Winona County, Minnesota - Business Incorporatons, 1883

Business Incorporatons

Winona Gas Light Company. - Winona had grown to a city of over 7,000 population, and her industries and trade were assuming metropolitan proportions before any attempt was made to light her streets. This fact, seemingly incredible to the dwellers in lower latitudes, argues nothing against the enterprise of the city, as the moon and stars in this high latitude have a brilliancy unknown along the lower parallels, which, togetlier with the lengthening twilight, materially decreases the necessity of artificial illumination. However, in 1870 it was thought by certain citizens possessed of cash and public spirit that the time had come for lighting the streets oi the growing city, and on August 1 of that year the Winona Gas Light Company was organized with a paid up capital stock of $60,000. Of the original incorporators, ten in number, the following are still residents of the city : Hon. Wm. Mitchell, Hon. Thomas Simpson, F. M. Cockrell, V. Simpson, Hon. Thomas Wilson, J. J. Randall, H. M. Lamberton and K. D. Cone. The shares of the other two incorporators are now held, one each, by the First and Second National Banks of the city. The present officers of the company are : J. J. Randall, president ; J. H. Jones, secretary ; J. A. Prentiss, treasurer. Under the superintendency of James Russell, a practical gas manufacturer, who has had charge of the works since their construction, buildings were erected, apparatus supplied, pipes located, - and on April 9, 1871, the first gas was sent out to consumers. The consumption of gas, which at first was 3,450 feet daily, has steadily increased until the consumption averages nearly 30,000 feet a day, supplied to tlie city and private consumers through a series of mains aggregating a total length of eight miles. Gas is supplied to private consumers for $3 per thousand feet ; to the 106 city lamps it is furnished at a cost of $25 per lamp per annum. Posts and lamps supplied to the city at cost. Their office is in room No. 6, Simpson's Block, where the secretary is always found ready for business. The works are at the intersection of Huff and Third streets, in block 69; fronting MO feet on Third street and 200 feet on Huff". The manufactory covers about 2,000 square feet of ground. They have ample shed r(^om for the year's coal consumption, which aggregates 800 tons, and the works give employment to a superintendent and four men. In addition to the lamps supplied by the gas company the streets are furnished with thirty coal-oil lamps in locations where gas-mains are not 3'et laid, and maintained at an average annual cost to the city of $11 per lamp for oil and attendance.

J. H. Jones, secretary of the gaslight company since its organization, was born in Chatauqua county, New York. Educated at Westfield Academy in his native county and came to Winona in 1856. He was appointed deputy sheriff that same year and held the office until 1860 ; was bookkeeper for J. J. Randall thirteen years ; has represented his ward, the first, in the city council, and during 1880 was city clerk. His business life has been spent in clerical work, and he has held a desk for the past five years in the real estate office of V. Simpson. Mr. Jones married Nettie Warner, October

Business Incorporation'S

22, 1861, and of their two surviving children, one is in attendance upon the city schools. In 1864 Mr. Jones became a member of Winona Lodge, No. ] 8, A. F. and A. M. He is also a member of Winona Chapter, No 5.

James Russell, superintendent of the city gasworks, is a native of Scotland, from which country he emigrated to America in 1858. He had a practical experience of several years as a manufacturer of gas and in fitting up gaswork before coming to Winona in 1870 to assume charge of the works in this city.

