Posted February 16, 200718 yr Taking a break from housing , a look at industry in East Dayton. This is the start of a series of occasional threads on Dayton industrial history. I start with this area as it is “in the neighborhood” of the Newcom Plain area I looked at recently. …the “east Dayton factory belt”, along Huffman and Linden Avenues…. This industrial area wouldn’t have happened if not for the railroad. The Dayton, Xenia, & Belpre came through in the 1850s. Intended as a “resource road” to the coal fields and furnaces of the Hanging Rock iron district, this line failed, getting as far east as Jamestown, just beyond Xenia. The line was finished in the latter part of the 19th century, and was eventually wrapped into the Pennsylvania RR system. Industry first starts appearing here in the 1870s, between 1869 and 1875, around the same time Newcom Plain was platted, with a just a few firms locating on the wedge of land between Huffman Avenue and the railroad. One of these was a stone yard, possibly related to the limestone quarrying operations that was occurring in what is now Belmont and Linden Heights. This stone yard is now the park between 5th and Huffman, where there is that little branch library. In the 1880s and 1890s there was an expansion and relocation in manufacturing in Dayton beyond the old industrial core of the city, with companies relocating to larger sites on the edge of town. New firms also located in these areas. Though its not part of the area I am looking at we can take a closer look at one firm, the Brownell Boiler Company, which relocated from a site where todays Fifth/Third Field grandstands are at to a site in the Mad River valley off of Findlay Street. This is sort of an attempt at “industrial archeology” via investigating and interpreting a site using visual and graphic evidence. Brownells new plant started small, and I think they were having operations at both their old site and this new one for a time, based on contemporary Sanborn Maps. By the 1890s the plant grew to a fairly large complex, to the south of the original shop at this site (which is to the left in this birds-eye view. (Interesting view, showing the twin cupola furnaces blazing away, and that nice tower for the offices, in front) And grew larger still, with the addition of a large shop area with a saw tooth roof, to the rear, based on the Sanborn [using ariel photography and the above images and Sanborns, one discovers the 19th century portions of this plant is still in existence to some extent Visiting the site (which is still active to some degree, but not a foundry), one can compare existing structures to the old ariel view. The shop with the tower is still there, and what’s left of the tower is clad in that greenish/blue metal panels. The foundry casting house is there, too (red brick). A close up..one can discern the outlines of the original windows on the shops. The saw tooth section is inaccessible due to the fence, but it is just barely visible from Findlay Street. Getting back to the Huffman/Linden area. Industry continued to relocate and form here in a big way in the 1890s, and the with the area being built out by 1918 in various types of plants. Subsequent to that there where demolitions and extensions of the industrial complexes (and, of course, changes in products), yet this area is still pretty much intact with a fair concentration of 19th century plants. Probably one of the things that made this area grow as a manufacturing area is that it was also served by the Fifth Street streetcar line, both the line on 5th, which was extended up Huffman Hill by 1918, and the Green Line branch to Linden. The first plant on Huffman, east of the Huffman/Fifth intersection. This structure appears on the 1918 Sanborn as a “washing machine motor company”. It was probably built between 1897 and 1918, on the site of a much earlier foundry. Next is this complex. The first building is the Bailey Soap Works, probably built sometime after 1887, by 1897 (pix in inset), then the E.B Lyon trunk strap works, “manufacture of trunk strips, wooden trunk handles, and excelsior “(I bet few here know what excelsior was). The strap works was one of the early firms here, from the late 1870s/1880s, but is no longer standing, being the site of a lumber yard or construction company today. After that is the “Bradley Cordage Company (burned out Feb 7th ’98)”. Bradley probably was built in the late 1880s/1890s, too. A close up of the Bailey Soap Works. And a closer look at Bradley Cordage, which is remarkably intact (though considerably added on) for a 19th century plant here in Dayton. Though the company was “burned out”, apparently the plant itself survived and was rebuilt. By 1918-19 Dayton was transitioning from a heavy industry town making farm implements and such to “Precision City”, developing as a center of precision manufacturing. This meant more tool & die companies to do machining of high –tolerance metal parts and components. One of these was the “Miami Tool & Die Company”, with a little plant next to that soap works. This is more typical of factory architecture of the 19teens and 20s, with large windows and minimal decoration and no bearing walls. A feature often found on these plants (I recall them from Chicago , too) are the large screens around the windows, projecting out from the façade to permit the hopper windows to open. By 1918, the Dayton Computing Scale had taken over the former Bradley Cordage Company and added a substantial addition to the west of the original plant. The Computing Scale company started up in the 1890s, and was originally located in the old Cooper Cotton Mill in the Oregon District, relocating east on Fifth to this new location sometime after the 1890s. Sometime in the 1920s, probably, the company added on even more, by constructing this loft industrial building, which is pretty typical of industrial architecture prior to the Depression. A few