THE INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT OF SPRINGFIELD, OHIO:

A STUDY IN ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY

DISSERTATION

Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University

By

MAHAVIRA PRASADA SHREEVASTAVA, B. A., M. A., M. Sc.

The Ohio State University 1956

Approved by:

Department of Geography ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The challenge of industrial geography first became apparent to me at the University of Wisconsin, and led me to pursue further work at The Ohio State University. During my stay here, several staff members have given valuable aid and encouragement during the writing of this dissertation.

I want to express appreciation especially to Professors

Alfred J. Wright, my adviser, Guy-Harold Smith, Eugene Van

Cleef, John R. Randall, Lawrence A. Hoffman, and Henry L.

Hunker.

Working in Springfield, I encountered many persons who gave generously of their time and attention. To each one of these gentlemen (listed in Appendix B) cordial thanks are extended.

Finally, feelings of deep gratitude are expressed for the encouragement and moral support of my father, Mr. Mukat

Behari Lai Srivastava, whose ambition it has been that I pursue graduate work in the field of "geography", up to the doctor's level. TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter Page

I Point of View...... 1

II Factors of Production...... »...... 15

III Factors of Distribution and Consumption.... 88

IV Springfield's Industrial Complex...... 115

V Antecedents...... 1^6

VI Retrospect...... 176

VII Problems of Concern to Manufacturers...... 225

VIII Past Experiences and the Prospect...... 251

Appendices...... 275

Bibliography...... 512

Autobiography...... 522

iii LIST OF TABLES

Number Page

1 Growth of Population in Springfield, Ohio...... 4l

2 Selected Data for Springfield — 1950...... 42

3 Per Cent of the Employed Population Engaged in Manufacturing...... 52

4 Average Weekly Earnings in Manufacturing Industries...... 57

5 Nature of Industrial Concerns in Springfield, Ohio...... 79

6 Number of Establishments in Springfield, 1899-19^+7...... Si

7 Value Added by Manufacture in Springfield, Ohio, 1899-19^7...... 115

8 Average Number of Wage Earners in Springfield, Ohio, 1899-1947...... 116

9 Employment in Industry Groups of Springfield in 1950...... 117

10 Age of Industrial Concerns in Springfield, Ohio...... 124

11 Geographical Extent of the Market for In­ dustries in Springfield...... 127

12 Contribution of Local Market to the Total Market for Springfield Industry...... 130

13 Plants that Employ More Females than Males in Springfield...... 133

14 Proportion of Out-going Goods Moving by Rail and/or by Truck...... 139

15 Proportion of In-coming Goods Moving by Truck and/or by Rail...... 140

iv LIST OF TABLES

C Continued.)

Number Page

16 Per Cent of Increase in the Value Added by Manufacture, for the State of Ohio and the City of Springfield, by Decades...... 170

17 Value Added by Manufacture in Springfield, as a Percentage of the Same in Ohio...... 170

18 Ranking of Industrial Groups in Terms of Num­ ber of Employees...... 182

19 ■ Mother Companies in Springfield, Ohio...... 211

20 Names of Companies Which 0we Their Existence Partly to the So-called Splintering Effect..... 211

21 Number of Companies That Came from Outside... 213

22 Ranking of Industrial Groups in Terms of Number of Establishments...... 260

23 Possible Areas of Plant Expansion in Spring­ field...... 26k

v LIST OF MAPS

Number Page

I Population Map of Ohio, 1950...... 5

II Map of the Bedrock, Present and Pre-Wisconsin Drainage...... -...... 20

III Map of the Alluvial and Glacial Deposits...... 22

IV Springfield Quadrangle Topographic Map (attached to back cover)

V Annexations and Growth of Springfield, Ohio......

VI Clark County (Highways)...... 96

VII The City of Springfield, Ohio (N. E. Quarter)..... 188

VIII The City of Springfield, Ohio (S. W. Quarter)..... 189

IX The City of Springfield, Ohio (S. E. Quarter) 191

X The City of Springfield, Ohio (N. W. Quarter)..... 19^

XI Central Business District in Springfield...... 199

XII Proposed Industrial Site...... 2k9

vi LIST OF PLATES

Number Page

I Boulevard on the West North Street...... 97

II The Interior of The James Leffel and Company...... 110

III The Ridgely Trimmer Company...... 163

IV The International Harvester Company, Springfield Works...... 179

V The Steel Products Engineering Company...... 180

VI An Aerial View of the City of Springfield..... 186

VII K. and A. Aluminum Foundry, Inc...... 195

VIII The Thompson Grinder Company...... 198

IX Springfield Manufacturing Company...... 197

X The Springfield Metallic Caskets Company, Inc. ... 201

XI Shuey Building...... 202

vii LIST OF CHARTS

Number Page

I Geologic Column...... * 19

II Springfield's Share of Ohio's Manufacturing...... 121

III Per Cent of Increase in the Value Added by Manufacture', by Decades.*...... 123

viii CHAPTER I

POINT OF VIEW

Identity of the Industrial Center

This is an investigation of the industrial development

of Springfield, Ohio, ranking ninth among Ohio cities on the

basis of value added by manufacturing.

The agricultural implement industry started in Spring­

field about 1850 and gave it national prominence during and

after the Civil War; achievement of further growth made it

world-known by 1880. Decline set in in the late 80's, only

to be revived in the early 20th century when the transporta­

tion equipment industry began there. The trend of diversifi­

cation which became conspicuous in early 1920's continues to

the present and is evinced by the variety of products made in

Springfield today, such as trucks, magazines, incubators,

motors, machine tools, production machinery, piano plates, paper hangers' tools, chemicals, caskets, dresses and awnings,

road building machinery, lawn sweepers, thermometers, etc.

These products indicate the broad scope of.manufacture, the relatively broad base of Springfield's industrial economy.

Evolution of different types of industries in Springfield exemplifies the response by manufacturers to natural and economic advantages offered by its location. Goals of Study

Why are the products named above made in Springfield?

Why is industrial production in Springfield highly diversified as suggested by the nature of its products? What combinations of productive factors have made Springfield what it is today?

Have there been any changes in the particular combinations of productive factors in Springfield over the passage of time and have such changes modified the general economy of this center from time to time?

In addition to making an attempt at answering the types of questions raised above, this study aims to achieve the following goals:

(1) An understanding and appraisal of the foundation on which the well-being of Springfield's industrial economy depends.

(2) Collection of scattered threads in the story of indus­ trial development of Springfield, and putting them together in order to present a continuous series of events that help to account for significant changes in the picture of indus­ trial Springfield from time to time.

(3) Comparison of the industrial status of Springfield with that of other cities jin Ohio, with a view to pointing out the former's place in the hierarchy of the latter.

(k) Functional analysis of present-day Springfield's manu- factural effort. (5) Setting up some hypotheses and testing them against the background already presented.

(6) Acquiring familiarity with the literature dealing with

Springfield, knowledge of source materials, increased aware­ ness of what goes on in the manufacturing affairs of Spring­ field, and acquaintance with the manners in which general economic-geographical principles find an application with regard to the city's industrial growth.

(7) Investigation of future prospects for Springfield in the light of the factors of localization for industries.

Why Springfield?

For the case study of an area which has experienced a predominantly industrial economy ever since its occupance and settlement, an urban center is deemed as the best possible unit of research. But such an urban center, if too large, presents problems of getting adequate information and involves a very long time; if too small, it has very few industries, and generalizations based on a small number of industries are apt to have very little validity. Therefore, the very first consideration that was applied in selecting a particular city for this study, was that the city be not too big and not too small. Springfield is not a 100,000 city, but among Ohio cities with a population of less than 100,000, it is the biggest (Map I). Another feature which was considered an essential for the

city to be chosen was that it should have diversified industry.

Many towns in Ohio, which are slightly larger than or slightly smaller than Springfield, are dominated by just one or two types of industries. Diversification of industry points to a possible multiplicity of advantages in the location of indus­

tries in a city and makes it possible to have a broader view­ point for industrialization in the city.

Method of Approach

The following two chapters deal with the growth and

development of the various factors of production, exchange,

and consumption. These factors have their roots in the physi­

cal and economic elements of Springfield's environment. The present-day characteristics of these factors, explained in

terms of their past, prepare the background on which the modern industrial structure of Springfield stands*

The fourth chapter has for its objective the presentation

of an abstract concept of the industrial "whole" in Spring­

field, that is, without any regard to the details concerning

an individual plant, a picture is drawn of manufacturing as a whole. But this "whole" is not static; it has its dynamic

aspects, its functional performances, its inter-regional relationships; therefore the "whole" is depicted as a living,

active, and ambitious organism. 5

POPULATION MAP OHIO 1950 GUY'HAROID s m it h

* *

* «* ?« ■

if- w i ­ ns

¥

LEGEND CITIES AND VILLAGES

• 2 0 0 - 1,000 9 1,000 - 2,500 ^ !>.oon

10.000 2 5,000

SO,0 0 0 1,000,000

100.000

S c a l e q f m i l e s Lach dot (•) represents twenty-five rural inhabitants localized By civil townships

G-H S I05J 6

When it comes to breaking down the industrial "whole" into its different components, i. e., the various types of industries, one has to delve into the past and seek antece­ dents which have persisted in order to continue malting their appearance. Thus, the fifth chapter is devoted to a study of the evolution of various industrial types, and as in

Chapter IV, the frame of reference at any historical period is the same — the factors of production and distribution.

Some of the noted performances of Springfield's not-too-remote past are worthy of proper attention.

Whereas the fifth chapter is evolutionary, the sixth is explanatory in its treatment. The former traces the continu­ ity of industrial types from the early settlement of the city to the present day; the latter tries to analyze the importance of various reasons which explain the motivation of entrepren­ eurs in locating their concerns in Springfield, and not in some other city. At the same time, an effort is made also to record the changes that have taken place, changes with regard to the distribution of industrial plants within the city, changes with regard to the labor situation, v/ith respect to market accessibility, with respect to desirability of a location in Springfield.

Chapter VII is problem-oriented. The next chapter, then, discusses the advantages and disadvantages of the city of

Springfield in relation to manufactural activity, and reveals certain reflections rather than pinpoints any conclusions.

The nature of the study is such that nothing more than some reflections can be looked at. This study looks at industry in Springfield from only one viewpoint, that is, the viewpoint of factors of production. Further research must employ other viewpoints. Then only can it be possible to comprehend all the aspects of manufacturing in Springfield and to arrive at any definite conclusions. However, a certain number of con­ clusions, though limited in scope, can be drawn from this study.

Excepting the seventh, all chapters follow the inductive approach. Facts are ascertained first, analysis is made after­ ward, and interpretations are given last. It should be pointed out here, that not all of the facts which were accumulated in the course of research have been put into the dissertation; some of them appear in the form of appendices, others have been processed and only the end-product (i.e., generalizations) appear in the text.

Deductive reasoning is used in Chapter VII. There the problems of the city have been raised in the form of hypotheses or assumptions which are proved or disproved on the altar of

factual data. Each problem is presented first as a statement of the assumption.

No pertinent study can evade a discussion of the future prospects. In case of Springfield, which is after all, a not-too-large city, fairly reliable predictions can be made on the basis of trends discovered. It must be mentioned at the very outset, that this study is not a complete piece of research on the industrial development of Springfield. The dissertation has a limited viewpoint, discusses a limited number of industries, and aims at limited goals.

Sources of Information

The factual information which forms the basis of the discussions in this dissertation, but all of which has not been reproduced here, was derived from four principal sources:

(1) Field Work. This entailed the use of the personal investigation method with the assistance of a questionnaire

(Appendix A) presented to one or more of the representatives of the management of 65 selected industrial concerns (Appendix

B). Notes on the answers to this questionnaire were taken down by the writer personally. In addition to 65 industrial plants, all the utility companies, several governmental agencies, and business organizations were also visited with a view to securing necessary facts from them.

(2) Library Research. This gave an insight into the histori­ cal material dealing with the manufacturing activity of the city. Scattered pieces of useful information were drawn from this source. Chapter V is basically the fabric woven out of threads found here. (3) Statistical References. Various censuses of manufactures and of population, as well as directories of manufactures, and a County and City Date Book (1952) were consulted for obtaining numerical data pertaining to the degree of industrialization in Springfield and other cities in Ohio with which it has been compared.

(^) Personal interviews with elderly men. The latter was not necessarily connected with industry or native Spring- fielders. They gave an interesting account of historical changes and of modern problems.

Basis of Comparison

In order to appraise the share of Springfield's manufac­ turing in the state economy, of which it forms an integral part, a comparative viewpoint is necessary. For tne purposes of this dissertation various phases of Springfield's indus­ trial activity have been compared with those of other cities in Ohio.

One thing needs be pointed out clearly. The basis of comparison in this study is the areal unit of the political city. Stated differently, statistics relating to cities^ in

Ohio were obtained and then a comparison was made.

■^Cities were referred to as "urban places" in earlier censuses of population. 10

It is advocated here that comparison of manufactural effort on the basis of metropolitan areas or counties is undesirable. The Hamilton-Middletown metropolitan area includes two -fair-sized industrial towns within its limits, and would obviously come out as more industrialized than

Springfield metropolitan area, for instance. Similarly,

Cleveland and Cincinnati have much of their industry located in suburbs, and if the whole county is considered as a unit to be compared, Clark County with Springfield as its center, would not rank as high as the city's importance warrants.

If urbanized areas were compared, then also Springfield suffers a loss of prestige, because there is not much indus­ try outside the periphery of its corporate limits. Other

cities like Dayton and Columbus are likely to have their im­ portance exaggerated. Hence this unit of comparison (urban­ ized area) is also rejected.

In this dissertation, Springfield has been compared with

the eight larger cities of Ohio (Map I). In terms of the population, Springfield ranks ninth in Ohio. Comparison with

cities smaller than Springfield is ignored, for a progressive

community looks upward toward competing with higher-ranking

communities.

Comparison is not confined to the present-day conditions.

An attempt has been made to study the ranking of Springfield

and the changes in its ranking over a span of the past half­ 11 century. Changes in the ranking denote the capability, or lack of it, of the manufacturers to take in stride the chang­ ing values of the factors of localization; they indicate the pace at which industry progresses in a community.

A city bound within its corporate limits presents a unified structure of utility services, of local government, and of various kinds of phenomena which have some bearing up­ on the functioning of its manufacturing enterprises. That is why a "city" forms a suitable basis of comparison.

What is Geographic about the Dissertation?

The industrial development of any place, as a study in economic geography, must, of necessity, deal with various aspects of both economics and geography as related to "indus­ try". Many economic geographers tend to discuss any economic activity in terms of the five factors of production; in doing so, they give due share of importance to the resource-base, which they call "land," an all-inclusive term embracing all possible elements of the natural environment. Essentially the same approach has been used in this study; the same terms have been employed, "land" standing for the composite of all the physical elements.

The term "land" denoting the physical basis of any human activity, is not a term of the economists and economic geog­ raphers only; it is being increasingly used by regional 12 geographers, who define the core of their field of study as formulation of man-land relationships*

Land, in the sense in which it would be referred to in this dissertation, is mostly passive. It possesses potential resources, but it also offers resistances to their utilization by man. It is up to man to make use of his native intelligence as a key to the satisfaction of his wants through availing himself of the resources by overcoming the resistances of nature and by converting the neutral stuff into useful material.2

Manufacturing is a secondary activity, implying that its relationship with the land is much more indirect than that of agriculture or fishing. It simply means that the local environment may not exercise a very strong influence upon manufacturing. But "land" remote from the local environment, may and does play a considerable role in the manufacturing economy of any one area through its inter-regional relation­ ships. These inter-regional connections have been thoroughly investigated in the present study.

Throughout the length of this dissertation, the focus of attention remains upon the areal unit known as the city of

Springfield contained within its Well-defined boundaries.

2 Erich W. Zimmermann, World Resources and Industries (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1951)» Chaps. I-X. 13

Whatever economic or political or other non-geographic in­ fluences on industrial production are discussed, they are all centered upon manufacturing in Springfield* Correlations and possible causal relationships between these non-geographic factors and the phenomenon of industry are important to know; only when these are considered in detail, can a proper sense of appreciation of the role of so-called geographic ("land") elements be cultivated.

The writer's concept of industrial development includes a consideration of living conditions, of educational facili­ ties, of the appearance of the city, of the recreational opportunities, and the like. These seemingly non-industrial phases of a city are beginning to be thought of seriously as pertinent elements in seeking a new location for a company or in establishing branch plants; this is a rather new develop­ ment in the thinking of policy-makers in charge of industrial enterprises. According to the writer these, strictly speak­ ing, non-industrial phases are of geographic significance because of their interrelation with "industry".

There are several approaches to the study of manufactur- 3 ing industry in any particular area. Each has its own view­ point and each has its own objectives. The approach in this

3 Morgan D, Thomas, "Economic Geography and the Manufac­ turing Industry of Northern Ireland," Economic Geography, Vol. XXXII (1956), pp. 75-86. study is broad enough to render the end-product as a research on the urban geography of Springfield; at least it would seem to be more ’’urban" than just plain "industrial"* CHAPTER II

FACTORS OF PRODUCTION

Land

A brief picture of the physical base follows. It is being presented for two reasons: first, that it provides the setting in which the settlement and later the industrial cen­ ter of Springfield originated and grew; second, some of its elements were directly involved in the rise of factory indus­ try in Springfield. The following account includes a description of those physical elements also, which apparently did not have any relation to manufacturing at all; this is done with the idea that perhaps future research will point out the definite relations which these unimportant elements might possibly have with the human activity of manufacturing.

No picture of the natural environment will be complete with­ out touching, at least superficially, upon all possible elements which are thought to be its parts. However, for the sake of convenience of treatment, the natural environment is divided into two sections: Regional setting, dealing with the surroundings of Springfield; and Local setting, concerned with the city of Springfield alone.

Regional Setting.

Before a description of the regional setting can be

15 1 6 attempted, the question arises: of which region does Spring­

field form a part? Where are the boundaries of such a region?

In fact, the city of Springfield is located in different kinds

of different-sized regions. It may well be considered a city if in the Middle West: or someone may prefer to treat it as a 5 city in the East-Central Lowland.

Both these regions suggest certain characteristics, at

least some of which characterize Springfield also. Other 6 7 regions like the Miami Valley, or the West-Central Ohio may

also generalize some of the physical features of Springfield,

Ohio.

For an understanding of the immediate surroundings of

Springfield, the description will have to be confined to Clark g County and portions of Greene and Champaign counties.

Zf Alfred J. Wright, United States and Canada: A Regional Geography (2nd ed.; New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc., 1956), Chap. XIII, pp. 303-332. 5 John H. Garland (ed.), The North American Midwest: A Regional Geography (New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.; London: Chapman & Hall, Ltd., 1955)1 Chap. VIII, pp. 108-120. £ Alfred J. Wright, Economic Geography of Ohio (Division of Geological Survey and the Ohio State Archaelogical and Historical Society, 1953), Chap. VI, pp. 101-119. 7 0. G. Rust, History of West Central Ohio (Indianapolis: Historical Publishing Co. , 193*0 , Vols. I, II, and III. g The Natural Environment of the Springfield Area, A Guide to Thirty-First Annual Field Conference of the Section of Geology combined with the sections of Plant Science and Con­ servation of the Ohio Academy of Science (Ohio Division of Geological Survey, 1956). 17

Location. A certain point in Springfield city records

39 degrees 3 8 minutes North Latitude and 83 degrees 50 minutes

West Longitude. This gives the location of the Springfield

area with respect to the earth as a planet. The city is 43

miles west of Columbus, 24 miles northeast of Dayton, 125

miles south of Toledo, and 132 miles east of Indianapolis.

Geology. Some 350 to 400 million years ago, southwestern

Ohio, of which the Springfield area forms a part, was covered

by extensions of the vast inland seas, on the bottoms of

which sediment was deposited and later on, when consolidated,

became the bedrock underlying this area. The exposed rocks

in Clark County are of the Ordovician and Silurian periods.

They dip slightly toward the northeast. Out of the many beds

of rocks that lie beneath Clark-Greene County area, only the

Cedarville and Springfield dolomites are generally visible

(Chart I).

Wherever bedrock does not appear on the surface, and in

most places it actually does not, it is covered by the drift

of the Wisconsin glacier, whose thickness varies from a few

feet to 400 feet. Most of this drift is till; but outwash, kames, and valley-train deposits are also extensive.

All of the Springfield Area was glaciated, principally

by the Wisconsin ice sheet. In fact, this area has received

a good deal of attention from glaciologists, especially because 18 g of morainal topography. The interlobate area between the

Miami Lobe and the Scioto Lobe of the late Wisconsin glacier covered the surface where Springfield stands today.

The other geological phenomena which are of note are the buried-valley areas at the probable contact between the rocks of Ordovician and Silurian age (Map II). It is unnec­ essary to go into the details of the origin and history of the so-called Teays Drainage System of pre-Pleistocene time, which accounts for the present underground channels; but it certainly is important to know the association of subsurface drainage with the area under study. It may be pointed out that the Ordovician rocks lie at a depth of about 1,000 feet and it was on the top of these rocks that the old Teays system had developed.

In dealing with the surface materials of Springfield's environment, alluvial deposits of the lower Mad River Valley should also be mentioned. The remainder of the area is covered by glacial deposits, as indicated. Both major types of deposits left by the glacier, i. e., till composed chief­ ly of clay, and outwash consisting chiefly of sand and gravel axe widespread. Clifton Gorge to the south of the city, and

Cedar Swamp to the north of the city are other important

g Donald M. Brown, "The Pleistocene Geology of Clark County, Ohio," Master's thesis, The Ohio State University, 19^8. GEOLOGIC COLUMN

The f llcwii.g chart sh ws that -.art f the g etl.g ic cclumn of Ohio that might be expected in Clark County and adjacent *. rtions of Greene and Champaign Counties.

THICKNESS FORMATION DESCRIPTION SYSTEM GROUP -(F.eeL)—

Ground and end moraine, outwash, kanes, Middle Wisconsin drift C tc 60 and valley-train deposit's

PI ei stocene Quaternary Early Wisconsin drift Extensive gravel outwash and kames 5 to 200

Mostly fine sand filling buried valleys. ?re - Wisconsin drift 0 to 400 Perhaps some till.

Cedarville dolomite Massive, porous, dolomitic limestone 5 to ISO?

Springfield dolomite Thin-bedded and dense 10 to 15

Eupbemia dolomite Massive and porous 6 to 8

Silurian Nia garan Massie shale Calcareous and dense 4 to 5

Laurel dolomite Thin-bedded and dense 5

0 sgo od shale Calcareous with limestone beds 20 to 25

Dayt_• n limestone Thin-bedded and dense 6 to 8

Beds cf Clinton Fossiliferous, massive to irregularly Brassf i el d limestone 30 age bedded

Shale, soft, calcareous, interbedded with Richmond, and C rao vi c tan thin hard limestone layers; called the i,oco+ M aysviile Cincinnati shale in old reports

CHART I

H VO v , , „ , . t 7 / M ktD U N I ,;V\ * i n j y ^ \ >'■ v

E R in«(»Cl S em e

•Seme ~ CAYUGAN,

ve/ t/A — I NlAGARAN , AND CLINTON B IO S

SILURIAN ABE

RICHMOND ANO

Seme MWSVtLE BEDS Of ORDOVICIAN ABE —• • — OUTLINE OF

PRINC/PLE BURIED' « U £ Y r . I AREAS AND PROBABLE r , ; X . ^ ] co"t*ct •"*»« ROCKS OF ORDOVICIAR J .* ,MO SILURIAN AOE. SEO- IROCK DATA FRO M WELLS. ______I DRAINAGE DIVIDE OR COL IN TEAYS SY ST EM

PROBABLE TEATS DRAINAGE SYSTEM OF PRE- PLEISTOCENE TIM E PROBABLE DEEP-STA6E DRAINAGE ru SYSTEM OF PLEISTOCENE TIME o

y GEOLOGY AFTER S E NORRIS

M AP Of THE BEDROCK, PRESENT AND PRE- WISCONSIN DRAINAGE OF CLARK COUNTY ANO PORTIONS OF GREENE AND CHAMPAIGN COUNTIES.

MAP II 21 features in the surroundings (Map III).

Topography. Near Bellefontaine in Logan County to the north of Clark and Champaign, stands the highest elevation in the Till Plain of western Ohio, 1,550 feet above sea-level.

However, the relative relief in the Springfield Area is at its maximum, about ^fOO feet. The surface can be said to be an undulating plain. Two chief features of this area's topog­ raphy are the two divides, one between the Scioto and the

Little Miami to the east of the city of Springfield, the other between Mad River-Great Miami Valley and Maumee River of northwestern Ohio to the north of the city. The present relief of the area is due to erosion that has taken place since the retreat of the glacier.

Sjtreams and Drainage. The Mad River, which flows in a southwesterly direction across the western part of Clark

County, is the principal stream. It joins the Great Miami

River at Dayton in Montgomery County. The southeastern part of Clark County is drained by the Little Miami River. Honey

Creek, a tributary of the Great Miami River drains the north­ western corner of Clark County. Beaver Creek and Buck Creek, the latter joining the Mad River just west of Springfield, have been historically more important than Honey Creek or even the Little Miami. The number of these streams presents conditions which provide natural drainage for the environment of Springfield. Stream gauging carried on by the U. S. ^ □ / ^ A L L U V I A L OCPOSTTS

VALLEY TRAIN DEPOSITS

OUTWASH'PLAIN DEPOSITS

KAMES 5 KAME MORAINE

GROUMD MORAINE

END MORAINE

MAP OF

ANO GLACIAL DEPOSITS OF oLARK CO. and portions ofGREENE 'X-'K'V *ND CHAMPAIGN COUNTIES

; 3 E O L O G Y - A F T E R R. p GOLDTHWAITE 23

Geological Survey has shown that the mean flow of the Mad

River near Springfield is 491 cubic feet per second, Perhaps this mean-flow-statistic does not mean anything unless it is explained that it is not subject to fluctuations to the extent to which many other streams in Ohio are. This high-sustained flow is the outstanding stream-flow-characteristic of the

Mad River Basin. A possible explanation of this character­ istic is the fact that large deposits of glacial gravel in the

Mad River basin store large quantities of water and release this water gradually to the streams.^

Flow-duration curves for Buck Creek and Beaver Creek whose waters pass through the city of Springfield indicate water-potentialities which are not as great as those of the

Mad River. As a matter of fact, for periods of less than about six months, the minimum flow of the Mad River is about

10 times as great as minimum flow on other streams in the state of Ohio.^ As evidenced by these studies, Clark County is less susceptible to extremely low stream flow than other parts of the state.

Climate. The Springfield Area is located in that part of the country where a humid continental type of climate, with

~^The Water Resources of Clark County, Ohio (State of Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Water, 1952), Bulletin 22, pp. 22-26.

~*~~*~The Water Resources of Clark County, Ohio, op. cit., p. 30. long-summer phase, prevails. Extremes of weather and the

changing nature of the seasons are conducive to work. The average annual temperature of stations in Clark County is 52°F.

The extreme range of temperature for west-central Ohio is

127°, from -19° to' 108°F. Precipitation is abundant (about

38"), and well distributed throughout the year. The average length of the growing season is approximately 160 days. Snow­

fall in winter is not a serious hydrologic factor because it is usually small in amount, ranging from about 30 inches to about 60 inches annually, and does not stay on the ground for long. Average annual wind velocity is 9»5 miles per hour, average annual relative humidity is 79 for morning and 63 for

evening, average annual percentage of possible sunshine is 55.

Maps of climatic efficiency reveal that the Springfield

Area forms part of that section of the United States which has

the highest climatic efficiency. This north-eastern sector

of the United States is one of the two regions in the world which promote health and efficiency because of the particular

type of climate, which is characterized by cyclonic changes of weather. Though the climate is not absolutely ideal, it 12 is favorable to both physical and mental well-being.

Vegetation. Springfield Area falls within that section of the United States where broad-leafed deciduous forests

12 Ellsworth Huntington, Principles of Economic Geography (New York: John Wiley & Sons"j Inc., 19^7) , Chap. XXIII* 25 originally occurred. Ohio, itself, has been predominantly a hard-wood region. But these hardwood trees are of mixed species, and occur in different combinations in different areas. The dominant species of Clark County, except in its northwestern part (west of the Mad River), as well as in the counties to the east and southeast, are oak and hickory. The northwestern part of Clark County shares the association of beech and maple with the Miami Valley, as v/ell as with the northeastern section of Ohio. To the south of the city of

Springfield, but confined within the borders of Clark County, 13 is located one of the smaller-sized state forests in Ohio.

In addition to the productive saw-timber which forms an im­ portant product of the natural vegetation found in the areas surrounding the city of Springfield, another important feature of the trees is the changing color of the leaves from season to season which can be said to be not only attractive, but also capable of inducing men to work.

Soils. Gray-brown podzolic soils of the northeastern

United States tell something about the very general properties of soils in the immediate environment of Springfield. West-

Central Ohio is noted for its Miami, Crosby, and Brookston types of soils. These soils are light to dark colored, and

Guy-Harold Smith (ed.), Ohio: An Empire Within an Em­ pire (2nd ed.; Columbus, Ohio: The Ohio Development and Pub­ licity Commission, 1950). See map on p. 90. 26 moderately to highly productive. With an average of 160 days of frost-free weather, and with adequate precipitation in all seasons, the climate favors the productive quality of these soils for crop growth. There are very few middle-latitude l^f crops which will not do well in Springfield environment.

Water Resources. Water can be obtained from three sources in Clark County. Surface-water can be had from Mad River,

Buck Creek, and from Beaver Creek. Ground-water respurces are contained in (i) glacial and alluvial deposits, and (ii) consolidated rocks.

Most of the water contained in the consolidated' rocks occurs along the cracks and bedding planes. Many wells drilled into these rocks act as storage reservoirs for water that en­ ters from overlying water-bearing formations of glacial and alluvial deposits. But most of such wells do not yield supplies of more than 50 gallons a minute. Nevertheless these rock aquifers are important sources of water for farm and domestic supplies. The names of these aquifers are (i) the

Niagara group above impermeable Osgood shale, and (ii) Brass- field limestone below.

Alluvium, wherever it occurs in the vicinity of Spring­ field, is not an important source of water, being thin and

lb James H. Petro, et al., Soil Survey of Clark County, Ohio, U. S. D. A. Soil Survey Report (in press). 27 rather impermeable. Wells going through alluvium, have to tap underlying valley-train deposits. The latter are not only more extensive in Clark County, but probably the best aquifers, and are capable of yielding large sustained water supplies to wells. Valley-train deposits of consequence occur not only in the Mad River Valley, but also in the val­ leys of Buck Creek and Beaver Creek.

Outwash-plains are also good sources of water; but till deposits of ground-and end-moraine are the poorest glacial aquifers.1^

To sum up, excellent ground-water areas (Map III) are along the Mad River where permeable sands and gravels of the valley-train deposits can yield up to 2,000 gallons a minute; more important than this amount is the fact that water from the Mad River infiltrates through the permeable formations to the wells and thus sustains large yields.

At this stage, concern is limited to the physical char­ acteristics of water; later, the problems involved in its utilization by the inhabitants of Springfield will be taken up.

One more noteworthy phenomenon is the quality of water.

Chemical analysis shows the quality of the ground and surface

15 The Water Resources of Clark County, Ohio, op. cit., pp. *f4-51. 28 water in Clark County is typical of natural waters in a lime­ stone region. There is a high proportion of iron and total hardness in them.

Minerals and Quarries. The most important minerals found in and around Springfield are limestone, gravel, and sand.

Most of the limestone quarries are in the vicinity of Limestone

City, which is located three miles west of Springfield.

During the oil-and-gas boom of 1 8 8 5 -8 8 , attempts were made in Clark County to find gas by drilling wells. These attempts were induced by the presence of Trenton limestone which occurs at a depth of more than 1,000 feet, and which had proved to be a source of oil and gas in northwestern Ohio.

However, no commercial quantities of oil or gas could be pro­ duced; hence all these wells were abandoned.

There is also some indication that small amounts of brine

can be found in the formations underlying the "Trenton lime­

stone of drillers." The brine-yielding aquifer is referred

to as the "Blue Lick" water zone.

Settlement♦ The story of the settlement of the Spring- 1 field Area is linked with that of the Miami Valley. This valley of southwestern Ohio had afforded the principal and

one of the earliest corridors between the Ohio Valley and

■^Wilfrid Gladstone Richards, The Settlement of the Miami Valley of Southwestern Ohio, a published Ph. D. dissertation for Department of Geography at the University of Chicago, 19^8. 29 17 Lake Erie during the late eighteenth century. It had been a prosperous agricultural and trading region under the Indian occupance.

Routes of In-migration. In those days of water transpor­ tation, the route up the Great Miami, then upstream along the

Mad River, and further eastward through Buck Creek, provided a natural avenue.

Until the middle of the 19th century, the Miami Valley was the most densely peopled region in Ohio; Springfield shared this density of population. As a matter of fact, its accessi­ bility through Miami and Mad rivers from Kentucky in the south explains the fact that Springfield was born before Ohio achieved its statehood.

Being in the path of the Great Miami route, Springfield received not only essentially the same types of skills and trades as Dayton, Hamilton, Middletown, or Cincinnati; but also later on when the Miami Valley was industrialized, it became a part and parcel of the Valley's industrial complex.

Without any pretence to completeness, the above picture of the regional setting of Springfield prepares the frame of reference for a more limited, local focus of attention.

As noted, the Springfield Area forms part of different

17 Wright, Economic Geography of Ohio, p. 101. 30 regions, each of which is based on a different element of nature. No two regions coincide in terms of their size or shape. But reference to these varied regions brings about some understanding of the general physical conditions that obtain in Springfield and its vicinity.

Local Setting

Even the local setting has changed with time, with in­ crease in the area of the city attendant upon the growth in population. The totality of the landscape has never remained the same. Words are an imperfect medium to convey the pic­ torial whole; at best, they can depict various aspects of the picture, one by one.

Site. Surface formations in the city of Springfield are composed of glacial drift derived chiefly from limestone, and are thus attributable to the drift period. Underlying forma­ tions belong to the upper and lower Silurian periods. The upper Silurian rocks belong to the Niagara group. A well drilled in 1385, west of Plum Street on the south bank of lS Buck Creek, gave the following record:

(1) Surface soil

(2) Guelph rock

(5) Blue limestone, 15 feet

18 Benjamin F. Prince, A Standard History of Springfield and Clark County, Ohio (Chicago and New York: The American Historical Society, 1922), Vol. I, Chap. VIII, pp. b k -jk . 31

(4) White clay, three feet

(5) Niagara shale, *tO feet

(6) Clinton limestone, k2 feet

(7 ) Medina red slate, 12 feet

(8) Shale rock, 226 feet

(9) Gray shale, 37 feet

(10) Gray shale, 305 feet

(11) Light shale, 130 feet

(12) Dark shale, 230 feet

(13) Red sandstone, 76 feet

(19-) Black shale, 2k feet

(15) Trenton limestone, at a depth of 1,1^0 feet.

Another v/ell reached St. Peter sandstone which lies be­ neath Trenton limestone. No drill has reached the igneous rock which underlies the geological series of sedimentaries noted above. These sedimentary deposits were laid on the bed of the ocean, which once occupied the site of Springfield.

After the Niagara series was completed, this area received an uplift and brought the sedimentary rocks above the surface.

Later it was eroded and then overridden by glacial ice. And now the present surface material and topography are a result of post-glaciation activities of weathering agents. Relics of terminal moraines exist in the form of knobs such as those about Wittenberg College which occupies the highest site in the city. Springfield is located at an altitude of approximately

980 feet above sea level. Topography is generally rolling; relative relief is less than 200 feet. Buck Creek, which flows through the town (Map IV^) , and which was called

Lagonda Creek in earlier times, has bluffs upon the right, and "swells" toward the left. Fifty feet or more above the level of the stream, toward the north, lies an extensive area of tableland, at places level and elsewhere gently undulating; a half mile further away rises another slope. From a corres­ ponding broad and level plain to the south, a gradually ascending prairie is encountered. These plains within the city do not present the horizon as unbroken. The southwestern section of the city approaches a number of low hills which lack the rugged character of nearby counties.

Buck Creek is the most important and the largest stream that traverses the city. It joins the Mad River west from

Springfield. It is a rather swift-running stream. As the flow of this stream indicates, the general trend of water courses is to the west and southwest. Drainage is not a prob­ lem in Springfield.

In the Buck Creek area, soft shale underlies harder limestone. Since shale is much less resistant to erosion, along most parts of the Buck Creek Valley, especially near its

19 See the map in the pocket tacked to the back cover. confluence with Mad River, unbroken limestone cliffs are

found. These overhanging rocks present a picturesque scene.

Beaver Creek, a tributary to the Buck Creek, joins the

latter outside the town in the northeast (Map IV).

Directly through Springfield runs another stream, small,

but swift and unfailing. Its name is Mill Run; in its lower

course in the central part of the town it is only a sewer now

This beautiful rivulet once glided smoothly through the town,

dividing it into two sections, separating the east from the

west; the east side had a steep bank; the west bank was muddy

Reference will be made to it later.

Accessibility. The site of Springfield was accessible

via the water route of Miami-Mad-Buck Creek valleys. This

accounts for early white settlement on this site as compared

to many other cities which are larger than Springfield today.

As has been pointed out in the earlier section, Buck Creek

is characterized by sustained flow through the year. About

the year 1800, when there was more water in Buck Creek, owing partly to the presence of numerous springs flowing into it,

it was a natural avenue for reaching Springfield, because of

being connected with the larger streams of Mad River and

Great Miami. Few Indian trails led to Springfield before the

20 Prince, A Standard History of Springfield and Clark County, Ohio, Chap. IX, (’’The Streams of Clark County")* 54 white settlers came, simply because there was no Indian settle­ ment on the site of Springfield.

Another feature of Mad River which contributed to the

accessibility of Springfield was its fall of only eight to

ten feet per mile through Clark County, whereas it had a much more turbulent flow upstream. This characteristic presumably

encouraged the pioneers to continue their journey from the

confluence of the Mad River and the Great Miami upward along

the channel of the Mad River and finally upon the waters of

Buck Creek. Absence of rapids and falls in the Buck Creek as

well as in the Mad River further increased their transport

value.

Climate. Weatherwise, the year can be divided into four

seasons. Synoptic weather in any one season is changing and

never stays the same for long. Monthly changes of weather

conditions which are more general than abrupt can be very well

put in the following couplet, which deals with part of the

year only:

"March winds and April showers Bring the pretty May flowers.11

Annual mean temperature in 1952 was 53»1°F. Average

annual range of temperature is about ifb0 F., which suggests

continentality. For the average, there are about 20 days with

temperature above 90 degrees; once in several years tempera­

ture rises to above 100°. Temperature below zero does occur

in winter, but seldom. Lowest temperature ever recorded in 35

Springfield was in 1864, when on New Year's Day morning, temperature reached the mark of 21° F. below zero.

These vagaries of weather are said to be good for health and for working conditions. Precipitation, whose average of

54-year record is 37•84", is evenly distributed throughout the year, which accounts for cold damp days in spring. The average annual snowfall in Springfield during the past decade has been 57»1 inches. Maximum depth on ground was 20 inches on December 26, 1950.

Wind velocity (mean) is 9*5 miles per hour, and the pre­ vailing direction is southwesterly. All in all, Springfield enjoys a healthful climate.

Floods. Serious floods are rather uncommon in the neigh­ borhood of Springfield. Even Clark County, which comprises a much larger area than the city of Springfield, has never had a disastrous flood. The 1913 flood on Mad River near

Springfield was nowhere comparable to the magnitude of the flood of the Miami River at and below Dayton the same year.