The Wmo7ia Mill Company. - This company, one of the largest flour manufacturing concerns in the country, was incorporated as a joint stock company September 12, 1879, with a paid up capital stock of $80,000, which was increased three years later to $250,000. The original incorporators were L. E. Brooks, A. G. Mowbray, R. T. Doud, Chauncey Doud and C. L. Bonner. The present officers are : L. R. Brooks, president ; A. G. Mowbray, superintendent ; R. T. Doud, secretary. Their property lies between Front street and the river, with Market street on the east and Walnut on the west ; a full block 300 feet square. The corner-stone of their mill, said by comjjetent milling authority to be the largest steam flouring-mill in the United States, was laid on September 20, 1879, and the building completed in May of the following year, at which time milling operations were begun. It is a frame structure, iron sheeted, 75 X 100 feet, rising eight stories above the basement and amply supplied with all appliances for extinguishing fires and fire escape. A standpipe rises within the mill to the full height of the building, with sectional hose attached upon each floor ; there is a fire-escape ladder in front and two knotted ropes on each floor at opposite sides of the mill, thus affording three avenues of escape in case fire should break out in the lower floors and communication with the stairways be cut off. The engine-room is of brick 25 X 90 feet, furnished with compound Corliss engines of 750 horse power, supplemented with Reynold's independent condenser and air-pump. The boiler-room, also of brick, is 40X 55 feet, and there is a two-story brick coalhouse 40x45, the upper story of which is used for packing flour. The mill and engine room are lit by electric light sup])lied from seventy Edison burners. The offices are commodious, wellfurnished, steam-heated, and connected with the city telephone exchange. The mill is a full roller mill, built as such from the foundation, furnished with 132 sets of rollers, cost $250,000 ; has a capacity of 2,000 barrels ol flour a day, and is claimed to be not only the largest steam flouring-mill in America but the first full roller mill ever built. Their elevator, constructed in 1881-2, at a cost of $15,000, is an iron sheeted frame structure 40 X 72 feet on the ground, rising 1 00 feet to the top of the cupola and has a storage capacity of 150,000 bushels. Wheat is received from their own elevators and warehouses, along the line of the Winona & St. Peter railway and its branches. Of these they have twelve, purchasing only for milling pui-poses. Grain shipments eastward are the exception and not the rule, and confined solely to such car lots as are unfit for manufacturing fine grade flour. Shipments of produce are made by river to all lower Mississippi ports, as far down as New Orleans. Shipments by rail are to the pi'iiicipal eastern markets of the United States, and to the Atlantic seaports for European export, principally to the British Islands. This immense industiy, the growth of less than three years, furnished direct employment to a force of seventyfive workmen, and is a most valuable integer in the sum total of Winona's manufacturing and commercial entei-prise.

L. R. Brooks, president of the milling company, is a native of New York. He came to Minnesota twenty-six years since, and was engaged in grain trade and banking previous to the organization of the company over whose aftairs he presides. Since 187-1: he has been a resident of this city, and for the five years prior to 1879 was cashier of the Sec(md National Bank of Winona. He was the first treasurer of the board of trade and a member of its directory. He is also a member of the firm of Brooks Brothers, who do a general grain and lumber business, Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul and the St. Paul & Manitoba railways. A Master Mason in good standing, he is a member of Winona Chapter, No. 5, and Cceur de Lion Commandery, No. 3.

A. G. Mowbray is a native of England. He came to America in 1856; settled first in Ohio and removed from that state to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1861 ; was engaged in milling in tluit city three years, then went to Minneapolis, remaining until 1867, when he bought tlie flouring-mill in Stockton, this county, which he ran until he came to this city in 1874 to engage in milling operations with S. C. Porter. The Stockton mill was the first gradual-reduction mill (so far as known) ever operated in America, having been so conducted since 1872. The same process. was carried on in the Porter (k, Mowbray mill, and on the organization of the Winona

Business Incorporations

MilliDg Company in 1879 that mill was made a full roller-mill, the burrs being dispensed with entirely. The credit of the organization of the Winona Mill Co. properly belongs to Mr. Mowbray, who in 1879 broached the subject to some Winona capitalists, by whom, in connection with himself, the organization was speedily consummated. Mr. Mowbray was married in 1864, has three children in the public schools of this city, one daughter at school in Evanston, Illinois. He is a member of the Winona board of trade and a frater of the A. F. and A. M.

The engine-room is in charge of L. A. Pennoyer, assisted by his two sons, George and Fred, who take watch and watch about. Tliere are two other children, L. A., Jr., who is second miller, and a younger child in the city schools. Mr. L. A. Pennoyer is a native of New York, a machinist by trade, and before coming to Winona in 1874 was engaged in erecting engines for the Jackson foundry and machine shops, Jackson, Michigan. He came to this state in their employ, and visited Winona to overlook the engines of the L. C. Porter Milling Co., erected by the Jackson firm. While here he accepted the position of engineer with L. C. Porter Co., and was with that firm until he came to his present responsible position upon the erection of the Winona mill in 1879. Mr. Pennoyer is a member of Prairie Lodge, No. 7, I.O.O.F., and also of the Koyal Arcanum beneficiary. He has one child at school in this city.

