MUCH WEALTH AND ENTERPRISE ABOUND—MANUFACTURING—MILLING—EXTENSIVE WHOLESALE HARDWARE AND GROCERY ESTABLISHMENTS—PLANING MILLS—VARIOUS JOBBING AND RETAIL INTERESTS.
Industrial enterprises of Atchison county, so far as manufacturing and jobbing interests are concerned, are confined exclusively to the city of Atchison. There are no mills or factories or large manufacturing institutions in any of the smaller towns of the county. Outside of Atchison the labor and industry of the citizens are directed in agricultural pursuits; the tilling of the soil, the breeding of live stock and the development of all the other arts of husbandry, but in the city of Atchison there are a number of establishments which give employment to labor, and which in a number of instances ship their finished products to all parts of the United States and into the ports of foreign countries.
Atchison, however, strictly speaking, is not a factory town, nor a great manufacturing center. There have been times in its history when it was more important, commercially, than now, but that was in the days before the great onrush to Kansas City. Yet the town today is a substantial, solid community, where much wealth and enterprise abound, and where there has been a steady, healthy commercial growth.
The largest manufacturing plant is the John Seaton Foundry Company, and the Locomotive Finished Material Company, an associated enterprise, established by the late John Seaton, who moved to Atchison from Alton, Ill., in 1871, having been induced to come to Atchison by a handsome donation from the citizens of the town. Mr. Seaton originally manufactured much architectural work; iron and brass casting, boilers, jail and sheet iron work. For a while it was conducted under the firm name of Seaton & Lea, but shortly before 312the death of Captain Seaton, a few years ago, the Locomotive Finished Material Company was organized to put the finishing touches on castings and at the death of Mr. Seaton, H. E. Muchnic became president and general manager of the company, with John C. Seaton, Clive Hastings, W. S. Ferguson and G. L. Seaton as associate directors. The average number of employees is about 226, when the total horse power is 500. They have a payroll of over $14,000 a month, and are doing a large business with railroads and other big industrial plants throughout the country.
The Manglesdorf Brothers Company is one of the oldest establishments in the city. It began in 1875 as a side line in connection with the retail grocery business, by August and William Manglesdorf, and is now conducted by the sons of the founders. It is one of the largest seed houses in the West. The business was incorporated in 1887, and the officers in 1916 are as follows: August Manglesdorf, president: A. F. Manglesdorf, vice-president: Ed. F. Manglesdorf, vice-president: F. H. Manglesdorf, treasurer, and F. W. Manglesdorf, secretary.
Manglesdorf Bros. Seed Company
The business has grown to such an extent that it was thought advisable to close out the retail end of it and it is now conducted as an exclusively wholesale seed house. The new warehouse, which the firm now occupies, was erected last year and gives it one of the largest and most complete plants in the West. The new building is modern in every way, strictly fire-proof and 313provides an enormous space for storing and handling the stocks, which are accumulated for the spring trade. The seed line, perhaps more than any other, is a seasonable one, and by far the greater proportion of the year’s business must be crowded into a few spring months. It is necessary, therefore, to move goods quickly and in large quantities, when the season is on. For this purpose, the warehouses are equipped with suitable machinery and devices, which are kept up to the highest possible efficiency for handling and cleaning the seed. The stocks are obtained in all parts of the world. When crops fail in one part of the country, it is the business of the seed dealers to supply the deficiency from some other sections, where conditions have been more favorable. Thus, the source of supply and the outlet for it are constantly shifting and it requires keeping in touch with the progress of the crops and market conditions in many different producing districts.
The firm does a considerable export business also, particularly in blue grass and timothy, which are produced here, cheaper and in better quality than they are in Europe. During each year the firm’s travelers cover the States of Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, parts of Nebraska, Colorado and Texas. Its line of garden seeds may be obtained from the local merchants in nearly every town in this territory.
The Bailor Plow Company, of Atchison, organized in 1910 with an authorized capital of $50,000. J. M. Schott, president; Charles Linley, vice-president; W. P. Byram, secretary; E. V. Jones, treasurer and manager. Manufacturers of a two-row cultivator. S. E. Bailor, then of Beatrice, Neb., some twenty years since built and began experimenting with a two-row cultivator. About 1905, the late David Rankin, of Tarkio, Mo., placed fifty Bailor cultivators in use on his 25,000–acre farm near Tarkio, giving them a thorough test for efficiency. The result was such that he induced Bailor to build a plant for their manufacture at Tarkio. In 1910 the Atchison Commercial Club, which had previously investigated the possibilities of Bailor’s factory as a valuable addition to this city’s industrial institutions, induced him to locate his business in Atchison. The Bailor Plow Company was promoted and incorporated by the following successful business men: Balie P. Waggener, Henry Klostermeier, T. R. Clendinen, at that time president of the Commercial Club; O. A. Simmons, vice-president of the First National Bank; E. V. Jones, J. M. Schott, W. P. Byram, Charles Linley, at that time treasurer of Atchison county, and S. E. Bailor, inventor of the cultivator. During the year 1910, the first year of operation in Atchison, one hundred cultivators were sold. The year 1915 shows an output of product valued at about $250,000. 314The company’s plant has a floor space of 25,000 square feet; forty men are on its payroll and it disburses in wages over $50,000 per annum.
The National Poultry and Egg Company. This institution is one of the largest of its kind in the West, and is located on the corner of Fourteenth and Main streets. Under the able management of G. E. Hanna, it has steadily increased its capacity and enlarged its business operations until at the present time it employs an average of fifty-four men and women a month and pays out in wages almost $30,000 each year. The plant and machinery represent an investment of about $70,000 and its sales are over a half million dollars a year. It is engaged in buying and selling poultry, eggs and butter, and ships fancy dressed poultry to eastern markets.
Deer Creek Creamery Company. This company has a capital stock of $10,000; employs eight men and four girls, with an annual payroll of $8,000. In addition to the employees in the local office, it also employs twenty men in the country to operate its numerous cream stations. The company manufactures over a half million pounds of butter a year, and it puts up and sells in Atchison from 80,000 to 100,000 gallons of milk every year, in addition to 6,000 or 8,000 gallons of ice cream. Over $125,000 annually is paid out to Kansas farmers for cream; about $25,000 of this amount going to farmers in the immediate vicinity of Atchison. It is one of the growing institutions of the city, and the excellence of the products it turns out is the cause for its constant increase of business.
Atchison is also the home of two large manufacturers of saddlery. The Atchison Saddlery Company is the successor to Louis Kiper & Sons and occupies a large building on Kansas avenue between Fourth and Fifth streets. Its officers are George Diegel, president; George T. Lindsey, vice-president, and Henry Diegel, secretary-treasurer. It has a capital stock of $150,000; employs seventy-nine people. It ships its products into many States of the West and has been doing an exceedingly large business in the past few years.
Kessler-Barkow Saddlery Company was incorporated several years ago, with G. T. Bolman, president; F. A. Barkow, vice-president, and H. B. Kessler, secretary and treasurer. This company has a capital and surplus of $85,000, and employs sixty-five people, and has an average annual payroll of about $40,000.00. It manufactures harness and saddles for the jobbing trade exclusively and has large accounts w............