The main city of Springfield is likely to be affected more by

Buck Creek than by the Mad River; this creek also overflowed its banks in 1913, but the resulting loss of property was not much. On the other hand, Buck Creek recorded its highest flood in 1929 on February 26 which was caused by a combina­ tion of melting snow and moderately heavy snowfall. However, the damage was not anywhere near that caused by the earlier 36 catastrophe in Dayton. In spite of the 1929 flood on Buck

Creek, the generalization can be made that fortunately the creek is rarely subject to flood. Relatively flat topography, high permeability, and large ground-water storage in the Buck

Creek valley explain the mitigation of flood hazard in its channel.

The importance of comparative safety from floods needs not be exaggerated. In spite of greater flood hazards, Dayton has grown to be a larger city. But in the earlier years of settlement, Springfield was the larger of the two, presumably partly because of its situation in relation to floods.

Droughts. The Mad River Basin, including the valley of

Buck Creek, is characterized by lack of droughts. The drought- frequency curves denote better water producing qualities

(which is needed throughout the year) in case of Mad River and its tributaries than in case of other streams in the state. No crop damage has ever been reported in Clark County as due to drought. This suggests that though the city of

Springfield is built-up today, if its site were put under the plow, climatic stability (especially reliability of precipita­ tion) can almost be guaranteed from it.

Flora. The site of Springfield, before the white settlers came to dwell upon it, was covered with forest trees, hazel and plum thickets, and small undergrowth. Surrounding country afforded and still affords much of the timber, such as oak, walnut, ash and poplar; but the site of the city is practi­ cally devoid of the original stands except for the species which have been planted by man for decorative purposes. West of Mill Run, there existed wet prairie soil suggestive of the particular type of vegetation above. The eastern side was hilly and elevated and endowed with tree-cover. Some of the minor species were buclceye, pawpaw, sassafras, locust and dogwood. Along the banks of Buck Creek, willow and sycamore were common and are still to be seen- today. The limestone cliffs overlooking the Buck Creek Valley, were and are covered with cedars, ferns, mosses, flowers and vines. Ferns growing out of rock-crevices along Buck Creek presented an attractive scenery. Historical accounts indicate that much of the original natural beauty is gone; but remnants of the older scene persist only to suggest the glorious picture of former days.

Fauna. Before 1800, when human population had not thought of inhabiting this site, bears, deer, and turkeys were abundant. It was a place of resort for those animals.

No human drama except for hunting was ever staged upon this site up until the end of the 18th century. It was an animals1 kingdom, a different world.

As the Shawnee Indians saw it. This Indian tribe used to live along Mad River west of Springfield. A settlement known by the name of Piqua (the present-day Piqua is not on 38 the ancient site) just west of Mad River was a strong foothold of these Shawnees. The site of Springfield was not unknown to them; but they regarded it as a hunting ground only. However, because of its picturesque cliffs and its abounding springs of pure, fresh water, it certainly was a "favorite resort" of the red men in their day.

As the pioneers saw it. The city was founded by James

Demint, a native of Pennsylvania, in the first year of the

19th century. Some of the other early settlers were General

Simon Kenton, ivho was a native of Virginia, but who came through Kentucky, Griffith Foos, Lowry, etc. In fact, the site had already been visited in 1799 by James Demint, who was very much impressed by the natural beauty of the spot, by the availability of water from Buck Creek and springs, and by the presence of good drainage conditions. Two years later, the plot of the town was laid down. Springfield received its name from Mrs. Kenton who apparently liked the abundance of springs in this area, all of which flowed into Buck Creek.

The city of Springfield came under the original land sub­ division known as "Between the Miamis Survey" which covered thousands of acres of land lying between the Little and Great 21 Miami rivers, northward from the Ohio. This divisional

21Map of Ohio showing Original Land Subdivisions to accompany Volume III, Final Report, Ohio Cooperative Topo- graphic Survey by C. E. Sherman, 1922. 39

survey was sandwiched between Congress Lands to the west and

Virginia Military District to the east. Wot all of Clark

County fell within the Miami Country Survey; its northeastern

and southeastern sections lay within the bounds of tne Vir­

ginia Military District. The city, then village, of Spring­

field was distinguished, just like any other part of the Miami

Country, by the rectangular pattern of its survey. Streets

ran as a result of the survey directly north-south or east-

west .

Growth of population. Since the first settlement of

Springfield on March 17, 1801, the count of its population has grown continuously to this, day, the census of 1950 giving

it 78,508 people (Table 1).

At no time has the growth of Springfield been fitful or

forced. It has been regular and slow. It remained the sixth

largest town in Ohio, until in the 19th century when some

northeast Ohio towns recorded a vigorous growth. During the present century, Springfield has maintained ninth rank among

Ohio cities on the basis of population (Map I). Between 19^-0

and 1950, Springfield occupied the fourth place in nine big

Ohio cities in per cent increase of population; only Columbus,

Dayton, and Akron recorded a higher percentage of increase in

their population (Appendix C, Table 2^).

Growth of area. From a small, square plot to the south

of Buck Creek in 1801, the city has grown into a medium-sized *fO 22 urban center with an area of 13*0 sq. miles, and a density of more than 6000 persons per sq. mile (Table 2). The rank of Springfield among Ohio cities in terms of population den­ sity is fourteenth, which is indicative of relative lack of congestion so characteristic of large urban centers of the modern times* The increase in area has come about through annexations (Map V), which in turn were needed owing partly to growth in population, and partly to the desire of people living along urban fringes to be incorporated into the main city in order to avail themselves of urban services and facilities. Of the total area of the city (8320 acres), 81*^ per cent is developed, the remainder is unused or unusable*

The growth of the area comprising the city has also been steady and rather slow except in 1882, as suggested by the dates of annexations (Map V), Rapid growth of the area, of population, or of industry, has been unknown to Springfield.

Physical pattern of the city. A quadrate cross seems best to represent the idealized outline of Springfield (Map V)*

The city has expanded east-west and north-south more than in other directions* This is due to the two main highways which cross each other in the heart of the town. Streets follow a rectangular pattern, intersecting at right angles. Only here

22 As computed by the Regional Planning Commission of Clark County; the estimate by the City Engineer in 1956 is higher, 1^*02 sq. miles* 4l

Table 1

Growth of Population in Springfield, Ohio from the Earliest Census to the last in 1950

Increase over the Preceding Census Census Year Population Number Per cent

1820 1 ,8 6 8 * ------1 850 1 , 0 8 0 -788 -42.2 1840 2 , 0 6 2 982 90.9 1 850 5 , 1 0 8 3,046 147.7 i860 7 , 0 0 2 1,894 37.1 1870 1 2 , 6 5 2 5 , 6 5 0 80.7 1880 20,730 8,0 7 8 63.8 1 8 9 0 31,895 11,165 53.9 1900 38,253 6,358 19.9 1 9 1 0 46,921 8 , 6 6 8 22.7 1920 6 0 ,84o 13,919 29.7 1950 68,743 7,903 1 3.0 1940 7 0 , 6 6 2 1,919 2.8 1950 7 8 , 5 0 8 7,846 ll.l

♦Estimated

Source: Ted W. Brown, Secretary of State (compiler), Ohio Seventeenth Federal Census of Statistics of Population, by counties and minor civil divisions, 1950-1940-1950-1920- 1910 (Columbus, Ohio: Heer Printing Co., 1952), Table 2, p. 9. 42

Table 2

Selected Data for Springfield — 1950

Subject Figures

Rank of Springfield Metropolitan Area among the standard metropolitan areas of the United States*...... *143

Rank of Springfield city among U. S. cities in terms of population...... 147

Population per square mile...... *6488

Rank among Ohio cities in terms of population density...... *...... 14

Per cent of dwelling units with hot running water, private toilet and bath, and not dilapidated...... 7 5 * 5

Rank among Ohio cities in terms of post office gross receipts...... *.*7

Land area in sq. miles (city only)...... «12«1

Source: County and City Data Book* 1952* SPRINGFIELD OHIO

=£■ Vj4

MAP ¥ 44 and there the regularity of the pattern is broken by rail­ roads, Buck Creek, or express highways. The pattern is characteristic of most raidwestern cities, where rectangular 23 survey was made. Functionally it is much more useful than the radial pattern. Traffic flow is smoother in this type of street-layout.

Local raw materials. The most important mineral within the city is limestone; in fact limestones and dolomites are 24 found all over Clark County, although the most abundant and most widely used economic product in Clark County is its gravel. The best deposits are those that occur in the Mad 25 River Valley Train. Associated with the gravel is sand.

It is suitable for use in concrete, road-building, brick­ laying, and molding. There is only one active dolomite quarry in the county.

Beneath the surface soil which is rather thin, Guelph formation occurs, which is perfectly adapted to fertilizer requirements, since it shows 99*71 per cent limestone. This

23 Garland, op. cit., pp. 36-37* 24 Map of the Consolidated Rock Formations of Clark County, Ohio with description of their water-bearing properties and showing contours of the bedrock surface (State of Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Water, in cooperation with U. S. Geological Survey, 1951)* 25 Donald M. Brown, "The Pleistocene Geology of Clark County, Ohio," op. cit., pp. 70-72 ("Economic Considera­ tions") • limestone is soft and has been used for building in the past.

It is good as a flux in smelting also. However, it is un­ suited for street building purposes. Several limestone quarries are located on the banks of Buck Creek, which supply stone and lime in great quantities.

Labor

Whereas the "land" characteristics are less subject to change and need comparatively little reference to time, labor characteristics as well those of other factors of production are under constant change. Since labor is derived from the general mass of population, a survey of the population charac­ teristics as related to its place of origin becomes important.

Waves of in-migration. There was a strong undercurrent of Kentucky blood in pioneer Springfield, although Pennsyl­ vanians, Virginians, Marylanders, New Yorkers, and New England­ ers had also come. These were all native-born Americans, adventurous in spirit, and strong in determination to make a living. At that time the community was far from uniform, be­ cause even the passerby recognized the differences in the structure of the houses — a tangible expression of the origin of the settlers.

The first influx of new blood among the settlers was Irish

p ^ Prince, op. cit., Chap. XLVI ("Foreign Born Citizens of Clark County"). 46

These Irishmen came to the United States because of the severe potato-famine in Ireland in 1840-41. Their immigration to Springfield continued all through the l840's.

The decades of 1850's and 1860’s saw the incoming of

Germans in large numbers. Not only Springfield received the

Germans, the whole Miami Valley was flooded with people of

German stock; this valley still represents the greatest con­ centration of Germans in Ohio.

Whereas the settlers who came between 1801 and 1840 were born in America, somewhere in the Eastern states, the new­ comers in the 40's, 5 0 ’s and 6 0 ’s were fresh from the contin­ ent. The former had, by now, been able to develop a certain degree of love for the land or for business. That is why the history of Springfield had its beginning in the country.

Most American settlers in Springfield were or became farmers in the beginning; after a while commercial trades attracted them. But when the Irish and Germans came, a reorientation of the economy of the city became a virtual necessity. The answer was found in the opening of factories, mechanic shops, and such other non-farming establishments. As will be seen in Chapter V, the timing of the coming of Germans to Spring­ field coincided with the factory beginnings.

It is interesting to note the different kinds of econ­ omic pursuits for which the immigrants of different origins showed a preference. During the two decades of l880's and l890's, Italians and Greeks came to Springfield. The Italians were mostly shoe cobblers and fruit vendors in their first generation in

Springfield. One of the Italian families, the Bosca family, was destined to engage in the leather products industry.

There were 75 Italian families in 1921. At the same time there were 250 Greeks in the city, with very few women among them, having control over 57 business establishments. The

Greeks do not like to become clothiers or dry-goods merchants.

They feed the community, as it were, by running confection­ eries, restaurants, and theaters. The Greeks who came to

Springfield were no different. They were not to play any particular role in the industrial sphere.

There were 125 Jewish families in Springfield of 1921, these included both Orthodox and Reformed Jews. The first

Jew (Kauffman) to settle in Springfield was a clothier. Other

Jev/s, too, showed a liking for commercial establishments and banking institutions. However, they have formed less than one per cent of the population in Springfield at any one time.

Chinese residents remain foreigners. They were not allowed to become American citizens until recently, nor did they try to assimilate the so-called American culture even after long periods of their stay in this country. In Spring­

field also, the Chinese have seldom been inclined to secure naturalization papers. Most of them operate laundries. ^8

Recently they have declined in numbers.

During the present century, by far the vast majority of

Springfield citizens have been native-born Americans. Today

98 per cent of the population is American-born (Appendix D,

Table 25).

Relation with countries of origin. No other European country had made a greater contribution to the population, and thus to labor, in the city of Springfield than Germany. Ger­ mans are said to be good mechanics, hard workers, methodical and neat in their performances. The German influence in the community of Springfield has been much stronger than any other nationality influence. Evidences that Germans have remained active in the development of the city, have not been obliterated. Wittenberg College, which was started in 18^5 by the Lutheran Church is flourishing. For much of the 19th century German was taught as a living language at this college.

Among the several newspapers that were published in Spring­ field, Springfielder was well-circulated in the city, and may it be known that this paper was a German paper, i. e., printed in the German language as late as the beginning of this cen­ tury.

By now, there has been so much intermingling, so much transfusion of blood, that 98 per cent of the population is

American (Appendix D); tracing of the origin of the people presents difficulties. Interestingly, even today the largest 49 number of foreign-born population is German, 23 per cent of the total (Appendix E, Table 26),

Springfield is not unique in having a preponderance of

German blood within its population. Almost every town lo­ cated in the Miami Valley has the same story to tell. Some­ what similar development took place in all these towns, inso­ far as manufacturing is concerned.

Types of labor developed over the time. The particular type of industrial development that took place in Springfield, the discussion of which will be taken up later, has given rise to certain remarkable skills. Qualified machinists and opera­ tors of milling machines and turret lathes are the most highly skilled workers. They are in demand all the time; rarely is such worker unemployed. Other skills based on long-time experience and on family traditions are web press operation in printing and publishing, foundry-work, carpentry, painting, pipe fitting, plumbing, etc.

Female labor in Springfield dates from the 1920's. A large number of them have experience as sewing machine opera­ tors, bindery workers, glass blowers, packers, assemblers, and joggers. Many women have worked as clerks, secretaries, or saleswomen. Stenographers, bookkeepers, and typists also come from among women.

Springfield manufacturers usually offer the hourly wage rate of $1.55 to $2.25 to skilled men, $1.10 to $1.90 to 50 skilled women; $1.40 to $1.75 to semi-skilled men, $1.00 to

$1 . 6 0 to semi-skilled women; $1 . 2 5 to $1.70 to unskilled men,

$1.00 to $1.^0 to unskilled women. In recent years, weekly earnings of wage earners have, on an average, been about eight 27 per cent below the state average.

General characteristics of the city's population today.

A comparison of these with the average for the State of Ohio will reveal that conditions in Springfield in this regard approach those for the state as a whole. Justly Springfield may be called the "average Ohio city" (Appendix F, Table 27)•

Not only in terms of median age or family-size, but also in terms of income and employment and labor force and schooling, what is true about Springfield is true about Ohio, and vice versa. If a comparison is made among the nine large cities of Ohio, with respect to some of these characteristics, Spring­ field fares very well (Appendices G, H, and I; Tables 28, 29, and 50).

Labor force and unemployment. Some numerical data are in order here. In terms of the percentage of labor force em­ ployed in manufacturing, Springfield's figure per cent) is higher than the average for the state (56.6 per cent).

Among the nine big cities of Ohio, Springfield holds the sixth

^"Springfield, Ohio, April, 1956," Labor Market Informa­ tion (Columbus: State of Ohio Bureau of Unemployment Compen­ sation) . 51 place on the basis of a high percentage of labor force en­ gaged in manufacturing (Table 3) • In this respect, Toledo,

Cincinnati, and Columbus are less industrial than Springfield.

Only Dayton has less unemployment than Springfield (Appendix

J, Table 31)* In 1950 with a total of 13,17^ persons em­ ployed in manufacturing, Springfield stood ninth among Ohio cities (when total manufacturing employment was compared); it occupied the same position, if only male employment was considered; however, on the basis of female employment, its rank was tenth.

History of organized labor. Speaking in general terms, labor in Springfield has not been very well organized. Whether this means that the manufacturers■have kept labor satisfied or that labor had frictions, cannot be easily ascertained; but it does indicate a smooth sailing for manufacturing as an activity. "Sweatshops" have never been factors in Spring­ field industry.

Previous to l86^f there was no organization of labor.

The first labor union to come into existence was Iron Molders'

Union No. 72 organized in 1864. Civil War had produced con­ ditions which made various workers think in terms of unified demands. The second trade union was born in 1868 — the

Tyopgraphical Union No. 117. Soon after this, there was a panic in 1872 which caused some members to leave Springfield.

On the whole, however, Springfield remained an open-shop 5 2

Table 3

Per cent of the Employed Population Engaged in Manufacturing in the Largest Cities of Ohio, 1950

City Per Cent Engaged in Manufacturing Rank

Akron 48.4 1

Canton 46.9 2

Youngstown 46.2 3

Dayton 43.2 4

Cleveland 42.4 5

Springfield 41.4 6

Toledo 38.2 7

Cincinnati 31.5 8

Columbus 25.3 9

Source: U» S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, United States Census of Population; 1950< General Characteristics Ohio (Washington, D. C.: The Government Printing Office, 1952), Table 10, pp. 51_52. 53 community* East Street shops of the Champion Works'(to be studied in detail in Chapter V) had some difficulties in

1 8 8 0 's with respect to labor conditions, as a result of which, perhaps, Trade and Labor Assembly was founded in 1890* In

1909 organized labor in Springfield established The Tribune as its official organ and mouthpiece, which continues to be published to this day. In 1913» The Springfield Trades and

Labor Assembly acquired the Labor Temple, which also houses po the office of The Tribune.

Even today, Springfield industries are not all unionized.

About 22 per cent of the manufacturing labor force is not organized, at all, which presumably shows that there is rela­ tively little labor-management friction. Whatever organized labor there is, it does not control the situation in Springfield.

Both American Federation of Labor and Congress of Indus­ trial Organizations have their membership in Springfield today, with 35 and 40 per cent of the manufacturing labor force, respectively; but the former is an older and richer organiza­ tion, affiliating, as it does, the Trades and Labor Assembly.

This Assembly draws its members from outside Springfield also.

Its circle of influence runs halfway between Columbus and

Springfield, as well as halfway between Dayton and Springfield.

Much of the information contained in this paragraph has been based on Prince, op. cit., Chap. LII ('Organized Labor in Clark County"), pp. 461-463. 5^

When it was initially organized, the city gave no help to it, and the businessmen were but mildly opposed.

The total membership of Trades and Labor Assembly is

about 9,000 today, out of which 8 5 per cent workers are male.

The maximum radius of the circle which includes the places of residence of these members is 20 miles. As many as 95 per

cent of the members are skilled workers; five per cent are semi-skilled. No one who does not know his trade can become a member of the union.

About 95 per cent of the workers in machine trades in

Springfield, 90 per cent of the metal trades workers, most of the building trades workers, printing trades workers, trans­ portation workers, are members of the aforementioned Assembly which actually is the aggregate of several trades unions.

Over the years, due to the efforts of the Assembly, wages have gone up, the work week has become shorter, and general conditions of work have improved. There has been a minimum of disagreement between labor and enterprise in Springfield.

The total number of strikes since 1920 is approximately 25, but none of them lasted long. Organization has come to stay in Springfield.

While membership dues in the Assembly are based on a cer­ tain percentage of the worker's income, those for C. I. 0. are based on a flat rate and have proved attractive to large numbers in large concerns as in the International Harvester 55

Company.

Plant-union relations. Out of the 65 industrial con­ cerns visited, and these included all the big ones, 57 plants have no union at all. So the nature of relationship for these plants remains a secret; however, it may be safely assumed that the relations have been reasonably good and friendly. In the other 28 plants, almost all possible kinds of unions are represented. Open shops as well as closed shops of Independent, U. A. W., C. I. 0., A. F. of L., I. A. M.,

P. M. A. — are all in existence in these 28 plants in dif­ ferent combinations of two or three. Cases in which there are two unions are many. Many companies have a profit-sharing plan with their employees. In some concerns, for instance in

Echo, Inc., coffee is served and music provided to the work­ ers.

On the whole, there have been only minor grievances on the part of labor. But unions are trying to get into hither­ to unorganized labor.

Frequency of strikes. The industries visited reported the number and date of strikes; the total came to be 18. The earliest reported strike was held in '1 9 3 7 i when there was a shutdown for two days at a certain plant. The year 1955 had at least four strikes, the longest lasting for five weeks.

Eighteen strikes in 18 years (1937 to 1955) give an aver­ age of one strike per year. Many of these strikes lasted for 56 a few days only. Such nature and frequency of strikes give the impression that Springfield is relatively free from labor troubles. There is no record of a city-wide strike at Spring­ field. Once the local employees of a certain concern were involved in a protracted walk-out for two months, thirteen days which was instigated by workers of the same national con­ cern elsewhere.

Wage-rates as compared to other cities. In 1955, the average weekly earnings of a manufacturing worker in Springfield were seven per cent below the state average; in 1 9 5 6 , the same type of figures stood eight per cent under the average 29 for the state. A city whose percentage of labor force em­ ployed in manufacturing is higher than Ohio's, showing wage- rates below the state average, indicates relative cheapness of labor. This, however, bears no reflection upon the quality of workers or on their productivity. In the absence of data related to wage-rates in the cities of Ohio, the only way to compare Springfield's manufacturing wages with those of other cities is to analyze the average weekly earnings in manufactur­ ing industries of the counties in which the nine big cities are located (Table 4). Obviously Springfield area pays the lowest wage among the areas compared. That is not the whole

^"Springfield, Ohio, April, 1955," Labor Market Informa­ tion (State of Ohio Bureau of Unemployment Compensation), see also April, 1956. 57

Table *f

A v e ra g e Weekly Earnings in Manufacturing Industries in the Nine Largest Metropolitan Areas of Ohio, in 195**

(County) Weekly earnings

Toledo...... $95.89

Cleveland...... 92.78

Dayton...... 9 2 .6 9

Akron...... 88.27

Cincinnati...... 86.90

Youngstown...... 86.97

Canton...... 8A-.08

Columbus...... 8 5 . 6 9

Springfield...... 80.52

Source: Ohio Bureau of Unemployment Compensation, Divi­ sion of Research and Statistics, Columbus, 1955> Table RS 2 0 5 .5-0 0 0 . story. If these same weekly earnings were compared for the

88 counties of Ohio, Clark County, in which Springfield is located, is relegated to the 3 1 st position.

Wage-rates are different for different types of labor — unskilled, semi-skilled, and skilled. The above generali­ zation about lower wage-rates in Springfield holds good for the average wage rates only. When the wages of skilled work­ ers are compared, Springfield employees are just as well-paid as those in any other city of Ohio.

Productivity as compared to other cities. In the absence of data for cities as political units, average value of manu­ facture per factory employee in Ohio's 21 economic areas will be compared. According to this value, Springfield Area

(Area M) stood second (to Ironton). This means that Spring­ field recorded second highest value added by manufacture per 30 employed worker in 19^-7 ($5»824). One of the reasons of such high productivity per worker may be low average weekly earnings of manufacturing employees in the area (&6 5 «2 0 ), in terms of which Springfield occupied only 12th rank among 21 economic areas of Ohio as of 1950.

World War II years and Springfield's labor. The year

19^3 showed a record "high" of manufacturing employment in

■"^Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Monthly Business Review, Vol. XXXIII (Supplement to November^ 1951 issue), P. 15. in Springfield as reflected in the figures for the metropoli­

tan area. Although the 19^3 peak was surpassed in 1951 j the

world-war years showed very good opportunities for factory jobs

There was an increase of 5?370 production workers alone from

1939 to 19^7. In the winter of 19^3, Springfield was classed

as a Group I area, i. e., an area of acute shortage of labor.

Dayton was experiencing a similar condition. Many workers

were migrating between these two cities in order to better

their prospects. Local supply of labor did not mean much to

the local industry. During spring and summer (19^3), the

neighboring cities took joint action and halted in-migration

and thus balanced their man-power needs with their supply of 31 labor. By the beginning of the autumn the same year, Spring­

field formed part of Group II area (characterized by labor

stringency). This certainly was a better situation than ear­

lier in the winter.

City of homes; liked by labor. That Springfield is a 32 city of homes is a very important feature from the vxewpoint

of labor. Unless labor feels at home in the city in which

factory or factories are located, he would not stay long there.

Dayton and Springfield Join in Effective Community Action", The American City, Vol. LVIII (September, 19^-3), p. 5» 32 Charles S. Kay, "Springfield as City of Homes and Health The Ohio Magazine, edited by Webster P. Huntington (Columbus: Ohio Magazine Publishing Co.), Vol. Ill (1907, pp. 369-378. 6o

A large number of fraternal homes, good schools, active churches, Wittenberg College, etc. are some of the attractions of Springfield.

The site of Springfield was selected partly because of its attractiveness. The native beauty is gone; but the in­ habitants of the city have kept it a livable, likeable city.

Beautiful settings of flowers and shrubbery for homes render the residential section located in the northern part of the town, which is also relatively higher, a place worth living in. No wonder, then, that the residents of Springfield like their home-town.

Not all Springfielders live in the northern residential section, which actually is the best part of the town. Many of them have to live in southern and southwestern parts.

Although the homes in these parts are not as attractive, practically all of them have access to city utility services.

New construction is going on all the time.

Pictures of its housing, commercial and industrial build- 33 ings are worth seeing.

Alternative opportunities at Dayton and Wright-Patterson

Air Force Base. Job openings at Dayton, which is only 23 miles away, and also at the Air Force Base I k miles from

33 Springfield Newspapers, Inc., A Graphic Story of Spring­ field, Ohio ...... and its Rich, Fertile Surrounding Territory. 61

Springfield, offer alternative opportunities for employment

to the Springfield labor. For instance, machine tool indus­

tries of similar types have developed in both Dayton and

Springfield; consequently local machinists are paid competi­

tive wages and offered general conditions to their liking.

Many unskilled or semi-skilled workers do go for employment

to the larger city of Dayton or to the Wright-Patterson Air 3k Force Base, management in Springfield, therefore, tries to

do every thing possible to see that prospective and desirable

type of labor does not leave the town. Over the years, there has been very little turnover in Springfield's population.

As much as 80.8 per cent of the population was found in the

same house in 1950 as in 1 9 ^9 *

Capital

Plant operations are dependent upon the availability of

capital, which encompasses the equipment, and various techno­

logical facilities. The latter utilize physical elements, but not necessarily those belonging to the environment in

which the enterprise is carried on; moreover, the physical

elements play the role of power or utilities and not that of raw material in this context.

34 The Air Force Base is conducting a survey about commuters from Springfield, the results of which are not yet accessible. 62

Personal capital. Personal savings played a dominant role until the Civil War. Both capital and labor were organ-

7 r ized after the Civil War. Many of the Kentuckians and

Virginians, who came to Springfield in its early years of settlement, brought some capital with them, which proved enough to start small enterprises. Until 1850, almost all enterprises were small. Presently, the term "capital" is be­ ing used in the sense of surplus money or past savings.

Some settlers invested their dollars in farmland, others in commercial establishments, still others in industry. The scale of industry operations, therefore, was comparable to that in other economic pursuits. There are instances of

Springfield-lovers, who made money in the gold-rush of Cali­ fornia in 1849, came back to their native town, and estab­ lished some industry with the help of this capital.

Banking facilities. The importance of the services of banking is well-known. Early banking conditions in Spring­ field were not conducive to good business. The community suffered the inconvenience of the wild-cat banking system until the establishment of state banks in 1845, and more or *^6 less up to the creation of national banks in 1 8 6 3 .

35 Prince, op. cit., Chap. LII, pp. 461-465. 36 Charles Clifford Huntington, A History of Banking and Currency in Ohio Before the Civil War (Columbus: Ohio Arch- aelogical and Historical Publications, 1915), 512 pp. The latter were operated under the Federal authority. Pre-

1845 years had been characterized by private banks and fluc­

tuating value of currency. Both these were eliminated by the

state banks. The first such bank in Springfield, known as the Mad River Valley Bank opened its doors in 1847. The sec­ ond bank was organized in 1 8 5 1 in view of the increasing de­ mands of business and industry. The third bank was opened in i860. During the Civil War, there was some competition as to which bank would become a national bank. In 1864, the

Springfield Bank (the second oldest), acquired the title of

First National Bank. By 1 8 7 8 , there were four national banks.

The number is suggestive of the growing needs of industry and thus' of the prosperity of community.

The greatest financial test encountered in Springfield

came in 1 8 8 7 , when some of Springfield's leading industries

failed. Except for this incident, banking has always been profitable in Springfield.

In times past, some of the captains of industry have been bank presidents. Therefore it has been possible for various industrialists to enjoy good relationships with bank­ ing institutions. Availability of capital locally eases some of the mental worries of those in charge of industry, for they can dispense with long negotiations with outside sources of capital. Familiarity with bankers, such as is feasible locally, pays off in financial transactions. However, capital 6k has flowed into Springfield from outside places also, such as

New York and Chicago, in the form of purchase of stocks as well as in the form of mergers and consolidations of manufac­

turing firms.

At present there are only two national banks and it is realized that Springfield could use the services of two addi­

tional such banks. However, there are five other commercial

and savings banks and loan associations, which perform some

of the necessary functions of such institutions.

The history of banks involves a number of events, in­

cluding mergers and consolidations; it also presents evidence 37 that after all, they have been very useful to the communxty.

Present-day assets. During the post-war decade, there has been a continuous increase in savings deposits, except

for a recession in 19^8; at the same time total bank clearings have grown larger every year. This shows that business trans­ actions have been increasing, reflecting in turn, better

economic prosperity for the whole town.

Technological Developments

Utilities and services are considered part of the "capi­

tal" as a factor of production in this study. They are also, in a way, a kind of surplus which enters into production

■^Orton G. Rust, Fifty-five Years of Service ... 1873- 1928 (Springfield, Ohio: The Lagonda-Citizens National Bank, 1 9 2 8 ) . processes in various ways. This surplus involves the services of non-industrial establishments; it is utilized by commer­ cial and domestic interests also; it has grown with the needs of time, for those in charge of it have been careful. In many instances, a greater surplus is available than is in demand at the present time; this excess of "surplus" invites new industry into Springfield, facilitates the expansion of the existing plants, and makes it possible for planning agen­ cies to look hopefully toward the city's future. In modern times, a continuous improvement in the state of arts is a safe competitive device; both industrial and non-industrial sectors of a community should be interested in it. As will be seen presently, Springfield possesses all those public utilities and services which are expected or exist in any other progressive town in the United States.

Sources of power. In terms of this item, several periods can be discerned in Springfield's history. The first half of the 1 9 th century constitutes the first period, when water power was the main source of power. Early industries were closely related to Mill Run, through the connecting link of water power. The first manufacturing establishment in Spring­ field, a distillery (Appendix K), was erected at the mouth of

Mill Run. In those days when water turned the wheels of in­ dustry, overshot water wheels were generally used. Buck

Creek water power was also used to a great extent; there were as many as 20 mill sites located along it. Many of the. con­ cerns which used Buck Creek power, were not flour mills, so representative of the formative days. In the late l840's, improvements were made in the use of water power from Buck

Creek. An artificial channel, Mill Race, was constructed along the north side of Buck Creek. It took its waters from

Buck Creek, and emptied again into it a little distance down­ stream. Many industrial enterprises were located between

Buck Creek and Mill Race. Here was Leffel's machine shop and foundry, a cotton factory, an oil mill, and a planing 38 mill. Mill Race is shown in many older references.

Today, when water power is no longer used, Mill Race is gone, but its relic remains, reminding the observer of its former functions.

Although Buck Creek and Mill Race v/ere important sources of power, the other stream (Mill Run) was the principal motive power of the village. Being a stream that ran its course through the heart of the town, it rendered factories located on its banks accessible to the central business district. It was on Mill Run that Maddox Fisher erected his cotton mill with $20,000 brought from Kentucky in 181^. Floods in this

Run were frequent, and constituted a constant menace to prop-

38 Directory of the City of Springfield (Springfield: John W. Kees and Co., Publishers, 1 8 5 2 ), see map of the city. 67 erty. In 1819, the city ditched and drained the Run; for many years afterwards the danger was mitigated. In the later part of the 19th century, when water power was losing its im­ portance to coal, flood annoyance caused Mill Run to be arched over by stone from the site of the Arcade, through the business center. This project was undertaken by the City

Council in 1877-78. The arch is 18 feet wide and 9 feet high.

In the years since then, Mill Run has remained a mere sewer and a useful receptacle for the city's garbage. Today a flow into Buck Creek from an abattoir between Fountain and Witten­ berg avenues reminds one of its existence.

The years from 1850 to about 1890 formed the transition­ al period during which coal in the form of steam was the chief source of power. This was also the time when some of the greatest growth of Springfield industry took place; in view of this, proximity of Springfield to the coalfields of south­ eastern Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, and Virginia became significant. This was also the period when railroads played a very significant role in bringing coal to Springfield.

The next period started slightly before 1890 and contin­ ues to this day. It is the period of the use of electric power. The source of electric power is the same, "coal," but its cost and distribution are different. In 1883, four years after Edison's invention of the electric lamp, the first elec­ tric plant of Springfield was established. Companies with different names, but with essentially the same management, operated electric power generation and distribution as a privately-owned utility. In 1908, presently utilized plants were constructed. These passed into the hands of the Ohio'

Edison Company in 1923. This company is a state concern, with headquarters in Akron. The two plants in Springfield are

(i) Rockaway Plant on Buck Creek, and (ii) Mad River Plant just below the confluence of Buck Creek with Mad River. The coal comes from Kentucky, West Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsyl­ vania. About the same rates are maintained throughout Ohio, so that Springfield is in the same position as any other town served by this company. It is also linked with Dayton Power and Light Company, Cincinnati Gas and Electric Company, and the Pennsylvania Power Company, thus assuring some possibili- | ty of supplementing the present supply.

The nature of relationship between industry and electric power has two important aspects. Firstly, industry is the largest power-using sector in the city economy. Foundries, publishing companies, electrical equipment industry, steel fabrication, and machinery industry are the major consumers of electric power. Secondly, it should be noted that there is abundance of power in Springfield. Whereas the total capacity in the two Springfield plants is 114,000 kilowatts, the total load is only 65,000 kilowatts. As a matter of fact, 69

Edison System, 39 because of its interconnections with other power systems, allows for unlimited expansion of industry in

Springfield. Incidentally, this is the only company serving the Springfield market.

Electricity accounts for about six per cent of the cost of operations in most industries. Therefore availability and abundance of this power in Springfield does not necessarily place it in any superior position.

The company also sells steam service to hotels, office buildings, apartment houses, laundries, and various other business enterprises in the downtown area of the city of

Springfield. Such service is available only to two other cities in Ohio — Akron and Youngstown.

Sources of gas for heating. From 1849 through 1890, gas was manufactured from coal by Springfield, Gas Company and sold in the city. But manufactured gas is only half as good as natural gas in terms of B. T. U. Fortunately the oil-and- gas-boom of the l880’s in eastern Ohio, and West Virginia, made natural gas available to Springfield. A new company,

Springfield Natural Gas Company, came into being, though it was owned by the same people as the older company. It supplied both power and heat to industries, but only heat

Annual Report (Ohio Edison Company, For the Year Ended December 31i 195 70 to homes and stores. This local, company was merged with

Ohio Fuel Gas Company in 1935* The latter, with its head­ quarters in Columbus, has been the sole supplier of natural gas since then.

The sources of shipment of natural gas into Springfield have shifted over the years. Originally, i. e., in the late 19th century, West Virginia and eastern Ohio were the primary sources of this natural gas. Then, for sometime, natural gas came from the small wells in Indiana. At present, almost all of it comes from Texas, Louisiana, Kansas, and

Oklahoma. The rest is shipped in from southeastern Ohio,

Kentucky, and West Virginia. Springfield forms the center of one of the nine gas districts in Ohio. Being located in

Ohio, Springfield has the advantage of securing lowest rate if 0 gas for its industries and domestic consumers.

The supply of natural gas is not only large, regular, and reliable; it is also capable of being increased at any moment, because Ohio Fuel Gas Company is linked with the

Columbia System.

Even though there is no dearth of this important item in

Springfield, those industries which are large consumers of gas for processing purposes, such as steel, glass, and pottery

if 0 "Senate Committee Finds Ohio’s Gas Rates among the Lowest in Nation," Springfield News-Sun, Sunday, January 22, 1956, p. 2A. 71 industries, have not come here. The industries that are now located in Springfield, are only moderate consumers of natural gas, except for thermometer plants which are dependent on gas, largely. Among other industries that consume large amounts of gas as well as other fuels are local truck manu­ facture, machine tool plants, plastic manufacture, leather products manufacture, etc. Some plants have their own boil­ ers for heat (coal is the fuel used).

In terms of both electric power and gas, then, Springfield enjoys a favorable position.

Sources of water supply. The very site of Springfield was chosen among other reasons because of the numerous springs that abounded in the area. But by now the springs have been converted into sewers. Thus one of the original sources of water has disappeared.

The main distributor of water supplies in the city today is the Water System — a utility owned by the city. This system came into operation in l88l when the water plant was built on the Buck Creek, just above the confluence of Beaver

Creek with it. Above this intake, Buck Creek drains 82 sq. miles, the area including some of the greatest elevations in

Clark County. Headwaters of this stream are in the knobs of

Moorefield and Pleasant townships, which are covered with pas­ tures. Dry-weather flow in Buck Creek used to be 20 million gallons per day; but since the springs have been out of commission, this volume has been considerably reduced. As long as the city remained small, there was not much of a problem, but over the years, surface waters of Buck Creek have proved inadequate; it should be noted that the surface- water supply is supplemented by ground water that occurs naturally in the gravel deposits and percolates into the collecting system that conducts it into the pumping station.

Even the addition of the ground water'reached by the wells in the vicinity of the pumping station and transportated by means of pipes to the main collecting reservoir (underground), does not make the total supply sufficient especially during summers.

The Ohio Edison Company is the largest user of water in

Springfield, circulating 50 million gallons of water a day.

But since it draws its water from the Mad Eiver, its opera­ tions do not come into conflict with the city Water Works.

About 85 per cent of the city water comes from the waters of

Buck Creek, and the remainder from ground-water sources. As observed before, the Water Works is operated as a public utility. That is, it makes a charge to the consumer based on the amount of water he uses. The rates have not changed since

4l , Prince, op. cit., Chap. XL ("The Water Supply of Springfield"). 73 the system was Installed in 1898,

Some of the industrial plants have their own wells. In

1945 * a total of 23 industrial plants pumped four million gallons of water a day (See Appendix L, Table 32) for a list

of large industrial users of water). In 1952, the National

Supply Company which manufactures diesel engines, was the largest single industrial user of ground water, pumping

1,400,000 gallons a day. However, the same company does not remain the top user every year. Approximately 70 per cent of

the total industrial pumpage is taken from the glacial de­ posits, the rest from the consolidated rocks. Most of the water is used in the fabrication of machinery and tools, and large quantities also are used in the generation of electric power, and for air conditioning.

Maintenance of separate pumping wells by industrial plants is an evidence of the awareness of possible shortage of water.

