A fire destroyed the mill in 1907. A one-story building was built and ready for use within a few months. It is now known as the Pond Lumber Company. Floyd Marsh heads this industry.
Today there are four lumber companies supplying the needs of the city.
SAND INDUSTRY
The central section of Lake Erie's southern shore is one of the comparatively few spots in this country
where molding sand is to be found. Although the producing and shipping of this sand has been in progress for over three- quarters of a century, there is still an abundant supply for future use.
The first shipment of molding sand from this territory was made inl870 when the Lake Shore (N. Y. C.) R. R. agent at Kingsville, a Mr. Morse shipped a carload to an Erie, Pa. concern .The sand was taken from the Harmon farm near Kingsville and the box -car in which it was shipped was of ten-ton capacity.
EARLY SHIPPERS
Other early sand shippers were Mr. Rice of Ashtabula, Dan R. Eastman of Kingsville, and Frederick E.
Gordon of this city. In 1901 Mr. Eastman sold his interests to the Union Sand Co. operated by H. M.
Welsh.
Upon the death of Mr. Gordon, the Gordon Sand Company was purchased by the Peerless Sand Company that was organized in 1918, and later became the Peerless Mineral Products Company.
The Buckeye Sand Co. and the Walker Sand Co. also operated for several years.
At the present time many grades of molding sand and core sand are being produced in Conneaut and vicinity by the Peerless Mineral Products Co. of which Fred L. Moore is president, and by the Picard Sand Co. operated by Arthur J. Picard.
CHEESE FACTORIES
Farmers in this part of the state had developed large dairy herds and were looking for outlets for their
dairy products. In 1869, the first cheese factory in this vicinity was begun. The $4,000 plant located at
Amboy was the property of a stock company whose president was J. D. Ransom. P. C. Ryan was secretary.
And Lyman Luce and S. Hazeltine were directors. The annual output of cheese was 100,000 lbs., and in 1875, butter was also being made there.
The success of this venture led others to enter the same business and in 1870 Weldon and Brown open a similar factory in an old tavern building in East Conneaut which prospered for about four years. Two years later N. B. Payne & Son built a cheese factory on their farm two miles southeast of Conneaut that produced 100,000 lbs. annually.
In 1875 still another cheese factory was built in Conneaut Township. This one was located at South Ridge and was owned by Hayward & Sanford.
PAPER MILL IN 1870
A new type of factory came to Conneaut in 1870 when the Conneaut Paper Company built a mill on
Conneaut River.
Isaac Skinner was the president of the new concern that was soon employing a large number of men, and for years Conneaut-made paper was in great demand.
1,300 PEOPLE IN 1876
In 1876 when Conneaut was 80 years old, the census showed the town had a population of 1,300 and it
was in that year that the City Hall was built at a cost of $20,000.
In 1878 Conneaut boasted of having two carriage factories, two planning mills, one furniture factory, two paper mills, two flour mills (one steam and one water power), the D. Cummins canning house which was then located just outside the city limits, five dry goods and general merchandise stores, six groceries, three clothing stores, one shoe store, four drug and book stores, five millinery stores, three jewelry stores, two photographers' parlors, two banks, three hotels, three restaurants, three bakeries, one printing office, one tannery, one barrel factory, five livery stables, five blacksmith shops, two lawyers two dentists and six physicians. But curiously enough no mention is made of any barber shops being located in town.
RECORD MFG. CO.
George J. Record had invented an air tight, self-sealing butter package for which he obtained a patent. In
1878 he bought a press and began the manufacture of these butter packages in a tin shop. This was the
beginning of the Record Mfg. Co. that operated for about twenty years and gave employment to many local men.
Mr. Record joined in 1879 with Hiram Judson, but as the concern soon appeared to be heading toward insolvency, Mr. Judson withdrew from the partnership.
Mr. Record continued alone manufacturing and selling the packages and finally the business began showing a profit. As sales increased, it was necessary to expand the plant, and on April 12, 1882 the Record Manufacturing Co. began operating in a plant on Broad Street north of the N. K. P. railroad with a force of 20 men.
INDUSTRY EXPANDS
On hand at the time were orders for 1,200 packages, and during the year 63,000 packages were sold. The following year the sales increased to 100,000, that number including the sales of a new oil package. The plant was enlarged to cover 61,000sq. feet of floor space (3 stories) and the force of 150 men were employed.
The concern was Conneaut's first large manufacturing plant and was in existence until 1900 when it was sold to the American Can Company after which the plant was dismantled.
