Cambridge City (part 12 of 12)

The new building of the Cambridge Gas Light Company is at the comer of Massachusetts Avenue and Temple Street. The main entrance opens directly into a large room thirty-two feet by eighty-one feet and twenty-four and a half feet high, called the appUance room, where the various appliances by which gas is used will be on exhibition. This room is dignified in character, the arch motive of the exterior being carried out on all four sides and forming penetrations in the ceiling, which is vaulted. Large service entrance and a shipping room, which occupy the rear inner comer of the building and are accessible from Temple Street by a paved court covered at the inner end for protection in receiving and delivering goods. This service entrance has an opening to the appliance room. A "lamp room," which can be darkened for display purposes, completes the eqxiipment on this floor.

Temple Street

Aroimd this large room are grouped the offices and work rooms of the company. The office of the president and general manager, with a consultation room, is at the right. At the rear is the business office, with large windows and counters, opening directly to the appliance room. The cashiers' cages and a vault occupy the central portion of this space. A comer room on Temple Street, entirely shut off from the other rooms, is arranged for stenographers and for filing records. There are also on this floor a this floor ; also, another business office and vault,, as well as the stock, photometer and calorimeter rooms. Good-sized rooms for the women employes are provided, and a rest and lunch room which is fitted out with a gas range and other kitchen appliances for their use.

From the appliance room on the main floor a staircase gives access to the basement, where it is planned to demonstrate the use of all sortsof gas appliances, ranges and heaters, which are on exhibition here as well as above. A storeroom, lockers and a rest room for the men employes are arranged on this floor. Space is provided for the heating and ventilating plant, with a filter chamber and fan to supply the various offices with fresh air. The building is thoroughly ventilated by the most approved system.

When the Cambridge Gas Light Company began its career, over half a century ago, the field was limited, and great expense attended the manufacture of gas. But diuing these years the company has taken advantage of every new development to give its consumers better gas and ser\-ice at greatly reduced prices, and today satisfactorily supplies the greater part of Somerville and all of Cambridge.

The company was incorporated in 1852 by John H. Blake (the first president of the company), Gardner G. Hubbard, Isaac Livermore, Charies C. Little and Estes Howe. The latter was chosen clerk and treasurer.

Since its organization in 1852, the company has had nine presidents, viz.: John H. Blake, elected December 31, 1852; Gardner G. Hubbard, elected August 10, 1864; A. E. Hildreth, elected July 25, 1867; John M. Tyler, elected September 3, 1877; Daniel U. Chamberlin, elected January 27, 1886; Quincy A. Vinal, elected April 12, 1897; Willard A. Bullard, elected July 31, 1904; Daniel G. Tyler, elected November, 1912, and Albert M. Barnes, elected January 2d, 1913.

The first clerk and treasurer, Estes Howe, filled that office for thirty-five years, and was succeeded by Adolph Vogel in 1887. He served until 1897, when Albert M. Barnes, now president and general manager, was chosen. On Mr. Barnes' election to the presidency in January, 1913, Mr. Vinton W. Mason became treasuier.

The present officers and directors are as follows: Albert M. Barnes, president and general manager; Vinton W. Mason, treasurer; Karl S. Barnes, clerk and assistant manager; Daniel G. Tyler, Stanley B. Hildreth, Renry Endicott, George A. Sawyer, Arthvu C. Whitney and George W. Hutchins, directors. John P. Kennedy is superintendent and Theodore Erhard assistant superintendent.

A few years ago one dollar per thousand cubic feet was the price to which consumers might look forward as the very lowest possible. But dviring that time the Cambridge Gas Light Company has voluntarily reduced its rate three times, so that today the low rate of eighty cents per thousand cubic feet has placed gas within the means of all householders ; not only for illuminating, but also for cooking, heating and many other uses which modem invention has made possible for gas. With this price goes the best service and attention, for the company attends promptly to all needs and its employes are courteous and efficient.

