Hearne History - Page 243

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phenomenal growth of the Riverside, from among the smallest iron mills in the country, to one of the largest, and beyond question the best equipped and most ably managed. He accomplished all this by his mastery of every detail of every department, a task which involved a vast amount of study and hard work. A history of the Riverside Iron Works would be but a story of the achievements of Colonel Frank J. Hearne, as the plant would never have grown to its present magnitude without his brilliant administration of its affairs.

The Riverside Co. was incorporated in 1874, with a capital stock of $1,000,000, and Colonel Hearne's connection with the company dates from 1872. For a number of years the principal article of manufacture was nails and the Riverside product enjoyed a prestige which was equaled by few firms and surpassed by none. The factories at the foot of Twenty-fifth street contained 224 machines, with a capacity of 12,000 kegs of nails a week. The buildings still stand, a mute reminder of Wheeling's departed glory in the nail industry. Those were the city's most prosperous days. Wheeling was the largest nail manufacturing center in the world, turning out fully one-half of all the cut nails made, and earning the soubriquet of Nail City, still sometimes used, but now a misnomer. Thousands of men and boys were given employment, at the highest wages paid to mechanics then or since. The nailers were perhaps the best paid skilled labor in the world. The money which they earned in the mills was generally spent with a prodigal hand, and every branch of business was benefited thereby.

The National Tube Co. was organized upon a more substantial basis than any of the trusts controlling other branches of manufacture. There is less of the speculative feature. The financiering of the concern was manipulated by the great banking firm of J. Pierpont Morgan & Co. Probably the highest testimonial to the ability of Colonel Hearne was furnished when the company closed the deal for the plant of the Riverside Iron Co. The stock of the local concern was purchased at 46 cents on the dollar more than was paid for the stock of any other company entering the agreement. The highest price paid for other stock was 170.

At the meeting held in New York, Colonel Hearne was elected first vice-president of the National Tube Co., and the publication of this fact was followed by the announcement that the active control

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Notes:

Thanks to Lewis Hearn for transcribing this page.


Copyright (c) 1999, 2007 Brian Cragun.