NEW CAN INDUSTRY
The counterpart of this first large industry exists today in the Conneaut Can Company that was
organized in 1901 by H. A. Truesdale and Z. H. Thompson, two traveling salesmen for the Record Co. On August 23, 1901, the state of Ohio granted them a charter to issue stock in the new company. The
organization was completed and sufficient stock issued to begin, on October 1st, the first building. This was completed in the same month.
BEGAN WORK IN 1902
It took the next three months to find, receive and install the machinery but, in February 1902, the line
was ready and thus began the making of cans in the new plant.
Originally, the founders planed to make wood jacketed cone-top cans for oils, chemicals, drugs and other liquid products. Soon they found it necessary to have more space, so a second building was erected in 1902. In 1903, an addition to the original building provided a Press- Room and Stock Room. In 1906, a two- story building across the street from the new buildings was purchased and moved to the north side of Shop Street. This building was remodeled and the second floor used as an office.
DEMAND GROWS
Bu 1908, the demand for additional styles of cans necessitated anther building in which to house
machinery for square oblong and varnish cans as well, as storage space. The same shop, with improved
equipment, produces a major portion of all the syrup cans used in Ohio, New York and Michigan. A part of this building was partitioned off and made into a cafeteria dining room to accommodate 100 folks. For 27 years a noon meal was served, without charge, to all employees who wished to partake. In 1935 conditions changed and earnings decreased making it necessary to close the cafeteria.
In 1910 a building was erected on the west -side of Whitney Road where was installed equipment for a modem lithographing plant for decorating metal sheets. In 1913 a wood mill was constructed and equipment to cut veneer, jackets, hoops and equipment for wire bound boxes. Also included in this unit was equipment to make wire bound and sawed wood boxes. Later this equipment was converted for making cheese boxes and splint baskets. All of the wood operations required a considerable amount of timber. To maintain a sufficient supply of logs many timber tracts of growing trees, such as were needed were purchased. One of these is still growing a good quality of timber.
In 1925, a building previously erected for storage purposes, was rebuilt and remodeled for the installation of a semi-automatic 5-gallon square line. This shop continues to make the 5-gallon square can for general purposes and the 60-pound honey can, used in quantities, by the commercial beekeepers. About the same time, a machine shop was established for maintenance and the making of most of the dies and special tools necessary in the production of tin cans. Incidentally, a Bliss machine for making wire handles is being fitted, in this shop, for early operation. The can industry is still operating under the government restrictions that prevailed during the war years. Many products, normally packed in cans, such as the Conneaut Can Company is equipped to make, are prohibited. But in the 45th year of production under the capable management of A. M. Smart, president and general manager, a large volume of business is being handled and prospects for the future are bright. C. L. Whitney is president, W. R. Hubbard, vice president and secretary. Arvo Hakkio is superintendent.
ELECTRIC LIGHT PLANT
Conneaut took another progressive step in 1887 when its first electric light plant was built. The Ellsasser
garage was the site of this plant, but as the demand grew for more electricity a larger plant was built at the foot of Main Street hill which furnished power and light for the city for several years. Finally, in the 20's, the Conneaut Plant was purchased, from the city, by the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company and the building was dismantled.
THE NICKEL PLATE
It is claimed that the route of the Nickel Plate (N.Y.C. & St.L.) Railroad had been laid out by the son of
DeWitt Clinton as early as 1853 and that in 1859 more than 200 miles of the road had been graded
preparatory to laying the ties. But a financial panic caused the failure of the plans.
Repeated attempts were made to complete the road in the years 1866, 1870 and 1873 each ending in failure.
In 1880 the N. Y. C. & St. L. R. R. was incorporated and bonds issued for the building of the road. On March 18, 1881 Chief Engineer McGrath came to Conneaut to make arrangements for securing the right-of-way through the town, for which purpose Loren Gould had been appointed and all property owners concerned were requested to confer with him.
WORK BEGUN
Through Mr. Gould's efforts settlements were made with the land -owners within two months, and work
was begun. Stone was being received at Conneaut from the Windsor quarries and on May 23 nineteen
mules and their drivers began grading on the Woodworth property.
Spring work on nearby farms was completed early in order that the farmers could use their teams for railroad construction work until harvest time.
During the summer local merchants benefited through the increased trade of the 100 additional laborers brought here by the railroad-company. These workers had pay rates ranging from &1.50 to $3.50 per day, and most of this money was spent in local stores.
Fortunately for the city, the Company's headquarters for refueling of engines and shops for repairing all equipment on both the Buffalo and Cleveland divisions were located here. The Conneaut Reporter announced �that the town is to be awakened from its Rip Van Winkle slumbers by the advent of the railroad."
