The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1874-02-02
WHEELING INDUSTRIES.

The Early History of the Iron and
Nall Business-.T Predecessors OF
= the Present "Top MILL"
By our Old EmpIoyc.
The brief notes made in this paper
upon a lew OF the leading manufactures
OF Wheeling and vicinity, we are very
glad 10 find, have not only been read with
interest by our own citizens, but have
also attracted some attention from abroad.
Ia fact this is q time when it has become
manifest that the prestige Of the East no
longer serves as u basis for successful
ma nufacturing.
The tremendous energy Of the West
and the illimitable supplies OF raw ma
terial with which she Gbounds, and which
are SO accessible, together with the cheap.
ness Of that very important element, fuel,
even now counter-balance the long ex-
perience, the closer economy, and the
cheaper labor of the East. Tho manu-.
facturers OF tho East realize that the En-.
PRE- of the Iron trade tends TO the SET
TING Sun. We conceive, therefore, that
there can be nothing Of more interest to
oufselyes than such resume Of the his.
tory. oil the great NAIL trade of this city
as shall givea brief but connected his
tory of its progress from its commence
ment to the present day, and II our read
ers shall derive as much Of pleasurable
satisfaction from its pcrusal as the writer
has from the collection Of its facts and IN
cldents, the desired end will have beer
accomplished. At this. point We may say
of the Nail business as it now
stands, that perhaps in no other city de
we find the aggregate product oil so many
different establishments bearing such uni
formjty of quality as characterizes the
Wheeling nail. So far as quality is con
cerned, it docs not seem to be matter
inquiry amongdcalers as to which mill
they were made at. No one factory set!
upa claim toexcellency above its fellows
Every Improvement that stands the test
OF merit is adopted by all the manuiac
turers, and the uniformity Of standard
maintained. a'
Wheeling's first iron mill was erectel
in1s34 by the late Peter Shoenberger an
David Agnew. It was located on por
ton of tho site now occupied by the To
Mill Co.'S. works, and was designed &c
the general manufacture Of bar, shet
iron and nails, in accordance with Ii
usual custom Of that day. For sever
years under this management the mi
was operated successfully and the bus
ness firmly established, Mr., Shoenberger
connection with this mill was merely f
the notification OF prGconceived idea
his, that Wheeling had decided advaI
tagcs as q manufacturing point. Beir
already,Yery extenslvely engaged in ii
iron bvsipessro OF Pittsburgh. and havil
satisfied himself as TO the correctness
his views in regard to Wheeling, he r
tired from the co.partnership; etill, hoy
ever, retaining the ownership ofthe pre-
etty.s
Mr.Agnew, succeeding to the business
thelste firm prospered SO signallY as to
come in a short time one of the wealth.
men in the community Of that day. 7
unexampledsuccess Of that iron mill 81
denly awakened the people Of Wheel
As from q Rip Van Wrinkle slumber,
many were tho wild schemes for the
grandizement Of the city that were
augurated. In all Of them MIR. Aga
more or less largely participated.
several years he was the honored
honorable President Of the Merchants
Mechanics Bank. A multitude ofill
vised enterprises engaged his attenI
and absorbed his CAPITAL; among oil
his connection with Blast Furnac
the Hanging Rock region proved a di
trous Investment. One Of those crises
cidentto that day oIyariable tariff pc
anduncertain currency, which were
bane o. our manufacturing interests tc
l,ilaa 80