Although actual shortage of water has never occurred in Spring­

field, an apprehension of it has always haunted the business­ men and city fathers alike. However, the very fact that water

supply has practically never failed in Springfield is indica­

tive of the alertness of the city officials in charge of

Water Department. 42 Various means of communication such as telephone, tele-

42 >■ "Springfield Telephone Facts," (Cleveland: Public Rela­ tions Department, 1954), typewritten. 7k graph, and postal services are available in Springfield.

Although it ranks l^+7th among the United States cities in terms of population, it ranks 51st in postal receipts. The reason is the great amount of mailing by local publishers of magazines.

Other utilities. The city of Springfield maintains enough sewage facilities and charges very low rates. The modern sewage plant has a capacity of 50 million gallons per day. The average amount of sewage disposed, however, is k3 only 21 million gallons daily. One of the reasons for relative cheapness of sewage rates may be the fact of utili­ zation of original springs (nature's gifts) as sewers.

Modern motor coach transportation serves the city and is under the charge of Springfield City Lines.

Private ownership of public utilities is the prevailing system in Springfield; but fire department, police department, sewage, water are run by the city. All in all, the city lacks no modern services of an American city.

Entrepreneur

Entrepreneur is the "chemist" who assembles and mixes land, labor, and capital in suitable proportions, and gives

Springfield, Ohio ... Facts, Figures, Features ... (Springfield, Ohio: Springfield Development Council, 1953)* rise to industry as a product. There are many aspects of this factor of production as related to industrial develop­ ment in Springfield, which must be considered. Historically the most important has been the presence or availability of inventors.

Inventive genii. Like a precious windfall, or perhaps given by Mother Nature, or maybe by accident of history-, in­ ventive genii have been born in or lived in Springfield in the past, and have proved to be potent sources of manufactural enterprise. In many cases they were, or later became, the owners of the firms which manufactured the products of their invention. In other cases they were employed by firms which gave full credit to their work and originality. Inventors not only gave birth to industrial activity related to their invention, but also tended to bring prestige to the community where they lived. By a fortunate combination of circumstances

Springfield -has received both "industry" and "prestige" in the past, due to the inventors who happened to be associated with i t .

Among various names who held patents for the product of their genius (Appendix M), the four Whiteley, Leffel, Patrick, and Mast stand out. James Leffel was Springfield's first rec­ ognized inventor, being credited with the invention of the water turbine, a cooking stove, and lever jack. Whitely held the record for inventions among the reaper-men. His "Champion1 machine caused more growth of the city than any other event

at any other time, and made it known as the "Champion City."

Charles Patrick, who was with the Superior Drill Company held several, patents on early grain drills. Patents were h-k secured for many agricultural tools by Phineas P. Mast, the

first one being a seed planter. Some of the patents were issued to him as a co-patentee, and assigned to his company.

He also organized the firm of Mast, Crowell and Kirkpatrick

for the publication of Farm and Fireside, one of the most extensively circulated agricultural journals in the United

States. Lawn sweeper, induction motor, incubator, and paper- hangers’ tools were also invented by Springfielders. Not only in manufacture, but in agriculture also, Springfield has come to be a city of inventions. The 4-H idea was born in

Springfield,perhaps, as a response to the prosperous farming conditions in the surrounding territory. Even hybrid corn, which has revolutionized agricultural practices related to corn-growing, is reported to have been developed by Spring­ fielders, Shull Brothers in name (although there is some ques­ tion whether this is true).

Business leaders among pioneers. Almost as important as inventors, were the business leaders of the early days who laid

Ll Ll Robert F. Dodds, "Springfield Man Invented Ag Tools," Columbus Dispatch, Sunday, October 16, 1955, Sec. 6E. 77 the foundation for successful functioning of business enter­ prises by creating the right type of atmosphere for it. Spring­ field was fortunate in having thrifty people among its settlers.

Historians have noted the intelligence and business interests of those early inhabitants with favorable comments. Manufac­ turing came to Springfield in the wake of its settlers.

Both the inventive faculty and business ability were found in William N. Whiteley, who, it is said, made and broke

Springfield in the 19th century. A Swiss partner in one of

Whiteley's firms, Fassler, played an important role because of his love for detail and accuracy, though he invented no­ thing. Kelly supplied only the capital in the beginning.

Thus entrepreneurs appeared in different types of singular and combined roles in the history-making days of Springfield.

History of mergers. Entrepreneurs establish an enter­ prise, they are also responsible for the names of the com­ panies. Sometimes a new company appears on the scene with essentially the same management as in one or more living or dead companies of the city. At other times, the same com­ panies maintain two different plants each in two different parts of the town, and members of the same entrepreneurial family supervise the functioning of the two. These generalized statements are valid in case of Springfield, for the varied history of the number of establishments and of the titles of companies existing at different periods, has been made largely 78 by entrepreneurs. In this connection, it may be observed that any city's industrial complex involves not only local entrepreneurs, but outsiders also. An entrepreneur with his home office in an outside town may control the affairs of his branch plant located in the city under consideration.

Conversely, the local entrepreneurship may extend its sphere of influence much beyond the city limits. The historical details of Springfield industry on which these inferences are based lie beyond the scope of discussion in this disser­ tation.

Types of ownership today. Today’s picture is a result of the makings of yesterdays. Out of 65 industrial concerns interviewed, 42 are local, four state, 1 3 national, and six 4 5 international concerns. The headquarters of some of the national and international companies are in Springfield (Table

3 ). It is not the purpose of this study to trace the changes in the types of ownership as an explanation for what types exist today.

Role of corporations. In many instances ownership does not rest with an individual; it is controlled by the family or by a larger body of persons known impersonally as a "cor-

45 Local concerns are those whose offices and plants are all in Springfield. State concerns have their plants distri­ buted in more than one place (city) within the same state; the home office may be anywhere in the state. National concerns have their plants scattered in more than one state. Inter­ national concerns cross national boundaries in terms of their plant operations or office locations. 79

Table 5

Nature of Industrial Concerns in Springfield

Nature of Affiliations Number of Concerns

International...... 6

National...... 13

State...... ^

local...... k2

Total 65 80 poration.11 At least one third of the industrial companies today (in Springfield) are incorporated.

Important families. Not unjustifiably, historians tend to exaggerate the importance of certain families in the mak- ing of an area. In Springfield, too, some of the notable developments owed their birth and continuation to persons who came from a limited number of families. Important fami­ lies, whose names still continue to be known because of being associated with companies, have been: Warder, Bushnell, Fass- ler, Kelly, Snyder, Foos, Ludlow, Shellaburger, Mitchell,

Crowell, Bancroft, Whiteley, Gotwald, Mast, Kay, etc. (ex­ pressed in no order of importance).

Number of establishments. This is a very poor barometer of increase or decrease in the industrial production of an t area. Private ownership and competitive system characteriz­ ing the U. S. economy, rather than any significant changes of industry, are reflected in the fluctuations of the number of establishments. (Table 6).

Government

In the U. S., government has been recognized as a factor of production within comparatively recent times. This does not mean that government played no part before then. The fact of the matter is that government has always been pervasive in its influence; but being an intangible factor, it has 8 1

Table 6

Number of Establishments in Springfield, 1899-1947

Year of Number of Rank among Ohio Census Establishments cities in terms of Column 2

1899......

1904...... 8

1909......

1914......

1919......

1925...... 0

1929......

1935......

1937...... 9

1939......

1947......

Source: Census of Manufactures, Bureau of the Census, U. S. Department of Commerce. 82 remained imperceptible until recently. The laws, the policies, the attitudes, and the broader public interests of government cannot but permeate the daily functioning of economic activi­ ties, though indirectly most of the times. The role of gov­ ernment as a producer is rather new for this country, and started only during World War II.

State government. Location in the State of Ohio becomes important for Springfield from the viewpoint of an outsider who might be interested in an Ohio location. ' Secondly, state agencies such as the Bureau of Unemployment Compensation, Ohio

Chamber of Commerce, Industrial Development Clinics, State

Department of Health, Department of Natural Resources, De­ partment of Highways, etc. make their services available to

Springfield just as promptly and efficiently as to any other place in Ohio. Nationwise, Ohio has a reputation as a pro­ gressive industrial state, being second in value added by manufacture•

1 Local government. American democracy is characterized by conditions that permit and encourage and support local- self-government. A city government can do much to facilitate a proper functioning of industrial activities. It can regu­ late traffic flow, it can cooperate with industry through planning bodies, it can give the city a better appearance, it can provide utilities and protective services to residents as v/ell as to businessmen. The city government of Spring- 83 field has been awake to its responsibilities. Springfield was one of the first towns in America to try the city manager form of city government. As early as 1913, this new type of 46 city government was instituted in Springfield. However, the late 1 9 2 0 's and 1 9 3 0 's saw some mismanagement of the city affairs, so that it came under the grip of bonded indebted­ ness. In early 1930's, due to delinquent taxes, the city was under such poor financial conditions that it had to ask the

State Relief Commission for help in connection with poor re- 47 lief. Only when a new administration was installed, in­ debtedness decreased in 1933* Thus the record of the city government is not consistently efficient.

One of the most obvious connections between the city government and city industry is maintained through the Water

Works which is operated as a municipally owned public utility, that is, the city makes a charge to the consumer based on the amount of water he uses. The rates appear incredibly low as compared to those in other cities of comparable size any­ where in the Nation.

Until recently, there was no income tax in the city.

Springfield could not have many of the civic developments that

46 The Charter of the City of Springfield, Ohio (Spring­ field, Ohio: Charter Commission of Springfield, 1913), 36 pp. 47 Facts About Your City Government which every citizen of Springfield should know (compiled by Thomas J. Berry, Chairman, the Businessmen's Committee: for the Information of the Vot­ ers of Springfield). characterize Dayton for instance. Most people in Springfield have been conservative, and time and again political condi­ tions have not been in favor of an income tax. Psychologi­ cally unfavorable impressions have been formed by outsiders who might have been interested in a site location. However, a city income tax ordinance was passed in June, 19^8. This created a one per cent tax on salaries and net profits. This tax was collected from July 1, 19^+8 to December 31, 1952, when it was reduced to six-tenths of one per cent. All individual proprietorships, partnerships, associations, and corporations have to pay this tax; every salary, wage, commission, etc. is assessed for this purpose. The concensus of opinion among manufacturers today is in favor of this tax. In fact, some of them would not mind a return to the original rate. They have a feeling that the urban improvements resulting from the city expenditure derived from income tax would more than repay them.

Real estate taxes in the city of Springfield are higher than in Columbus, but lower than in Dayton. Thus taxation of real property in terms of its lower rate offers a competition against Dayton for heavily-taxed industries.

So far as administration by itself is concerned, it is as efficient and representative as a city-manager form of 85 government can provide.^

Role of federal government. During the 19th century

Springfield enjoyed the benefits of the protective policy of the United States Government as accrued to the whole country.

That role of the Government has continued but with a lesser vigor and lesser emphasis.

Another very important evidence of the interest of the

Federal Government in the progress in general and industrial development in particular was and is the Patent System.

Thomas Jefferson once said, "The issue of patents for new dis- 49 coveries has given a spring to invention beyond my conception."

In 1859, Abraham Lincoln, in a lecture, paid tribute to the patent system: "The patent system added the fuel of inter­ est to the fire of genius.In the present century, in the words of Franklin D. Roosevelt, "The American Patent System has promoted countless applications of the arts and sciences 51 to the needs and well-being of our people." Certain aspects of the industrial progress in Springfield particularly during the second half of the 1 9 th century can be attributed to this

Know Your Town Government (Springfield: League of Women Voters) • 40 The Story of the American Patent System, 1790-1952 (U.S. Department of Commerce, Patent Office, 1952), p. i.

5 °Ibid., p. 1 1 .

•^I b i d ., p. i. 8 6 patent system, which protected the rights for the exclusion of others from the manufacture of various patented articles.

The names of the noted inventors in Springfield have already been mentioned in the preceding section of this chapter. This system has not had any real functional significance for Spring­ field industry in this century, although it exists as solidly as ever K before. -F 52

When the Second World War came, the government financed industrial expansion inOhio as in other states; Dayton-

Springfield area was fifth in Ohio in order of the value of 53 war facility expansion. The exact share of Springfield is not known but it can be safely assumed that its industry did get a due proportion of war contracts given to the Area. Air­ craft parts, iron and steel, electrical equipment, and machine- tool manufactures in Springfield received the greatest impetus during this period.

The Federal Government's foreign policy as well as tarriff policy will continue to affect materially certain aspects of industrial production in Springfield in future. Only a stronger hand of the United States Government can be antici­ pated.

cp General Information Concerning Patents, (Washington, D.C.; U.S. Department of Commerce, Patent Office, 195^), 35 PP* 53 Wright, Economic Geography of Ohio, op. cit., see map on p. 5 ^-* 87

Business vs. government in Springfield* Whichever government — local, state, or federal — is considered, relationships are cordial, cooperative, and non-interfering.

The city government has very little to do about industry except in relation to what measures may be proposed by the

Regional Planning Commission. Its powers are only regula­ tory, not supervisory or controlling-type. Because most of the revenue is derived from manufacturers, and because the latter create jobs and income within the city, the government seeks friendly relations with them. CHAPTER III

FACTORS OF DISTRIBUTION AND CONSUMPTION

A. Distribution

Manufacturing cannot be self-sufficing. By its very na­ ture, it has to depend upoii, and in turn gives rise to, com­ merce. The very concept of manufacturing involves assembly of raw materials from different sources and shipment of fin­ ished products to different areas. A manufacturing plant is a sort of magic house; lines of raw materials coming from vari­ ous directions converge upon it; lines of' finished goods radiate from it. The plant is a center of processing, a place where form or substance of the material is changed, utility is created, and value is upgraded. It is that pheno­ menon without which things of daily life remain crude in na­ ture and rough in shape as in agrarian societies. It is that wonder-house where change, polish, refinement, strength, and improvement work to turn out things that satisfy the wants of man. In industrialized societies, man is no longer satis­ fied with using things simply as they occur in nature; he wants to transform them into more attractive and more useful form; and he wants to do this with the help of robots.

Both "input" and "output" of industry need lines of move­ ment. These lines, the life lines of industry can be built

8 8 89

upon land, over waters, or in the air. These trade-routes

not only give birth to towns at points of intersection or at

points of break in shipment, they also maintain the existence

of towns they serve. In fact there can be no city, trade

or industrial center without routes connecting it with the

outside.

Development of highways. For Springfield no routes of

trade have been more important than the highways. But for

them, it would be a much smaller town, not to mention its

industries.

The first wagon tracks into Springfield were made in l801 by Griffith Foos and came from the east. Wot only did this

man lay down a path of communication, he also started an

industry in the town; to this day, his name survives in an industrial concern which was originated by his family. A

wagon road was surveyed between Springfield and Dayton in

1803, and another to Columbus.

Before the white settlers came upon this site, the In­

dians had no particular trail leading to it, for Shav/nee head­

quarters used to be on Mad River. So everything from the

start had to be developed by the Americans. Whatever trails

existed in Clark County in thos evolutionary days were mere paths through the wilderness. Horizons of trade were limited.

However, sometimes hogs were taken to Cincinnati. Horseback

was the common mode of travel. Bridges were not built across 90

Buck Creek and Mad River until 1837; and in the beginning there were only corduroy bridges. It is not hard to imagine, then, that Springfield’s development was limited.

One of the landmarks in the history of the development of the city and its industry was the coming of the National

Road. This road was under construction from Coltimbus to

Springfield between 1832 and 1839; before this swampland sep­ arated the two cities to a great extent. The road boosted the town, and when the construction-work stopped for about three years or more just to the west of the city, it came to be known as "the town at the end of the Pike." People stopped in Springfield to take some rest, to have their wagons re­ paired, and to exchange commodities.

When it became known that the National Road was going to bypass Dayton, the Daytonians got so jealous of the fortunate position of Springfielders that they built and completed a turnpike road from Dayton to Springfield in 1833* So similar were the signs and posts on this turnpike and so similar the width, that in later years quite often a westward-moving journeyman would find himself on the wrong route. Though head­ ing for Richmond, Indiana, he might reach Dayton.

The National Road was built by the United States Govern­ ment under the supervision of the War Department, but only to

Springfield; beyond here, the construction was turned over to states. The location of Springfield along this Road takes on •an added significance when it is known that the "Madonna of the Trails Monument," the only such one in Ohio, was erected nekr the western edge of Springfield where that part of the

National Road completed by Federal Government ended.

The single most important contribution of the National

Road to the development of Springfield was the cosmopolitan population that it brought into this city, and into Clark

County. Before the building of this road, settlers came from the south, following the Miami Valley. Their points of origin lay mainly in Kentucky and West Virginia. After this event, settlers came from the east, i. e., from New England, New

York, and Pennsylvania. Covered wagons with their occupants, going over the National Road from eastern points to Indiana,

Illinois, and Iowa attracted the attention of people in Spring­ field.

The National Road was not the only road on which stage coaches could reach Springfield; the one to Urbana was com­ pleted as early as 1 8 3 2 , was straightened and made into a turnpike by 1844.

Today the National Road, better known as Route 40, with its total length of 3»l40 miles between Baltimore, Md. in the east and Los Angeles in the west, crosses 12 states, and passes through 398 cities. About 15 million people live along this route. Thus a vast consuming market is opened up for Springfield products. However, caution and care should be exercised in assessing the value of Route 40 to Springfield.

What difference does it make whether a town is located on

Route ^0 or any other route? What difference does it make whether a town is located on the main route or a branch route?

With modern truck transportation it really does not mean much, because the roads are interconnected; one route leads to an­ other, and access to major markets is possible from almost any place in the country. Therefore, the passing of Route kO does not now place Springfield in any superior category. Neverthe­ less, in those days of the first half of the 1 9 th century when roads were few and good roads fewer, when accessibility to eastern markets was desperately needed, the reaching of the

National Road into Springfield meant something extremely impor­ tant. This road, for Springfield, ushered in an era of fac­ tory beginnings in the modern sense although stage coaches running on the Road were slow and awkward affairs. The fare between Springfield and Columbus at that time was $2.00, and to Cincinnati, $3»00, which is not much more than the present- ly-operative fares, which denoted a relatively cheap line of transport.

As soon as the National Road was built in Ohio, canals and railroads became its rivals. In a sense, Springfield was in a better situation, for no canal ever reached there; hence part of the competition against the National Road was elimin­ ated. Public highways are again being used, by common carriers, but today they are automobiles, busses, and trucks. During the second half of the past century, though, the highways had lost much of their functional value, at least relatively. For instance, it was the Railroad Era all over the country.

In this century when the use of the highways was revived because of the coming of the automobile, macadam and cement roads were built in the county. The Clark County Goods Roads

Council came into being, as one of the departments of the

Springfield Chamber of Commerce. This Council did so much to improve the highways that it received special recognition from the State Good Roads Department. The Council achieved more prestige when the Mellinger Plan became effective in the

1920's. This plan recognized that the important thing in road building is drainage; good roads can be built and maintained economically from gravel and other materials (available in abundance in the vicinity of Springfield) when properly drained

Main paved highways radiate from Springfield in all direc­ tions. For east-west connections, TJ. S. ^-0; for north-south,

U. S. 6 8 ; for northeast-southwest, Ohio 4; for northwest-south­ east, Ohio 60; for due south, 72. These are supplemented by a large number of county and township roads (Map VI).

5^ Prince, op. cit., Chap. XXVI, "Clark County Good Roads Council," pp. 223-227. 9^

Tor freight forwarding and for the receiving of desired materials and goods, at least 3 5 motor truck agencies serve

Springfield. The present number of these companies is a re­ sult of the developments that have taken place over the past three decades or so. Streets are wide enough to accommodate heavy traffic flow (Plate I).

For passenger service, Greyhound Bus Lines and All-Ameri­ can Bus Lines serve 'Springfield.

Development of waterways, No artificial waterway has ever penetrated Clark County. Springfield, like Indianapolis, was not aided directly in its development during the canal period when such tremendous if not frantic efforts were made to connect the Great Lakes with Ohio River transportation.^

If these towns grew up, they did so because of the other advan­ tages of their location.

When Dayton had a canal in 1829, connecting it to Cincin­ nati, hogs and other farm products had to be carried by land to Dayton, thence shipped on the Miami and Erie Canal.

In the l830's and early 18^0's, Springfield had hard-sur­

faced roads; these were used chiefly by travelers and migrants, and not so much by tradesmen, for water was considered the most natural and the most desirable route. The Buck Creek-

"^Garland (ed.), op. cit., Chap. VIII, "The East-Central Lowland", pp. 108-120. 95

Mad River route never played any part in terms of trade. Con­ struction' on the extension of the Miami Canal from Dayton to the juncture of the Maumee and Augalaize rivers in the north, known as the Miami Extension Canal, began in 1833 and was com­ pleted three years later. But no feeder was constructed to

Springfield, not even a branch canal. The businessmen of the town felt they were in a competitively disadvantageous posi­ tion; so did the farmers of Clark County. The Ohio Gazetteer of 1841 says: "As yet Clark County has no outlet to market- save the common roads of the country." 56 When the canal period was over, Springfield found it­ self lagging in the commercial race. Dayton, which was slight­ ly more than half the size of Springfield in 1820, was almost three times as big by i8 6 0 . Springfield could never recoup that loss, and though, after i8 6 0 , it was placed on the same footing as many other towns in terms of transportation routes, it has never surpassed Dayton in size. Incidentally, the name "Miami and Erie Canal" was given in 1849 to the combined length of Miami Canal, Miami Extension Canal, and Wabash and

Erie Canal.

Development of railroads. A great change occurred in the conditions of Springfield with the coming of the railroads in

56 C. C. Huntington and C. P. McClelland, Ohio Canals (Columbus: Ohio State Archaelogical and Historical Society, 1905). h =5 sfe?r C O U N T,,Y U Nr U O A M MONTGOMERY

CLARK COUNTY (highway's ) 96 3 TJ 7=5 R > JUN 56

PLATE I — Boulevard on the West North Street. U. S* Route ^-0 follows it. 98 the late l840's. The timing of the railroads was just about right, since they had allowed the highways to perform their function for at least a decade. This had not been so in the case of canals wherever they were built in Ohio; the beginning of the canal construction and the railroad and turnpike con­ struction coincided in many parts, so that each line of transport gave competition to the others. The story of Spring­ field was different, because in the first place, one of the competitors (canal) did not come, to it, secondly, railroads came after the roads, like the National Road, had enjoyed their day.

In 1846, the first tracks for a "steam wagon" were laid in Springfield, i. e., the first railroad known as the Little

Miami Railroad was completed between Springfield and Cincin­ nati (Appendix N). The railroad gave fresh impetus to the commercial interests of Springfield, for a direct outlet to a desirable market had been opened.

In 1848, the Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad was built from Dayton to Sandusky via Springfield, providing connec­ tions with the northern and lake-shore towns. Both the soil and the railroad attracted settlers to Springfield, resulting in a real growth of the city later.

For a time north-south trade was carried on by the rail­ roads, and the east-west trade continued to move on the main highway. However, popular feelings were being roused for a 99 railroad connection with the east. So in the l850's, the stretch from Springfield to London was built by popular sub­ scription. At London, this stretch gave connections with the

Miami Railroad, now the Pennsylvania, continuing to the capi­ tal city. But there was no direct line to Columbus. In 1872, the aforementioned stretch was sold to the company controlling the Sandusky road. When the line was finally extended to

Columbus, it proved an excellent investment. Later on, both the Springfield-Columbus line and the Sandusky road were ab­ sorbed by the Big Four.

In 1855, the Erie Railroad was built; it came very close to Springfield but missed the town, to avoid limestone hills.

Thus the builders were induced by topographic considerations to bypass Springfield. At that time, it was known as the

Great Western; its destination was Cincinnati.. However, the

Durban station was reached from Springfield by inter-urban electric cars. At mid-century, the Erie Railroad uses the

Detroit, Toledo, and Ironton tracks in reaching Ideal shippers.

The narrow-gauge D. T. 8c I. Railroad was built in the

1880's by the Whiteley's, local manufacturers. Its primary function was as a coal route from Ironton. In the l890’s, this became a standard gauge railroad, and passenger service

57“KPrince, op. cit., Chap. XXVII, "Transportation — Its Relation to Industry," pp. 228-238. 100 was also inaugurated. In the early part of the 20th century it became a property of the Ford Motor Company and proved

to be a good freight and passenger line. At present, D. T. &

I. no longer maintains passenger service to or. from Spring­

field, but it does continue to serve freight traffic demands of Springfield and to profit therefrom.

The names of railroads have undergone so many changes that it seems necessary to refer to them with respect to certain dates. For illustration, in 1 8 7 8 , the two railroads that served

Springfield directly, were known as (1) the Columbus, Spring­

field, and Cincinnati, and (2) the Springfield, Jackson, and

Pomeroy Narrow Gauge. In 1886, Springfield was on the C. C. C.

& I., 8 l miles from Cincinnati; on the P. C. C. & St. L.;

I. B. & W.; N. Y. P. & 0.; and also on the 0. S. (Ohio Southern) railroads.

In the late 19th century, when the Big Four appeared, it was the result of the absorption, within three or four years, of the C. C. C. & I. (the mainline); the Cincinnati, Sandusky, and Cleveland; the Bee Line; and the I. B. & W. The Big

Four Freight House was erected in Springfield to serve its industries, principally.

So far as the distribution of railroads within the city is concerned (Map IV), the tracks of the Big Four ( C. C. C. 8c

St. L.) and the D. T. Sc I. passed through the southeastern sec­ tion of the city. In the southwestern part, the Pennsylvania 101 entered, connecting Springfield with its main trunk line. The western part of the town was served by the Big Four and the

Erie. North and north-east portions of the city were served by the branches of Big Four to Delaware and Sandusky*

Today, the railway lines are the same, but with changed names. The Cincinnati, Sandusky, and Cleveland line which was originally called Mad River and Lake Erie, and which was later absorbed by the Big Four, is now under the New York Central

System. Passenger service is maintained by the New York Cen­ tral Railroad through Springfield to and from Cincinnati, New

York, Detroit, Cleveland, etc. Other railroads provide freight service only. The Erie Railroad, which runs from Chicago to

New York, passes to the west of the town. A spur line connects

Springfield with the Pennsylvania Railroad at Xenia; a lateral line connects it with Pennsylvania at Urbana. The D. T. & I. still performs its old function.

There are more than 35 railroad sidings in use by Spring­ field industries: these have been offered by all four rail­ roads. The greatest amount of freight-traffic is east-bound; much of it is west-bound and south-bound; very little is north­ bound. 58 The principal raw materials moved on freight trains are

58 Personal interview with S. S. Collins, Agent, Big Four Freight House, 199 S. Spring Street, Springfield, in January, 1956. 102 sand, coal, pig iron, steel, and grain. Important commodities going out by rail are motor trucks, incubators, road rollers, piano plates, implements, fans, water wheels, boilers, stokers, and grinding machines. Connections as far west as Portland,

Oregon, are available.

For the past three years or so, the railroads have been receiving continuously smaller amounts of freight. This repre­ sents a stage in the competition between railroads and trucks, with the balance in favor of the latter.

Within the Central Business District of the city, rail­ roads occupy 5 .1 ? acres of land, which is about as high as could be expected in a city of this size. A very important feature of the railroads is that they have utilized the low grades of the ravines.

So far as city transportation is concerned, 1880's saw the first mule cars in Springfield. In 1892, the first elec­ tric railway was opened; four intra-urban electric lines were also put into use. But with the coming of the automobile and the revival of the use of public highways, the intra-urban medium of transport took on a different shape which was ac­ tually a forerunner of modern busses.

Development of airways. Dayton Municipal Airport at Van- dalia, Ohio, which is 2 b miles west of Springfield (on Route b o), and a little less from Dayton, serves both Dayton and

Springfield. Commercial planes fly from here to all parts of 1 0 3 the world. Springfield industries make use of these facili­ ties, though to a lesser extent than Dayton industries.

Attempts to have the name of this airport changed to Dayton-

Springfield Airport have been unsuccessful so far; however, if it were done in the future, Springfield would be put on the airline schedules and receive better recognition and pub­ licity in the commercial world.

Springfield maintains a local Municipal Airport, which is much smaller than the Vandalia Airport, but provides no regularly scheduled air freight service. However, the Cra- bi.ll Flying Service has handled contract air cargo for local industry from this port in the past; this company continues to offer such service to any industry that might like to en­ ter into a similar agreement.

Until a few years ago, Lake Central Airlines were pro­ viding passenger flights from Springfield Airport (same as above), located five miles south of the city, to Chicago,

Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, and other large cities in the Great

Lakes area. But that service has been discontinued. Recent­ ly, National Guard Unit camps have moved in to occupy the space of the port. Although they have created additional in­ come for the city, t: jy have closed the door for any airport development for commercial purposes, at least for the time being.

Airways do not have a long history for Springfield; as 10b can be inferred from above, their availability is very much restricted today.

Construction of pipelines. Any map showing distribution of pipelines in the Miami Valley Area, or in the United States for that matter, will show direct natural gas service from the southwest (Texas, etc.). In fact the Big Inch Line passes under the Main Street in Springfield. During the second World

War when these pipelines were built, they were used for ship­ ment of oil.

B. Consumption

The mere existance of market or markets is not enough; they should be accessible to the place of industrial produc­ tion. The foregoing section has already described the lines of distribution that radiate from Springfield and provide the possibility of reaching outside places. The following paragraphs will deal with what constitutes the market for

Springfield and the nature of this market.

The horizons of market or consuming areas keep changing; and by no means is absorption of industrial goods uniform all over the market. Nevertheless, market is the prime mover of industry.

Trade territory of Springfield. The Rand McNally Trading

Area Map of the United States, based on population, economic activities, retail sales analysis, newspaper circulation, high­ 1 0 5 way facilities as integrated into trade-units, shows the boun­ daries of the Springfield trading area as enclosing Clark, 59 Champaign, and Logan counties. This represents the immedi­ ate trade territory of Springfield. All the people living in this region are almost as dependent upon Springfield as if they were living in that city; however, this holds good for major shopping purposes only. This is an outgrowth of several decades of development. Years ago, the trade territory of

Springfield was much smaller.

It is doubtful, though, that this trading area represents an important part of the market reached from Springfield. In­ dustrial products do find an outlet throughout this area, but they do not account for any appreciable percentage of the total goods absorbed.

A glance at a map of manufacturing districts of the United

States will reveal that the Miami Valley is located in the wes­ tern half of the so-called "manufacturing belt." Thus an in­ dustrial market is assured for> some products. This belt coincides with the northeastern sector of the United States, which is characterized by heavy density of population. In fact the situation of Springfield with respect to agricultural implements market was very fortunate during the latter half

59 Rand McNally Commercial Atlas and Marketing Guide, (Eighty-sixth Edition, New York, Chicago, San Francisco: Rand McNally and Company, 1955)» PP* 28-29. 106 of the 1 9 th century when its industries recorded a really active growth, because it lay near the population center of the United States. In the 1920's, the population center moved westward and was located 150 miles from Springfield in wes­ tern Indiana. At present, the population center is still farther west in Illinois. However, with the westward migra­ tion of the center of population, shipping facilities also increased so that Springfield can now reach the far corners of the country.

More important than the consumers' market as reckoned by the distribution of population, is the producers' market.

Springfield is again ideally located in this respect. In the third decade of this century, the industrial center of the

United States was located within a distance of J>0 miles north of Springfield. With the westward extension of the manufac­ turing belt, the industrial center has also moved, but even today, it is relatively near Springfield.

The northeastern section of the United States is the cradle of American civilization. It is the region of high income and a high degree of cultural wants, and as a matter of fact, is one of the world's richest and most prosperous

Almost any location within the Miami Valley can claim proxi- 107

mity to markets.^0 Situated in the center of national mar­

kets, this Valley offers powerful economic advantages to

manufacturers in terms of lower distribution costs and

quicker deliveries.

A circle with a 300-mile radius with Springfield as its

center will cover much of the North American Midwest. The

places located within such a circle are at a relatively short

distance from Springfield, and they are accessible by means

of railroads and highways. Not all of these places buy or

consume Springfield products every year; but certainly they

do represent a potential market. The western half of the

Canadian industrial belt is also located within the 300 mile

radius. A special characteristic noticeable within such a

circle would be the distribution of market cities in all di­

rections from Springfield, though less so toward the south.

The market in the United States for Springfield indus­

tries may expand or contract from year to year; it may accept

or reject products coming out of Springfield; but it is there, readily accessible, willingly absorptive of industrial goods

only if selling efforts are made. Products made within the

Market Area mean a lower cost to the consumer than if made

elsewhere.

Economic and Industrial Analysis of the Miami Valley (Middletown, Ohio: Commercial Research Department, Market De­ velopment Division, The Armco Steel Corporation, 19^5)j PP» ^-6 . i o 8

Distribution of consumers all over the, world. Actually

very few persons or businessmen in any country outside the

United States can afford to or do buy American products.

Springfield products, too, have reached international mar­ kets, but to a limited extent, partly because of competition

from other foreign-made products or from products made else­

where in America. But once a product reaches a foreign coun­

try, it enhances the name of its mother city and mother coun­

try. In the late 19th century, European markets were buying

agricultural machinery made in Springfield as well as in

Chicago. Actually Springfield machines were proving far

better when put into operation in the fields.

Canada provided such excellent market opportunities that

Springfield interests opened a branch plant in Toronto in

1 8 7 6 to turn out combines and harvesters. Another Springfield product which has made an outstanding name for itself in for­

eign countries is a turbine water wheel. The Leffel wheel, as it is called, holds the world record for hydraulic turbine

efficiency -- 9^*57 per cent. Many Leffel turbines (Plate II) are operating efficiently today after fifty years or more of

constant service. Even today, for many local industries, the

foreign market is more important than the domestic one.

Shipping facilities, especially trucking. The presence

of shipping facilities in Springfield for in-bound and out­ bound service is not merely physical; they are all functionally PLATE II -- The Interior of the James Leffel and Company Plant MACHINE AND ERECTING DEPARTMENT

Fig* 2 - SHOWING LEFFEL TURBINES IN PRODUCTION Ill

active and are performing their work efficiently. Truck­

ing facilities are specially noteworthy. More and more

manufacturing concerns are relying even more upon truck-

service, whose advantages are too obvious to be discussed.

Passenger travel facilities. Springfield is not well-

served v/ith regard to passenger travel. At one time'(about

1916), though, there used to be as many as 35 incoming 6 X and outgoing passenger trains every 2 k hours. At present,-

New York Central Railroad is the only one which provides passenger trains through Springfield. But with the private ownership of automobiles and airplanes, and with increasing

comforts and services offered by bus lines, the lack of enough passenger trains does not affect the city or its activities.

Warehouses and storage. There are more than seven storage companies in Springfield, which provide facilities for both storage and long distance movement.

The shipping and warehousing facilities available in

Springfield, as pointed out in the foregoing paragraphs, are aspects of the market in the sense that market is not simply in existence, it is connected with Springfield by

Commercial History of the State of Ohio (Columbus Coun­ cil No. 1: United Commercial Travelers of America, 1916), pp. 1 7 7 -1 8 0 . means o f t h e above. Areas of consumption are reachable reliable, and solvent. Springfield goods are in demand

in these areas; Springfield has to respond to the de­ mand* CHAPTER IV

SPRINGFIELD'S INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX

In the preceding chapters, certain lines of development were traced. Each line presented the story of one factor at a time; the factors represented various phases of economic activities — production, distribution, and consumption. The focus of attention was on Springfield in relation to markets for its industry. The discussion of each factor in terms of its development ended with the present-day conditions. But each factor was treated as though it were separate, existing by itself. Not it remains to be seen how these different fac­ tors put together in Springfield are reacting upon one another.

What industrial picture obtains today? In what manner do the interrelationships among all these factors produce the manu- factural effort?

From the relatively simple manufacturing operations of the early decades of settlement, industry has grown to become complex. An industrial complex is an intricate affair; no attempt at simplification of this complex can be completely successful. This chapter has for its objective the presenta­ tion of a panoramic view of industry in Springfield in 1956, a view in which the details of individual plants will be lost to become part of a larger whole. Since this whole can

113 114- be viewed from only one angle at a time, the discussion which follows takes up views obtained from various angles, one by one. The angles are functional, i. e., based on particular aspects of the working of industry from day to day. Most of these generalized views are current views, that is, founded on the experiences of the recent past.

The technique adopted for obtaining different views of

Springfield industry in general was related to the manner in which field investigations were conducted. First of all, 6 5 industrial concerns were selected from the Directory of Ohio

Manufacturers. Ubiquitous industries, e. g., food and kin­ dred products, furniture and fixtures, etc., arr omitted.

Wherever there is a town or city of adequate size to create some local market, these industries spring up. Therefore it was necessary to consider only those industrial groups which impart a distinctive character to Springfield. Within each group, companies with less than 25 employees were avoided, with one or two exceptions in which it was sought to have some idea of a small-sized plant. Also, such industrial companies whose products seemed to be unimportant, were not included in the 62 list of those to be visited (Appendix B). All but three of the 6 5 industries visited and studied are located within the

Beach, K. Wm. Manufacturing Company on Old Columbus Road, Carmichael Machine Company on West National Road, and Quick Manu­ facturing, Inc. on East Main Street. 115 corporate limits of the city. The other three have Spring­ field as their mailing address. A prepared questionnaire

(Appendix A) was presented to the representative of the management of each company in person. Answers on these ques­ tionnaires form the chief basis of the contents of this chap­ ter.

Rank of Springfield among Ohio cities. In 1950, the year of the last census of population, Springfield was the ninth largest city in the state of Ohio (Map I). In 1947, which was the year of the last census of manufactures, Spring­ field stood ninth among Ohio cities in terms of value added by manufacture, average number of wage earners, and the num­ ber of establishments (Tables 7, 8, and 6). On the basis of

Table 7

Value Added by Manufacture in Springfield, Ohio

Value added Rank among Ohio cities Year of Census (000 omitted) in terms of Column 2

1899 ft 6,827 8 1904 7 , 620 8 1909 10,327 10 1914 14,018 9 1919 33,869 9 1925 40,473 9 1929 53,063 9 1935 34,676 9 1937 52,637 9 1939 47,542 9 1947 1 1 2 , 8 5 1 9 Source: United States Department of Commerce, Census of Manufactures (Washington, D. C.: Bureau of the Census). 116 the percentage of the employed population engaged in manufac­ turing in 1950, Springfield occupied the sixth rank among the nine largest cities of Ohio, with 41.4 as its own percentage; in terms of this criterion, it was found to be more industrial­ ized than Toledo, Cincinnati, or Columbus (Table 3)* These statistics denote that Springfield has as much manufacturing going on within it as is warranted by its population; but within its population more people are connected with industry than in the three larger cities mentioned above.

Table 8

Average Number of Wage Earners in Springfield, 1899-1947

Rank among Ohio cities Year of Census Wage Earners in terms of Column 2

1899 6,299 ? 1904 6,258 8 1909 7,405 9 1914 7,868 9 1919 12,264 9 9 1925 10,034 • 1929 12,003 10 1935 11,014 ? 1937 . 14,389 9 1939 10,132 9 1947 15,502 9 Source: United States Department of Commerce, Census of Manufactures (Washington, D. C.: Bureau of the Census).

If only male employment in manufacturing were considered,

Springfield would still occupy ninth rank among the cities of

Ohio; but its ranking drops to tenth when female employment is compared. However, a more interesting picture is obtained 117 when Springfield's relative ranking in terms of single indus­ trial groups measured by the number employed is reckoned. In most industrial groups, Springfield ranks below the first ten positions; however, in the case of machinery (except electrical) and not specified manufacturing industries, and specially in case of motor vehicle and the motor vehicle equip­ ment group, and printing, publishing, and allied industries group, Springfield -makes a much better showing (Table 9)•

These latter industrial groups, then,' are the distinctive in­ dustrial enterprises of Springfield.

