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Upon careful direction, the business has expanded and grown until now the firm's name is rated among the first industries of this section. Departments were added and improvements made whenever it was found necessary. The finished products of the Company have always stood as their best advertisement, and satisfied Customers in all parts of the world will testify to the merits of the firm.
The Company is now engaged in general foundry work and the manufacturing of cement machinery, repair parts for the same, and chemical castings of all kinds.
Recognizing the importance of South Bethlehem as a center peculiarly and advantageously adapted for the distribution of coke and its by-products, owing to the numerous furnaces and foundries located within a short distance from it, the Lehigh Coke Company was formed as a Pennsylvania Corporation in 1910, to erect and operate a by-product coke-oven plant at this place.
The Company has an authorized Capital Stock of $15,000,000, divided into $7,000,000 Preferred Shares and $8,000,000 of Common Shares.
The Company has not as yet finished its program of construction, and it will be some time in the year 1916 before the present contemplated plans are completed. When the building program is carried out, the Company will be coking about 6,000 long tons of coal per day. A contract which they have with the Bethlehem Steel Company contemplates the latter taking the greater part of this output of coke. The balance of the coke will be sold in the open market. Besides the coke produced, the Company is making and delivering to the Bethlehem Steel Company under contract, such an amount of gas as it does not use for its own purposes. The Company is also a large producer of sulphate of ammonia and tar, the former of which is used in a mixture producing fertilizers, and the latter is used for a variety of purposes, such as road-making material, tar paper, roofing material and a large number of other products.
There is now being erected a plant, which will be in operation in December, 1915, for the recovery of Benzol, Toluol, Xylol, Solvent Naphtha and Naphthaline.
The Artificial Ice Company, having Adam Brinker as its capable head, started business at 2nd and New Streets in 1898, occupying the lot bought by Levin C. Peysert in 1852, the first building lot bought in South Bethlehem. At the time of its infancy the Company was composed of Adam Brinker, President and Treasurer, and the late Oliver L. Peysert, Manager, our former highly-respected and well-known Burgess. At this time the firm had in its employ ten men and had Operating in the Bethlehems four ice teams and three coal teams, with an office force of two. Under the competent management of these able businessmen, the Company rapidly increased its operating force, improved its property and facilitated the handling and delivery of their products. All coal and lumber were put under cover, and an immense coal elevator and pockets with a capacity of 2,500 tons were installed at a cost of $12,000.00 whereby coal is automatically unloaded from cars, screened and then loaded into the wagons; the ice plant capacity increased gradually from 30 tons to 75 tons daily, and many other improvements, including a new office, were made to meet the rapidly-increasing volume of business due to the demand of the citizens of the Bethlehems for the Artificial Ice Company's brand of coal, ice and lumber. In the year 1914 between 24,000 and 25,000 tons of coal was delivered. At the death of Mr. Peysert on Christmas Day, 1911, the entire business was taken over by Mr. Brinker.
At the present time the Artificial Ice Company can boast of being by far the largest concern of its kind in this vicinity, employing an office force of eight men and a yard force of 45 men, ice deliveries being made daily with 14 teams, coal with 10 teams, and in keeping with their spirit of progressiveness 2 motor trucks have recently been purchased.
1898 – 1915, seventeen years of upbuilding, and the Artificial Ice Company is not stopping at the success they have so far attained. It continues to grow.
Closely linked with the growth of the Bethlehems is the wholesale grocery business of J.A. Eberts & Company, whose present warehouses are located along the tracks of the Central Railroad of New Jersey, immediately east of the freight depot of that railroad.
Just twenty-five years ago this business was started by a co-partnership composed of J.A. Eberts and E.F. Eberts, in a room which is now occupied by the clothing house of E. O’Reilly, Corner 3rd and New Streets. The business at that time was entirely of a fruit and produce nature.
