Baldwin Locomotive Works Records

Collection 1485 Baldwin Locomotive Works Records 1825-1869 59 boxes, 152 vols., 64.25 lin. feet Contact: The Historical Society of Pennsylvania 1300 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107 Phone: (215) 732-6200 FAX: (215) 732-2680 http://www.hsp.org Processed by: Joanne Danifo Processing Completed: February 2005 Sponsor: Processing made possible by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities Restrictions: None. © 2004 The Historical Society of Pennsylvania. All rights reserved. Baldwin Locomotive Works Records, 1825-1869 59 boxes, 152 vols., 64.25 lin. feet Collection 1485 Abstract Matthias Baldwin (b. 1795), a former jeweler and tool manufacturer, was commissioned in 1831 by Franklin Peale to fashion a miniature locomotive engine to be displayed at his Philadelphia Museum. Soon the Philadelphia, Germantown and Norristown Railroad asked Baldwin to construct “Old Ironsides,” his first full-size engine, in 1832. Subsequently, M.W. Baldwin, incorporated in 1831, became an establishment for the manufacture of locomotive engines at 400 North Broad Street in Philadelphia. The poor economic climate of the first half of the nineteenth century caused Baldwin to seek out financial support for his new company, which he found through partnerships with George Hufty, George Vail, Asa Whitney, and Matthew Baird. The company produced engines for a multitude of American and international railroads. During the Civil War, many southern Railroads withdrew their purchases due to Matthias Baldwin’s alleged abolitionist stance, but in the meantime Baldwin built no fewer than thirty engines for the federal government. Baldwin passed away in 1866 and Matthew Baird became the senior member of the company. By 1873, Baird had sold his shares to George Burnham, Charles T. Parry, and Edward H. Williams, who renamed the company Burnham, Parry, Williams & Co. In 1890 the company was officially incorporated as Baldwin Locomotive Works, which had been the name of its center of operations in Philadelphia for many years, and in 1929 operations moved to Eddystone, Pennsylvania. The company remained there until, due to halted production and the downturn of steam engines, it merged with the Lima-Hamilton Company in 1950. Baldwin Locomotive Works stopped production in 1956. The materials in this collection span the years 1825 to 1869, representing the earliest years of Baldwin Locomotive Works’ existence, and contain few gaps. The information in the collection deals mainly with the economic aspects of the company, its operations, and its numerous technological advancements, which take the form of diagrams, illustrations, and specification charts. The volumes have been divided into three series: Correspondence, Orders, and Account books. The bulk of the collection can be found in the correspondence, because this series spans the longest period of time – from 1836 to 1867 – and contains the richest records, touching on finance, company operations, orders, and politics. 1 The Historical Society of Pennsylvania Baldwin Locomotive Works Records Collection 1485 Background note Matthias Baldwin was born December 10, 1795, in Elizabeth, N.J., the only son of William and Phebe (Skinner) Baldwin. He was brother to seven sisters – Sarah, Mary R., Mary Louise, Cecilia, Cornella, Catherine, and Phebe, who died in infancy. Baldwin entered the jewelry trade at a young age holding an apprenticeship at Woolworth Brothers. By the age twenty-two, he was employed at Fletcher and Gardiner, jewelers and silversmiths of Philadelphia. During this time he married Sarah Crane and together they would have three daughters and one son. He continued in the jewelry trade, opening his own shop two years later. But by 1824 Baldwin left this occupation to pursue engraving and the manufacture of book-making tools and cylinders for calico production. He and his partner, David Mason, opened a small shop for their business around Fourth and Walnut Streets in 1825, where Baldwin designed and constructed a steam engine to aid in them in their endeavors. Franklin Peale of the Philadelphia Museum soon heard of this steam engine and commissioned Baldwin in 1831 to design a miniature model train to be displayed at his museum. This marked a turning point in Matthias Baldwin’s career, because upon seeing this fully-functioning model train at the museum, the Philadelphia, Germantown and Norristown Railroad Company asked Baldwin to construct a real locomotive engine. “Old Ironsides,” the name of Baldwin’s first engine, was completed for the Philadelphia, Germantown, and Norristown Railroad on November 23, 1832. By 1835, Baldwin received engine requests from the Hudson and Mohawk Railroad and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for its State Road, which spurred the opening of new manufacturing facilities at Broad and Hamilton Streets. Beginning with the construction of “Old Ironsides,” Baldwin executed trials for his engines, by sending engines to various railroads. As engine requests increased and Baldwin felt