Changes in this ranking over the past half-cdntury. As has been seen, Springfield stands ninth among Ohio cities in terms of manufacturing, no matter what the basis of compari­ son. More important than its present ranking is the fact of maintaining the same relative position over the past five de­ cades or so. The changes in the rank were studied only as far back as 1 8 9 9 i since earlier censuses giye no figures for value added by manufacture, the most important measurement device for the assessment of manufactural production. As in­ dicated by Tables 7 and 8, Springfield ranked eighth in the beginning years of this century, dropped to tenth by 1909

(in value added), not because of any decline in its own manu­ facturing but because of comparatively faster growth of other cities, then rose to the ninth position at the beginning of the first World War, which position it has maintained since 118

then. Study of the average number of wage, earners, and of

the number of establishments from census to census also brings

out the point that Springfield has attained ninth position more often than either tenth or eighth.

Table 9

Employment in Industry Groups of Springfield in 1950

Em­ Rank among Subject ployed Ohio cities

Manufacturing 13,174 9 Male 10,724 9 . Female 2,450 10 Furniture, and lumber, and wood products 118 * Primary metal industries 614 * Fabricated metal industries 663 * Machinery, except electrical 2,819 8 Electrical Machinery, equipment, and supplies 1,042 ♦ Motor vehicle and motor vehicle equipment 5 , 2 8 5 5 Transportation equipment, except motor vehicle 86 * Other durable goods 888 * Food and kindred products 4 5 1 * Textile mill products 15 * Apparel and other fabricated textile products 148 ik Printing, publishing, and allied industries 2,546 5 Chemicals and allied products 85 * Other nondurable goods 266 * Not specified manufacturing industries 148 8 * Below 10, and therefore not calculated.

Source: United States Department of Commerce, United States Census of Population: 1950, General Characteristics Ohio (Wash­ ington, D^ C . : Bureau of the Census, 1952), Table 35» PP. 105-116.

All this seems to suggest that Springfield industries have grown or declined more or less at the same rate as industries in

other cities. The capability of local manufacturers to cope with changing business conditions is indicated. 119

National, state, or local concerns. Two thirds of the industrial concerns in Springfield are purely local concerns

(Table 5)• That is, they were begun in Springfield, and have remained there. These were established mainly by local resi­ dents who have been Springfielders for generations. The headquarters, the manufacturing plant, the selling agents, just about everything is in Springfield. No other location will entice them away.

Less than half a dozen industrial companies in Springfield are state concerns. That is, either the plant in Springfield is a branch plant of the mother company located somewhere in

Ohio, or the home office is in Springfield and there are plants in several other places in the state. The very small number of such concerns is suggestive of one of two things:

(i) the local concerns do not expand and remain relatively small, or (ii) state concerns do not regard Springfield as a very desirable place for establishment of branch factories.

The balance of factories belong to national concerns, some of which operate on an international scale, i. e., main­ tain branch offices or factories in countries outside the

United States. These are corporations and no question arises whether the headquarters is located in the hometown of the owner-proprietor. However, in most cases the headquarters are outside of Springfield and represent their interest in local manufacturing. Such affiliations mean greater specialization, 120 larger markets, and generally greater security.

Springfield's place in the Ohio economy. With over 400 towns and cities, Ohio is a highly urbanized state. In view of this, Springfield's share of Ohio's manufacturing, aver­ aging slightly less than 2.0 per cent is not insignificant.

Over the past 50 years, this share has fluctuated but little.

Whatever fluctuations have taken place (Chart II), indicate a higher percentage of manufacturing done in Springfield during peacetime than during wartime. As shown in the Chart

II, the two World War years coincide with a drop in the curve representing Springfield's contribution to total manufactur­ ing in the state of Ohio. This is a clear reflection of the fact that Springfield industries are devoted to producing goods for peacetime uses, especially consumer goods.

If the trends of increase or decrease in the value added by manufacture, by decades, were noted for the state of Ohio, as well as for the city of Springfield, a strikingly parallel development would be in evidence (Chart III). It seems then that since 1900 Springfield's industrial growth has kept pace almost precisely with that of the state.

Dramatically, Ohio has expanded with the United States 63 in manufactures as well as in population. Thus Springfield

Paul G. Craig and James C. Yocum, Trends in the Ohio Economy (The Ohio State University: Bureau of Business Re­ search, 1955)» P» 1* PERCENTAGE OF OHIO’S MANUFACTURING 2.30 220 2.00 2.10 1.90 1.60 1.80 1.70 1.50 89 94 99 94 99 99 97 99 1947 1939 1937 1929 1919 1914 1909 1904 1899 HR E PIGIL’ SAE F OHIO’S OF SHARE SPRINGFIELD’S IE CHART MANUFACTURING 121 122 provides a case study of certain national trends.

Age of various plants and implications. The median age of Springfield plants is *fl years, i. e., the "median age" plant has witnessed the two World Wars and the intervening great depression. To survive such marked changes in the politi­ cal climate and thus in the business conditions is, in no small measure, an indication of successful operation, taking in stride the changing values of localization factors.

Slightly less than one third of the industrial concerns had their beginning in the 19th century (Table 10). They represent a long history, maturity of experience, and pride in retrospect in forming such a large proportion of all con­ cerns in existence today; they demonstrate a continuity in the advantages of turning out their products from a Springfield location.

Division of industrial concerns into several age-groups.

This reveals that in every decade, in every period of history, new plants representing new companies have been established in Springfield. This points to the presence of certain in­ herent advantages in the location of Springfield which provide a pulling force for industries.

About ten concerns are post-second World War establish­ ments. They are the newest, yet surest proof of the desir­ ability of industrial locations in Springfield. In time, these 123 3 0 0 %

2 5 0 %

5 0 %

- 100% 1899 1919 19291909 1939 1947 CHART 3E PER CENT OF INCREASE IN THE VALUE ADDED BY MANUFACTURE, BY DECADES Key: OHIO SPRINGFIELD------±2k will also acquire age and become part of the general picture which seems to insure profitable business.

Table 10

Age of Industrial Concerns xn Springfield

Age-group Number of Concerns Remarks

More than 75 years 11 Established in the old 19th century

50 to 75 years old I k Established in the late 19th or early 20th century

25 to 50 years old 18 Established sometime between World War I and Great Depression

10 to 25 years old 12 Established mainly during the Second World War

5 to 10 years old 10 Post-War Establish­ ments

Median Age...... ^1 years Concerns which had their beginning in the 1 9 th century = 19 = 30 per cent of all. Newest concerns (begun after World War II) = 10 = 15 per cent of all.

Saw materials used; their sources of origin. Compilation of a full list of all the raw materials that move into Spring­ field is next to impossible. Some of the more important ones are: steel (bars and sheets), tool steels (specialty steels), steel wire, steel castings, scrap steel, pig iron, molding sand, dolomite, limestone, coke, firebricks, 125

cast iron;

ingots of copper, tin, lead, zinc, and aluminum; brass, bronze;

castings of grey iron and malleable iron; aluminum bars, aluminum sheets and pigs, aluminum castings, magnesium castings; small tools (drills, etc.);

chrome and manganese; copper wire;

coal; rubber and rubber products; plastics;

cotton, cotton duck, silks, nylon, kraft paper, piecegoods,

cotton sheeting, bassine; • building materials (glass, nails, etc.), gypsum products, roofing materials;

chemicals; wood, lumber, pulpwood, paper, corrugated paper cases, ink; glass tubes, thread, buttons, cork;

tanned leather;

electric motors, ball bearings, electrical components; novelty materials and zippers.

It is a very difficult task to pin down the various sour­ ces of origin for each raw material. All the supply does not

come from one source; moreover the main source varies from 126 year to year. An offer of lower rates by any new source in any year can be one of the causes why the point of origin for any single material may shift from place to place. Investi­ gation of this phase of manufacturing becomes all the more complicated because many manufacturers tend to buy their supplies from local dealers or from warehouses in Dayton,

Columbus, or Cincinnati.

Some of the locally available raw materials are scrap steel, dolomite, steel castings, aluminum castings, cast iron, brass castings, etc. Suppliers and distributors of other materials are also located in Springfield; the above list in­ cludes those items which originate in Springfield.

In some cases, it is possible to state the main and regu­ lar source of certain materials. For instance, bassine (a fiber) comes from India, paint materials come from Columbus,

Ohio, molding sand comes from northern Ohio's lakeshore, lime­ stone from Columbus and Cincinnati, coke from Portsmouth or

Ironton in southeastern Ohio, rubber from Akron, coal from

West Virginia and Ohio, cotton and nylon from the south, paper from Chillicothe, pulpwood from Urbana, metal from the open market, steel from Middletown or Cleveland or Cincinnati, steel wire from Bethlehem in Pennsylvania or from Illinois, cork from

Spain via Pittsburgh where it is processed, and so on.

Accessibility of raw materials played a purely permissive role in the case of 46 plants out of 6 5 . Four plants reported 127 that it played some ill-defined part. The other 15 felt that it did play some part, but not a very important one. In re­ locating, this consideration would be more significant. The concensus of opinion was that the facilities (especially those of railroads in the past) for the assembly of raw materials have been plentiful in Springfield.

Geographic extent of the market. For the industries of

Springfield as a whole, the market is international. Products of 17 local plants reach the distant corners of the earth

(Table 11). The market for other 20 plants is limited to the

Table 11

Geographic Extent of the Market for Industries in Springfield

Extent of Number of companies the market availing it

The whole world 17 United States and Canada 5 All 48 states in U.S, The whole country 20 Especially in the (United States) Manufacturing Belt Radius of 500 miles 7 — — — — — — East of Rocky Mountains 2 only Radius of 200-300 miles 10 Midwest area Radius of 100 miles 2 All-Ohio Local 1 Not known 1 national boundaries. But the nation as a whole is a large enough area to take care of industrial products made in

Springfield. Some five plants, in addition to the ones men­ 128

tioned above, cater to the two markets of the United States

and Canada. About nine plants turn out products for the eas­

tern part of the United States only. Another group of ten plants finds satisfaction with its midwestern market only.

One plant, representative of small machine tool plants, is restricted in its sales to the local market only.

Those industries which have a world-wide market, differ in their zone of concentrated sales. Some products have a

greater demand in Canada, Western Europe, Japan, and Australia

(all industrialized and highly civilized). Others have a

greater appeal in the South American, South African, or Scan­ dinavian market. Generally, even these industries market most of their goods within the United States. Over the United

States as a market, the more important places of major consump­

tion are the West Coast and the East Coast, as well as the

southwest, and the Lower Great Lakes area extending into Canada.

Many industrial companies report the extent of their mar­ ket in terms of a circle. This circle actually means very

little; it not only expands and contracts, the circumference is a zone rather than a distinct line of separation.

Industrial extent of the market. Of course, many of the

Springfield products are sold directly to consumers or whole­

sale dealers or government agencies. Other products go to industries; these buyer-industries might be local or located

almost anywhere, and represent almost sill possible kinds of industrial groupings. Perhaps, the largest industrial custo­ mers are the automobile industry, farm tractor industry, and industrial engines manufacture. Aircraft manufactures are second in the use of Springfield-made parts. Machine indus­ tries, including machine tools, general industrial plants, pulp mills, oil refineries, cottonseed industry, saw mills, flour mills, building industry, electrical industries, tubing companies, tube-form companies, lawn mower companies, and incubator manufacturing companies are.other important users of Springfield products. Jobbers, drug stores, retail stores, luggage and department stores, jewelry stores, etc. buy Spring­ field's industrial goods in small quantities. Springfield sells its goods to many, many other purchasers such as hatcheries, dairies, paint and wall paper trade, furniture manufacturers, laundry and dry cleaning industries, electric utility com­ panies, ceramic industries, souvenir manufacturers, lighting industry, piano manufacturers, funeral industries, steel in­ dustries, feed mills and grain handling trade, printing presses, vacuum bottle industry, valve-malcers, furnace builders, school bus industries, package industries, biscuit manufacturers, and wire-manufacturers. These demands testify to the diversifica­ tion of Springfield industry.

Importance of the local market. Although the smaller plants, most of which were not included in the field survey, depend on the local market for a great percentage of their 130 sales or business, by no means do they affirm or denote the real significance of the local market. Almost anywhere, plants of similar size depend upon local business.

A very interesting feature of the industries in Spring­ field is that local market is definitely insignificant for them. In the case of ten industrial concerns, not a single item produced enters the local market (Table 12). Some 27 in­ dustries find only an infinitesimal fraction of their goods absorbed by the local market. Thus for more than half of the

Table 12

Contribution of Local Market to the Total Market for Springfield Industry

Percentage of Goods ... -l. * n T -i i j. Number of Concerns Absorbed by Local Market

0 10

0-1 27 1 -2 3 2-10 - 8

10-20 9

20-^0 2 *f0 - 6 0 3 7 5 - 8 0 2 90 and over 1 industrial companies, the city of Springfield has no meaning as a market. Add to these, 11 other concerns which sell more than one but less than ten per cent of their produce within the city. Then, three fourths of the industrial plants are obviously not producing for the city in which they are located.

Only one plant manager among the 65 industrial represen­ tatives visited, depends upon local customers for 90 per cent 1 3 1 or more of its business. The remaining plants, which do not come under any one of the categories discussed above, satisfy the wants and demands of the people resident in Springfield, largely but not exclusively.

Competition for markets. Competition is that motivating force which promotes better quality, better service, and lower prices for consumers. Fortunately the economic climate in this country favors a competitive enterprise system. Spring­ field manufacturers find themselves competing with manufactur­ ers elsewhere. However, each industry seems to command a cer­ tain part of its total market, i. e., it meets the competi­ tion quite successfully within those limited horizons. Twenty- four plants do not face much competition in the United States, that is, they command the national market. Even national boundaries are not the farthest limits of their actual total market. If such a large number of Springfield companies can sell their products all over the United States, they are either producing unique commodities or are busily engaged in the con­ tinuous improvement of their technical methods in order to get a superior product.

Nineteen plants (or companies) in Springfield find that they can send out their goods all over the state, without hav­ ing to face much competition; beyond the frontiers of the state, of course, they begin to feel the force of competition.

These industries might represent certain advantages in Spring­ 132

field for serving the state market.

Ten companies report no competition locally. That is,.

they do strive for a market outside the town, but within the

local market they have almost no difficulty in having their products sold. Stating that there is no competition does not mean that there is absolutely none. It is there but is met

successfully.

The remaining 12 plants have nothing but complaints to make about competition which is keen at all levels. Complain­

ing is not indicative of inefficiency of production or of in­

feriority of product; in fact many of these plants are turning

out some of the most useful and most commonly demanded things; yet they feel a pinch of very strong competition. The nature

of industrial plants is such that the main competition comes

from Chicago.

There are various ways of meeting competition. Practi­

cally all the concerns try to use them singly or in varied combinations. One of them is to import good machines from

countries like Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. Another is

to exercise extreme care and precision in the making of pro­ ducts; better handling of machines involves skilled labor which Springfield does not lack. In many cases production is

specialized and the quality high, so that the customer does not have very much choice. In some cases, customers are ser­

viced on a direct basis, or selling on a bid basis might be 1 3 3 resorted to. Better salesmanship can also enlarge the horizon

of market. Some firms work on a contract basis. Others hold

the patent, so there is no question of common competition.

A number of concerns have adopted the policy of serving fixed

customers. In a few industries, the biggest company is here.

In other instances, a local product has made a name.

Number of manufacturing workers. The total number of plant workers in Springfield, excluding the office employees, in 1955-56 is 1^,333. There are three plants employing more

than 1 , 0 0 0 production workers each. One plant employs between

5 0 0 and 1 , 0 0 0 such workers. Twenty-three plants employ be­

tween 100 and 500 workers; 33 plants between 25 and 100 work- 6^ ers; and five plants fewer than 25 workers.

The proportion of male workers (11,891) is very high as

compared to female workers (2,Vf2). These figures have been

computed from data collected personally. In individual plants, however, female workers represent a much higher percentage of total workers than the male workers do. Plants that employ more females than males, number 13 (Table 13)• Several reasons explain the presence of or need for a.majority of female work­

ers. Light machine work or the machining of small parts can be done by women quite easily. Anything that is light work or

If office workers are included, there are only two plants with less than 25 workers. 134 hand work and involves operations requiring manual dexterity can be performed by women as well as or better than by men.

Girls do table work (by sitting down) better and cheaper and faster. Sewing, for instance, is generally a women's job.

The work, which is normally done by women, also included making bags, weaving, packing for dexterity not strength, assembling, blowing of glass, and finishing type of work. Many girls work in the offices, of course.

Table 13

Plants that Employ More Females than Males in Springfield

(1) Bosca Hugo Company, Inc. (2) Echo, Inc. (3 ) Industrial Garment Manufacturing Company (4) K. Wm. Beach Manufacturing Company (5) Miller Frocks (6) Ohio Thermometer Company (7 ) Peters and Russell, Inc. (8) Ring Wald Products (9) Robertson Can Company (10) Springfield Leather Products Company (11) Springfield Tent and Awning Conjpany (12) Thermometer Corporation of America (13) Thomas Stationery Manufacturing Company

Area of commutation. The coming of the automobile has produced a change of far-reaching effects in man-land rela­ tionships, in the sense that man no longer has to seek a job in his immediate surroundings or in the city in which he lives.

Not only have automobiles opened job opportunities at a place away from the area of residence, but people themselves are 1 3 5 beginning to like to have their home away from their place of work. Springfield is no exception. Manufacturing concerns located there offer employment to, and therefore draw labor from, not only Clark County, but from surrounding counties as well. The maximum radius of the commuting circle is 75 miles; but that is true in the case of one person only. For practi­ cal purposes a radius of A-0 miles shows the circle represen­ ting the farthest limits from which labor commutes to work in Springfield. As many as k z companies have reported that most of their labor is non-local, that is, it comes from out­ side the city. Nine industrial companies employ labor which is mostly local; only a few people live on the outskirts, and they too are located within a distance of five miles from the city. Thirteen industrial companies find that their la­ bor is exclusively local.

Clark, Greene, and Champaign counties are the ones whose inhabitants are commuting to Springfield for work. The towns of Urbana, Mechanicsburg, and St. Paris (all in Champaign

County) do not offer enough employment within their limits, so that labor resident in them is attracted toward Springfield.

Degree of employee skills. In Springfield industries,

6,675 workers, that is, h7 per cent of the total number, are skilled workers. Attention should be called to the fact that they form just under half of the total number of plant work­ ers. This bears testimony that Springfield's industries are 136 characterized by a high degree of skills, high value added by manufacture, high value of products, and specialization of precision lines.

Among the workers who are considered skilled are pattern­ makers, molders in foundries, tool-makers, machine-men, bench- makers, etc. Actually, the city experiences difficulty in hiring competent and skilled workers. So once it employs them, it keeps them on the pay-roll all the year round. They are permanent industrial workers.

In many industries, however, most work does not require long training or much skill. Unskilled persons can do the work. Common labor is referred to as unskilled. Here a prob­ lem in classification arises. Unskilled workers are not really unskilled. Some who are considered unskilled here would not >«* be considered unskilled elsewhere. After a certain period of training on the machine, these so-called unskilled workers be­ come semi-skilled, or are at least treated as semi-skilled in terms of wage-scales. So probably "non-skilled" or "unskilled" refers to nev/comers on certain jobs. Some of the factories employ 100 per cent unskilled workers. Some, on the other hand, need no unskilled workers at all.

On-the-job training program for workers. Availability of semi-skilled and skilled labor is not so important as the con­ tinued pool of such workers. One of the several ways in which it is possible to fill the needs of changing times is to train the workers on the jobs. These workers may not stay for long

in the same factory in which they received their training,

but manufacturers do not seem to be discouraged by this fact,

and regard it as a service to the community. However, in

the beginning, the profit motive is to be expected behind the

training programs of factories.

Out of a total of 65 important industries, 50 have no

on-the-job training program. This means that they have no

official or formal program for training their workers. Even

if they do have some kind of program or arrangement, it is

not reckoned as such. Some plants are included here which

do not have any such program at present; but they did have

one in the past, and might have it again. In spite of this,

practically all of the plants develop their workers on the

job. Machinists are trained as a matter of course. In some plants, new workers have to serve craft union apprenticeship.

There is no plant in which two or three boys may not be under

training at any time. Some plants encourage their management people or labor leaders to take a course at Wittenberg College

The course covers the frequently neglected areas of human relations, communications, economics, and business operations.

The remaining 15 plants have such a program as fan as

65 Management Development Program at Springfield, Ohio, (Springfield,Ohio: Wittenberg College). 138 practical, and it is going on all the time. Usually ten per cent of the total employment comes under this category.

Proportion of out-going goods moving by rail or b.y truck.

Trends of dominant commodity movements in the United States and Canada are in favor of trucking for outbound shipments and of hauling by rail for inbound deliveries. The ratios between the two are 98:33 and 5 9:70 for the different directions of movement, if the use of water and other means of transporta-' tion is excluded, 66 Springfield follows these trends, though in slightly different proportions. About 17 plants ship their products exclusively by truck (Table 1^); five plants make

Table 14

Proportion of Out-going Goods Moving by Rail and/or by Truck Number of Percentage of Goods Companies 100 per cent by truck, 17 0 per cent by rail

More than 50 per cent by truck, less than 50 per cent by rail 33

Less than 50 per cent by truck, more than 50 per cent by truck 10

About 50 per cent by truck, about 50 per cent by rail 5 equal use of railroads and trucks. Among the remaining plants,

33 send out their goods mostly by truck, the other ten mostly

66 Harold V. Miller, “New Survey sets Zoning Standards for Modern Industrial Plants,” Industrial Development, (May-August, 195^), PP. 7-10. 139 by rail.

The most important factors determining the proportion of outbound shipments by rail or by truck are, in order of impor­ tance, customer preference, speed, cost, convenience, bulk of goods, and service. Length of hauls or accessibility may also play some part but infrequently.

Attention should be called to the other considerations that enter into decisions regarding the mode of outbound ship­ ments. If packages are small, it does not make any difference how they are sent out. Items which are not very bulky may go by air; repair parts or urgent items such as aircraft parts go by air, and customers pay the extra expenses.

As can be expected, length of hauls varies for different shipments. Short length of hauls favors shipping by parcel post, if the product is of such nature that rates by this means will be lower than by any other means; otherwise, short hauls favor trucking. Quicker delivery and direct delivery to job­ site also are advantages offered by trucking companies. Deli­ cate goods cannot stand the rough handling of railroad men, so they have to go by truck. Shippers of small lots and light materials prefer trucks on this account. It is estimated that if the weight of products is less than 60 lbs., it goes by par­ cel post cheaper than by truck; if it is between 60 and 100 lbs., the mode of shipping may be any of these at times; but if it is more than 100 lbs., it almost has to go by truck. 140

Certain kinds and volumes of shipments have to use rail­ road facilities, almost as a necessity. Carload lots go by rail. Foreign bound goods also reach ports by rail. Thus, heavy shipments generally prefer the freight trains. Some­ times customers themselves want Springfield products to be delivered to them by railroads because they maintain unload­ ing facilities. If the plant which is sending out its goods has no access to any rail siding, then trucks have to be used, even if freight is heavy and bulky.

A lot of customer pick-up takes place in Springfield.

In that case, the plant is saved the trouble of making arrange­ ments for shipment.

Proportion of in-coming goods moving by rail or by truck.

Although Springfield uses rail facilities to a greater extent in the case of its inbound deliveries than in the case of out­ bound shipments, even then the truck or trucking is more im­ portant and becoming increasingly so, as is borne out by

Table 15, showing that 46 plants get 50 to 100 per cent of their goods by truck. Five plants make equal use of both kinds of facilities. The remaining 14 prefer railroad deliv­ eries for most of their goods.

Stated briefly, cost, speed, convenience, bulk of goods, and service are the most important factors, arranged in de­ scending order which determine whether in-coming goods will move by rail or by truck. Length of hauls and accessibility 141 also enter into the picture.

If a detailed investigation is made of the considerations behind decisions on the type of transportation to be used, and related to the factors noted above, the following generaliza­ tions will be in order.

Table 15

Proportion of In-coming Goods Moving by Truck and/or by Rail

Proportion of Goods In Case of Num­ ber of Companies 100 per cent by truck, 0 per cent by rail 12

51-99 per cent by truck, 1-49 per cent by rail 34

50 per cent by truck, 50 per cent by rail 5

1-49 per cent by truck, 51-99 per cent by rail 10

0 per cent by truck, 100 per cent by rail 1

Not calculable quantitatively 3

Heavy weight comes by rail, e. g., all silk and lumber, sand, chemicals, gypsum, steel, etc. come in carload lots.

Similarly grey iron and coke never come by truck. On the other hand, all rubber comes by truck; the bulk of steel and lead also generally uses trucks. Inbound movements ofcoal give an equal volume of freight to railroads and trucks.

Sand generally comes in 40-ton lots and hence is carried 142 by rail. Certain plants, which have railroad sidings and loading facilities, get all of their coal by rail. Simply to have railroad-sidings is no guarantee that all the commodities will follow the rail route; if there are no crane facilities for unloading, or if the material is not greater than carload lots (some companies do not buy big carloads due to the control of inventories), trucking service has to be utilized.

Since there are warehouses in Springfield, those materials which are procured from them move by truck for obvious reasons.

Preference is given to trucks in case of materials coming from Urbana because of the special commodity rates existing between Urbana and Springfield. Even those factories which were originally located at a particular site in order to have access to railroad siding, cannot get all their materials by rail because Springfield does not have rail-connections with all the places.

In the case of inbound deliveries, local manufacturers are customers; and if they show a preference for trucking ser­ vices, they actually express the advantages of truck over rail. Sympathetic patronization of trucks by the International

Harvester Company, which is in itself a manufacturer of trucks, is another matter.

An important exception is the company known as Miller

Frocks, which depends on air freight to and from Puerto Rico, because of the nature of its operation and lightness of its 1^3 products.

Significance of Linkage. Although a town having diver­

sified industry may be expected to show interplant dependence,

4l out of 65 industries have reported no local linkage. This

only reflects that the products of various industries in Spring­

field are, generally speaking, complete and unrelated. A

description of the nature of linkage in the case of the other

2 k industries is out of place, because it is full of petty de­

tails. Among these 2 k industries are included those which

produce parts for other plants located elsewhere but owned by

the same company. In many cases Springfield plants receive parts or equipment made by sister plants in other towns. An

outstanding example of industrial linkage in Springfield is

the Western Foundry and Manufacturing Company, whose major

customer is located next door to it. Inter-plant relation­

ships of this nature are not confined to cities in the Miami

Valley; their horizons are much wider.

The study of the types of industries involves historical

facts. So far the picture has been rather abstract and based upon present-day conditions. A more concrete picture can be

obtained only when industrial groups and individual companies

are dealt with. But the industrial groups as well as single plants are an outgrowth of generations. And the best way to

understand them seems to be to trace their development from

the very beginning. Such a quest provides the connecting link nA4 between this chapter and the next in which antecedents of present-day industrial types will be the object of discussion and analysis* PIONEER PERIOD CHAPTER V

ANTECEDENTS

Pioneer Period (1800-1830)

The first three decades of settlement in Springfield were hardly different from those in other communities. Settlement began in 1801 and continued all through those years. Immunity from serious floods and the attractiveness of the natural beau­ ty of the spot were its main charms. Water for domestic pur­ poses were available from springs. The increase in buildings had for the most part been confined to the eastern portion of the town; in fact no business house was established west of

Mill Run until 1880, though some houses were built in the western locality in 1853- This partial development of the settlement was due to the liability of the western area to flooding.

Pioneer economy. Springfield included among its first settlers not only farmers, but also men with commercial and industrial talents. Fertility of the area turned many resi­ dents to farming. Need for the exchange of each other's pro­ ducts impelled some to operate different types of shops.

Although manufacturing, as such, started in the late 1830's, a pioneer type of industry existed in Springfield from the very early years of settlement. The first grist mill was opened in

1^6 1^7

1803. Later James Demint, who had been the first man to settle in the community, opened the first distillery at the mouth of

Mill Run. A tannery came along in 1805 (Appendix K). Other grist mills were built on Lagonda Creek, as Buck Creek was known then.

The first published account of Springfield appeared in the Gazetteer of Ohio, Columbus, l8l6, and said: "Springfield is a flourishing post town, has mechanical shops and an exten­ sive woolen cloth factory." An addition to these was a lin­ seed oil mill on Mill Run which started in 1817. The same year, a newspaper called The Farmer launched its publication; it was the forerunner of Springfield Daily News.

By 1 8 2 8 , the town boasted many shops and similar establish­ ments: six blacksmith, four wagon, two chair, four boot, six tailor, three harness, three bakery, three cabinet, one clock, one gun shop, one tin, and two mills. There were 1^ general stores, two distilleries, four groceries, three tanneries, three brickyards, three slaughterhouses, a pottery, a paper 67 mill, and four subscription schools.

Industrial types. Most of the above industries were ac­ tually service trades, and suggest the commercial nature of the city's functions. It would not be incorrect to say that

6*7 "Springfield, Ohio at a Glance," (Springfield, Ohio: Courtesy of Springfield Development Council, Chamber of Commerce Building), p. 1. 148 most villages in America had the same type of economy to be­ gin with. Only the cotton-fabric plant, woolen-cloth mill, oil mill, paper mill, flour mill, and probably distilleries can be regarded as places where real processing took place.

Tanneries may also be included in this group. However, the scale of operations was very small.

Routes of assembly and shipment. The village of Spring­ field was essentially a self-sufficing community. The raw materials to be used in its processing mills were produced in the vicinity, and the finished products were meant for the local residents. There was no question of any large surpluses to be disposed of. Wheat was grown on the surrounding farms.

Flax was also cultivated and supplied the raw material for the oil mill. Lumber for cabinet shops came from the near-by- forest; However, ambitious businessmen were feeling the lack of water-ways. The Buck Creek-Mad River route did not prove profitable. Some tradesmen carried their saleable goods on horseback to Cincinnati by way of Indian trails. On the whole, no satisfactory routes of transport existed at this time.

Relationship of economy with land, labor, capital, entre­ preneur, and government. In this formative period, land and labor played the most important part — land in the sense of favorable soils and climate, labor in the sense of its charac­ ter and skills. Few settlements in Ohio have excited more appreciative comments from the historians. Henry Howe says about the Springfield of these times: "It is surrounded by a handsome and fertile country, is noted for the morality and intelligence of its inhabitants, and, by many, is considered 68 the most beautiful village within the limits of Ohio."

Agricultural Implements Period

(1) Inception, 1830-1840.

The period from 1830 to l8^f0 was the decade in which the

National Road was constructed to Springfield and slightly be­ yond. For several years Springfield remained the frontier or terminus of this Road, a fact which helped in the growth of the town. Population almost doubled during the decade. As a matter of fact, there had been some decline in the number of people in the previous decade because Springfield was ex­ periencing a kind of isolation. The coming of the National

Road brought new settlers, new talents, accessibility to eas­ tern markets, and increase in the number of stores and re­ pair shops. No canal came to Springfield, but the Miami and

Erie Canal farther west did create some indirect transporta- tional advantages for Springfield. Thus new routes of trans­ portation gave to it east-west as well as limited north-south connections.

Henry Howe, Historical Collections of Ohio (Cincinnati Bradley and Anthony^ l8 ^f8 ) , "Clark County", pp. 8^-96. 150

So much, business was created by the wagons and buggies coming to or passing through Springfield that several new machine shops sprang up. In 1 8 5 8 , James Leffel started his first foundry in the vicinity of Springfield where sickles, axes, and knives were manufactured. Leffel also designed the first cook stove ever made in the state, which was called the

"Buckeye.M

Location of industries (foundry and machine shop types) in this decade was in favor of the sites along Mill Run in the heart of the town.

To sum up, by I8 3 S the road was completed to Sugar Grove

Hill, three miles west of Springfield; there construction stopped temporarily. Springfield boomed, hew repair shops arose.

(2) Real Beginnings, 18^-0-1850.

In the decade of the l840's, Springfield gave evidence of the presence of some good entrepreneurs. There was a large development of water power along Buck Creek. Mill Race, whose presence is shown on older maps, like the one in the

Directory 'of the City of Springfield, 1 8 5 2 , was diverted from

Buck Creek and then after flowing for a short distance north of the mother stream, again joined it. On the island space between the two, there were several excellent sites for fac­ tories. It was here that James Leffel built his new machine shop. Also a woolen mill manufacturing blankets, flannel, yarn, 151 etc., a cotton mill, sash and blind shop, and a cabinet shop were located here.

In 1842, VVhiteley, who was the uncle of "Bill" the in- dustry-maker of Springfield, started manufacturing plows. His factory was located in the downtown section. It was here that

Bill received his training as an apprentice.

The articles manufactured in the town were primarily con­ sumed locally. No appreciable export took place until the railroads came in late l840's (Appendix N)• The two rail­ roads that gave connection to Springfield by the end of the decade made it possible for local firms tc manufacture their articles on a commercial scale.

The water power of Buck Creek induced Pitts to come from

Rochester in order to locate his firm for the manufacture of the celebrated Pitts Threshing Machine in 1842. In 1845,

Leffel and Brickley erected a foundry north of Buck Creek; there they made Buckeye cooking stoves. The manufacture of carriages was started in Springfield in 1847.

(3) Promising Momentum Gained by Agricultural Implements In­ dustry, 1850-1860.

The manufacture of farm machinery was inaugurated in I8 5 O by Warder and Brokaw. Ketchum mowers, Marsh harvesters, Dens- more Selfrakers, New York reapers, Ohio harvesters, Buckeye mowers, and such other implements were being produced by this firm. Located in the Lagonda section (northeastern quarter) 152 of the town, the firm was named Warder, Mitchell and Company and was one of the largest employers. Meanwhile, the White- leys were building an enterprise, with the hope of converting

Springfield into a ’’Little Chicago." Whiteley1s little shop mentioned in the preceding section was to be the germ of im­ portant developments. It should be recalled that in those days, reapers and mowers were almost indispensable agricul­ tural implements. Springfield was getting a reputation for this industry, specially for its axes, sickles, and scythes.

However, milling was the principal industry until 1 8 5 6 , when there were 17 flour mills. Distillering also was profitable.

In 1855, William N. Whiteley completed the invention of a practical mower, and under the inspiration of the career of

James Leffel, he also invented in 1 8 5 6 , the Combined Self- .

Raking Reaper and Mower. It was adapted to either grain or grass harvesting, and was given the name "Champion." The same year, the association of Whiteley and Fassler established the

Springfield Agricultural Works for the manufacture of Cham­ pion machines. Next year (1857)» Oliver S. Kelly and Amos

Whiteley (the latter was William's brother) also joined; and the name of the firm was changed to the Whiteley, Fassler, and

Kelly Works.

In summary, the three most important events of this peri­ od were: (i) new inventions, (ii) setting up of large enter­ prises, and (iii) competition with Chicago. 153

(4) Buoyant Growth of the Industry, 1860-1870.

The importance of the "land" factor of production should not be ignored in this context, which seems to bring out the

"entrepreneur" factor as the most important one. The soils and climate of the Springfield environment, discussed in Chap­ ter II, were favorable for the development of a prosperous agricultural economy, and thereby afforded a market for many of the products of manufacturing. The terrain permitted types of crops to be grown which allowed the extensive use of machin­ ery in their cultivation and harvest. As a result, there was a deepseated awareness on the part of Springfield manufactur­ ers, of what constituted their locational advantages. White­ ley was pushing his machine with enthusiasm.

The onset of the Civil War in the early years of this decade created a boom for Springfield's agricultural imple­ ment industry. There was such a large demand for farm ma­ chines — mowers, reapers, harvesters, etc., that orders could not be filled. The demand arose because soldiers were needed in the army, and they could be available in large num­ bers only if farmers and farm workers could be freed from their toil in the fields. Food was needed too; crops had to be cul­ tivated; the only labor-saving device seemed to be the use of machinery.

The Civil War and its effects came as a boon to Spring­

field. The greatest beneficiary was the Champion Interest; 15**

however, constant competition was provided by Warder, Mitchell,

and Company which was producing various kinds of farm machines.

The enormous demands built up during the Civil War had

prepared the background for the expansion of Springfield en­

terprises; an incident in 1367 performed at Jamestown, Ohio

was the spark that set off the development. There, a contest

in the harvest field took place between William N. Whiteley

and Benjamin F. Warder. Each was trying to prove the superi­

ority of his own machine. Each represented one of the largest

enterprises in Springfield. The feat affirmed, Whiteley's fame

as the Charlemagne of the harvest field. Now, his opponent,

Warder, wanted the right to make Whiteley's reaper and pro­ mised to pay $5 - 0 0 apiece for all he could sell. This gave birth to a consolidation of the two companies, which was fea­

tured by a division of territories for market purposes, not by merger. Competition between Warder and Whiteley ended.

The same year (1867), the original Champion interests

(Whiteley, Fassler, and Kelly Works) branched off. The new

Champion Machine Company was organized by Amos Whiteley, the brother of William N. Whiteley. In 1868, arrangements were

effected with the Lagonda Agricultural Works (Warder, Mitchell,

and Company) originally for the manufacture of Champion mach­

ines. These three establishments, then determined that their

machines should control the entire reaper and mower trade.

Champion Machine Company was to handle the market of the south 1 5 5 and the southwestern states; Lagonda Agricultural Works took over the northwest territory for its market; and the Whiteley,

Fassler, and Kelly Works took the eastern market. There ex­ isted utmost harmony among the three organizations. Later on, the works of Malleable Iron Company, owned by the three firms in common, was constructed. Production of machines in­ creased.

(5) Maturity of the Industry, l870-l880.

Since the production of Champion machines was increasing by leaps and bounds after the Civil War, Springfield attained a mature reputation, based upon the performance of its ma­ chines. The three united enterprises were using their own malleable iron for the construction of the "Champion." In

1875» they also united in building the Champion Bar and Knife

Company, so better materials and low cost entered into the production of their machines. For twelve years after 1 8 6 7 , this triple alliance led the way; all others followed. The

"Champion" reaper became the leading machine of the United

States; Springfield came to be known as the "Champion City" or the "Reaper City" (Appendix 0). It was also called "A 69 Thriving City of 20,000." *

International markets were reached in this decade and

"Article Culled from New York Graphic of I8 7 8 Relates Progress of Springfield — A Thriving City of 20,000," Springfield//0.// Daily News, Friday, December 20, 19^6, p. 13. 156

Springfield was noted as one of the most important farm mach­ inery manufacturing cities of this country. In 1 8 7 6 , the

Toronto Reaper and Mower Company was organized with Oliver S.

Kelly as President; the function of this company was to sup­ ply the demand for Champion machines in Canada.

In 18771 Whiteley bought control of a new railway (Spring­ field, Jackson, and Pomeroy Railway), that ran through Ohio from Springfield to Jackson — 160 miles. Plant facilities were being expanded continually.

In 1877» local capital brought out a farmer's magazine which was entitled Farm and Fireside. P. P. Mast, who had supplied the capital, used it to promote his sales. In 1879* it was taken over by a.publishing house.

(6 ) Proud Old Age, 1880-1890.

The greatest growth of the agricultural machinery indus­ tries in Springfield took place in l880's. A better assess­ ment of Whiteley's business abilities is possible if the story of McCormick and of Deering, the other reaper kings are read.70

"Bill Whiteley of Ohio" was considered a war-like Reaper

King. His mode of attack was the field test. He held the record among the reaper-men for inventions (Appendix M), with

7 0 Herbert N. Casson, The Romance of the Reaper (New York: Doubleday, Page and Company^ 1908 ), Chaps. I and II. 157

1 2 5 patents in his name, but he was not a king of patent suits.