Winona Wagon Co mpanr/. - This industry, organized in 1879, though yet in its infancy, justly ranks among the most important manufacturing enterprises of the city. During the three years of its operations it has more tlian doubled its capital, its capacity, its force of operatives and its manufactured product. As virtual successor to the Rushford Wagon Company, of Rushford, Minnesota, it was organized as a Winona county industry, October 11, 1879, with a paid up capital stock of $45,000. The original corporators were nearly ninety in number, and the management of the company's afiairs was entrusted to a directory of nine. The -original ofiicers who still compose the official board (with the exception of the general manager, whose office was vacated by death) are : O. B. Gould, president ; A. J. Stevens, general manager ; John Albertson, superintendent ; J. C. Blake, secretary and treasurer. January 22, 1881, the capital stock was increased to $100,000, and since that time no new shares have been issued ; all transfers of stock being to holders as preferred purchasers. By this means the number of stockholders has been gradually decreased, until it is now less than one-half that of the original incorporators. In the spring of 18S0 the company sustained a severe loss in the death of their general manager, A. J. Stevens, who died in April of that year. II. M. Kinney, elected his successor, still retains that office and successfully administers the affairs of the company. The present board ol directors are O. B. Gould, I. B. Cummings, R. D. Cone. John Kendall, Thomas Wilson, W. A. Scott, II. M. Kinney, Henry Stevens, John Albertson. The works of the company are located upon a tract of eleven and one-half acres of land, just west of the city limits, at the intersection of the Chicago & Northwestern railway with the (vhicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul. No more perfect shipping facilities could be desired than are here obtained, as the works lie within the forks formed by the lines of both railways, whose tracks traverse the grounds in every desirable direction ; including, as well as those already mentioned, the Winona & St. Peter and the Green Bay, Winona & St. Paul railways. Here, in 1879, the company broke ground and erected their buildings, consisting of a main manufactory, 40 X 1 20 feet, two stories high ; a blacksmith shop and a paint shop, each 40x70 feet, and a warehouse 40x60 feet. At this time the number of operatives was thirty, and 983 wagons were manufactured during the first year. In 1880-81 additions were made to the original structure, enlarging their capacity at least fifty per cent and swelling the amount of fiooring-room in sheds and tem})orary structures to over 30, 000 square feet. The enterprise proved a marked financial success from the beginning, and in 1882 it was determined to erect larger and more substantial buildings, to meet the growing demands of trade. These new works, just completed, are : a two-story manufactory, 64x182 feet ; a blacksmith sho]), (>7x90 feet; an engine and boiler house, 86x37, with a smokestack rising 62 feet above the ground level. These buildings are all of brick, with good stone foundations, rendered as nearly fireproof as solid walls, iron roofs, and iron doors and shutters in all exposed situations can render them. The main manufactory has a fire-wall running from foundation to ridge, dividing it into two sections diminishing the danger from fire by just one-half. The blacksmith slioj) has a slanting truss roof, and has neither part nor dividing wall to impede operations. The engine-room is supplied with a new engine of 125 horsepower, displacing the old one of one-fifth that capacity, and furnishing ample power for driving their machinery. The buildings are heated by steam, furnished with a steam elevator, and in all respects fully equipped for economical and efticient work. The number of operatives has steadily increased from thirty to one hundred, and the annual product from less than 1,000 to over 3,000 wagons, while the working capacity is double that amount. Wisconsin supplies their oak, Indiana and Michigan the ash and hickory timber. The product of this manufactory is marketed in twenty-four states and territories principally lying west of the ninety-second meridian.

H. M. Kinney is a native of Wisconsin, a machinist by trade, and was nine years in the employ of Fish Bros. & Co., wagon manufacturers, Janesville, during which time, as their agent, he visited all parts of the United States and formed an extensive acquaintance with its wagon trade. April 25, 1880, he resigned his place with that house to accept the business management of the Winona Wagon Company. He has extended the trade oi his company until it embraces twenty-four states and territories, principally lying west of the eightieth meridian. He has a pleasant home on the North side, Washburn street, two doors west of Winona.