One of the most important branches of the company is that devoted to the sale of gas apparatus of all kinds. A large department is given up to the display of modern gas stoves, heaters and other appliances. When Mr. Barnes became clerk and treasurer in 1897, there was no department of this kind. He gave much attention to building up this particular branch of the business. Gas stoves and kindred appHances are now in use all over the city. Since the department was opened, over twenty-five thousand pieces of apparatus have been sold. The value of gas ser\'ice in increasing the earning capacity of rented property is becoming more and more evident to landlords, with the result that aU the large apartment houses, tenements, and a munber of the private residences in the city are now rented with gas stoves and gas attachments aU complete.

The active management of the Cambridge Gas Light Company devolves upon Albert M. Barnes. It is a source of much gratification to this gentleman to know that the companyhas more than doubled its plant and its output since he asstuned office in 1897. The present excellent service is in no small measure due to Mr. Barnes' wise management.

Officials of the company are firm beUevers in the ability of gas to hold its o-oti -svith electricity, and immediate return on investment is not considered. Customers come first, and the wisdom of this poHcy is justified by sixty years of history.

The Cambridge Gas Light Company plant is one of the best equipped in the United States. In 1902 the paid-up capital was 8700,000, and today its paid-up capital is $1,440,000.

Ingenious minds have during the past few years invented appHances which have wonderfully increased the possibilities of gas for illumination, and have multiplied its other uses. Hot-water heaters now come in aU sizes, from a small burner that will heat the water for one

All the latest appliances for heating and cooking by gas are on exhibition at the Cambridge Gas Company's office, Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge.

Each year since 1852, when the Cambridge was incorporated, has seen an increase in the company's business, and within the last ten years it has more than doubled. A table for the last eight years shows the results of the company's poUcy in promoting efficiency and giving the best possible service to the consimier:

The company does a large business in coke, and has stoves especially constructed for burning it. Coke gives much more heat than coal, and as it is easily controlled with proper appliances, its use is constantly increasing.

It is natural that the barrel-making industry sho\ild center arovmd a locality where barrels are made use of in large quantities as they are in the various pork packing estabHshments, the sugar refinery and elsewhere in this city. Goepper Brothers have been making barrels for many years. The concern of which they are the head and front came into existence in 1870, the business being started in Charlestown. It was transferred to Cambridge two years later. From a small beginning the business has developed into an extensive and profitable one. In 1895 the concern was incorporated imder Massachusetts laws, with a capital of $30,000, the officers being the two foimders, Gustavus Goepper, president, and William Goepper, treasurer. Both gentlemen are directors and members of the investment committee of the East Cambridge Savings Bank, and the former is one of the oldest directors in the Cambridge Electric Light Company. Both are, and have been for a great many years, among the leading citizens of Cambridge, standing for the strictest business integrity and being regarded as men of sound judgment.

Street. The plant has a frontage on the Grand Junction Railroad of over three himdred feet, giving the Company unrivalled receiving and shipping facilities. The main building is three stories in height and fifty by one hundred feet in dimensions. Two large storage buildings are two stories each, one containing 20,000 and the other 14,000 square feet of floor space. In addition, there are other structures, including dry houses, storage sheds, office, etc. In the various departments upwards of one hundred men are employed. While the Company's leading specialty is sugar barrels, it is in a position to turn out aU kinds of barrels. The capacity of the plant is 3,000 new barrels per day, besides renovating upwards of a thousand second-hand barrels. The Company pays out in wages a sum exceeding $50,000 annually.

The business of the concern is not confined to Cambridge or to this immediate vicinity, large shipments being made outside the state and to quite a distance away, in many cases. The Company enjoys a splendid reputation for the high quality of its manttfactures, and the user of barrels who can procure his supply from Goepper Brothers considers himself most fortvmate.

THE TRIBUNE wishes to thank the following for the loan of cuts: Mrs. Isabella James Gozzaldi, Mr. Edward J. Brandon, City Clerk, Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Little, Brown & Co., Ginn & Co., and the Cambridge Hospital.