William N. Whiteley was the king of the field test.

Appleby of Cook County, Illinois, had invented and pat­ ented a knot-tying device for binders and reaper-binders. The

Whiteleys had the leasing rights on this invention. In some years they turned out as many as 1 2 , 0 0 0 machines.

All the buildings used by the Champion interest were equivalent to a building over two miles long by fifty feet wide and containing 14 acres of floor space.

Whiteley was now reaching the climax of his manufactur­ ing success. His new invention "The Twine Binder" (self-bind­ er) was now well settled in the market and adapted to produc­ tion on a one design basis. In spite of tremendous manufac­ turing competition centering around Chicago, Whiteley launched his plan of expansion, which was carried out from 1 8 8 2 to 1 8 8 7 , and which included: (i) new designs for machines of the three factories, (ii) building and equipping a vast new plant, the

East Street shops, (iii) the most complete production cycle, including malleable iron foundries, (iv) the transition from wood to steel as a raw material, (v) the completion of White­ ley All-Steel Binder and Mower, with innovations in the gener- al makeup. At about this time (circa 1886) he also built the Detroit, Toledo, and Ironton Railroad to serve Springfield

^'''Prince, op. cit.. Chap. XXVIII. 158 as a coal-carrier. During these five years (1882-1887) he cut loose from his partners and became the sole proprietor of his own company.

The erection of the East Street shops gave to Springfield the biggest reaper factory in the world. In 1886, the Com­ pany (Whiteley, Fassler, and Kelly) employed over 2,000 men, and turned out a Champion mower every four minutes. Many connecting buildings comprised the works (or shops) of the

Champion Mowers and Binders (the other company). The floor­ ing of the entire connected group is said to have been fifty- four acres, and that it was not equalled by any other manu­ facturing establishment on the globe. Sometime afterward, the Krupp Works of Germany exceeded the floor-space of Spring- A- field factory-group, pushing the latter to second rank. Since then, many other larger works have been constructed in the 72 world.

The State Report of Ohio of 1886 lists the following

Springfield manufacturers, as employing more than 250 em­ ployees:

1. Whiteley, Fassler, and Kelly, producing Champion mowers,

6 8 3 employees.

72 A description of the Krupp Works in 1929 says: "Today it covers five sq. miles of floor space. It takes three days to see it all. Ninety-foot plates of steel are rolled out like chewing gum." 159

2. Warder, Bushnell, and Glessner (formerly Warder, Mitch­

ell, and Company), producing Champion reapers and

mowers, 6 8 3 employees.

3* Champion Malleable Iron Works, producing malleable

iron for Champion machines, 3>00 employees.

The Champion Machine Company, producing harvesting-

machine s, 404 employees.

5. The Champion Bar and Knife Company, producing mower and

reaper knives and bars, 3 5 0 employees.

6 . The P. P. Mast Company, producing agricultural imple­

ments, 3 5 0 employees

7. Springfield Engine Thresher Company, 253 employees.

It seems that Bill Whiteley*s head was turned by this time. He was working to engineer a corner in the Chicago wheat market in 1 8 8 7 , and to do this, he was diverting the resources of his bank to Chicago. Suddenly the market broke; reaper prices were going down. Whiteley came crashing down in failure. He lost millions in this crash. Because of this bank failure, financial embarrassment came to both

William N. Whiteley (proprietor of Whiteley, Fassler, and

Kelly Works) and Amos Whiteley (proprietor of Champion Ma­ chine Company). Consequently, Warder, Bushnell, and Glessner was left as the sole manufacturer of machines.

(7 ) Decline but not Death, 1890-1900.

The East Street shops were sold to Fairbanks in 1891; 160 and the Champion Machine Company’s shop became the property

of Superior Drill Company in 18971 which later became the Ameri­

can Seeding Machine Company, and manufactured cider presses

and drills. The East Street plant, which was formerly the home of Whiteley Reaper Company, was now converting into a

space-leasing building housing several industries (such as

Wickham Piano Plate Company, Indianapolis Switch and Frog

Company, etc.).

After his four million dollar failure of 1 8 8 7 and after winding up his Reaper Company, in 1 8 9 1 , Whiteley quit the city and went to Indiana, as if to hide his face. His pride had gone before a fall. He had made Springfield what it was.

Now he had broken Springfield. However, he returned to

Springfield in 1897 and revived the "New Champion” group of industries, represented by the American Seeding Machine

Company, the Foos Gas Engine Company, and the Champion Chemi­ cal Company.

The Agricultural implements industry was so dominant in

Springfield in the 19th century that there is some justifica­ tion in not mentioning more than casually the names of other industries. Robbins and Myers, which was established in l879» started the manufacture of fan motors. Metallic Cas­ ket Company was a small coffin factory in l880's. Wickham

Piano Plate Company was a leader in its own field. Kelly's

Rubber lire Wheel Company of pre-1900 years became Kelly- I

161

'Springfield Tire Company in 1900.

Period of Transition (1900-1920)

With the end of the 19th century, the period of the

dominance of the agricultural implements industry was over.

As if to mark the end of the active life of this industry,

the Big Fire broke out in 1901, as a result of which a major

portion of the East Street plant burned down and was never

rebuilt. Today, in the southeastern section of the town,

one encounters a large amount of empty space (though inter­

spersed with James Leffel and Company, Buffalo-Springfield

Roller Company, and Ridgely Trimmer Company), bounded by East

Street on the west, railroad tracks on the north, Burt Street

on the east, and Kenton Street on the south. No roads or

paths go across this area (Map V ) . This is relic of the

vast East Street shops of the 19th century, a reminder of

Springfield’s past glory, a remnant of Whiteley's ambitions

(Appendix P). The building in which Ridgely Trimmer Company

is located, gives some idea of what the old shops were like.

(Plate III).

During the two decades from 1900 to 1920, no clear pic­

ture of the industrial character of Springfield emerges, be­

cause various manufacturers were trying to figure out, as it

were, what other types of industries could succeed in this

location. Examples of new types of industries were: Spring- 162

field Tent and Awning Company (1900); 7 3 Elliot Company for

the manufacture of tube cleaners, tube expanders, and access­

ories (1901); Thompson Grinder Company (1905); and others.

The Kelly-Springfield Roller Company and the Buffalo Steam-

Roller Company merged to make the Buffalo-Springfield Roller

Company in 1902. Two thermometer companies (Ohio Thermometer

Company and Chaney Manufacturing Company) came into being.

Bosca Hugo Company, Inc. was founded in 1913 as a rep­ resentative of the leather and leather products industrial group. The four most important industrial groups that be­

came conspicuous by their presence in this period were (i) pri­ mary metal industries, exemplified by Western Foundry and

Manufacturing Company (191^), Ohio Steel Foundry Company

(1917)» Springfield Aluminum Plate and Castings Company (1919)1 and Springfield Brass Company (191^); (ii) fabricated metal products industries, exemplified by Murray Black Company

(1912), and Yost Superior Company (1915)? (iii) machinery, except electrical, industries, exemplified by Western Tool and Manufacturing Company, Inc. (1906), Thompson Grinder Com­ pany (noted above), Duplex Mill and Manufacturing Company

(1 9 0 8 ); and (iv) transportation equipment industries, repre­ sented by Steel Products Engineering Company (1917), and

73 Figures in parenthesis in this chapter and the next in­ dicate the year of establishment of the respective company. 165

- - ,■ - r - r r r r-r r r P l M s*lf tf P:F=:c

JUN - 56

PLATE III — New England type of structure of the Ridgely Trimmer Company. In the left background is located the Buffalo Springfield Roller Company. 16^

Westcott Motor Company.

Comparatively, the establishment of the machine tool in­ dustry ( a branch of the machinery group) was the most impor­ tant event of this period. Most of the factories established then have survived to this day, and this is in an industry characterized by a very high rate of failures. The main fac­ tor of production was the labor pool created by earlier indus­ tries. The assembly of Westcott passenger car was out by 1920, partly because of severe competition. Bicycle manufacturing, which showed its head, did not last very long.

Diversification of industrial types, which had set in during the two decades under discussion, did not obliterate agricultural implements industry completely. In 1902, Warder,

Bushnell, and Glessner Company became the Springfield Works of the International Harvester Company and manufactured farm implements until 1 9 1 8 , when it switched to motor trucks.

Emergence of a New Balance (1920-1930)

After World War I, the new pattern of industrial types began to appear. Whereas the preceding period was one of confusion, so to speak, the present period gave clear fore­ bodings of what was going to happen in the industrial affairs of Springfield. Though in the early 20's there was a slump in agriculture, the only industries affected in Springfield were the agricultural implements. Women entered the field of 165 industry about this time. Springfield received publicity as nl+ the best -60,000 city in the United States.

In the period of 1900-1920, the chief article of manu­ facture was still the agricultural implements though it was losing its importance to electric motors, fans, road rollers, motor trucks, automobile tires, metallic caskets, piano plates, machine tools, gas and gasoline engines, etc. Some of these products had been manufactured since before the end of the

19th century. International Harvester Company, a continuation of Warder, Bushnell, and Glessner, now a member of the larger organization with headquarters in Chicago, manufactured diver­ sified agricultural implements, including reaping machines, hay-rakes, hay-tedders, mowing-machines, hay-presses, etc.

But in the 1920's, prominent among manufactures were

Kelly-Springfield tires, magazines, turbine water-wheels, machine tools, railroad supplies like switches and frogs, hot-air furnaces, lawn mowers, cider-mills, bicycles, malleable iron, etc.

The publishing house of Farm and Fireside changed hands several times. It was known as Mast, Crowell, and Kirkpat­ rick in the beginning; afterwards it became Crowell and Kirk­ patrick. In the 1920's, it was called Crowell Publishing

nit Springfield, Ohio: The Best 60,000 City in America (compiled and published by Justice S. Mackern), 82 pp. 166

Company and was easily one of the largest employers as well as one of the hest known firms of Springfield. It had started the publication of Woman’s Home Companion in the 1870*s, and of the American Magazine in 1911. Collier * s weekly was brought here as job from New York City in early 19^0's.

The newcomers in this decade were Miller Frocks (1930),

Springfield Leather Products Company (1923), International

Steel Wool Corporation (192^-), Robertson Can Company (192^0,

Airetool Manufacturing Company (1930), Peters and Russell, Inc.

(1928), Springfield Manufacturing Company (1922). They repre­ sented the industrial groups that existed and flourished in the earlier period. No new group appeared, except for the subgroup of abrasive products represented by steel wool. All of these have survived to the present. In effect the decade of 1 9 2 0 - 1 9 3 0 augmented the representation of almost every in­ dustrial group, more or less equally.

Reasons for the coming of new industries within the old groups were: a) impetus of successful manufacture of related products, b) establishment of competition in a profitable in­ dustry-type, c) desire to flourish and prosper in a community where an early start (in the previous two decades) in similar types of manufacturing had brought a considerable prestige.

The Springfield Chamber of Commerce was very active at this time in the role of a promotional agency. A bit of its history is in order. "The four million dollar failure" of the Bast Street shops in 1887 was a serious matter and induced businessmen to organize the Springfield Board of Trade in l889» Its objective was to advertise empty buildings avail­ able for new firms that might be interested in locating in

Springfield. As has been seen, the prestige of the town attracted many firms from outside. This function of the

Board of Trade lasted until 190^- when it was absorbed by the

Commercial Club. From then on to 1919* the motto was MMake

Springfield Flourish,” and attention was given to broader matters related with the progress of the town as a whole. In

1919, the older Club merged into Springfield Chamber of Com­ merce. It is now a business center as well as a social cen­ ter and community forum for Springfield. Its constitution defines its object as being "to promote the commercial, in­ dustrial, agricultural, civic, and moral welfare of the City of Springfield, the County of Clark, and the State of Ohio."

All the persons, firms or corporations interested in the ad­ vancement and prosperity of Springfield, are eligible for membership.75

Among the locational advantages of Springfield at this were a sizable population, the lowest rate of average annual taxation in Ohio, a reasonably good system of water works,

75Prince, op. cit. Chap. LIV, "Springfield Chamber of Commerce", pp. 48^— 85• 168

direct connection by rail with the best coalfields, arrange­

ments for natural gas, and a cooperative city.

In comparison with other cities in Ohio in 1929* Spring­

field's rank was ninth in value added, eighth in establish­

ments, and tenth in wage earners. No detailed statistics

of the Springfield industrial area were published by the Cen­

sus of Manufactures, though for other principal cities they were available.

If the relationship with land, labor, capital, and other

factors of production were analyzed, it would appear that in

contrast to the 1 9 th century when land and entrepreneur were

the strongest factors, those of the first quarter of the pre­ sent century that were important in uplifting the industrial level of Springfield were labor and capital. "Capital" here includes the presence and availability of buildings and equip­ ment, as well as facilities of electric power, natural gas, etc.

So far as factors of distribution and consumption were concerned, they were also conducive to the industrial growth of the city. Public highways were becoming more and more popu­ lar everyday. The local supply of suitable gravel aided in the upkeep of the roads. The city was advantageously located for the Appalachian-Mississippi market. The industrial center of the United States was located about 50 miles north of

Springfield during this decade. 169

Special industries that were present then, but gone by

1956 were:

American Radiator Company, Automotive Rubber Company,

Garner Brothers (cigars), Indianapolis Switch and Frog Com­ pany, Kelly-Springfield Motor Truck Company, McClure Auto

Top Company, Ruby Manufacturing Company (manufacturer of auto­ mobile accessories), and Schuyler Manufacturing Company (manu­ facturer of automobile accessories).

Experience of the Depression (1930-19^-0)

In the 1930's when depression struck the country, Spring­ field fared better than many other communities. Diversifica­ tion of industry which had set in in earlier years really saved Springfield. This does not mean that Springfield suffered no losses; from 1929 to 1 9 3 3 , the average number of wage earners dropped from 12,003 to 1 1 ,0 1 ^; the number of es­ tablishments was reduced from 158 to 1 3 2 , and the value added by manufacture declined from $5 3 ,063 , 0 0 0 to $3^,'6 7 6 ,0 0 0 .

But, whereas the percentage of decrease in the value added by manufacture for the state of Ohio was 2^.8 for the decade of 1929-1939, it was only 10.4 for the city of Springfield

(Table 16). Springfield's share of Ohio's manufacturing rose from 1.88 per cent in 1929 to 2.28 per cent in 1937 (Table 17)•

Depression years also saw a change in the city govern­ ment; this change was toward a better administration. Indus- 170

Table 16

Per Cent of Increase in the Value Added by Manufacture, for the State of Ohio and the City of Springfield, by Decades

Per Cent of Increase in the Value Added Decade Ohio Springfield

1899-1909 80 .8 51.3 1909-1919 256.6 227.9 1919-1929 32.1 56.7 1929-1939 -24.8 -10.4 I9 3 9 -I9V 7* 199.2 137.4 * No census was taken in the year 1949. No subsequent census has yet been published.

Source: Calculations based on the data collected from the United States Department of Commerce, Census of Manufac­ tures (Washington, D. C.: Bureau of the Census)•

Table 1?

Value Added by Manufacture in Spring­ field, as a Percentage of the same in Ohio

Year of Census Percentage

1899 2.01 1904 1.53 1909 1.68 1914 1.84 1919 1.55 1925 0 .61 1929 1.88 1937 2.28 1939 2.24 1947 1.77

Source: Calculations based on the data collected from the United States Department of Commerce, Census of Manufac­ tures (Washington, D. C.: Bureau of the Census). 171 try began to recover from early 1 9 3 3 ; between this year and

1937 it rose in value added by 77-1 per cent. By 1938 Spring­ field was doing well and had ten firms employing more than

200 each.

Agricultural machinery went down to sixth place in value.

Motor trucks, magazines, electrical machinery, steel products, auto bumpers, road rollers, incubators and brooders, engines, and metallic caskets brought the greatest amount of business and activity to the city.

A blow to the prestige of the town came when the Ohio

Department of Health declared the Springfield water-supply as inadequate and hazardous to public health and safety in 1 9 3 9 *

This verdict came as the result of a worsening water situation.

The Depression and the verdict of the State Department of Health, however, did notkeep new industry from coming in­ to Springfield. Right in the midst of the depression in 1932 was born the Ring Wald Products for the manufacture of screw safety devices for busses, motor driven flashes, and stop signs (semaphores). Actually the owner of this firm had been the chief engineer at Robbins and Myers. When the slump came and he lost his job, he set up his own factory. Bunday Incu­ bator Company which was established in 1936 was not the first industry of its kind. Similarly other new industries of this decade, for instance Payne Tool and Engineering Company (1936),

Morgal Machine Tool Company (1937)> and Patton Manufacturing Company (1938) which are in existence even today, did not add

any new industrial group to the city.

The relationship of industry with land was becoming more and more remote. A labor pool created by employment and ex­ perience of the past, as well as entrepreneur and government were playing more important roles during these years. Entre­ preneurial activity involved the branching off from mother companies, with some of the employees of the latter as owners or managers of the new firms. Not necessarily was this birth of new companies planned by the parent companies. Private in­ terests, disagreements, competitive ambitions, lure of person­ al ownership of factories, were among the reasons behind the advent of some new firms.

Conditions in 1939 were hardly better than in 1937* The total number of establishments had increased, but not the value of manufacturing.

World War II (1939-191»-3)

The effect of World War II on Springfield's industries was beneficial. But because they were producing peace-time goods primarily, they did not experience as phenomenal a rise as industries in other cities. Whereas Ohio increased its value added by manufacture by 199»2 per cent between

1939 and 19^7, Springfield's value added rose only by 137*^ per cent. Consequently its share of the total manufacturing 173 in Ohio decreased from 2 , 2 b per cent in 1939 to 1.77 per cent in 19^7. This much for the relative growth of industrial pro­ duction. In absolute terms, Springfield recorded a remarkable increase in the number of establishments, in the average num­ ber of production workers, and of course, in the value added by manufacture (Tables 6 , 7* and 8 ).

Among the several industries that were newly established in Springfield, no new groups were represented; hence the trends begun in the 1 9 2 0 ‘s were affirmed and well-founded.

The names of Eagle Tool Machine Company, Inc. (19^0), J. and

J. Foundry, Inc. (19^1)» Omco Products Corporation (19^+1),

Lagonda Tool and Engineering Company (19^2), Ganter Screw

Products, Inc. (19^3)» Haley Machine Company, Inc. (19^5)1

Carmichael Machine Company (1 9 ^5)1 and K. Wm. Beach Manufac­ turing Company for Gaskets (19^+5) are.suggestive of their products and hence of their industrial types.

Government and capital were the two most influential 76 factors of production during these years. Government was responsible for the political atmosphere, capital was related to the availability of buildings. Wright-Patterson Air Force

Base was exerting a strong pull on Springfield's labor supply which was falling short.

Release by War Production Board, Nov. 19^• 174

Post-War Era (1946-195&)

When the war demands came to an end, the production level in the industrial plants also fell. From more than 15,500 production workers in 1947* to some over 14,000 such workers in 1 9 5 6 (the latter figure is based on statistics collected by field survey) meant a surplus of labor, expecially because the population kept growing both in number and in age. To- ■ day there are more persons in the labor force of Springfield than can be absorbed by the existing industries. This is true in spite of the fact that at least nine new industrial firms have come into being during this decade. These new companies are, in some cases, just a reorganization of the older concerns. Quick Manufacturing Company (1946, garden tractors, rotary tillers, rotary lawn mowers), K. and A.

Aluminum Foundry, Inc. (1946, aluminum castings), United

Board and Carton Corporation (1946, paper boxes), Industrial

Garment Manufacturing Company (1946, coveralls), Wilder Pro­ ducts Company (1947, pipe and heating specialties), Metro­ politan Homes, Inc. (1948, pre-fabricated homes), Echo, Inc;

(1948, glass-spirit-thermometer tubes), Mitchell Engineering

Division of Stevens, Frederick B. Inc. (1950, plating machinery and equipment), and Allen Tool Company (1951> aircraft assem­ bly jigs and fixtures) added many new products but no new industrial groups. Apparel and other fabricated textile products group, as well as the paper and paper products group, 175 and the fabricated metal products group assumed a greater share of labor-employment than in the previous decades. To­ bacco Manufacture, textile mill products, oil and coal pro­ ducts, and rubber manufacture groups are not represented at all in Springfield today, though some of them have been tried and abandoned in the past. CHAPTER VI

RETROSPECT

A Brief Resume7

One hundred and fifty-five years of life of Springfield, characterized by ups and downs of industrial development, have brought this city to its present stage. The first five industrial firms, each employing 1,000 or more, including office workers, according to the Directory of Ohio Manufac­ turers, 1954, were:

(1) International Harvester Company (Plate IV)

(2) Crowell-Collier Publishing Company

(3) Robbins and Myers, Inc.

(4) Steel Products Engineering Company (Plate V)

(5) National Supply Company (now White Motor Company)

As a group, they employ about half of the city's indus­ trial employees. Obviously they are the industries for which

Springfield is known today. They represent the industrial groups of a) Transportation equipment, b) printing, publish­ ing, and allied industries, c) electrical machinery, equip­ ment and supplies, and d) machinery (except electrical), re­ spectively.

176 177

Industrial types and .important products in 1956. The 77 Standard Industrial Code classified manufacturing into 21 groups. Those absent in Springfield are ordnance and acces­ sories, tobacco manufactures, textile mill products, pro­ ducts of petroleum and coal, rubber products; all others are present. The groups which are absent today were not always absent. Woolen factories representing textile mill products, cigar factories representing tobacco manufacture, and tire manufacturing companies representing rubber products have all existed.in Springfield at various times before; competition, comparatively poor location, and probably mismanagement have eliminated them. They may never be revived; they may never even be tried again.

The group of miscellaneous manufacturing industries is quite important In Springfield and includes piano plates, sporting goods and athletic goods, brooms and brushes, mor­ ticians' goods, signs and advertising displays, and models and patterns.

No attempt is made here to analyze the functioning of each single plant or even of each single group of industries.

However, in order to understand the nature of diversification that exists in the city, it seems necessary to know the types

^ Directory of Ohio Manufacturers 1955 (State of Ohio Department of Industrial Relations: Division of Labor Sta­ tistics), pp. l-9 » PLATE IV - The International Harvester Co., Springfield Works

1 8 0

PLATE V — The Steel Products Engineering Co. One of the largest industries in the city; it specializes in precision gears and hydraulic trans­ mission assemblies, fueling accessories, and com­ bustion heating equipment. Only companies of this size can afford to have enough parking space for their employees. Notice parking arrangements on either side of the road. 181 of products within each industrial group; investigation shows that they are many and varied (Appendix Q). This indicates that the location of Springfield is conducive to the devel­ opment of not just one or two types of industries in any group, but to a number of them.

The total employment figures for each group (Table 18) of industries show their relative importance; but that is not

Table 18

Ranking of Industrial Groups in Terms of the Number of Employees, 1955

Rank Group of Industries Number of Employees

I Transportation Equipment 3,853 II Machinery (except Electrical) 3,671 III Printing, Publishing, and Allied Industries 2,802 IV Electrical Machinery, Equip, and Supplies 1,555 V Fabricated Metal Products 972 VI Miscellaneous Manufacturing Industries 850 VII Primary Metal Industries 800 VIII Food and Kindred Products ^93 IX Professional, Scientific, and Controlling Instruments ^23 X Furniture and Fixtures 180 XI Paper and Allied Products I6*f XII Apparel and Other Finished Products 163 XIII Leather and Leather Products 138 XIV Stone, Clay, and Glass Products 157 XV Chemicals and Allied Products 7b XVI Lumber and Wood Products b8

Total for the City 16,363

Source: Directory of Ohio Manufacturers 1955 (Columbus Department of Industrial Relations), pp, 3 8 0 -3 8 6 , 182

all. The lower-ranking industrial groups in this respect are

just as important to the city economy as the higher-ranking

ones; in fact, in some cases, the former add more value and

are of greater service to the country.

The large variety of products that are made in Spring­

field is expressive of the enjoyment of good transportational

and market facilities, as well as of labor which can work in multiple industries.

Although International Harvester Company, Springfield

Works (Plate IV), producing 365 trucks a day in recent years is the largest industrial employer in the city, the Crowell-

Collier Publishing Company (the second largest employer) con­

tributes more to the name of the city. The three magazines,

Collier' s, American, and Womans Home Companion, it publishes enjoy a widespread American market as well as international 78 sales. The first named company, as its name suggests, was organized to manufacture harvesters and other agricultural machines, which it did until about 1918; the change in the line of production (in favor of trucks) was made in response to the westward shift of the heart of agricultural America and therefore of the market for farm machinery. The second

78 According to circulation figures, based on the second six months of 195^-t Woman*s Home Companion came out as the fifth leading magazine, Collier * s as the tenth, and American as the l6th. (From 1956 Pocket Almanac of Facts.) 183 named company also owes its growth to the prosperous farmland surrounding Springfield. Lately its further development has been a result of postal aoning, so that Springfield enjoys lower postal rates in sending out the magaaines to the nation­ al market. The Oliver Corporation, which was known as Ameri­ can Seeding Machine Company until 1929, and subsequently as

Oliver Farm Implements Company until 1 9 ^ , is the true repre­ sentative of the local industrial history, since it still con­ tinues to produce various kinds of farm machines.

Present locations (sites) of plants in Springfield. Of the 65 industries, on which this study is based, 12 are lo- 79 cated within the borders of the Central Business District, or on its periphery. That this area within the city has been chosen by so many industries indicates the pull of commercial and office facilities that are available in the downtown section of almost every other city. These are also the industries which a person traveling through Springfield comes to know about almost without effort (Plate VI).

Some streets in Springfield may justly be called industry streets. Examples of such streets are Sheridan Avenue in the southeastern part of the town, Lagonda Avenue in the north­ eastern section of the town, and West Columbia Street. These streets have well-established industrial companies located

79 As delineated by the Regional Planning Commission, Clark County, Springfield. 184

along them. (See Map IV).

The five largest companies, mentioned in the preceding

section, are not concentrated in one place. One of them

(Crowell-Collier) is situated in the heart of the town

(Plate VI), one (White Motor Company) in the southeast (Sheri­

dan Avenue), two (international Harvester, and Robbins and

Myers) in the northeast (Lagonda Avenue), and one (Steel

Products) in the west (Columbia Street).

There is something in the names of streets. The present

Wittenberg Avenue with no factory on it and Lowry Avenue with but one, were named by pioneers as Factory Street and Mechanic

Street respectively. The names gave forebodings of coming

developments within the city, but not along the streets con­

cerned.

Analysis of the distribution of plants in various parts of the city. If the industries located in the Central Business

Districts are excluded, the following distribution-pattern is

obtained:

Northeastern Quarter ...... 16

Southwestern Quarter ...... 15

Southeastern Quarter ...... 14

Northwestern Quarter ...... 8

Northeastern Quarter. (Map VII) This is by far the old­ est and the most heavily industrialized quarter. Dwellings and apartment houses are located in the western and north- PLATE VI - An aerial view of the City of Springfield.

Notice the Union Station and the railroad yards. The Oliver Corporation is located in the right foreground; Buckeye Incubator Co. near the top right. The rectangular pattern of the streets is conspicuous by its arrangement. The build­ ing of the Crowell-Collier Publishing Company is only partly visible in the left center, close to the Buck Creek, which seems to be the dividing line between the built-up area (heavily) and the tree-covered area.

187 western as well as southeastern parts. Buck Creek traverses it in a general northeast-southwest direction; it was the water power furnished by this stream that had attracted early industries. At that time, the Creek was known as Lagonda; hence this section was the Lagonda village of the 19th cen­ tury. The New York Central and the D. T. & I railroads and their sidings create accessibility of this area to market and raw materials today. Foundries, machine tool companies, both incubator producing firms, and fabricated metal products in­ dustries are located in this quarter-section of the city, be­ sides, of course, the International Harvester Company and

Robbins and Myers.

Southwestern Quarter. (Map VIII) This is a rather new­ ly industrialized section of the town. There is a conglomer- • ation of four factories around the two crossings of Sigler

Street. Two of them are very new, the other two very old.

Here near the edge of the town comparative cheap land is ex­ pected. One industry included in this quarter, but now shown on Map VIII, is the Carmichael Machine Company located on

West National Road. The New York Central Railroad, as well as a spur to Xenia connecting there with the Pennsylvania

Railroad serve this section. Industrial land-use takes place on both sides of railroad tracks. No particular type of industry dominates this area. Machine tools, tents and awn­ ings, leather products, metal industries, machinery (except LEGEND THE CITY OF SPRINGFIELD, OHIO USE DISTRICTS HEIGHT DISTRICTS (M E QUARTER) I < K ID W E U JH O House ® 3 5 F tu m ZONING MAP DWELLING HOUSE )«0 * MAP VII APARTMENT HOUSE ) 25 * SCALE M FEET LO C A L SHOPPING AREA DISTRICTS M AJOR SHOPPIN G (X) 6000 SO. FT PER FAMILY © GENERAL BUSINESS (§) 3000 ' ' ' 1 FIRST HOUSTRIAL (§) BOO • ■ ■ • SECOND INDUSTRIAL 7 5 0 • ■ • •

v m .

m 188 e LEGEND DtSTRtCTS HEIGHT DISTRICTS © 35 Ft LIMIT [ ffl) 10WDJJM8 HOUSE DWELUNO HOUSE © • O - ■ MAP VIII AMHTUENT HOUSE ® B»‘ ■ LOCAL SHOPPING AREA DISTRICTS H 00 MAJOR SHOPPING ® 6000 SOFT F€R FAMILY vO 6ENERM. BUSINESS ® 3 0 0 0 • ■ ' FIRST INDUSTRIAL © BOO ' • “ ' SECOND INDUSTRIAL ® 780 • ■ ■ - 190 electrical), transportation equipment — these are the types of products going out of this area. Residential sections are interspersed with other land uses almost everywhere but are concentrated in the southwestern and southeastern parts.

Homes are not particularly attractive. Colored people live in this quarter, making cheap labor available to factories.

Southeastern Quarter. (Map IX) This section of the city was industrialized during the middle of the 1 9 th century.

This was because of the rivulet known as Mill Run which flows through the middle. When water power was in vogue, sites along Mill Run were preferred. Both the D. T. & I. and the

New York Central railroad tracks follow the valley of this stream (Map IV). East Street shops were located in this quarter; hence when older Springfielders think of this part of town, they associate industry v/ith it. Several plants are located along Kenton Street and Sheridan avenue today; but the buildings are old and remind one of the long history behind them. The New England type building housing Ridgely

Trimmer Company is a case in point (Plate III) . A cluster of three companies (one of which is located across Main

Street and therefore in the Northeastern quarter) is to be seen on Walnut Street where it joins Main Street. No quarter of the city specializes in any particular type of industry

(Appendix Q); in the one this paragraph deals with, morticians' goods (embalming fluids), farm implements, Leffel hydraulic i iuuulIi—II—11

m

□0\7A Q

y / / / / / / / A

LEGEND USE DISTRICTS HEIGHT DISTRICTS THE CITY OF SPRINGFIELD. OHIO | ® | OWELUNO HOUSE © 3 6 FT. LIM IT 191 OWELUNG HOUSE ® 60 * ZONING MAP (SE. QUARTER) MAP IX APARTMENT HOUSE ® B 5 * " | LOCAL SHOPPING AREA DISTRICTS | MAJOR SHOPPING @ 6 0 0 0 s a FT. PER FAMILY SCALE M FEET j GENERAL BUSINESS @3000 • * ' j FIRST INDUSTRIAL © 1500 • ■ • • o SECOND INDUSTRIAL M ® 750 ' * * 192 turbines, piano plates, screw products, diesel engines, paper sind cotton sheeting converters, tools and appliances for painters and paperhangers, pulp refiners, debarking equip­ ment, grinding equipment, welded wire products, oil extract­ ing machines, steam boilers, etc. obviously belong to differ­ ent industrial groupings. Along the extreme northeastern part of this quarter, i. e., near the edge of the city, one notices pretty homes and a pleasant environment.

Northwestern Quarter. (Map X) Comparatively, this sec­ tion has fewer factories; almost all of them are either on

Main Street or on Columbia Street (at least very close to this street), thus availing themselves of truck-transporta- tion facilities on the National Road (Route ^0) which follows

Columbia and North Streets in this part of the city (Plate I).

Near where Columbia and Bechtle come together, a cluster of factories is found, the largest being the Steel Products En­ gineering Company (Plate V). The fabricated metal industries, wood products,primary metal industries (Plate VII), machinery industries (Plate VIII), and transportation equipment group

(Plate IX) are all represented. Sidings of the New York Cen­ tral Railroad serve many of them. Much of the space in this part of the city is devoted to other purposes such as a ceme­ tery, college, hospital, park, etc. On the northern side is the most beautiful residential neighborhood; this is perhaps due to higher ground and the better drainage provided. When 193

MAP X THE CITY OF SPRINGFIELD. OHIO

ZONING MAP (N.W. QUARTER)

SCALE IN FEET O LEGEND USE DISTRICTS HEIGHT DISTRICTS

| DWELLING HOUSE © g o • • APARTMENT HOUSE © 1 2 5 ■ ■ LOCAL SHOPPING AREA DISTRICTS

| GENERAL BUSINESS © 3000 ' " " © FIRST INDUSTRIAL © 1500 ■ ■ ■ | SECOND INDUSTRIAL ® 7S0

m m

H vQ -p- PLATE VII — K and A Aluminum Foundry, Inc. A representative of non-ferrous foundries; it makes aluminum castings by the sand-mold process. The building looks old and dilapidated. Landscaping is conspicuous by its absence. 196

JUN • 56

PLATE VIII — The Thompson Grinder Company. A representative of machine tool factories; it turns out hydraulic surface grinders as its chief product. Universal mechanical grinders were manufactured un­ til 193^. 197

J U N • 5 6

PLATE IX — Springfield Manufacturing Company. A representative of transportation equipment group, it produces flywheel-starter-ring-gears. Residen­ tial land-use to the left abuts on it. 198 the Snyder Industrial District to the west and the Buckeye

Industrial District (also known as the Mad River Industrial

District ) to the north realize their purpose, this quarter of the city v/ill assume much greater industrial importance.

Central business district (Map XI). Out of a total So area of 191.88 acres of the C B D, 6 k,32 acres (approxi­ mately 30 per cent) are devoted to commercial land-use. In no other part of the city does commercial use account for such a high percentage of the land. Here railroad tracks account for 5*17 acres, light industry for 8.21 acres, and heavy industry for ik .k O acres, thus giving a total of 27.78 acres for industrial and railroad use combined (Appendix R); more than twice as much area is given over to commercial use.

Within this district are located the United States Post Office, the Union Station, the City Building, offices of utility com­ panies, and Greyhound Bus Station, as well as the City Cham­ ber of Commerce (Plate VI). Crowell-Collier Publishing Com­ pany is the largest factory in this district and creates a lot of traffic even though its functioning involves light manufac­ turing. Other industries located here are apparel (downtown accessibility is important for local sales), paper, leather,

For a study of the functions and the boundaries of the so-called Downtown section, see Raymond E. Murphy and J. E. Vance, Jr., ’’Delimiting the C B D," Economic Geography, Vol. XXX (195*0, pp. 189-222. 199

rnn Z

PARK 0

2 E A c COLUMBIA

4UCHf Q

i c m □ IfMAR

MAP XI — CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT IN SPRINGFIELD Legend. — 1. Industrial Garment Manufacturing Company; 2. Mil­ ler Frocks; 3® United Board and Carton Corporation; 4. Crowell Collier Publishing Company; 5. Springfield Leather Products Com­ pany; 6 ® Nolte Brass Foundry Company; 7® Robertson Can Company; 8 ® Yost Superior Company; 9® Airetool Manufacturing Company; 10® Allen Tool Company; 11® Ring Wald Products; 12* Springfield Metallic Caskets Company, Inc® 200 metal, fabricated metal, machinery, electrical equipment, and, miscellaneous products industries (Plate X)• The Shuey Build­ ing at 300 North Center is the mother of several industrial companies. For renting temporary space for newly-born indus­ tries, this building has been very popular (Plate XI).

Industrial land-use and its proportion of total land-use.

The total industrial use including railroads comes to 3^9*05 acres, and accounts for 8 . 1 per cent of the total area of the city (Appendix R). This is less than the proportion found in other cities of comparable size, and accounts for lack of parking space for most of the plants.

Reasons for Localization of Plants in Springfield

Some businessmen are sentimental; they want to set up their factory in the town in which they have been living, or in some town which may just happen to attract their fancy.

Past experience has shown that not all industries succeed; some fail because of their poor location. The modern trend, specially in case of large corporations, is toward careful r weighing of the advantages of different communities in which they plan to set up a branch plant, or to which they intend to move all of their operations. But individually owned plants are still established according to the whims of the founder, who is more often than not, willing to take a chance. Even if partial success is attained, the plant re- ■vm —fi~n—r'ijruiflttmr --^iht"" rnrrr fi

PLATS X The plant and buildings of the Springfield Metallic Caskets Company, Inc 202

PLATE XI — Shuey Building. Downtown accessi­ bility and space-rental arrangements attract newly- industries to locate herein. At present Airetool Manufacturing Company and Yost Superior Company are located in this building. 2 0 3 mains in the sa m e locality. But if relocation becomes neces­ sary, then because of the lesson learned in the past, a care­ ful selection of a new location is made.

Even the large corporations were not initially placed in a well-considered location. In many cases, they are just an outgrowth of privately-owned companies which have succeed­ ed and expanded and incorporated other plants.

In the original establishment of a factory or factories, capital and entrepreneur play the most decisive role. It is in their hands to locate the factory where they want it.

Here capital is used In the sense of the person acting as the source of investment-capital. Since a ’’factory" is a man-made phenomenon, the decision about location rests en­ tirely with the person who is a capitalist or a manager. This decision may be wrong or right.

Except in times of emergency such as war, the government generally plays no part in the location-decisions of various firms.

The role of the land factor is also passive (like that of government) in that the choice of a plant location is in­ frequently based upon the terrain, climate, and slope obtain­ ing. These factors (or elements) often play a permissive role; the impelling factor may be timeliness of certain his­ torical events, or the suitability of labor, or perhaps the home of the inventor. zob

The following discussion of reasons for localization of industries in Springfield is divided into two parts, the one dealing with permissive factors; with out the aid of these, industries would have had a hard time in Springfield. The other part involves a consideration of impelling factors, which prompted various manufacturers to choose this city for the location of their firms.

There is something in location. By way of an example, it may be pointed out that a restaurant serving food of poor quality may yet attract a large number of customers and thus prosper, simply by virtue of its location in an accessible place. The same tendency holds in case of industries, too.

Permissive Factors

There is no way to present the conditions which are per­ missive in character in their relative order of importance.

They play a secondary role so far as location-decisions are concerned, and sometimes no thought is given to them at all.

But they are there, very important for the day-to-day working of industries, making it possible for them to flourish and prosper.

Availability of sites and buildings is mentioned first, because it is on the verge of being a prime consideration in case of certain plants (at least that has been the experience of Springfield plants). During the World War II, for instance, some companies came to Springfield just because of the avail­ 205 ability of space in buildings, which were suited to the opera­ tions of those companies*

The role of climate is the most forgotten one, though the older entrepreneurs like to settle in warmer places like

Florida or California. Climate is not a liability in Spring­ field. The type of climate, as described in Chapter I, is one which promotes efficiency and is conducive to human energy.