of the products made by the Computing Scale Corporation. The innovation here was a scale that could also calculate the price of the product being weighed. Perhaps an early form of the “computer”? The company was one of the three companies that merged to form the Computing Tabulating Recording Corporation (CRT), which changed its name to IBM in 1924. A closer look at this great little industrial loft. It almost looks modernist from the side. Image the windows all aglow when they ran a night shift here. …and what went on inside: Candy scale and much later meat scale… IBM sold Dayton Scale to Hobart in 1934 . Not sure when they shut down here, but the plant is still being used, by the Dayton Bag & Burlap Company. So, from rope and cord, to scales, to burlap and bags. Next door, and on to the intersection of Huffman and Linden, is this great old plant, Zwick Greenwald & Company, built between 1887 and 1898 …which made spokes and wheels. This firm was located in two locations in the Webster Station area prior to relocating to East Dayton (on the site of Delco plant/Mendelsons at one time), with plenty of open space all around, in the 1890s. Note the smaller plant to the east, to the right on the map. This was Meeker Manufacturing, which made rubber tires. Clearly an allied industry, perhaps a subsidiary of Zwick-Greenwald. A close up of the Sanborn and some pix. One can see the range drying kilns running to the rear of the building (and also look at the birds-eye view above), but they are no longer with us. However, the chimney is still there, as well as the main building and wings. And some views of the plant Meeker Manufacturing Rustbelt vignette in the cold winter light: …yet this was not that rusty. The company became the Dayton Automobile Wire Wheel company by1930, but eventually became part of the Hewitt Soap by 1955. Turning the corner and heading out east/southeast on Linden we find more factories. These were built between 1898 and 1918. The firms here were Joyce-Cridland and Hewitt Brothers Soap. Both of these firms had relocated from the old waterpower/canal district. Joyce-Cridland was at Shawnee and Wyandot starting in the 1870s and Hewitt was on Fifth, near St Clair. You might recall the jack-making Joyce family from my St Anne’s’ Hill thread… This was their new railroad jack factory (the visible portion that one can see from the street is outlined in red) One can use the Sanborn maps to ascertain how the manufacturing process worked in some of these plants. In this case we are talking about foundry operations and then some machining and assembly. Foundry sand for the molds, and a pattern vault for patterns to make the molds, and an air compressor to feed the cupola furnace, which provided the molten metal for the casting, which was done on a dirt floor. The parts where then sent to the next building for finishing and assembly Here are some patterns for foundry molds. The product. The “pallet pal” jack in action, an ad from the “Frisco Man” company magazine (Frisco railroad), and an ad from a 1900 Dayton business publication. Joyce-Cridland is still in business, DBA as Joyce-Dayton, with offices and R&D in an office park in Moraine and a plant in Portland ,Indiana. And they are still making jacks, too, among other things. If you need a jack you can order from their website Next on down the line, adjacent to the railroad bridge, was Hewitt Brothers Soap, which eventually was bought by Proctor & Gamble, sold to someone else, and then sold, and closed. In the process the company expanded by buying up the adjacent factories, which are all now shut down. This complex had a central block and an adjoining glycerin plant and boiler house. A big soap kettle is visible in this Sanborn: Glycerin plant And looking NW up Linden, toward the former Joyce-Cridland factory. You can see how these plants where eventually connected via the low cinderblock structure along Linden. Beyond the railroad bridge on Linden are these two plants, located at the end of the Green Line streetcar…Gem City Stove and Dayton Spice Mills. I know that Gem City Stove did relocate from the Webster Station area, but am not sure about the spice mill. The Gem City Stove works filled this site. The vacant lots used to have two story factory buildings. All that’s left is the foundry, with its big casting sheds. Some products of Gem City Stove. They also made big furnaces for heating houses (I recall seeing one in the basement or crawlspace, really, of a double over in the Oregon). I really liked the fancy detail on that one early gas range. The Dayton Spice Mill. Not much to say about this company, except that they where a coffee roaster. I guess coffee was a local product too, in the old days, before Maxwell House and Folgers, It is a great old building though (with lots of skylights). One can see what looks like a loading door on the front, too. The place is apparently a tool & die operation today. The largest complex in this factory belt is the old Davis Sewing Machine/Huffy Bicycle works. The story here begins not in Dayton but in faraway Watertown, New York …the Black River rushing down from the Adirondacks to Lake Ontario, surrounded by the factories of Watertown. Perhaps one of them was the original Davis Sewing Machine works, which was founded in and had its first factory in Watertown. Davis was producing a technologically advanced sewing machine, but had quality problems and a big patent infringement suit, which hurt the company financially Watertown was remote, and the company was induced to relocate to more centrally located Dayton. “There were rumors circulating indicating Davis was leaving town. However, no one took them seriously. It should not have come as any surprise to the people of Watertown when it was finally announced that The Davis Sewing Machine Company was indeed leaving Watertown. The company had been approached by the Dayton, Ohio, Board of Trade which was ultimately