James C. Blake, secretary and treasurer of the company, was born at Winsted, Connecticut, July 12, 1849 ; was educated m the common schools and ih the Winchester Institute of his native city, and was for seven years in the mercantile house of M. and C. J. Camp & Co., of that place, prior to coming to Winona in 1871. In 1872 Mr. Blake formed a partnership with E. F. Curtis, under the firm name of Curtis & Blake, wholesale and retail grocers, in which business he continued until he sold out to Mr. Curtis in 1876. He then became a member of the Winona Carriage Joint Stock Company, and was actively connected with its interests until the business was wound up in 1879, at which time he purchased the shops of the company, now rented to Lalor, McKay & Co. Concluding that Winona was a good point for a first-class wagon manufactory, Mr. Blake interested himself in the organization of such an industry, and when the Winona Wagon Company was successfully launched, the same year, he became its secretary and treasurer.

Winona Plow Compcmy. - This young industry, which already gives evidence of a healthy and permanent growth, was only organized February 10, 1882, and has not yet closed its first year's operations. The authorized capital stock of the company is $100,000 ; paid up capital, $25,000. The original incorporators were J. M. Bell, F. S. Bell, J. K. Palmer and D. S. Kerr. Of these, J. M. Bell is president and treasurer ; J. K. Palmer, vicepresident and supei-intendent, and D. S. Kerr, secretary. Messrs. Palmer and Kerr are ])ractical mechanics, and before coming to Wir.ona were engaged in manufacturing at Waukegan, Illinois. The property of the company consists of three and a-half acres of ground on the north side of Fifth street, adjoining the Winona Wagon Company's lands on the east. Their shipping facilities are first-class, as their property is crossed by either the main or spur tracks of Chicago & Northwestern and the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railways. Their buildings are, a main shop 40x120 feet, with a side extension 25 X 80 feet ; a warehouse and office 30 X 80 feet, and a paint shop 28x40 feet. The business consists in the manufacture of wooden and steel beam plows, both walking and sulky harrows, cultivators of all kinds, road scrapers and garden wheelbarrows. The business gives employment to a force of from twenty to twentyfive hands, and the manufactured product of the first year will be about $20,000. An engine of twenty-five horse power supplies motor for the machinery, as also the pipes of the steam heating ap])aratus.

J. M. Bell, president and principal stockholder of the Winona Plow Company, is a native of Perry, Genesee county, New York, wliere he was born September 28, 1830. His business life has been spent in mercantile and banking operations, this being his first venture in manufacturing enterprises. From New York Mr, Bell removed to Iowa in 1857, locating in the central part of the state; was treasurer of Hamilton county four years and organized the merchants National Bank, of Fort Dodge, Webster county, of which he was cashier six years. After a short sojourn in Illinois, Mr. Bell removed to Winona in 1878 ; became cashier of the Merchants National Bank of this city and held that office until the bank became a state institution, when he severed his connection with it, and soon afterward embarked in his ])resent enterprise.

R. K. Palmer is a native of Ontario, born at Brockville in 1 844 ; came to the United States in 1848 with his parents, who settled at Waukegan, Illinois, and still reside upon the homestead they took up thirty-four years since. R. K. Palmer learned his trade as a plowmaker with J. H. Ward, of Oshkosh, and was in business in Waukegan fifteen years before his removal to Winona in 1881. During the years 1863-64 he was in the employ of the United States government, having charge of the military re])air and wagon shops at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in which a force of 300 hands was employed, principally contrabands. After carefully examining the ground and comparing advantages Mr. Palmer concluded to remove his business from Waukegan, Illinois, to this city, and the move was accordingly made ; a joint stock company formed, buildings erected and operations commenced in the spring of 1882. His oldest son "Fred," educated to business in his father's shop, is one of the employes of the firm, closely following his father's steps.

