127. Randolph County Misc.

WINCHESTER.  Tractor Demonstration, 1919.

April 16, 1919.   The tractor demonstration which will be held Tuesday, April 22, on the Ves Haisley farm, two and one-half miles southeast of Winchester, will be something worth seeing. Each and every tractor, with an agency in the county, will be represented and the merits of each machine will be demonstrated. Tractors are fast becoming one of the main necessities on the farm, and this demonstration is to show you the workings of the different machines that you may be better able to buy the one of your choice without making the purchase blindly. You should attend this demonstration whether you want to buy or not.

  April 23, 1919.   The weather for the tractor demonstration Tuesday was ideal, although the ground was a little on the damp order which made pulling for the tractors a little harder. But the work was done to the satisfaction of the twelve hundred or more people who witnessed the demonstration. There were eight tractors present and broke about fourteen acres for "Vet" Haisley that will be of some advantage to him. The people present seemed to take quite an interest in the work and watched each tractor very closely.
  E.W. Hill, C.D. Brumfield and T.A. Almonrode, the judges, made the following report:   The Fordson in plowing one acre used three gallons and one quart of kerosene; the Parrett one and one-half acres, four gallons and three quarts of kerosene; Rumeley, 4-bottom outfit, two acres, seven gallons kerosene and one pint of gasoline; Rumeley, three bottom outfit, one and one-half acres, 3 gallons kerosene, 3 pints gasoline; Case two bottom outfit, one acre, two gallons and three quarts of kerosene and one quart of gasoline; International Titan, three bottom, one and one-half acres, four gallons and one quart of kerosene and one-half pint of gasoline. International Titan, two bottom, one acre, five gallons kerosene and one pint of gasoline. The machines all plowed a uniform depth of from seven to seven and one-half inches. The land on the north side of the tract plowed was in a little better condition than that on the south side which might probably account for some of the difference in the amount of fuel used by some of the tractors.
  L.R. Faucette, of the Advance Rumeley Thresher Company, said it was the best demonstration ever handled. Will Peek, of the Parrett Tractor Company, made the statement that it was the finest demonstration he had ever attended, while George M. Logan of Richmond, manager of the Indiana Harvester Company, said there was as good a crowd present at this demonstration as he ever saw at any of them and the work was fine.
  Automobiles were lined up on each side of the road at the place of demonstration for a half mile or more besides what were inside of the field. Everybody was pleased and satisfied.


HUNTSVILLE.  Weddings, December, 1861. Johnson, Jobes, Butler.

  This was in the Winchester Journal under a weekly column titled "Huntsville Locals."   At this writing, we are, as usual, at this season of the year in the midst of an interminable sea of mud: the "bottom is out," and we may expect muddy roads and mud everywhere henceforth 'till Summer.
  We are led to conclude that this is going to be a severe Winter, by the fact that so many marriage notices occur, recently, in the Journal, and the prevalency of the fashion generally. Why, we almost wish that we could think that we are old enough to be in fashion. We hope that it will not be out of place to say a word or two on the events of the marriage of our friends, T.M. Johnson and Viola E. Jobes and Levi Johnson and Bettie T. Butler. We have thought this long time that Tom and Viola would eventually conclude; - this done they married; and now that they have entered the matrimonial state we hope that their pathway through life may be, as has been their courtship, long and pleasant. But who would have thought that Levi and Bettie were going to "launch their bark on the rolling deep?" However, "wonders never cease," and this accounts for it. Well, Levi has been our good friend from first acquaintance, and Bettie, (we might say without much exaggeration), has been, as was said of Genevra, "our play-mate from birth," etc. Therefore, we can but wish that prosperity may weave for them her choicest wreath of happiness, and crown all their undertakings with success.   Winchester Journal, December 5, 1861.


WINCHESTER.  Woodbury Glass Plant.