responsible for the Davis move. Dayton officials knew that when the company settled in Dayton it would be second only to the car works factories in material and financial importance to their city. In January of 1889 the Davis Sewing Machine Company stockholders voted to transfer the company's manufactory and place of business, provided that Dayton fulfill its agreement to construct new buildings, etc. The stockholders also voted to increase the capital stock from $300,000 to $600,000. In addition to agreeing to pay all costs associated with the move, the Board of Trade was required to raise the sum of $50,000; the donation was a condition upon which the Watertown company would move to Dayton.” This donation was raised through a "grassroots" effort. Dayton was canvassed in every section. Citizens gave whatever they could some as little as $1.00. The Story of the Davis Company “The land was developed for the factory and for the settlement of about 50 Watertown families. Dayton papers relate: "Five and a half acres of land were secured for the location of the company's plant on Huffman Avenue. The construction of the buildings has commenced which consists of a main building 510' x 60' with two large wings and a blacksmith shop and foundry. The main building with its wings is two storeys high, while the other buildings are one storey. It is the intention to employ 600 skilled mechanics." The original plant, outlined in red, and subsequent additions…the Davis works continued on to the right/east, off the page. It was one of the most extensive industrial complexes in the city. Early 1900s birdseye of the expanded plant…bicycles were added to its line of business. A close up of the head house Some Davis products: “Histories from the Dayton Daily News indicated that the bicycle manufacturing was so successful that the production of sewing machines was gradually phased out. The Huffman Manufacturing Company was formed as a sales outlet for Davis Sewing Machine company service parts. In 1924, the Davis Company's assets were liquidated. At that time, the company employed 1,800 workers. The Huffman Manufacturing Company became the holding company of the Davis Sewing Machine Company and only the drop forge and foundry departments were kept in operation…” The balance of this large industrial complex was taken over during the 1920s by Master Electric, which manufactured electric motors and geared drive mechanisms for industrial application. In the tradition of some older Dayton companies that manufactured water turbines, steam engines, pulleys, drive shafts and gearing, Master made things that made other things work. Master built its own offices and entrance onto the old original Davis plant: The foundry/drop forge buildings retained by Huffy? Now occupied by Dayton Bag and Burlap. Huffman, later Huffy, relocated its Dayton operations to Celina in 1955. Master was taken over by Reliance Electric in the1950s…don’t know when this plant was shut down. Today the old Davis plant houses a handful of small companies, similar to the Front Street buildings. To close, a few unusual companies, away from the industrial district along the railroad, set in the middle of residential neighborhoods. Dayton Cone. An ice cream cone factory. It seems they really did make nearly everything in Dayton at one time or another…even ice cream cones. Monarch Marking. Sort of like business forms, cash & fare registers, and computing scales the marking machine was one of those “business information system” concepts that found a home here. This continues in modern times, though now the businesses of this type are computer and internet based, like Lexis-Nexis and Reynolds and Reynolds. “This was the first successful machine for mechanizing the identification and price marking of retail merchandise. At a single stroke of the operating handle, the machine formed a tag from a roll of stock, imprinted it with price and other information, formed a wire staple, and stapled the tag to the merchandise. This means for dispensing with handmade and written tags amounted to a minor revolution in the then rapidly expanding retail industry. This machine was developed by Frederick Kohnle of Dayton, and early examples were produced by the Automatic Pin Ticketing Machine Co., a predecessor of the Monarch Marking System Co. In 1890 Kohnle invented a paper price tag with fastening device and was granted US patent #457,783 in 1891. While Kohnle founded a company to manufacture these machines, he continued developing improvements and had begun working on a table-top, hand-operated machine. On November 18, 1903, the Automatic Pin Ticketing Machine Co. purchased the patents of Wm. G. Metcalf, another Dayton inventor (patents #607,119 and #619,773, in 1898 and 1899 respectively). Kohnle completed a engineering model in 1902 and tested in at a local department store. He soon developed a floor-mounted, foot-treadle version for which he received a patent (#762,322) on June 14, 1904. By mid-March of 1904, nearly 150 units had been completed. “ Monarch was also the first company to make bar code machinery for the retail trade (in 1970) The head-shed that looks like, perhaps, a school, but the back is clearly industrial. This factory is set right in the middle of a residential district. East Dayton in 1930, with industrial areas outlined in red. The Depression would bring a wave of industrial unionization to Dayton Industrial district from the railroad
February 16, 200718 yr You know, I would (and still) get lost in East Dayton. I have no clue where half that stuff is over there so it's good to see somebody doing fantastic posts on it. Thanks. "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
February 17, 200718 yr As always, great job Jeff. I've actually been waiting on this thread for awhile, since these are adjacent to my neighborhood and I drive by them pretty frequently. I knew there had to be quite a history there.