financial strains in the 1830s, he joined into a partnership with George Hufty and George Vail in 1839 and by 1842, Hufty withdrew from the partnership, and that year George Vail also left to join his father Stephen in the iron works business. Following the dissolution of this partnership, Asa Whitney joined Baldwin in the manufacturing business. Whitney previously held the position of superintendent of the Hudson and Mohawk Railroad and brought with him some experience and his son George, who would serve Baldwin & Whitney as a clerk. The other main employees during these early years of the company included foreman Matthew Baird, superintendent Charles Parry, and finance man George Burnham, who would serve the company for seventy-six years. As they created “a system of locomotive engines matured by us which we think are better adapted for all varieties of circumstances,” Baldwin & Whitney decided to create a naming system, assigning a letter to an engine with a specific set of specifications. The earliest letters of Baldwin & Whitney include this chart, which gives full descriptions for four types of engines – “A,” “B,” “C,” and “D.” However their partnership was also very brief and Asa Whitney would leave to open A. Whitney and Sons for the purpose of manufacturing locomotive wheels before becoming the president of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad in 1860. Business was bustling for the company, which after three years as Baldwin & Vail, then Baldwin & Whitney, was now simply M.W. Baldwin. The company was so inundated 2 The Historical Society of Pennsylvania Baldwin Locomotive Works Records Collection 1485 with engine orders that by 1845 they were building twenty engines per year on average and had that same amount on order. For the next decade, Baldwin acquired more employees at his facilities on Broad and Hamilton Streets, he expanded the list of railroads that he furnished engines, and he applied for more patents. On March 7, 1848, he wrote to the commissioner of patents requesting a patent for three improvements he had made on his locomotive engines. He also acquired the patent for a fountain pen designed by Azel Lyman. Lyman had written to Baldwin in the beginning of 1848 and told him that he had fallen ill and was in a great deal of debt. Lyman said that he would be willing to sell his design for the fountain pen to an interested party and eventually he and Baldwin struck a deal – Baldwin would pay Lyman $2332 for the pen design and the rights to Lyman’s Historical Charts. Baldwin could then apply for a patent for the design. At the same time that Baldwin was expanding his locomotive works and pursuing more business ventures, he encountered problems with his employees. November 15, 1848, chairman Milton Mendenhall and secretary John H. Johnson, representing a group of men employed at Baldwin’s factory, wrote to Baldwin about the “inconvenience, want, and suffering occasioned by the non-reception of our wages.” They noted that they maintained high respect for Baldwin, but they were losing lines of credit and their children must “go to school barefoot” for want of “clothing, food, and fuel.” It is unclear whether anything ever came of these complaints, until about 1860 when there was a formal employee strike. Baldwin’s business continued to prosper with few obstacles into the 1850s and, in turn, he hired a growing number of machinists, engineers, and apprentices. The first two groups, which included William and Robert Pettit, Jacob Schieble, and H.T. Peake, often did not remain at Baldwin’s main facilities in Philadelphia, but were sent to different railroads that needed expert assistance throughout the country and even overseas. They would frequent these roads either to deliver and set up a new engine for a company or in response to mechanical difficulties. They would then report back to M.W. Baldwin and write of their progress on these various roads, which was the term that Baldwin employees used when referring to different railroad lines. Baldwin also employed agents to represent his company’s financial interests abroad. H.R. Riddle, B.H. Wright, Gilead Smith, and T.M. Tyng all served as agents for Baldwin and their duties included settling company accounts, placing orders with local suppliers and arranging the shipment of orders. This arrangement did not always prove fruitful for Baldwin as in the case of H.R. Riddle, who was an agent for Baldwin in Cuba. There was an episode that occurred in the beginning of 1848 involving a disagreement between Riddle, Wright, and John Eaton, who had an open account with Baldwin. Wright wrote to Baldwin claiming that Riddle knowingly charged Eaton incorrectly and Eaton intended to sue Riddle and take his business elsewhere. Subsequently, Baldwin appointed Wright as an agent for Baldwin’s company, replacing Riddle. Gilead Smith and, later, T.M. Tyng, whose official titles were Iron Commission Agents, each served as agents for Baldwin in New York for periods of time in the late 1850s and 1860s.

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