  In the year, 1904, Winchester inherited the Woodbury Glass Company which had moved from Parker.
  Parker at that time was known as Morristown. The gas wells which had supplied the little boomtown's many industries began to go dry, making it necessary for the industrialists to move their plants to other localities.
  The old Woodbury plant operated on a one tank basis for a few years until the first semi-automatic machines came into existence. The first glass making machines were called "gathering machines." The glass was gathered by means of a punny. A punny was a long steel rod with a cone shaped fire clay on the end. There were various sized punnys to go in according with the different size ware produced.
  The gathering-boy would gather the glass on the punny and then insert the glass into a mold in the machine. A man operating the machine would cut the glass at the mold with shears and then pull the machine around by hand. Carrying-off boys would take the ware from the mold and place it into the lehrs.
  Packing glassware in the early part of the century was done in a crude manner compared to the present day system. Wooden crates and straw were used to ship glass containers. Today corrugated paperboard boxes and partitions are used solely for shipping purposes.
  Luther "Doc" Wells, one of the oldest active glassmakers in the business today with forty-three years service behind him, was on hand when the Winchester plant burned to the ground in 1917.
  It was only a few months following the disastrous fire that the glasshouse had been rebuilt and was back in operation.
  Through a series of mergers the present Winchester plant of the Anchor Hocking Glass Corp. came into being. The present company was formed in 1937 through a consolidation of the Anchor Cap Corp. and the Hocking Glass Company. The principal units were the Hocking Glass Company which operated two plants in Lancaster, Ohio; General Glass Corp. which had plants in Winchester and
Terre Haute, Indiana.
  Today, Anchor Hocking is the second largest manufacturer of glassware in the world and the largest manufacturer of metal molded closures for glass containers. Of the fourteen manufacturing plants in the United States and Canada, of which approximately 10,000 people are employed, about 10 percent of these are employed in the Winchester plant bringing into the community an annual payroll somewhere in excess of $2,500,000.
  Truly, the progress of the glass industry since the turn of the century has been nothing short of miraculous. World War II stimulated glass manufacturers to develop glass for special uses that ten years ago would have been considered fantastic.
  The nose of some projectiles were actually made of glass and the Flying Fortress' crew was protected by the non-shatterable laminated glass, transparent yet with almost no distortion of vision.
  Without glass, fire control equipment, land mines and radio and radar glass parts, World War II could not have been won.
  The constant ribbon of glass flowing from the three tanks of the Winchester Container plant is making for a much healthier and happier America.
  Winchester and Randolph county salute the central management of Anchor Hocking in Lancaster, Ohio, and the local plant manager, George T. Meyers and all the men and women of the Anchor Hocking Glass Corp, for their part in the progress of a giant industry, which in turn has made for a better community life.   Randolph County Enterprise (Farmland), May, 1951.

 ( Woodbury Glass came to Winchester in '04 through some shady business dealings by the Davis Brothers, owners of the local Monarch Gas Company. Monarch raised the price of natural gas to the Indiana Window Glass Company causing them to close their plant. Monarch then bought the factory, tore down the old buildings and sold the property to Woodbury. I'll have this story later.)


PARKER.  "Still On The Boom," June 21,1893.