The efforts put forth in the venture were soon repaid by a steady growth in trade which in a few years necessitated a change to larger quarters and better railroad facilities. The warehouse on Lehigh Avenue, Bethlehem, known as the old Newhard Mill, was then acquired and the business moved into it. With the increased facilities and the opportunities for branching out in the other lines, soon resulted in the addition to the fruit and produce business of a general line of groceries and confectionery. Traveling men were put on the road and solicited business through the entire Lehigh Valley.
The business continued growing until in 1897 a strictly modem structure was erected.
Shortly after located in the new building a branch house was located at Bangor. In quick succession modern warehouses were located in the cities of Allentown and Easton, completing a chain of warehouses covering about 60,000 square feet of floor space.
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BETHLEHEM WAREHOUSE
Showing Team Delivery Platforms and Railroad Facilities.
The business grew rapidly until it was necessary to incorporate the Company, which was done in 1901, with a capital of $125,000. Increasing business soon demanded additional capital, and the Company is now capitalized at $400,000, and is one of the largest food distributors in eastern Pennsylvania.
In the main warehouse in Bethlehem a modern coffee-roasting plant was installed, further increasing the scope of business. In this plant was also built an automatic refrigerating system giving ample storage facilities for perishable lines of merchandise. Truck delivery superceded the team delivery, and the trade of this enterprising firm is being served in the most effective manner resulting not only in an immense business, but tending to bring to the Bethlehems trade that would naturally be attracted to other wholesale centers.
The business is conducted from the main office at Bethlehem, where the officers of the Company reside. From this office and through the banks of the Bethlehems there is received and disbursed a total of almost a million and a half dollars per year.
The present officers of the Company are: Chas. M. Stauffer, President and General Manager; Lewis Semmel, Vice-President; Winfield S. Keck, Secretary and Treasurer. The Board of Directors is composed of the above officers and E.H. Kresge, South Bethlehem; P.D. Giess, Bethlehem; Dr. A.W. Radley, Bethlehem; J.H. Scholl, Klecknersville. These are all men of long business experience, and with the support of the local merchants will continue to expand and keep pace with the growing community.
This industry, located on West Market Street, Bethlehem, is the result of the consolidation of the Switchboard Equipment Company, formerly located on Vineyard Street, with the Whitney Electric Instrument Company of Penacook, N.H., and occupy their own buildings especially designed and arranged for the manufacture of Electric Measuring Instruments, Circuit, Breakers, Meters, and various sundry specialties for electric measurement and control. The principal office is at 203 Broadway, New York City, with District offices in Cleveland, Chicago and Detroit.
This company manufactures a standard line of Electrical Measuring Instruments, Integrating Meters, and Circuit Breakers, which have made their reputation and are carried in stock at their various distributing offices as standard commodities.
In addition to the above standard lines there has been added within the last four years a department for the manufacture of Ammeters, and Indicators for Automobile Starting and Lighting Systems. This latter field was entered very reluctantly because of the multiplicity of such devices that had given such general dissatisfaction. After a careful study of the situation they entered this field on the basis of producing a line of apparatus of superior quality and particular merit. The success of this department has more than justified the move. For the last three seasons this department has reached the limit of its output in this line of work before the demand for its product could be met.
An important part of the work of this company is in the designing, development and construction of special Measuring Apparatus and Controlling Devices. Among these are small Automatic Charging or Controlling Panels for special purposes, Automatic Steam Traps and Temperature Regulators, and several improved Measuring Instruments to be used in Wireless Telegraph work, which are now supplied in considerable quantity to the United States and Foreign Governments, the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company and several other concerns engaged in the construction of wireless apparatus. An interesting Instrument of this class is an Ammeter for use in Aerial Circuits, which is good on all frequencies as high as 1,500,000 cycles per second.
This organization aims by carefully-planned systems and modern methods to bring the plant and its working force to the highest point of efficiency. The methods of manufacture, assembly, and test of delicate apparatus in considerable quantity must be seen to be appreciated. About 35% of the present working force are girls, who are selected and promoted entirely on the basis of their efficiency.
This factory has been in operation about six and one-half (6 1/2) years, and during that time the growth of the business has been constant. Building additions within the past year have doubled their capacity, and it is said that further enlargement is under contemplation.
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