So far as natural gas and electricity are concerned, utility companies make ample provision of them so that no old or new industry has to face the problem of inadequate supplies of these fuels.

Water supply, whose problem will be dealt with in great­ er detail in a subsequent chapter, has presented deplorable situations from time to time, but has never failed. Most in­ dustries are several decades old; in the early years of their life-time water supply was good and reliable.

The accessibility of raw materials played no part in locating ^6 out of 65 industries. These ^6 industries repre­ sent all the industrial groups that exist in the city. In certain groups, all the industries reported that raw material accessibility played no role in their location-decisions; such groups were leather products, printing and publishing, apparel, scientific instruments, and wood products. Other groups in which most of the industries ignored the raw material accessi­ bility factor, were primary metal industries (most of the 206 foundries), fabricated metal products, and machinery (except electrical). However, in relocating the companies, this factor would play a considerable part. Warehouses, however, in almost every industrial city have reduced the importance of this factor. On the other hand, some industries have indi­ cated that their location closer to raw material supply would have been better; this is true about the paper, some of the fabricated metal products industries, and some machinery.

The size of the city of Springfield played no role at the time of the establishment of.49 out of 65 industries. These again give a cross-section of almost all the groups represent­ ed in Springfield. But it may be assumed that other facilities like the utilities are related to the size of a city, and hence indirectly the size of Springfield may have had something to do with successful functioning of industries-. Five industries reported that they could not assess the significance of the size-factor; these included some of the machine tool compan­ ies, apparel, and thermometer industries. Seven industries reported that the size of the city partially influenced (though did not determine) the location of their plants in Springfield.

Another group of four industries emphasized the direct influ­ ence of the size in that it was not too small to furnish men for labor, or that it was a medium-sized town and had all the attractions that go with it, or that it was known at one time as the best 60,000 city in America for general conditions of 207 living. Each of these represented a different industrial group (primary metal, fabricated metal, farm machinery, and wood products)• However, this factor is such that the full extent of its partial influence cannot be determined.

Community attitude played a neutral role in 45 out of

65 cases studied. These industries encountered no opposi­ tion; in certain instances, the company came into being as a result of change in ownership. The remaining 20 industries indicated that they received a warm welcome at the hands of the community in general.

Local taxes entered into the consideration of only 19 companies; they felt that taxes were favorable in that they were lower than in large cities or more reasonable than in

Pennsylvania, for instance, where a company was originally located. Many companies did not even investigate local taxes, for others higher or lower taxes did not make any difference.

At the time of the establishment of some companies, there was very little in the way of taxes anywhere.

The role of local capital can not be easily determined, simply because many companies are so old that their founders are dead and gone, and the present-day management has no idea about how much capital invested was local. As many as 50 existing companies were started with 100 per cent local capi­ tal; they are either small or individually owned firms and must not have required large sums of money. Some of them get their capital mostly from outside today, although originally all the capital came locally. Four companies were established with the capital that was predominantly local (for instance, two of the three partners in Ganter Screw Products are Spring- fielders, so that two-thirds of the capital was available locally). Another group of two companies reported the capital was only partly local. Bank-loans were involved for another

factory. There are only six industries left, then, which claim that all the capital invested was outside capital.

These figures reveal that a very large number of companies are here because the source of capital was here. In case of the other companies too, at least initially almost all the capi­ tal was local. Any correlation of the companies which were founded by local or outside capital with the industrial groups or types they represent, does not tell any pertinent story.

As illustration, one of the apparel industries of Springfield was organized by local capital, the other by outside capital.

Similarly one of the thermometer companies utilized local capi­ tal, the others did not employ any local capital at all. Where­ as most of the foundries in Springfield got a start with the help of the capital that was locally available, the largest foundry in Springfield, the Ohio Steel Foundry, was established with capital that was only partly local. There was no local capital involved in case of the United Board and Carton, the only large paper company in Springfield; hence its example 209 does not set any pattern for paper manufacturers. To repeat, to say that certain particular types of industries follow the availability of capital, would only be presumptuous on the part of any investigator.

Transport facilities have been available in Springfield ever since the National Road was built. They have changed their form as technical advances have necessitated. In some respects, this is the strongest factor, and if not permissive, industries cannot survive for any length of time. These facilities provide connections with the markets where Spring­ field products are in demand. There is no reason why these facilities cannot expand if local industries need more of them.

Impelling Factors

Following are the considerations which, singly or in dif­ ferent combinations, have caused the location of various com­ panies in Springfield. It should be made clear at the very outset that the following discussion has for its objective the presentation of those factors which have played decisive role in the location of companies; the reasons for the locali­ zation of specific industries are not being presented. As a matter of fact, it is well nigh impossible to point out the specific reasons for the specific types of industries. The frequency with which any factor has been mentioned as having played a significant part, has been used as a criterion for arranging the hierarchy of these factors of localization. It 2 1 0 must be remembered at every stage that each company had more than one factor to account for its localization in Springfield.

Which factor was the dominant one is hard to assess now that the founders of most companies are dead.

The first and foremost is that Springfield is the home of the original owner or owners. Many of the corporations are family-owned. The most frequently emphasized cause of com­ pany locations, this factor stresses the importance of histori­ cal circumstances which resulted in the coming of or in the establishment of a good number of entrepreneurs in Springfield.

Splintering Effect^"*" is the second most important causal fact accounting for a large number of companies within many industrial groups. The learning of a trade in Springfield was naturally likely to create new firms of the same type.

The owner of a newer firm may have been a foreman, an engineer, a purchasing agent, or a machineman, or some such responsible position-holder in one of the mother companies (Table 19).

The concerns which owe their existence, at least partly, to the above effect (Table 20) are not necessarily on bad terms with their parent companies. Quite often there is a coopera­ tive division of labor, and the surplus work of one is sub­ contracted to the other. Sometimes the emergence of a new

8x The idea was developed in Henry L. Hunker, "Columbus, Ohio: The Industrial Evolution of a Commercial Center," un­ published Ph. D. dissertation, The Ohio State University, 1953* 2 1 1 company is merely a change in the name.

Access to or familiarity with Springfield labor is re­ lated to the first two factors. A certain entrepreneur may

Table 19

Mother Companies in Springfield

1. Airetool Manufacturing Company 2. American Seeding Machine Company (now Oliver Corporation) 3. Bauer Brothers 4. Buckeye Incubator Company 5. Eagle Engineering Company (now Eagle Tool and Machine Co.) 6. Elwood Myers (gone now) 7- International Harvester Company 8. Robbins and Myers ,9. Springfield Machine Tool Company 10. Steel Products Engineering Company

Table 20

Names of Concerns Which Owe Their Existence Partly to the So-called Splin­ tering Effect

1. Allen Tool Company 2. Bosca Hugo Company, Inc. 3. Chickmaster Incubator Company 4. Echo, Inc. 3. Eagle Tool and Machine Company, Inc. 6 . Haley Machine Company 7. J. and J. Foundry, Inc. 8. Industrial Garment Manufacturing Company 9. K. Wm. Beach Manufacturing Company 10. Lagonda Tool and Engineering Company 11. Morgal Machine Tool Company 12. Patton Manufacturing Company 13. Ring Wald Products 14. Western Foundry and Manufacturing Company have decided to locate here just because he had put in some years of residence in this city before and had come to know some members of the labor force. 212

The role of chance conies next. As has been stated before, many manufacturers just happen to select a community without giving any thought to its locational advantages, and then try to see if their decision was wise. One manufacturer went to the length of saying that he is in Springfield just by act of

God. He just happened to locate here.

Springfield has been the home of some noted inventors, particularly in the 19th century. The inventors, in turn, became founders of their firms and quite obviously decided to stay in Springfield.

Consolidations and mergers are another cause which has given birth to some of the companies in existence today. A few of these have continued under different names ever since the 1850's.

Some companies abandoned their previous location and moved to Springfield in order to gain proximity to their prin­ cipal customers (Table 21).

Table 21

Number of Companies that Came from Outside

Original Location Number Represented

Dayton 1 Middleport 1 Niles 1 Urbana 1

Total of such companies4

During the second World War, the decisions of the Office of Production Management left no choice for certain local 2 1 3 manufacturers in terms of the site for industrial plants.

The above list of localization-factors is not exhaus­ tive, but the latter are arranged in the relative order of the frequency with which they have entered the reasoning of entrepreneurs.

Whether or not the local manufacturers are conscious of it, the geographic or the land factors of production have much to do with the successful functioning of their industries from day to day. By these factors are meant inter-regional rela­ tionships of Springfield, the general climatic region in which it is located, the productive farmlands in the environs, the accessibility of such important raw materials as coal, coke, iron, steel, or dolomite, etc.

Market accessibility in Springfield is related to the fact that Springfield is centrally located in the northeast­ ern sector of the United States, where most of the country's population lives, and where most of the country's industry continues to prosper. In all probability, this is one of the strongest factors why a location in Springfield can be attrac­ tive to any prospective manufacturer. With a progressive rise in transportation costs, and with the natural tendency of industrialists to cut down such costs, more and more in­ dustries are seeking their location near the market.

Deviations from the standard Pattern. A check with the

Basic Industrial Location Factors published by the United

States Department of Commerce reveals that the most numerous 21k industry groups in Springfield are those for which the most important factors are labor, sites, transportation facilities, market, power, and distributional facilities. The groups which are guided by the location of production material or water are not well-represented. This shows that Springfield's industrial pattern is a normal pattern in that it is based on the availability of important factors locally.

The "unknown" factor must not be cast aside. It refers to the fact that since the old timers are gone, the real rea­ sons for the location of certain plants in this community are not known at all.

The Present in the Light of the Past in Springfield

In Springfield, industry has seen many vicissitudes. Not only have the plants changed their sites physically and there­ fore certain phases of their functions; they have also experi­ enced changes which have been due to other agencies or other areas. In turn, industry has affected life in the city, and the changed conditions within the city have caused concern to the local industrialists.

Changes do not affect all the industries in a similar man­ ner. Some companies can take in stride the changing factors of location so imperceptibly that they seem to be complete­ ly unworried about what is happening around them. Others find excuses in the changed environment, when it comes to account­ 215 ing for their failures or losses.

Some of the important changes will now be discussed.

Changes of location within the city. When it comes to relocating a plant and the manufacturer decides to move to some other part of the town, it is apparent that the general location of the city as a whole has been satisfactory. Out of the 65 industries contacted, 29 have remained where they were on the day of their inauguration; the other 56 concerns changed their sites. So far as the direction of change in the site-location is concerned, the following generalizations can be made:

a) More industries have moved away from the Central Business

District or the Downtown section than have come to it.

b) Some industries have moved toward but not into the Cen­ tral Business District.

c) Some five industries remained in the same quarter even after a change in site.

d) About equal numbers have moved into the southwestern, northwestern, and northeastern quarters within recent years.

Some of them have come from or from near the Central Business

District; others have come from another quarter of the town.

e) Practically no site-change has involved relocation in the southeastern quarter, which seems to be the least favored, owing to the old and dilapidated looks of its buildings as one of the several possible causes. 216

On the whole, the southwestern quarter has attracted, rather

strongly the industries desirous of a change in their site.

In this quarter, sites have been sought specially near the

edge of the town. The downtown area has attracted those in­

dustries which engage in light manufacturing, or which have

small-sized plants, or which need office space in the most

accessible part of the city. Miller Frocks, Allen Tool Com­

pany, Yost Superior Company, and Springfield Metallic Caskets

Company are examples. .

Reasons for these changes in order of importance. Why

a new location within the city was selected in a particular

section of the town depended mostly on the availability of

buildings. The desire to come near a railroad siding acted

as the second most important reason. Cheapness of land exer­

cised another strong pull. The causes due to which the site had to be changed were manifold. Some plants had fire in

the original building. Naturally their operations had to be

moved. In some cases, plants could function better if they

were taken out of a congested area; this reasoning was re­

lated to transport-costs. A few companies preferred to move

closer to the business center. If a building near a rail­

road crossing was for sale, it created the drive for some

manufacturers to relocate their plants. During World War II,

the government moved some industries out of the buildings

which it wanted to use. Need for greater ground-floor opera­ 21?

tion, wish for parking space for employees, reorganization of

the company, necessity of having more room for expansion

which was not possible in the immediate surroundings, etc*

were other important reasons involving relocation of plants.

In some instances, only the movement of the office took place*

In other instances, the company built a new factory-building

of its own in a different part of the town. In one case,

relocation took place because the manufacturer wanted to be

on the main highway. War demands of the early 19^0's created

a lot of shifting of locations within the city during the time

of emergency* The government needed buildings for storage.

Trends of intra-city movements. On the whole the intra­

city movement trend is definitely westward. With the develop­

ment and utilization of the two new industrial districts to

the west and to the northwest of the corporation limits, the

importance of the southwestern and northwestern quarters is

going to accentuate. These two districts will be zoned for

the exclusive use of industry.

Changes in market accessibility. A majority of indus­

tries (numbering 37) have felt that the market accessibility

has increased in importance as a location factor for their plants. In a number of cases, industry has become non-local

since the World War II, the expanding horizons of market are

reachable from Springfield. Airways, trucks plying on high­ ways, train schedules, telephone-communication — all make 218

Springfield products accessible to their market. Paper mills located in the Miami Valley and machine tools also in the same area have provided greater and greater business for Spring­ field industry. On the other hand, 25 industries have experienced no change in their relationship with market; this is because either they have a fixed number of customers who are well satisfied with the industry's location, or because the market for the product does not extend much farther than the city, or because the local market has been absorbing an increasing share of their production.

Some three industries have a different story to tell.

For them market accessibility has decreased in importance, since the west coast component of their market is becoming less accessible because the freight-rate is becoming greater.

Thus change-s in the extent of market account for changes in market accessibility.

Changes in labor. Changes in labor can be reckoned in terms of three things — quality, availability, and stability.

For a large number of local industries the most important or serious labor-problem is the growing scarcity of labor due to generally good business conditions. However, female labor supply is normal. But when they say that it is scarce, they mean that the right kind of labor is getting scarce. Floaters are available, but skilled or trained labor is more scarce.

Young people are not as interested in learning trades involv- 219

int heavy and dirty work in foundries, for instance, as they

used to be in the past. If these untrained people can get

a cleaner job in Columbus and/or Dayton, they like to go

there instead of trying to seek a job in the home-city.

With regard to quality of labor, only a few industries

reported deterioration; others seemed to be satisfied. On

the whole, labor is still good. In some industries, the na­

ture of work has changed; for example, a lot more welding may be required; and labor has met this need. During World War

II, industries were willing to hire all kinds of labor, irre­

spective of their quality of work, for labor in general was

scarce. However, in peacetime, quality of work means much more.

As regards stability, very few industries gave an un­

favorable report, and even that report stated that instability is a characteristic of low paid and unskilled labor only.

A few prudent industrialists have concluded that labor

changes are fluctuating things and correspond to the national picture.

Changes in plant-union relations. A survey of changes in plant-union relations reveals that undoubtedly more and more workers are joining unions in Springfield, i. e., more and more of labor is becoming unionized. The frequency of

strikes has shown an upward swing in recent years but when

these labor-union problems are compared with those in other 220 cities, Springfield's record is much brighter.

Changes due to Dayton's industrial growth. About half of the local industries have felt the influence of Dayton's growth upon their activities. This influence has multiple aspects. Some industries in order to compete with Dayton had to raise wages of their most desirable labor. Dayton creates a shortage of specially skilled labor for Springfield industries. In some cases, however, the wear and tear on cars is so much for those Spx-ingfielders who commute to Day­ ton for work that after sometime they decide to seek a job in Springfield. The Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near

Dayton also exercises a pull over Springfield workers, especi­ ally women. As a result, office personnel in local indus­ tries has become transient; office-help is now hard to get because the Air Force Base pays twice as much for the same type of clerical job. Those local industries in which most plant-workers are women, have also been affected rather seri­ ously. However, half of the companies in Springfield have not been concerned about Dayton's activities. And some in­ dustries have actually benefitted from Dayton's growth, be­ cause they get additional customers at the back door ( in

Dayton). Machine-industries in Dayton provide a market for

Springfield.

Changes in transport facilities. Over the past few de­ cades, the major transport-development has been associated 221

with the coming of trucks. Springfield has trucking facili­

ties commensurate with the needs of its industry. Because of

the convenience and service which the motor freight companies

offer to the industry, railroads are getting decreasing amount

of freight.

Changes in the appearance of buildings. Changes in the

looks of buildings are, perhaps, the most conspicuous changes.

Springfield has had such a long industrial history, that many

of its buildings have become outmoded. They have taken on a

dim-looking appearance, though from inside they might be

just as good for plant operations as ever before. The rea­

sons why most buildings are allowed to remain aesthetically

unattractive could not be ascertained. Probably one reason

might be the expense involved. Since this is a touchy subject,

no particular efforts were made to find out the story of build­

ing neglect.

Changes in the desirability of present location. Most

of the presently existing industries have been here so long

that they can give an authoritative opinion as to whether con­

ditions have changed in such a way as to cause an improvement

or deterioration in the desirability of the present location.

Forty-eight companies find that the location of their plants

in Springfield is continuously giving them enough business.

Their functioning us just as successful as ever before. These

• companies cut across almost all types of industries located 222 in Springfield, so that it cannot be asserted that there is any particular relation between the success of operation and the type of industry. Quite often success is due to the good management. The remaining 17 stress the point that remarkable changes in such desirability have taken place. In a large number of cases desirability has improved because of more rail outlets, trucks, and improved facility of capital services.

According to some, Springfield is a better manufacturing town today because of better labor relations as compared to other towns; efficiency of labor is inferred from this point. Others opine that water supply is one of the causes of deterioration, competition given by Dayton and Wright-Patterson Air Force

Base is another (from the employment angle). The company names cannot be identified here for confidential reasons,- also because the objective here is, not to relate the opinion of industries to the type of manufacturing that they carry on, but to study these changes for the city as a whole.

Would companies relocate in Springfield? When asked whether they would relocate in this city, officials of ^9 com­ panies emphatically said "yes." Most of these Springfield- loving companies are not necessarily making large profits.

Very many of them are family-owned, and naturally would not like to leave Springfield. Many have a lot of business in the city. Quite a few are centrally located so that supplies of raw materials are easy to get. Some are small companies and do not have too much local competition, so why should they

go to some other place? Certain manufacturers take civic pride in Springfield; they v/ish to continue to contribute

their share to the general development of the city, and hence want to stay. Five companies seemed indecisive at

the present time about whether they would like to move to

some other town or not; they would take some more time in testing the worth of a location in Springfield. The remainder (11 of them) would not relocate in Springfield.

They may either go to a town like Detroit or closer to some automotive town or to some other metropolitan area; some would prefer smaller places. Some are Ohio enthusi­ asts; they may quit Springfield, but would not leave Ohio.

One industry feels it ought to go to New York City which has skilled labor for its operation. One or two would like to go to Florida or some other part of the south, where weather is more cooperative. The identification of the various factories with one or the other relocation- plans as discussed above does not serve any useful pur­ pose because those plans are not related to either size or to the type of industries. Moreover, these ideas have been obtained with the promise that they will not be dis­ closed in any identifying form. The above discussion does 22k bring out the possibility of continuance of the industrial plants in Springfield.

Changes in the availability of raw materials. If any, changes in raw material availability have not meant much, for Springfield's industries are not raw material-oriented. CHAPTER VII

PROBLEMS OF CONCERN TO MANUFACTURERS

Sources of Information

This chapter draws its ideas from various sources, in­ cluding interviews with the city officials, with the man on the street, with labor leaders, with civic leaders, with elderly men, with research workers in Columbus, and with industrial representatives. Writings which exist on the subject have been consulted. Statistical analysis also has been used in order to test some of the hypotheses advanced here.

Enumeration and Hierarchy of Problems

The order of the presentation of problems is related to the frequency with which people talk about them. The factor of frequency does reflect, it is believed, the seriousness of the problem and the amount of thought and attention it is receiving.

Their Importance for Existing and Potential Industries

Manufacturing is an interrelated phenomenon. It is affected by the general conditions of its immediate sur­ roundings such as may be found in Springfield. In turn, manufacturers being the richer component of the community and also the more influential, can do something about solving the problems. What concerns one industry may also concern

225 226 other industries* These considerations make the industrial­ ists at least conscious of the situation that obtains. If manufacturers are unable to do anything about it, that is a different matter.

For the sake of following a different technique in the presentation of material, problems are presented here in the form of assumptions which are tested in the light of the available facts.

a) It is hypothesized that there is no water problem in

Springfield.

This hypothesis is based on the belief of many Spring- fielders that there is no "water problem, because the city has never run out of water." With regard to the taste of water, people say it is satisfactory because they are used to it; in fact they find it hard to relish water in other cities which is likely to contain less lime carbonate. If the recur­ ring and acute shortages are discounted, the city has always had some water in the mains. According to these people, the

City Administration wants to set up a new water system, not because there is any water problem, but because the Adminis­ tration may find an opportunity for graft in case the tax­ payers vote for the improvement of the water supply. Time and again the citizens of Springfield have voted down by a large majority any proposal to build a new water plant, for in their opinion, increase in the present water rates is not 2 2 7

justified on any grounds. As late as April 1953t the voters

of Springfield defeated the issue of the new water works

project. And if such a large number of people elect to retain

the present water supply system, there ought to be some truth

in the statement that actually there is no water problem. 8 2 Whatever problem there is, is either made up or exaggerated.

Demand and supply of water. A study of this relationship

will throw some light on the hypothesis. The supply which is

tapped from the flow of Buck Creek and from several wells near the pumping station, has usually met the city's needs.

But the truth of the matter is that the present supply barely

satisfies the demand and in summers of even slightly sub­

normal rainfall it becomes somewhat inadequate. Looking

ahead into the future, it can be asserted that as new homes

and subdivisions are added, the demand for water will go up

steadily and the supply will not be able to keep pace with it.

The whole town needs, on an average, 16,260,000 gallons

of water every day; but during summers, the demand goes up

to about 23,000,000 gallons a day; it is then that the minimum

combined creek and well flow in some years does not match the

demand. The actual shortage, however, is not felt throughout

the season; it is felt on a few days when low flow coincides

with peak demands. In 1 9 V 4 , there came a time when there was

82 "Setback for Springfield," (editorial), Springfield Daily News, May 6, 1953• 228 not sufficient water to meet the needs of summer-time uses.

In 19^5 and 19^+6, for a period of several days less water was available than the city's current needs. In the summer of

19531 washing of windows or care was not allowed, so that other more important needs could be met. The year 1955 was the most critical year in that the situation was within one or two days of shutting all the plants.

History of imbalance. If a history of the long past and recent conditions is studied, it shows "a continuous struggle for water." Actually it is surprising that the city which was settled because of an abundance of water in springs, has shown concern about the quantity and quality of its water continually. Even before the water plant was built in l88l, there had been reports published about the bad conditions of 83 Springfield wells. It reveals that the bad water situation, has been known since l880* Professor Lord's chemical analysis in 1880 of water used in Springfield for domestic purposes gave startling revelations about high lime- and iron-content.

The lower part of the city was found to have its ground water supply saturated with decomposed sewage, because the bedrock is thinly covered with gravel above and is badly fissured; the water from gravel and from surface drainage runs through this bedrock. Thus, the supply of water along the base of the

^Nathaniel W. Lord, Bad Conditions of Springfield Wells, report on the results of analysis of water taken from wells in and in the vicinity of Springfield, Ohio, l880« 229 gravel had been contaminated before l880. Perhaps Lord's findings were partly responsible for the water plant that was constructed in l88l. In 1898, the water plant needed improvements. Even after that, from time to time, concern has been expressed that enough water is not locally available, this despite the fact that the water works has been tapping an increasing amount of water, mainly from the wells dug into the underground supply.

Economics involved. The hardness of the water brings about a waste of thousands of dollars in soap and fuel alone, while increased plumbing repairs, high insurance rates and other minor factors sire additional financial burdens borne 84 by consumers. A very large number of homes and businesses in the city use water softeners. Thus the existence of very low water rates, in fact the lowest among cities over 85 50,000 in Ohio, is offset by additional expense involved because of the shortened life of the water meters, higher maintenance costs, higher soap and detergent cost, greater wear and tear on laundry, incrustation on cooking utensils,

84 Robert Edwin Price, "A Study of the Problem of Munici­ pal Water Supply for Springfield, Ohio," A thesis presented for the professional degree of Mechanical Engineer, The Ohio State University, 1936. 85 Data on Meter Rates, Meter Installations and Water Consumption for Ohio Municipalities (Columbus:State ofOhio Department of Health, Division of Sanitary Engineering, 1954), Table 3, p« 7* 230 reduction of the efficiency of automobile radiators, etc*

The City Administration had proposed a new rate struc­ ture which would appear to be three times as much as the old rates, but it was promised that if the new plant is built, the hardness of the water will be about seven grains as compared to the 1 9 -grain water now produced.

The Springfielders could not visualize the long-range needs. They thought that the new water would be too expensive and so they voted the issue down. However, their votes do not reflect a wise judgment. It is one of those phenomena in which politics gets involved with economics. The citizens have not been so much against an improved water supply as against any increase in the rates.

Water and health. The present water supply is insuffici­ ently purified and on occasion is a menace to the public health. No wonder that the State Health Department condemned

Springfield water in 1935 as being unsafe, and in 1938 the state Supreme Court issued a mandamus to the city to correct the supply. The U. S. Public Health Service does not permit passenger trains to take on water in Springfield. The State

Health officials have also discouraged companies seeking a plant site in Springfield on the grounds that the local sup­ ply is undependable and of unsatisfactory quality. Because of the lack of funds, the city was not able to do much to alle­ viate the situation until 1 9 5 5 * 2J1

Obstacles in the path of solution* It cannot be said

that a solution to the problem has not been attempted. Sev­

eral times the city has employed engineering firms to survey

the water situation, and to submit various plans. Either

the plans did not suit the city officials or there arose the

familiar cry of "too expensive" and "the plan's all wrong" on behalf ot the people. It was found impossible to issue bonds for any project. In 1935* the city had to reject a

PWA grant (from the Federal Government) of 8370,000 to help

the city build a dam, reservoir, and treatment plant. Most of the measures that have been adopted to the meet the de­ mands, were only half-measures; they included the digging of more wells in the vicinity of the present water plant in or­

der to augment the supply of the underground collecting sys­

tem, 85 per cent of whose waters come from Buck Creek through

filter-beds. The City Administration has done all it could

to inform and persuade the people to solve the problem on a permanent basis.86

Role of the knowledge of geology. Springfield has not

been able to solve its water problem, until recently, not

only because of politics and economics, but also because the

"land" factor has been ignored to a large extent. Even the

^"Water Works" Series, (Springfield, Ohio: Water Depart­ ment of the City Administration, 1953), mimeographed. 232 engineers have suggested the plan of drilling additional wells in the vicinity of the present water plant. Some flowing wells gave them the idea that there is a large amount of water avail­ able. Geologists, on the other hand, have reason to believe that water in quantity is simply not there, not even in emer- 87 gency quantities. In their opinion it would be a waste of time and money to drill wells at the site of the present water plant.

Needed quantities of water do not exist in the underground supply of Buck and Beaver Greek valleys. Although these valleys are fortunate in having layers of water-bearing gra­ vels, the latter are interspersed with clay seams. These seams,' being relatively impervious, have the effect of divid­ ing water-bearing gravels into cells or pockets. Each pocket has sufficient storage and re-charge rate to supply small wells, but when it comes to digging big wells, they dry up within a short period. Therefore., within the city environs, ample water supply does not exist underground. This becomes all the more serious, since practically all the available surface waters of the Buck Creek are already being tapped.

New water plant near Eagle City. Finally the battle for an improved water supply was won in late 1953» and the new

f i n Letter from Robert C. Smith, Principal Geologist, Division of Water, Ohio Department of Natural Resources, to Koder M. Collison, dated March 20, 193^« 233 rates became effective on October 1, 1955 • A new water plant with a capacity of 36 million gallons of water per day is being constructed near Eagle City, in Moorefield township.

The Mad River has a low iron content, and since its water would be recharged into the underground supply at Eagle City, the iron content of the water to be furnished to the city of

Springfield would drop. Mains are also being constructed to bring this water from Eagle City to Springfield. The new wa­ ter is expected to be available sometime in 1958. It is now apparent that the decision to pump water from underground near Eagle City is a very wise one, since that area does have excellent ground-water conditions, as determined geologi-

n 88 cally.

The water rates for industrial use would be the same as for domestic use. Since ample and better water would be avail­ able to industries, they are not against the choice of rate- change. In fact, because many industries are large water users, they will enjoy the progressively diminishing rate of increase in the water rates, and so their bills will not run too high. Some industries already have their own wells, but they are also aware that danger lurks in their midst; that is why they are happy and cooperative about the new water plan being executed. All this seems to indicate that Spring-

88 The Water Resources of Clark County, Ohio, op. cit 23^

field does have a water problem and disproves the hypothesis.

b) The hypothesis is advanced that no new industry has

come in Springfield for the past 33 years and that this is

due to the bad water situation prevailing in the city.

This charge was made by many labor representatives as

well as citizens-at-large. In their opinion, this represents

a problem for which nothing has been done until recently. Is

the charge correct?

In the discussion of the historical development of the

types of industries in Chapter IV, it was pointed out that the

same types or groups of industries that were established in

or were existent in the early 1 9 2 0 's became so crystallized

as to repeat themselves in 1956. At the same time it has also been seen that new industries have continuously been

coming to Springfield; these new industries represented the already existing groups. The names of important companies born in the past three decades were also given (Chapter IV).

In fact, those new firms alone, which were started after

19i5, have given employment to more than ^00 people. Then, it seems that the hypothesis given above is incorrect, or at least partially so.

A more careful examination of facts reveals that some of the new industries or companies were born in Springfield, not because they came from outside, but because some of the older companies were reorganized with a change in their name. 235

Also, the size of new industries has not been large enough to

create any noticeable attention. When the labor leaders are

talking about "no new industry" in Springfield, they are re­

ferring to the fact that none of the larger companies of the

country has elected Springfield as a plant site in recent years. This is a true statement of what has happened. The labor people have in mind that sometime ago, the Ford Motor

Company had bought a parcel of land for the construction of

one of its plants between Springfield and South Charleston, i. e., just a few miles southeast of the main city. The plant was never built. Afterwards, the company abandoned its plans. There were no adequate reasons given for the aban­

donment. Springfielders were hurt by this behavior of Ford.

So from this viewpoint that no new sizable plant has been built during the past 35 years, the charge made above is correct.

So far as employment is concerned, the peak was reached during World War II years and even in 1955-56 the total num­ ber of production workers is not much less than in the early

19^0's. Thus it seems that it is not from the employment- angle that the appearance of no new industry causes any con­ cern in the city, but from the prestige-angle because Spring­ field has not been in the news very often. Recently Westing- house Corporation was considering a location in Ohio and

Springfield was one of the possible choices; but in the end, 236 the company decided to locate in Columbus; Springfielders have now become aware that there is something wrong with their city, and the first blame they put on anything is on their water, which they think is the reason for this situa­ tion. How far are they justified?

Role of water. There is no doubt that the water situa­ tion in Springfield is not satisfactory. It is also true that the State Department of Health has been instrumental in advising industry to stay out of Springfield. But that is not the whole story.

A moment of sober reflection would show the fallacy of such thinking. Every industry.does not requre or use great quantities of water. Hence those types of large-scale indus­ tries, which do not depend on a large water supply, could have easily come to Springfield. Moreover, even if they need­ ed modest quantities of water, they could afford to dig their own wells and thus be free from anj inadequacies or ineffici­ encies connected with the city water. Also, it should be remembered that it is not the actual water situation which might have kept new large industries away from Springfield, but the psychology created by the fact that nothing has been done about the situation. The city has just earned a bad name; hence even those industries for which Springfield has all the locational advantages, have not thought of giving it a final choiceo 237

Further investigation, shows that the companies which have given reasons for failing to come to this city, talk about things other than water. A resume of such factors f o l l o w s .

Role of community attitudes. Although community atti­ tudes are very friendly today toward new industries desirous of locating in Springfield, men of experience and long resi­ dence in the city have stated that in the past these atti­ tudes have had a harmful effect. There is no way of checking the validity of these statements, but there appears to be some truth in them. The community of Springfield has been known as a conservative community. Many manufacturers in the past hated competition and did everything to chase out industries involving similar products. Some influential manu­ facturers tried to talk new firms out of a location in the city. In some instances, the banking facilities were con­ trolled by local businessmen, who in effect made conditions regarding the availability of capital unattractive for any outsiders. Sometimes the local industrialists bought con­ trol of empty spaces and vacant buildings all over the city, turned them into warehouses, and thus created a shortage of such facilities for prospective industries.

The role of the city's appearance cannot be neglected.

Any person approaching the city from the east is likely to form an unfavorable impression because of the unattractive 238 look of the buildings and homes. Dilapidated sights seem to repel the eye.

The role of the psychological factor that Springfield is an old-fashioned town in most parts is also to be accounted for as one of the repelling forces. For illustration, until four or five years ago, the city had gas lights on its streets.

There was no planning agency in the city until very re­ cently. Transportation facilities with regard to railroads have been somewhat dwindling, or being withdrawn to some ex­ tent. These are additional centrifugal forces and show that the hypothesis is only partly correct (that is, the first part of the hypothesis can be tested, not the second part).

c) The assumption is made that Springfield's activities have been so much influenced by Dayton's industrial growth that the former is reduced to the status of a dormitory city.

In the first two decades of the 19th century, Spring­ field was the larger settlement. Since 1930 Dayton has grown faster because canal transportation put Dayton in a more ad­ vantageous position. The momentum that was gained by Dayton at that time continued. Its situation at the junction of the

Mad River and the Great Miami River, which are much larger than the Buck Creek flowing through Springfield, naturally assured a greater and more reliable water supply for the city.

By 18^0, Dayton was three times as large as Springfield; by

1880, however, Springfield had caught on, owing to the rapid 239 development of the 1860’s and l870's, so that Dayton eventu­ ally came out to be only twice as big. The Civil War fostered the growth of Springfield’s industrial activities, but it gave a greater impetus to Dayton’s businesses. The result was that in I8 7 O Dayton had become two and a half times bigger. In the present century Dayton and Springfield have grown at about the same rate, so that Dayton’s population remains three times as large as that of Springfield. Thus, it may be noted that the competition was started at the beginning of the Canal

Period, and Dayton has always won the race since.

Both physical and human factors can explain the fact that

Dayton is a bigger urban center and a more important industrial community. Except for the danger of floods, Dayton's location, being nearer Cincinnati, and on important highways and rail­ roads and close to the aviation center of Vandalia Airport, is just as good, if not better, than that of Springfield. The main difference arises from what man has done to the two cities.

The Frigidaire Plant of the General Motors Corporation and the National Cash Register Company have contributed a great deal toward the size the town has attained. The resi­ dents of Dayton are more civic-minded than th o s e o f Spring­ field, as is evident by their interest in beautifying the city through parks, playgrounds, cleanliness of streets, libraries, 240 89 golf courses, etc.

Daytonians manifest a better geographic relationship

with the city in which they live, whereas Springfielders, be­

ing conservative, have been lagging far behind in this re­

spect. The nature of the competition between the two is

related more to these cultural aspects of urban life than to

the industrial aspects.

In the industrial sphere, Dayton has some of the same industries as has Springfield. Semi-skilled and unskilled labor is paid higher wages in Dayton than in Springfield; but there is also the other side of it, that is, Dayton cre­ ates a market for Springfield industries. Thus not only interplant linkage is found between the two cities, butalso

frequent commuting of workers to Dayton for work.

To what extent the growth of industries in Dayton in­

fluences Springfield activities has already been discussed in an earlier chapter. The most pronounced effect has been upon Springfield labor in that the local companies have lost workers to Dayton, but a deeper insight into this loss has revealed that the problem has been exaggerated by those who feel the competitive force of Dayton. Actually it has been

89 The Commercial Manager of the Ohio Bell Telephone Company in Springfield, who has been in all the larger cities of Ohio by way of transfer, opines that Dayton's peopleare the most civic-minded. found that Dayton had taken very heavy toll.specially during

World War II, but most men have returned to Springfield since then, because the wear and tear on their automobiles was too high, and the time consumed in driving to and from Dayton every day left very little time for leisure and relaxation for the commuters. Moreover, Dayton does not have all the kinds of jobs that Springfield has, so the latter cannot and does not lose all kinds of workers. One more thing must be observed at the present time if loafers are lost, their replacement is easy; for they come and go all the time. The movement has been the other way around also, i. e., some workers commute from Dayton to work in Springfield. Springfield was never in a position as to be called a dormitory city. The assumption made above is correct insofar as Dayton competition has been influential, but incorrect in assessing the detrimental effect of such competition.

In fact, half of the industries reported that they lose female office and plant workers from time to time, to Wright-

Patterson Air Force Base, not to Dayton. The loss of low- skilled workers or of clerical help is not critical. Taxpay­ ers' money enables the Air Force Base to pay incredibly high wages to its workers.

d) It is assumed that Springfield is a declining town.

This assumption has not been made at random. It is based on the apprehensions expressed by many Springfielders them- 2 4 2 selves and repeated by many non-local scholars. It came as a challenge to the present Investigator to find out whether the assumption is founded on sound grounds.

If there was any decline in industrial development, it took place between 1947 and 1950 or 1951* There has been no census taken by the United States Bureau of the Census since

1947, and hence a statistically accurate view is hard to ob­ tain. The Census of Manufactures of 1947 had reported 15*502 as the average number of wage earners in the city. In 1950, on the basis of the Census of population, there were 12,724 persons employed in manufacturing. This clearly reflects a considerable decline in the numbers employed. It is not known whether in 1 9 5 0 , the value added by manufacture was greater thhn in 1947, although it may well have been. But since so many workers were laid off, the city felt the pinch of lesser purchasing power in these hands. However, in 1955-5&, there appear to be some 14,533 plant workers in 6 5 industries alone, as calculated from data collected during the field survey.

These 6 5 industries represent the bulk of employment, so the total employment figure cannot be much larger than 1 5 ,0 0 0 , though it may possibly exceed the 1947 figure.

Any increase or decrease in the value added by manufac­ ture that may have taken place since 1947 cannot be assessed for lack of data.

Increase or decrease in the number of establishments 2 4 3 is a very poor measurement of progress or decline, but it does create some sort of a psychological feeling of relief or distress. There were 174 establishments in Springfield when the Census of Manufactures was taken in 1947; in 1955 there were 171 establishments, according to the Directory of

Ohio Manufacturers for that year. This shows that the num­ ber is just about the same and should not cause any serious concern.

Increase or decrease- in industrial land-use is another criterion in terms of which progress or decline can be judged. But unfortunately exact figures are hard to find.

However, the trend seems to be in favor of one-floor operation and for keeping enough space for parking. Therefore, it can be safely assumed that the total area devoted to industrial purposes is very likely increasing.

Increase or decrease in the total population tells some­ thing about the general growth of the city. Springfield is not losing its population. Its rate of growth in the decade of 1940* s was four times as fast as that in the 1930*s. In fact, between 1940 and 1950, Springfield showed a faster re­ lative growth than most big cities of Ohio. A recent esti­ mate by the Ohio Chamber of Commerce gives Springfield's popu­ lation as over 84,000, which is about 6 , 0 0 0 higher than the

1950 figure. Therefore it goes without saying that in the

1950's also, there has been no loss of population. Attention 2kk should be directed to the fact that population-increase cre­ ates a larger labor-force and so any lay-offs can make the situation look worse. Perhaps the decrease in the employment figures between 1 9^7 and 19 5 0 at the same time that the population and labor force were increasing, gave the im­ pression that the city is experiencing an industrial decline, and truly so. Once that impression got under way, it seems to continue to haunt the minds of many people even though the situation has changed by now.

