this firm were for the construction of Science hall and the Hendricks library at Hanover College. The next w^as Science hall, at Indiana University, a one-hundred-thousand-dollar contract. This firm later secured the contract and erected the buildings for the Southeastern Hospital at Madison, a contract amounting to more than a million and a half of dollars.

Other well-known buildings which have been built by Pulse & Porter are the Gentry hotel, Bloomington, $35,000; the Union Traction Company's power house at Anderson, $200,000; the Maxwell-Briscoe plant, New Castle, $225,000; Odd Fellows Home, Greensburg, $100,000, and the factory of the Bromwell Brush and Wire Company, Greensburg, $30,000.

The sanitary sewer system of Greensburg was laid by this firm. It is nineteen miles in length and cost the city thirty thousand dollars. Since completing this contract it has built power houses at Winona and New Castle, erected the Odd Fellows' hall at Greensburg and the Greensburg and Osgood school buildings, both of which are considered models of their kind. At various times the firm has given employment to more than five hundred men.

All kinds of mill work is done at the planing-mill in West Main street. Wood is sawed out for interior finishing, sash and doors and every conceivable purpose. The first contract ever taken by this firm was the erection of the Greensburg Baptist church in 1888. The building is still used as a church.

Meek Ice Company

The first artificial ice plant in Greensburg was established by John E, Robbins, on West Railroad street. He conducted the plant for several yearsj and then disposed of it to the Meek Ice Company in 1912. The plant has a daily capacity of forty tons and employs twelve men in the factory and oui the delivery wagons. They not only supply the city of Greensburg, but have, built up a large trade with the smaller towns of the county as well. The delivery outside of the city is done with an automobile truck.

Bromwell Brush And Wire Works

The Bromwell Brush and Wire Works of Greensburg was established in 1903 as a branch of the Cincinnati firm of the same name. The company is incorporated under the laws of Ohio. In the branch at Greensburg only wire cloth for window screens is manufactured. During the year 1914 sixteen million square feet of screening was made in the local factory. The seventy employees of the plant are paid a total of three thousand dollars a month. The local manager is E. M. Beck.

The Garland Milling Company

Foreign as well as domestic demand is supplied by the Garland Milling Company, whose flour-mill ranks eighth in capacity among Indiana mills. This company sells all over the Southeast and through the New England states and has a growing market in the British isles, Norway and Holland.

The company was organized and incorporated in 1898 by R. P. Moore, of Princeton, Indiana. Its original capital stock was thirty thousand dollars. An old mill built by John Emmert in 1869 was purchased and business was started on a modest scale. Since then the plant has been greatly enlarged. It now has an elevator, with a capacity of one hundred thousand bushels, a cooper shop, which turns out thirty thousand barrels a year, and a flour-mill with a daily capacity of one hundred and fifty barrels.

Twenty-five men are employed in the mill and five in the cooper shop. The mill is equipped with the best of modern machinery and its product has found favor wherever it has come into use. In 1909, in order to care for increased business, the company was reorganized and the capital stock increased to fifty thousand dollars. The present officers of the company are: John F. Russell, president; G. D. Ayres, vice-president, and George P. Shoemaker, secretary-treasurer.

Wheat is purchased in the open market and is brought to Greensburg from all parts of the county. On account of the excellent shipping facilities, distribution is readily secured, and the flour can be shipped to the eastern seaboard by three different routes.