Vienna Mining Company ; principal office at Winona. This is a joint stock company organized by consolidation of pre-existing companies March 17, 1882, with an authorized capital of $15,000,- 000, of which $10,500,000 is paid up, the balance in treasury stock. Officers of the company : C. L. Colman, La Crosse, Wisconsin, president ; C. H. Berry, vice-president ; B. H. Langley, secretary ; H. J. O'Neill, treasurer. Operations are conducted in the Saw-tooth silver district of Idaho. Over 1,500 feet of tunneling has been done, and although operations have so far been conducted without reference to ore product, mainly for clearing tunnels and drifts, a large quantity of ore is already out and in sight. The company employ a force of 200 hands ; have constructed roads to the mines ; built boarding houses for their men, and other permanent structures, and have just completed a stamp mill costing $160,000, having a stamp capacity of twenty-five tons daily, with power and shafting for double tliat product. Their expenditures are now $20,000 per month, and the aggregate outlay has been about a quarter of a million dollars.

Winona Building and Loan Association. - The Winona Building and Loan Association, incorporated July 6, 1882, as a saving and loan institution in which all depositors and borrowers are stockholders, and all profits apportioned to stock, gives every promise of a most successful continuance. The authorized capital stock is $500,000, in shares of $200 each. Within thirty days from the date of issue 1,000 shares were taken, and an additional 500 within the next three months. The association is pre-eminently mutual, there are no preferred stockholders, and to the small capitalist it affords superior facilities for loaning and borrowing money on the most advantageous terms. Its organization is too recent to determine anything definitely concerning its operations other than that afforded by the rapid placing of its stock. The officers of the association are : O. B. Gould, president ; J. B, McGaughey, vice-

Oate City Carriage Company. - This joint stock manufacturing establishment was organized as such November 15, 1882, witli a paid up cash capital of $25,000, and is but the enlargement and continuation under more favorable financial conditions of the business so successfully conducted by Messrs. Davis, Sawyer and Mead, as the Gate City Carriage AVorks. These gentlemen are practical mechanics, who, four years ago, almost without one dollar of capital, commenced business as a co-operative association, in a small wooden building on the allej in the block just north of their present location. Commencing business November 15, 1878, just four years prior to the organization of the stock company, in that time they had so increased their operations and created capital, that they owned a ten years' unincumbered lease of a real estate of 60 X 150 feet on Fourth street just east of Center, the entire lot under cover, and two commodious sheds for storing stock on rented property in their vicinity. At this time they were employing a force of nineteen men, almost exclusively in the manufacture of fine carriages and repairs. Their reputation for first-class work and fair dealing had created a demand for their work greater than they could possibly supply. This was notably the case with their "buckboard," a business wagon of their own design, especially adapted to the wants of the western trade, the demand for which has been such that at times during the past season they could only su|)ply samples Mdiere carload orders were sent in. Rapid as had been their accumulation of capital and the increase of business facilities, these could not keep pace with the growing demands of trade, enlarging year by year with the i-apidly increasing population and business of the northwest. In the summer of 1882 the necessity of increased capital was very sensibly felt, and after due deliberation they decided to organize their business into a joint stock company, and this was formally effected as above noted on November 15 of that year, with the following board of directors : W. K. F. Vila, E. S.' Davis, O. B. Gould, PI. H. Smith, E. S. Mead, F. W. Robinson and F. P. Sawj^er, The officers of the company are : E. S. Davis, president ; E. S. Mead, general manager ; F. P. Sawyer, superintendent ; H. H. Smith, secretary and treasurer. Within one week from the date of organization the company broke ground for their additions to the present works, by which, with the motor and machinery introduced, the number of employes will be materially added to and the capacity of the manufactory increased at least 33|- per cent. There is no doubt that a few years will see this company permanently established in quarters of wliich they will hold the title in fee simple, with buildings and machinery adequate to supply the demands of a trade of which at present they have themselves but a very meager conception.

E. S. Davis, president of the company, is a native of Westboro, Massachusetts. He learned his trade as a carriage woodworker in the manufactory of Coan & Ten Broeck, Chicago, and coming to "Winona in 186S, was in the employ of the Winona Carriage Works until associating himself in business with Messrs. Sawyer & Mead. Mr. Davis is married, has five children, three are in school. He is a member of Winona Lodge, No. 18, A. F. and A. M.

E. S. Mead, general manager, is a native of New York city, and came to this city with his parents in 1855 ; his father having settled here in 1853. He learned his trade as a carriage trimmer in the carriage shops of Grant & Lalor, of this city, and on the establishment of the Gate City Carriage Works in 1878, became the business head of that co-operative industry. Married, has three children, two of them in the schools of this city. Wife died October 21, 1882.

