The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1892-12-13
THE GROWTH OF ANDERSON
What Four Years Of Natural Gas Has
Done for Madison County'sChief City.
The New Directory Will Show a Population OF
$4,000, and s. 5000. 900 Of Outside Capital
Has Made The Town : Hive OF Industry.

1t.VVVs anu VCs0tVfS0N
Has Made the Town : Hive OF Industry.
star correspondence Of the indianapolis Journal
ANDERSON, Ind, Dec. 2.-The new city
directory. now in press, places the number
of inhabitants of Anderson at 1900. This
is an increase IN five years of about 500
per cent, or lbs per cent. per snnum. This
record has few precedents in the world.
and when it is considered that this is not
the floating population of q mining camp.
nor the transient, money-seeking nomads
of q real-estate boom. bus genuine, bona
fde, and. largely. tax-paying citizens, 1t
may well be doubted if 1T haye Q parallel
In industrial history.
A small town of about four thousand in
1855. Anderson began doubling her popuia-
ton annually, and developed an enterprise
and activity second to no other locality In
the belt Corporation after corporation
began establishing here heavily capital
lied concerns. and q season OF marvellous
activity followed. The school appropria-
lions, based upon o census taken before
Anderson's prosperity began. became in
adequate within the first year, and still
the population poured in. Additional
school facilities were secured as rapidly as
money and vigorous enterprise could pro-
duce them, but It was Ions before the new
Iy-awakened energies of the people could
successfully meet the demands, In this di-
rection, of the new order of things. Fig
ures, figures only, can Justly represent the
astounding heritage of prosperity that the
development of the gas field has brought
TO this str1ding giant OF the belt. The
mere mention of statistical figures sends a
shudder of alarm along the spinal column
of. the average reader, but. as applied to
the growth of this city, revealing the a
nitude of her newly-acquired industrial
system, the very horrors or algebra itself
would read like fairy story and bewllder
the Imagination with the romance OF It's
facts.
What more is necessary han merely to
mention tina within less than four Year,
from the date of the discovery OF her hrst
we'll, Anderson has drawn to herself more
than s5.OO0.0O0 of foreign capital. opened
new avenues OF wealth to every CITIZEN,
and placed herself in communication with
the markets of the woridi Yet the variety
of channels in which this immense capital
is employed Is even more wonderful, II pos
sible, than the abstract fact OF Its exist
ence here. The infinite variety of manu-
featured products, which the diverging
lines of her railroads bear away to the COM
mercial centers of the world, the raDldlty
with which manufacturers throughout the
on aoA04 Aoh0 6OeeAB No
themselves of its advantages, indicate, as
nothing else can, the enormous extent of
territory upon which the gas belt levles
tribute.
But it was here, here upon these hills
and In the fertile valleys about the town
that organized capital concentrated all its
energies, and by the touch OF it's wizard
ham literally resurrected the financially
dead, and dissipated the accumulated in
dolence of years. Here. where four years
ago the financial quiet of the town was so
profound and unknown that the ring OF Q
silver dollar sounded like the ciang of
brazen bells. there IS now to be heard the
continual hum of industry. All this has
come since the discovery of gas, which
opened avenues for the energies Of the
people, energies which were not dead. but
only sleeping for the want of opportunity.
The magnitude of the opportunities offered
by the discovery OF gas may be inferred
from q brief running enumeration OF some
forty or fifty of the larger corporations
which have established manufacturing en-
terprises here. each. so far as il has been
possible to obtain them, with its capital
stock and monthly payroll Indicated.
ANDERsoN's MANUFACTURES.
The American wire nail-works located
here with q capital of $3.50. 600. This insti-
tuition was drawn to its present location
by the ~cheapness of its gas fuel and the
proximity to O live Western market. 1t
uses. perhaps, more gas than any other
concern IN the country. Its capacity is
four thousand gross tons of rods per month.
three Thousand tons of wire. thirty thou
SAND kegs OF nails. and it uses IS. 900 gross
tons of steel to make its finished product.
1t pays to its skilled and common 1aborers
S25. 600 per month. There has grown up
about the big plant q substantial suburban
village of employees. most of whom own
their homes. or are paying for them in easy
installments. made possible OF the steady
employment, at good wages, which this
works afford.
Tbs American wire and rod-mill, of Cow
ington, KY. was located in 1883. 1t en-
ploys five hundred men, and has q capital
of $500, 600. Its estimated payroll Is S23,-
600 per month.
The Pennsylvania glass factory employs
one hundred men. Its capital stock il
aggregate of $4,000 per month. It may not
generally be known, but it is q fact that
certain classes of work IN glass factories
pay to the operator the most fabulous
wages. Many workme even in the small
towns of the gas belt draw salaries rang.
ing from $500 to $500 per month.
The A. l.. johnson Manufacturing Com
pany make hardware specialties. Its capl-
tai Is $50 1000.
The Union window-glass factory employ
one hundred men. 1t manufacturers win
dow glass exclusively. Its capital Is SI5,'
600.
Inc naZen wire ndil-ml1i employs nSe
hundred men AID has q capital of $500, 900.
Its payroll exceeds $50. 900 per month.
The Anderson Forging Company came
here from Mansfield, o. 1t operates on q
capital of about s1o0. coo, employing one
hundred men.
The Anderson bolt works is o corporation
of local capitalists. with q capital of $50,
coo and furnishing employment To $50 men.
The lrondsle rolling-mill came here from
Indianapolis two years ago. Its capital
stock then was $780, 600. but it is said to
have been materially increased since. II
employs, probably. l75 men.
The knife and bar-works manufactures
all kinds of edged tools. It's capital is $50,
600. and 1t employs fifty men.
The Anderson nut and bOlt-works, from
Fowler, N. Y. has q capital of 800. OOO, and
works 100 men. It's payroll is $1,000 pei
month.
The Cathedral g~lass-works has a capital
of $4,000 and furnishes work for 100 men.
The Pennsylvania quartz-mill, from Phil
adelphia, manufactures chemicals and soar
materials. It employs 200 men, and has q
capital of $780, 600.
The Columbia encaustic tile-works is an