Some responsible citizens of Springfield seem to believe that their city is losing its productive population, if not the total population. They think that young men of produc­ tive age are leaving the town for better jobs that they can secure elsewhere. The statistical method was used to test their belief. Population-figures for different age-groups were added so that the total of all persons from 20 to 6k years of age was obtained; this represented 60 per cent of the total population in Springfield in 1950 (Appendix S). Then, the total for these productive years (20 to 6^+) was calculated for 1 9^0 and it was found to be 6 l per cent of the total popu­ lation (Appendix T). This shows that there was a decline of one per cent in the proportion of productive-age population to the total population. To begin with, it is an insignifi­ cant decline; moreover, it can be accounted for by the fact that more young people are now going to college. 2 4 5

For the sake of comparison the same figures were obtained for Dayton (Appendices U and V)• There also the proportion fell from 64 per cent in 1940 to 6 5 per cent in 1950• Al­ though Dayton has a slightly higher percentage of its popula­ tion in productive age-groups, it showed the same percentage of decline. The decline of one per cent may be a statistical consequence of increased longevity and-a higher birth rate.

That is, the proportion over 65 is increasing and the propor­ tion under five or under 10 has likewise increased. The age groups in between had to decrease proportionately. Also it must be borne in mind that the idea that the age of 2 0 to 64 is the most productive is highly debatable. Some people think that those above 50 are better and harder workers.

Therefore the assumption made above cannot be substantiated.

If the median age of the population in nine big cities of

Ohio was compared (Appendix W), Springfield would stand some­ where in the middle.

e) It is stated as a hypothesis that until recently, no efforts have been made to encourage further industrialization of the city or to correct the existing industrial problems.

It has been found that promotion groups and their activi­ ties have been started in Springfield only lately. The Spring­ field Development Council is an example. This was organized in 1953* Before then, there was an Industrial Bureau in the

1930's which did not accomplish much. The new project of in- 246

dustrial development is a long-range program and is being

supported by the business and professional people of Spring­

field. Its aims and. objectives include help for expansion- minded local industries in relocating their plants, develop­ ment of industrial sites (or "parks") for prospective manu­

facturers, creation of more business, more income, and more

jobs in the city. This Council was a result of the concern

expressed by some 275 citizens representing industry, labor, business, and professions about unemployment prevailing in

1951.

It is too early to say what this Council has done or whether it would be able to accomplish something. But it is true that it is actively engaged in attracting new industry

from outside. Already five new industries have come in since

1955 and have created some 75 jobs. The Council has also 90 tried to enlist the active cooperation of existing industries.

It has also been its earnest endeavor to help solve the problems of existing firms.

The Regional Planning Commission was organized in late

1954. Its jurisdiction lies over the whole of Clark County, i. e., it is the planning agency for the Standard Metropolitan

Area of Springfield. It is now engaged in preparing a master-

9 0"Here's How Springfield Development Council Works," Springfield (0.) News-Sun, Sunday, March 71 1954, 10A. 2h7 plan which will emphasize the .development of the city of

Springfield. Also one of its functions is to mark out areas

of first class industrial use and second class industrial use

and to zone the industrial districts with due regard to the

demands of other — residential and commercial — uses of

land. Certain types of industries will be prohibited in

Springfield.

Two new industrial districts ("parks") have been organ­ ized by the Springfield Development Council, and through the efforts of .the Planning Commission they will have certain restrictions in terms of land-use. A good deal of publicity 91 has also been given to these districts. One of them is the

Buckeye Industrial District comprising 57 acres and having access to rail facilities of the Detroit, Toledo, and Ironton, and Erie railroads. Light -manufacturing or warehousing will be encouraged in this district. There will have to be a 15 foot setback. Offstreet parking will be required. Attractive building front will also be a requirement. The second is the

Mad River Industrial District (Map XII) including an area of

3,000 acres and having access to New York Central as well as

Erie railroads. Both heavy and light manufacturing will be permitted in this area. Warehousing or commercial use shall

91 / Theodore K. Pasma, Organized Industrial Districts (A tool for Community Development), CWashington, d! C.: u7 S. Department of Commerce, Office of Technical Services, June, 195^)• 248

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MAP XII also be allowed. There will be no other specific restric­ tions except prohibition of offensive industries (emitting unpleasant odors or smoke). The new water plant under con­ struction is located in very close proximity to this district hence a safe and ample water supply is also assured.

State agencies in Columbus are also cooperating with

Springfield in assisting its industrial development. Labor

Market Information about Springfield advertises the avail­ ability of surplus labor in the city for the benefit of in­ terested industries. The two Ohio Industrial Development

Clinics that were sponsored by Ohio Chamber of Commerce and

, 9 2 Chamber of Commerce Executives of Ohio and held in 195H and

1 9 5 6 have been attempting to provide an instrument to assist

Ohio's communities and areas. Springfield is likely to bene­ fit, though indirectly, from such programs designed to 93 attract industry.

It is heard that the State Department of Health has also very recently revised its opinion of the Springfield water situation and no longer discourages industries from going to

Springfield.

92 Proceedings of the Ohio Industrial Development Clinic (Columbus, Ohio: Ohio Chamber of Commerce, and Chamber of Commerce Executives of Ohio, 195*0 1 mimeographed. 93 Koder M. Collison, "Panel Discussion,11 in the Proceed­ ings of the Second Ohio Industrial Development Clinic (.Colum­ bus, Ohio: Ohio Chamber of Commerce, 195&) ■> P P • 12-16. In summary, the hypothesis under consideration must now be accepted, because of the revelations made by the dates of the organization of various promotional groups and their activities. Before 1953» no serious attention was paid to the promotional policies for the city. CHAPTER VIII

PAST EXPERIENCES AND THE PROSPECT

A. Past Experiences

Nature of the Dissertation

Emphasis in this study has been on the analytical..*

In this concluding chapter, the final analysis of the assets, liabilities, and prospects for Springfield will be made. This will be done from two standpoints, first with a backward look, then with a forward look.

Struggle between the Factors that Retard and Those that Favor the Industrial Development

This struggle has characterized the whole life-time of the community of Springfield. Before the National Road came to Springfield, negative forces were stronger; in fact the population decreased from 1 8 2 0 to 1 8 3 0 ; the pioneer leaders were worried about not .having an outlet for the products of their agriculture.

If the period from 1830 to 1900 is reviewed it will be apparent that taken as a whole, the locational advantages in

Springfield were not superior to those in other communities in Ohio, and yet the city grew both in terms of industry and size. The strongest and the most active force that fostered the growth of manufacturing was a few ambitious entrepreneurs.

2 5 1 And the reason why these enterprisers were present in the community during the 19th century is purely a matter of his­ torical accident. They might just as well have established themselves or their industries elsewhere. These were also the times when German immigrants were coming to Ohio where many found opportunities in the factories and machine shops.

During the present century, no outstanding achievements have been made by Springfield industry. The curve of achieve­ ment has shown an irregular pattern, producing many ups and downs. Reference is not made here to the production of com­ modities or to the value added by manufacture, but rather to the fact that promoting or retarding factors seem to loom large on the horizon at any particular time. During the first decade after World War II, factors that retard manufacturing appear to have gained an upper hand (although the tide in

1956 seems to be turning in favor of the promoting factors).

The general statements made above can be substantiated by analyzing defunct industries.

Analysis of Defunct Industries

It would be a monstrous job to compile a list of all the industries which have come to Springfield and then were removed or failed. However, reference to some of the indus­ tries lost to Springfield in the past will indicate the chang­ ing values of the factors of localization for such industries. 253

An important paper mill located on Buck Creek in 1828;

and until l8 6 l it improved methods of manufacture in order to *

compete with other companies in the Miami Valley; ultimately it gave up. Today some paper products are fabricated in

Springfield; but no paper has been made since l8 6 l.

Oil mills lasted from l8l? to 1&93* There were at least

three oil mills during this period, two of which were located along Buck Creek. They passed out of existence when the

source of- power changed and the raw material (flax) was no longer grown on the surrounding farmland, for other crops be­

came more profitable.

Two woolen mills were in operation between l8l^ and

187^, one along Mill Run, the other along Buck Creek. In

this respect, the city followed the pattern of the nation, i. e*, small, widely dispersed woolen mills lost out to larg­

er mills in the east because of improved transportation.

Car shops came into existence in 1852 and lasted until

the end of the century. One of them, Barney and Smith mi­

grated to Dayton; the other one was sold to Leffel. This in­ dustry failed because small producers in small towns were not getting enough orders.

Threshing machines were manufactured in Springfield from

18^2 to l880's. In the earlier year, Pitts had come from

Rochester and produced his celebrated Pitts Threshing Machines.

His company changed hands in 1867 but continued production 25^ until the l880's. Loss of interest on the part of the mana­ gers in the business was perhaps the cause of its end.

Sewing machines were turned out from about 1875 until

1890. When the patents for their manufacture expired, and numerous producers sprang up, the resulting competition killed them.

Of course, the Whiteley, Fassler, and Kelly Works

(1 8 5 6 -8 2 ) which became a family-owned concern under Whiteley from 1 8 8 2 to 1 8 8 7 , was after all a failure, when in 1887

Whiteley became bankrupt. Its failure was caused by the mis­ takes of its owner's other interests which had nothing to do with competition, or market, or raw materials. The ques­ tion arises: why not a successor to Whiteley's concern? In answer, it seems that a prospective enterpriser must have looked into the future, and visualized that soon the power- driven would supersede the horse-drawn implements. Other con­ siderations like the suitability of other locations for the manufacture of agricultural implements, or the entanglement of capital somewhere, might also have entered the decisions of any possible successor. Quite often the sons are not in­ terested in their father's business. Local manufacturers may not have been on good terms with Whiteley, so that they did not like to buy his plant. As it turned out, motors were used in farm machinery in about 1910; and the places like Spring­ field which manufactured the machinery but not the motors, 255 soon began to have a difficult time with regard to competi­ tion with newer centers of farm machines (which produced powered farm machines)•

Champion Machine Company managed by Amos Whiteley, the brother of ’William N. Whiteley, also had to face the same financial embarrassment in 1 8 8 7 , after which it discontinued its operations. The firm's buildings passed into the hands of what is now the Oliver Corporation, which manufactures re­ lated products in the farm machinery line.

The A. C. Evans Company (1 8 7 6 -1 8 9 ^), which manufactured corn planters, potato diggers, and the like, and the Champion

City Manufacturing Company (1 8 7 5 -1 8 8 5 ), which turned out cultivators, hay rakes, plows, and such other machines, were representatives of the greater variety of farm machinery pro­ duced in Springfield during the 19th century. Now, owing to the shift of the farm machinery market westward, only a few types of agricultural implements are manufactured, such as grain drills, manure spreaders, corn planters, lime spreaders, forage harvesters, and cotton harvesters.

Common Sense Engine Company (1 8 7 8 - ?), was probably a forerunner of the industry of its own kind. In 1888, P. J.

Shovlin started the Superior Gas Engine Company for the manu­ facture of two-cycle engines. This private company, which had been established in Springfield because of the proximity to the oil fields of Ohio and Pennsylvania, made only' gas en- 2 5 6 gines in the beginning; Findlay, Ohio, was its principal market. In 1925, it became the branch plant of a national concern (National Supply Company, Diesel Engine Division), and began manufacturing diesel engines. In 1955» the White

Motor Company purchased this plant from the National Supply

Company. Today it is one of the largest concerns in the city.

The above are a few of the many industries which were unsuccessful over a period of years due to causes whose roots lie either in increasing competition, or in the errors in business judgment of the manufacturers, or in the appearance of a definitely superior product in the market, or in a shift in market.

Three companies, which have been lost to Springfield in recent years are: (i) Indianapolis Glove Company, Inc., (ii)

Shenango Agalog Tube Company, Agalog Tubing Division, and

(iii) C. E. N. Machine Products, Inc.

The Indianapolis Glove Company acquired the Springfield plant as a result of merger, before which time the factory had been operated by the Inskeep Manufacturing Company. Jer­ sey gloves were manufactured by this plant from 1 9 2 9 through

1954. There were between 50 and 100 workers. Ample rail­ roads and truck lines helped market the products. The plant was closed in March 195^» but the reasons for this could not be ascertained. Its case is illustrative of the point that 257 mergers may continue the production of a commodity which is

failing to give the profits expected, but a time comes when

operations must cease.

The shift of the Agalog Tubing Division plant from

Springfield to Sharon, Pennsylvania was the result merely of

the consolidation of the facilities of the Sawhill Tubular

Products, Inc. (changed name of the original Shenango Agalog . gif. Tube Company;. Sawhill already had three plants in Sharon.

The building in Springfield in which the Tubing Division was located became outmoded, so the company bought a new plant in

Sharon. The objective, therefore, was one of economy (in

freight costs) and was not because of any unsatisfactory labor 95 relations or community relations in Springfield. The move­ ment took place in September, 1955*

It is difficult to determine why C. E. N. Machine Pro­

ducts closed its operations in 1 9 5 5 *

In summary, the reasons for the failures of industries- bring out the point that man-made or non-geographic factors have played a much greater part in their ultimate dissolution.

Geographic factors such as situation, accessibility, climate, enabled such industries to hold on longer than they could

9bPersonal letter from C. E. Jones, Vice President, Saw­ hill Tubular Products, Inc., Sharon, Pa., dated May 29, 1956. 95 Personal letter from C. E. Jones, Ibid. 258 have if the geographic location had not been reasonably good.

Some of the types of products, which have ceased to be made here, probably will never again be produced anywhere.

Changing Values of the Factors of Production

If broad statements were to be made encompassing the whole life-time of the city, which covers over a century and a half, it would appear that entrepreneur and labor have been the strongest elements in the process of industrialization.

Since these are aspects of human life, they are non-physical- geographic; hence the conclusion can be reached that on the whole, the physical geography of the city has. played a minor and purely permissive role. There is little doubt that in the case of Springfield, government on any level has been the least involved as a factor of production. Local capital has given birth to a large number of establishments both in the past and present; therefore, its contribution is greater than that of the government. In turn, the contribution of land is more worthwhile than that of capital, because to a certain extent, land in its broadest sense should get credit for the creation of wealth or capital locally. It must be kept in mind that in the beginning period of the settlement of the village, land was attractive enough to get business leaders among its settlers. To sura up, in over 155 years of the life of the city, the relative order of the importance of factors of factory production has been as follows:

1. Entrepreneur

2. Labor

3. Land

Capital

5. Government

Which of these factors has been dominant in any given period of industrial development, has already been examined in Chapter V. To recapitulate, the main emphasis has shifted

from the "land" factor in the pioneer pez'iod, to "entrepreneur

in the early part of the agricultural implement period, to

"labor" in the latter part of the same period, to "capital" in the 20th century. "Capital" here implies the national capi tal recognizing the market advantages of such cities as Spring

field. The transformation of the Steel Products Engineering

Company from an independent organization into an Engineering

Division of the Kelsey-Hayes Wheel Company (of Detroit) is a case in point.

Analysis of Successful Industries

This analysis becomes important in the light of the theory that today foreshadows tomorrow. Those industries which are functioning successfully are the ones most like iy to continue in the future. Which are the most successful?

If persistence can be used as a measure of success, the agricultural implement industry is first. Its important 2 6 0 representative today is the Oliver Corporation, which pro­ duces a number of farm machines. Its predecessor, American

Seeding Machine Company was the largest manufacturer of grain drills in the world until 1929. Although this company gives employment to k^O plant workers alone, at best it can be said that the agricultural implement industry lingers on.

The reason for this is the momentum gained over m ore than a century of production. The manufacturers have adapted them­ selves to changed markets.

If the number of establishments for each industrial group could be used as a criterion for an assessment of the success of various industries, machinery (except electrical), fabricated metal products, food and kindred products, mis­ cellaneous manufacturing industries, and printing and publish­ ing industries would come out as the five largest groups, in that order (Table 22). Some of the factories in each group may be due to the splintering effect, others may be too small, and yet the very fact that there is such a large number of plants in these groups and that they are independent in terms of ownership and operations, reveals the advantages which the community of Springfield offers.

If the leading industrial groups were compared in relation to the number of employees, the five largest groups would be:

(i) transportation equipment, (ii) machinery (except electri­ cal), (iii) printing, publishing, and allied industries, 2 61

(iv) electrical machinery, equipment, and supplies, and (v) fabricated metal products. These employ more than three fourths of all the industrial employees in the city (Table

1 8 ).

Table 22

Ranking of Industrial Groups in Terras of Number of Establishments

„ . „ „ t , , . Number of Estab- Rank Group of Industries . , , . lishments m 1955

I Machinery (except electrical Al II Fabricated Metal Products 23 III Food and Kindred Products 19 IV Miscellaneous Manufacturing Industries 18 V Printing, Publishing, and Allied Industries lA VI Stone, Clay, and Glass Products 12 VII Primary Metal Industries 8 VIII Furniture and Fixtures 6 IX Chemicals and Allied Products 5 X Apparel and Other Finished Products A Lumber and Wood Products A Leather and Leather Products A Transportation Equipment A Professional, Scientific, and Controlling Instr. A XV Paper and Allied Products 3 XVI Electrical Machinery, Equipment, and Supplies 2

Total Number of Establishments ...... 177

Source: Department of Industrial Relations, Directory of Ohio Manufacturers 1955 (Columbus: Division of Labor Statis­ tics), pp. 3 S0 -3 8 6 .

Common to both groupings are machinery, printing and publishing, and fabricated metal products. These three indus­ trial groups may be taken as the most highly successful manu­ factures. An analysis of their basic location requirements 262

-will show what assets Springfield has and how they can be fur­ ther utilized. The machinery industry is more exacting in its requirements of skilled labor, industrial fuel, trans­ portation facilities, market and favorable tax structure, all of which are present in some measure in Springfield. Fabricat­ ed metal products manufacture needs labor, distribution faci­ lities, and power.^

B. The Prospect

Local Developments

Which of the existing industries are likely to go? There is reliable information at hand to justify the prediction that the paper and allied products group of industries is likely to be reduced in its share of the city's total manufacturing.

The largest employer in this group is United Board and Carton

Corporation, which makes no secret of its plans to move. The present location is not an ideal one, being 15 miles from the source of raw material (at Urbana). The reason why it came to Springfield (in 19^-6) was its desire for more room for storage of finished products. Due to war restrictions, no building could be constructed in Urbana where paper is made.

The building in which it is housed today was found empty, and

96 United States Department of Commerce, Basic Industrial Location Factors (Washington, D. C.: Office of Domestic Com­ merce, A rea Development Division, 19^7)» PP» 6-9- 262 -a since Springfield was the closest possible location to the board mill in Urbana, it was selected- The Corporation is contemplating the erection of a plant or the buying of a building closer to Urbana by i9 6 0 .

The lumber and wood products group seems to show a promising future, for milling of lumber is a market-localized industry, and Springfield does provide a good market.

The furniture and fixtures group may or may not grow, as time progresses. The south is specializing in these types of industries, and the competition offered by it is likely to affect Springfield factories also.

Chemicals and allied products also do not seem to have any bright future. None of the heavy chemical industries has come to Springfield. By "heavy" is meant the association of low value, high bulk, and hazard or nuisance. Within the city limits, zoning restrictions prohibit such industries as chlorine, hydrochloride, nitric, picric, or sulphuric acid 97 manufacture.

The primary metal industries are already having a rough time, because the nature of work in foundries is such that not many people want to work in them. These industries are not necessarily going to disappear, but they are not likely

97 Codified Ordinances of the City of Springfield, Ohio, 1952, Part Eleven, Zoning Code (Springfield, Ohio), Chap. XXVII, Sec. 1127.01, pp. 17-lS. 2 6 3

to show any appreciable degree of increase or growth. However,

some new Ohio foundries are larger, cleaner, and more mechan­

ized, and if such foundries come to Springfield, they may have a better chance of survival.

Plans of the Existing Companies for Plant Expansion

Whether manufacturing in Springfield as a whole will ex­ pand or contract, depends upon what the 65 important industries will do.

Expansion in relation to time. Expansion that is going

on at present (including that which has just been completed) involves five plants. None is-a very large plant, but exten­ sion of facilities is bound to hisve some effect on employment and production.

Expansion planned for the near future by four industrial concerns is likely to increase or at least make more efficient their operations. The International Harvester Company, Spring­ field Works, which belongs in this group, has already bought

532 acres of land in the Mad River Industrial District (Map

XII) .

Twelve companies envision expansion in the not too dis­ tant future. The remaining 44 do not have any such plans.

The substance of the above is that the outlook for the future is not very encouraging with respect to time, since two thirds of the companies seem to have no thought of expan­ sion. 26^

Expansion in relation to space. The outlook for plant expansion with regard to space is much better, since kk con­ cerns can expand their operations in the immediate surroundings of their existing plants (Table 23)• There are several possi­ bilities as to how such an expansion could take place in the immediate surroundings. The same company may own vacant ground nearby, or houses nearby may be on sale, so that hori­ zontal expansion of the property will present no difficulty.

Table 23

Possible Areas of Plant Expansion in Springfield

Geographic Area Number of Concerns Immediate surroundings of existing plants kk Some other part of the city 13 Some other city, away from Springfield 6 Only branch plants will be opened elsewhere 2

Some companies are located in a building which houses more than one factory; renting of more space in the same building can be a solution for their expansion plans. Some factories can build additional stories and thus expand vertically, be­ cause they use light machines which can go up. Others think that a switch to the shift-system would expand production without having to build additional floor-space. Still others could convert their parking lot into a factory site, if need there be for such a move.

For another 13 companies, there are possibilities of re­ location within Springfield, i. e., when they have to increase 265 their production facilities, they would like to move to some other part of the city, preferably near the periphery. This group includes some of the larger companies, which are be­ ginning to realize the need for parking space for their em­ ployees' cars.

That there are possible areas of plant expansion in

Springfield or nearby for such an overwhelmingly large pro­ portion of the existing industries, leaves no doubt that

Springfield will stay industrial through the support of these industries. Expansion may not come soon in many cases; but when it comes, the city of Springfield will get the major share. Such trends are noticeable in the changes to come.

Other bases of future development. In the first place, two new industrial parks or districts are being developed on near-level land (Map IV), and conditions-for-purchase-agree- ments have been made as attractive as possible to incoming industry, keeping in view the interest of the community.

In the second place, a few old and new buildings are available for industrial use; these can attract at least some small-sized plant operations.

Third, approximately 2,000 persons (including 800 women) could be hired for jobs at existing wages. This surplus labor supply has been responsible for the classification of the Springfield area as a Class IV area. It becomes all the more important when it is remembered that wage rates in 266

Springfield are about seven per cent below the state average.

This can act as a gravitational pull for companies that are seeking their first location in Ohio or that are considering relocation of their plants within Ohio.

Fourth, one of the recent developments that will produce desirable results is the classification of Springfield by the

Office of Defense Mobilization as a "dispersal area." There are many implications of a dispersal area status. First of all, it means that Springfield is well removed from prime mili­ tary targets as well as from heavily populated cities with workers in key industries. The industrial dispersal policy encourages industrial expansion in less populated areas and 98 permits tax savings from rapid plant amortization assistance.

In view of this policy of the government, setting aside "parks"

(two industrial districts) for the exclusive use of industry takes on added value. In case World War III breaks out, the 99 federal dispersal policy may cause the shift of some of the industries from Dayton and Columbus to Springfield. Special contracts have already been secured by the Springfield Tent and Awning Company and Omco Products. Zoning of industrial

98 Koder M. Collison, "Local Development Program Benefits from Federal Industrial Dispersal Policy," American City, Vol. LXX (1955), p. 27. 99 "Industrial Dispersal," Studies in Business and Econo­ mics, Vol. IX (1956), Bureau of Business and Economic Research, University of Maryland, College Park, 12 pp. 267

districts will produce a sense of security for the local

manufacturers.

Fifth, the community attitude in general, and that of

the existing industry and labor in particular, is being mo­

bilized to welcome any company that might choose to consider

the city as a location for its plants.Many citizens

have expressed sentiments similar to the ones outlined here.^"^

Another factor which is likely to affect the city's

growth is that many businessmen feel that the city should

not grow out of all proportions. They do not want to see it

big like Columbus or Toledo; it is their contention that a

medium-sized city has many of the advantages of urban life

which a large city provides its residents only with great partiality and equality. Indeed, as the number of neighbor­

hoods which compose a trade center increases, the potential

interrelations increase by a geometric ratio. The result is 102 a highly complicated unmanageable "metropolis." Directly

or indirectly, Springfield's influential industrialists have avoided the mistake of making the city grow in an uncontrolled

"Community Attitude ..." as Evidenced by Springfield, Ohio Industries, by Governmental and Civic Bodies, and by Labor Groups (mimeographed).

1 0 1 Ibid.t 'l ■ j 102 Eugene Van Cleef, Trade Centers and Trade Routes (New York, London; D. Appleton-Century Company Incorporated, 1937), p p . 7^-75. 268 manner in the past. Whether it would be possible in future remains to be seen.

Last but not the least important consideration in the nature of the areal growth of Springfield is that of parking space. Most plants within the city are of the old-fashioned type. They suited the conditions when everybody used the street cars to go to the plant. Nov/, when parking lots for the employees as well as the customers have become a necessi­ ty, the only possible solution seems to be that of taking the industries out of the city. So the future local industrial development is likely to take place in such a manner that there v/ill be movement of factories from within the city limits to the peripheral areas. Both landscaping and ample parking ground would feature in such areal growth of Spring­ field industry.

Impact of Developments in the Nation

Springfield is not an "island,” living to itself alone.

What happens in the country will have its repercussions in the city. The growth of population is to continue, mainly because of the high birth rate in the post war period. The children born in this period will not only be old enough to become members of the labor force by 1 9 6 3 or 1964, they will also be full-fledged consumers by that time. Their demands for goods and services will only increase industrial produc­ tion. 269

Many east coast companies are looking for locations of branch plants nearer the market. The Ohio-Indiana-Iliinois region is favored by them for such purposes. Their decentra­ lization, and trend to move to smaller cities are likely to bring some benefit to Springfield.

Impact of Developments in the State

That Ohio is an important industrial state, that it has jumped to second place among the states of the nation in terms of the value added by manufacture, and that it is becoming more industrialized every day, are facts well-known to the people. The ambition of Ohioans to make this the top indus­ trial state in the United States, and the nature of Ohio as an industrial market are sure to bring additional industry in­ to its communities. This is almost certain, for Ohio is a unique state in that its industries are fairly well distri­ buted throughout the area. This more or less uniform distri­ bution is to continue (in fact other states are also planning to follow the example of Ohio; this becomes important in view of the dangers of an impending war). Springfield would get its share.

In this connection, it may be noted that in this century no big companies have selected Springfield as a location of a new branch plant. All other large communities have had their chance. Springfield cannot go neglected in the future. 270

It is expected that any industry that would like an Ohio location, would give some thought to Springfield also.

Developments in the Ohio Valley may not have any direct bearing upon the city of Springfield; but they are likely to create an industrial atmosphere in those directions from

Springfield in which it was lacking hitherto. One of these large companies located in this Valley may some day consider the advantages of location in Springfield, Ohio. Again, this city seems to have better chances than many larger cities, because not only does it have long industrial traditions, but also it is less congested than big cities.

Chemical industries may come to Springfield in the fu­ ture, but they would be located on the outskirts of the city, on account of the zoning restrictions. They are a group of industries not represented widely in Springfield so far; the people of Springfield have nothing against them, except that they must not be within the city.

Impact of Developments in the Miami Valley

Springfield is located near the northern end of the

Miami Valley. Therefore, many industrialists outside the valley do not give as much attention to it as to Dayton,

Hamilton, or Middletown; yet Springfield benefits from the industrial environment in the Miami Valley. Industrial neigh­ bors cooperate in promoting not only their own communities, 271

but in the industrial expansion of this whole area. 103

Impact of Developments in Clark County

The Regional Planning Commission proposes to zone various

areas within the county exclusively for industrial use. One

of them might be for chemicals alone. Also, it seems that it

would advise certain industries (especially those, which en­

gage in heavy manufacturing) to move out into the country,

i. e., outside the corporation limits. The city will be

beautified in many respects.

Such developments will bring the Springfield metropolitan

area at par with other metropolitan areas in Ohio in terms of

the areal concentration of factories. Hitherto, Clark County has been unique in that almost all of the manufacturing acti­ vity that is carried on in this county is concentrated in the city of Springfield. In future, the city-wise comparison will give place to county-wise (metropolitan area-wise) com­ parison.

Springfield as It Might Be in 1975

Manufacturing is, after all, a human activity. As such it is influenced, if not governed, by a multitude of factors whose future effect cannot be predetermined. At best some

103 Economic and Industrial Analysis of the Miami Valley, op. cit., pp. 2 3 -2 6 . opinions can be expressed, though with extreme caution.

By 1975 a marked change will be noticeable in the city.

The water problem will have been solved and perhaps even for­ gotten. The two industrial districts (the Snyder and the Mad

River) are likely to come under their specified use. The appearance of the eastern part of the city is likely to change for the better. Quite a few plants will have executed their plans of expansion, as outlined before. Some weeding out will have taken place, in that some of those industries which are none too successful at the present time will be gone.

Not only would one find increased production in the city by 1975» the chances are that it will grow to a size of 10^+ more than 100,000. Trends in the growth of population are already noticeable. Other communities will also grow, some of them might lag behind Springfield.

One thing is certain. Springfield will at least main­ tain, if not raise, its rank among Ohio cities, both in popu­ lation and industry. However, the future is largely in the hands of the Springfielders themselves.

104 The estimate for 1975 made by R. G. Sage, Chief Com­ prehensive Planner, Clark County — Regional Planning Commis­ sion, is 1 0 0 ,8 0 0 . 273

APPENDIX A •

A Copy of the Questionnaire Presented to the; Companies

Name of plant:______

Address:______

Products made here:______

Date located here:______National, State, or Local

Previous locations:______

What factors influenced the company's location in Springfield?

1. ______

2 . ______

3. ______

k.

Did the size of Springfield at the time of establishment in­ fluence the location of this plant?______

What part have community attitudes or local taxes played in plant location? Have they deteriorated or improved?______

What was the role of local capital?______

Did local groups — Chamber of Commerce, Industrial Planning Commission, etc. play a role in the location of your plant?

Have conditions changed in any way to cause an improvement or deterioration in the desirability of the present location?

Explain 27^

APPENDIX A

A Copy of the Questionnaire (continued)

Would you relocate here today?______

Has the growth of industry in Dayton influenced your activi­ ties?______

What are the principal raw materials used in manufacturing and where are they obtained?______

Did the accessibility of raw materials play a part in locat- int this plant?______,______

What is the geographic extent of the market?______

To what industries do you sell?______

What percentage of the goods are absorbed by the local mar­ ket?______

Competition for markets?______

To what extent has the market accessibility increased in im­ portance as a location factor for this plant?______

Number of manufacturing workers employed at this plant?_____

Male:______Female:______

How far does the labor commute:______

Degree of employee skills: Skilled % Semi-skilled_____ % Unskilled %,

Does the plant have an on-the-job training program?______

Has there been a marked change in labor, such as deteriora­ tion, scarcity., instability, since the plant located in the community?______275

APPENDIX A

A Copy of the Questionnaire (continued)

Has Dayton's industrial growth affected your labor?

What has been the nature of plant-union relations?______

What proportion of out-going goods movesby rail?______by truck? What factor determines this: Cost______, Customer preference______, Speed , Convenience______Service______, Accessibility______, Length of hauls______Bulk goods , Others______

What proportion of in-coming goods movesby rail?______by truck? What factor determined this: Cost______, Speed______, Convenience , Accessibility______Length of hauls______, Service______, Bulk goods______Others______

Did the presence or cost of any of these factors influence the location of this plant? Water supply (surface or ground)______

Site______

Cheapness of land______

Climat e______

Natural gas______

Electricity______

With which other industries or plants does this plant have linkage ?______

Possibilities of plant expansion:______

Name of person interviewed: APPENDIX A

A Copy of the Questionnaire (continued)

His position

Interviewer: Mahavira Shreevastava Department of Geography The Ohio State University Columbus, Ohio 277

APPENDIX B

Names and Addresses of the Plants Visited, and Persons Interviewed

Name of Company Address Representative

1. Industrial Garments 8 N. Center Fred Jones Manufacturing Com­ Manager pany

2. Miller Frocks 32 E. Washington Albert E. Issleib Part owner

3. Springfield Tent and Awning Company 339 W. Clark L. R. Michael Secy-Treasurer

Metropolitan Homes, 721 W. Columbia Charles E. Fry Inc. President

5. United Board and 110 W. Main Robert J. Conroy Carton Corp. Office Manager

6. Crowell Collier Pub- 202 W. High J. R. Greene lishing Company Personnel Dept.

7. Bosca Hugo Co., Inc. 1905 W. Jefferson Mario E. Bosca President

8. Springfield Leather 226 N. Fountain E. E. Evans Products Company Treasurer

9. International Steel 2205 Park Road M. L. Johnson Wool Corporation Vice-President & General Manager

1 0 . J. and J. Foundry, N. Burnett Road John A. Howell Inc. General Manager

11. Western Foundry and 1900 W. Pleasant W. Robert Siraen- Manufacturing Com­ dinger, President pany

1 2 . Ohio Steel Foundry 1705 James Ave. Arthur F. Gross Company Research Metal­ lurgist 278

APPENDIX B

Names and Addresses of the Plants Visited, and Persons Interviewed (continued)

Name of Company Address Representative

13• K. & A. Aluminum 1^37 W. North Don B. Applegate Foundry, Inc. President

14. Nolte Brass Foundry 21 W. Jefferson W. H. Pence Company Vice-President

13* Springfield Aluminum 1608 S. Yellow Roy N. Pendleton Plate & Castings Springs Street Vice-President Company

16. Springfield Brass 821-827 W. Main Gilkey R. Jones Company Secy-Treasurer

17. Murray Black Company 532 W. State J. D. Black President

18. Robertson Can Ik N. Lowry R. E. Brandt Company Office Manager

19. Ridgely Trimmer 1300 Kenton E. A. Shaeffer, Company Jr. President

20. Hoppe’s Manufactur­ (plant) 850 N. A. H. Harris ing Company, Inc. Belmont Executive Vice- (office) 301 N. President Green- mount

21. The William Bayley 1200 Warder Elden Bayley, Company Jr. Vice-President

22. Wilder Products 2^+00 Columbus Ave. M. H. Wilder Company Treasurer

23. Yost Superior S. Center and W. H. Craig Company Jefferson Asst. Supt., Plant 279

APPENDIX B

Names and Addresses of the Plants Visited, and Persons Interviewed (continued)

Name of the Company Address Representative

2k, Carmichael Machine 4809 W. National William C. Smith Company General Manager

25. Ganter Screw Products 20 S . Walnut N. Stewart Vice-President 8c Secretary

26. Omco Products Corp. 907 Wheel St. E. E. Sandifar President

27» The James Leffel & k26 East Street J. Robert Croff Company President 8c General Manager

28. White Motor Com­ 1^01 Sheridan L. R. Schutte pany, Diesel Engine Industrial Re­ Division lations Supt.

29• Quick Manufacturing 32^0 E. Main James L. Quick Company, Inc. President 8c Treasurer

30. Buckeye Incubator (office) 30k W • A. R. Hill Company Euclid President (plant) Warder St,

31. Chickmaster Incuba­ 3^5 N„ Greenmount Joseph I. Taggert tor Company Owner 8c General Manager

32. Mast Foos Manufac­ (plant) 1305 D. D. Shellhorn turing Company Innisfallen Office Manager (office) 68 W. Columbia

33. Buffalo-Springfield 1210 Kenton Street William R. Smith Roller Company Asst. Sales Mgr.

3k, Springfield Machine 631 W. Southern R. L. Melchi Tool Company Asst. Secretary 280

APPENDIX B

Names and Addresses of the Plants Visited, and Persons Interviewed (continued)

Name of the Company Address Representative

35* Thompson Grinder 1534 W. Main D. A. Walters Company Asst. Sales Mgr.

36. Allen Tool Company 300 N. Fountain (Mrs.) George Allen Secy. & Treas.

37. Eagle Tool and Ma­ 6 6 3 Montgomery L. M. Wheeler chine Company, Inc. Office Manager

3 8 . Lagonda Tool & 1735 Lagonda Harry F. Good Engineering Company Owner

39. Patton Manufacturing 1802 W. Pleasant John M. Harris Company Controller

4-0. Payne Tool and 43 N. Isabella Galen Johnson Engineering Company Factory Manager

41. Western Tool & Manu­ 1602 E. Pleasant Fred H. Hohenstein facturing Company, Plant Supt. Inc.

42. Duplex Mill and 413 Sigler St. H. W. Wise Manufacturing Com­ Treasurer pany

43. Bauer Bros. Company Sheridan & Burt Eugene B. Kunk Asst. Controller

44. Steel Products En­ 1205 W. Columbia Burton Kim gineering Division Personnel Direc­ Kelsey-Hayes Wheel tor Company

45. Parker Sweeper Com­ 91 Bechtle Ave. Richard W. Parker pany Vice-Pres. and Gen. Manager

46. Airetool Manufacturing 300 S. Center R. B. Gordon Company General Manager 281

.APPENDIX B

Names and Addresses of the Plants Visited, and Persons Interviev/ed (continued)

Name of the Company Address Representative

4?. Elliot Company 1809 Sheridan L. A. Kunzler General Manager

48. Haley Machine 1925 W. Main Chester L. Haley Company Secy. & Treasurer

49. Stevens, Frederick B. 415 Fair C. E. Cartee Inc., Mitchell Engin­ Office Manager eering Division

50. Robbins & Myers, Inc. 1545 Lagonda R. E. Horstman Factory Manager

51. Ring Wald Products 125 N. Lowry C. Ring Wald Owner

52. Internation Harves- 2069 Lagonda Glen R. Weikert ter Company, Spring­ Manager of Pub­ field Works lic Relations D. W. Craig Production Schedules

55. Peters and Russell, 501 W. Liberty L. E. Russell Inc. President

54. Springfield Manufac- Columbia and C. R. Ransbottom turing Company Bechtle Plant Supt•

55* - Thermometer Corp. 5 6 5 E. Pleasant Edward R. Dick of America Asst, to Pres.