F. P. Sawyer, superintendent, is a carriage blacksmith by trade, which he learned in the shops of C. P. Kimball, of Chicago. He is a native of Portland, Maine ; came to Winona in 1878, and had worked for a short time in the Winona carriage works, with his old associates there, before he entered into the little co-operative association which has so rapidly developed into what promises to be one of the best paying industries of the city.

H. H. Smith, secretary and treasurer, is a native of this city, born in 1868, and lacked one term of completing his course in the high school here when he left his classes to accept a situation in the shoe-house of Cummings & Yila, with whom he remained eight years, only leaving to accept his present responsible position at the desk of the new carriage company.

Winona Machinery Company. - This 'industry was organized as a joint stock company, November 15, 1882, with a paid up cash capital of $50,000. The business will consist of general machinery manufacture and repairs, and their piston packing and asbestos bearing for journals, for which they hold patents. The manufactory is at present located in temporary quarters under the "Tribune" otKce on Third street, where they occupy a room 21x80 feet. At this writing, April 1, their machinery is being put in pkice. The othcers of the company are : President, C. O. Goss ; secretary, W. E. Smith ; general manager and original patentee of the piston and asbestos bearing patents, G. W. Williams.

Wlno7m Carriage Works. - Lalor, McKay & Co., southwest corner of Third and Washington streets. This business was founded in 1865, by Grant & Lalor, and so continued until lS74, when the affairs of the firm were wound up.' Mr. Grant retired and the business was taken up by a joint stock company, who conducted it until 1878, when they ceased manufacturing to dispose of the stock on hand. In the spring of 1880 Messrs. Lalor & McKay, who had been connected with the manufactory almost since its establishment in 1865, the former as partner, the latter as foreman, took a live years' lease of the premises and have conducted the businet<s with most gratifying results until the present. The property fronts 60 feet on Third street, 180 feet on Washington street, and has upon it a twostory manufactory 40x180 feet. They do quite an extensive business in the manufacture and repair of fine cari-iages, employing a force of twenty workmen, including the members of the firm, who are all skillful mechanics. Sales and repairs for 1881 aggregated $9,321.18 ; for 1882, $15,682.89 ; sales a little over eighty-five per cent of the sum total. The members of the firm are J. W, Lalor, George McKay and Milton Lalor.

J. W. Lalor, the senior member of the firm, was born in Rutland county, New York. In 1847 he went to Chicago, where he leai-ned his trade, carriage-maker and woodworkman, and was for many years foreman of the extensive carriage and wagon works of Coan &Tenbroeck, of that city, before coming to Winona in 1867, and commencing business under the firm name of Grant & Lalor. Naturally possessed of a mathematical mind and a love of mechanical instruction, Mr. Lalor has paid considerable attention to carriage architecture, both as a science and an art, and this, taken with his thirty years' experience as a practical workman, has given him the mastery of his craft. The eldest son, Milton Lalor, is a member of the firm.

George McKay was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1843, and came to Amei-ica with his parents when four years of age. They settled in London, Ontario, where George was educated and served his apprenticeship as a carriage blacksmith in the well-known manu- factory of Mc Bride. From London he came to Winona in 1866 ; just after the establishment of the AVinona Carriage Works, by Grant & Lalor, he assumed charge of their bhicksmith shop, and was continued in that responsible position by the management of the joint stock concern until their operations were discontinued ; tlien in 1880, in company with J. W. Lalor, leased the premises and continued the business as partner he had so successfully supervised as foreman.

Business increasing beyond the capacity of the firm, with its then capital, to profitably enlarge, a regular incorporated joint stock company was formed on February 12, 1883, under the name of Winona Carriage Company. The pui'pose of the company is to engage solely in the manufacture of fine carriage work. The paid up cash capital of the concern is $25,000, with the following efficient board of officers : President, J. J. Randall ; secretary, W. F. Phelps; treasurer, C. H. Porter ; manager, George McKay ; superintendent, J. W. Lalor. The work of the company has been put upon a new footing since the change above noted, and operations doubled.