ROUNDHOUSE BUILT
A roundhouse, machine shops, freight building, stock pens depot and a dispatchers office soon were
built. The roundhouse was semi-circular with 22 stalls and a diameter of 252 feet. The machine shop was 50 x 103 feet with a 29-foot wing. The blacksmith shop was 60 x 50 feet, and the coal dock 60 x 200 feet.
All foundations were of Perea stone, the walls of brick and slate roofing was used on all buildings. Eight miles of side- tracks were laid in the yards and a 50,000- barrel reservoir was constructed.
New houses were needed to accommodate the families of the railroad employees arriving to make this their home.
FIRST NKP TRAIN�1852
On October 23, 1882 the first Nickel Plate passenger train entered Conneaut and with its arrival the new
railroad was opened for business.
The Nickel Plate was a fast freight road. Three months after its opening 150 cars of freight were shipped out of Conneaut yards daily. As the average train of that period consisted of 25 cars, this meant that 6 trains were dispatched every 24 hours. The time consumed in making the run on each division was about 12 hours.
By the time the railroad was six months old, 310 employees were working here, and the company had paid $2,000.27 in taxes into Ashtabula's treasury.
In 1883 Postal Telegraph was begun on the Nickel Plate.
Since the original buildings were erected, they have been enlarged many times and modem machinery installed to replace obsolete types.
EXPANSION MADE
The roundhouse was found to be too small to handle the larger type of locomotives and a more spacious
structure was built several years ago. The car repair shops have expanded since the early days of the road, and the company's local offices have modem furnishings and equipment.
Long ago the small chugging engines were discarded for the more efficient locomotives. Wooden cars gave way to coaches of all-steel construction. Freight cars of 29-ton capacity have been replaced by cars carrying three or four times that weight.
MODERN EQUIPMENT
Alarms and automatic signal equipment have been installed and modem safety practices lessen the
hazards to which the early railroaders were exposed. A modem traffic control system now is in operation.
Safety and speed in transportation of passengers and freight have been the two objects emphasized during recent war years when railroad facilities were taxed to the limit.
The number of employees working in Conneaut has increased from 310 at the beginning of the Nickel Plate's activities here in 1882 to about five times that number in 1946.
The nickel Plate is credited with doing more for industrial advancement in Conneaut than any other factor.
After the close of the Civil War, Conneaut's port was unused, except for a few fishing boats, for a quarter of a century and the harbor installations rapidly deteriorated.
PORT STAGNATES
The period of stagnation was climaxed in 1885 by the abolishing of the office of Collector of Customs at
this port. A land light was maintained, but through neglect the government piers had become a mass of
ruins. Conneaut River was choked with debris and sand until no navigable channel existed.
In 1887 the citizens of Conneaut subscribed $25,000 to bring the Pittsburgh, Shenango & Lake Erie R. R. (the Peasly) to Conneaut Harbor. After many conferences, discussions and innumerable delays, the work of laying the track on the Conneaut branch was begun. While the grading and laying of track and the excavating at hogback was being accomplished the harbor channel was being widened and deepened, new docks were constructed and the old ones repaired and rebuilt.
Dredging had opened a channel 16 feet in depth along the west pier. On the 600-foot dock (part of dock 1) were erected six legs of Brown Hoists with one-ton buckets. Two "Whirlies" were also built to supplement the Brown machines in unloading vessels.
'KERSHAW' ARRIVES
About 8 o'clock on Sunday morning November 6, 1892, Captain William Mack of the Steamer Charles
J. Kershaw, which lay near the entrance of Conneaut's newly-rebuilt harbor, signaled for a tug. In response, the tug J. V., O'Brien went to assist the vessel into port, but in attempting to make the entrance, the Kershaw became fast on a sand bar where it remained until released by the combined efforts of two tugs the O'Brian and the Ida Sims.
With no further difficulty the Kershaw, shortly after 2 p. m., drew up to the Shenango docks, preparatory to unloading the following day. As soon as it had moored, harbor tugs, dredges, pile drivers and locomotive gave long shrill blasts of their whistles as a noisy welcome to the Kershaw and its crew.
FIRST IRON ORE
Spectators who had witnessed the freighter's arrival began going aboard to secure pieces of iron ore as
souvenirs. Many of them had never before held a piece of this ore in their hands.
The following day the unloading was begun, and the November 8"' issue of the Conneaut Reporter informed the public, "Ore is being taken from but three of the six hatchways on the Kershaw, two buckets to each hatch, and seven men to two buckets. The eighteen shovelers received ten-cents per ton, a half-cent above Ashtabula handlers.