5 6 . Ohio Thermometer 55 S. Walnut K. C. Wappner Company President- Treasurer

57* Echo, Inc. 822 E. Main Lester Hiney President

5 8 . Kelly, 0. S. Com- 518 E. North Carl Ultes, Sr. pany President 282

APPENDIX B

Names and Addresses of the Plants Visited, and Persons Interviewed (continued)

Name of the Company Address Representative

59* Wickham Piano Plate 1817 Sheridan Henry Wickham, Company Jr. Vice-President

60. Champion Company 400 Harrison (Miss) Margaret E. Baker Owner and Pres.

6 l. Springfield Metallic 70 W. Columbia Fred M. Whipple Casket Company, Inc. President & Gen. Manager

62. The Oliver Corpora­ 270 Monroe Karl C. Marty tion Personnel Manager

63» Thomas Stationery 1713 Sheridan William B. Acton Manufacturing Com­ Asst. Treasurer pany

6k. K. Wm. Beach Manu­ 2725-2727 Old K. Wm. Beach facturing Company Columbus Road Owner

65* Morgal Machine Tool 1028 Wheel St, J. F. Morgal, Company Jr. Owner

Other Persons Interviewed

Name of Organization Address Name of Person

Chamber of Commerce 35 S. Spring St. Carl J. Berg Executive Secy

Regional Planning Com­ City Building Lee Brown mission Director

City Administration City Building Harold R. Cheek City Manager

Ohio Bell Telephone 119 S. Spring St, T . C . Clay Company Comm. Manager 283

APPENDIX B

Names and Addresses of the Plants Visited, and Persons Interviewed (concluded)

Name of Organization Add,ress Name of Person

Big Four Freight House 199 S. Spring St. S. S. Collins Agent

Springfield Development 35 S. Spring St. Koder M. Colli- Council son Director

Water Department City Building Robert B. Holt Superintendent

The T. J. Lane Company Box 665 T. J. Lane

American Federation of Labor Temple Paul J. Maher Labor 138 W. High President

Ohio Fuel Gas Company 101 W. High D. S. Mclntire Dist. Manager

Ohio Edison Company 125 E. High H. E. Miller Vice-President & Gen. Manager 284

APPENDIX C

Table 2k

Per Cent Increase in Population of Nine Cities, 1940-1950

Per Cent of Rank in terms City Increase of Column 1

22.8 Columbus I

15.7 Dayton II

12.2 Akron III

11.1 Springfield IV

10.6 Cincinnati V

7.9 Canton VI

7.5 Toledo VII

4.2 Cleveland VIII

0.4 Youngstown IX

Source: United States Census of Population: 1950, General Characteristics, Ohio, U. S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, V/ashington, D. C., 1952, Table 10, pp. 51-52. APPENDIX D

Table 25

Race, Nativity, and Citizenship in Springfield

Male 37,786 Native white 32,571 Foreign-born white 726 Negro 4,667 Other races 22

Female 40,722 Native white 34,960 Foreign-born white 705 Negro 5,057 Other races 20

Persons 21 years old and over 53,404 Native 52,046 Foreign-born 1,558 Naturalized 977 Alien 277 Citizenship not report­ ed 104

Source: United States Census of Popu­ lation: 19501 General Characteristics Ohio, U. S* Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Washington, D. C., 1952, Table 54, P. 98. 286

APPENDIX E

Table 26

Country of Birth of the Foreign-born White Population in - Springfield

-r - „ Numbers Name of Country represented

Germany 339 England and Wales 159 Greece 146 Italy 126 Canada - Other 102 Ireland (Eire) 69 Australia 43

U. S. S. H. 41 Scotland 33 Lithuania 32 Hungary 28 Poland 26 Asia 23 France 23

Yugoslavia 21 Other America 15 Sweden 14 Denmark 10 Czechoslovakia 9 Netherlands 8 Canada - French 8

Mexico 5 Finland 5 All others 146

Total 1,431

Source: United States Census of Population: 1950, General Characteristics Ohio, U. S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Washington, D* C., 1952, Table 34a, p. 101. 287

APPENDIX F

Table 27

Comparison of the General Population Characteristics of Springfield, and the Average for the State of Ohio

Springfield Average for Characteristics (urban place) the state

Per cent increase, 1940 to 1950 11.1 15.0 Median age (years) 31.6 31*2 Per cent 65 years old and over 9*1 8.9 Per cent non-white 12.4 6.5 Persons per household 3*22 3*32 Married couples - Per cent without own household 6.5 6.8 Persons 1 year old and over - Per cent in same house 1949 and 1950 80.8 83.2 Persons 14 to 17 years old - Per cent in school 89.4 88.6 Persons 25 years old and over - Median school years completed 10.3 9*9 Male persons 14 years old and over - Per cent in labor force 81.5 79*9 Female persons 14 years old and over- Per cent in labor force 31.9 28.2 Civilian labor force- Per cent unemployed 4.5 4.4 Employed - Per cent engaged in manufacturing 4l.4 36.6 Families and unrelated individuals - Median income (dollars) 2,982 3»024 Families and unrelated individuals - Per cent having income less than |{2,000 31.0 30.7

Source: United States Census of Population: 19501 Gen­ eral Characteristics Ohio, United States Department of Com­ merce, Bureau of the Census, Washington, D. C., 1952, Table 1 0 , pp. 5 1 -5 2 . 288

APPENDIX G

Table 28

Married Couples - Per cent without own Household in Nine Cities

Ranking City Percentage

1 Cincinnati 5.6 2 Springfield 6.5 3 Akron 7.6 k Canton 7.8 5 Toledo 8.2 6 Columbus 8.5 7 Dayton 9.8 8 Cleveland 10.1 9 Youngstown 12.9

N. B. The percentage of married couples without own household is a fairly reliable criterion in measuring a) degree of prosperity in the town, b) availability of adequate housing in the city, and c) relative stabili­ ty of population in the sense that it indicates whether too few or too many people are migratory, and not permanent residents. The lower the figure, the more stabilized is the labor force.

Source: United States Census of Population: 1950» General Characteristics Ohio, U. S. Depart­ ment of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Washington, D. C., 1952, Table 10, pp. 51-52. 289

APPENDIX H

Table 29

Median School Years Completed by Persons 25 Years Old and Over in Nine Cities

Median School Ranking City Years Completed

1 Columbus 1 1 . 1

2 Akron 1 0 .^

3 Springfield 10.5

k Dayton 1 0 , 2

5 Toledo 9.9

6 Canton 9.5

7 Cleveland 9.^

8 Youngstown 9.3

9 Cincinnati 9.0

Source: United States Census of Population: 1950 General Characteristics Ohio , U. S. Department of Comr merce, Bureau of the Census, Washington, D. C., 1952, Table 10, pp. 51-52. 290

APPENDIX I

Table 30

Median Income in Dollars of the Nine Big Cities in Ohio

Rank by median Dollar- Median In­ Rank in income of fami­ figures come of terms o City lies and unrela­ for Col­ families Column 1 ted individuals umn 1

1 Toledo 3,484 3,968 1 2 Dayton 5,236 3,744 2 5 Akron 5,232 3,490 6 4 Youngstown 3,217 3,493 5 5 Cleveland 3,153 3,531 4 6 Columbus 3,093 3 ,66o 3 7 Springfield 2,982 3,394 7 8 Canton 2,9*1-9 3,301 8 9 Cincinnati 2,644 3,186 9

N. B. Unrelated individuals earn more in Akron and Youngs town than in Cleveland or Columbus. Their condi­ tions are comparable to those of families in Toledo Dayton, Springfield, Canton, and Cincinnati. This shows that in Springfield, for instance, there is no particular encouragement for unmarried life, for the sake of raising one's economic status.

Source: United States Census of Population: 1930, Gen­ eral Characteristics Ohio, U. S. Department of Commerce, Bur­ eau of the Census, Washington, D. C., 1952, Table 37, pp. 119-121. 291

APPENDIX J

Table 31

Civilian Labor Force - Per Cent Unemployed in Nine Cities of Ohio

Ranking in terms of less people City Percentage-figure unemployed

1 Dayton 5.9 2 Springfield k .5 3 Canton 5.2 k Columbus 5.^ 5 Cleveland 5.5 6 Cincinnati 5.8 7 Youngstown 6.0 8 Toledo SA 9 Akron 6.9

N. B. The per cent unemployed is a good indicator of employment opportunities in a city. Spring­ field fairs very well in this measure.

Source: United States Census of Population: 1950< Gen­ eral Characteristics Ohio, U. S. Department of Commerce, Bur­ eau of the Census, Washington, D. C., 1952, Table 10, pp. 51-52. 292

APPENDIX K

Dates of Some Firsts in Springfield

Date______Event______

1801 Settlement began

1803 First tavern opened

1804 First grist mill started

1805 First tannery established

1809 Powder mill founded

1817 Publication of a paper, The Farmer

1817 Cotton factory; woolen factory

1819 An oil mill came (seeds of flax grown in the vi­ cinity were used as a raw material).

1 8 3 8 First foundry and machine shop

N. B. Grist mills and oil mills represent functions which are no longer present in Springfield. The tannery marks the beginning of the leather products industry in Springfield, which holds its sway even today. The publication of The Farm­ er has given rise to one of the largest publishing houses in the country, the Crowell-collier Publishing Company. Thus, the above list includes both those industries which were to become defunct in due course of time as well as those which were to continue as an integral part of Springfield's indus­ trial life. 293

APPENDIX L

Table 32

Large Industrial Users of Water

Name of the Company Consumption in Own Wells million gallons of water per day

1. International Harvester 1 Company

2. Bauer Bros. yes

3. Crowell Collier Publish­ ing Company 7

4. Steel Products Engineer­ ing Company

5. Ohio Steel Foundry 1

6 . Oliver Corporation

7. Wm. Bayley Company

8 . Wickham Piano Plate Company

9. White Motor Company, yes Diesel Engine Div.

N. B. Railroads used to be the sixth largest user of water, but since 1 9 5 5 their consumption has dropped as they have changed over to diesel engines. 29^

APPENDIX M

Springfield's Inventors and Inventions

Name of Inventor Names of Inventions Possible Date of Invention James Leffel* Water turbine; Buckeye 1840•s cooking stove; lever jack

William N. Whiteley# Champion machine; Com­ 1855 bined self-raking Reaper and Mower patented in 1858

Mast and Thomas** Seed Planter I8 5 8

Ridgely Paperhangers1 tools 1 9 th century

Holman Incubator 1 9 th century

Charles Patrick## Double run force feed 1867 Multiple feed drive Close of the 1 9 th century

Frank R. Packham Double disc furrow opener 1893 Single disc furrow opener 1 8 9 ^

Shull Brothers Hybrid corn ?

9 Benjamin Lamme Induction motor •

Parker Lawn sweeper 1919

? *f-H idea 1902

Bustle (women's fashion)

* Springfield's first.recognized inventor.

# "Bill" probably holds the record among the reaper-raen for inventions, with 1 2 5 patents in his name.

** They had secured patents on 12 other inventions, in­ cluding an improved seeding machine. Though the real inven­ tor was Phineas P. Mast, patents were issued to him as a co-patentee, and assigned to his company. 295

APPENDIX M

Springfield's Inventors and Inventions (concluded)

## Patrick held over ^-0 different patents on early grain drills. 296

APPENDIX N

Railroad Chronology in Springfield

Date Event

1846 Little Miami Railroad completed to Cincinnati

1848 Mad River and Lake Erie (Dayton to Sandusky)

1850's Popular subscription built the stretch from Spring­ field to London

1855 Lake Erie Railroad bypassed Springfield

? Mad River and Lake Erie became Cincinnati, San­ dusky and Cleveland before it was finally absorbed by the Big Four

1 8 7 2 Springfield-London stretch was sold to the com­ pany controlling the Sandusky Road

The line was finally extended to Columbus 297

APPENDIX 0

Different Slogans for the City

Slogan Date of Popularity

Mad River City ?

Continuing City r ?

The Town at the End of the Pike 1830*s

Little Chicago l850's

Reaper City ' l860's

Champion City l870's

"Low Gear" Community After the panic of 1893

City of Roses 1900's

Home City ?

Convention City ?

Convention Center of Industrial America ?

The Best 60,000 City in America 1920's

Diversified Manufacturing Hub of the Middle West 1925

The City of Steady Progress 19^0's 298

APPENDIX P

Chronology of Whiteley' Affairs

Date Event

1840 Wm. Whiteley began manufacturing the celebrated White­ ley plow

1842 Whiteley's manufacturing of plows flourished

I8 5 3 Whiteley*s new little shop was opened; this was to be the germ of later business

1855 Whiteley completed a practical mower

1 8 5 6 Whiteley and Fassler factory produced 20 machines

1837 0. Kelly became a partner

1 8 5 8 Whiteley invented combined Self-raking Reaper and and Mower

1867 Branching off of the Champion interest

1 867 Champion Machine Company was born

1868 Competition with Warder ended

1875 Champion Bar and Knife Company came into being

1 8 7 6 Organization of Toronto Reaper and Mower Company

1877(7) Whiteley bought control of Springfield, Jackson and Pomeroy R/y.

1884 The Twine Binder (self-binder) was settled in its market

1886 Whiteley All-Steel Binder and Mower Company came in­ to existence

1886 Greatest growth of industries

1886(7) Whiteley built D. T. & I. Railroad

1 8 8 7 Bank failure; group disintegration 299

APPENDIX P

Chronology of Whiteley Affairs (concluded)

Date Event

1887 Champion interests disposed off to Warder, Bushnell and Glessner Company

1891 Whiteley Reaper Company was wound up; East Street plant was sold

189^ East Street plant was converted into a leased-space plant housing various industries

1897 Returning from Indiana, Whiteley revived the 'New Champion' group of industries

1901 The Big Fire; major portion was burnt down and never rebuilt

1904 Whiteley built a plant (Cooperative Reaper Factory) near the west end of the town

N. B. Sometimes there is some confusion regarding the particular member of the ’Whiteley family. In the foregoing chronology, the name 'Whiteley' stands for William N. White­ ley, except for 1840 and 18^2 when it refers to his uncle 300

APPENDIX Q

Types Within Industrial Groups in Springfield

A, Apparel and other finished products made from fabrics and similar materials

Types Examples Location

1. Men's, Youth's and Industrial Garment Central Boys' work, sport, Manufacturing Com- Business and other clothing pany District

2. Children's and In- Miller Frocks CBD* fants' Dresses

3. Canvas Products Springfield Tent Southwest# and Awning Com­ pany

B. Lumber and wood products (except furniture)

1. Prefabricated wooden Metropolitan Homes, Northwest# buildings and struc- Inc. tural members

C. Paper and allied products

1. Paperboard boxes: United Board and CBD folded, set-up, and Carton Corp. corrugated

2. Converted paper pro- Thomas Stationery Southeast# ducts Company

D. Printing, publishing, and allied industries

1. Periodicals Crowell Collier CBD Publishing Com­ pany

E. Leather and leather products

1. Small leather goods Rosea Hugo Company, Southwest Inc. 301

APPENDIX Q

Types within Industrial Groups in Springfield (continued)

E. Leather and leather products

Types Examples Location

1. Small leather goods Springfield Leather CBD Products

F. Stone, clay, and glass products

1. Abrasive products International Steel Northwest Wool Corp.

2. Steam and other Beach, K. Wm. Manu- Northeast# paclcing, and pipe facturing Company and boiler covering

G. Primary metal industries

1. Gray-iron foundries J. and J. Foundry, Inc. Northeast Western Foundry & Mfg. Company Southwest

2. Steel foundries Ohio Steel Found­ Northeast ry Company

3. Nonferrous foundries K. & A. Aluminum Foundry Northwest Nolte Brass Foundry CBD Spgfd. Alum. Plate & Cast. Southwest Spgfd. Brass Com­ pany Southv/est

H. Fabricated metal products (except ordnance, machinery, and transportation equipment)

1. Tin cans and other Robertson Can Co. CBD tinware 302

APPENDIX Q

Types within Industrial Groups in Springfield (continued)

H. Fabricated metal products (except ordnance, machinery, and transportation equipment)

^ P e s Examples Location

2. Hand tools (except Murray Black Com­ edge tools, files, pany Southwest 'and saws) Ridgely Trimmer Company Southeast

3. Enamelled-iron and Hoppes Mfg. Com­ Northeast metal sanitary ware pany, Inc. and other plumbers' supplies

*+. Metal doors, sash, Bayley, William Northeast frames, molding, and Company trim

5. Sheet-metal work Wilder Products Northeast Company

6 . Wirework, not else­ Yost Superior CBD where classified Company

7. Screw-machine Carmichael Machine products Company Southwest Ganter Screw Products Company Southeast Omco Products Corp. Northeast

I. Machinery (except electrical)

1. Steam engines, tur­ The James Leffel Southeast bines, and water & Company wheels

2. Diesel and semi-die­ White Motor sel engines; and Company Southeast other internal com­ bustion engines, not classified elsewhere 303

APPENDIX Q

Types within Industrial Groups in Springfield (continued)

I. Machinery (except electrical)

Types Examples Location

3. Tractors Oliver Corporation Southeast Quick Mfg., Inc. Northeast

4. Agricultural Buckeye Incubator Machinery (except Company Northeast tractors) Chickmaster Incu­ bator Northeast Mast Foos Mfg. Company Southwest

5. Construction, mining, Buffalo Spring- and similar machin­ field Roller ery Company Southeast

6. Machine tools Springfield Ma­ chine Tool Southwest Stevens, Frederic B. Southwest Thompson Grinder Company Northwest

7. Machine-Tool acces­ Allen Tool Company CBD sories, other metal- Eagle Tool & Ma­ working-machinery, chine Company Southwest accessories, and Lagonda Tool & machinists' precision Engineer, Northeast tools Patton Mfg. Com­ pany, Inc. Southwest Payne Tool & En­ gineering Northwest Western Tool & Mfg. Company Southeast

8 . Food-products ma­ Duplex Mill and chinery Mfg. Co. Southwest

9. Special-industry machinery Bauer Bros. Com­ pany Southeast APPENDIX Q es within Industrial Groups in Springfield (continued)

Machinery (except electrical)

Typ e s Examples Location

10* Vacuum Cleaners Parker Sweeper Company Northwest

11. Machine shops Airetool Mfg. Com (jobbing and repair) pany CBD Elliot Company Southeast Haley Machine Com­ pany, Inc. Southwest Morgal Machine Tool Company Northeast

Electrical machinery, equipment and supplies

1. Motors, generators, Bobbins & Myers, and motor-generator Inc. Northeast sets

2. Electrical equipment Ring Wald for motor vehicles Products CBD aircraft, and rail­ way locomotives and cars

Transportation equipment

1. Motor vehicles International Har­ vester Northeast

2. Motor-vehicle parts Peters and Russell, and accessories Inc. Southwest Springfield Manu­ facturing Northwest

3. Aircraft parts and Steel Products auxiliary equipment, Engineer. Northwest not elsewhere classi­ fied 305

APPENDIX Q

Types within Industrial Groups in Springfield (concluded)

L. Professional, scientific, and controlling instruments; photographic and optical goods; watches and clocks

Types Examples Location

1. Mechanicalmeasuring Echo, Inc. Northeast and controlling in- Ohio Thermometer struments Company Southeast Thermometer Corp. of America Southeast

M. Miscellaneous manufacturing industries

1. Piano and organparts Kelly, 0. S., Com- and materials pany Northeast Wickham Piano Plate Company Southeast

2. Morticians' goods Champion Company Southeast Springfield Met­ allic Caskets Com­ pany CBD

* Central Business District

# These refer to the sections of the city as delineated in maps, VII, VIII, IX and X.

Source: Directory of Ohio Manufacturers 1955* Department of Industrial Relations. 306

APPENDIX R

Table 33

Acreage under Different Types of Land-Use in the City of Springfield

Acres Land-use

8320 Total area of the city

6774.51 Total developed area

364.54 (5*5% of the total)Total commercial area

349.05 (8.1% of total) Total Industrial use including railroads

Acreage under different land-uses in the Central Business District

Acres Land-use

191.88 Total area

182.37 Developed area

64.32 (approximately 30% Commercial of the total)

8.21 Light industry

14.40 Heavy industry

5.17 Railroad only

27.78 Total industrial and railroad

Source: Courtesy of the Regional Planning Commission — Clark County, Springfield, Ohio. These are the very latest figures, having been obtained in March, 1956. 307

APPENDIX S

Table 34

Population Figures for Different Age-Groups in Springfield, 1950

Age 1950 Population

20 to 2b years 6,300

25 to 29 years 6,989

30 to 3'+ years 6 , 06b

35 to 39 years 5,870

40 to bb years 5,530

45 to b9 years *+,922

50 to 5b years b ,3 9 b

55 to 59 years 3,894

60 to 6b years 3,421

Total for these so- called productive age-groups 47,384 (60% of the total population)

Under 5 years 8,510 (most numerous five-year group)

Source: United States Census of Population: 1950, General Characteristics Ohio, U. S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Washington, D. C., 1952, Table 53, p. 8 8 . 308

APPENDIX T

Table 35

Population Figures for Different Age-Groups in Springfield, 1940

Age 1940 Population

20 to 24 years 6,182

25 to 29 years 6,269

30 to 34 years 5,831

35 to 39 years 5,296

4o to 44 years 4,726

45 to 49 years 4,532

50 to 54 years 4,112

55 to 59 years 3,329

6o to 64 years 2,871

Total for these so- called productive years 43,148 (6l% of total population)

Source: United States Census of Population: 1950, General Characteristics Ohio, U. S. Dept, of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Washington, D. C., 1952, Table 33, p. 8 8 . APPENDIX U

Table 36

Distribution of Dayton’s Population in Productive Age-Groups in 1950

Age of People Numbers in 1950

2 0 to 24' years 20,925

25 to 29 years 24,093

30 to 34 years 21,047

35 to 39 years 1 9 , 0 2 7

40 to 44 years 17,264

45 to’49 years 14,921

50 to 54 years 13,975

55 to 59 years 12,191

6 0 to 64 years 1 0 , 1 3 8

Total 153,581 (6 3 % of total population)

Source: United States Census of Population: 1950, General Characteristics Ohio, U. S. Department of Commerc Bureau of the Census, Washington, D. C», 1952, Table 33, p. 8 l. 310

APPENDIX V

Table. 37.

Distribution of Dayton’s Population in Productive Age-Groups in 1940

Age of people , Numbers in 1940

20 to 24 years 1 9 , 5 2 8

25 to 29 years 19,635

39 to 34 years 1 8 , 5 8 6

35 to 39 years 16,346

40 to 44 years 1 5 , 3 8 8

45 to 49 years 14,453

50 to 54 years 12,674

55 to 59 years 9,984

60 to 64 years 7,969

Total 134,563 (64% of total population)

Source: United States Census of Population: 1950, General Characteristics Ohio, U. S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Washington, D. C., 1952, Table 33, p. 8 l. APPENDIX W

Table 38

Median Age of the Population in Nine Cities of Ohio

•Median age Rank in descend­ City (years) ing order

Columbus 31.3 1

Akron 31. ^ 2

Dayton 31.5 3

Springfield 3 1 . 6 k

Youngstown 31 . 8 5

Canton 3 2 . 1 6

Cleveland 32.5 7

Cincinnati 33.6 8

Toledo 33.8 9

N. B. The above ranking has been arranged on the hy­ pothesis that the lower the median age, the better off a city will be in terms of the utilization of the productive years of labor in industry, for it suggests a preponderance of relatively younger people.

Source: UnitedStates Census of Population: ± 9 5 0 , General Characteristics Ohio, U. S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Washington, D. C., 1952, Table 10, pp. 51-52. SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books

Austin, W. F. History of the Manufactories of Springfield, Ohio. Springfield, Ohio, 1884.

Bartholomew, Harland. Land Uses in American Cities (Harvard Planning Studies, XV). Cambridge, Mass., Harvard Univer­ sity Press, 1955»

Casson, Herbert N. The Romance of the Reaper. New York, Doubleday, Page and Company, 1908.

Craig, Paul G., and Yocum,James C. Trends in the Ohio Economy. Columbus, Bureau of Business Research, The Ohio State University, 1955*

Garland, John H. (ed.). The North American Midwest; A Region- al Geography, London, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1955*

Holy, T. C. Survey of the Schools of Springfield, Ohio. Col­ umbus, Bureau of Educational Research Monographs, Number 10, The Ohio State University, 1931*

Howe, Henry. Historical Collections of Ohio. Cincinnati, Bradley and Anthony, 1948, pp. 84-96.

Howe, Henry. Historical Collections of Ohio. Cincinnati, Vol. I, C. J. Krehbiel and Company, 1904., pp. 387-407•

Huntington, C. C., and McClelland, C. P. Ohio Canals. Col­ umbus, Ohio State Archaelogical and Historical Society, 1905.

Huntington, Charles Clifford. A History of Banking and Curren­ cy before the Civil War. Columbus, Ohio Archaelogical and and Historical Publications, 1915» 312 pp.

Huntington, Ellsworth. Principles of Economic Geography. New York, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., London, Chapman and Hall, Ltd., 1947. 312 313

Ohio Writers' Project. Springfield and Clark County, Ohio. Springfield Chamber of Commerce, 19^1.

Pasma, Theodore K. Organized Industrial Districts (A Tool for Community Development), U. S. Department of Commerce, Office of Technical Services, Area Development Division, Washington, D. C., 195^»

Prince, Benjamin F. A Standard History of Springfield and Clark County, Ohio. Chicago and New York, Vol. I, The American Historical Society, 1922.

Richards, Wilfrid Gladstone. The Settlement of the Miami Valley of Southwestern Ohio. A published Ph.D. disser­ tation the Department of Geography at the University of Chicago, 19^8.

Rockel, William M. 20th Century History of Springfield and Clark County, Ohio. Chicago, Biographical Publishing Com­ pany, 1 9 0 8 .

Rust, Orton Glenn. Fifty-five Years of Service...1873-1928. The Lagonda-Citizens National Bank, Springfield, Ohio; Data and art supplied by the Clark County Historical Society and Judge William M. Rockel. Springfield, Ohio, The Kelly-Springfield Printing Company, 1928 (?).

Rust, 0. G. History of West Central Ohio. Indianapolis, Indiana, Historical Publishing Company, Vols. I, II, and III, 193^.

Smith, Guy-Harold (ed.). Ohio -- An Empire within an Empire. The Ohio Development and Publicity Commission, Columbus, Second Edition, 1950.

The History of Clark County, Ohio. Illustrated, W. H. Beers and Company, Chicago, 1 8 0 .I, Part IV, "History of the City of Springfield," pp. ^25-601.

Thompson, Warren S. Migration within Ohio, 1935-^-0• (A study in the Re-distribution of Population, Scripps Foundation for Research in Population Problems, Miami University, 1951»

Van Cleef, Eugene. Trade Centers and Trade Routes. New York, London, Appleton-Century Company Incorporated, 1937* 31^

Wright, Alfred J. Economic Geography of Ohio. Columbus, Division of Geological Survey and the Ohio State Archae­ logical and Historical Society, 1933) Chap. VI, "The Miami Valley", pp. 101-119•

Wright, Alfred J. UnitedStates and Canada: A Regional Geography. New York, Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc., Sec­ ond Edition, 195&.

Zimmermann, Erich W. World Resources and Industries. New York, Harper and Brothers, 1951*

Statistical References (In reverse order, chronologically)

Directory of Ohio Manufacturers 1933) Department of Indus­ trial Relations, issued by Division of Labor Statistics, Columbus, Ohio

Data on Meter Rates, Meter Installations and Water Consump­ tion for Ohio Municipalities, State of Ohio Department of Health, Division of Sanitary Engineering, Columbus, 195^«

County and City Data Book 1932, A Statistical Abstract Supplement, U. S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Washington, D. C., 1953*

Ohio: Seventeenth Federal Census, Statistics of Population, by counties and minor civil divisions 1 9 5 0 -1 9 ^0 -1 9 3 0 -1 9 2 0 - 1910, compiled by Ted W. Brown, Secretary of State, Heer Printing Company, Columbus, 1952.

United States Census of Population: 1950, General Charac­ teristics of Ohio, U. S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Census, Washington, D. C., Report P-B35*

19^7 Census of Manufactures, Vol. I, General Summary, U. S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Washington, D. C., 19^9-50.

19^7 Census of Manufactures, Vol. Ill, Statistics by States, U. S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Wash­ ington, D. C., 19^9-50. 315

Sixteenth Census of the United States: 19^0 — Manufactures 1939, Vol. Ill, Reports for States and Outlying Areas, U. S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Washington, D. C., 19^2 (data for Ohio on pp. 7 6 6 -8 2 8 ).

Biennial Census of Manufactures 1937, Part II, U. S. Depart­ ment of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Washington, D. C., 1939.

Fifteenth Census of the United States 1930, Manufactures 1929, Vol. Ill, Reports by States, U. S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Washington, D. C., 1933 (data available for Clark County only, not for the city of Springfield).

Biennial Census of Manufactures 1929, U. S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Washington, D. C., 1928.

Fourteenth Census of the United States: 1920, Vol. IX, Manu­ factures 1919, Reports for States with Statistics for Prin­ cipal Cities, U. S. Department of .Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Washington, D. C., 1923 (data for Ohio on pp. 1139- 1211).

Census of Manufactures 191^-, Vol. I, Reports by States and Principal Cities, Bureau of the Census, Washington, D. C., 1918 (section on Ohio covers pp. 11^7-1225)•

Thirteenth Census of the United States - 1910, Vol. IX, Manufactures, Reports by States, with Statistics for Princi­ pal Cities, Bureau of the Census, Washington, D. C., 1912 (Ohio on pp. 933-999).

Twelfth Census of the United States - 1900, Vol. VIII, Manu­ factures , Part II, States and Territories, 'Washington, D. C., 1902 (Ohio on pp. 679-727).

Eighth Census of the United States, i860, Manufactures, under the direction of the Secretary of Interior, Washington, D. C., I8 6 5 .

Miscellaneous Publications

Magazine Articles

Collison, Koder M. nLocal Development Program Benefits from Federal Industrial Dispersal Policy," The American City, Vol. LXX, (1955), P. 27. 316

"Dayton and Springfield Join in Effective Community Action," The American City, Vol. LVIII, (19*+3). p. 5*

Holt, Robert B. "Setback for Springfield," Willing Water, No. 26, (195*0 , American Water Works Association, Inc., New York.

"Location Decision Theory," (anonymous), Industrial Develop- ment, (July-August, 1955)» PP» 26-27.

Miller, Harold V. "New Survey Sets Zoning Standards for Modern Industrial Plants," Industrial Development, (May- August, 195*0 , p. 7-10.

Murphy, Raymond E., and Vance, Jr., J. E. "Delimiting the C B D," Economic Geography, Vol. XXX, (195*0? pp. 189-222.

The Ohio Magazine, Vol. Ill (Thanksgiving Number, 1907), has a section devoted to "The City of Springfield and Clark County, Ohio," in which the following articles are specially noteworthy: (a) Keifer, Joseph Warren. "Springfield and Clark County, Ohio, Historically Considered," pp. 3*+9-358. (b) Thomas, (Hon.) W. S. "Industrial Springfield," pp. 359-368. (c) Kay, Charles S. "Springfield as City of Homes and Health," pp. 369-378. (d) Holman, R. L. "The Agricultural Interests of Clark County," pp. 386-39*+ •

Thomas, Morgan D. "Economic Geography and the Manufacturing Industry of Northern Ireland," Economic Geography, Vol. XXXII, (1956), pp. 75-86.

Thomas, (Hon.) W. S. "Our Manufacturing Interests," in Ben­ jamin F. Prince (ed.). The Centennial Celebration of Spring­ field, Ohio. Springfield Publishing Company, Springfield, Ohio, 1901, pp. 114-132.

Wright, Alfred J. "The Industrial Geography of the Middle Miami Valley, Ohio," Papers of the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts and Letters, Vol. XXI, (1935) , PP • *+01-427•

Newspaper Articles

"Article Culled from New York Graphic of 1 8 7 8 Relates Progress of Springfield — 1 a Thriving City of 20,000," Springfield //0.// Daily News, Friday, December 20, 19*+6, p. 13. Dodds, Robert F. "Springfield Man Invented Ag Tools," Colum­ bus Dispatch, Sunday, October 16, 1955» 6E.

"Here's How Springfield Development Council Works," Spring­ field //0.// News-Sun, Sunday, March 7i 195^, 10A.

"Senate Committee Finds Gas Rates Among the Lowest in Nation," Springfield News-Sun, Sunday, January 22, 1956, p. 2A.

"Setback for Springfield," (editorial), Springfield Daily News, May 6 , 1953*

Bulletins, Pamphlets, Monographs, Letters, Reports, and Legal Materials

Annual Report, Ohio Edison Company, for the Year Ended Decem­ ber 3 1 , 1 9 5 ^.

Codified Ordinances of the City of Springfield, Ohio, 1952, Part Eleven, Zoning Code, Springfield.

Commerce and Industry of Springfield, Ohio, Industrial Bureau, Chamber of Commerce, Springfield, Ohio, 1928.

Commercial History of the State of Ohio, Columbus Council No. United Commercial Travelers of America, 1916, pp. 177-180.

Community Industrial Development Kit, prepared by the Area De­ velopment Division - Office of Technical Services, Business and Defense Services Administration for the Cooperative Offices Program, U. S. Department of Commerce, Washington, D. 1954.

Directory of the City of Springfield, John W. Kees and Com­ pany, Publishers, Springfield, 1 8 5 2 .

Economic and Industrial Analysis of the Miami Valley, prepared and published by Commercial Research Department, Market Development Division, The Armco Steel Corporation, Middletown, Ohio, 19^5.

Facts about Your City Government which every citizen of Spring field should know, compiled for the information of the voters of Springfield by Thomas J. Berry, Chairman, Businessmen's Committee (no place, no date)

General Information Concerning Patents, U. S. Department of Commerce, Patent Office, Washington, D. C., 195^• 318

"Industrial Dispersal," Studies in Business and Economics, Vol. IX, (1956), Bureau of Business Research, University of Maryland, College Park, 22 pp.

Know Your Town Government, League of Women Voters, Springfield, Ohio, 31 pp.

Letter from Robert C. Smith, Principal Geologist, Division of Water, Ohio Department of Natural Resources, to Koder M." Collison, dated March 20, 1954.

Lord, Nathaniel W. Bad Conditions of Springfield Wells. (Report on the results of analysis of water taken from wells in and in the vicinity of Springfield, Ohio, i860.

Management Development Prop,ram, Wittenberg College, Spring­ field, Ohio.

Mangold, Robert W., and Arthur, Robert S. (eds.). Dr. George Gallup’s 193b Pocket Almanac of Facts, Pocket Books, Inc., New York, 1956.

Map of Ohio Showing Original Land Subdivisions to accompany C. E. Sherman. Ohio Cooperative Topographic Survey. (Final Report), Vol. Ill, 1922.

Monthly Business Review, Vol. XXXIII (Supplement to November, 1951 issue) , Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Cleveland, "Area M," p. 15.

Ohio; Springfield Quadrangle (Topographic Map), U. S. Depart­ ment of the Interior Geological Survey, Washington, D. C., 1904.

Oliver Springfield Plant: Management News Letter, Vol. I, (July 30, 1955).

Proceedings of the Ohio Industrial Development Clinic, spon­ sored by Ohio Chamber of Commerce, and Chamber of Commerce Executives of Ohio, Columbus, 1954 (mimeographed).

Proceedings of the Second Ohio Industrial Development Clinic, sponsored by Ohio Chamber of Commerce, and Chamber of Com­ merce Executives of Ohio, Columbus, 1956 (mimeographed).

Rand McNally Commercial Atlas and Marketing Guide, Eighty-Sixth Edition, Rand McNally and Company, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, 1955* 319

Robinson, E. Atlas of the City of Springfield, Ohio, New York, 1882.

Sketches of Springfield, by A Citizen, T. A. Wick & Co., Pub­ lishers, Springfield, Ohio, 1 8 5 2 .

Sketches of Springfield in 1 8 5 6 , printed at the Daily Nonpareil Office, Springfield, Ohio, 1 8 5 6 t PP» 32-56.

Springfield and Vicinity Telephone Directory, September 1955> v" The Ohio Bell Telephone Company, Springfield, Ohio, 1955.

Springfield Illustrated, published in Nine Parts, Hi R. Page and Company, 1889.

Springfield Industrial Directory, compiled by Springfield Development Council, Springfield Chamber of Commerce, Spring­ field, Ohio, 1955 (mimeographed).

Springfield Newspapers, Inc. A Graphic Story of Springfield, Ohio ... and Its Rich, Fertile Surrounding Territory.

"Springfield, Ohio, April 1955*" Labor Market Information, Bureau of UnerrnDloyment Compensation, Ohio State Employment Service, Division of Research and Statistics, Columbus.

"Springfield, Ohio, April 1956," Labor Market Information, Bureau of Unemployment Compensation, Ohio State Employment Service, Division of Research and Statistics, Columbus.

Springfield, Ohio at a Glance, courtesy of Springfield Devel­ opment Council, Chamber of Commerce Building, Springfield, Ohio (mimeographed).

Springfield, Ohio; Convention Center of Industrial America, Convention and Visitors Bureau, Springfield Chamber of Com­ merce, Springfield, Ohio.

Springfield, Ohio ... Facts, Figures, Features, Springfield Development Council, Springfield, Ohio, 1953.

Springfield, Ohio: In the Heart of the Mad River Valley, com­ piled and published by the Springfield Chamber of Commerce, 1924 (or 1925X?).

Springfield, Ohio: The Best 60,000 City in America, compiled and published by Justine S. Mackern, 82 pp. 320

Springfield: The City of Steady Progress, reprinted from The Ohio Edisoriian, The Employees' Magazine of Ohio Edison Company, Akron, Ohio.

The Charter of the City of Springfield, Ohio, prepared by the Charter Commission of Springfield, Ohio, 1913» 36 pp.

The Natural Environment of the Springfield Area, a guide to Thirty-First Annual Field Conference of the Section of Geo­ logy combined with the sections of Plant Science and Conser­ vation of the Ohio Academy of Science, April 21, 1956, print­ ed through the courtesy of the Ohio Division of Geological Survey.

The Story of the American Patent System 1790-1952, U. S. Department of Commerce, Patent Office, Washington, D. C., 1953.

The Water Resources of Clark County, Ohio, State of Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Water, Bulle­ tin 22, March 1952, Columbus, Ohio, contains Map of the Consolidated Rock Formations of Clark County, Ohio, referred to in footnote 2k.

Van Nest Black, Russel. Planning for the Small American City. Public Administration Service, Chicago, 19^8.

Unpublished Material

Brown, Donald M. "The Pleistocene Geology of Clark County, Ohio," Master's thesis, The Ohio State University, 19^8.

"Community Attitude ... a(s Evidenced by Springfield, Ohio Industries, by Governmental and Civic Bodies, and by Labor Groups (mimeographed).

Hosterman, A. D. "Why Springfield — a Recognition," (manu­ script) , 31 pp.

Hunker, Henry L. "Columbus, Ohio: The Industrial Evolution of a Commercial Center," Ph. D. dissertation, The Ohio State University, 1953*

"Oliver Travelogue, Facts and Figures," The Oliver Corporation, Springfield, Ohio, May 11, 1950 (mimeographed). 321

Petro, James H . , et♦ al . "Soil Survey of Clark County, Ohio," U. S. Department of Agriculture Soil Survey Report (in press).

Price, Robert Edwin. "A Study of the Problem of Municipal Water Supply for Springfield, Ohio," Professional Degree o of Mechanical Engineer's thesis, The Ohio State University, 1936.

"Springfield Telephone Facts," prepared by Public Relations Department, The Ohio Bell Telephone Company, Cleveland, 195^- (typewritten).

"Water Works Series," prepared by the Water Department of the City Administration, Springfield, Ohio (mibeographed)• AUTOBIOGRAPHY

I, Mahavira Prasada Shreevastava, was born in Saharanpur,

U. P., India, November 8, 1928. I received my secondary school education in the public schools of Meerut City, U. P., India.

My undergraduate training was obtained at Government Inter­ mediate College, Allahabad, and the University of Allahabad, from which I received the degree Bachelor of Arts in 19^+8.

From the University of Allahabad, I also received the degree

Master of Arts in 1950. While in residence at the University of Wisconsin, as a Fulbright Scholar, I worked toward the de­ gree Master of Science during the year 1953-5^, which I received at the end of the academic year. In October, 195^,

I received an appointment as Graduate Assistant at Ohio

State University, where I specialized in the Department of Geography. I held this position for two years while com­ pleting the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy.

322 ^ W l T L D S T A ^ W " DEPARTMENT OK THE INTERIOR OI.OLOCIf"AL SURVEY

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