  The people of Randolph county, with almost one accord, are rejoicing over the fact that we have within our borders one real, booming town. There has been a vast amount of wind work about a boom in general, and Parker has been talked about a great deal of late, but talk culminated in action last Thursday when the great land sale took place.
 The two men who have had more to do with booming this town than any other are Messrs. Evert and Kitts, now of Muncie. These gentlemen, while young in years, are old in experience, and have had much to do in this line in various parts of the gas belt. They laid out and boomed Whiteley, now the most prosperous suburb of "Magic Muncie," and this alone testifies to their skill and ability along this line. In this enterprise they have been greatly assisted by our own Joe Meeks, who has turned out to be a veritable boomer. These men, in connection with some others, organized what is called the Enterprise Land Company, and then went to work. The first thing they did was to buy several hundred acres of very valuable land lying next to Parker; and, as soon as this had been accomplished, they set to work to secure factories. These efforts resulted in locating four thriving institutions there, the combined number of hands of which will amount to over three hundred. After this was done, the next thing on the programme was a land sale, and this was arranged for last Thursday. These men at the head of this institution are business men. They are not afraid to invest and chance it, for they know that by hustling they can reap a rich reward. They are not afraid to spend a few dollars even on an uncertainty. And so they took advantage of that peculiar trait of every American which impels him to grab everything that id free, and offered a return trip ticket and a free lunch to every man or boy who would go to Parker to the land sale. Of course, when this offer became known people were ready to go, and of course the fourteen car excursion train was jammed to the platform with "capitalists" and "boomers" from every town along the Big Four railroad from Bellefountaine to Farmland. Three hundred tickets were given away at this place. The train arrived at Parker a little after 11 o'clock, and the excursionists found the town already pretty well filled with investors from the immediate vicinity of Parker. The entire crowd, headed by the very excellent band from Cowan, proceeded at once to the big tent in which the sale was to be held - the tent standing on the land that was to be sold.
  After a ten minute concert by the band, W.O. Beckinbaugh, of Baltimore, Md., the auctioneer, took the floor and introduced successively E.L. Watson and I.P. Watts, attorneys of Winchester, and Dr. Crouse, of Muncie. These gentlemen proceeded at once to enlighten the crowd present on the gas and land questions, on Parker and its prospects, on the Enterprise addition - what it had done and what it intended to do - and then, after the announcement of the terms, the sale began. But seventeen lots were sold before dinner because of the shortness of the time. Free dinner came next, and it would doubtless have been enjoyed by every one present had not the rain driven the good women who were waiting on the table, under shelter and softened the otherwise delicious pies a little too much for them to be exactly palatable. But after all was eaten that could be had, the crowd once more proceeded to the tent and the sale re-commenced. A large plat of the addition was erected behind the auctioneer, in sight of all present, so that everyone could readily see the lay of the land. Small bid plates were furnished to those present, and the sale began. The lots were gobbled up in short order, and by 5:30 o'clock, two hundred and twenty-five lots had gone down under the hammer, the average price being two hundred dollars and the sale netting over forty thousand dollars.
  The things that are encouraging about the sale are these: No one person bought any great number of lots, but they were sold to a large number of individuals living all over the country. This will make just that many more people interested in Parker and they will all push that way. Again, the lots did not sell too high. They went at a price so high as to net the Company a handsome return on their investments, and at the same time at a price so low that those who bought can readily realize a good profit on all they purchased. These two things have added to the number of Parker boomers, and from now on the success of the town is assured. Some towns in the gas belt are always counting on what is "going to happen," basing their claims on the future alone. But Parker can proudly exclaim, "See what I have." We have said so much in regard to the factories already located here that we deem it unnecessary to go over the list again. Suffice it to say that the now little town of Parker will son have within its bounds more factories than all the remainder of Randolph County put together, and nothing can possibly prevent her population from being close to two thousand in twelve months from now. It is certain that the members of the land company count largely on the future, for they contracted with everyone who bought a lot that, if every factory was not built and run as they represented, the purchaser need not take the lots. This fully shows their confidence as to the location of factories and the future growth and prosperity of the town. A private letter just received from Messers. Kitts and Everet says, among other things, "all the material has been contracted for and part of it delivered for the three factories, which will be commenced immediately. There will also e contracts let this coming week for three large two-story brick business blocks, a hotel and about forty houses. We propose to have in three factories within six months, three hundred men at work if it is possible to obtain the material and labor in time to build them, and secure the houses for the men so we can bring them there.
  We can say to the people that there is just as good a chance to invest in Parker now as ever. Lots can be bought for the same money that they could at the sale, and it is simply an immense opportunity to invest. People go clear to California or Oregon or Montana or Kansas or the far west to invest and speculate, and yet right here under their very noses is the greatest opportunity for legitimate speculation that the world ever saw. Untold millions of dollars have been made in the gas belt, and untold millions can yet be made. Now is the time for our citizens to get in the swim, and it is absolutely certain that for every dollar put in two will be taken out.
  Messrs. Kitts and Evert, together with Joe Meeks and Charley Dotson are to be congratulated over the gigantic success of the land sale.

(This was found with a group of newspaper clippings with a date but no source. June, 1893 would have been around the high point of the investment frenzy brought on by the boom which lasted from  the early 1880's to the early 1900's.)