February 17, 200718 yr I always look forward to Jeffrey's posts. This information better be backed-up somewhere.
February 17, 200718 yr ...yeah, Dffly, I was working my way east toward Linden Heights, wasn't I... :laugh: Seriously, I am going to be taking a break from East Dayton for awhile as I am getting burned out on the area.
February 18, 200718 yr Another fascinating industrial thread! I have a Dayton Computing Scale like the white candy scale shown in one of the pictures. I picked it up in a flea market in Wisconsin around 1967. The glass is broken, and the body has been spray-painted flat black as was the fashion for nostalgic knick-knacks in the sixties. It still works perfectly, and goes up to two pounds by one-ounce increments. Maybe one of these days I'll get around to cutting a new glass for it and cleaning off the black paint.
July 18, 200717 yr I recently purchased a candy making machine at an IRS tax sale in Colorado Springs, CO. I posted a picture of the name plate and a picture of the machine under the DAYTON Galery. Do any of you DAYTONITES recognize the name Dayton Specialty Machine Co.? I would appreciate any information. As to the age of the machine. I was told that the company purchased it used in 1952. That is all I can tell you.
August 21, 200816 yr Jeffrey, This really brings back some old memories. My father was an accountant at Dayton Bag & Burlap around 78-80 or so. I used to come visit him at the office all the time and I haven't seen those buildings in 20 years or so. It really is a confusing area if you don't know where you're going. Fred
August 21, 200816 yr newcom plain! so that's why they called the bar newcom's! and hear i thought it was some old cold war thing - lol! thx jeffrey i learned something right there. great job as always. btw -- i am working on an "annotated walk" myself on the bowery in manhattan and dayton industry makes an appearance. stay tuned.
August 21, 200816 yr I just noticed this thread because it was bumped. What a fantastic essay. My grandfather lived off East 3rd street from the 30s through the 60s and he was a machinist. Likely he worked at many of those places in that strip. In reference to: "Do any of you DAYTONITES recognize the name Dayton Specialty Machine Co.?" - no, sorry. There were many "specialty machine" manufacturers in Dayton at one time. For example, Gem City Engineering on Leo St. builds (or once built) "specialty machines", which are basically manufacturing platforms for manufacturers. For example they built a turntable device that does one particular phase of assembly of hard disk drive heads. As I understand it, building a "specialty machine" is a one at a time custom operation. Re: "limestone quarrying operations" in Belmont and Linden Heights. Anyone have specific information on this? My contribution for this (as such) is the pond next to the Lakewood Apartments tower (http://www.thelakewoods.com/), locally called "Kuntz's Pond". I was told authoritatively when I was a kid in Belmont that it was a spent limestone quarry.
August 21, 200816 yr Ah, I just found this, which page has a summary of the Dayton Specialty Machine Company, and quite a few others companies around Dayton, from 1918: http://www.daytonhistorybooks.citymax.com/page/page/4868512.htm (Use the link at the bottom that says "Return to Annual Labor Review Home Page".) I hope this provides some correlation with the subjects of the photo essay above.
August 21, 200816 yr Fluffing some related threads: Newcom Plain neighborhood, with a pix of Widow Newcoms's old house. Class War at the Bicycle Works, for a brief history of labor strife in the area in the 1890s/1900's.
Create an account or sign in to comment