Muncie's Prosperity; lists stock and number of employees of Hemingray
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[Newspaper] Publication: The Muncie Daily Times Muncie, IN, United States |
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MUNCIE’S FACTORIES Before reviewing the figures, which better than anything else will enable the reader to comprehend the magnitude of Muncie’s growth, it should be observed that previous to October, 1891, the town contained but eleven thousand inhabitants and its manufacturing interests, though considerable, where wholly in the hands of local capitalists. These concerns, if incorporated at all, were not heavily capitalized, and afforded employment to but a limited number of men. It was only after natural gas had been discovered, revolutionizing the question of fuel, that foreign manufacturers began locating industrial enterprises here. How rapidly this added to the city’s active wealth will appear from a survey of the following list of incorporated concerns which have established themselves in the county within the past two years: Capital Stock. Indiana Iron Company…………………$250,000 Rochester and Muncie Land Co……….…80,000 Ames Bending Company…………….…….5,000 Nelson Glass Company……………….….25,000 Architectural Iron Company………….…...35,000 Midland Steel Company………………....250,000 Indiana Cracker Company…………….….30,000 R. E. Hill M’f’g. Company……………....100,000 Crozier Washing machine Company……....30,000 Albany Furniture Company……………….10,000 Common Sense Engine Company…….....100,000 Sterling Grocery Company…………….....15,000 Roderick Gas Company…………………...5,000 Silver Ash Institute………………………..10,000 Gas, Land and Improvement Co……….....10,000 Muncie Casket Company………………...50,000 Shoe and Leather Company……………...60,000 Gates and Blountsville Nat. Gas Co……...15,000 Farmers’ Natural Gas Company…………..5,000 Indiana Natural Gas Company………..2,000,000 Muncie Brass Plating Works……………..80,000 Manufacturers’ Gas Company…………...25,000 Port Glass Works……………………….20,000 Rochester White Land Company……... . . . [illegible text] . . . Western Improvement Company……....100,000 Economy Gas Company………………...15,000 White River Cattle Company……………10,000 Combination Manufacturing Co………....25,000 Muncie Nail Co…………………….....200,000 Muncie Glass Company………………...25,000 Delaware County Land Company……..250,000 Novelty and Brass Works……………..100,000 Clyde Windows and Glass Works Co…..25,000 Light, Heat and Power Company……….50,000 Ball Brothers’ Glass Works…………...250,000 Muncie Forging and Iron Company….....60,000 Indiana Bridge Company……………...300,000 White River Iron and Steel Co………....75,000 Hemingray Glass Company………….....50,000 Muncie Foundry and Machine Wks…....50,000 Tappen Shoe Company………………..50,000 Muncie Skewer Company………...….. 25,000 Johnson Hardwood Company………....40,000 James Boyce & Co., shovel handles….160,000 Randy Washer Company………….......20,000 Maring, Hart & co. (glass)…………...100,000 Patterson Glass Company…………....250,000 Albany Paper Company…………… ……. Muncie Roofing Company………….....10,000 ___________ Total……………………………...$5,490,000 This total is composed of incorporated concerns only, many substantial industries not of record have been omitted. The Whitely Harvesting Machine Company, which has already put into active circulation over half a million dollars, is not included in this list. The establishment here of all these industries has necessarily brought with it an active demand for labor. The factories now in operation, employing labor and disbursing heavy monthly pay-rolls ma be easily and readily comprehended by a glance at the following tabulated statement showing the number of men employed, together with their aggregate monthly earnings, so far as the latter has been obtainable. No. Men Monthly~ ~employed.pay-roll. Joseph Bell Stove Company……250 $10,000 Muncie Steel Company…………150 8,000 Akron Forging Company………..200 8,000 Whitely Harvesting Machine Company……………………..2,000 80,000 Boyer & Kandel Carriage Co….....50 2,000 Burdette Organ & Piano Co….....150 6,000 Gill Bros. & Co...glass slabs……...60 3,500 John McVoy Corrugated Iron Company………………………..150 6,000 Muncie Rivet and Tack Co………..25 1,000 Muncie Wheel Company……….....80 3,200 Hlil(sp) Manufacturing Company....150 4,500 Wysor & Haines Boiler Co………..45 . . . [illegible text] . . . Common Sense Engine Co……..200 . . . [illegible text] . . . Indiana Iron Company…………...700 21,000 Tappan Shoe Company…………150 4,000 White River Steel Company…….400 12,000 Architectural Iron Works………...55 1,650 Artificial Ice Company…………..15 350 Brick companies (four)………….75 3,000 James Boyce & Co……………..10 1,200 Carriage Company……………...50 2,000 Ball Brothers Glass Company…..600 40,000 Flour mills (four)……………..….30 2,400 Hemingray Glass Company……...150 10,000 Indiana Bridge Company…………175 10,000 Hub and spoke companies (2)…….50 1,400 McKendry Heading Company…… .45 1,800 C.H. Over Window glass Co……..125 10,000 Maring, Hart & Co.’s glassworks...250 20,000 Planing mills (five)…………………..60 2,500 Westlake Mantel Company………...20 1,000 Muncie Glass Company…………..200 6,000 Muncie Casket Company…………..50 2,500 Washing machine company……….90 . . . [illegible text] . . . Muncie Hominy works……………...15 600 Hard-Wood Milling Company……...70 . . . [illegible text] . . . Muncie Wood-pulp Company…….100 4,000 Port glass works…………………….60 5,000 Muncie Skewer Company…………40 . . . [illegible text] . . . · · pany, of Cincinnati. Failing to secure franchises upon land in Delaware county, the company . . . [illegible text] . . . since withdraw from the field, and only last week filed in the courts of Cincinnati a formal application for the dissolution of the company. It is a fact interesting to be noted that certain products now being manufactured in Muncie and other towns of the gas belt have never been produced in the State previous to the natural gas era. In 1887 there was one glass factory in Indiana, and that manufactured window glass exclusively. To day it would be safe to estimate the number of these factories at one hundred within the limits of the gas belt, and there is no known article of the ware, from the most expensive cut-glass down to the commonest window light, that is not manufactured here and placed in successful competition with the products of the world. If the stupendous figures indicating Muncie’s amazing prosperity create surprise, let it be remembered that Muncie is only one point in a vast and wonderful region. Her history is a history, in some degree, of every town and section of the belt. The same industrial revolution is in progress wherever the development of gas has been successful, and when it is remembered that the gas belt of Indiana is from five to ten times more extensive than the combined gas fields of the world, Muncie’s progress may be taken as a faint indication of the future prospects of the entire belt. E.P.A
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