[Newspaper]
Publication: The Muncie Daily Times
Muncie, IN, United States
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
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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] . . .
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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
