The Vidette-Messenger Centennial EditionThe 1936 special edition celebrating Porter County's centennial year . . . .
The following article has been transcribed from the August 18, 1936, issue of The Vidette-Messenger, published in Valparaiso, Indiana. This particular special edition focuses on Porter County's centennial celebration and contains a 94-page compendium of Porter County history up to that time.
Return to the index of articles from The Vidette-Messenger's Porter County Centennial special edition.
Source: The Vidette-Messenger, Valparaiso,
Porter County, Indiana; August 18, 1936; Volume 10, Section 4, Page 15.
The Story of the Formation Of Chicago Mica Company And Part Played Locally
The Chicago
Mica Company was organized under the state laws of Illinois in 1899 with a
capital stock of $200,000. Of this stock, all common, $134,800.00 was paid in
and $65,200.00 was treasury stock. The incorporators and officers were: Milton
A. Snider, president; Robert K. Preston, treasurer; E. H. Heilstedt, secretary.
The principal stockholder was Charles B. Adamson of the Baeder-Adamson company
in Philadelphia -- a very wealthy and established firm still doing business in
that city.
Milton and E. P. Snider were Canadians. Milton was more of a promoter, and E. P.
had acquired mica properties in North Carolina. They both prevailed upon Mr.
Adamson to invest and back them in the manufacturing of mica insulation.
They started a small plant in Chicago, and the following year Milton Snider came
to Valparaiso seeking a location for their plant. The only available place was
the present site which for nearly fifty years had been occupied by various
plants, including a woolen mill, the Delaney Clock Company, the Cosmo Buttermilk
Soap Company, and the Barry Carriage and Wagon Works. An interesting item
concerning the Barry Carriage and Wagon Works, which at that time was competing
with the now great Studebaker Corporation, was the fact that Barry made up a lot
of bob-sleds on winter when there was very little snow. Scarcity of capital and
inability to sell this product contributed to their failure.
Many of the older generation remember Joe Decker, who conducted a pool room and
cigar store. Joe is entitled to the credit for bringing the Chicago Mica Company
to Valparaiso. Snider wanted $5,000 for moving equipment and setting up
machinery in the local plant, and Decker conceived the idea of selling "I
helped" buttons at $1.00 to raise the necessary funds. Charles Parker, Sr.,
president of the Parker Paint company, was a good friend of the Sniders, and
also helped in getting the Chicago Mica company to locate here the next year.
The Sniders secured as superintendent August Tinnerholm of Schenectady, New
York, who had previously been with the General Electric Company.
Mica insulation had formerly been made in the east, by only three concerns
outside of Westinghouse Electric and General Electric.
When the Mica company moved to Valparaiso, E. P. Snider, brother of Milton
Snider, brought the Adamite Abrasive company, manufacturers of miller's
machinery, and occupied the old Powers-Higley plant in Chautauqua Park, later to
become the site of the Lewis E. Myers company.
The Adamite Abrasive company, in about 1905, moved their plant to Tonowanda, New
York, and were absorbed by the present Carborundum Company of America. About the
same time M. A. Snider, president, and Robert K. Preston, treasurer, resigned,
and Frank W. Boyer of Philadelphia became president and E. H. Heilstedt
secretary-treasurer. From about 1903 to 1907 a volume of business increased from
approximately $30,000 in 1899 to approximately $400,000 per year. Then the
depression of 1907 hit. When the skies had cleared again, Mr. Adamson had
relinquished his holdings to the Girard National Bank, Philadelphia, and A. W.
Pickford, vice-president of the Chicago Mica, Mr. Boyer resigning.
Alternating current motors for industry were in a large part replacing direct
current motors at this time, and with this change mica, used principally in
direct current motors, had a very far-reaching effect on the volume of mica
insulation used.
During the Boyer regime Frank Burk was traveling salesman, and resigned to
become general manager of the Central Steel and Wire company of Chicago. E. H.
Heilstedt resigned and moved to Gary in 1909, to become employment agent of the
Gary plant of the Illinois Steel company and John F. Griffin became
secretary-treasurer as well as general sales manager.
A reorganization took place two years later, whereby the entire of the Adamson,
Boyer and Heilstedt stock was purchased by A. W. Pickford, Philadelphia, L. L.
Fleig, Chicago, and John F. Griffin, Valparaiso.
A new field presented itself for the use of mica insulation in 1910, when the
automobile industries were perfecting the electric starting and lighting system.
Up until this period the company manufactured insulation paints and varnishes as
well as oiled clothes and oiled papers, which department was closed down because
of eastern competition and obsolete methods, it being more profitable to job
these items along with fibre, cotton tape, etc. This jobbing end of the business
being very profitable at the time enabled the company to purchase new and
improved machinery to meet western competition.
All mica plate, etc., was made by hand up to this time, and over a hundred girls
were required to make it. In addition, over seventy-five girls and women split
mica at home in their spare time, and it was of benefit to some cripples who
could not go back and forth to work. It was not an uncommon thing to walk into
many homes of large families and see assembled around the dining room table six
to eight people from thirteen to sixty years old, splitting mica and adding a
total income of as much as twenty-two dollars a weeks for this evening work.
The large percentage of mica films or splitting come from India, where the
Hindus received from ten to twenty cents per day wages. All this work is done by
hand. Many years ago an English form decided to install modern machinery in the
mines, and built a modern plant for employes. The Hindus struck and did not
return in work until the machinery was taken out of the mine, when they resumed
their work by hand. They claimed that the machine was possessed of evil spirits.
About 1912 John Griffin, on a selling trip to Akron, Ohio, called on the
Imperial Electric company, motor manufacturers, and while talking to L. T.
Frederick, production manager, learned that he had been with the Westinghouse
Electric company of Pittsburgh, who had been making their mica plate by machine.
A deal was made immediately for Frederick to come to Valparaiso and build a
similar machine, and to become superintendent of the plant, replacing Mr. Bixby,
who had come from the east a few years before.
Business had improved by now very materially, and in due time the interests of
L. L. Fleig were purchased by J. L. Meagher and L. T. Frederick, leaving the
Pickford and Griffin interests intact.
In order to make a better selling organization in the field, J. L. Meagher
decided to sell his interest to the Cleveland representative, A. R. McNally. The
present plant superintendent, L. L. Howard, was secured by the Mica company for
their sales force in Cleveland under Mr. McNally.
Bakelite was now coming to the front rapidly, and to meet the demand another
corporation was formed, called the Fibroc Insulation company; capital $5,000.00;
stockholders A. W. Pickford, L. T. Frederick, Joseph Winslow, and John F.
Griffin. The business started in a modest way, using part of the Mica plant. In
two years it was necessary to built a new plant for Fibroc, and to increase the
capital stock to $100,000.00, all common, and $150,000 preferred stock. This
preferred stock was subscribed to mostly by local people and always paid
semi-annually a dividend of 8% annually. Later it was bought up by the
Continental Diamond Fibre company and paid for at $105.00 a share.
During the late war, mica splitting from Canada were had to secure, so Mr.
Griffin went to Black Lake, Quebec and established a splitting factory. The two
affiliated concerns by 1928 were doing a total business of approximately
$1,500,000, and Mr. Griffin sold his interests in both concerns to V. R. Despard,
then of the McGill Manufacturing company. Shortly after this, Despard, Frederick
and Pickford sold their interests to the Continental Diamond Fibre company, the
present owners.
Article transcribed by Steven R. Shook